EMTALA

Yet another acronym in the dizzying letter-soup of healthcare acronyms I've had to acquaint myself with over the past few weeks, EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) was passed by our beautifully bi-cameral congress in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. COBRA allowed workers and their family members to continue on employee-provided coverage, which tends to have lower group-based premiums, given they make the payments themselves in the event the covered employee say.......dies or divorces your innebriate, deadbeat ass.

If the transition from talking about COBRA to talking about EMTALA seems like badly disjoint writing in the issues they address, blame Congress. EMTALA guarantees that any hospital that accepts Medicare payments (uh...every hospital in any practical view) or operates an emergency department (ED much to the chagrin of hit NBC show fans) must provide treatment to anyone popping up in emergency conditions regardless of legal status, citizenship, or ability to pay. The savvy reader will immediately ask, "Who pays?" and then quickly answer his own question, "Duh, those that actually pay." It's like the "Please put your shopping cart in the collection corral so we can lower prices" plea you see on said shopping cart corrals with exponentially greater implications. Instead of distributing the cost of another minimum wage minority in impossibly baggy jean shorts, the hospital is distributing the cost of the skilled labor of physicians and nurses who, fancy this shit, like to pay off the debt they incurred gaining those skills before they turn 50.

I urge you to consume in-full this this easy-read post by a board-certified ED physician that delves a tit more deeply into the consequences of EMTALA. As always, reading the ensuing comments is worthwhile.




Done? Good.

Policies like these further steepen the slippery slope towards entitlement and lack of personal accountability. I understand that reform of this act will probably be in the final stages of healthcare reform (if it's ever touched at all). No politician will have an easy time lobbying to turn away immigrant amputees or, more likely, uninsured diabetic complications due to obesity. I just want my loved ones to know about such issues. I love you guys. Truly, madly, deeply.