ABC News' Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson says the U.S. health-care system is in Critical Condition
Johnson: I would call that a real misunderstanding. It is true. We do not let people die in the streets if they get sick enough, they will get to the emergency room, but all too often by that time, they’re so much sicker that their outcomes are less assured. It’s going to cost a lot more money to take care of them. We have access through the emergency room, but if we could have it earlier through insurance coverage we could provide it at less cost, with better outcomes and with more dignity.
Jennings: If the uninsured are crowding the emergency rooms for basic care, is that adding to the cost of health care for the rest of us?
Johnson: It is. Somebody has to pay those bills, obviously. And it falls on local and state and to some degree, federal governments. But we pay a much higher price, I think, in the moral issue involved and the medical outcomes involved.