We used
to get annoyed when the admission desk at the hospital would
hold us up from getting care with the co-pay collection effort,
but now the world of medical finance and consumerism is about
to take a giant leap forward. Co-pay collections of the
early 21st century will seem mild and meek, and we patients
will more formally and openly be viewed as earnings units and
revenue streams... unless we act forcefully and quickly to alter
the coming reality.
Shocked as we might pretend to be, we have been a party to the
transition as we have stood by and watched as so many of our
fellow citizens went without access to care at all – 47
million fellow citizens uninsured. Fifty million more
under-insured. And the rest of us annoyed with the
process but silently and slightly smug about our own insured
status – else we would have been marching in the streets,
screaming for change and fighting for one another and the human
right that is our healthcare.
Oh, wait, some of us have been doing that. But we must get louder and more clear and we must do so in larger numbers.
We haven' t fought enough – yet. The financial gurus have wined and dined with the healthcare bosses and the corporate/government policy wonks in Washington.
And then the computer folks who brought us internet banking and online loan applications and adjustable rate, re-finance mortgages stepped in. The invitation list grew and now the stockholders were growing nearly rabid with glee and anticipation.
