Our Health Policy Matters

Anna Brown was 29 years old when she died suddenly last September. She left two small children.  Sometimes, the tragic and untimely death of a young mother commands our attention.  Anna’s death in Missouri drew a little national interest just last week.  She died alone on a concrete jail cell floor.  It happened just a few minutes after she was arrested for trespassing.  She refused to leave a hospital emergency room while she was in agonizing pain.    Anna Brown was homeless, had mental illness, and was on Medicaid.  Hospital officials thought she was a drug-seeker.  They were wrong.  According to news reports , a morning fog blanketed St. Louis on September 20, 2011 – the day Anna died.  She spent much of her final day going from emergency room to emergency room begging for care.  She started at St. Louis University Hospital complaining of pain in her leg.  She was evaluated and released with...

Anna Brown was 29 years old when she died suddenly last September. She left two small children.  Sometimes, the tragic and untimely death of a young mother commands our attention.  Anna’s death in Missouri drew a little national interest just last week.  She died alone on a concrete jail cell floor.  It happened just a few minutes after she was arrested for trespassing.  She refused to leave a hospital emergency room while she was in agonizing pain.    Anna Brown was homeless, had mental illness, and was on Medicaid.  Hospital officials thought she was a drug-seeker.  They were wrong.  According to news reports , a morning fog blanketed St. Louis on September 20, 2011 – the day Anna died.  She spent much of her final day going from emergency room to emergency room begging for care.  She started at St. Louis University Hospital complaining of pain in her leg.  She was evaluated and released with...

New!! Can't remember exactly where you got a data reference from Our Health Policy Matters? Check out the new Data Source Links page for a complete list of past hyperlinks used in all Our Health Policy Matters columns. A growing number of highway billboards encourage people to use hospital emergency rooms.   The ones in my area advertise pre-registration to avoid lines or shorter waiting times. These billboards clearly aren’t targeted to people riding in the backs of ambulances, who generally aren’t ER comparison-shopping.   They’re for potential ER users who are in a position to make a choice.   That’s the “non-urgent” crowd. The irony is that these billboards are proliferating just as state policymakers impose new charges to discourage non-urgent ER use. Two examples from recent weeks:   Florida’s Legislature voted to impose a $100 charge on non-urgent emergency room visits by the Medicaid population.   Connecticut decided to impose a new $35 charge o...

New!! Can't remember exactly where you got a data reference from Our Health Policy Matters? Check out the new Data Source Links page for a complete list of past hyperlinks used in all Our Health Policy Matters columns. A growing number of highway billboards encourage people to use hospital emergency rooms.   The ones in my area advertise pre-registration to avoid lines or shorter waiting times. These billboards clearly aren’t targeted to people riding in the backs of ambulances, who generally aren’t ER comparison-shopping.   They’re for potential ER users who are in a position to make a choice.   That’s the “non-urgent” crowd. The irony is that these billboards are proliferating just as state policymakers impose new charges to discourage non-urgent ER use. Two examples from recent weeks:   Florida’s Legislature voted to impose a $100 charge on non-urgent emergency room visits by the Medicaid population.   Connecticut decided to impose a new $35 charge o...