Do you feel that there is a problem with the healthcare system in America?
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I couldn't agree more. What really gets me is the fact that we are the only industrial nation in the world that does not provide nationwide health care. The irony in that is that we have the best doctors, medical technology, etc. We are also the top ranking in military and we are number 9 on the list of industrial nations that have a problem with their children and gun control. I'm just so happy that we live a country that has their priorities straight.
ABSOLUTELY AGREE!
i don't have any insurance, so i can't go to the doctor. when my appendix burst, i almost died because i knew i couldn't afford the 20, 000 in medical bills.
I do. It is unethical for a company to make profit off your illness.
Every time you get sick, there is an opportunity for a sale. Does that NOT disgust you?
I would GLADLY drop my insurance payments that want to make money by finding reasons to deny claims (and don't cover S#IT)- for a MORE EXPENSIVE universal health care system that just doesn't want me to be sick. These insurance companies make me want THEM to be sick.
I take it you just saw Michael Moore's new one? Good flick. I liked this more than Fahrenheit.
Our health care system is a disgrace when they leave a poor woman for hours on the floor in an emergency room in Los Angels for hours to die.
BWT I had to wait almost 6 weeks to get an appointment with a neurologist last spring, and then had to wait another two weeks to get a followup appointment, and I was in severe pain. (No pain killers)
The stupid American workers are paying twice as much as the other industrialized countries and get only half as good health care. That's why we have to go to Canada and England for lower cost prescriptions.
ALL the other industrialized countries have national health where you pay according to what you earn each week into the insurance pool (NOT a tax) and go to hospital when you get sick and come home to get well.
Hey, there is a sucker born every minute !
Absolutely. You see "Sicko"? I know people hate Michael Moore, and I'll admit that he relies too much on "stunts," but his film makes some points that there's really no denying. If you have a health care system set up for profit, it's inevitable that you'll wind up refusing care whenever possible to fatten the bottom line. Medicine is one area that most definitely SHOULD be socialized.
But Americans are absolutely horrified by that idea, because they've been fed a line of propaganda for decades to the effect that socialized medicine means you stand in line for six months to get a physical, etc. It's a lie sold to them by politicians who have health industry lobbyists in their back pockets. And it's so ingrained that I'm not convinced it's actually possible to change it, no matter how bad things get. It'll take nothing less than a revolution to shake up the system, and most Americans don't seem to have it in them - unfortunately for us!
1. We have a shortage of qualified medical personnel.
2.The costs of prescription drugs are out of sight. Many people cannot afford them.
3. There are major losses of life in hospitals due to infections caught while people are patients there.
4. Drugs have received approval that re not safe causing loss of life and major medical problems.
5. Doctors give conflicting advice.
6. Insurance costs have skyrocketed.
7. Many...far to many do not have any medical insurance at all.
8. There appears to be a major diabetes epidemic.
9. Pharmaceutical companies make exorbitant profits
That said one of the major reasons that the life expectancy has increased so much is due to the advances in medical treatment and care.
The health care (or lack of care) system in this country is a disgrace. When my husband was having severe chest pains, I had no choice but to take him to the emergency room. The bill was $10k. I had to beg for a reduction in fees. When it asked me to list my "assets", I could honestly tell them I had $50 in checking and $7 in savings. They reduced my fees to $2k. My question is this: where was I supposed to get that money?
I actually have "insurance" (if yo want to be that generous). I pay almost $200/month to get almost nothing covered. If I have a test done that they don't find appropriate, I pay. If I get pregnant, they don't cover pre-natal. If I have to go to a Med clinic or the Emergency room and I don't get permission first, I pay. It is a JOKE!
No system is perfect.
There's room for improvement in our system, but to think that it's fundamentally flawless is not reasonable thinking. It would help if I clear up some misconceptions:
* Insurance companies DON'T profit on you being sick. They would be perfectly content with you never needing to use their services, ever. Doctors, offices, and clinics profit. However, you have to profit on treatments in order to pay staff, bills, research & development, you name it.
* Medical treatments cost so much largely because most people DON'T pay. Most people don't care how much their treatment costs, because they only ever see the copay amount... and thus aren't encouraged to shop for a lower price and encourage competition.
* Current government run policies limit reimbursement for services and OFTEN don't cover the actual costs of services rendered (let alone any profit). Such as paying $90 for a Paramedic level ambulance. Such limitations encourage doctors to emigrate to a country where health coverage is privatized and the returns on their investments greater. Which is why the United States has some of the best doctors in the world.
* Government run programs are notoriously spendthrift. Their overall goal is not profit, and hence they have no desire to look for savings where possible. Hence the infamous $640 toilet seats.
* Government healthcare is not immune to bureaucratic errors and corner cutting. Take the case of Jack Szmyt. Szmyt was told that it would be another month until doctors could start the necessary treatment for a brain tumor. He went to a $30,000 private clinic in Germany. Had he not sought private treatment abroad, his German doctor said, he would likely have died. His insurer, the notoriously generous Swedish government, insists the waiting period was not "unreasonable" when contacted by the media.
* Cuba does have free healthcare. However, they also have a shortage of basic medical materials and medicine. And the credulous audience member is none the wiser.
* London's Hammersmith Hospital (which Moore praised), the most debt ridden in the whole NHS, announced it would be slashing hundreds of jobs. In hindsight, I think having a few more doctors on staff is a little more important than paying for your parking.
* When people have to pay money, even a small copay, they're less likely to abuse services. I've transported by paramedic level ambulance people who've had a head ache, stubbed toe, difficulty sleeping and other such nonsense. In all the abuses, guess who the insurer is? NYS Medicaid. Copay = $0. My private insurance copay = $50. In cases where the costly services of an ambulance aren't medically necessary, a taxi would be cheaper for me and keep a paramedic ambulance in service to respond to a heart attack.
The only people who are left out are the lower middle class. The rich don't need insurance. The middle class mostly have full-time employment that includes a health plan. The poor and those on welfare are covered (often with better plans than the middle class). The lower middle class... those without healthcare plans or in part-time employment... are the ones who are in trouble.
Moore's solution to let the government just run everything shows an immature, childish mentality whereby he expect everything to be provided for him.
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