Healthcare reform is too late for Joaquin Rivera
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Healthcare reform is too late for Joaquin Rivera
I don't know what kind of medical insurance that Joaquin Rivera -- who was the bedrock of Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community -- had, but that's not really the issue here. The outrageous circumstances of Rivera's death last weekend in a hospital emergency room should be a reminder to everyone that the real reasons so many people in America have been pushing for an overhaul of healthcare in the country for so long. Because the reason we need a new way of doing things isn't only because far too many people are uninsured, although there is that. It's that one of the wealthiest nations on earth has a system that treats millions of its citizens -- solid, God-fearing people like Joaquin Rivera -- like cattle.
Because no one should ever have to die like this in America:
According to police, Rivera walked into Aria Health's Frankford Campus, on Frankford Avenue near Harrison Street, about 10:45 p.m. Saturday.
He was alone, and apparently had walked from his nearby home on Duffield Street near Foulkrod, his son said.
Rivera complained of feeling pain in his left arm and abdomen, and was told to sit in the waiting area, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.
At some point during the next hour, Rivera, a longtime bilingual counselor at Olney High School, lost consciousness.
Joaquin Rivera was dying -- right there in a hospital emergency room, a stone's throw from doctors and nurses who could have tried to save him. And then while he was ignored, unconscious and losing life, something else happened to him that was so outrageous that it turned Rivera's passing into a local news story: Three heartless bastards stole the watch off the dying man, right there in the waiting room:
He inadvertently became a target, Vanore said, to three other people in the waiting room - a black woman, a 30-something, 5-foot-8 black man in dark pants who limped, and a second man, who was later arrested at the hospital and identified as Richard Alten, 44.
If the charges stick, then Alten and his low-life scum accomplices deserve to have the book thrown at them. But we should also keep our eye on the big picture, which is that a 63-year-old man who walks into a hospital emergency room complaining of chest pains shouldn't be told to sit down and wait, unmonitored, for more than an hour. And yet this is what medical care is like for millions of Americans, especially someone who lives in an urban area like Rivera did. Although as a school district employee it's highly likely that Rivera personally had decent insurance coverage, he was forced to wait in a room that most likely was filled with people, many of whom were not covered, who pack an ER on a Saturday night as their last and only resort to medical treatment.
You know, I listen to a lot of talk radio and the other places where people are talking healthcare reform a lot of the time these days, and these conversations, quite frankly, tend to be dominated by affluent suburbanites who have decent health coverage -- as long as they're not laid off, anyway -- and access to state-of-the-art hospitals in safe communities, people who can't understand why there is a push for changing things in the country. And there are people like Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina who thinks that just showing up at the hospital is a perfectly fine way of receiving healthcare.No one is speaking loudly enough for the Joaquin Riveras.
There's also a sense in this one-sided debate that Americans who receive inadequate care or who somehow bring this upon themselves deserve their plight. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rivera was clearly a man who gave so much to his community -- a cherished musician and a mentor to youth.
In 1964, Joaquin moved to Philadelphia from the mountain town of Cayey, Puerto Rico. He started out working in a factory that made laminated fabric, took English courses at night and began studying for his GED.
He also took courses at Community College of Philadelphia and Rutgers University. He then went to work at Olney High as a bilingual counselor. He worked for the school district for more than 30 years.
"He has made a difference here in Philadelphia," Roberto Santiago, executive director of Concilio, told the Daily News. "He comes to a new place, incorporates himself, contributes to the city, takes it upon himself to play folkloric music and brings it to the community."
He gave everything to his community, and his community was not there for him when he needed assistance, not his neighbors who ripped him off rather than calling for help, and not a healthcare system that couldn't help him when he showed up on its doorstep. Over the next couple of weeks, our representatives down in Washington are going to be debating and putting the finishing touches on the first but hopefully not final steps toward healthcare reform in this country. I hope that they're thinking about Joaquin Rivera every second of that debate.
Because no one should be allowed to die like this in America, ever again.
--snip-- Rate of Return: The report considered several studies of model programs and, when considering the Perry Preschool program, found a return on investment of 16 percent, with 80 percent of the benefits going to the general public. The data about model programs—such as Perry Preschool yielding more than $8 for every $1 invested—is one way of describing the investment. Rolnick and Grunewald’s use of the rate of return clearly shows the benefits of the investment compared to other investments. --snip--— Talking point sleuth- "Left to their own devices, and without government subsidies, insurance companies would decide to provide health insurance to poor people that couldn't afford to pay premiums." Why couldn't they afford premiums on a basic, bare bones plan that covers catastrophic care and is based on individual risk (i.e. smokers, etc)? Are you truly arguing that the poor shouldn't be responsible for any costs?— RG
- "So overnight the health care provider industry is going to recalculate and docs will switch from specialization to GP? Is that what you are arguing?" Did I ever say that? I actually said that market forces will drive that change...but far be it for you to read my entire post. You want to make this into a referendum about the poor, and about redistribution of wealth. But that completely misses the issues that I've been trying to point out. Those poor/uninsured that youre so worried about covering are already costing you (by your estimations) 68.1 Billion dollars a year! You want to make their getting coverage contingent on "tell[ing] them not to smoke, drink, eat bad foods, get pregnant? We should demand concessions from them if we are to pay for them, should we not?" If you want to do that, fine, but you're required to do the same thing (that whole equal protection under the law thing...I forget what the document that coined that phrase was called again, could you help me?) Dont deal in hyberbole, talk about the real here and now.— x7227
- Leggy, most frivolous malpractice suits never see the courtroom. Also, you would be surprised to know that many malpractice cases are not pursued. My wife and I have seen enough malpractice from her peers to know who the hacks are. You try to avoid referrals and consults from those guys. Both of our fathers got butchered by surgeons. My father didn't pursue the malpractice because he felt it was pointless in light of his age and health. My fatherin law, however, was pssd! It turned out the surgeon had been going from state to state leaving a trail of settlements behind him every time. Far from being frivolous, one of the discovery issues went all the way to SCOTUS, and he prevailed. All tort reform will do is protect the bad doctors by making them insurable.— SteveMG
- LOL! You don't have a clue, do you RG? Long term, government investment in early childhood education reduces unemployment, reduces crime, reduces health care costs, increases productivity and competitiveness. But yeah, you're probably right, a Nobel Prize winning economist probably didn't consider inflation when determining return on investment. Absolutely hilarious.— Talking point sleuth
- ---}}} Why couldn't they afford premiums on a basic, bare bones plan that covers catastrophic care and is based on individual risk (i.e. smokers, etc)? {{{--- Uh, because they're poor?— Talking point sleuth
- "Those poor/uninsured that youre so worried about covering are already costing you (by your estimations) 68.1 Billion dollars a year!" Yes, cause there's no chance that a) non poor are free riding off this (ie the young who decided it was cheaper not getting insurance) b) going forward, covering the medical costs of an additional 20-40 mil will cost LESS that that. Isn't the bill $900 bil over ten years, of which, coverage is only expanded for 6? You simply cannot expand coverage and hope to control costs with this bill. "If you want to do that, fine, but you're required to do the same thing (that whole equal protection under the law thing...I forget what the document that coined that phrase was called again, could you help me?)" YAY! colelctivism at its finest, lets all trade some freedom for security, just like in China.— RG
Comment removed.- JMC- I completely agree, this article goes far outside the box in making assumptions. I dont believe I've cited it once for that very reason. However, I was merely attempting to argue that just because Mr. Bunch has not completely fleshed out this particular story, does not mean that health care reform should not be a good idea. Mr. Bunch has done a piece of opinion journalism, which has omitted several key facts, for that this is not a piece of reputable journalism. However, as a blog post and one that represents his opinion, I feel that his post has a message and attacking his lack of journalism in a blog post muddied the discussion, hence I decided to wade into these rather turbulent waters.— x7227
- "Long term, government investment in early childhood education reduces unemployment, reduces crime, reduces health care costs, increases productivity and competitiveness." Gee that explains away the unemployment and rising health care costs in Europe. Seriously, do you think before you post? And your appeals to authority, "B-b-but a Nobel Prize winner said it", are pathetic.— RG
- ---}}} Are you truly arguing that the poor shouldn't be responsible for any costs? {{{--- No. I have no idea where you got that from. What I'm arguing is that the current system we have for providing healthcare to the poor is inefficient, and more costly to us as a society as long as we feel there is a moral imperative to provide health care to people that can't afford to pay for it. To say that the private sector would resolve that problem is beyond laughable. If you're content with allowing, say, an poor elderly person to die because of a treatable disease, so be it. That's your right. I would disagree. I have absolutely no problem with parting with more of my expendable income to provide care for the poor - it is just that in doing so, as a "fiscal conservative," I'd like to provide that care in the most efficient manner possible.— Talking point sleuth
- ---}}} Are you truly arguing that the poor shouldn't be responsible for any costs? {{{--- No. I have no idea where you got that from. What I'm arguing is that the current system we have for providing healthcare to the poor is inefficient, and more costly to us as a society as long as we feel there is a moral imperative to provide health care to people that can't afford to pay for it. To say that the private sector would resolve that problem is beyond laughable. If you're content with allowing, say, an poor elderly person to die because of a treatable disease, so be it. That's your right. I would disagree. I have absolutely no problem with parting with more of my expendable income to provide care for the poor - it is just that in doing so, as a "fiscal conservative," I'd like to provide that care in the most efficient manner possible.— Talking point sleuth
- "Uh, because they're poor?" Do we buy them hosuing, food, etc? These are arguably more necessary. How do you define poor, people with no income?— RG
- Comment removed.
- ---}}} Do we buy them hosuing, food, etc? {{{--- We have government subsidies for those, also. But regardless, the American people (during Reagan's administration, no less) determined that turning away people from healthcare on the basis of their ability to pay was not consistent with American values. You may have a problem with that notion. I don't.— Talking point sleuth
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