Health care laws leave hospitals overwhelmed by 'permanent patients'
By Rock Center with Brian Williams
Tuesday Apr 24, 2012 9:20 AM
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By Kate Snow, Janet Klein and Dustin Stephens
Rock Center
For Barbara Latasiewicz, home was a hospital room. The Poland native, who had cleaned homes in the Chicago area for 20 years, suffered a stroke while on the job in September 2009. An ambulance took her to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in Illinois.
"I was thinking that after a few days, that I'm just gonna get better," Latasiewicz told NBC’s Kate Snow through a translator in an interview airing April 25 at 9pm/8 c on Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Latasiewicz suffered paralysis on one side of her body, but eventually became well enough to leave the hospital. However, more than two years later, the 62-year-old was still in the hospital.
“She hasn’t needed to be in this acute facility for a long time,” said Richard Carroll, the hospital’s chief medical officer.
When asked about Latasiewicz’s more than two year stay at the hospital he oversees, Carroll said, “That’s really a function of how our health care system is working right now, which is it’s not working very well at all, particularly in cases like this.”
Carroll said that Latasiewicz belonged in a skilled nursing facility where she would receive a more appropriate rehabilitation, but she had no way to pay. Latasiewicz had no insurance and was an undocumented resident with no access to government safety-net programs like Medicaid. Without payment, no facility would take her.
 NBC News
Barbara Latasiewicz
The end result? Latasiewicz stayed at La Grange. Her care cost the hospital $1.4 million. A skilled nursing facility would have been a fraction of the cost.
An NBC News investigation discovered that cases like Latasiewicz’s are not unusual, but the result of current health care policies and guidelines. They are known as “permanent patients” and are hidden in plain sight in hospital rooms across the country. That’s because under federal law, hospitals must treat any patient who needs emergency medical attention even if they have no way to pay. Nursing and rehab facilities are not required by law to do so. At the same time, hospitals cannot discharge a patient without a plan in place for his or her ongoing care. The result is patients stuck in the hospital in need of long-term care but with nowhere to go, large medical bills, and no way to pay – a cost that is usually covered at the hospital’s expense.
“It would be cheaper to take these patients and send them to the Ritz Carlton,” said Harvard University School of Public Health Professor Ashish Jha. “They could get room service all day, and that would be cheaper.”
Jha estimates there are tens of thousands of these patients stuck in the hospital with no clear place to go. Some stay an extra week, some months, and some like Latasiewicz even years. NBC News spoke with officials at dozens of hospitals across the country who confirmed housing patients who didn’t need to be there for extended periods.
Many patients are stuck because they have no money or insurance to pay for long-term care. Other patients may have insurance, but their medical needs are too complex for most skilled nursing facilities to accept. Then there are those in limbo at the hospital waiting sometimes for months to qualify for Medicaid. Once they’re approved, Medicaid will cover the nursing or rehab facility they need.
A spokesperson for the American Health Care Association which represents skilled nursing facilities says that the industry works with hospitals to find facilities for such hard-to-place patients.
According to data from the National Inpatient Sample database at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the problem of permanent patients appears to be on the rise. From 2005 to 2009, the last years for which data was available, uninsured hospital patients with no access to Medicare or Medicaid in need of long term care increased 20 percent.
 NBC News
Garrick Amato
“Most of them are Americans,” Jha said. “And if they get hit by a bus, they get sick, they’re in this situation.”
Garrick Amato, 59, arrived at Banner Heart Hospital in Mesa, Ariz., after suffering a heart attack. A few days later, he was ready to leave the hospital for a rehab facility. However, Amato, who said he worked part-time at a local discount store, had no health insurance and no way to pay for his rehab.
“I guess no nursing home will take me cause I don’t have insurance,” Amato said.
Furthermore, as a single adult without dependent children, he did not qualify for Medicaid in Arizona. Amato spent most of March and much of April at the hospital. Banner Hospital eventually found charity care for him that placed him in a skilled nursing facility where he belonged.
Other patients linger in hospitals despite their best efforts to find charity care. Fatima Khydarova, a professor from Uzbekistan, has been at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for more than two years. Khydarova arrived there after suffering an incapacitating stroke while visiting her grandchildren in New York. While Khydarova will never walk or talk again, doctors say she does not need to be in a hospital.
 NBC News
Fatima Khydarova
“In a perfect world she should be either at home with her family caring for her or in a nursing home,” Maimonides CEO and President Pamela Brier said.
Khydarova’s grandchildren said that they cannot take care of their grandmother at their mother’s small apartment and at the same time make a living to support all of them.
“I’m working, I’m working.” said granddaughter Nigina Abdullaeva who works at a doctor’s office.
Dr. Jha of Harvard University says that the costs for treating permanent patients are passed on to other consumers through higher medical bills and insurance premiums.
“The bottom line is we’re all paying for it,” Jha said.
To mitigate the cost of these patients, some hospitals have paid out of their own funds to move them to skilled nursing facilities. Once there, the hospital could pay for their care for the rest of their lives.
“Hospitals don't want to widely advertise that they will pay for your care elsewhere,” Jha said. “But in select situations, they look, and they realize, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars to keep the patient in the hospital, it's probably cheaper for them to send them somewhere else.”
Back in Illinois, case workers at La Grange Hospital also struggled for years to find a more appropriate medical facility for Latasiewicz. They eventually found one, but it was in her native Poland.
Wiping tears away from her eyes, Latasiewicz told Kate Snow through a translator that she did not want to leave. Latasiewicz lived in the United States for 20 years and has a son and grandchildren living nearby. However, her son, Peter Latasiewicz, said he could not take his mother into the small apartment he shares with his children and another family.
“I wouldn’t be able to provide as much help and support and care for her,” Peter Latasiewicz said, “she’s got a lot of medical conditions where she requires 24/7 care.”
The hospital eventually went to court for permission to send Barbara to the medical facility in Poland.
The hospital won and on March 1, Latasiewicz boarded a flight back to her native Poland.
In Brooklyn, Khydarova, the professor from Uzbekistan, remains at Maimonides and the hospital is still working hard to find a solution for her family
“She’s going to stay in the hospital unless we can find a spot for her,” CEO Brier said, “She could stay here potentially for the rest of her life.”
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300lbGorillaApr 25, 2012 #418NEW
The issue of Healthcare is near and dear to my heart, so I not only read the articles but all the comments as well. So the picture that is painted here is that we blame our broken Healthcare on the Hospitals, on the Insurance providers, on the "thieving" doctors, on the Republicans, on the Democrats, on the Libertarians and finally on the illegals. Nobody seems to be paying any attention to the 300 lb gorilla in the room, and that's the malpractice lawyers, that are sucking billions of dollars annually out of our Healthcare purse. Our thriving malpractice industry is what's different between America and all the other developed nations enjoying more accessible Healthcare. So the next time you wonder why your doctor smacked you with an astronomic bill, just remember not only the decades he spent in school but also that his career could be ended tomorrow, by a skilled lawyer who uses tricks to gain the sympathy of a jury, because doctors are the only humans who should always know it all, always be perfect and always have the forsight of all your hindsight revelations.
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Grinspoon97Apr 25, 2012 #418.1NEW
Bleeding heart juries and lawyers are a part of the problem. I take issue with more accessible healthcare not available in the US. Emergency rooms are required to treat you without asking for your ability to pay. There are Urgent Care offices at around $80 for normal stuff and there are free clinics.
Always remember, and never forget - someone pays.
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Zee-3670572Apr 25, 2012 #419NEW
I'm 51,I own nothing. I have a son,and I have no healthcare whatsoever.Diabeties,a herniated disc, and no medicine for bi-polar disorder. Thanks republican party. I'm going to make a statement.It won't be pretty.
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TurnerpaApr 25, 2012 #420NEW
I'm confused. If it would cost seventeen times less to maintain the patient in a nursing home, why doesn't the hospital send the patient to a nursing home and pay the bill themselves as a private pay?
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sher2446Apr 25, 2012 #421NEW
People with families, the family should take care of them no matter what it takes. I can not afford to take care of anyone else.
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vollengineerApr 25, 2012 #421.1NEW
We took that away from this story, too. That was hard to see, wasn't it, the families that "had no choice." Very sad.
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MaryPat ForbesApr 25, 2012 #422NEW
A cost of 1.4 million dollars is hardly a true statement. It reflects the POTENTIAL loss of revenue for the hospital IF it had that bed filled by someone with a GOOD insurance payment to the hospital. The care given did not cost the hospital that amount. More likely the patient gets very little direct care from Nurses, therapists, MDs etc but gets primary contact with techs, aides and non-licensed caregivers at a significantly lower cost. Notice the big IF...most hospitals rarely if ever have a 100% occupancy so often that bed is unfilled anyway. Secondly in order for not for profit hospitals to maintain that status they must "give" a percentage of charity care...One patient that does not really cost 1.4 million easily gets written off by the hospital at 1.4 mill. Don't get me wrong the system is broken and needs to be fixed but this story does not reveal all the facts
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catherinevailApr 25, 2012 #423NEW
omg!!!seriously??? All these poor sick people could be in the comfort of their homes( and not be in those aweful hospitals) under the local hospice. its a medicare benefit that keeps your loved one in the comfort of their own home with their family!!!most have and rn visit one a week (more if needed) cna services, chaplain services, and a social worker!! I dont understand why this was never suggested! the piece made me sad!
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Apr 25, 2012 #424UnpublishedNEW
Sounds like we could of saved some money if we would send these undocumented people home before they over burden our healthcare system. Bye the Bye, who is going to pay for the man who is unemployeed and does not have the money to buy health insurance. Your lack of planning during your lifetime is not my emergency or duty.
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vollengineerApr 25, 2012 #425NEW
I complain about news shows not providing all sides of a story regularly. But congrats to Rock Center for giving it a shot. Some of these people are undocumented - this poor lady cost over a million dollars just for this incident. Some of these people have family who just don't want to be put out (that was the saddest part for me). They didn't give me the whole story about the man who had too much money (with only a part time job), but nobody is perfect. I won't get into the debate - you all are doing well. But I think Rock Center deserves a little credit for making their bias clear (they want long term care available to people) but still giving more info than they had to in this atmosphere of media coverage. Keep pushing out of your comfort zone and you'll get the viewers, I hope!
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Nurse with a heartApr 25, 2012 #426NEW
Kate
Snow, you are completely out of line. While watching this show my heart was
going out to these poor patients who have nowhere to go to get the help they
need. My heart broke when I saw the two grandchildren of that poor patient who
could not care for their grandmother, that must make their hearts break. I am a
home health nurse and see a great deal of situations similar to these, the
families of these patients would give anything to be able to care for their
loved one. Unfortunately Kate, they live in the "real world" where
they do not have the option of quitting their jobs and staying home 24 hrs a
day to do so like I am sure you do. The comment you made "Why not say look
you have to find a way to deal with this" WOW!!! I think you need a moment
to reflect on what is going on in the worked and why such a question is sooo
completely inappropriate you narrow minded small person! Evil is what that was
and you should be ashamed. I will never watch any show you are involved in
again. Also, I hope that you are never in a situation where you must watch your
mother, father, sister, best friend etc suffer without one person offering to
fight for them, to keep them safe and make sure they are cared for. It is
painful and heart retching. Shame on you!
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beancounter8Apr 25, 2012 #426.1NEW
Why? Because the woman had the nerve to imply that people take care of their own responsibilities instead of dumping them on others? That was her crime? Nurse with a heart...and a very small brain.
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RN-ErinApr 26, 2012 #426.2NEW
I am a nurse too, that does not mean I am stupid enough to think that we (taxpayers) can continue to pay for non-citizens to live here for free forever. Hospitals should be allowed to discharge people when they are medically stable regardless of their personal situation. Hospitals discharge homeless people all the time. If you love your grandma take care of her, the government will pay for that too. I prefer mass deportation.
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Terrie FinchApr 25, 2012 #427NEW
Well, I just watched this on TV. " just put my 78 year mother to bed, who is suffering from Alzhiemers, she needs 24/7 care. She has no long term insurance, I quit my job to stay home and care for her. We live off of her pension and ss which totals a 1300.00 amonth, her house is not paid for, we owe back taxes, on and on and on, Due to this disease , I could put her in a home, it would cost the state of Illinois around 5-6 thousand a month. ( I contacted the state to see if there was some way they could pay me 1-2 thousand a month to care for her, It would supplement my income, and she would not need to be on any State aid, or food stamps, this would save the state tons. (The Governor of Illinois Quinn, would not even answer any of my 5 letters I have written , See she will need to be put in a home sometime, and I will be homeless and in my fifty's.. ( I then will be those people living off your tax dollor) That is why that family could not quit there jobs to care for that poor women. This system is broken, and no one will listen to money saving fixes.
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Suz-4621830Apr 25, 2012 #428NEW
Why is it OUR responsibility to pay for illegal aliens? Send them ALL HOME and let their own country pay!!!!
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CollegeSportsFanApr 25, 2012 #429NEW
This report illustrates why Rock Center will never be 60 Minutes. It's good, but shallow. It doesn't explore the obvious questions. Is nobody thinking? The report says taxpayers wind up paying the bills for permanent patients, but that's too simple. It says putting them up at the Ritz Carlton would be cheaper. Okay, but who pays directly? If it's the hospitals, but nursing homes are cheaper, why don't hospitals pay nursing homes to house their permanent patients? If it's the insurance companies, which are so good at negotiating drug prices, etc., why don't they work out deals with nursing homes so they don't have to pay the hospitals for what is essentially nursing home care?
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beancounter8Apr 25, 2012 #430NEW
I'm sorry, I'm generally a middle of the road liberal, but this segment made me absoutely livid. The Polish woman who worked for 20 years, okay, but she worked UNDER THE TABLE and paid NOTHING in taxes or SS. I hate to say it, but the omission of this likely fact was 85% likely a liberal bias. (I AM USUALLY A LIBERAL BUT A LIE IS A LIE IS A LIE..)
The 'visiting historian' my how impressive, isn't even a U.S. Citizen and you and I are paying through the nose to care for this woman that HER OWN GRANDCHILDREN (And incidentally, how come the woman's CHILDREN weren't interviewed? Illegal aliens in hiding? Probably!) won't care for.
We've got the Republicans pandering to the super-rich, the Democrats pandering to the bottom feeders and us poor middle-class morons paying for ALL OF THEM!
They sent the Polish woman back to Warsaw. Good call! Why can't that be done with the historian as well?
As for the guy who worked part time in retail, if medical insurance was mandated by law, he would have had benefits! Better yet, if the public option was available to him and he could purchase, (with his own money!), the insurance available to Federal employees, he wouldn't be in the fix that he's in! And you and I wouldn't have to subsidize his Medicaid! Benefits for a single guy with no dependents would cost him about 35.00 a paycheck for a Federally available plan. (Don't ask me how I know this. I do.) I know he doesn't make a ton of money, but 70.00 a a month is money well spent for health care. He'll survive.
Bottom line, nobody wants to make the really hard call..either come and claim your indigent relative or they'll be quietly allowed to slip off to a better place. That would get the family's attention! If it fails to get their attention, then there's the sad answer right there in their silence. Even the marginally employed must be offered medical insurance at competitive rates...and those employees WILL HAVE TO cough up their premiums just like the rest of us!
Enough is enough. Hospitals have an obligation to stablize the patient. Nothing more. If the family doesn't want to accept their rightful responsibility, then they have no right to complain when the other options available to them aren't to their liking. Marginally employed people need to shut the %$# up about paying dirt-cheap rates for functional (not great, not bad) health plans. Nothing worth having is ever free.
We can't go on paying for situations like these forever. We just can't. There's too many of them and not enough tax-paying yahoos like us.
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Joe King-534881Apr 25, 2012 #431NEW
One thing struck me was that the hospitals are spending an inordinate amount of money on "permanent patients." They have attempted to find a facility that will take these patients. Because the patients have no insurance, the long-term facilites are unwilling to accept the cost.
As a suggestion: Why doesn't the hospital offer to pay for the cost of moving the patient to a long-term facility? By their own figures, it would cost them 1/17th of what they are spending now. As an added benefit, it frees up a room which could be filled by a patient with insurance.
An added benefit would be that the patient would receive more appropriate care.
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RN-ErinApr 26, 2012 #432NEW
I used to live in AZ. This is a huge problem. There are thousands of patients like this in the US, every last one of them is illegal. It is an immigration problem, not a health care issue. Deport them all! Taxpayers should not have to pay for this.
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little minxApr 26, 2012 #433NEW
Latasiewicz came to America illegally. She worked here illegally - depriving legal American citizens from employment because she was taking a job away from people who are in this country legally. Now she has illegally scammed the hospital out of $1.4 miilion worth of health care. Why on earth should she be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid? She should have been deported several decades ago - she is in the country illegally. I was relieved to learn at the end of the story that she was sent back to Poland. She cried a lot in a "Pity Party" but she was definitely no just "dumped" in Poland. She was placed in a good quality, long term care facility. Her son was interviewed and he said "I can't care for her" - is he also illegally living in this country? There was a bit of a sob story with her complaining about how much she misses her son and grandchildren - but her son made ZERO effort to find a way to care for his mother.
Something just didn't sound right about the elderly man Hispanic man who tried to apply for Medicare and Social Security benefits in Arizona but was denied benefits. He said he was a retail store worker for Big Lots part time for years - so he was probably earning close to minimum wage. I seriously doubt he was a home owner, or has a big investment portfolio. To receive Medicare Medicaid - you have to be low income - which he definitely is. It didn't seem he had big financial assets. Is he also in the country illegally? This is the ONLY reason why I could think of that he was denied benefits was he was not a legal citizen of the USA.
The woman from Eastern Europe who was a historian - there was no mention whether or not she was in the country legally. Her grandaughters reminded me a great deal of the Polish man who said "there is no way I can care for my mother". The grandaughters used the excuse that "we have full time jobs". Well there are TWO of them - one could work the night shift - the other could work the day shift - they could also do alternate weekends - there is a way to find how to care for their grandmother. It didn't appear the grandaughters were born in this country. Are they here legally or illegally?
Don't get me wrong - I am not a Tea Bag Party member, I'm not anti-immigration. I'm actually quite liberal on human rights, civil rights and social justice issues. I genuinely admire the LEGAL immigrants who come to this country by doing it the fair way - by obtaining Legal Resident paperwork - paying lawyers to become Naturalized Citizens. The LEGAL immigratns waited their turn, worked with the system and paid large sums of money to immigration attorneys - they followed the letter of the law.
America is a nation founded by immigrants - but it is really hard for me to have sympathy for ANY of the people featured in your program. The Polish woman is definitely illegally in this country - and your reporter glossed over whether or not the other people featured are illegally in this country also.
Latasiewicz is admittedly an illegal, undocumented immigrant - she worked for several decades as a cleaning lady - which denied a legal American from that job. The segment didn't state whether the Hispanic elderly man or the Eastern European woman, Fatima were in this country illegally or legally. But what is glaringly evident is the problem is primarily due to the immediate, blood-family relatives refusing their responsibility to care for their aged relatives because it is "too inconvenient". All of these blood relatives clearly are not native born Americans - they all spoke with accents - are they in this country legally or not?
The other issue - hospitals are NOT supposed to be an alternative to homeless shelters. Because the blood relatives REFUSE to accept their parent and grandparent into their home - that makes these people essentially homeless. I think the primary reason the people featured in the segment were still in the hospital was their LACK OF HOUSING problems - not so much their medical care - but they had no place to live.
Instead of portraying it as a sob story - the blood relatives need to be made to accept responsibilty for their parents and grandparents.
Can you do a follow up and let your viewers know if the grandaughters of Fatima and the Polish man whose mother is Latasiewicz are in this country legally or illegally.
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mvktApr 26, 2012 #434NEW
Shocking report on long-term hospital care, esp. for NON-U.S. citizens -- there must be a better solution! We can't afford to subsidize.
I like Costco, but sometimes wonder if we're "saving" $$ by only occasional purchases -vs. annual membership fee. Probably a better value for large families or small businesses buying in bulk.
How about a segment on Trader Joe's? A great place to shop!
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frustrated inSAApr 26, 2012 #435NEW
I really get angry when I watch a story like this. I am 63. I am not rich, and not poor, or an illegal immigrant. I enjoy paying my bills. I enjoy being self sufficient. I have not had insurance since 1976. I have paid for all my medical myself. But I can not afford Insurance. I now have a few problems that I need attention for. But where to start. When I go to the doctor, (for a particular problem) I pay the doctor, then get a referral. I pay that doctor and get another referral. By the time I go to the third or fourth doctor all my savings are used up. I have no way of getting the tests I need. To see someone abusing the system in this manor just really make me mad. I do not abuse the system in any way. But, I can not get a diagnosis because all the doctors are getting paid for less than 10 to 15 minutes of their time. So isn't there a way of getting the tests without going through my savings just to get another referral? and shouldn't there be a way?
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mvktApr 26, 2012 #436NEW
We can't even take care of our own citizens! U.S. taxpayers CAN NOT afford to subsidize illegals with free health care, education, etc.
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SandreoniApr 26, 2012 #437NEW
I am a social worker on an inpatient psychiatric unit, and this story directly speaks to my experience but with the added layer of the stigma of mental illness. We get patients who dont have health care, or have lost their health care, who unlike the stereotype or what people think are legal citizens of the Untied States. They can be stuck at the hospital for weeks or even months for a variety of reasons at a huge cost to the hospital (it's over a grand per night on the unit). However, I am in the state of Massachusetts with mandated health care. If we get that patient without health care insurance, patient financial care gets right on the case to assist the patient in getting health care insurance (this too unfortunately can take months to get back onto state insurance).
Without insurance, you are so limited and have such a high probably of returning! Difficulty paying for these outrageously high medications (or switching to a less expensive medication with is less effective), and difficult finding and following outpatient providers. What would help is an increase in community based supports and programs, however they are loosing funding and closing in this economy.
Btw, it would be cheaper to send a patient to the Ritz Carlton.
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greg11#Apr 26, 2012 #438UnpublishedNEW
I found the episode to be deceiving and poor journalism. Does anyone really think that people are
getting service worth over $1M per year?
Are we feeding them caviar and letting them drive Ferrari’s? Somehow the food that I had during my last
hospital stay does not seem to jive with these costs. Are there doctors on their personal staff
seeing them daily? If these people were
truly costing the hospitals that much money yearly, they would in fact place
them at the Ritz to save money. The bottom
line is that these are lost opportunity costs to the hospitals, and the cost
the hospitals are putting on the Tax payers.
If they truly cost that much
money to the hospitals, the hospitals would establish extended care facilities
to save money. The truth is that these
people are not costing the hospital a fraction of the hospital claims, and the true
crime is that this is what a hospital stay costs us all daily and this is what
taxpayers are paying for these hospitals to support these people. Not what it is actually costing the
hospitals.
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Win28Apr 26, 2012 #439NEW
NBC, please please plan to do an update on Barbara. The report left out so many details, such as, is there any family in Poland to ensure she is not left alone and forgotten in the Poland facility? Health care and immigration aside, there is a woman at the heart of this story who has been handed by one party to the next as a problem to be solved. How disturbing that the equally hearbreaking rhino story provides links to help the rhinos, but this report offered no means for anyone to help Barbara.
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Apr 26, 2012 #440UnpublishedNEW
Dear Brian,
I don't know if you read these comments or not, but I really wanted to reach out to you and couldn't find an e-mail address. This story really hit home for me as my family and I are living it. It is clear that our healthcare system needs serious reform. My father has been in between hospitals and rehab centers since November of 2011, not nearly the extent the people in this story have endured, but he has health insurance and let me tell you the insurance companies drive a patient's care, so I'm watching this story thinking, is it better to NOT have insurance?
The one thing that really annoyed me during this story were the families who are whining and complaining about not being able to bring their family member home for one reason or another. They need to just make that happen how ever way possible, I wanted to jump through the TV and shake them. My family and I are doing it, why can't they? And it's no easy task, let me tell you, but we're doing it.
But that brings up another issue our healthcare system or insurance companies need to address, once someone is released from the hospital or rehab center and they are not quite well enough to handle things on their own just yet, but are too well to be in a facility, there is no at home care that can be obtained without hiring a private company to do so, but what happens if you don't have the money to hire these people? It falls to family and friends, non-medical professionals, to step in and do the care taking, this is actually the expected practice that the hospitals, rehab centers and insurance companies depend on. Which brings up another question, what if there are no friends and family? I would never not help my father, but what happens when we all have to go to work during the day and he's at home alone all day until one of us can be there at night? The FMLA is a good program, from what little I know about it, the only problem there is the employer doesn't have to pay you to be out while you are caring for your family member, as well they shouldn't, but very few people are in a position to not be able to work and take care of their loved ones. It's pretty scary and frustrating for the patient to be put in a position of caring for themselves when they can barely walk, administering medications and food through a feeding tube and for the family having to leave them to their own devices, insurance companies should be required to provide some sort of transition care. This is a very crucial time for someone as ill as my father, and will be the difference between him getting well and going back to the hospital.
Thank you for running this story, it was even more of an eye-opener then I've already gotten over the past six months regarding our desperately broken healthcare system.
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Apr 26, 2012 #441UnpublishedNEW
There are many factors at play, government requirements that have no financial support, uninsured, etc. etc. Those are huge problems that require more of a fix than we've been able to come up with. However, for this example, at some point during the first year if not certainly during the second year did cost analysis by this hospital not prove that it would be more cost effective for them to pay for her care at a more appropriate facility at a lower cost? She would have care, get rehab, and the hospital would not be out $1.4 mil.
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Slickr8Apr 26, 2012 #442UnpublishedNEW
I'm not going to read 1200 posts. The Dr.Ja went to Harvard? Really, did none of them ever hear of the fact that woman worked for 20ys, gives her plenty of rights. She can get a lawyer for free & set herself up for income on disability, since she's worked. Then can get what she needs brought to her at home, including Medicare that she most certainly qualifies for. It's called early social security, and she needs to get on it, and out of that hospital. She's either not informed or having the time of her life from the looks of that hospital. Hello, anyone out there get her in contact with someone NOW.
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Slickr8Apr 26, 2012 #443NEW
Simple: 1.get her the free attorney she is entitled to see. 2. have them get her signed up via the MD, especially the one that went to 'Harvard", Dr, Ja for social security, it includes the benefits of Medicare she does qualify for. Her physician's documentation will be verification enough.
She has worked for 20yrs. it is her income that will cover her needs, either in her own place or another facility that is covered by Medicare with will come automatically with the above mentioned PLAN OF ACTION.
Not a complicated situation at all. Now lets get back down to REAL news & stop pretending someone is a problem when it CAN be solved.
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Suz-4621830Apr 26, 2012 #444NEW
Her family could have taken care of her and home (night shift, etc.) and done whatever it took to keep her here. However, they "chose" not to. Her country needs to pay for it, NOT us!
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EuroWayApr 26, 2012 #445UnpublishedNEW
"MICHAEL ANDERSON - COMMENT: ABOUT 'WILL BURN YOU FOR FREE" etc.... Well, let me guess: i bet he/Michael Anderson, was one of those cry babies during September 11, 2001! When thousands of people were killed, by the attacks. I bet he was 'angry' too, at those who 'commited the attacks', yet, on the same hand, he wants to 'burn those in fire for free, if they have no insurance and no money to pay hospital bills". Which is it bud? Loser? You can't 'hate al-qaieda' for murdering many different folks, and want 'revenge', if in the same breath, you want to kill those who dont pay for health care, especially those with no money $$$!!!!!
Why is it that usa/Americans are so STUPID?
Yes, HEALTH CARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT!!!! THE ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS THIS, AND I MIGHT ADD, THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LIVING LONGER THAN YOU 'STUPID AMERICANS' , BECAUSE OF THE 'GOD GIVEN RIGHT' OF HEALTH CARE!
DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
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Alex 61Apr 27, 2012 #446NEW
Maybe I just don't get it. But if I understand the story, Permanent Patient's bills are being absorbed by the hospital. Then hospitals pass the cost on to everyone else.
Possible Solution:
If the hospitals are paying out the money and nursing homes are so much cheaper then why don't the hospitals just send the patients to nursing homes and then pay the nursing home bill instead of paying so much more to keep Permanent Patients in their hospital.
Is this too simple? Am I missing the point? I'm sure that this is not a great solution, but it's quick, easy and it can be implemented immediately.
The cost would be much lower for hospitals than it is currently. The hospitals would spend a great deal less. And the best part is patients would get the right care they need, and health care costs for everyone would drop instead of continuously rising.
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texaslabApr 28, 2012 #447UnpublishedNEW
Universal Health care is the solution. It's awful and we live in the richest country in world. This issue has become the norm, and that's sad.
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petunia124May 1, 2012 #448UnpublishedNEW
As of 2001, in the long-term nusing facility I worked in, we had to accept patients on
Medicare or Medicaid; anyone in the hospital for three days qualified for transfer to a
nursing center. I saw the financial policy be changed between 1979 and 2001 -- when I
began there, a resident had to have 2 years Private Pay before converting to Medicaid;
sometime in the 1990s, I believe, the law in PA (and the whole country?) was changed:
no Private Pay time was needed -- they could come in on Medicaid.
As I recall, no matter what one's age was, if they were disabled for two years, they
could qualify for Medicare, even if not in a facililty. (A friend's husband had a heart
attack and qualified after 2 years; he was unable to work.)
I'd heard -- possibly not true, though -- that the government will pay $1,000 a
month to a family member to keep the infirm at home -- rather than the person work
and keep the person in a facility. In 2001, nursing facility cost over $5,000 a month.
Seems to me the lady from Poland could have been in an assisted living facility.
There has to be some solution to this waste of resources. How many people who
needed hospitalization died because someone was LIVING IN the hospital?
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LibtarddestroyerMay 23, 2012 #449NEW
eff all you do gooding liberal scurn. Dump them in the street. I'd rather see that then the end of this nation which is coming thanks to you dumb arse mofo's on the left thinking the rich should pay for everything and if that is not enough, obama has a money tree out back the whitehouse!
I hate you mother effen liberal scurnbags!
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Suffolk Veterinary SpecialistJun 6, 2012 #450NEW
ObamaCare is another scheme for people to pay more taxes and money. Sheesh!
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coachbagsonlineJun 28, 2012 #451DeletedNEW
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coachbagsonlineJun 28, 2012 #451.1DeletedNEW
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coachbagsonlineJun 28, 2012 #452DeletedNEW
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altheajjAug 7, 2012 #453NEW
I digress here but, Barbara Latasiewicz, was here for 20 years but still could not speak English and needed a translator?
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kathyforyou-1140935Aug 7, 2012 #454NEW
When you "give" people things for free, they will not pay for better. They expect everything "free". It is a common practice to send elderly people from other countries to the US to "visit" - they become sick(or are sick and do not tell). The family pays for 2 years and then they are an dumped on our medical system. There are about 100,000 a year or more who fit this pattern. 60 minutes did a story about 5-6 years ago.
As for sending them back to their homeland. That was done with a man from South America. They sued and won several million because he was moved without a proper place to stay in his home country.
The whole world expects the USA to pay for everything including half the US citizens. No one makes equipment for free, builds hospitals or sends doctors to school for free, so why do you think Medical Care should be free?????
Medicare and Medicaid are both so abused it is crazy. Do we need another boondoggle? I think not. Make people responsible for their own actions. Everyone should pay somethings even if it is just a dollar. It would help a lot...........
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Dinesh R RdxAug 18, 2012 #455NEW
Been reading this site for awhile now, always has really good posts and topics please keep it up! loads of blogs are going under lately from lack of new posts etc
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