Yesterday, a day that started like many days in Utah with a five a.m. romp in the snow (Stella was doing back flips!) and me freezing my face off, I was at work at the University when the woman who sits in the cubicle next to mine flittered by and insisted that I attend a meeting in the break room right that very instant.
The alarming thing about this event was that the woman who sits next to me does not work on my team and rarely, if ever, speaks to me. I made my way to the break room where I discovered that every employee from all six floors of the building were trying to cram their way in for this "important" meeting.
Once we were all stuffed inside and had all confirmed that we had been gathered to be told, en masse, that we were being "let go" because of the terrible economic downturn, the Head of University Employee Relations informed us that there had been a credible bomb threat called in to our building not one, not two, but three times and they thought that perhaps they should inform us.
One of our patients was angry that his IRS tax refund had been sent to the University Hospital to help pay his outstanding bill. A bill that, I suppose, he had previously ignored. A bill that he most certainly owed.
I am sure, whomever this person was, that times are quite difficult for this person. It is hard to know whether he actually had medical insurance when he originally received care from the hospital. I do know, from working here, that many services the hospital provides are non-covered services by a lot of insurance companies and become the patient's responsibility. So even if he (or the member of his family) did have medical insurance when he was a patient and received care, it does not necessarily mean that the insurance paid for all the care that he received.
I am a person that wants to believe the best about people, so I'm going to believe that this man never intended to not pay his hospital charges. I'm going to believe the best and believe that he's one of the many among us who has experienced the downturn in our economy first hand. Who has lost his job and his benefits and at the moment has a mounting pile of bills that are taking a larger priority than the hospital bill. That he's more concerned with putting food on the table for his family and keeping his house from foreclosure, but that once his life and bank account are back on track, he fully intended to pay his outstanding hospital bill, as well.
Until yesterday. When he learned that his missing tax refund, a large check that he was counting on for groceries and the heating bill and his mortgage payment went instead to pay the outstanding hospital bill that he really felt should have been covered by his medical insurance that he no longer has.
In his anger and frustration he called and yelled and screamed and threatened to blow up the building. When his kids started to cry and he realized he did not have the funds to buy very expensive formula that his baby daughter needs, he called back and yelled and screamed some more. It probably wasn't the best idea to threaten to blow up the building, again, but he was very angry and the kids were crying and his wife was getting hysterical.
Then, well, then the mail arrived. There among the fliers from Walgreen's and Smith's touting five for one Easter candies was a bill. From the University Hospital. It was more than any man could possibly be asked to bear, but on that day, that day when his back was against the wall, he snapped completely.
He called the hospital business office back. Quietly he told them of his plans. While he was still on the phone with the billing office, the police came to the door. They spoke with his frightened wife and then they spoke with him and took him away for more questioning. His life just turned even further upside down.
Sadly, I think this story is going to become far more commonplace than any of us want to believe. The rippling effect of these extreme economic hardships will soon visibly touch every one in some way, I'm afraid. Yesterday, I was evacuated because of a credible bomb threat. But tomorrow, will there be time to evacuate? Should good health care really result in bombs bursting in air?
Tell me what you think. I'm listening.
