Whistleblower Speaks Out On What Really Happens in US Healthcare

by sammielee24 107 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  purplesofa

  Here is part of a letter I sent to my superiors where I worked and the hospitol in Oct '07.

  There are times I have sat for hours with nothing to do, wasting time, getting paid, all the while thinking this is one of the very reasons hospital bills are so high.

  Mismanagement of peoples time and skills, pouring out thousands of dollars daily adding to the cost of bills to us the patients, the customers.

  The so called educated people running the show, while degrees in common sense are ignored.

  The treatment of employees can be very abusive, the changing over of higher ups, presidents, CEO's, managers, Human resource managers, all with their new ideas how to run things, discounting the very people that have churned out the work day after day, month after month, year after year.

  The loss of a job can be very grievous. No matter how good or bad it was, no matter how good or bad the future job is. There is a networking of people, the family you form, that most I will never see again in my life. Many will not know I am gone, not even hardly a notice.

  We can take for granted the sameness and security of seeing the same person behind a desk.

  I and my co-worker fell victim to our superiors lack of taking care of a problem and now they are in a scramble to cover their asses.

  We are not the problem~~ it will raise its head again. But for now, they have a band aid, a bit of insurance that there jobs are secure a little bit longer.

  I did not want to be looking for another job right now. With winter approaching and my daughter three months away from having a baby. I will probably have to move from loss of income into something more financially manageable. It’s just the realities of life.

  I felt it necessary to walk away from the incompetence, I could not support my energy, talent, life experience to a company that will use me and discard me. I see many that do not care about integrity anymore. Get the most out of it all and not worry about the long term consequences.

  Every time someone rips off the hospital of valuable time that is needlessly paid out for no service at all, every time they take the money and run, it cost all of us untold dollars in health care.

  While the government lets that happen.......daily patients come in on the Medicare program with sickness and illness that could have been prevented long before now with proper care and money management early on. Being sick is big business.

  I wish I had never known this. It has made me a person I did not want to become. More cynical, paranoid, angry and hurt than ever over the easy clever way we all are victimized.
• 

  orangefatcat

  As I mentioned earlier if I had to pay for my meds I would be living on the streets. One perscription alone is 400 dollars a month. Breathing meds. are over a hundred a month and one other is 145, and another is 350 dollars. When I lived in the province of Quebec the same thing, I got the same coverage. In fact Quebec's medicare is better than Ontario's OHIP or at least it was when I moved back home to Ontario.

  I love the USA I have often wanted to move there into one of the warmer states on account of my asthma, and arthritis' but it can't happen as with my other health problems I wouldn't even be given a green card to work in the US.

  I could never get insurance because of pre existing conditons.

  could someone time me this, I heard it recently if you have or are treated for lets say a heart condition and it is cured but if this condition happens again because it is now pre existing that the insurance coverage will not pay anything like blood work or work up for surgery or even a hospital stay. Is this so?

  A couple of years ago I was so upset with our government over an issue of grave importance it disgusted me to even call myself a Canadian and I told that to the government. Well I take it back I am glad to be a Canadian and there are some idiots in the government but you have to sometimes take the nuts with the good representatives in the house of commons. So thanks Canada for our health care system even if we are having problems of our own.

  Orangefatcat
• 

  Deputy Dog

  Sammieswife

  the USA is going to implode on itself because they can't seem to get it together.

  I'll bet that scares the daylights out of Canada (and the rest of the world for that matter). Then who's gonna watch their back. They'll have to get a real millitary.
• 

  Balsam

  My sister died as a result of inadequate health care prior to her being eligible for Medicare for 3 years. She went years without good treatment, but the time she was on Medicare she lived only 3 years but the damage to her body was already done. All the jobs she had in California were called temp jobs and no employeer provided insurance for its employees. We need health care that will cover all people here in the USA not just those who can get insurance.

  My 21 years old son is without insurance because Walmart doesn't consider him full time while he works and goes to college. When he was recently in an accident on his bicycle when a car stopped suddenly in front of him he had a hospital bill, ambulance fee, doctors fee and no insurance. $5,000 in medical bills and a walmart salary and no insurance. Our insurance can't cover him because we are on medicare.

  Everyone may be scared of Universal Health here in the USA, but am totally for it even if it does mean raising taxes.
• 

  beksbks

  Balsam thanks for putting the human aspect on this.

  The working poor die of treatable diseases at a much higher rate in this country, because they wait until the last minute to see a doctor. Preventive care alone would make an enormous difference in the cost of universal care.
• 

  Mary

  The Canadian health care system isn't perfect, but I've yet to meet anyone up here who's ever had to declare bankruptcy and lost their house due to medical bills.

  My brother in law will be getting a stemcell transplant in Toronto. This is assuming he survives the chemotherapy that he's going to be starting in the next couple of weeks. We checked and in the States, the procedure is over $100,000. Up here, he'll pay $0 as it's fully covered by OHIP.

  I don't think anyone denies that the United States has excellent doctors and excellent facilities. The problem is, it's there primarily for the rich. Even those who think they ARE fully covered with their insurance can easily end up getting screwed over by the insurance companies down there whose sole purpose in life is to see how they can get out of paying for an operation.

  I find that many Americans seem to have an almost morbid fear of a universal health care system and/or their government controlling it. Don't worry----if Obama's heathcare is pushed through, you won't turn into Communists.
• 

  beksbks

  "Even those who think they ARE fully covered with their insurance can easily end up getting screwed over by the insurance companies down there whose sole purpose in life is to see how they can get out of paying for an operation."

  This is the most frustrating aspect Mary. They parrot the buzz words and stick their silly heads in the sand. And all the while it is something that would benefit most of them.
• 

  leavingwt

  10 Questions

  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/28/10_questions_for_supporters_of_obamacare_97651.html
• 

  Deputy Dog

  leavingwt

  I like Dennis. Here is the first two.

  1. President Barack Obama repeatedly tells us that one reason national health care is needed is that we can no longer afford to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. But if Medicare and Medicaid are fiscally insolvent and gradually bankrupting our society, why is a government takeover of medical care for the rest of society a good idea? What large-scale government program has not eventually spiraled out of control, let alone stayed within its projected budget? Why should anyone believe that nationalizing health care would create the first major government program to "pay for itself," let alone get smaller rather than larger over time? Why not simply see how the Democrats can reform Medicare and Medicaid before nationalizing much of the rest of health care?

  2. President Obama reiterated this past week that "no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition." This is an oft-repeated goal of the president's and the Democrats' health care plan. But if any individual can buy health insurance at any time, why would anyone buy health insurance while healthy? Why would I not simply wait until I got sick or injured to buy the insurance? If auto insurance were purchasable once one got into an accident, why would anyone purchase auto insurance before an accident? Will the Democrats next demand that life insurance companies sell life insurance to the terminally ill? The whole point of insurance is that the healthy buy it and thereby provide the funds to pay for the sick. Demanding that insurance companies provide insurance to everyone at any time spells the end of the concept of insurance. And if the answer is that the government will now make it illegal not to buy insurance, how will that be enforced? How will the government check on 300 million people?
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Just 23% Believe Health Care Costs Will Go Down if Reform Passes Congress

  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% are in favor of the reform effort proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats while 49% are opposed. Those figures include 25% who Strongly Favor the plans and 41% who are Strongly Opposed…

  Currently, 76% of Democrats favor the proposal and 76% of Republicans are opposed. Among the unaffiliated, 35% are in favor and 60% are opposed. Notably, just 16% of unaffiliateds Strongly Favor the legislative effort while 47% Strongly Oppose it…

  At this time, voters are skeptical about the ability of the reform effort to help control the cost of health care. Just 23% believe passage of the reform legislation will lead to lower health care costs. Most voters (53%) say it will lead to higher costs, while 18% expect prices to remain about the same…

  By 50% to 23% margin, voters expect that passage of the congressional health care reform bill will cause the quality of care to go down.