(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Last January, Jerome Adams, the former United States surgeon general, received treatment at an Arizona hospital for dehydration leading to a medical bill of close to $5,000. Following this, he has been pushing for market-based healthcare system reforms, which would include having more transparency regarding contents as well as an independent arbitration process.
The Commonwealth Fund currently estimates that around 43 percent of working-age adults do not currently have insurance, despite the fact that in recent years there has been an overall increase in those who have insurance. This could mean that for many Americans access to health care is limited and a medical visit could result in their financial ruin. Currently, according to estimates, there are 100 million Americans who have medical debt.
Adams, 49, told AFP that he had attended the Society of Critical Care Medicine meeting in Arizona and had decided to hike Camelback Mountain like thousands of tourists do. He added that he had taken enough water for the trip and was hiking up on a day that was not too hot, with the temperature at only 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, following his return from the hike and by the time he was set to go out to dinner he had started to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Many of the doctors who were with him on the day advised him to go to the hospital to get checked out, especially since he is at higher risk of cardiovascular complications as a middle-aged Black man.
Adams, who now works at Purdue University, stated during an interview in Indiana that he had called an ambulance, and gotten IV fluids. However, by the time he reached the hospital, it was clear he was suffering from dehydration. Two months after he visited the hospital, where the medics had advised him to stay overnight, he received a bill for $4,800.
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