Fix Healthcare NOW!!! Vote Incumbents Out –Seek a Two-Thirds Congressional Majority & Suspend Congressional Health Coverage: $5,000+ Bill For Two Emergency Room Tylenol Tablets – UNBELIEVABLE!
My wife fell on the Ice on Monday. This gave me a firsthand look at the travesty these political parties have caused in their failure to resolve our national healthcare system. The Emergency Room charged us $5,000, and counting, for 10 minutes of the doctor’s time and two Tylenol’s – Thank you for fixing our ridiculous healthcare system Congress.
Folks, it will not get fixed by either of these parties – they have had decades and failed. Turn your back on Democrats and Republicans, vote out incumbents, and get American’s in there who will get the job done and put party’s interests and re-election possibilities second. They have demonstrated their incompetency long enough.
I was, getting ready for work on that February Monday morning, running late as usual to get a few coffee roasts done before the shop opened for business. My wife had already left early to run to the market to get some veggies for The Mad Moose, our little café, when I received a confused panicked call. It was her, crying and barely intelligible. She said she was in an accident. She was outside the car on the ground, on the pavement and could not get up, that her head hurts, she needed someone to help… an emotionally charged panicked state of mind drifting in and out of coherency. Not a good situation.
I asked her where she was and was thinking the worst. Did the car go off the road, did someone hit her, was she thrown from the car? She said she was in the Valley Market Parking Lot. I said, “I’m on my way.” Of course, the worst goes through your mind in these moments. In my rush to get to her, I recalled another dangerous accident we experienced in a COSTCO parking lot. We were broadsided on that occasion by an irresponsible driver who totaled our car – in the COSTCO parking lot!!! Luckily, no one was hurt. That’s right – our SUV was totaled in a COSTCO parking lot after being broadsided! Our vehicle was lifted off the ground when the driver of the other car hit us. He had to be going at least 30 MPH. He said he did not see us because the sun was in his eyes. Can you believe that?! Good thing we were in a heavy four wheel dive and not a mother wheeling a shopping cart to her car with a baby in it when he decided to speed through a parking lot without being able to see what was in front of him. “I could not see because the sun was in my eyes?!?” So, um, why were you even driving – little lone going 30 plus MPH in a parking lot, fast enough to broadside and destroy another car, right?!
I was still in my pajamas and slippers as I hurried to the Market 5 minutes away from the house while simultaneously calling 911 to get the paramedics there.
When I arrived the paramedics were tending to her and had her upright in the car. She fell on the slippery ice in the parking lot – feet up in the air and smacked the back of her head hard - losing consciousness, going into convulsions, and experiencing numbness in her face and the kind of deep trauma you’d expect from a head injury of this sort.
The paramedic gave her some medication to help stabilize and calm her and provided her a cold pack for her head. Luckily, there was no blood gushing, but the lump was pretty big and there was concern for swelling and internal bleeding. Rushing her to the emergency room at McKay-Dee Hospital was the next stop, the paramedics said they would notify the emergency room of the situation and they would be ready for us.
Sadly, I had to make a decision – to transport her in an expensive ambulance, or drive her myself – a cost calculation in the middle of what could have been a life or death situation. I’m ashamed to admit I made the call to take her myself. It was early, and I was careful to look both ways as I passed through traffic lights to get to the hospital as quickly as I could.
By the time we got to the hospital, she had calmed down, sore all over, bruised from the fall, but her vitals were okay. For some unknown reason, the call from the paramedics did not get relayed to the emergency room. The duty nurse and administrators checked her in and we sat for the best part of an hour. Though it’s understood that the reception nurse triage’s arriving patients to allocate care for the most needy first, I thought it was odd that the nurse did not think such a blunt impact to the back of the head would warrant a quicker response – especially considering what I was observing from the other patients waiting, arriving and being seen ahead of us. When I asked the duty nurse why we were not getting faster attention, he said he’d received no notification from the paramedics on the scene – weird, right?
After what felt like a unusually long wait, we were led to an examination room. Vitals were still okay (blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature). The doctor on duty recommended a head scan in radiology to make sure all was okay. This took about 10 minutes to have the scan done and assessment made. Thankfully, there appeared to be no fracture or internal bleeding – just normal swelling from a traumatic impact and a big “goose-egg” accompanied by a severe headache. She was lucky. The doc proscribed two Tylenol and advised all should be okay and to take it easy for a day or two. And, “watch for any turns for the worst in symptoms.” Okay, whew! Thanks doc!
We are thankful and grateful for the first responders and medical professionals and the technology that can address these kinds of accidents. They are of course appreciated beyond words and priceless.
Then came a woman who handed us an incomplete bill for $2,000.00 She said, “how would you like to pay?” I said, well, I would like a complete breakdown of the costs first. She said okay, and that “they” would bill me, and she left.
24 hours later, the secondary trauma began – the bill! The bill in the days following had climbed to over $3,000.00 and it is, according to the hospital billing department, still incomplete and expected to go higher since even the doctor’s fee has not even been added in yet. I’m thinking, “really, over $3,000 and counting for a 10-minute doctors visit, two Tylenols, and a $250.00 radiology bill” (the hospital indicated the head scan cost $250.00).
What the billing department manager said when I spoke to her on the phone the next day was they have to charge such high prices because the co-pay thresholds for insurance are now in the several thousands of dollars for any medical emergency room attention. Not sure how those correlate, but it is a fact that the best insurance we could get included a $7,000 threshold copay for all medical services. We must pay the first $7,000 before any health insurance kicks in. We could find no better option for self-employed people (small business owners) not affiliated with a large corporate medical plan.
Essentially, the meaning is health insurance only covers catastrophic care. Everything else is out of pocket – including the $500.00 per month we pay, for one person, just to have the policy. A family of four in similar circumstances typically pays more than their mortgage each month for a policy they can’t even use for routine or emergency care - essentially, its just for catastrophic coverage. Can you imagine, a family’s highest monthly bill is a healthcare policy that for all intents and purposes they cannot even use. Thank you worthless democrats and republicans (I’ll bet their healthcare policy is better and cheaper than ours). All told, before my wife could have any health insurance coverage by her “good” insurance policy, she must pay $500 per month, plus the first $7000 in service. Annually, before insurance pays for anything, she must cough up $500 per month x 12 months equaling $6000, plus the $7000 copay threshold before any insurance kicks in. The grand total out of pocket is $13,000 annual before insurance covers anything – like the two Tylenol tablets. Well, it’s the best our insurance agent could offer us during the open enrollment period.
I thought, “how do families of lesser means possibly afford this if they encounter a need to have a loved one cared for?” ABC News reported that more than 40% of adult American’s do not have $400.00 saved to respond to an unexpected financial emergency (https://abcnews.go.com/US/10-americans-struggle-cover-400-emergency-expense-federal/story?id=63253846). Fake news, not likely. The data in the ABC News story comes from a Federal Reserve Survey they referenced. I thought how do people pay for a medical emergency?
I considered, in a county where American’s pay more than double per capita in healthcare than anyone else in the world, why are we charged so much for so little service? As mentioned, I dismissed the ambulance because I had a sense they would charge a ton for that too – I know, a risky call I am embarrassed to admit – right? I hope my risky call did not have something to do with the hospital not knowing we were on our way after we left the paramedics where she slipped in the parking lot? Who knows? My sense is if we pulled up in an ambulance, lights glowing and siren ringing, and were wheeled in by paramedics on a stretcher, we might have been a little more obvious and not stuffed in a waiting room for almost an hour. What matters is, what decisions do the 40% of so many other American’s have to make when they encounter an emergency? Do they not go the shiny new palatial hospital on the hill that they cannot afford? Do they stay home and hope for the best? Am I the only one that is outraged by this?!?!?
Folks, I’m convinced there are lots of people in the median Utah family income range that cannot get healthcare attention without coughing up thousands annually. And those seeking medical attention often find themselves falling deeper into debt. I do not think this is a simple supply and demand circumstance. I say the money is already there. I say its the leadership in Congress that is letting us down. I am living firsthand with the wreckage and mismanagement Congress – BOTH PARTIES – have imposed on us. Medical care is simply cost prohibitive for too many working folks. Those that do get emergency care can find themselves in tremendous financial despair. Those who gamble and opt not to seek medical attention in an emergency hope for the best and must live with the consequences. This is what its come down to. Shameful. This is simply wrong and must stop now.
Weeks later, the bill for our brief radiological scan, a few moments with the E.R. doctor, and 2 Tylenols “call me in the morning” has climbed to more than $5,000.00. The Republicans rode into town in 2016 on repealing Obamacare and fixing healthcare in America. They have failed to do it “IN SPADES” and they have delivered no solutions Instead of helping common Americans, their time, money, and energy is spent elsewhere. And, now they seek re-election!!! The democrats before them failed to deliver too, and currently both parties are offering us “trillions” in more debt to fix a problem that already has more than enough money flowing to it. Oh, and this is all pre-COVID-19 and the avalanche now looming of medical bills folks won’t be able to cover within their own means. They ALL need to be fired in my estimation. I urge you folks, do not give another incumbent another bite at the apple. We need people that will get in there, “do-the-right-thing,” and FIX THESE PROBLEMS!!! Your incumbents’ wont, don’t, can’t fix healthcare after decades of effort and continue to fail us.
I say again - I ask that you please stop voting for these do-nothing incumbents that simply go back and forth, blaming each other, first democrat, then republican, then back to democrat again. When a lucky near miss 10-minute emergency room visit, with no ambulance, a $250.00 head scan, and two Tylenol tablets cost more than 5% of the average Utah family’s after-tax household income, I’m saying something is really broken. Folks, the answer is to dislodge incumbents from both primary parties and get folks in there that will fix it. But who, you ask?
First, send the message you’re tired of their performance by not voting for either republican or democratic parties. And, stop voting for the incumbents who are worried more about party control and re-election, than they are worried about you. Send the message that a lot of us really need to get this healthcare stuff fixed?! I reason that there are so many Americans who need care and don’t go and get it because the cost is simply prohibitive. Sad for the nation that’s been “Made Great Again” – right? Some of us have not gotten that memo (Actually – a lot of us).
Give me the chance folks… I will go fix it! COL Mike Seguin (U.S. Army, Retd). 2021 Senate Seat (Utah Bull Moose Party). The first thing I would do is introduce legislation that all insurance policies be frozen where they currently stand, under threat of withholding Federal State aid, and no American who pays for insurance sees a co-pay threshold that exceeds $250.00 per emergency room visit – by way of a two-thirds Congressional vote that cannot be rendered stalled or rendered unconstitutional in the Judicial branch of government. This, is manageable, the money is there, and the insurance companies will just have to figure it out until they, and Congress, come up with a program that puts “Americans” first. The second thing I wold do is discontinue paid medical coverage for all Congressional representatives - indefinitely. They should have to pay out of pocket too - just like small enterprise owners and the employees that have been left behind working for them - no more institutional subsidization - just like so many of the rest of us. That would certainly motivate them to do something when its in their face and coming out of their pockets.
Again, it’s the parties that are the problem – including your incumbent representatives in Congress that fail us over and over. Neither of the parties represent anything close to the majority of registered voters – they just lock the system up with the only candidate choices you are fed to choose from – and nothing gets fixed. Remember, nothing in the U.S. Constitution even mentions political parties. Stop voting for them ALL! Just say “No More” and “Do-The-Right-Thing.” This time, at least in Utah, you’ll have a choice… a choice of a good American who will “Do-the-Right-Thing” regardless of party interests – with only America’s interests in mind. No American should have to avoid or second guess emergency room treatment at a hospital for fear of the cost, or threat of financial ruin, to save a loved one’s life. Time to stop it!!!
Vote Utah Bull Moose Party 2022, COL Mike Seguin (USA, Retd). (www.utahbullmooseparty.com). Vote out all incumbents – especially Democratic and Republican affiliated politicians. Sign our petition and let’s start fixing this stuff today! And, ask your Democrat and Republican friends to join the right Party movement: The Utah Bull Moose Party!
Folks, it does not have to continue to be this way. If you’re happy with things as they are, I’m not your guy. But if you are among the tens of millions of unemployed post COVID-19 Americans that have no healthcare coverage, inadequate healthcare coverage and options, or are too worried to voice the circumstance you’re in for fear of losing your job that – which for now – covers your healthcare, then I’m your guy. If you want better – you know where to cast your 2022 vote for Utah State U.S, Senate – Utah Bull Moose Party. I’m not talking about incumbents or their heir apparents from the same parties that have failed you over and over and over and over again!
If I only do ONE-THING and fix Healthcare, it will have been well worth your time and mine!!!
Utah Bull Moose Party
COL Michael “Mike” Seguin
U.S. Army - Retd