By Kate Snow, Janet Klein and Dustin Stephens
Rock Center
For Barbara Latasiewicz, home was a hospital room. The Poland native, who had cleaned homes in the Chicago area for 20 years, suffered a stroke while on the job in September 2009. An ambulance took her to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in Illinois.
"I was thinking that after a few days, that I'm just gonna get better," Latasiewicz told NBC’s Kate Snow through a translator in an interview airing April 25 at 9pm/8 c on Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Latasiewicz suffered paralysis on one side of her body, but eventually became well enough to leave the hospital. However, more than two years later, the 62-year-old was still in the hospital.
“She hasn’t needed to be in this acute facility for a long time,” said Richard Carroll, the hospital’s chief medical officer.
When asked about Latasiewicz’s more than two year stay at the hospital he oversees, Carroll said, “That’s really a function of how our health care system is working right now, which is it’s not working very well at all, particularly in cases like this.”
Carroll said that Latasiewicz belonged in a skilled nursing facility where she would receive a more appropriate rehabilitation, but she had no way to pay. Latasiewicz had no insurance and was an undocumented resident with no access to government safety-net programs like Medicaid. Without payment, no facility would take her.
NBC News
Barbara Latasiewicz
The end result? Latasiewicz stayed at La Grange. Her care cost the hospital $1.4 million. A skilled nursing facility would have been a fraction of the cost.
An NBC News investigation discovered that cases like Latasiewicz’s are not unusual, but the result of current health care policies and guidelines. They are known as “permanent patients” and are hidden in plain sight in hospital rooms across the country. That’s because under federal law, hospitals must treat any patient who needs emergency medical attention even if they have no way to pay. Nursing and rehab facilities are not required by law to do so. At the same time, hospitals cannot discharge a patient without a plan in place for his or her ongoing care. The result is patients stuck in the hospital in need of long-term care but with nowhere to go, large medical bills, and no way to pay – a cost that is usually covered at the hospital’s expense.
“It would be cheaper to take these patients and send them to the Ritz Carlton,” said Harvard University School of Public Health Professor Ashish Jha. “They could get room service all day, and that would be cheaper.”
Jha estimates there are tens of thousands of these patients stuck in the hospital with no clear place to go. Some stay an extra week, some months, and some like Latasiewicz even years. NBC News spoke with officials at dozens of hospitals across the country who confirmed housing patients who didn’t need to be there for extended periods.
Many patients are stuck because they have no money or insurance to pay for long-term care. Other patients may have insurance, but their medical needs are too complex for most skilled nursing facilities to accept. Then there are those in limbo at the hospital waiting sometimes for months to qualify for Medicaid. Once they’re approved, Medicaid will cover the nursing or rehab facility they need.
A spokesperson for the American Health Care Association which represents skilled nursing facilities says that the industry works with hospitals to find facilities for such hard-to-place patients.
According to data from the National Inpatient Sample database at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the problem of permanent patients appears to be on the rise. From 2005 to 2009, the last years for which data was available, uninsured hospital patients with no access to Medicare or Medicaid in need of long term care increased 20 percent.
NBC News
Garrick Amato
“Most of them are Americans,” Jha said. “And if they get hit by a bus, they get sick, they’re in this situation.”
Garrick Amato, 59, arrived at Banner Heart Hospital in Mesa, Ariz., after suffering a heart attack. A few days later, he was ready to leave the hospital for a rehab facility. However, Amato, who said he worked part-time at a local discount store, had no health insurance and no way to pay for his rehab.
“I guess no nursing home will take me cause I don’t have insurance,” Amato said.
Furthermore, as a single adult without dependent children, he did not qualify for Medicaid in Arizona. Amato spent most of March and much of April at the hospital. Banner Hospital eventually found charity care for him that placed him in a skilled nursing facility where he belonged.
Other patients linger in hospitals despite their best efforts to find charity care. Fatima Khydarova, a professor from Uzbekistan, has been at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for more than two years. Khydarova arrived there after suffering an incapacitating stroke while visiting her grandchildren in New York. While Khydarova will never walk or talk again, doctors say she does not need to be in a hospital.
NBC News
Fatima Khydarova
“In a perfect world she should be either at home with her family caring for her or in a nursing home,” Maimonides CEO and President Pamela Brier said.
Khydarova’s grandchildren said that they cannot take care of their grandmother at their mother’s small apartment and at the same time make a living to support all of them.
“I’m working, I’m working.” said granddaughter Nigina Abdullaeva who works at a doctor’s office.
Dr. Jha of Harvard University says that the costs for treating permanent patients are passed on to other consumers through higher medical bills and insurance premiums.
“The bottom line is we’re all paying for it,” Jha said.
To mitigate the cost of these patients, some hospitals have paid out of their own funds to move them to skilled nursing facilities. Once there, the hospital could pay for their care for the rest of their lives.
“Hospitals don't want to widely advertise that they will pay for your care elsewhere,” Jha said. “But in select situations, they look, and they realize, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars to keep the patient in the hospital, it's probably cheaper for them to send them somewhere else.”
Back in Illinois, case workers at La Grange Hospital also struggled for years to find a more appropriate medical facility for Latasiewicz. They eventually found one, but it was in her native Poland.
Wiping tears away from her eyes, Latasiewicz told Kate Snow through a translator that she did not want to leave. Latasiewicz lived in the United States for 20 years and has a son and grandchildren living nearby. However, her son, Peter Latasiewicz, said he could not take his mother into the small apartment he shares with his children and another family.
“I wouldn’t be able to provide as much help and support and care for her,” Peter Latasiewicz said, “she’s got a lot of medical conditions where she requires 24/7 care.”
The hospital eventually went to court for permission to send Barbara to the medical facility in Poland.
The hospital won and on March 1, Latasiewicz boarded a flight back to her native Poland.
In Brooklyn, Khydarova, the professor from Uzbekistan, remains at Maimonides and the hospital is still working hard to find a solution for her family
“She’s going to stay in the hospital unless we can find a spot for her,” CEO Brier said, “She could stay here potentially for the rest of her life.”
Leave a Comment:
We should have stopped allowing aliens in 1960 and never have started breeding parasites on welfare. Enormous savings.
That's not the problem, allowing aliens in. It sounds like she came to visit her children on a "visitor's visa" and forgot to leave! Her son is right to send her back to Poland, where they have socialized medicine. Go where they will take care of you.
Bottom line -- we need affordable health insurance; we need insurance for all, or this country will go broke faster than a meteor. And Barbara is undocumented? Why can't we send her back to Poland?
Apparently you didn't bother to read the whole article...
THe retards at the Department of Justice are investigating price rigging on E BOOKS, Who cares. But they never look at Price rigging on Heath care costs. RETARDS for sure.
My question is: How on earth can two years in a hospital cost 1.4 million dollars? Is this the $17 aspirin talking?
How on earth can two years in a hospitla cost 1.4 Million dollars, ITS THE PRICE STUPID.
Berecca, it's very easy. Most insurances have a $1Mil limit. After you use up their limit, they ship you to a nursing home.
Well, as of next month there will be more without healthcare, at least where I work. Company Healthcare premiums just went up another $13.00 per week, which means we now pay $111.00 per week, for a couple. Third year straight it went up. There are quite a few workers who are going to have to opt out as a result. Many have children, their cost went up $18.00 to $152.00 per week, they cannot afford that with the other increases we have seen with gas, food and such..
This supposed affordable Healthcare is turning into a nightmare for the lower and middle class workers. Even if the supreme court overturns the fine, tax, whatever it is. The premiums will not go back down.
I believe we will all soon have to renounce our usa citizenship so we can become illegal immigrants so we can medically cover our families. Being a tax paying citizen used to be a good thing, now I just don't know, seems like it is a punishment.
President Obama made a statement about his wife and said attack him, but not his wife, or kids. I respect that, however I feel my wife and kids and the others in my community are now under attack.
What the hell did we do wrong?
Voted Obama into office.
Quit paying and get on the dole like everyone else. Thats the direction its going. Its not worth it anymore to work to have things for you and yours.
Not that "it's not worth it anymore to work"....it's becoming unaffordable anymore to work. I work, pay taxes, own a home (pay a mortgage), pay health insurance for my family (plus the co-pays, etc.---EVERY PENNY OF THEM, and it is not cheap), pay for food (which is more expensive than last year), pay for gas (again, more expensive), pay insurance, pay, pay, pay, pay, pay! I cannot afford another increase in my health insurance premium (it went up last June and this January---thanks to Obamacare---to the tune of another $80/week). I don't understand what these commenters mean when they say let the government pay for everyone's health insurance....someone needs to give it to the government---WE THE TAX PAYERS DO. For everyone of you self-entitled morons---get off your butts, get a job, contribute to our government (i.e., pay taxes!) and stop living off of us. And if you can't do that, then find a country to move to that has your "universal health care"....that crap is bankrupting me!
great...get them out of expensive facilities who actually acknowledge that they're still alive...and put them in warehouses till they die, right? My sister is in one of those warehouses with a brain injury after a high school car accident (she was a passenger). she walks, she talks, she thinks... they give her 3 meals per day, keep her on drugs...they NEVER get them outside, NEVER take them to a park, NEVER give any mental stimulation. All the taxpayers care about is low cost...and the folks on the right who insist they totally support a safety net for those truly in need are LYING. Nursing homes, even crappy ones like the one my sister is in, are closing every day due to funding cuts from state and federal budgets.
My wife works for a nursing home and she has told me that the residents in the homes have rights. I have been at the home she works for and they have lots of activities for the residents ranging from bingo to other things. One day they had a bunch of men there dressed up as Union and Confederate soldiers to talk about the Civil War and other things along with having a horse there for the residents to pet. Have you contacted an ombudsmen about the treatment your sister is receiving.
Why don't YOU take her outside, stimulate her mentally and take her to a park?
Why don't YOU take care of her. Give her those 3 squares and a cot? Why don't YOU take her into your home and care for her, get some RN in to assist when needed? Why must I do it? And if I'm going to do it, why are you bitching about me looking for a bargain?
I worked in a nursing home when I was in school. The FAMILIES are the ones that drop them off there. The FAMILIES are leaving them to rot. In fact, if you read the article, you would see that all the FAMILIES keep finding excuses to not take care of their kin. I know what those places are like and my family won't go to one. Why? Because my FAMILY cares for each other.
Hey, I gotta go to the dentist. Probably going to cost me a few bucks. Can YOU pay for it? Don't be cheap now.
A lot of families can't provide the care that a nursing home can provide. Reasons may be that the family members may be working full time and to provide full time care they would have to quit their job and then how do they pay for food and other areas. Like I said my wife works at a nursing home and there are a number of residents that pay through their own insurance or their family pays for it. Some do pay by giving up their social security to the facility and also use medicaid.
Some families do drop off their relatives and then don't go in and see them where others do. Don't judge all people by just a few.
I understand that Dean. My post was in response to the accusation that this OP's issues are the tax payers fault. Context...
Why was she not deported to Poland again? Even Obamacare wouldn't have helped this lady.
Did you read the whole article?
Under Obamacare this type of care wouldn't have been covered. His plan does not cover long-term care. There is a provision for it but he used his administrative authority to void it as it would have been too costly for the government to implement. Basically the provision would have required every worker to have deducted from their paycheck anywhere from $500-600 for this type of care. You could opt out of it if you wanted to.
ok
Under Obama's universal healthcare plan a lot of different aspects of healthcare aren't covered for. Long-term healthcare is one of the areas that isn't covered for unless you yourself pay for the insurance. So
Here's the line that is most important -
"and was an undocumented resident"
Don't come here illegally and you then can have the benefit of the government programs. Case closed.
JJ, by that do you mean put the woman out on the curb and close the door?
Yep! American healthcare being wasted on other countrie's citizens. If healthcare is so bad here and so good there, then why are they staying? CUZ its free. No American gets anything for free.
Don't know how many hospitals and other medical facilities have lost money on illegals using medical facilities and then not paying for the services. My wife worked for a medical facility that had subsidized payment plans for low income patients and everyday I went there to pick her up I would see a waiting room full of undocumented people. Don't know how many times I would hear about a person coming in one week under one name and the next they would come back under a different name. They would do this so they wouldn't have to pay their balance due on the other account.
No Mark that would be bad. I have a great idea you just write a check for 1.4 to cover her past costs and another for as much as it cost in the future. I am sure there are some assets you can sell off to help her out. Or manybe go borrow the money to give to her and have any children you might have cosign the loan. Oh hell just borrow it in thier name without asking them. No different than what both parties are doing right now.
Legitmate answers.
Though I disagree that a great society and nation such as ours shouldn't provide minimal health services to those who have no money to buy it on their own.
I'm tired of giving away a percentage of money that I will never see the benefit from.. and then also not being able to fully care for myself with the money I have left- that I worked my ass off for. I'm so sick of these "systems".
keep it cool,
How old are you? You don't think you'll ever need Medicare or Medicaid in your life? Social Security?
I hardly believe that...and if that is in fact true then you made so much money that you didn't have to utilize these systems. Which is it?
Vipp- Didn't you hear? Can't be relying on SS. It's gonna be broke by time I'm 59.
Nope, have NEVER utilized ANY systems. That would be SS, Medicaid, Medicare, Fed Student Loans/Grants- Not a drop. What is "so much money"? I make less than 50k. I have insurance paid for by my employer and myself. I'm certainly not experiencing a rare situation here.
If I were to go to the hospital- I pay. Many people put off medical needs because even with their insurance, they cannot afford it. These defunct systems cost people like myself both in higher premiums, but overall costs as well to help offset these issues.
Not saying that people shouldn't be cared for when they need it, but c'mon, you don't see a problem with someone spending YEARS in a hospital because of the flaws of the system?
SS will not go away....they'll simply take more to fund it.
So, you never went to public school?
You never have used the Postal system?
Anyway, are you saying that "if" SS survives that you'll send the check back into the government?
WTF is your point Vipp? Unless you have one, this will be the last response I have for your.. whatever it is- trolling?
Public schools? College and I had to pay for it. Ya know- tuition.. But we're talking about ME anyway, not what my PARENTS did. How about that property tax part, you know, that keeps funding public schools? That is NOT the same as having taxes taken from your earnings, specifically FOR schools, and having it spent on OTHER crap. Maybe you don't have a job and can't see on a paystub the portion SPECIFICALLY going to SS?
Ever try and mail something without a stamp genius? I haven't gotten a free postal service ride yet. You're taking asparagus and comparing it to oranges.
Oh and before you can mention something further idiotic, like roads- those come out of property and gas taxes around here..
No, if I live long enough and find myself needing to get SS, I will NOT send the check back (ASSuming that it's going to be there to begin with). What a STUPID question. ESPECIALLY when YOU just said that "They'll simply take more (more of MY money, right?) to fund it."
So you're in favor of a broken system? You like things to be ineffective, inefficient and flawed? You will settle for mediocrity. Good for you. Are you waiting for a government check right now and that's why you're not interested in seeing these flaws corrected? Why are YOU interested in seeing money wasted?
I would like to say that there is a major problem with older people and disabled people not having enough resources. My mother has MS and struggles to find someone to help her or care for her. She is married and her husband works. They don't qualify for anything because he works. It would almost be better for her to have her husband leave her so she could get help. That is just sad to think about. Younger disabled people have it the worse because they aren't seniors so most of the programs they do have for seniors don't apply to the disabled. The healthcare system is broken and Doctors charge way to much for their services. Hospitals charge to much as well. Healthcare shouldn't have to be so expensive. In home healthcare is like 10 bucks an hour. Thats like good pay here in California but who makes enough to pay another persons wages. Not alot of people.
Many have manipulated the system to get payment and coverage. Go with the flow. Traditions are a thing of the past in the new progressive (socialist) world. That is until we runout of the other guy's money. Then what will we have...CHAOS
I wish people would quit letting themselves be manipulated by the government and the media..."United We Stand, Divided We Fall" remember? You can bet our government and media remembers...
Time to stand together. Maybe everyone should focus instead on all the bills signed into law that strip us of our rights. Without the right to defend ourselves or use free speech, we are sitting ducks. Look at the Patriot Act, H.R. 645, PDD51, and the NDAA. If these don't scare you into being united against a common enemy; nothing will. For more info on these bills and laws check out my facebook page under Kathyern Lane.
Good Luck!
Health care is a human right? If someone smokes, why should society pay for their cancer treatment? If you eat 8 hamburgers a day, why should society pay for your heart treatment?
Canada has free health care. goverment pays.Are goverment wants to fine U.S. people or worst for no insurance.The cigarette settlement with states. gave money to states to take care of this type of probem. So wears the money.The cancer people need it so thay dont have to be a burden to the tax payer thats why the states sued. I could go on on about this.
Only Brian Williams has the nads so big to stir the pot on this one. He helped to co-write Obamacare and he isn't even a congressman.
We need a single payer system like Canada, Europe amd some of Asia and South America.
I'm sorry, but healthcare is a commodity like everything else in life.
Why should one person have to pay for another's chronic diseases....often self induced due to a lifetime of poor health habits ?
Free healthcare is simply not a right.....just like free food, free housing, free education, etc, are not "rights". They are often provided by compassionate people through CHARITY, however, which is VOLUNTARY giving.
motoricker,
Most education in this country is not provided through charity. What the F are you talking about? If to obtain an education all of us had to pay then many disadvantaged children and families would go without....which of course would hurt our society.
Same goes for healthcare. Heathcare should be treated much like education...after all our health is more important than education. A part of our taxes goes to providing every citizen in our country with an education...no matter how much a family makes or provides. If we took the same approach to healthcare then every citizen would at least be able to obtain a basic level of healthcare (i.e. be able to go and get check ups, be covered when they're sick).
I will consider health care insurnace when it become AFFORDABLE, IE: MRI in France 281 Dollars, In the USA, 1,500 dollars. What is the Difference between the two? ITS THE PRICE STUPID. We are getting screwed over by the Health care MONOPOLY and its operators, THE US GOVT.
I work in HealthCare...Believe me we would all love it if we could give out all healthcare for free. Unfortunately its not an option. My facility is a "not for profit" facility which means that money receive goes back to pay salaries,supply costs ect. Bottom line if we didnt get paid we couldnt afford to stay open. We do what we can for people who cant pay their bill and will work with people as much as possible. As a matter of fact the money we receive from Medicare and Medicaid is now based on a score card which is based on our quality of care. Quite the opposite of a death panel actually.
Eric,
Whats with this Urgent Care that was added to our medical plans for a $40.00 copay? I asked the clinic that I am a patient of and they say it does not apply there, we still have to pay the $100.00 emergency if the office is closed. I went to my healthcare provider website and it seems like it only is covered primarily by Planned Parenthood clinics. Is that all it is good for? Did that raise our premiums adding this? If so, re evaluate it.
Many families I work with will have to drop their coverage, for Premiums are above our wages we earn now. We need to medically insure our children.
Slip them an antidote of death,get them out of their loss of a quality life,and out of your hair! Then call a mortician! That's what I would want if I was in this situation!
Because you rely on others to pay, you have no right to healthcare. You have no right to something I have to pay for. Stop taking care of people that don't have insurance and everyone will eventually have insurance. Everything in heathcare, from phamacuticals to hospitals is a business. You want it for free, then ask everyonie in the supply chain to work for free.
I have a great suggestion for each and everyone of you liberal Democrats or even of you are a Republican or an Independent that believes if all of our great American social giving. And this goes beyond health care.
Since you all want to support every social program possible to pay for those that are not as fortunate as yourselves and those that are simply lazy and live generation after generation on the handouts of the American people, I say stop waiting for government legislation to increase your taxes and go ahead and contribute additional monies you have earned. Increase your own tax rate to 50%, 60%, or even 70% and send it in.
Do your part since you believe in it so strongly. After all, this is America and you have your freedoms to do s you choose.
So What some of you people are saying is that if you do not have money or splendiphorous healthcare you dont deserve to live, reguardless of what nationality or country youv'e come from? Give me a F*****G break! Why don't we just denounce our political stature and just plainly state that we are no different than most communists!
Communism would be making the legal, taxpaying citizens foot the med bills for the illegal immigrants who legally can't pay income taxes...um, isn't that what's happening now?
I'm OK w/figuring out how to provide a safety net for the legal, taxpaying citizens but to ask me to work harder to pay for someone who's already shown disrespect for our laws by sneaking into our country illegally, well sorry. Until we can have other countries pick up the tab for out healthcare I don't see how theirs is our responsibility.
Before Making ANY S.A. Remarks,Consider if you were in the Same Situation , then Consider where All the Funds that you spent a Lifetime to Retire to a Leasure life after more than Half your Life then it is all gone with a Spouse that has a Hard time feeding her self and doing the things she use to do for her self, then think that when the Next shoe hits the floor you do not have enough money for the Roof over your head all with in 4 Years where she spent More time in Hospitals and Rehab. than she had at Home !---Now consider the Co Pays start Rolling in for the Past 2 Years ! ----- and the Beat go's on ! -----
But, but, but...I thought the Obamacare plan that we have been paying 100 billion a year for was supposed to fix all this....what have we been paying 100 billion a year for then?
The plan has not gone into effect yet -- or what planet have you been on?
We should let her live at the Whitehouse. They can take care of her they have enough staff.