Plight of mental-health patients deserves the nation's attention, and other letters

Regarding the recent cover story “Bedding, not boarding,” as the CEO of a community hospital, I am reminded daily of the mental-health crisis facing our community and our nation.

Our emergency department boards an average of 10 mental patients daily, where some are housed for more than three weeks waiting for a psychiatric bed. As generations come and go, these voiceless souls live in the shadows on an island of irrelevance surrounded by an ocean of indifference. Their modern-day dungeon is now the ED at the local hospital.

The answer to their plight is a call of the social contract to address this national humanity issue. These patients will be relieved of their burden when our nation addresses a system of healthcare delivery that will include allocation of money and other resources. We will all be judged by how we care for the least of these.

Ed Piper

The finding that Medicaid patients in Oregon used more emergency room services is not surprising (“More—not fewer—newly insured in Oregon making unnecessary trips to ER, study finds”). A study performed at the University of Missouri-KC showed that their patients in a low-income area used the ER because they felt that it offered better care than the university clinics to which they were assigned. This was true even though these clinics were happy to see them and were oriented to low-income patients. In the end, the issue may not be solely access but perception of quality.

Dr. Joseph J. Muscato

Regarding “Get Catholic Church out of hospital administration,” is anti-Catholic bigotry acceptable? Dr. Rosemary Eileen McHugh seems to think so in her statement that “It is wrong that the U.S. allows the Catholic hierarchy, a group of childless and celibate men, to dictate medical care to doctors and patients, even though much of the income of Catholic hospitals is from taxpayers.” Does being celibate or childless or a man or a priest automatically disqualify someone as unconcerned about women? Was not Jesus a childless, celibate man? McHugh states she is a Catholic. How could a sincere Catholic not be anything but proud of the significant contribution the Church has made to the U.S. healthcare system and to affirming the inherent dignity of women for 2,000 years?

Would the writer make the same suggestion to other religious healthcare providers? The presence of Catholic healthcare in no way limits women's access to care. If fact, it improves access to care, particularly for the poor and uninsured. Catholic facilities typically provide more care to the poor than other secular not-for-profits and for-profits. Catholic healthcare is a pillar of our U.S. system, providing a long tradition of quality, research and education. One might suspect McHugh then has a problem with the Catholic Church's position on abortion and sterilization. Abortions are readily available at clinics, as is sterilization. And, of course, contraception is a pharmacy benefit, not a hospital benefit.

Brian O'Sullivan

Regarding the article “Health plan sticker shock ahead for some buyers,” patient health isn't always the top concern to insurance companies, as they are in business to make a profit. Nevertheless, insurers aren't to blame if people choose their policy based only on the cheapest premium.

The idea of the exchange is to provide information needed to compare coverage, including out-of-pocket costs and copayments for tests and procedures. It does an admirable job despite technical glitches. The information can be searched in any number of ways so even a computer neophyte can find what they need with one click. Again, people are condemning Obamacare as a failure merely because they're too lazy to research the facts for themselves.

Christina Kontz