You want to pay for needle exchanges, or do you want to pay for treatment of bloodborne diseases?

Unless our society is willing to simply refuse emergency medical treatment and let homeless people die, those are your options.

One of them is much, much cheaper than the other.

You want to pay for needle exchanges, or do you want to pay for treatment of bloodborne diseases?

Unless our society is willing to simply refuse emergency medical treatment and let homeless people die, those are your options.

One of them is much, much cheaper than the other.

An unidentified male, mid 40's, wearing dirty clothes is delivered to an emergency room by an unrelated person who saw him collapse in the street, struggling to breathe. The triage team removes his outer jacket and discovers that he is running a fever of approximately 104 degrees despite the 40 and raining weather outside, and there appear to be numerous scars running lengthwise down his arms. As he is being admitted, the man loses consciousness and goes into cardiac arrest.

Wheel him back outside and dump him on the sidewalk?

An unidentified male, mid 40's, wearing dirty clothes is delivered to an emergency room by an unrelated person who saw him collapse in the street, struggling to breathe. The triage team removes his outer jacket and discovers that he is running a fever of approximately 104 degrees despite the 40 and raining weather outside, and there appear to be numerous scars running lengthwise down his arms. As he is being admitted, the man loses consciousness and goes into cardiac arrest.

Wheel him back outside and dump him on the sidewalk?

Or..bleeding from gunshot wounds from a deal gone bad?

who pays? me? you? hospital through private funding(hint..there's your answer)? government?

Or..bleeding from gunshot wounds from a deal gone bad?

who pays? me? you? hospital through private funding(hint..there's your answer)? government?

I'm not sure if that was a yes or a no.

Do you wheel him back outside and leave him to die on the sidewalk?

Assuming we're not that heartless, for better or worse, he gets treated. Now, wouldn't it be cheaper if patient X had just used a clean needle? It's not about enabling drug use. It's about saving the taxpayers money over the long run.

Is needle exchange successful?
YES. HIV infection among PWID has been shown to increase 6% per year on average in cities that do not have needle exchange. In contrast, HIV declined 6% per year among PWID in cities that have exchange programs.2 An Australian survey found that HIV prevalence declined 19% per year in cites with needle exchange compared to an 8% increase in cities that did not have exchange programs.3 In King County, the rate of HIV infection among PWID has remained low and stable for the past sixteen years, with only 3% of the local PWID population infected.
King County's program has also been successful in getting PWID off the streets and into drug treatment. In the last two years, Public Health needle exchange program placed 739 people in drug treatment.


How much does needle exchange cost?
King County spends $1.2 million/year on the needle exchange program. In contrast, life-time medical cost to treat one person who has HIV is estimated to be $385,200.4 By preventing infections in just three people per year, the needle exchange program pays for itself. By preventing HIV infections in just 1% of IDUs in King County, the program saves over $70 million in HIV-related medical costs. In this light needle exchange provides both a public health and an economic benefit to the residents of Seattle and King County.

Who pays for the needle exchange?
The needle exchange is funded by disease prevention funds provided by Washington State, King County and the City of Seattle. Community-based agencies that provide needle exchange in King County may also receive private donations and grants from private foundations.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/communicable/hiv/resources/aboutnx.aspx