Word games

[dblack]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

 

[Toronado3800]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

I always took it to mean they can't afford healthcare. Really even that is an interesting thing, folks who are decent at government paperwork have more access to healthcare than folks that aren't. That's the way its been.

 

[dblack]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

I always took it to mean they can't afford healthcare. Really even that is an interesting thing, folks who are decent at government paperwork have more access to healthcare than folks that aren't. That's the way its been.

I think it's a deliberate attempt to change how we look at healthcare, from a "commodity" that you acquire via financial means, to a privilege you gain via political connections.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

I always took it to mean they can't afford healthcare. Really even that is an interesting thing, folks who are decent at government paperwork have more access to healthcare than folks that aren't. That's the way its been.

Everyone in the United States has access to healthcare, because it was Ted Kennedy's bill that made it so. In Washington DC, if you got shot because at the time it was the murder capitol of the world, all you had to do is show up at the emergency room and you got fixed up, no charge if you couldn't pay, but the next guy with insurance footed the bill. Pretty soon though, more people who could pay, stopped showing up, because it was too costly for them, so they went to Georgetown Hospital, and eventually all those emergency room visits shut down DC general. It is happening in Prince Georges Trauma Center, because all those shot in DC are showing up there, thus causing the same thing, to the point, that Paris Glendening wanted to raise taxes on all Maryland just to keep that center open....Liberal compassion, is the death to all people, because like Venezuela, eventually you run out of other peoples money...

 

[Toronado3800]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

I always took it to mean they can't afford healthcare. Really even that is an interesting thing, folks who are decent at government paperwork have more access to healthcare than folks that aren't. That's the way its been.

Everyone in the United States has access to healthcare, because it was Ted Kennedy's bill that made it so. In Washington DC, if you got shot because at the time it was the murder capitol of the world, all you had to do is show up at the emergency room and you got fixed up, no charge if you couldn't pay, but the next guy with insurance footed the bill. Pretty soon though, more people who could pay, stopped showing up, because it was too costly for them, so they went to Georgetown Hospital, and eventually all those emergency room visits shut down DC general. It is happening in Prince Georges Trauma Center, because all those shot in DC are showing up there, thus causing the same thing, to the point, that Paris Glendening wanted to raise taxes on all Maryland just to keep that center open....Liberal compassion, is the death to all people, because like Venezuela, eventually you run out of other peoples money...

So you support the idea that if you show up at the hospital, they swipe your card for $150,000 and you can't pay, they boot you?

Or are you just saying that's when it started and hospitals regularly kicked people out before then?

 

[hadit]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

It's a political tool. Saying someone can't afford healthcare implies that they may be unfortunate, don't have much income, and/or live in an area with few low cost or free medical alternatives. Saying someone doesn't have access to healthcare, however, makes it easier to accuse someone of preventing them from getting it.

 

[dblack]

What does it mean to say someone lacks "access to health care". Does that mean there's not a hospital or a doctor nearby? Does it mean the aren't allowed to see the doctors nearby?

Doesn't it just mean they can't afford healthcare? Why the euphemism? I'm always curious about the purpose behind this kind wordsmithing. What do you think?

I always took it to mean they can't afford healthcare. Really even that is an interesting thing, folks who are decent at government paperwork have more access to healthcare than folks that aren't. That's the way its been.

Everyone in the United States has access to healthcare, because it was Ted Kennedy's bill that made it so. In Washington DC, if you got shot because at the time it was the murder capitol of the world, all you had to do is show up at the emergency room and you got fixed up, no charge if you couldn't pay, but the next guy with insurance footed the bill. Pretty soon though, more people who could pay, stopped showing up, because it was too costly for them, so they went to Georgetown Hospital, and eventually all those emergency room visits shut down DC general. It is happening in Prince Georges Trauma Center, because all those shot in DC are showing up there, thus causing the same thing, to the point, that Paris Glendening wanted to raise taxes on all Maryland just to keep that center open....Liberal compassion, is the death to all people, because like Venezuela, eventually you run out of other peoples money...

So you support the idea that if you show up at the hospital, they swipe your card for $150,000 and you can't pay, they boot you?

Or are you just saying that's when it started and hospitals regularly kicked people out before then?

EMTALA was token nonsense. After it was passed, hospitals did the same thing they were doing an all along: they first stabilized the patient, and then worried about payment.