Crocodile tears
Here’s Jerome Adams, MD, former Surgeon General, now outraged at the absurdity that is the American “healthcare” system:
“Numerous Americans have found themselves ensnared in analogous predicaments while seeking medical attention, as evidenced by the myriad stories shared in response to my tweet. The opacity surrounding healthcare pricing makes it difficult for patients to ascertain the cost of their care upfront, engendering bewilderment, frustration, and financial distress when confronted with unexpected bills. Although the No Surprises Act (NSA) was passed to address just this issue, its implementation (beginning in 2022) has been contentious and some hospitals are still not in compliance.
“In my case, had I been aware that I would be charged $10,000 for basic treatment that included IV hydration — care that you can get in a hotel room or via mobile clinics in many cities for less than $500 — I would have opted to hydrate at home. However, despite healthcare purportedly operating as a free market, I was not furnished with the requisite information to make an informed decision regarding my purchase. Moreover, I was not apprised of the cost of my care until 6 weeks later!
“It is worth noting that emergency veterinary clinics furnish cost estimates to pet owners, enabling them to make informed decisions before proceeding with care. If we can do it for Fido, shouldn’t we be able to extend comparable transparency to human healthcare as well?
Jerome Adams was Surgeon General in the Trump Administration. When did he stand up to Trump on Covid, the Medicare Advantage scam, the well-known abuses of the free-market health insurance business, or the dismantling of VA healthcare?
Adams is exhibit A for the solipsistic “unless it happens to me, it didn’t happen.”
Is Jerome Adams, MD, now advocating for single payer? I haven’t seen it. His outrage is limited to his personal experience.
Feh.
Jerome Adams is outraged by the cost of privatized healthcare
“Numerous Americans have found themselves ensnared in analogous predicaments while seeking medical attention, as evidenced by the myriad stories shared in response to my tweet. The opacity surrounding healthcare pricing makes it difficult for patients to ascertain the cost of their care upfront, engendering bewilderment, frustration, and financial distress when confronted with unexpected bills. Although the No Surprises Act (NSA) was passed to address just this issue, its implementation (beginning in 2022) has been contentious and some hospitals are still not in compliance.
“In my case, had I been aware that I would be charged $10,000 for basic treatment that included IV hydration — care that you can get in a hotel room or via mobile clinics in many cities for less than $500 — I would have opted to hydrate at home. However, despite healthcare purportedly operating as a free market, I was not furnished with the requisite information to make an informed decision regarding my purchase. Moreover, I was not apprised of the cost of my care until 6 weeks later!
“It is worth noting that emergency veterinary clinics furnish cost estimates to pet owners, enabling them to make informed decisions before proceeding with care. If we can do it for Fido, shouldn’t we be able to extend comparable transparency to human healthcare as well?
Jerome Adams was Surgeon General in the Trump Administration. When did he stand up to Trump on Covid, the Medicare Advantage scam, the well-known abuses of the free-market health insurance business, or the dismantling of VA healthcare?
Adams is exhibit A for the solipsistic “unless it happens to me, it didn’t happen.”
Is Jerome Adams, MD, now advocating for single payer? I haven’t seen it. His outrage is limited to his personal experience.
Feh.
Jerome Adams is outraged by the cost of privatized healthcare
” The opacity surrounding healthcare pricing makes it difficult for patients to ascertain the cost of their care upfront, “
he misses the point. patients. do not price shop. they have no idea what they have or what to do when the doctor tells them. or when they’ve been overcharged or over treated. that’s why they need to pay for full time experts to oversee medical costs, like medicare should.
Merely a doctor, not a paradigm of wisdom. Nothing special
Really tired of people treating merely doctors as paradigms of wisdom
@Ten,
Don’t look at me. I taught medical students for over 35 years. I’ve seen where they come from. Doctors aren’t paragons of wisdom, but they are (usually) more knowledgeable about medicine than us and many have specialized skill sets we don’t possess.
Yes, and I skills they do not. I taught an entire nursing dept. how to use computers when it was important to teach people how to use computers. Doctors, lawyers, college administrators
I have laurels to rest upon …
@Ten,
Mazel tov.
The point of my post isn’t that physicians possess, or should possess, every and all skill sets known to humanity. The point of my post is that it is disingenuous for a former surgeon general to bleat about the state of American healthcare insurance when he was silent on the topic at a time when he had the bully pulpit.
Joel:
When you go to an ER, you are there for one reason . . . to be treated. Not passed off or to play the Price Is Right! Jerome is an over educated twit and he of all should know what to expect when he walks into an ER. The costs included. Those places are super expensive if you are treated there.
Jerome has a mouth when he foots the bill and not when the rest of the country is paying. Hospitals are not cheap and the application of healthcare there comes at a premium. When I need it, I am treated in the cancer center with Rituxan. Four doses and I am set for a few years. The stuff works for me and at what cost? ~$28,000 a dose in outpatient. and then discounted.
I missed this and am very familiar with ERs. My first stop before being admitted. I know they are going to keep me, so I bring a suitcase with my stuff in it. Shuffled off to a room by myself and wait for a room in the hospital.
Sorry . .
@Bill,
While I’m a lifetime member of The Church of the Second Chance, I believe that to be forgiven, you have to be sincerely remorseful. I don’t believe that Adams has changed his mind about healthcare policy in America, he only objects when it hurts him personally. I’d love to be convinced otherwise, but as we say in the South: I was born in the morning, but I wasn’t born *this* morning. Adams isn’t on our side.
joel:
A disciple of the church of trump, me, me, me and only me. The rest of you peasants can find your own. And he is a prof and probably traching, “this is how it is done.”
Joel
funny you should mention the church of the second chance. while i might agree with you that a former surgeon general “should know..” I am not inclined to call it bleating when he comes around to saying what I “knew.”
there is a body of knowledge not generally taught in colleges which understands the value of “forgiveness” does not depend on the remorse of the object.