Why Routine Care is Still Important
Routine care for chronic conditions cannot take a backseat to the pandemic.
We’ve heard for months that hospitals are at or over their capacity: no available beds, short staff and overstretched resources. Hospitals are competing for traveling nurses and specialists against larger healthcare systems that can pay higher wages. The shortage is due to staff quarantining, recovering, and transitioning to hospitals that can pay them more. Among all the shortage and Covid chaos, people are finding themselves with huge medical bills due to transportation costs.
People with chronic health conditions are vulnerable and thus afraid to attend routine doctor’s visits in fear of contracting Covid-19. There’s a big problem here: without routine care, people are getting sick and needing to be hospitalized. Getting to the local hospital is already going to be a cost to the individual (unless deemed a “medical emergency” but you’ll still pay a deductible) but people are finding themselves paying more than ever expected. Why?
Say that you’re sick and get transported to your local hospital. You arrive and hear “we don’t have any beds available.” So now what? The hospital will call others around and find you an available bed. Thing is, the “closest” open bed is a full State away. In order to transport patients as far as necessary, hospitals are often flying or airlifting patients. If you thought the deductible for an ambulance ride was expensive, can you imagine a helicopter? They can be upwards of $50,000.
A healthcare administrative professional stated: “It is something that has sort of been lost out of the narrative of these folks where everybody is relieved when we find them a bed. Everybody forgets about the downstream impact of the cost of those transports.” (khn.org)
For those in need of dialysis or other routine interventions, combatting the worry of contracting Covid-19 while keeping up with their medical needs poses a tough decision. How do you take care of yourself while making sure you don’t get Covid?
There isn’t a correct answer but one BIG HELP is to continue speaking with your healthcare provider on how to get the care you need while staying safe. The danger of not adhering to your checkups, visits (virtual or in person) or adhering to medications is that people will end up in the hospital. Not only are you at risk of Covid, but you’re at risk of paying a crazy bill for transport to an open bed.