Homeless Man Owes $500,000 Doctor Bill

[babylonsister]

The Treatment of Kenny Farnsworth
For much of a decade, he called 911 routinely for an endless list of medical issues. Now he has an endless stack of bills he is unlikely to ever pay. So what's the diagnosis?

By Dave Jamieson
Sunday, November 29, 2009


Eight miles north of the U.S. Capitol, in Silver Spring, there is an office trailer on a tow lot where the telephone rings throughout the day. As one would expect, a lot of the calls come from stranded drivers who need a tow or a jump-start. But these days, most of the calls tend to come from debt collectors -- both human and automated -- searching doggedly for Ken Farnsworth, a chronically ill hospital regular known to first responders and nurses across the Washington area. A decade in and out of emergency rooms has turned Farnsworth into a wanted man.

Seated in an office chair one summer afternoon, Farnsworth stares at the receiver as the line lights up during a string of calls. "That phone never stops ringing," he says, shaking his head as the call goes to voice mail.

Farnsworth is a short and squat 59-year-old who walks like a man in search of a cane. His paunch hangs over his belt, and his eyes blink slowly behind horn-rimmed bifocals. He could easily be mistaken for a retired firefighter, thanks to the clothing he wears daily -- a matching Washington, D.C., fire department hat and T-shirt, in honor of the men and women who have treated his array of health problems over the years. Farnsworth has no home of his own, so the office trailer is one of a few places where he's been known to crash now and again, with the owner's permission. He lives out of two duffel bags that are stuffed with a few pairs of clothes, some toiletries, and his most recent medical bills and conditions' diagnoses.

The medical claims are too much for Farnsworth to keep up with. They arrive by the bundle every week. The bills come from just about every hospital in the Washington area, as well as from the collection agencies that handle overdue accounts for those hospitals. Farnsworth even has a tab with the D.C. government, which is trying to recoup money he owes it for the countless ambulance rides he has taken.

"I guess I wore out my welcome a long time ago," he says, managing a laugh.

He opens most of the letters and tries to sort through his debts, but the numbers have become too abstract -- "unfathomable" is how he puts it. He piles the bills into neat stacks until they become too unwieldy, then he stuffs them into grocery bags.

Eventually, when he starts to face reality, he throws the overflowing bags into the trash.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112003175.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009112702107

[Greyhound]

1. All too common and destined to increase in the coming years.

But hey, we've nearly passes the insurance company profit protection plan and soon we can look forward to paying for Kenny Farnsworth's health care in the prison system.

Three cheers for the "Chess Master" and his hearty band of hoods.

[babylonsister]

2. So you're of the opinion nothing should be passed. Gotcha...

Top 14 Health Care Reform Provisions That Take Effect Immediately on January 1, 2010

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=11487&mesg_id=11487

[Greyhound]

4. I said nothing of the sort in this reply, but feel free to use it as an excuse to cross-post

from the other forum. However, since you brought it up, assuming that these provisions are left in the final bill, and assuming that the bill becomes law, it will certainly be interesting to see just how these provisions will be enforced because as we all know, big companies, especially insurance companies, are always ever so careful to follow the law.

I fully expect that, as I age and my health declines, I will be in the same boat as Kenny, except I won't even open the letters before throwing them away.

One thing this whole debacle has made abundantly clear is that being identified as an American will become even more shameful in the future.
another :kick: as a bonus...

[dkf]

5. Even if this guy had a subsidized $300/month policy where insurance

companies paid 80% and he paid 20%, he would still owe $100,000.

What is the difference to him, really?

[Daemonaquila]

7. Understand the sentiment, but the math is off.

If he was able to access a primary care doctor (and get a few referrals to specialists) he'd be both in better shape and would owe much, much less. Here's a case in point from my own clients. My guy (ok, I'll call him Guy from now on) is a repeat caller/ER visitor, all very legitimate, due to a chronic illness that he legitimately has a hard time controlling despite the med due to end-organ damage and complications. ERs and hospitals are an awful place for indigent folks to get medical treatment. Guy, like Kenny and many others, goes through the same routine every time - doctors blaming him for his relapses, eye rolling, bare-minimum stabilization (which has taken up to 2 weeks in ICU), and release onto the street with no followup, a few medication samples, and no way to pay for more meds after those run out. When he gets hospitalized, he easily runs up a $50k+ bill.

It took quite a while, but eventually with the hospital pushing he was able to get onto an indigent care program that pays for primary care and limited meds. While Guy still wound up in ER from time to time, his rate of going to the ER dropped off by about 2/3, and out of those incidents his hospitalizations dropped from months where he's spend 70% of his time in one ward or another to one severe incident (1-2 weeks inpatient) every 3 months or so. The cost of the new care regimen is miniscule compared to his prior ER/hospital use. When he saw a primary care doc, Guy was referred to just a couple specialists 1-2 times each, but they were able to peg the cause of his instability and come up with solutions in short order. He has gone from being so underweight and frail that he was unable to walk without assistance, to gaining over 40 pounds (still skinny, but not too bad) and having enough pep to help out around the house at least.

Per my best guess, Guy probably owes $400-$600k to the hospital and ambulance companies that is absolutely uncollectable. Looking at where his bills are now, if he'd had the indigent care coverage from the get-go he'd owe about $5-$10k for some elements of procedures that weren't covered. If he'd had a regular policy, he'd probably owe about $10k-$20k overall. It's steep, but he might've been able to pay it off because IF he had coverage when his health declined, he probably wouldn't have spent the last 2 years being a medical wreck until the system finally stopped failing him somewhat. Most of my clients are in that boat - working poor who aren't disabled because of an illness or injury, but because of the awful or nonexistent care they got for the illness or injury that destroyed their bodies and, if they're lucky, will take multiple years of recovery at this point.

[nashville_brook]

9. +1

[MattBaggins]

10. This guy has access to primary care

He chooses not to use it. What this guy needs is access to mental health care. The question is whether or not he would take it.

[dkf]

11. My point is that even after exhorbitant premiums, the out of pocket

for the chronically ill is out of the reach of most Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. The only care a person that is homeless could afford is free healthcare. That is probably the case for the majority of Americans seeing as most can't even afford to pay federal taxes nowadays.

But this healthcare bill wouldn't allow this homeless man to see a doctor anyway, because he never will have the money for it. People who can't afford premiums, much less copays will still have to use emergency care.

And I have no solution to the problem. I'm thinking that the health care system is simply too expensive and doctors, especially specialists make too much money.

If you view healthcare as a premium service or a luxury, that is when doctors make a ton of money. If you view healthcare as a right, they ought to cut down their salaries in order to provide services at a reasonable cost. Its a different mentality about the value of health care.

[KharmaTrain]

3. A Real Catch-22...

My bets are a lot of his health problems were due to a lack of insurance in the past that...along with what appears to be a pretty unhealthy lifestyle has worn this guy's body out. Dare I say he won't be a burden to the collectors much longer as his own internal problems are bound to catch up with him...hopefully quickly and peacefully. Sounds harsh to say, but it's something I'm seeing as my generation starts getting into the age where the body slows down and little problems become bigger ones.

Sadly we've lived under 20 plus years of the insurance companies dominating healthcare and with it a steady decrease in preventive care and an increase in limiting and then eliminating "problem" beneficiaries. It's resulted in many who went years without any insurance and many who were afraid to "push their luck" with their insurer or only had medical care under emergency circumstances. It's patchwork medicine and results in return visits as the underlying chronic problems are rarely addressed yet treated.

The consumption culture we've lived in that pushes excesses and unhealthy lifestyles combined with the insurance company domination of health care are a major problem that isn't being talked about in this healthcare debate...the sad fact is there are many more people who will need intensive care in the years ahead due to their lack of regular check-ups or any preventative care. And more the reason that we need public option and that eventually single payer will be imperative.

:hi:

[hadrons]

6. There are countless Kenny Farnsworth out there ....

[madrchsod]

8. hospitals recieve federal tax deductions and have charity funds.

the problem is these funds are not large enough to keep up with the demand. the hospitals and the bill collectors know they`ll never collect a penny from him but they will never stop hounding him.they`ll never take him to court because they know they will lose.

is`t america grand........