DISQUS

Steve_in_CNJ · 1 year ago

great rant. except that 40 is the new 30. i was still peter pan at age 30.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Judging from your handsome mug, you're still Peter Pan in your forties, bub.

Indigo · 1 year ago

Interesting since 60 is the new 40. That makes 30 the new 15.

nicho · 1 year ago

Come on people. Give me a break. It took me two years in grade school to get this number thing straight. Please, don't go changing it on me. Can't we just have 60 be 60, like it always was?

:)

shanobama · 1 year ago

Wait 'till you pass the magical age of 50. The you get a big birthday present from BCBS. And annual increases in monthly cost from then on. And magical DEcreases in benefits you used to have at the same time.

I broke my hand 2 years ago the night before flying out of Zurich. The people at the hotel gave me some bandages, &c, to brace my hand because my flight was the next day, it was a holiday (they told me if it was not a holiday I could have a doctor come to the hotel).

Back in the states, I found out I had to pay all my medical for this broken bone because they had cut my benefits. No longer do I get a $500 per year payment for an accidental broken bone-which was part of my plan for years. They bury you in paperwork and legalese so you dont know what is covered, what they have cut, and where you are not covered at all.

Does anyone have the time to read the reams of paper they send each year? Does anyone have the time to spend waiting on the phone to find out?...(and still only to get the wrong information) Not surprising their on-line efforts are the same mystifying and murky information meant to confuse and obscure what you are paying for each and every month. I've been paying BCBS for over 25 years and they have never picked up a bill of any kind for me.

Their stance is that they get you a 'discount'. Really? The card may help you get treatment, because a hospital or doctor will see you have 'insurance'. But you still have to pay the monthly premium and pay your doctor bills, too, if you are in the individual market. Glad John McCain did not get his wet dream of these individual policies for all Americans, because it is a scam. there is no other word for it, money for nothing.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Read above: Speaking of reams of paper, I'm disgusted by the amount of paper work, and costs still being accrued for my deceased grandmother. Its just flat disgusting... REAMS AND REAMS of shit about Medicare will or won't cover this or that bullshit procedure... What a total waste of resources. Remember, folks, Republicans EXIST to defend this crap.

mainsailset · 1 year ago

Wait until you do the research and find out that all your meds are made in China. Mine are and they're not unusual.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Made in China, not invented there

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

My grandmother died in August, and I STILL receives Medicare crap in the mail about her medical expenses where outrageous costs are being paid to her nursing home, doctos, etc. Its a HUGE, HUGE SCAM. No wonder Medical Doctors, and nursing homes and REPUBLICANS are so dead set against Universal Health care. We, as a people, need to support Obama's agenda 110% regarding health care and SHUT THE REPUBLICANS DOWN FOR GOOD!

The amount of paper work I've received regarding her health care in the last year of her life is just astounding, and disgusts me. Every other day I receive a form for some minor service provided her that Medicare might or might not cover. Its just bullshit.

Bob Munck · 1 year ago

Wait, just wait, until you have to sign yourself or an aged parent up for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. You will then realize that CareFirst's information about your policy was as lucid as a mountain spring and as informative as the Library of Congress. Not only that, but the coverage of each company changes on a daily basis and turns over completely at the end of every year. If your or your parent, like mine, has frequent changes in the drugs she's prescribed, you may have to rent a supercomputer to calculate the best choice at any given time.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

I got DEATHLY SICK in Montreal, Canada and was scared to death of having to go to foreign country's hospital and use their medical care system. It was WONDERFUL! I was quickly diagnosed with a severe case of strep throat, and it absolutely SAVED my vacation. It cost me an out of pocket expense of $20.00 US for EVERYTHING. I'm fortunate since I can take advantage of service connected disability medical care through the Veterans Administration here in the states, but I was pleasantly surprised the Canadian's Universal Health care was no different than visiting the VA Hospital and getting health care with the $20.00 out of pocket. I have had to visit an emergency room in the United States when I was injured while working on a Democratic congressional campaign here in Oklahoma. The emergency room visit, stitches and grief I went through was just unacceptable. I spent HUNDREDS of dollars! The VA would not reimburse me, and the whole experience was a nightmare. Of course, the hospital and medical doctors made out like bandits. UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE is the ONLY WAY TO GO! Canadian's got it right, and we are NOT Number One when it comes to health care.

Webster · 1 year ago

And there are no options out here for those of us who are unemployed and without any health insurance. I banged my knee (ironically out of town on a job interview--which was given to a less-experienced, but younger candidate--but that's another story) and it swelled up.

I couldn't do anything about it but hope that it would heal on its own. I went to "Dr. Google," the only help I could afford and tried to figure out what I could do to lessen the swelling and stop the pain--and just hope that I hadn't broken or fractured anything. Now, a couple of months later, I still walk with a limp and have shooting pains and uncomfortable nights when it acts up.

Not that anyone cares of course--but I'm not the only one out here who just gets up in the morning with the hope my health will hold (and some days, lately, I hope it doesn't and that it all ends swiftly). Best health care in the world? Only if you might be employed with some benefits--or if you're rich. Otherwise, in the Republican mantra: You're On Your Own.

Indigo · 1 year ago

You're right, there's a pattern on many web sites to hide lthe information behind glossy claims, advertisements, and entertaining distractors. Even the Social Security web site does that. Some of the glitzier Las Vegas hotels have such casino-value loaded web sites that take so long to load that there's no sense even trying to reserve a room through the web. I dunno . . . then there's the one about the automotive CEOs who went to Washington for money and didn't even have a business plan.

It makes you wonder.

Anneliese · 1 year ago

And good luck getting any cost of treatment info from a hospital emergency room. I recently had a minor eye injury and the ER billing person *refused* to tell me anything about the possible costs. Told me that I really needed to have the injury treated (well DUH!) and that if I qualified I'd get a reduced bill. They do not disclose their fees in advance to anyone.

The qualifications require a Medicaid denial. Medicaid has told me that I qualify but they will put a lien on my home until I reimburse them for anything they pay out. I'm not sure if the Medicaid info is accurate but it is what they told me.

So I did not stick around in the ER, my friend suggested another place (local clinic that was open on Veterans Day) and they treated the injury. They explained their fees and gave me an estimate before treatment.

LiberalTexasDemocrat · 1 year ago

As a recipient of health care via the only socialized system in The United States I feel very fortunate indeed. Everytime I wait at a Veterans Administrtation Medical Center to receive, to date, what has been quality health care services and medications at zero cost to me I'm amazed by the number of people who believe the same system can not be expanded to cover every citizen and visitor in this country.
That crap about, "I want to be able to choose my own doctor" is just that, crap. Unless your the CEO of your health care insuraunce provider you're probably not going to have the coverage you need to see "the doctor of your choice", not to mention that the doctor of your choice has only so many appointments in a day any way. If (s)he's that good you'll wait longer than I or a Canadian, Englishman, Frenchman, or any other respected citizen of the western world does.

Jaango · 1 year ago

For the life of me, I fail to understand why the vast majority of America continues to believe that there is no capacity for "alternative" health care in America.

Take, for example, the VA's medical and hospital systemic has been around for ages, and to think that the VA is incapable of providing a quality care of considerable capacity, is either a fable or a continuing mythology.

Perhaps, if Congress took the time to craft an experimental schematic for medical delivery services in competition with the existing insurance-dominated delivery system, folks would quickly come to realize that the VA is the far better way to go.

Moreover, the medical care would definitively be upgraded when the low-income, middle class and seniors stand along side military vets for their health care. Apparently, military vets must have some outstanding body order that prohibits the middle class from any thinking beyond the usual intellectual laziness of these past eight years.

Or maybe it's the bald-headed white guys who are determined to continue to dictate our fate as a nation, but then, I am Chicano, a military vet, and from the Sonoran Desert, and what the hell do I know?

Jaango

kh7463 · 1 year ago

I'm glad both of you brought this up. My son just enlisted (Regular Army) and they plan to get married before he leaves so his fiance has his health coverage. I had heard horror stories about coverage but this sets my mind a little more at ease.

Millineryman · 1 year ago

I just love the pre exiting condition dance. You get new insurance, file a claim and immediately it raises a red flag about a pre existing condition.

Captain Frogbert · 1 year ago

The whole point of the "We're number one!" mantra is to provide conservatives a convenient hammer with which to slam anyone who dares to suggest that maybe it's not true. "How DARE you say America isn't the best! You must HATE AMERICA!" (and therefore I can ignore you and insult you at will).

It's just so easy to use these conservative totem words to deflect anything they want to ignore. If America is the best there's no need to change. If America isn't best anyone who acknowledges this as a fact is an America Hater and must be destroyed. No need for thought or analysis. Just engage the hate and feel vindicated and smug.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Hey Captain my captain! I am a conservative, and I want change. But I sure as h^&* don't want socialism, at least not until after we fix the mistakes made by previous generations.

Why don't you take some of your own advice and use a little thought or analysis and come up with the root cause of our current situation. If you can do that, then I'd be happy to discuss the options to fix our situation intelligently. But bangin' the 'government can fix it' drum incessantly isn't very intelligent either.

Mark Wise · 1 year ago

Dermatology must be a growth industry here in Florida *rim shot*.

Seriously, I can almost always get an appt. within two weeks.

kathycalculates · 1 year ago

This won't change until we Americans get so fed up with it that we make it happen, much as we did in supporting and voting for Barack Obama! We aren't isolated entities any longer. Thanks to the internet and blogs, we have the ability to relate our own experiences, recommend solutions, and promote ideas for real change.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

I have an idea, how 'bout if we just undo the terrible decisions that got us here first, and then see if that works rather than kill the only health care system left on the planet that produces medical breakthroughs. Maybe it won't be enough and we'll have to give socialism a try anyhow, but first lets just get rid of the stuff that got us here.

EarthAbides · 1 year ago

I have no health insurance and neither does my husband. We are both in our 50's and we make less then 30,000 a year. Dick Cheney can get any kind of heart care imaginable, no charge. My sister-in-law is in her 70's, lives on SSI, she is on dialysis and she just had a double bypass, no charge. Why can't I get the same kind of care? Why am I discriminated against? I hope when my heart or my husband's heart stops beating that we are dead before the ambulance arrives because the medical bills would be more devastating.

Older_Wiser · 1 year ago

I don't know what state you live in, but I suggest you apply for both Medicaid and Food Stamps. Income levels are different in different states. If either of you have a chronic condition, it will be worth the effort; you may have what's called a "spend down" which means you would have to pay up to a certain amount, depending on income, but generally, if you qualify, it may not be that much.

If your sister is on SSI, she's getting state aid, so is probably on Medicaid. It's even better than Medicare, because it pays everything. Medicare patients, if they are not eligible for Medicaid, pay not only their premium ($127 this year), but also 20% of hospitalization, doctor bills, etc. Additionally, Medicare patients are not eligible for dental or eye care. My last pair of glasses was 7 years ago; I'm lucky in that the older I get, the better my vision seems to be. My 49 yr old son needs glasses to read which he gets at the drugstore--I can read the telephone book!

mikeyDe · 1 year ago

I won't be happy until I see an American health care plan that doesn't mention the word 'Insurance'.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Hey mikeyDE, it is called pay for it yourself. A socialized plan is just an insurance plan run by the government. you think the government is more efficient than a private insurance company? Wow, maybe you're right. How about this. You tell me one thing that the government does that is cheaper than a private organization. Let me help you out here with a few things that AREN'T cheaper - EDUCATION - we spend over 10K per child in elementary school. A private school can do a better job for a third of the cost. ROAD CONSTRUCTION - There is a huge reason why the government contracts out the work on the roads - it is called 'half-price'.

Anyhow, good luck finding a more efficient way to pay for the actual health care costs than the private system.

Older_Wiser · 1 year ago

Lawyers write everything for corporations, the medical establishment included. It's all geared to make as much money as possible, while denying coverage, care and charging you as much as possible.

However, it's not all federal. Each state has (or should have) an insurance commissioner, although too many exist solely for the insurance companies. They have the power, at least in NC, to regulate and proposed legislation about how insurance companies operate in your state. For many years here in NC, we had a great one. Even auto insurance was kept low, as well as homeowners, etc.

A recent biopsy (outpatient hospital) and subsequent laser surgery (also outpatient) wound up costing $17K for the two visits which were done in the local hospital, a community style one that recently has been taken over by the huge Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. I have Medicare, and on receiving the bills, couldn't figure out who was paying what...there was a "Medicare" payment and also a "Medicare Adjustment." They will get $10-20 a month to get paid off, as long as I'm paying and they're accepting, there's little they can do.

They also have to incorporate non-paying patients, too, who still get bills, even though they referred to Medicaid, which some aren't eligible for, even with low wages. What gets me, though, if that cash payers (the ones who usually can least afford it) actually pay more than insurance coverage.

Ours is truly a screwed up health system, esp. when I've known of people getting eye lifts, dermatology care for wrinkles & skin tags, etc. having their insurance pay (because their doctors deemed them "medically necessary") when people with actual health problems get turned down by their insurers.

I wound up owing almost $300 just to the doctor after Medicare payment and "adjustment", and I still can't figure out how much for the hospital. A couple of smaller bills for anesthesiology. Will wait and let them sort it out and pay on the time method. : )

Rose · 1 year ago

Older _Wiser, My husband too is on Medicare and had a pacemaker put in this past spring. I was astounded at our out-of-pocket costs and that his secondary insurance did not pick up any costs whatever. I called and asked questions, waited on the phone for hours for answers but got nowhere.

What gets me is that the Medicare uses the secondary insurance to send statements showing our bills and what is paid - and then several times a year we receive notices detailing doctors visits and treatments from an independent source and saying if there is any fraud, please let this source know. So our government is paying an outside resource to audit the billing instead of having government employees audit.

I did go online with Medicare to my husband's account and this helped a lot to determine costs. For sure, I saw more details than the secondary insurance or the independent source sent to us. Perhaps, accessing your own account will help you to understand your costs.

Annapolitan · 1 year ago

I turned 50 in May. I am self employed and have to pay for my own health insurance premium. It's a "small group" of one (me) through Optimum Choice.

In 2002, I was paying $218/month for good health insurance. Yes, every year the premium went up, but not a lot, usually about $25.

Last year, my premium was around $350/month. Yeah, a lot of money, but still, I could afford it. I almost never used the health insurance I had. I had two doctor visits a year, both preventative. I never met the deductible for prescriptions because I have so few filled. My insurance doesn't cover my annual flu shot, so I always got that done at the local health department (cheaper than my doctor's office.)

A couple of months ago, I got my premium increase notice. My premium is now $477/month, an increase of 36% in one year.

That's as much as my car payment. That's half of my mortgage.

I can't afford this. I mean, I really can't afford this. I've already done all sorts of aggressive cutting back on spending this past year . Canceled cable TV. (Thank you, Hulu.) Unfortunately I need high-speed internet to work. I've budgeted rigorously for groceries, but my grocery dollar is buying less and less. I don't eat meat anymore because I can't afford it. My house is heated to only 65 degrees and still I pay more than $200/month for power. I wear sweaters inside. Entertainment spending? None, zip, zero, nada. I don't dine out. I visit friends in their homes; they visit me. A friend cuts my hair.

In a few months I will have paid off my car and can put some of that money towards my health insurance premium, but I'm really scared. I'm running out of things to cut, and I haven't been able to make a decent contribution to my retirement fund.

Universal healthcare can't come soon enough.

AdrianBrowne · 1 year ago

See if these people can help you:

http://freelancersunion.org/

They're good, honest people out to help Freelancers with the system we unfortunately have.

little davey · 1 year ago

Agree with the dermatologist appointment. Telling the story as if I called yesterday: "I can get you in in February". "Um, February 2009?". Not kidding.

wtreat007 · 1 year ago

Dermatology:

Try telling your dermatologist that you don't work outside, it's November, we've had a killing frost, and he STILL insists that your rash is something from the garden. Even after I told him I live in a condo and I don't go into the front lawn except to retrieve the newspaper. Well, another prescription for clobetasol for the rash, which when it runs out in a month will put me back in his office. He keeps saying: "the good news is your insurance will cover the tests for something other than poison ivy." What a fracking quack...write the order for the tests, you fracking marroon. It's been three times I've been to you, you dork/quack/douchebag.

He actually had the nerve to tell me he was reluctant to treat because I'd give him a bad reputation. Well, Dr. Douchebag, beware you folks in Marlborough Mass., there is a quack amongst you.

Frankly, if I had my druthers I'd report this quack to the AMA

I can't stand the guy; and when I see my

katiec · 1 year ago

One of the first things that must be done with our medical system is take on the insurance companies, the pharmacutical companies and the hospitals. They all have had a free run for too long.
Where I live the hospitals seem to have unlimited funds for constantly adding on new parking places, larger, bigger everything, And when one does something the other has to do something bigger and better. And, of course, we pay for it.
The pharmacutical companies spend more on advertising than they do research.
The insurance companies have been raping us for years and years.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

I hope I don't offend you, but to say that the pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising than on research is just ignorant. Go get a quarterly report from one of the big pharma companies and actually read it.

Why don't you start getting your meds from a Canadian company, or a UK company, or a French company . . . oh wait, they don't have nearly as many meds to help you out. Almost all the great medical discoveries of the last 50 years have been made in the US, and it is getting more and more lopsided, not less as all the rest of the 'civilized' world decides to socialize their medicine.

EllaDisenchanted · 1 year ago

Why is that about dermatologist? In Houston I waited 3 hours for a derm, only to have her barely issue and apology for the wait, then see me for 5 to 6 minutes and leave the nurse to do the rest. I wasn't an oncology patient, just a woman looking for a check and some acne meds. Three hours!! I got no real explanation of the FIVE prescriptions she wrote and was just told to "check back in a year".

Needless to say I haven't been back and I trashed the prescriptions. Looking for someone else now.

KeithH30 · 1 year ago

The biggest complaint about universal health care is that taxes would go up. I just got notice from my company about our coverage for next year. The company pays roughly $8200 for each employee. Then I pay $7200 additional as my contribution for me and my wife. Then I pay deductibles and co-pays on prescriptions to the tune of another $3500 per year. If my math is correct, that's almost $19,000 per year to cover 2 people. You can't make me believe that there isn't a better, cheaper way and that my taxes would go up above that if coverage shifted to a government plan. My takehome pay would increase and it would be at least a wash and I would most likely come out ahead. Employers paying so much for coverage is also one of the main reasons why Detroit automakers need a bailout. Not to mention all the people who are uncovered at all - a real travesty for this country, particularly when we spent so much on "defense" (against whom?).

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Hey Keith, what caused this problem? Where/When did it start? It hasn't always been this way in this country. Just think, if you are old enough, did you hear of people going bankrupt for medical bills 30 years ago? NO! You know why? Because back then we didn't have companies paying for health insurance. The companies end up being a middle man who doesn't know what your individual medical needs are.

Why did companies start paying for health insurance? Because the government was confiscating over 80% of the income for the bosses, and congress passed a law saying that health insurance would be tax deductible for employers, but not for individual citizens. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM STARTED. I know it sounds like a small thing, and how could something so small make such a huge difference over 30 years?

Well that is the case. If you took the same amount of money that your company was paying for your coverage, and added to it your own contribution rate, you would be able to get the HIGHEST QUALITY health care in the world!!!! For a couple in decent health, you could pay less than a grand a month and have nearly zero deductibles for medications and office visits, and only a 500 deductible for everything else, and you would have a 10 million limit. (I know 'cause I used to have a plan like that)

An_American_Karol · 1 year ago

My fear of Universal Health Care if it’s not done right.

Here’s my horror story of Kaiser:

A few years ago I had severe abdominal pain. I took myself to the emergency room, not wanting to worry my daughter.
I sat in the emergency room for two hours before I was interviewed. I was sent up to Urgent Care where, after another hour, I was seen by a Doctor Practitioner. She sent me back down stairs to have blood drawn and a sonogram. The entire time I was doubled over in pain and throwing up.
After my blood was drawn, I walked over for the ultrasound. I was told the guy who does the ultrasound had left for the day. I went back up stairs to Urgent Care to find it was dark and no one was there.
I sat down at the door and passed out for a while.
The next thing I knew, someone put me in a wheel chair and took me back down to the emergency room and put my name at the bottom of the list of those needing to be seen.
I finally broke down and called my daughter who is a criminal defense attorney. Within minutes of her appearance in the ER, I was seen.
They found I was dangerously dehydrated, and after putting fifteen pounds of fluid in me, I went home.
Lesson, don’t go to the hospital alone when you are too ill to fight.

Older_Wiser · 1 year ago

Can you say medical malpractice? You needed someone like John Edwards...bless his adulterous heart. Did you know severe dehydration can cause heart problems?

An_American_Karol · 1 year ago

No, I didn't know that. But I do know it causes real tummy pain. lol

cab02149 · 1 year ago

Ok John, it is time to spend real time with the documents from Blue Cross and really do some numbers. Now you understand a bit better from "surprises' which YOU should have known BEFORE now!. You must know your typical annual out of pocket cost profile; insurance + deductables + scrip balances you pay + physicians and hospital balances paid. This wlll always be valuable knowledge, even if things change, because you can't judge changes unless you know what you have. It is not rocket science. You will always save with Canadian pharmacies who search other countries too to fill your scrips. You can buy generics unavailable here. Beat drugstore.com hands down. Use "Pharmacy Checker" regularly to follow ratings of Canadian Pharmacies and prices.

Muscato · 1 year ago

A couple of years ago, living in Egypt, I came down with a severe and mind-explodingly painful ailment. I ended up in the hospital (terrified, of course), where I stayed for ten days. I had about five weeks of recuperative outpatient care (starting with thrice weekly doctors' visits, tapering toward the end), and numerous meds, from antibiotics to painkillers. The whole bill - total? The equivalent of $1,200 - and the majority of that came from having a private room, special meals, and private practice rather than public clinic appointments with my doc.

Talking with my U.S. doctor, I confirmed that the care I got was identical (although much more time-intensive) to that I would have gotten in the States. And this is the norm in what's supposed to be practically a third-world country. Can you imagine what such a course of treatment would have cost even with health insurance if I were still living at home? Don't let anyone tell you our flawed system is anything but a scandal.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

The scandal you speak of was started when congress said that corporations paying for health insurance was tax deductible, but individuals don't get a tax write-off. That happened in the 70's.

If you don't know what started the whole mess, you have no idea how to fix it.

K Ols · 1 year ago

John,
You need to ask for a Summary Plan Description (SPD). The insurance company is required by law to give you one. The SPD tells you exactly what coverage you have including deductibles, co-pays, lifetime benefit amount, exclusions (what's not covered) and anything else you need to know.
You can't rely on someone just telling you because insurance companies pay claims processors such low pay there is a large turnover. That means many of their employees aren't that experienced nor are they necessarily familiar with your particular plan. It could even be the person you talked with doesn't know how to access the SPD for your plan.
A very long time ago I worked as a temporary at Blue Cross-Blue Shield and found the way they have their people process claims is from a computer screen and the screen doesn't really say what the coverage is. They just plug in numbers by type of service and the computer processes according to what they input. It doesn't describe the plan. That was years ago so maybe they've changed.
It's a shame really the way employers now handle their claims processing. They've almost all gone with Administrative Services Only (ASO) where they pay someone outside the company to handle their insurance claims because it's cheaper than hiring someone internally. Gone are the days when you just walked over to the Personnel or Human Resources Department and personally talked to the claims adjustor who was familiar with the plan in every detail and did the claims processing themselves. That's what I did for years until companies were persuaded to eliminate an employee and go ASO.
I know you are self-employed, but that is not relevant as far as being able to ask for and receive an SPD or policy from Blue Cross. SPDs are supposed to be written in language the average person can understand.

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

That's excellent info, thank you

moxiegrrrl · 1 year ago

My husband has had a couple different jobs this year (web development, oh so secure)... the current job has BCBS. The prior job had BCBS. I see a doctor about a chronic condition, and I am STILL arguing with BCBS over getting the appointments during the prior job period covered. They are taking care of the ones for the CURRENT job, but are talking about "medical necessity" and documents needed and crap like that. Calling again tomorrow morning...

Brad · 1 year ago

Is your doctor trained in the use of nutrients, the building blocks of healthy tissue-systems? I'm always shocked when I hear about people using expensive toxic drugs when safe affordable nutrients are proven to restore health. Administering poisons when foods will do the job should be a prosecutable offense.
While I like MSM (methyl-sulfonal-methane) and microlactin for my 44 year-old frame's rare aches, ask your nutrition-aware medical practitioner if making your body whole is right for you.

R · 1 year ago

We have a "top rated" medical system when it relates to emergency care---accidents, bleeding, broken bones, etc. When it comes to healing, diseases, wellness, prevention---we really, really suck. In fact, we do more damage than good when it comes to health care. If you have alot of money (for instance movie stars, politicions, CEOs)---health care in other countries is the choice.
Those of us that work and pay for health insurance up the ying yang, are left with health care which promotes "cut, burn, & poison" (surgery, radiation, & drugs-including vaccinations). Insurance companies promote Allopathic/Orthodox (often damaging) health care. To get quality health care we have to "pay out of pocket" because insurance will not cover alternative/natural/useful treatments. Working people with insurance and poor people without insurance are the "guinnie pigs" of our Allopathic Health Insurance system in the USA.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

I agree with you on this! I have spent quite a bit of money on healthy alternatives, and I try and guide my family in that direction. I was very pleased when the cover of US NEWS and WORLD REPORT last spring featured the alternative medicine services being offered in some of this country's most advanced (and expensive) hospitals. I hope that in the next few years it will become more cost effective, and more included in common insurance plans.

gwpriester · 1 year ago

BCBS can't tell you what your benefits are because every month or so you get an addendum changing what benefits you have and never to your advantage.

I also have not been able to get anyone to explain to me why my Medicare Rx plan went from $40 for a 90 day supply of a Level 2 (name brand not a generic) to $96 in one year! There is something seriously wrong here. And I know the cost of manufacturing one of these Level 2 drugs did not just suddenly shoot through the roof.

pegger · 1 year ago

This is from Canada. My 69 yo wife was diagnosed with damaged cartlidge in one of her knees.Replacement was recomended..We expected an extended wait, but were accepted for sugery in a little under 120 days..While waiting, the wife was fitted out with a $1200.00 custom made brace..Our share 0 dollars..Medication for pain was covered under our provincial pharmcare. Visits to operating physician (5 or 6) with Xrays..no charge to us. The operation and 4 days in the hospital...no charge to us..10 days supply of injected anti biotics for administrating at home..covered by our pharmacare..Our total cost was about $20.00 for parking at the hospital and $60.00 rental of a walker for 3 months.
Seeing my loved one walk again without pain and not having to go to bankruptcy court...
PRICELESS

Don't tell me you have a superior health system!

Milli · 1 year ago

We don't have a superioir health system. I have a friend who has a hernia. He was diagnosed in late August and the earliest the surgery could be scheduled was Dec 9th. He basically can't walk for any length of time and is in constant pain. On top of that he's a diabetic. The man has lost about 20 pounds and he was slightly underweight before this all happened. Three months of misery because he can't get a simple outpatient surgery done in a reasonable amount of time. This is just ridiculous. To complicate matters his wife was diagnosed with carpal tunnel around the same time. Physical therapy didn't work so she's scheduled to see a surgeon in mid-January. Thats just to see him, who knows when and if surgery could be done. Between her and her husband they are up a creek right now. Their household is at a standstill. The sad thing is they have excellent health insurance. Its of no use to them if the system is all backed up. This problem goes way beyond affordable health insurance...........

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Umm, where was that knee replacement surgery invented? Where were the parts that are now in your beloved's knee invented?

Not only is our system superior, it is the only system that actually contributes to the health of all people found on the planet! Since when has a Canadian invented something great for the rest of the world to use for their health care? You have plenty of wonderfully educated doctors, why don't they ever invent something that can help others besides those they care for directly?

I dunno, maybe we need at least ONE country in the world to have a profit motive so that advances in medicine take place. (I know that there have been a few inventions, medications etc. invented outside the US, but more than 88% of all medical inventions occur in the US.)

Since we are inventing the medical services for the rest of the world, maybe we ought to ask the UN for a bailout.

pegger · 1 year ago

Have you not heard of insulin which saves millions of lives annually? Don't give me that crap that every medical proceedure was an American discovery

DarkCloud · 1 year ago

Let's not forget the huge drain on employees and employers paying for health insurance. The costs have skyrocketed. We pay much more for much less. That is the "Free Market" for you. Healthcare for profit is quite simply obscene. 700 Billion a year for bombs, bandaids for you.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Nope, it isn't the free market . . . it is the result of government meddling with tax laws that got us here. When the government decided that corporations could provide health care tax free, but individuals couldn't, that was a problem. Lets recognize the real problems before we throw out the baby with the bathwater. It is the profit motive that has invented nearly EVERY great prescription available today. Just think, when was the last time you were prescribed a medication made in Canada, or the UK, or Russia, or South Africa, or France, or Spain, or etc. etc. etc. For every one new medication invented abroad, there are 10 new medications prescribed here in the US. Yes, the rest of the world has us to thank for their wonderful medicine. We do all the inventing, (and profiting) and they get to just stand on our shoulders and tell us how stupid we are or how bad our system is. Whatever happened to gratitude?

oyvey · 1 year ago

If there was universal healthcare, labor-intensive businesses like the auto manufacturers and airlines could stop providing health coverage for their employees.

This would likely make them profitable, even in the current economic environment.

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

Umm, aren't toyota, honda, bmw, and mercedes profitable auto manufactures that manufacture here in the US? I think they are. It is only the 'big three' found in the people's socialized republic of Detroit that are struggling. Why are they struggling? Because their costs are WAYYYYY higher than the other responsible auto manufacturers found elsewhere in the US.

BooksAlive · 1 year ago

German (VW) and Asian auto makers haven't been located in the US long enough to have as many retirees to support with retirement plans like GM and Ford. Those two companies are a hundred years old, and have thousands of retirees unlike the "transplants." An agreement to move some of this "legacy cost" to the UAW members will take effect in 2010. That will put Detroit's auto companies on a more level playing field.

canuck55 · 1 year ago

GM makes cars in the US and Canada. The biggest cost item per car in the US plants is $1500 per car for healthcare costs. In the Canadian plants it is almost nothing (some much smaller number for extended health benefits for prescriptions, eyeglasses physiotherapy beyond the provincial plan limit of 12 peer year).
Universal healthcare is better quality, way cheaper and the country is a nicer, kinder and happier place to live.
It is all about healthcare company profits and the US voters are voting against their own interests again.

TheOriginalLiz · 1 year ago

The health care system is about making money for the health insurance industry - not about providing access to health care for the suckers ...er... american public

sharonsj · 1 year ago

Wait until you hit 65. If you can't figure out your previous medical coverage (no problem for me, tho, I had no coverage for 6 years), you won't be able to figure out Medicare either. The gov't sends you a massive booklet with little information and a very long list of companies to choose from. But they don't tell you what these companies provide; you'd have to compare thousands of plans to choose. And then you have to do this every year! What a waste of time and paper. As for not having coverage previously, I was too poor. Now I can't even afford supplementary insurance. This country's health care is a joke. Previously, I was given constant prescriptions for pain killers because I couldn't afford treatment. Now they're trying to get me to agree to every possible test because the gov't pays for most of it.

Older_Wiser · 1 year ago

I was in that boat, too, before I turned 65. Once you choose a plan, you don't have to re-submit every year unless you want something else. I couldn't figure out those plans, either, and let the govt pick one, Silverscript, which I've been pleased with. $5.35 for name brands, $2.35 for generics are the copays if I remember correctly. (They go up a few cents every year.)

Also, if you get less than a $1200 SS check (or thereabouts, not sure of exact amt) and have no other income, you are probably eligible for help through a govt program you apply for at Social Services (the SSA should have informed you of this)--it pays for the premium, gives help on Rx, etc. They can explain it. I get it, and it helps tremendously since I don't have supplemental either (which often pays little or nothing anyway).

SouthernYankee · 1 year ago

I am a social democrat because I believe government should help its citizens. I lived overseas and I have seen how people don't loose their homes because they don't have health insurance. That should be a right for everyone. I know some young people that don't like this idea of government getting involved with social security or health care. I jumped on her and told her that she needs to stop and think about that. Both of her parents are getting disabilities checks for health problems and her dad is working on the side. Neither parent are in their 60s. Of course they are republicans. I asked her who would pay for her parents if they didn't have social security or medicare when it came time? I know she couldn't afford to. Both she and her husband are shelfish. Yet they want to take advantage of every program there is. That really makes me mad. My son works as a cook and has a young daughter and pays through the nose for terrible health insurance. He has never taken advantage of programs that he could have. He is to embrassed too. But I think alot of people on both sides want health insurance we can afford. It would also help small business too.

Mike_in_the_Tundra · 1 year ago

Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield really sucks. My provider sent in the correct information, BC/BS sent the payment to the wrong provider. The other provider will not return the payment, so I have to make the payment to my provider even though BC/BS made the mistake.

Milli · 1 year ago

You can't even see a real doctor anymore either. At my PCP office there isn't even a doctor located on premises anymore, only a nurse practioner. The doctor supervising her (my "official" primary care doctor) is about 20 miles away and I have never met him. No offense to NP's. I really like mine and have confidence in her, but it would be nice to have a check-in every once in a while with an MD.

kh7463 · 1 year ago

I've been worrying more about my coverage since I found out I have rheumatoid arthritis. Doctor visits and blood draws every six weeks. Blood draws that average just over $300 each time.

SCLiberal · 1 year ago

Yikes, I'm a Slave to Socialized Medicine!

Wish I was. And now I see the health insurance industry is offering to cover pre-existing conditions if congress will force people to carry health insurance. Our "representatives" will shove this down our throats, just watch. It will be a mandatory tax on citizens to directly benefit a private industry. So if they can do this with health insurance, what other corporate interests will we be forced to sustain?

JamesR · 1 year ago

All these 'myths' are like trying to determine how many angels could get health insurance on the head of a pin. It gets very complicated, very quickly, distracting folks for some very simple moral issues.

American workers are in a state of medical slavery. And major corporations are making money off of sickness pain and death. Directly. It is immoral and disgusting and destructive. And us here at the recieving end have to have huge portions time out of our lives wasted in aggrivation and heartache figuring out a bureaucratic maze - that does not have to exist - in order to save our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

Is the fire department "socialism?" How about the police department? National guard and Defense Department? These defend the population from ills, why is not healthcare for individuals too? We can bundle Medicare, Medicaid and the VA system together for everybody. We are so not ready for some real bird-flu or God forbid some real bio-terrorism. We're existing in a state of "I've got mine and I'm healthy: screw you," not recognizing we are one biologically connected society that we need to treat individually so that everybody - even the currently 'healthy' stay so. We are one plague away from this happening by bankrupting the insurance companies anyway - why not get prepared now. Anything less is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Cut out the profit motive for denial of care and recognize our RIGHT to care if it is available, if France can do it, we can do it eh?

Medicaid saved my life, and continues to be my primary insurer. If I wanted to get a job and pay taxes like I would have mo problem wanting to do, or to legitimize my small business and hire someone on the books and everything so I could get insured and licensed properly etc. like, (cough,) "Joe The Plumber" is NOT, I can't because of my healthcare situation. Either I can get the job and not have insurance and not get care and get sick, or stay less-employed, not generate any extra tax revenue, and get great health care because I keep myself poor. This is the social policy created by "free market" BS involved in the health delivery system here. And lunatics worry about "socialism?"

lovepeaceandallthat · 1 year ago

Very well said! I especially like your first line about how the moral aspect of this gets obscured by all the details. If we start at a moral place (everyone get out your moral compasses!) then everything else falls into place.

Those who have been brainwashed to fear socialism need to be shamed into feeling that their stance is simply immoral. The left, Obama, etc need to create a campaign that has morals at it's center (wow, what a concept). We need to talk as if it is a moral emergency, an imperative, a God-given right to have health care for all. And it is all of that!!!! Wow, we can tell the truth and be right all at the same time. :-)

But the media campaign has to have legislation behind it. I am so thankful for those who are working on this vital issue. For those of us who supported Obama, we need to aim VERY high and demand very little comprimise. We need to overhaul the entire thing and doubters be damned.

BooksAlive · 1 year ago

Health Care for America Now, in the Chicago and suburban counties, is in a sort of full court press with meetings scheduled in the suburbs in the evenings at locations with free parking. Various state entities are cooperating in sponsoring the meetings, with plans to educate attendees about state and federal efforts and how local providers can take part in making sure reform happens.

BooksAlive · 1 year ago

Some dermatology experiences in Chicago: if I'd wanted to see the "cosmetic" practice, appointment available in about one week. A woman MD in my town, about 3 months' wait. For the woman I saw, and preferred bc of her being in Northwesten's Faculty Practice group, it was a 2 month wait. The explanation for the long wait times: there is just so much prevalence of skin cancer these days.

lovepeaceandallthat · 1 year ago

I really wonder what the true reason is. My uncle is a dermatologist in the Seattle area and his business is booming. Some sort of market hogging? Med students should want to go into it, it is very profitable.

Our system is simply criminal.

BooksAlive · 1 year ago

You're in a position to ask your uncle who makes up his patient group,
right?

My daughter, an internist, now a hospitalist, did a year of derm after
passing her boards for internal medicine. She would have been interested in
training to do Moe's surgery if she had stayed in derm. It was her
suggestion that I look for a doctor associated with a university medical
program so that any lab work would be done with the latest knowledge
available.

The woman I saw trained at Emory, and bc my daughter and her husband had
spent four years in Atlanta, she vouched for Emory being top knotch.
(Son-in-law was at Emory's Med School in orthopedics, my daughter at the VA
clinics.) Among other plusses, this doctor specializes in women's skin, and
that's what I was going in to see about.

Whenever my daughter hears of people complaining about their difficulties
with being on call to all hours, she says, "Why didn't they choose derm?"

lsamsa · 1 year ago

I can never get my head around why so many Americans are 'afraid' of universal health care.
I'm 57 & over the years have been in need of various hospital emergency services, mutiple surgeries, regular doctor's visits, etc. I have never had to wait an ureasonable length of time for any of those services; I have always received the best of care & treatments; the facilities I have been in have always been top notch...no matter which hospital I happened to go to; I have always felt 'looked after' by nurses & doctors alike (and trust me, I am fussy); and I have never paid anything out of pocket, except for the parking fees (average about $10) and a couple of notes for work from my doctor, which I believe cost about $5.
In all my years, I have never encountered any friend, coworker or family member who has had any major difficulty (of course, there are always instances of issues & roadblocks that happen, albeit not the norm) in receiving the care they require...all of that & without any out of pocket expense, which is something us Canadians really just take for granted.

cyninbend · 1 year ago

Here in Central Oregon, the system already melted down. I don't have insurance, so it's easy for me--no more annual tests etc--why learn I have something I cannot afford to treat? Anything and everything is a death sentence. Better dead than homeless.

But for the elderly, who are covered by medicare? Who need medical care the most? They cannot see a doctor unless they have lived here a long time and have doctors treating them before becoming eligible for medicare. No doctor will treat you if you are covered by medicare--if you fall into medicare's restrictions on what they can charge etc! Most residents here are new to the area, many retirees (golf courses, sunshine, dry air). And there are no med schools graduating new doctors (idiots here voted down a new university--didn't want those intellectual elites when they could stick with ag tech--I love explaining to them what a university would have meant to them personally--dental and medical clinics for ex. LOL). So any doctors must choose to move here to set up a practice--and they are in such demand that they can pick and choose who they will treat! If you moved here in the past 10 or so years, and are covered by medicare, forget it!

Doctors funded a clinic consisting of a nurse practitioner who sees the patients and refers those in need to the relevant specialist M.D. In a friend's case, cardiac specialist--took days and days....and in my aunt's case, the nurse practitioner treats her diabetes. My mom died undiagnosed when a tumor blocked her colon and it burst....

We live in the dark ages here. I lived in L.A. all my life and used to have great insurance, so I know how others still live. But I don't doubt that what we face will be spreading....doctors in Southern Calif. were already thinking of themselves as celebrities who should be making the money necessary to live like celebrities--and that meant a home in the Pacific Palisades or Brentwood, luxury cars and vacations...etc--double digit millions. Add to that an insurance system where they spend one third of every dollar on bureaucracy (stat came from my brother...hope he is right ) and still expect to turn a profit...and how can ordinary people ever afford medical care? Since when did every doctor expect to live like upper class robber barons? It's all turned me into a socialist...:(

Corban Wells · 1 year ago

I'm also middle aged, but unlike most who have been to this website, I have also lived abroad and have partaken first hand of what other 'western democracies' have to offer in state sponsored health care. My daughter was born in London, and my wife was born in South Africa. The South African system was the best of the two, but that was because they also have a private health care system available for the few who can afford it. This private health care boasts some of the absolute best hospitals, doctors and procedures available anywhere in the world. The state health care system for the rest of us is about as good as the UK system.

The UK system is absolutely swamped with patients. My daughter was recommended to get tubes (grommets in the UK) put in her ears after another lengthy bout with severe ear infections, but the 5 minute operation had to wait for 8 months for the next opening available. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?

OK so all the other state sponsored health care systems have major flaws, but we're gonna get it right here in the US, right? Wrong!!! Because the same people who are trying to get a state socialized health care system are the same people who think that we should re-distribute the wealth by taking from those who have, and giving to those who have not. This same attitude applied to health care will equal the exact same type of problems found in other countries.

The problem is that health care is not a basic right that should be guaranteed by the government. (I just heard your gasp, so please close your mouth and listen during this next part. . .) Is transportation a basic right that should be guaranteed by the government? NO! If you want a car, go buy one. If you want a bus pass, go buy one. If you want an electric segway, go buy one. But transportation is far more urgent than a yearly checkup, so why hasn't the government guaranteed our 'right' to travel? Because the free market is doing a bang up job of letting us all choose our methods of travel. (Pun intended)

Health care is a desirable service for sure. But most of us can go for weeks and months without thinking about health care, while nearly none of us can go for even a couple days without traveling via some method other than our own two legs.

The health care services in America are among the best found anywhere in the world. It is just that paying for those services is 'screwed up' for most of us. Most of us feel that we shouldn't have to have a savings account to pay for tough health care down the road. Most of us feel that we should be able to pay a hundred bucks or so a month for a few years and be able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on our health care when the need arises. Most of us feel that the most advanced medical procedures available on the planet should be available to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

This is all just feelings and emotion. No logic at all.

If the problem is defined as 'I'm paying too much, and getting too little for my health care' then the problem can be solved a couple different ways. One, we can just make the government be in charge. This is just such a bad idea, it is like putting the democrats who started the whole fannie-freddie disaster in charge of fixing the problem - huh huh . . . oh crap, that already happened. . . Back to health care. The government already got involved and we now have the result of that interference. Back in the late 70's, when the top marginal tax rates were over 80%, congress passed a law allowing corporations to deduct the cost of the health care insurance they provide for their managers and eventually workers. The reason for this is that the top executives saw that they could take an extra 10 grand in income, of which they would see only 2 thousand bucks after taxes, or they could have their company provide 10 grand worth of health insurance, and they would get all 10 grand worth of value tax free. Bingo, Bango, the corporate health care system we know and love today was born. (Those evil corporations, I just knew they were to blame in all this! Ummmm, wasn't it the government's fault for thinking that they could take 80% of your income and spend it on other people? YES! IT WAS THE GOVERNMENT THAT SCREWED WITH OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM!!)

So now, everyone who gets a decent job expects health care benefits. That's just fine, but since we aren't the ones who actually pay for the insurance, we don't really understand the cost. I have never had corporate health insurance by the way, but my brother has, and all the rest of my family has, and almost everyone I know has at some time had corporate health insurance. So now we have a middle man providing health care. The insurance companies market to corporations, not individuals, and then the corporations who buy this health insurance can say during the job interview, 'Why yes, we do offer health insurance after 90 days . . . it is a great plan offered by XYZ Insurance.' There are no market forces at work here. The end consumer isn't getting a voice in the matter. They either take the 'free' insurance offered by their company, or they take a few hundred bucks a month out of their own pocket to get a real policy.

This is just one problem with the system as it is today. A solution would be to make it completely tax deductible for everyone to pay for their health insurance, not just corporations. Then a sea change would begin where over the next 10-20 years more and more people would opt out of corporate insurance plans for a plan that they chose on their own. And more and more companies would say, hey, you can take our health insurance, or you can take an extra 500 bucks a month to get your own.

I am too unhealthy to get a plan right now. I am trying to lose about 50 pounds so I can get insured with the rest of my family. So I am sympathetic to those who are uninsured. But in the meantime, I have three kids under 6, and a wife, and they all have insurance. It is tax deductible through a very complicated 'health insurance savings account play' where we have a savings account set up where every health insurance or health care cost that I spend out of that account is tax deductible. The cost is just under $200 bucks a month for all four of them. It comes with great preventative health care visits at no cost, and the insurance will cover everything up to 10 million bucks!!! It has a 10 thousand dollar deductible, so basically we pay two hundred bucks a month, and we pay full price for the doctor visits and most of any prescriptions that we need. But this works out to being much less than the 800 bucks a month we were paying until this spring when I couldn't afford it anymore.

So here I am, a lone person trying to find the best health care for my hard earned buck. I think I did well, and I think I could do a lot better if there were a lot more people like me who were doing the health care shopping on their own.

Anyhow, one simple correction in our tax laws would do a lot of good for the system. Another problem with health care is that wayyyyy to many people don't pay anything and don't pay their bills and I end up paying for them with double the health care costs for me and my family.

This is a real problem. Doctors and nurses deserve to be paid what they are paid, and right now the only way to do that is to charge me double for my visits so that I help offset the losers who don't pay their medical bills. (I actually have a medical collection, but I am paying on it as fast as I can, and I will pay it off eventually. It is only 3 grand, but I can only afford about a hundred bucks a month right now.) So I know that nobody is perfect, but there must be a better system than what we currently have for this situation. Someone has an un-forseen accident, is under-insured, and they charge up about a hundred grand in medical bills. Whadayado? I really don't know. In some people's situation, they could pay that back over time, but rather chose to declare bankruptcy and get back on track financially. I know that in some situations this might be the only choice, but in many other situations, it isn't the only choice. Even if they could only pay back 10 grand, that should be paid back. Even if they have to down-size their lifestyle, that should be done. (Whatever happened to gratitude? You are alive right? Then why not pay the bills to the people who kept you that way?) I don't think there is a sweeping legislative reform I could offer here. This is a personal choice to either pay your bills, or don't pay your bills. I don't think you can legislate honor.

There are other problems that people have with health care. But the bottom line is that nowhere in the world that has as large of a lower class as we do in this country has state run health care been a good solution. People from all over the world come here for health care if they can afford it. We just need to fix the financial side of this equation, not the overall system.

Make health care tax free for everyone, make everyone their own insurance shopper, and make everyone much more responsible for their own health.

I saw a car with a bumper sticker on it that said, "Basic health care is not a luxury." I started to agree just a bit with the one liner until I saw the hand of the driver stick out the window and knock the ashes off of the cigarette. Why the hell do I want my tax dollars going to washington so they can pour it into a bureaucratic bucket with gaping holes in it and finally pay for the lifelong health care of this irresponsible person? I also don't feel that others should have to pay for my health care if I can't get my health under more control and lose some weight and get more active myself. I'll take better care of me, and you take better care of you, and we'll both do a little better to pay our own doctor bills, and we'll put us all on equal footing with corporations as far as health insurance tax deductions go, and we'll all shop for health insurance on our own, and we'll end up with the absolute best health care industry in the modern world!

Thats all we need. It was just a little nudge to the left that got us here, and all we need is a little nudge back to the right, and we'll be just great.

JamesR · 1 year ago

Hey freeperdude - that woman with the cigarette might get Ebola and give it to one of your kids. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO BE COVERED. For the sake of everybody else. I appreciate your delving into the situation and mastering some of the details as they now stand, but when major reform is clearly necessary a paradigm shift or two are certainly worth considering.

Are we willing to let people die in the streets or refuse to treat them in an emergency room if they cannot pay? [For all the bitching about the "freeloaders" in the system one hears of by the free-market healthcare folk, I have never heard a person actually be honest and coherent with their beliefs and say that they actually would.]

I frequently hear things like "government in charge" used as phrases but without definition. When government makes the regulations, even if it is no regulations or does not enforce them or makes and enforces contradictory ones it is sitll very much "in charge." Just not doing it's job. Like if some parents left their kids at home over a weekend and they went wild and had a party, would you blame the kids, or the neglectful irresponsible parents? The FDA is in charge of prescription drug regulation and safety, Congress and HHS oversee the insurance industries, regulates (or not) HMOs, Doctors - It is in charge now. Get over it. Our system IS 'run by the government' already.

The profit motive behind development of new drugs seems to 'work' now - because it is the only thing that is driving drug development right now and something has to drive it. Many drugs are NOT developed for all sorts of ailments because they are not deemed profitable. Public health and disease prevention within a population should be a SCIENCE not a flea market. To gamble the health and safety of the survival of our population on a pseudo-capitalistic dog's dinner of a market is so insane it immediately raises the issue of mental health coverage as well.

Quite humorous the analogy between the right to healthcare and the right to transportation. People don't die of they can't get a bus. People wouldn't kill one of your kids beacuse they didn't get a bus. (By giving your child a preventable disease.) Is your child's right to life equal to another's right no not get transportation? (Do the math.)

If one believes in this sort of applied Darwinism by letting significant portions of our populace sicken weaken and die off then so be it. I think most people when asked just that way do not. We can and must do much better.

LeftCoastOracle · 1 year ago

Hear yee.

LeftCoastOracle · 1 year ago

I'm fortunate to live where I can get Kaiser: a not-for-profit HMO. In fact it's the original HMO and it's pretty simply to understand and use.

The secure website offers a web page for every doctor so members can choose their own physicians. It also permits me to email my doctor (any of them), order prescription refills which are mailed to me (no postage charged), and I can check lab results there too. In fact I had a lab test done late Friday afternoon and received an email today advising that the results were available on the website. Plus flu shots are free.

It's not single payer but it's probably the next best thing. If you have access to Kaiser I recommend you check it out. If you don't, I recommend that you support single payer health care coverage for all.

johnsonFamily · 1 year ago

Hey, like tell me about it. I am in Bangkok right now, ready to save %66 on getting my rotator cuff fixed. Back in the States they call me a self-payer, and what that means is you get screwed. YOU pay for all the overweight cigarette smokers who end up in emergency rooms on the so-called public dime.

As for John's entry. Yes, yes, of course John, you're waking up a littel sooner that most at whatever, around age 40? Just wait until you're 60 and you'll be scared sh**tless. Not that your kids would take care of you in today's America, even if you had kids. We can't all move to Asia (they've got plenty of their own to take care of). I DO wish though that I still lived and worked in Japan.

And if you think you can wait it out till Medicare kicks in, boy are you dreaming. Some people start falling completely apart at age 50 or so. As for Medicare, I just got done seeing my mom off at heavens door. It took 7 years of my life, and if you want an object lesson in LACK of TRANSPARENCY, John, just try checking out Medicare.

It was 25 years ago that some of my Japanese students started trying to clue me in about just what a backward country the United States had already started to become. One resists such notions at first, ... well, because of the way we are indoctriinated and propagandized by our corporatized government and media.

But even just a little personal experience goes a long way towards opening one's eyes. Good luck Jackie et all with the campaign. I'll be following it. But my inkling is that it won't be near radical enough, especially after all the "compromising" is done. For my part, and at my age, I'll probably be looking for a way for Japan to take me back. I speak fairly good Japanese, so I have some slight chance.

Check out also www.bumrungrad.com for details about the hospital here in Bangkok. Local people use this hospital, too, so don't get too many wild ideas about how this is somehow all about only the elite. I think they use what relatively little we farangs are asked to pay to subsidize what they do for the poor.

Also, of course, there is the issue of efficiency. I couldn't possibly tell you in this space all of the (backlog) health problems I have had seen to in the small space of 4 days since getting off the plane. America, America, America, wake up! You are so backward.

johnsonFamily · 1 year ago

Also, I can't belive the kind gentleman or lady below who starts out by equating transportation with health care. With a start like that, why bother reading any further. But I did, and I'm right. The blah blah blah goes nowhere.

Listen Bud, everyone in the world probably believes that doctors, what with all their hard work and dedication should be very well compensated (though not all of them even care about this part of it). But health care, whether a "right" or a "privelege" or whatever, doesn't have to enrich investors and management of/in pharmaceutical, insurance, and health care management corportations. Ever since the disappearance of the Catholic nursing nuns back in the 70's. American health care has been "redistributed" towards the top, and towards those who are capable pretty much of getting better on their own (i.e., the relatively young). NO ONE stays young forever, or even for very long. Got that? Do you know what the word "care" even means?

When you pay for health care in countries that have National HC, it comes out of your check, every month. How complicated is that? But worry away. I know you will. And you know, that's one of the things that will eventually kill you.

And what the heck do mean suggesting that England doesn't also have a parallel private health care system? (I've been sick in England too, a**hole). If you need something urgently in England, you pay for your visit to a private physician, and if it is indeed urgent they refer you to the NIH and you get in NOW. And anyway, who hasn't waited for 2 months or more for what they needed in the United States. Are you even in touch with reality? I think not.

msquick · 1 year ago

Try being 71 and 77 as my partner and I are, and dealing with Medicare and an outside health care provider (Humana). Last year our Humana plan took our Medicare payments ($96 a month out of our Social Security payments) and cost us nothing. This year they are going to take our Medicare payments and charge us $38 a month. We need a new government plan for everyone in this country

Sandy · 1 year ago

Frontline did a great called "Sick Around the World" looking at healthcare in England, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland. I wonder why they didn't include France. But it was very informative.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaro...

lovepeaceandallthat · 1 year ago

I don't have time to read the link that Jacki gave, but I am wondering and hoping and praying that "natural medicine" or whatever you choose to call it is included in any health care reform. Very practically speaking, it needs to be included "or else". It saves money, it is preventative medicine, consumers love it and will demand it, it is only going to grow more and more -- and it is GOOD MEDICINE!

The overhaul of the system needs to include the more accurate ways of looking at the body -- that is, as an interconnected, energetic, system that isn't composed of "parts that need to be fixed".

BooksAlive · 1 year ago

Interestingly, a friend recently had surgery for a benign tumor in her right parotid gland. Because facial nerves are located in between sections of the gland, a highly trained surgeon was selected for the operation. In preparation for it, she was given a multi-page list of medicines that were to be avoided before the surgery. Many of the items on the list are what we would deem natural, but their effects are significant, judging from what I saw there. Both of us decided that because so much was known about the effects of natural drugs, they are now being studied and evaluated in scientific ways. So yes, traditional medicine has come to acknowledge that people are using natural medicines, but should anyone be a candidate for surgery, we'd suggest you find a practice who are as informed as the one to which my friend was directed.