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Kingfish · 06-20-2007, 02:04 PM

I thought it was a good movie. If you payed close attention to the movie, it took on a lot of myths that opponents of universal care often cite as reasons for not having it. Unfortunately, a lot of people just don?t get it is a problem until it somehow impacts them on a personal level. If you?re in good health, and don?t have the need for anything other than routine stuff you won?t think there is anything wrong with the health care system in the U.S.

The last time I had health care insurance it was through cobra which I paid over $1000 a month for the full 18 months. Prior to that running out I applied to every private health insurance company that offers private polices in my state. I was turned down by every last one of them. Not a one of them would offer me a policy at any price. I have high blood pressure that is still higher than normal even with medication. It is a genetic condition as numerous people in my family have the same condition. My only option is to give up self-employment and work for a much lower income in the private sector if I want health insurance. I won?t do that.

Having worked in management in the private sector, I have seen 3 separate private sector employers dump employees when they or a family member develops a serious health issue to avoid paying an huge increase in group health insurance premiums or outright cancelation of the group policy. Of course the employee is never told that he/she is getting dumped for health reasons, he or she just suddenly starts getting bad performance reviews and they are usually gone within 6 months to a year. So even to those of you with employer provided insurance there is a very good chance of you getting canned if you or someone in your family (covered by the employer?s policy) develops a serious health care issue such as cancer or HIV.

Our private healthcare system in the U.S. wasn?t so bad 25 years ago, but a lot has changed since then. Back then a lot of Hospitals and healthcare providers were nonprofits that weren?t into making a profit. A lot of health insurance companies were mutual companies (they were owned by the policyholders not shareholders) so the primary goal wasn?t making a huge profit for shareholders. Also there weren?t as many layers of profit takers as there are today. 25 years ago in a lot of cases it was just the Dr. that treated you that was looking to make a profit. The hospital was a non-profit that did everything in house, and your insurance company was a mutual company that looked out for your best interests not the shareholders.

In a typical hospitalization treatment scenario today you now have all of these people/organizations that expect to make a profit off you every time you seek treatment at a hospital.
The Dr. that treated you
The Hospital
The Private Management Company that has been contracted to manage the hospital
The Private hospital Billing Company that has been contracted out to do the hospital?s billing
The private pharmacy the hospital contracts with to provide your meds
The billing company the pharmacy contracted with to do billing
The private company that your insurance company has hired to audit your bill for such things as customary charges
And then there are a whole host of private contractor?s that work on commission for the Insurance company looking for ways to deny or partially deny your claim that only get paid if they manage to fuck you out of something. Of course every hospital is different and there might be more or less layers for any given treatment or hospital.

06-20-2007, 02:04 PM
Kingfish Confirmed User Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 668	I thought it was a good movie. If you payed close attention to the movie, it took on a lot of myths that opponents of universal care often cite as reasons for not having it. Unfortunately, a lot of people just don?t get it is a problem until it somehow impacts them on a personal level. If you?re in good health, and don?t have the need for anything other than routine stuff you won?t think there is anything wrong with the health care system in the U.S. The last time I had health care insurance it was through cobra which I paid over $1000 a month for the full 18 months. Prior to that running out I applied to every private health insurance company that offers private polices in my state. I was turned down by every last one of them. Not a one of them would offer me a policy at any price. I have high blood pressure that is still higher than normal even with medication. It is a genetic condition as numerous people in my family have the same condition. My only option is to give up self-employment and work for a much lower income in the private sector if I want health insurance. I won?t do that. Having worked in management in the private sector, I have seen 3 separate private sector employers dump employees when they or a family member develops a serious health issue to avoid paying an huge increase in group health insurance premiums or outright cancelation of the group policy. Of course the employee is never told that he/she is getting dumped for health reasons, he or she just suddenly starts getting bad performance reviews and they are usually gone within 6 months to a year. So even to those of you with employer provided insurance there is a very good chance of you getting canned if you or someone in your family (covered by the employer?s policy) develops a serious health care issue such as cancer or HIV. Our private healthcare system in the U.S. wasn?t so bad 25 years ago, but a lot has changed since then. Back then a lot of Hospitals and healthcare providers were nonprofits that weren?t into making a profit. A lot of health insurance companies were mutual companies (they were owned by the policyholders not shareholders) so the primary goal wasn?t making a huge profit for shareholders. Also there weren?t as many layers of profit takers as there are today. 25 years ago in a lot of cases it was just the Dr. that treated you that was looking to make a profit. The hospital was a non-profit that did everything in house, and your insurance company was a mutual company that looked out for your best interests not the shareholders. In a typical hospitalization treatment scenario today you now have all of these people/organizations that expect to make a profit off you every time you seek treatment at a hospital. The Dr. that treated you The Hospital The Private Management Company that has been contracted to manage the hospital The Private hospital Billing Company that has been contracted out to do the hospital?s billing The private pharmacy the hospital contracts with to provide your meds The billing company the pharmacy contracted with to do billing The private company that your insurance company has hired to audit your bill for such things as customary charges And then there are a whole host of private contractor?s that work on commission for the Insurance company looking for ways to deny or partially deny your claim that only get paid if they manage to fuck you out of something. Of course every hospital is different and there might be more or less layers for any given treatment or hospital.