Whistleblower Speaks Out On What Really Happens in US Healthcare

by sammielee24 107 Replies latest jw friends

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  beksbks

  So right he had to say it twice!
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  Mastodon

  LOL, sorry, this board sometimes plays tricks on me.
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  choosing life

  Things are not looking too good for healthcare reform. The fear machine is in full motion.

  I think Obama needs to get into more detail about the particulars of a government option. He has to combat the fear that many people are feeling about the changes.

  Until taking care of people is the driving force of healthcare, instead of profit, we are sunk. Healthcare workers can still make a good living.
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  LightCloud

  Not to play to many word games or whatever but the fundamental problem with our healthcare system is not the healthcare itself but the manner in which it is paid for. Insurance companies are to me one of the necessary evils I wish we could find a way of living without, kind of like credit cards. They do have some benefits but it takes more self discipline than many people have to be as potentially positive as they are made out to be. Insurance is companies are in the business to do one thing, take in as much money in premiums as possible, and pay as little out in claims as possible. Now ideally its sold as a way to mitigate the financial hard ship of paying out huge amounts of cash for things that are supposed to rarely happen. But it has become a way for all healthcare cost to be managed and its being abused by just about all concerned. From the patient who refuses to shop for price competitiveness and either procrastinate making matters worse or go to the Doc for every little sniffle, to the Dr. in CYA mode that 1) orders alot of test that do not meet the return on effectiveness to cost test and 2) tries to make up for losses on people who don't pay on those that do, and then the insurance company that looks for any possible loophole to get out of honoring a policy claim or bullying the Doc into changing his Dx to something a little cheaper for the insurance company.

  The Army system works but I don't know that alot of people would be pleased with the sacrifices. Rationed care, long waits unless it involved life, limb or eye sight and Docs more inclined to be a little more tougher on the patient, ie telling them straight out they need to tough out little illnesses or minor aches and pains. The other thing that makes the Army system work a little bit better is that the Army enforces weight and physical fitness standards, and is slowly starting to regulate smoking and dipping, as well as tackling alcohol useage. They can literally control everything you eat, the amount of physical activity you have to do and they regularly drug test every soldier. Yeah I get free health care but look at everything I give up. Now I do it becuase I voluntarily gave up certain rights when I signed my contract. And I won't even go into the problems with the VA, another wonderfully run government health care provider. But to make a government run health care system work, those are the kind of things that will have to be a part of the plan to really make it something that does not bankrupt us.
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  Deputy Dog

  I thank God that in Canada we have a health care system otherwise I would be living in the streets.

  My monthly medications alone are over a thousand dollars and if I lived in the US I be big trouble.

  I envy the Canadians.

  I don't, when it comes to medical system. I lived there as a kid. My mom is a Canadian and in her 80s and lives in the US. Most of her family envies her.
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  Robdar

  I don't, when it comes to medical system. I lived there as a kid. My mom is a Canadian and in her 80s and lives in the US. Most of her family envies her.

  A good friend of mine who is Canadian but now lives inthis country, says there is no comparison. The Canadian way is better.

  As for me, I'll pay the Canadian prices on meds anyday. If you want to pay what US citizens pay, knock yourself out.
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  Deputy Dog

  So lets get this straight. You all think that by getting the government involved in healthcare it will get better? Wow! With what they pay for toilet seats, hammers, and the like. I can only imagine what will happen to the cost of an aspirin. We see what's happened with federal housing and what that's done for our economy. Maybe we could have Barny Frank as our new health zaar.
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  LightCloud

  Well for the most part I think its a horrible idea to have government run healthcare for the general population. But is the system broke as is, yes. The only thing I would say would be contructive ways to deal with it is to lessen the role of insurance companies in the whole system and minimize malpractice litigation.

  There was one doctor from back home that took to taking cash payments at substantially lower rates and to making his patients sign an understanding that he had nothing but the minimum liability insurance so in good faith he would do his absolute best to give quality medical care but if being a human he made a mistake, that suing him beyond the minimum amount of the coverage he had it would personally bankrupt him and that he would not authorize his insurance company to ever settled.

  At the time for several years his business was booming and all the patients were raving. I wonder what its like now.
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  Mad Dawg

  Just a couple of things:

  • America's shorter life spans have to do with life style choices, not the quality of medical care. You don't see too many overweight Japanese.
  • The reason that Canadian drugs are less expensive to the consumer is that the government subsidizes the cost of them. It is not that that they are inherently cheaper, it is that the Canadian government shares in the expense. The result is that all of you in Canada are paying, in part, for American's drugs when we buy them from there. Thank you for spending your money on my drugs.
  • Obama is already saying that government is going to make health care decisions and that if it is not cost effective to give Mom cancer or coronary care - goodbye Mom. Why is it better for the government to ration my care than an insurance company?
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  leavingwt

  Robert Reich: The Future of Universal Health Care

  http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/27/healthcare_future/