2.7 trillion medical bill

Back to healthcare....

 

My ear hurts but xan'r get in to see a specialist for 6 months. Any advice?


June Bug---- you may be on to something about the Chineae connection!

 

My niece is a new doctor still in residency, she told me that all doctors in residency are paid by medicare, so in essence when you see a doctor on medicare in a hospital setting you are likely to get a doctor that has less experience than a “regular” doctor, this way medicare can still say they gave you treatment but you’re getting the least expensive care available.

There are members of this board who live in Canada but choose to have treatment in the US, because access to some services is very slow at best. One thing I was recently told by a Canadian who came to the USA for treatment is that they are starting to see lots of apathy from the medical professionals in Canada, not sure exactly why but when they came here they told me it was a refreshing change for the doctors and nurses to actually show that they care by asking questions and truly listening to their needs.

On the other hand my aunt a resident of Canada recently passed away after a long battle with cancer, her family praised how the heath care system worked in her case. However, the hospice care my father received when he passed away was second to none.

Without trying to get political my feelings is that if the government should be out of the health care business, with the sole exception of investigation why health care costs are so expensive.

 

Medical malpractice suits. It costs my girlfriend almost 250,000 a year to insure herself as an oncologist and that is cheap compared to some such as cardiologist and OBYGN.

I guess with gov't controlled insurance it will be cheap as no one will want to sue the gov't.

 

My humble suggestion would be for the US to talk to countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, i.e. countries with healthy economies (high average incomes, low unemployment etc etc) which have universal healthcare. Our systems aren't perfect but they are pretty good. Most Australians, while we whinge about aspects of our own system find it overwhelmingly preferable to the US system, which, frankly, terrifies us with its costs. We have excellent, world class doctors and (mostly) excellent hospitals. I don't know how we do it but I'm sure the politicians and health care professionals from the US and Australia could have a productive discussion about it and the Americans might learn something useful.

 

I am not aware that there are any plans for gov controlled insurance, unless you are being facetious. There have been attempts for legislation to intervene and limit awards in liability and mal practice claims. That would be government intervention but many doctors favor that intervention.

 

I think we can learn a lot by studying how universal health care is achieved in other countries. There are so many models to pick the brain of so to speak. Most of all, it shows it is very doable.
The US does have some unique challenges. We are 313,000 million people of very diverse backgrounds and it is hard to get 313,000 people to agree on anything at all, lol. We are also late to the game so we are starting in at a time when health care is already extraordinarily complex and expensive rather than during simpler times and then gradually building on it as many countries did, although we have been talking about it since the fifties. Because there are so many fingers in the health care pie by this time, there are many industries and interest groups that have to be mollified which is why we have the ridiculous looking system we are starting off with. But we have to start where we are and then work to improve. Fingers crossed people give this a chance and work to improve it instead of just throwing monkey wrenches in the works.

 

Impossible. Healthcare is in the hands of the lobbyists. It is a HUGE money making racket in the United States. It's not about the patient in the least bit. BD throws around the word "government" but in reality, the lobbyists run the show.

 

If so, shame on us. We elect the people who make the laws. Any one of us can run for office. The state legislatures are very important. It is a good place to start.

 

If universal health care works so well why do 60,000 to 85,000 people a year from those countries that offer it, come to the USA for medical treatment?

 

But who are the lobbyists courting? Those in the government, i.e. the "government."

 

Depends.

With a large population comes a lot of doctors. That equates to a great deal of experience and specialisation. That's just maths (eg economies of scale) - a by product of population - and has nothing to do with universal healthcare. In Australia for e,ample we get people from sparsely populated countries in the Pacific region coming for treatment, as you'd expect - they simply don't have the populations to sustain the breadth of specialty we do.

On the other hand, growing numbers of Australians are travelling to Asian countries for cheap plastic surgery or dental work.

The US is not the only country people go for medical treatment. Nor am I aware of any country seeking to replicate the US medical system. To be frank, its pretty much a case study in what *not* to do.

 

We are a nation of 330,000 people. By virtue of the size of our country, we have the ability to have specilizations that smaller countries - and almost all countries are smaller. However, many, probably most, people in the United States do not have access to those things that wealthy people from outside the US come here for. Most of us have health insurance that limits us to a network of doctors or hospitals, has a lifetime limit on expenses, and a variety of other limitations if we are lucky enough to have insurance at all which 15% of the population does not.

So yes, quite right, there are some magnificent achievements in US health care, no one would dispute that. We do not however cover 15% of our population and even with that, healthcare costs the Unites States (18% of gross national product goes to health care and rising) more than any other nation.

"Life expectancy at birth in the USA, 78.49, is 50th in the world, below most developed nations and some developing nations. Monaco is first with 89.68. Chad is last with 48.69. With 72.4% Americans of European ancestry,[12] life expectancy is below the average life expectancy for the European Union.[13][14] The World Health Organization (WHO), in 2000, ranked the U.S. health care system as the highest in cost, first in responsiveness, 37th in overall performance, and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study).[15][16] The Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among similar countries,[17] and notes U.S. care costs the most.[18]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States

Basically, the US is a great placefor health care if youarerich or if you have no preexisting conditions and well insured. But eve for those lucky people, the vurden of the most expensive health care in the world is crippling to the country whether it is the government or private industry paying for it. Onereason many business support the ACA (yes many do) is because businesses can no lnger afford to pay for health care for their employees. It is one reason employees haventbeen getting raises in the last 15 yearsallthewhile they have been passing more premium costs to the employee. Health care costs have been burgeoning for 30 years. When i was young, premiums were small and good employerspicked up the whole cost. Now that is virtually impossible. What neither side tells people is that with or without Obamacare and with or withou pt the government being involved, we will have our ability to demand the latest and greatest test right this minute on a whim willbe curtailed because we just cannot sustain that cost any longer. We will have a more European system whther we have government intervention or not. The only question is who we will bitch at when we dont like it. If we habpve Obamacare, we will blame the government. If we dont we will blame the insurance companies and employers. We just cannot financially support the current system privately or publically.

 

It has been 5 pages and I am still waiting for somebody to tell one program the gov't runs efficiently, effectively and without corruption?

 

That wasnt the question, lol. Tell me one private industry that is efficient and without corruption please. I have worked for both gov and industry and it is a real horse race which is less efficient and less corrupt. I think it turns out to be essentially equal because now almost all gov services are contracted out to private contractors. Witness the cia contractor. That is just a way to lay off responsibility. Companies do it and the gov does it and it is a travesty what they get, yet entirely predictable.

 

For the rich among us, here is an option you might want to take and be rid of insurance companies and gov alike.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/11/news/economy/cash-only-doctors/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_c4

 

The govt. is supposed to be "we" the people. It's not us vs. them. After we cast our votes, the behind the scenes is out of our hands. What has made this country so great is that it is built on the principles of laissez faire capitalism but the flip side is that social programs get thrown under the bus.

Like I said, it's one thing to end up in an urgent care place for a twisted ankle or a sore throat. Most of us can afford the 120 bucks. Start talking about breast cancer, open heart surgery, a car crash, etc. and watch how this wonderful healthcare system not only swallows you whole but your family, your home, your savings too.

I am very, very fortunate to have dual citizenship. I cannot imagine needing surgery or intensive care treatment here. The bills would end up killing me. I pay my taxes and I have health insurance but even so.....I could not afford what I see my friends struggle to pay off.

As I said, this isn't the only healthcare system I know and have utilized. I can make this comparison. Like imnoscientist said (and has said repeatedly), there are cutting edge medical systems in other countries too which function pretty well. We need to give up the thinking that drives us here i.e. why the fk should I pay for someone else's medical needs. Well, you should because one day you could be at the receiving end of it. Instead, with this each person to himself, my money for me, my needs first because I pay for them attitude we cultivate when it comes to healthcare....it screws a lot of people over.

I've said this many, many times: I will gladly pay more taxes if you can get healthcare for yourself and your children. That is what civilized people do. We consider ourselves part of humanity first and we do what it takes so people in our society benefit. If your child dies of something that could have been prevented with medical care (but lack of insurance or affordable insurance) then shame on all of us for not having chipped in to save him/her.

 

I agree with you on this point -- no one should be without medical care. How we get to that point is the question. I am not willing to pay anymore in taxes -- my husband and I pay way too much right now as it is. We ended up owing more than $4000 last year because I am self-employed, and that's on top of what he pays through his job. Right now, we pay nearly $700 a month in insurance premiums -- that buys us $45 copays for specialists, $20 for regular doctors, $35 urgent care visits and $200 emergency room visits. That may seem like a deal until you realize we are barely making ends meet as it is. The BS part of the "affordable care" act is that people who already can't afford to buy their own health insurance are FORCED to buy their own health insurance or be fined monthly. How on earth does this make any sense? AND instead of insurance rates going down -- they're going up. I've seen some terrible things happen because people fell through the cracks in our current health care system, so I'm all for reform. But, if we have to pay MORE in taxes and MORE in health care premiums, then I will resist it every step of the way. OTOH, if the government was to raise my taxes even by 50%, but it eliminated insurance premiums, then we'd probably all come out ahead and everyone could be taken care of.

 

Then we have to elect people who will put our need ahead of the lobbyists. Any one of us can run. We all can be informed voters who research important subjects, not just people who follow the shock jocks on radio, tv and internet who make up ridiculous stories because they believe their audience never fact checks anything but just wants a emotional joy ride.

We have a democratic system, if we dont use it, what can we expect except to be taken advantage of?

 

Have you checked to see if you will get a tax break for buying health insurance under ACA?