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Professor Annas Responds

Professor Annas Responds Patients from Hospital Emergency Wards,' by Annas, describes a problem in our country that is becoming ever more serious: namely, the increasing difficulty the poor are encountering in obtaining emergency medical care. Professor Annas is right in bringing his concerns to the attention of your readers, because society has not sufficiently addressed this growing need. Unfortunately, after describing the problem, Annas only lamented that conditions were not what they used to be. Nowhere did he examine causes or offer solutions. In the current situation, where hospitals and physicians are reluctant to provide emergency medical care when there is an inability to pay on the part of the patient, it must be understood that severe financial restrictions have been placed on them by government and business. In the past, physicians and hospitals absorbed some of the losses incurred in rendering this care and shifted others. This shifting is no longer possible. Programs for controlling health care costs-and they are numerousinstituted by government and business have seen to that. Today health care providers are fortunate if they can cover expenses when participating in Medicare (there has been a physician fee freeze for some time), Medicaid, or private third party programs. In short, while physicians currently provide free care as they have always done, it is no longer economically feasible for them and the hospitals where they practice to completely absorb the cost of providing free emergency care on the scale now needed. Perhaps Professor Annas can do a sequel to the article referred to in this letter, concentrating on the obligations of all major participants in our society to help the poor. Think of the good that could be accomplished if business, insurers, and government united with physicians and hospitals to attack the problem! A concerted effort would certainly go a long way. REFERENCE 1. Annas GJ: Your money or your life: 'Dumping' uninsured patients from hospital emergency wards. (Public Health & the Law) Am J Public Health 1986; 76:74-77. Pedro A. Poma, MD President-Elect, Chicago Medical Society, 515 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610 C 1986 American Journal of Public Health The Journal article, Your Money or Your Life: 'Dumping' Uninsured sicians. For this problem, the column served up three specific and two general solutions. One of the suggestions-stricter state regulation-has recently been seconded by Relman2 in commenting on a study of the dumping problem in Dr. Poma's own Cook County.3 Dr. Poma, the solution to the Cook County problem is in your hands and that of the members of the Chicago Medical Society of which you are President-Elect: if physicians in all hospitals in Cook County refuse to transfer patients except for valid medical reasons, hospitals, government, and third party payors, will have to adjust, and a method will be found to pay for emergency care. It is for government and other insurers to work out the economic issues; it is for physicians to care for patients suffering from emergency conditions regardless of the patient's economic status. The law will support physicians in this effort. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Public Health American Public Health Association

Professor Annas Responds

George J. Annas
American Journal of Public Health , Volume 76 (7) – Jul 1, 1986
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Publisher
American Public Health Association
Copyright
Copyright © by the American Public Health Association
ISSN
0090-0036
eISSN
1541-0048
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Abstract

Patients from Hospital Emergency Wards,' by Annas, describes a problem in our country that is becoming ever more serious: namely, the increasing difficulty the poor are encountering in obtaining emergency medical care. Professor Annas is right in bringing his concerns to the attention of your readers, because society has not sufficiently addressed this growing need. Unfortunately, after describing the problem, Annas only lamented that conditions were not what they used to be. Nowhere did he examine causes or offer solutions. In the current situation, where hospitals and physicians are reluctant to provide emergency medical care when there is an inability to pay on the part of the patient, it must be understood that severe financial restrictions have been placed on them by government and business. In the past, physicians and hospitals absorbed some of the losses incurred in rendering this care and shifted others. This shifting is no longer possible. Programs for controlling health care costs-and they are numerousinstituted by government and business have seen to that. Today health care providers are fortunate if they can cover expenses when participating in Medicare (there has been a physician fee freeze for some time), Medicaid, or private third party programs. In short, while physicians currently provide free care as they have always done, it is no longer economically feasible for them and the hospitals where they practice to completely absorb the cost of providing free emergency care on the scale now needed. Perhaps Professor Annas can do a sequel to the article referred to in this letter, concentrating on the obligations of all major participants in our society to help the poor. Think of the good that could be accomplished if business, insurers, and government united with physicians and hospitals to attack the problem! A concerted effort would certainly go a long way. REFERENCE 1. Annas GJ: Your money or your life: 'Dumping' uninsured patients from hospital emergency wards. (Public Health & the Law) Am J Public Health 1986; 76:74-77. Pedro A. Poma, MD President-Elect, Chicago Medical Society, 515 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610 C 1986 American Journal of Public Health The Journal article, Your Money or Your Life: 'Dumping' Uninsured sicians. For this problem, the column served up three specific and two general solutions. One of the suggestions-stricter state regulation-has recently been seconded by Relman2 in commenting on a study of the dumping problem in Dr. Poma's own Cook County.3 Dr. Poma, the solution to the Cook County problem is in your hands and that of the members of the Chicago Medical Society of which you are President-Elect: if physicians in all hospitals in Cook County refuse to transfer patients except for valid medical reasons, hospitals, government, and third party payors, will have to adjust, and a method will be found to pay for emergency care. It is for government and other insurers to work out the economic issues; it is for physicians to care for patients suffering from emergency conditions regardless of the patient's economic status. The law will support physicians in this effort.

Journal

American Journal of Public Health – American Public Health Association

Published: Jul 1, 1986

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