Better to Be Uninsured If You Need Trauma Care?
When I entered the ER as a patient in December, I wasn't seen for probably close to two hours. As an uninsured patient at the time, I figured that was why. But now USA Today reports that uninsured trauma patients may get better care. A published Wednesday found that uninsured patients with severe injuries – "the kind commonly associated with car crashes, serious falls and gunshots – were significantly more likely than insured patients to be transferred out of hospitals not specializing in trauma care." Now, I wasn't a trauma patient. I only had a broken wrist. But I thought that was pretty interesting. I like to watch all these medical shows -- "Untold Stories of the ER," with its dramatized cases (where everyone always gets well) and on the Oprah channel, the reality show, "New York Med" that shows you everything, the blood and guts and it's all real, not scripted. Every once in a while a hospital on one of these shows doesn't ...