My grandson became very sick last week. Because my daughter has no health insurance for either of them we tried everything we could to stop his vomiting and bring down his fever. We kept looking for signs of dehydration. He kept nothing down. By day five he was listless and we were feeding him pedialyte with a syringe. By day six we were arguing about what we should do.
Should we take him to the emergency room where he would not be denied care? I had 160.00 left for two weeks, should we go to a med center?
Las Vegas is a mean town when it comes to health care.
The "free" clinic is for adults. No pediatric care is offered for a reasonable price. We have no pediatricians willing to see children without insurance coverage. How could they order tests? Too much liability.
we asked around. No luck.
Finally we took him to the emergency room at Sunrise Hospital.
He spent the day in the emergency room. He was hydrated and given a medicine to stop the vomiting and nausea. After eleven hours in the emergency room she went to check out.
The hospital knew she had no insurance. She told them when she came in the door.
When my daughter got to check out the billing clerk yelled at my daughter, "What did you think you were going to do when it came time pay?" she yelled in front of the people in the waiting room. "The bill is $2,000.!!
Who is going to pay the doctors for their care? How do you think this hospital keeps serving patients?
She yelled louder, "This bill is $2,000. "What WERE YOU THINKING?"
After seven days with a sick baby, agonizing whether to bring him in, she was exhausted and crying.
"I just wanted my son well, she said." I will pay you back after I get out of school in July, in the meantime I will send what I can>"
The clerk handed her the bill and stated, "Yeah, well good luck with that." Who will the pay the doctors?"
My daughter has two months of school and then she will have a job with insurance coverage.
She doesn't have much choice at this point.
This may sound a little dramatic, but the message from health care is this-"unless you qualify for medicare or medicaid, or have private insurance, don't come here. Don't you dare come here."
Like any service offered on an optional basis such as pedicures, facials, manicures, hair design, etc., if you don't have the money do not use the service. Your health, your baby's health is not important enough to warrant service without payment, Go away. If you die, it is that much cheaper for us.
How dare you come here without the ability to pay.
Know any pediatricians who take cash and charge reasonable rates.?
