I certainly don't want to cast a pale on this tragedy that has seen more than a share of wretchedness and lunacy. In realistic terms it is easy to hope for and hard to believe that she is going to make a complete recovery and "be her old self" - not with that damage. But she is lucky for not only statistically is her survival a miracle of the odds - well here goes - it is because of her magnificent insurance that she ends up in any other place than the morgue. It is also completely fortunate that if this were a common citizen with marginal health insurance or none at all, she would have faced financial ruin in a condition that would offer her no chance to cope.
Certainly in almost all cases an emergency gunshot wound gets the best treatment possible regardless. ERs do not run credit checks and call the insurance company before treatment nor do they, if the victim has nothing, turn anyone away. But we are two weeks in ICU with teams of physicians and staff, airlifting to a rehab center - again in ICU with a 24hr team working on her for probably up to 6 months or longer. We are going to pass the $1 million mark if we haven't already.
I'm happy she got the care she did and will get it to maximize or optimize her state of recovery but if she were just the ordinary person with ordinary insurance where would this have stopped? I'm willing to bet that, like with my policy, it would have stopped today after she was able to go home or go somewhere other than ICU. My policy permits 10 rehab visits with a $40 copay and zilch past that...not ten days but ten visits - something she will eclipse in the middle of her fourth day. If it were a case of no insurance - well how much heroism would be expected to happen.
In that same state,
Gov. Brewer has been cutting off transplants to save lives if the person was one who couldn't pay for it....her version of a death panel. Would she have permitted the expense to save Ms. Giffords?
I'm just asking.
