The War Within
Lou Dobbs - Tonight
CNN

March 12, 2007






(transcript)
DOBBS: Tonight, "The War Within," our special report on the war against drugs and alcohol abuse and addiction. Approximately 40 percent of patients who go to emergency rooms are there because of an alcohol-related injury. But as Kitty Pilgrim reports, in many states doctors simply will not even test those patients for alcohol because insurance companies will not reimburse those claims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A horrific accident. The driver injured. At the emergency room, doctors don't test for drugs or alcohol because they want to get paid.

DR. LARRY GENTILELLO, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER: Once you go to the ER, you're almost sure not to have your blood alcohol level tested because of this law. And so, as a result, many patients cause property damage or severe bodily injuries to other people as a result of alcohol-related crashes. And by going to the ER, they don't get tested and they get away with it all.

PILGRIM: These exclusion clauses, officially called UPPL laws, were passed way back in 1947 to allow insurance companies to avoid paying for alcohol-related accidents. Thirty-four states still have laws allowing insurers to walk away without paying, and 10 other states leave it up to the discretion of the insurers.

Major healthcare organizations and advocacy groups like MADD want UPPL laws repealed. They say alcohol-related accidents are epidemic.

Statistics prove that to be the case. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says three in 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. Thirty-eight percent of all fatal car crashes are alcohol related.

DR. MARK WILLENBRING, NATIONAL INST. ALCOHOL ABUSE: Eighteen thousand young people a year who are dying because of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, that's a tremendous loss of life and opportunity, and we really do need to start paying more attention to it.

PILGRIM: Those numbers are likely even higher. The don't ask, don't test policy in emergency rooms gives doctors a financial interest in not reporting alcohol-related accidents. The approach actually generates more accidents because people are never treated for alcohol abuse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now, advocates for repealing the law say doctors are often very well intentioned because insurers won't pay for the alcohol related injuries and doctors are trying to protect their patients from having to pay the high medical bills on their own. The problem is, Lou, with alcohol abuse, there are more than one victim. This -- if this continues, other people are also injured if they don't...

DOBBS: Well, they're perpetrators and victims alike, and the insurance companies are actually standing between -- 38 percent of all of these are alcohol related based on the current statistics. We have no idea what the real number is, but it has to be substantially higher.

PILGRIM: It's much, much higher. The industry says the -- the insurance industry says the law should be repealed, but then they do nothing to actually advance this. And 34 states still have these laws on their books. DOBBS: Plus 10 others that leave it to the discretion of the insurer.

PILGRIM: That's right.

DOBBS: And I can imagine which way that discretion goes.

PILGRIM: Yes, well...

DOBBS: All right.

It's incredible. The deeper we dig into this issue of alcohol and drug abuse and addiction in this country, it -- I mean, this is really very serious. And one would hope that some would join -- you said the Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups.

PILGRIM: There's 30 organizations, major organizations, that want these laws overturned.

DOBBS: Well, why not get it done?

All right. Kitty Pilgrim, thank you very much.

Unless you want to upset an insurance company and avoid that. Or whatever. I can't imagine that being the case.

Thanks.

Source: David Anderson Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems