WASHINGTON — Downplaying the need for the government to ensure that every person has health insurance, Mitt Romney on Sunday suggested that emergency room care suffices as a substitute for the uninsured.
“Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance,” he said in an interview with Scott Pelley of CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night. “If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.”
This constitutes a dramatic reversal in position for Romney, who passed a universal health care law in Massachusetts, in part, to eliminate the costs incurred when the uninsured show up in emergency rooms for care. Indeed, in both his book and in high-profile interviews during the campaign, Romney has touted his achievement in stamping out these inefficiencies while arguing that the same thing should be done at the national level.
And while Romney refused to agree on Sunday that the government’s role is to ensure that every American has health care, he has endorsed such an idea in the past.
When asked in a March 2010 interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” whether he believes in universal coverage, Romney said, “Oh, sure.”
“Look, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way,” he said. [source]
A few years ago I had repeated chest pain scares that were more psychological than they were physical.
See it was right after my mother passed away of a heart attack, that I began having serious anxiety attacks, panic attacks, depression so on so forth. During all of this, I fought through repeated horrific scares of also dying from a heart attack which caused me to run to the ER about thrice in a 24 month span. Each one of those visits racked up costs of about $5000 in total care which included tests, stress tests, MRI, EKG, Bloodwork etc etc. Now it wasn’t until my own health coverage changed and made me liable for a very large deductible that I stopped seeking treatment for these scares, as it is amazing what you will work through when you have to pay for it yourself. This ordeal made me understand WHY companies want to adjust their health coverage because when a person isn’t the one liable for the payments, they will get every unnecessary test under the sun to ease their minds, whereas if they are the ones who are responsible for the bill, their approach is much different.
I will absolute aknowledge this.
But then there is the story of a gentleman my Cardiologist told me about. Who was having minor chest pains for the 3rd time who decided he was NOT about to spend another $4000 on an ER visit for his chest pains that kept turning out to be nothing.
Well this time it WAS something.
and he died of a heart attack.
He died over $4000.
I’m sorry Mr ROmney but for persons whom are already cash strapped and can’t afford the expense, Many will try to work and suffer through issues rather than go to the ER….and many die from it.
I’m not saying all healthcare needs to be free but in the so-called greatest country on earth, there should be a better way.
One day of military operations could help fund quite a bit of damn health care for the American people…..just saying.
” We got money for War but can’t feed the poor” – 2pac.
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Wait since when is the ER free? Since when is going anywhere in an ambulance free? I had to go to the hospital in an ambulance a couple of weeks ago and they sent me a nice fat bill for $719…even though they literally only took me 10 blocks to the hospital.
Please explain. I'd like to know.
Exactly. The idea that one doesn't have to pay right this second for emergency care is nice and all, but the insinuation that the poor won't bother tryin' to pay is asinine.
When my niece was sick they had to move her from one building on the hospital campus to another. When I say the doors are a half a block apart there is no exaggeration. The hospital called the ambulance and they later tried to send a bill for $2,000. Saying it wasnt covered in the insurace. BS I say BS needless to say we fought that bill but I aint neva ever seen a free ER bill either.
You can literally see the hospital from my parent's house and the ER scolded my pops for having my mom drive him to the ER instead callin an ambulance when he had chest pains. Doc told him to call an ambulance next time….Called the ambulance, took them longer to get there then it would have in the car. Ambulance drole him dang near across the street and he ended up with a $600 bill…
So from now on, I'll send my er charges that bcbs doesn't cover to mittymitt.This dude is a fvcking idiot.
I am so happy that Mittens keeps on talking. Let him keep running his mouth…
in a world with intelligent people that's all that needs to be done to insure that he won't win the election
but we are in a world of racist illogical fools!
he could flat out say white people that only make 40K a year ain't worth the salt in his tears…and they'd still vote for him because it would mean the n*gger is out of office…
You aint never lied sis…and that is truly sad that some folks are at that point…what's even more upsetting is those folks have voting rights.
I need to go lay down somewhere, the thought of this fool having a chance at the wheels of our nation is just too much to stomach at times.
So sad…but yet…so true.
Please don't lump all white people into that. Oh wait, you mean the racist illogical fools, not all white people. Ok, I agree with that. :p My only fear about RMoney is that he's got the whole Joseph Smith army behind him, and I tell you what, no one can rally 'round the family like the mormons.
This is the same clown that used the new law to put his daughter (20-something) on his insurance.
SO over this ish. DONE
*sigh*
the fact that this fool is still "in the running" for President is just…
Mitt please shut the entire f*ck up!
Sometimes I swear this man is trolling us. By 'us', I mean the whole world.
Like we're being Mitt Rolled!
Owwww, you made my tummy hurt from laughing!
Dude, the icing on the cake was when he broke out the bronzer for that Univision interview. I mean…..what the hell?
And this ish wasn't even totally blended in. And he had a fresh run on Grecian Formula too!
Yeah, I keep thinking it is like some weird performance art or something. It's just too bizarre not to be.
THIS mfer just NEVER stops…I'm not the smartest person by any stretch of one's imagination, but this bastard KEEPS on telling the public that if you aren't his tax bracket, then you can eat a dick….so WHY in the low and unholy hell are most of his supporters the SAME mofo's he's willing to turn his back on
Because he's white. For some, it is as simple as that.
And that's it in a nutshell….If Barry were a few shades lighter, he'd be the best president since Kennedy…smh
^^^^^all of THIS!!!!!!!!!
You just made me tear up laughing.. Just the ENTIRE statement cracked me up. Thank you..seriously, thank you!
Slaus, I feel you on this…I have some strange form of bone disease that eats away at my marrow, that no one can seem to pin point, so right now, I'm a mystery..anywho, once I went to the ER cause I couldnt move from the pain, and BCBS, was trying to deny my visit and asked if I was in a car accident and if I was, the other party should pay…I stopped visiting my Dr about a yr ago, cause I have been on pain meds, joint pain meds and seizure meds….BTW, BCBS wouldn't cover a device that I would have to wear to control the pain..they said it was physical therapy and they didn't cover that…O_o
Slaus, I feel you on the anxiety/panic attacks. They suck.
I would like to introduce Mittens to the pile of hospital bills I have sitting on my counter because of a chest pain scare from last month and an anxiety/asthma attack from this month (still not sure what that was). I am no longer insured because the state of Illinois cut funding to the All Kids/All Family program. While my son is insured, my husband makes too much money for my happy azz to have coverage (by $84….oy).
So let me show him the $5,000+ I owe Mercy Hospital, plus all the separate bills from the different specialists and doctors that saw me. Let me show him how I wake up every morning feeling sick and wondering if I'm going to get yet another bill.
Each day I hope that I'll hear that Mercy is going to write off the cost of their bill since we're borderline poverty level, although the financial counselor said we probably don't have a chance.
I really can't stand this arrogant azzwipe.
I will be honest, I had heard how he had turned Mass's economy around with his administration from my other half and other New Englanders, and I was impressed…but then something happened he opened his mouth and started talking…and well that killed it. I was even willing to overlook his religions beliefs that were just within the past 40 years denounced…etc. All politicians lie, I get it, but why would you lie about something you KNOW people are going to look up like….his Fathers stand on Civil Rights. I do give him credit for one thing he did try to address the NAACP, that is more than I can say for some of his cronies.
turned mass economy around?
we must have read something different because mitt was a one term governor who didnt even try to run for re election. He had a negative rating and the Mass state economy was ranked 47th in the nation by the time his turn was over.
People without insurance are okay? Dear Mitt Romney, I has a story for you.
There was once a girl who lived in NJ. She caught a stomach pain around 2am but assumed it was because she had just drank a Sprite and it wasn't sitting well. She went to sleep and woke up at 5am, still suffering from stomach pains. She tried to walk around the house, but to no avail. Around 7am, her mother found her on the floor of the bathroom, in the fetal position because of the pain. "Do you want to go to the hospital?" her mom asked. "No, because I don't have insurance and I can't afford to go," she said, still in the fetal position. She couldn't move from the floor, so around 9:45am, her mom got her a few pillows and said "try to get in the bed and go to sleep. If you still feel pain, we're going to the hospital and we'll deal with the money later." She fought and fought and fought her mother on this, but she only lasted until 10:15 before they went to the ER. They took her in and did all sorts of tests. At some point the ER Nurse came in and said "we're going to keep you overnight because normal white blood cell count is between 8k and 10k…you are at 19,500." A few more hours went by and at 5:00pm, the ER Surgeon came in and said "You have appendicitis and we have to do emergency surgery because it is going to burst". I could have died from a ruptured appendix on my bathroom floor because I didn't have health insurance to go to the ER. THANKFULLY, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital believes in charity care and I qualified for it. But guess what…I STILL got a bill for like $200 for something (thankfully it was ONLY $200). So, to you I say…suck my d!ck.
at least the hospital took you…
one night I woke up in horrible pain…didn't know what was going on…my mom took me to the hospital (a catholic hospital) they weren't going to see me because I didn't have insurance….my mom lied and said I was on her insurance…which I wasn't…I was 19 at the time and not in college…so I was not on her insurance…after she told that lie they finally took me to an ER room to be examined and all that…later found out I was actually pregnant and was having a miscarriage…
Those fools broke EMTALA rules which state that any person seeking help at an emergency room must be treated and at the very least stabilized REGARDLESS of their ability pay.
This was enacted in 1986. Could have been sued out the yingyang.
Hold on… He's talking about the uninsured here. Not people who have partial coverage. A person who doesn't have insurance is responsible for the ENTIRE cost of an emergency room visit. Out. Of. Pocket.
To say that the ER is fine for those people, that they don't need preventative care, that they don't need routine doctor visits is just… beyond me. In my state, we have a hospital rate setting system. What it boils down to, is that those who cannot pay cannot be turned away. So, when Joey the uninsured crossing guard goes to the ER, if he can't pay, they're going after whatever he has. If he doesn't have anything, who pays? Taxpayers. How does that make sense for his purported platform?
See, when you decide the uninsured don't need care outside of the ER, what you're saying is, they only get sick in emergency situations. People without insurance can have chronic illnesses like lupus, asthma, diabetes, crohn's, multiple sclerosis, cancer, kidney stones, sickle cell anemia, hypertension, ALS, and a million other things (just like insured people, go figure). The uninsured are not some magical population that recognizes that they don't have coverage, and elects to stay well unless there's an emergency.
"The uninsured are not some magical population that recognizes that they don't have coverage, and elects to stay well unless there's an emergency. "
I don't know why but this made me laugh really hard.
He either doesn't understand how EMTALA works at all or he completely understands how it works but doesn't care.
His (current) belief will essentially gut the middle class and stratify the country into low income or high income.
Who does he think pays for emergency care when the recipients can't pay the bill? The middle class, via higher millage and assessment-based taxes. Those accounts receivables don't turn into fairy dust and pixie sticks. How does paying emergency care average less than managed care???
see….
My logic is skewed but, for me, death is a whole lot cheaper than a week in the hospital.
I know my insurance isn't the best, so if anything happens to me I am quick to sign a DNR form. Funerals cost between 6k – 10k. A week in the hospital can triple that.
Put me in a box, and take the life insurance money and pay off the funeral, and give the rest to my family. Fugg that.
Ya'll have to excuse him, he really doesn't know any better. Although he has a chronic case of 'Foot-N-Mouth' disease, he rarely has to go to an emergency room for it. Plus, an $800 ambulance ride is like toilet paper to him, he just wipes his arse with it!
What kills me is that I technically work for a "big bad insurance company" and what people don't see is that there's a lot more that goes into this than just greed. Oh, don't get me wrong..there's some greed. But it's not all on the side of the insurance companies. Our health care system is broken. __I could write a book on how that's the case. But Mittens knows better. He's saying what "his 53%" want to hear and what anyone that has a heart attack that the POTUS is melanin challenged wants to hear. He is specifically going against what he knows to be true to rile up his base.
Some of us don't have $300m to spend on ER hospital bills that are thousands of dollars. I had my tonsils out this summer, with insurance, and the costs to the insurance company for that procedure was $24,000+. Thankfully, my portion was MUCH less, but I can't even imagine what it would cost me by going through the ER.
This from the same man who calls closed airplane windows "a problem:"
http://gawker.com/5945967/romney-doesnt-know-why-…
Yeah, but he's not out of touch or anything…I bet George W looks like a Mensa member compared to Mittens
I keep thinking Romneybot is some sort of Manchurian Candidate that is being fully put up by corporate 'merica and even he is unaware of what he is saying/doing.
There is no way this man is not someones puppet. I work with women who have less than an elementary school education and they don't say this kind of shyt.
The Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson already bought his political career and soul. At this point, nothing surprises me anymore.
A lot of people keep saying that Romney (hereafter called "the pig") is just "giving the election to President Obama" but I am going to tell you all a secret::
Elections tend to go to the person who gets the most attention during the campaign.
While you intelligent people are actually following the campaigns of your desired candidate, the majority of our country is not. They are most likely only going to vote because someone will pressure them into it, and once they are casting a ballot, they will select the name they can remember most. In the case of our current election, the pig is most likely to win. It doesnt matter how SINCERE, AWESOME and SEXY Barack *cough* and My wifey Michelle *cough* Obama is. It doesnt matter how fvcked that ole dumb azz pig is. People are going to vote for him because as of right now, when you think of the election, you think of the pig before you think of Obama– because he gets ALLLLLLLL the attention.
TURN THE ATTENTION TO OUR PRESIDENT OBAMA! STOP MENTIONING THAT CARELESS PIG'S NAME!
*My statement does not reflect anyone's opinion but my own.
This is my fear. I keep hearing that Obama is ahead in the polls. This means absolutely NOTHING if liberal people don't get out to vote. And I'm afraid not enough of them will.
I love liberal people, don't get me wrong. But we are wishy washy wimps compared to conservatives.
Liberals generally tend to look at things with a bit more of an open mind than conservatives generally do, so we don't tend to get quite as caught up in the "If our candidate doesn't win, the sky will fall and the earth will melt into hell!" kind of thing.
But a lot of them do, and you can bet that after church on Sundays they are all scaring the bejeepers out of each other about what Obama is going to do in this second term.
They'll vote in droves, Oh yes they will.
Question is, will we?
They are saying that Obama is ahead in the polls so we will all feel comfortable and figure "eh, he is gonna win anyway. No need to stress it."
When we are comfortable, our lazy azzes wont waste the time voting since :Obama is ahead in the polls."