#coronavirus thread. I’m a doctor. Board certified in internal medicine. I work in a community hospital (affiliated with a major university hospital system) in an affluent area of a Red State in the Midwest. Coronavirus scares the SHIT out of me.
I just learned YESTERDAY how to order a test for Coronavirus. I am 100% certain Admin has kept us lagging behind intentionally. A positive test would be disastrous for this hospital. It we be a ghost town around here. Admin wants beds full, otherwise we don’t make 💰
I have learned that the dept of health will test a patient for free only if they meet the criteria of clinical symptoms AND if they have been to epicenters in Asia or Italy. Otherwise the test goes to local lab corp and costs ONE THOUSAND dollars to test
Who can afford this? Insurance certainly won’t pay because you didn’t “meet criteria” for testing. Even if you are insured you will have to cover the cost of this test. It’s insanity. You wanna know why testing and knowing your status is important?
Because a FOURTEEN DAY self quarantine is nearly impossible for most people. What if your employer doesn’t allow it? What if you don’t have any goddamn safety net and can’t afford to not be paid for two weeks?
We live in a society that is living paycheck to paycheck. Most citizens are one medical emergency from bankruptcy. As much as we laugh at people stockpiling toilet paper there is a significant proportion of our society that couldn’t even AFFORD said stockpile!!
It begs the question, why are we living in a society where healthcare is a for-profit industry? Why do we have to worry about cost and access to healthcare? The economic drawbacks alone to such a system should make any libertarian or hard-nosed republican rethink their position.
Or, more importantly, if you have any sort of conscience or love for your fellow man, you should advocate for a society where healthcare is a right and is guaranteed to your fellow man. We will all be better for it.
Please share this thread @cmclymer @chrislhayes @maggieNYT @JamilSmith @MollyJongFast @SarahKSilverman !!
