Sad Reality of Compassionate Doctors

From USAToday:

Increasingly in California and other states, doctors such as Ramos are taking matters into their own hands, finding ways to continue care for patients who have no insurance and no money.

There are plenty of both in California. No state has more uninsured residents than California (7million), and only a handful of states have a higher percentage of uninsured.

In response, doctors are dispensing advice over the phone to save patients the cost of an office visit. Some ask pharmaceutical sales representatives to increase drug samples they can distribute to needy patients. Others provide care for free, or at a discount.

Lately, Ramos has been persuading colleagues to cut costs when his patient needs an X-ray or CT scan. “They’ve been very good about getting patients a reduced rate,” he says. “You have to be really willing to push.”

The physicians’ efforts are reminiscent of an earlier era when doctors making house calls excused patients from charges during hard times, told them to pay when they had the money, or even traded services — a diagnosis for a couple dozen fresh eggs, for example.