COVID-19 Treatment: Should Insurance Matter?
It goes without saying that it's always good to have health insurance. However, even with the Affordable Care Act, health insurance is often an expense some can't afford to pay. Does the lack of such mean that a person shouldn't receive adequate care?
This is the topic of conversation brought on as the result of a California teen who is said to have been turned away from an urgent care clinic because he did not have insurance. On his way to an area hospital, he went into cardiac arrest. Though the hospital was able to revive him, he only lived a few hours longer. It is said that he went into septic shock five days after showing symptoms of COVID-19. Source.
There is the possibility that there was nothing the urgent care clinic could do to help the young man, considering the fact that he went into cardiac arrest shortly after leaving the facility; but what if the whole reason he didn't go to the clinic sooner was the fact that he was uninsured and thought he might not be treated? How many people are not receiving proper medical care because they don't have insurance?
A 17-year-old is still considered a minor. This young man should not have been expected to have insurance with himself as the responsible person. Is it understandable for clinics to refuse service to minors for the sake of law amid this pandemic, or should some rules be relaxed?
What are your thoughts?