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OK, I will be that guy. I am not heartless, although some may accuse me of that. I have compassion, although some may disagree after this. I am familiar with accessing the California medical system, although I could be wrong. I just don’t think I’m wrong this time.
Conflation is defined as the process or result of fusing items into one entity. Jimmy Kimmel has conflated the issue. He claims that millions in the past had no access to health insurance, babies with congenital heart disease may never get health insurance with that preexisting condition if they lived long enough and asks can we all agree that if your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make.
I appreciate Jimmy Kimmel’s situation. No parent should have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. No parent should have to pick between allowing life saving heart surgery for a newborn or allowing the child to die. Having health insurance or not having health insurance should not enter into that decision. However, that choice doesn’t exist in California. That choice doesn’t exist for the Kimmels or any other family living in Los Angeles or East Los Angeles. This type of emergency health care crisis is treated, regardless of ability to pay.
I was privileged to treat pediatric cardiac clients when I was still in California. I recall treating one elementary school aged girl who had a stroke that was eventually attributed to a congenital heart disease. She was able to get physical therapy through California Children’s Services that provided not only physical therapy, but provided access to orthopedic and pediatric medical care, occupational therapy and vendors to provide bracing for her legs, regardless of ability to pay. The genetic nature of this problem was caught early enough that her older sister and younger toddler sister would get on-going cardiac evaluations and eventually heart transplants that would save their lives. I was lucky enough to still be treating my client when her older sister got her transplant. This was all done, regardless of ability to pay. They certainly received better care than they would have received in Central America.
Situations like Jimmy Kimmel’s break my heart. These are the kids I used to treat. With the robust health insurance that I hope he has, he can pick which pediatric specialist he wishes. Even if he has no insurance, his child could still access Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles or UCLA’s pediatric cardiac care services, still be eligible for possible cardiac surgeries in the future and still get on-going California Children’s Services therapies, regardless of ability to pay.
In this instance, any child in California will get health care related to this preexisting condition until he is 21 years old, regardless of health insurance status and regardless of ability to pay. The State of California, in conjunction with federal Medicare funds, has decided to cover this high cost because of the low incidence of this diagnosis.
Tammy is correct in saying that possessing health insurance is not the same as having access to health care. She is also correct in saying that if many of today’s medical issues are a result of lifestyle choices, single payer insurance is a gateway for allowing that single payer, the government, to dictate human behavior or deny coverage. An example would be obesity related diabetes and government mandated diet changes. This has already been tried with school breakfast and lunch diet regulations mandates. Both Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman warned us against socialized medicine. This is the real debate before us.