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The lone exception to that example I, and you, gave is this one bitchy DR at my place. She has no... what is the term.... bedside manner. But she is good. A couple of years ago I had a sinus infection from hell. I went to the DR's and they gave me an antibiotic, but it was the wrong kind (viral versus fungus or something?) and so I suffered for a week and it got a lot worse to the point I had to go into immediate care. Basically my throat had almost swollen shut and I had stopped breathing a few times, and almost passed out before getting to the phone or catching my breath. Anyways, drove straight to the immediate care, and they gave me another antibiotic. Wrong again. Two weeks later, I was back to the status I was on my first visit. I get the bitch (I have had her before). I tell her what up. She spends the time listening, I tell her my other DR experiences on this over the month. Her remark, "Yeah. Well I kinda like to know what the problem is before I write scripts". She sends me down for Xrays, and I was almost at the point of phenomena with all the liquid on my lungs and air pockets in my sinuses or whatever. Anyways, she switch the antibiotic to whatever the other kind was. Within two weeks, problem gone. Never had a bad sinus infection like that in two years. Funny. I was having 2-3 a year prior to that. Just goes to show you. Even the BEST, insurance covered care, doesn't really mean shit in the end. Total cost, above insurance, $1500+, 45 days to resolve. |
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Several months ago I needed to get a prescription refilled. I contacted my doctor and was told the doctor I normally see is no longer there. I knew this, but was told any other doc there could see me. I was told since it was a new doctor that I couldn't get a refill without seeing them and the earliest appointment was 10 days away. That wasn't going to work, I only had a couple of days worth of medicine. they won't call in a refill even if I make an appointment. So I end up going to a different doctor just to get a refill prescription just to hold me over until I can get in to the other place. The visit with this new doctor literally was about 5 minutes. I explained what I needed. She listened to my lungs, wrote me a prescription and I was out the door. It cost me $150 for that 5 minutes. Pretty crazy. |
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$71 to see the DR no script. $121+ to see DR get any kind of script. $150+ if I get any kind of referral.. blood test, xrays, etc Keep in mind, this does not include the cost OF the blood test, xrays, etc. Those bills come later. |
Just to show how it's not always the insurance companies fault, I look back at my Mom's nearly one month stay in the hospital. She had doctors that none of us had ever seen billing her for visits. There was one doctor who continued to bill her for daily visits a week after she left the hospital. Other doctors would come in the room, look at her chart, then leave and bill her $130.
It's almost humorous at the end of the day. They see a patient who will be there for awhile with good insurance and jump on it like vultures. Doctors from throughout the hospital were stopping in to check and bill her account. Since she was there for an extended time, they sent a psychiatrist in to make sure she wasn't getting depressed. The psychiatrist spent 30 minutes there and charged her $600. One doctor she had never heard of, never remembered meeting, and had no mention on her chart billed her $1200. It was the first time in my life I actually felt bad for the insurance companies. They were just getting raped. It did cause my Mom some issues since the insurance company refused to pay for the doctor who billed her for time she wasn't even in the hospital. Took my Mom many calls to this doctor's office and finally a formal complaint to the medical board before he removed the charges. Guess what I'm saying is that our insurance costs are high not just because these guys want to rip us off, but because doctors are fucking scumbags too. |
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A big thank you to Reagan for changing the restrictions on HMO's so they could be FOR PROFIT companies. :disgust |
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Those with insurance or that will pay the bill help make up for everyone that can't or doesn't pay. |
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I wonder if America would be a less litigious society if whenever someone fell over walking down the street, they didn't have to sue someone to pay for their medical bills. |
Healthcare should be a right because people pay taxes.
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i don't know how much you pay for private health care insurance in the US, but for the average man contributing to healthcare for all probably wouldn't cost you anymore than what you pay for private. it probably would cost very big earners some more byt they can afford it.
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I believe that healthcare and higher education should be free to anyone who pays taxes (or is too poor to pay taxes) because your tax dollars should do something to improve your quality of life, you are forced to pay them and for most middle class people, infrastructure is the only thing they really get out of it. We are willing to spend billions on war, space exploration and ridiculous public works projects (i.e. the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere), but services that would be beneficial to any common person are costly and are only obtained through harsh means such as student loans, which I need to start paying by way, so Sallie Mae will get off my ass)
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A better example would be restless leg syndrome(which does exist, but come on...). |
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There are so many retarded/unreleated comments in this thread that I'm not going to bother.
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i use oodles of health care-
enough actually that it seems i work more for hospitals and doctors than i do for myself- i am positive i have seen every side and aspect of health care in america- there does seem to be a lot of odd information in this thread when it comes to american health care- one thing that is for sure is that you must know the system and the rules or you will end up on the short end- i absolutely need health care and i for one would not be to thrilled with government ran health care which is what free health care would be- ah fuck this i am sick of this pc issue and not fix suggestions yet- i will be back a bit latter after i do a system restore- |
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Another issue is not letting preventative health issues drag on to where they become burdens on society, either because it removes the person(s) from available work pool or that the condition develops into a much more costly situation. |
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The German way for example is a national health insurance for employees. The dues are deducted from the wages. As long as you are getting your income from independent work, you are not required to pay for the national health care. But you can pay voluntary contributions. Another way for self employed is the private health insurance. The difference is that the financial contributions are above contributions for the national health care, but the medical attendance is much better. A doctor can earn about as twice as much for the same treatment, you get medicines you wouldnīt get if youīd be member of the national health care system and so on. If you are not a member of any insurance, you wonīt get shit. The German national health care system is about to collapse. So Iīd stick to the private systems. And to answer the question: health care canīt be free, but the real problem is how to treat those who canīt afford contributions? Will you leave them to rot or is it a social conscience to help them? |
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Medical Science started as a service to mankind, in the beginning it was a nice and decent job and doctors even visited YOUR HOUSE! But as time went by and capitalism took over as with anything good it became a BUSINESS in stead of a service! Personally I believe it is everyones duty to help their fellow man and health care should be a right of all. But since it was perverted by money and greed, we lose. :disgust
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The co-pay almost all of us pays covers 100% of the cost of the drug and it creates profit on the spot. That's why I can drive down to Mexico, purchase the exact same drug, and pay less than my co-pay. |
Basically we are all filthy communists
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Biggest difference today... Our household insurance/medical costs are more than the extra tax I paid in Canada. Germany may be having it harder, but not all Gov provided healthcare systems are. Germany's may suck but so does America.. I think of ours as already failed. I assume you guys don't have like 1/3 of your population, working and paying taxes but not able to get ANY type of insurance. When you a single mom in Germany has a kid and works but doesn't have a job that provides insurance, do the new mom now have to fork over $20,000? I had insurance it still cost me about $20k... |
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They charge a percentage of the wages, at this time 15.5%. Those are split between the employee and the employer. So basically you pay less if you earn less for the exact same service. For example if you earn $2,000.00 per month, your total monthly contribution is $310.00, if you earn $4,000.00 it is $620. |
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https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...ook/index.html Quote:
"The New York Times reports today on a study of over 5.7 million births in the US (between 1999 and 2001) that the neonatal mortality rate for Caesarean deliveries was 1.5 times that for vaginal births..." http://economics.com.au/?p=357 "Infant and neonatal mortality rates are higher with voluntary caesarean sections than with vaginal births" http://www.news-medical.net/?id=19919 "Infants born through caesarean section are at high risk of death, especially if the mothers have no medical need for the procedure." http://www.doctorndtv.com/news/detailnews.asp?id=2228 "Part of the reason for the increased mortality may be that labor, unpleasant as it sometimes is for the mother, is beneficial to the baby..." http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/09/...ve-higher.html "The increase is attributed to fears of malpractice lawsuits if a vaginal delivery goes wrong, the preferences of mothers and physicians, and the risks of attempting vaginal births after Caesareans." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10055309/ "The CDC just released its preliminary birth data for 2006. For yet another year, the US cesarean rate has hit a record high at 31.1%. This is a 50% rise over the past decade, and almost a six-fold increase since 1970, when 5.5% of women gave birth via cesarean section." http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2007/12...rean-rate.html 1 in 3 babies are born by cesarean in the United States. Japan's cesarean rate is 21%, Netherlands 12%. The US may be second only to Brazil which has a huge infant mortality rate of 23.33 deaths/1,000 live births! There is a worldwide effort to decrease the rate of cesarean sections because they are finding the procedure to be quite harmful to the baby. Quote:
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It will be very interesting to see how their health care system holds up through all this because they are in far worse shape than the US (which is a mess itself) :2 cents: |
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One thing I can say about American insurance, it's cheap for kids. When a person can't get a job and unemployment benefits drop, they are no longer part of the unemployment percentage, that's why the rate 'seems' so low. Even when these people eight months or a year later do get a job, it's often a job with a smaller company. Smaller companies often don't have insurance..or it's expensive and offers really nothing good. So the person remains on the spouses policy... Statistically, the person has insurance but in reality, without the spouse or family member, they wouldn't. It would cost more than they could pay or they simply wouldn't have it at all. They also include people like my dad, retired, insurance paid for by the Gov. And vets, all of us even us, and gov/state workers and the poor. And with all these, often include family members. The number may not be 33%, but I'm not foolish enough to believe the Gov published stats and tracked data, that they publish for others to use.. is only 15%. |
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You are right about unemployment numbers being fudged. So are many economic indicators including inflation in order to keep social security payments down among other reasons... |
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The percentage (Beitragssatz) is exactly 15.5 % starting in 2009 for every public insurence. Itīs the last change of the law called "Gesundheitsfond". |
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the economy is in recession but which country isn't at the moment? we don't meet the criteria with regards to entry to the euro at the moment because the government has borrowed large amounts to try and get us out of this mess, by buying, in some cases majority shareholdings in very large banks to prevent them collapsing, and it has also pumped billions into the money markets to get the banks lending again. so although he's borrowed huge amounts he's going to get it back and there's a good chance especially with regards shareholdings in the banks they may very well make a decent profit when they recover. so i don't see why we would need the imf's help. the pound is very low against the euro partly currently but in many ways that's a good thing, it makes our exports cheaper than the rest of europe and will help tp get the ecconomy back on track. besides we won't be joining the euro any time soon anyway and that was the case well before this recession took hold. back on topic, no government would dare get rid of the national health service in the uk, not in my lifetime anyway. |
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The housing market is nowhere near the bottom right now. There will be a lot more bankruptcies and foreclosures before the bottom is reached. Quote:
The UK will be in a full fledged depression before things start to get better. Mark my words :2 cents: Quote:
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European banks are way more overleveraged than US banks. We're talking 30:1 and in some cases as high as 50:1. When I hear the European press blame America for the problems in Europe I find it hysterical. I would love to join them and point fingers, but unfortunately it's not true. What does America have to do with Swedish banks fucking themselves due to their exposure in the Baltics? ...or Austria, Switzerland, etc, etc... Things started falling apart in the US with the subprime mess. Europe's exposure in developing markets (Eastern Europe and Asia) is a much larger problem than the US subprime mess and the problems have only now just begun to surface. Add to this all the social obligations in Europe and you are looking at a very painful reality check for the average European. The US is fucked, but Europe is fucked in every hole. |
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Good post. We all end up covering the non-payers. What really pisses me off is that I have to cover the people who are not even US citizens. Here in AZ, the illegals will go to the ER for anything because they do not have insurance. They run up huge bills and do not pay them. The whole healthcare system needs an overhaul. FYI I actually was charged $40 for two aspirin once. |
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So, better the devil you know than the devil you don't. |
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1. One of the medicines I take for Asthma costs $315 for a 60 day supply. That is the cheapest I can find it. Some pharmacies charge up to $360. I can buy it online for $90. It is the exact same medicine from the exact same manufacturer and it is 1/3 the price. The online company will pay for shipping too so I actually get it for around $80. They can afford to sell it to me for $80 and still make a profit which means at $315 or more the company is making a huge profit. 2. Pharmacies will often charge people who pay cash more for the same drugs. Many insurance companies have a cap that they will pay for a drug. Say, for example, they will only pay $90 for a drug. You have a $10 co-pay. So the pharmacy will charge you $100 for the drug. You pay $10 and the insurance pays $90. Someone comes in without insurance and wants to pay cash. Often the pharmacy will charge them $120, $130 or more for the same drug. If you want to humor yourself call up a bunch of pharmacies and get a price check on a drug. It is wild how much the prices will vary and many of them will ask you. "Is this a cash price you want?" They ask that because they are planning to fuck you over. |
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Being a congressman or senator was not meant to be a career and a way to get rich. It was for people who wanted to serve their country. It was for people who wanted to help. It has become a business though and the people that really would do the work for the right reasons face insurmountable odds. Here are a few ideas I have that will fix things fast...
Will things get done slower? Yes, and that is good. |
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I'm not saying that they should be forced to only mark the price up 5%, but in many cases it is just outrageous how much they mark it up. One of the reasons health care costs so much is the cost of drugs. I guess I don't see why a reasonable price control on medicine is such a bad thing. |
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with regards too much money in the system, from what i've read (i'm no expert on this)the problem is that the libor rate is too high, and where in the past the government can control the ecconomy to some extent with interest rates, if the interest rate cuts are not being passed on because banks are paying too much interest in the first place, then the single biggest brake/stimulant to consumer spending is gone. |
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