Posted on 11/24/2014 7:37:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Some hospitals and lawmakers are looking to the federal government to cover treatment, which can total more than $1 million for a single patient.
The arrival of Ebola in the United States this year led to an unprecedented medical response involving experimental drugs, round-the-clock care, and layers upon layers of protective gear. And none of it has been cheap.
Nine people have been treated for the virus in the U.S. since August. Seven recovered. The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, which treated one of them, estimates treatment for patients diagnosed with Ebola costs $50,000 a day. Officials at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which cared for two patients, put the daily cost at $30,000, and the total at $1.16 million for a single patient. Most patients have been hospitalized for more than two weeks.
The U.S. has shown it can beat Ebola. But who will pay for the expensive care it takes to do it?
It's a tough question, and one that the people holding the bills seem reluctant to answer. Hospitals that have treated patients in Georgia, Nebraska, New York, and Texas did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the governors' offices of these states. NIH was forthcoming about cost of care, but the feds pick up the tab for treatment there.
The topic of payment came up during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing earlier this month but only briefly. The Obama administration had requested $6.18 billion in emergency funding for Ebola response efforts in the U.S. Missing from the request, said Sen. Mike Johanns, was funding that would cover treatment of patients with Ebola on American soil. The federal government should cover the University of Nebraska Medical Center's costs, he said, because it had asked the medical facility to take in patients.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
The feds should cover the costs in full because they didn’t impose a travel ban and allowed people with ebola to come into the country.
Hospitals didn’t create this problem and they shouldn’t have to foot the tab for the expensive treatment of this lethal disease.
It will either be taxpayers or premium payers. Either way the little guy gets it in the pocketbook.
Next episode: Ebola Gold Diggers of the Medical Racket
Don’t worry, we have a Federal Reserve than can print up all the fiat money we need to buy government debt. How could we have a leftist/progressive nanny-state without it?
Unless you’re a billionaire, this case gets shucked off to charity care and the feds cover the rest.
Who? You, sucker!
Foreigners: Focus of Federal largess.
Tax-Paying Citizens: Focus of Federal taxation and regulation.
Barry and his ‘RATS are bringing them here so the U.S. taxpayers can pick up the tab. In yo face, America!
‘The feds should cover the costs in full because they didn’t impose a travel ban and allowed people with ebola to come into the country.’
The only money the Feds have they steal from the tax payer or print out of thin air. We will be paying as we always do.
Of course, the survivors are so debilitated from ebola, they’ll be lucky to do the hard work to recoup the costs of treatment.
Few people in this country have a million dollars jangling around in their pockets.
So yes, taxpayers will be taking it up on the chin.
"Although Emory, citing health privacy laws, declined to identify the patient, the Christian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse said it was Dr. Brantly. He and the other infected American aid worker, Nancy Writebol, were working at a hospital in Liberia that was treating patients suffering from Ebola.
Samaritan’s Purse said Ms. Writebol would return to the United States “within the next few days” for treatment at Emory.
"Although the State Department said it had been involved in facilitating the evacuations from Liberia, Emory said Samaritan’s Purse was paying for the transportation and care of the workers."
Everyone knows that 0bamacare will cut the cost or 0bola treatment to equal or less than a sex change!
I wont pay.
Correct me if I’m wrong,but it was my understanding that the Doctor’s without borders Fella who rode the Subway from Harlem to Williamsburg and went bowling cost New York City over 20 million dollars to treat and cure.
I think 1 million dollars wouldn’t even cover the medical waste bill working in the medical field myself.
The same suckers who pay all the bills...
1. tax payers who work and produce something useful
2. consumers via higher prices for goods, services, health insurance premiums etc.
3. Savers who lose by deceptive theft by the FED who prints fiat money and devalues their savings
4. Future generations who will be stuck with debt payments
I think a lot of Merkuns don't understand what "medical waste" is, and what it costs to get rid of.
It's like living in a country of 14-year-old "adults".
RE: he Doctor’s without borders Fella who rode the Subway from Harlem to Williamsburg and went bowling cost New York City over 20 million dollars to treat and cure.
Does that include all the resources used to track all the people in the city he had contact with when he was running around? (including the bowling alley that had to be closed for decontamination?).
Doubtful.
The rich.
Who? YOU!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.