She broke the foot several days ago and was transported to the hospital. They wanted to get her into surgery but delayed because of possible incoming covid cases and sent her home.
Two days later she's been sitting in the same chair at home because she can't walk, and her hygiene is uncared for. An ambulance was called again today but when they arrived the medics told them that the hospital wasn't admitting anything but 'emergency' patients, and apparently a 92 year old woman with a broken foot stewing in her own juice in a living room chair isn't an emergency.
This is a motherfucking crime, and neither the government nor the health care system gives one shit about it. I'm boiling with hatred for every one of these thugs.
That explains a lot. I knew there was more money from Covid but not that exact detail.
There are literal codes based on every injury and treatment. In return, every insurance company has a list of how much something will be paid based on those codes. The state is usually the one that fills those costs, so it varies based on where you are. Washington will pay for more, but require a bunch of checking to make sure the money is needed. Say you need a cat scan, you need to be XRayed first, and go through physical therapy before they will allow the cat scan, and then the process again for an MRI. They also pay less for each item. So the doctor gets $85 for an exam, then the technician gets $15 for taking your blood, and then another technician gets $5 for providing paperwork. Most doctors need about $130 to make it worth their time because of all the added costs involved, and it's the same with the technicians.
But, another state may pay the doctor $180 for the exam, and the technicians get nothing. In this case the cost either comes out of your pocket, or the doctors. I only now realized they were expecting the doctor to pay somehow. It's easier to get an MRI, but you owe the hospital money.
Some doctors and technicians add things to help compensate. This person had Covid and a broken leg. It does work and it usually pays. However, if this clinic is audited, and the extra treatment was not warranted, then the clinic owes the state money. They do the test based on a sample amount of paperwork and then multiply based on patient amount. So doctors suddenly have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the extra treatment.
Most hospitals look like everyone is paid well, but the fear is the next time the state updates how they cover things, an entire clinic will be gone. Almost every state I know about has been paying less and less, and hospitals have been going into the red for years.
Kick in stuff like Covid, and the entire thing is falling apart.