Grand Strand Regional Medical Center Vultures

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

A friend’s husband needed hospital care. He had double pneumonia and possibly a serious cardiac problem. She took him to the ER, where they gave him enough care to stabilize him until a doctor could see him.

They waited for an entire day in the ER, and then gained entry to a room. The first person they saw was a member of the billing office. She informed these good people that the hospital charged $262.00 per day for a room. Then, with her glasses balanced on the end of her nose, she asked them how much they would like to pay right then. The man had not seen a doctor, nor had he eaten a meal, and he was not in a room for as long as an hour.

These people had terrific health insurance. Normally, a hospital bills the insurance company before billing the patient. And even if it was necessary to collect some or all of the money up front, certainly going to the as yet untreated patient’s room like a scavenger prowling for road kill, is not a procedure that should be followed in any American hospital. Or is it? Well, obviously it is what is done in at least this one facility.

To the physician’s credit, he was outraged to learn of what this billing vulture had done.

Why is this allowed to happen? What would’ve been the result if this man’s wife couldn’t write a check for $262.00 while this scavenger stood waiting with her hand out?

We allow this to happen for 3 reasons. One, we’re afraid to speak out. If we do, we might be denied care from his facility in the future. Two, not enough of us face this type of horror show daily for it to cause pain to enough Americans for them to demand it end. Three, healthcare in the USA is a for-profit industry first and foremost.

Health Insurance Corporation CEOs try to collect a billion dollar retirement package. I wonder how many lives a billion dollars would save.

The result, if the wife had been unable to pay the $262.00 might have been seeing her husband released without the care he needed. If not, the stress on an as yet untreated patient could cause severe damage.

This happened in the middle of the Bible Belt. This happened in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where most people consider themselves devout Christians, including, I imagine the vulture with her eyeglasses balanced on the end of her nose.