Hot button American politics, health care debate, post-repeal, post-Arizona-shooting looking for data.

January 23, 2011 8:09 AM

Hot button American politics, health care debate, post-repeal, post-Arizona-shooting looking for data. Has anyone seen an analysis of the health care costs (projected or real) of the care the survivors of the Arizona shooting, based upon their (likely or real) levels of insurance?

I've enough familiarity with HIPAA to know there's lots of restrictions on what's actually available, but I'm curious if anyone has seen a news analysis on the likely health care costs of caring for and rehabilitating Representative Giffords and the other people injured in the shooting. I know, ultimately, it's hardly proof of anything substantive and not ultimately dispositive of the issues involved in health care / health insurance reform. However, it seems to me to be a dramatic and eye-catching example of health care / health insurance disparity and health care costs in the U.S. I'm curious to see the analysis, if it exists.

My searches through google and some news sites didn't really bring anything up.

posted by crush-onastick to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

The only way to even speculate would be to engage in some pretty shitty prying into people's personal lives. (For instance, one of the survivors is a semi-retired 60-year-old mental-health worker with a long-term opposite-sex partner to whom he isn't married. Is he eligible for health benefits through her on the grounds that they're common-law spouses? Is it any of our damn business?) These people didn't put themselves in the public eye, and it seems kind of horrible to invade their privacy so you can score political points.
posted by craichead at 8:43 AM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]