Why healthcare is a "Crisis" and how to fix it.

[The Rabbi]

Wanna bet ??  I worked for a freight forwarder/customs broker up at O'Hare for several years..... 

Well, why didn't you say so earlier?  That right there qualifies you to make experienced, educated, objective assessments of the U.S. healthcare system. 

No, but it does make him qualified to say whether medical equipment is made in China et al.
And since when has qualification, or even specific knowledge, ever been a bar to posting here?

[Scout26]

Wanna bet ??  I worked for a freight forwarder/customs broker up at O'Hare for several years.....

 

Well, why didn't you say so earlier?  That right there qualifies you to make experienced, educated, objective assessments of the U.S. healthcare system.

No, that makes me an experienced Logistics Manager, which puts me on par with Hilliary, Obama, and/or Edwards to run Healthcare.      The difference being that I just want to choose my own healthcare and not be forced to take what either my employer or the .gov makes me take.  I think that competition and the free market can meet my needs better then a one-size-fits-no-one .gov plan.   Just like I currently do with my Life, Home, and Car Insurance.

My mother, wife and four sisters-in-law are RN's.  My wife currently works as a case manager for an insurance company after 22 years as a NICU nurse. I've heard and learned quite a bit from them.  Plus my own experience dealing with Insurance companies sick I got sick over a year ago.  The healthcare system is a mess and the way to fix it is to get the .gov out.

[wooderson]

What ?!?!?!??!?  Yep, doctors are still performing blood letting and adjusting the humors.

Actually, the are still performing bloodletting through the use of leeches (and maggot therapy may fall under this as well...).

In everyother industry technoolgy has managed to reduce costs or improve effieciency, yet only in healthcare does technology raise costs.  Yeah, right.

Um, yeah. We live longer, through more hazardous diseases, thanks to expensive technology. There were no MRIs or CTs or an X-Ray machine in every clinic back in the day. They cost money.

And, of course, electronics 'technology' has bugger all to do with doctor training, doctor salaries, drug costs, etc.., so I don't even know what you're talking about.

Name one country that has socialized medicine that has a better standard of care then the US.

Canada, France, the UK, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark...

[Paddy]

The difference being that I just want to choose my own healthcare and not be forced to take what either my employer or the .gov makes me take.  I think that competition and the free market can meet my needs better then a one-size-fits-no-one .gov plan.   Just like I currently do with my Life, Home, and Car Insurance.

I have no idea what you're talking about.  Who is 'forcing' you to do anything?  You are entirely free to purchase your own individual policy for healthcare, as I do.  I chose the plan and pay the premium.  In my case it's a HDHP and allows me to use the HSA.  My deductible every year is $3500, and the total premiums are about the same.  So I will pay $7000 out of pocket before any insurance kicks in.   

I don't see how  the '.gov' is interfering with my choice at all.

[Sergeant Bob]

What ?!?!?!??!?  Yep, doctors are still performing blood letting and adjusting the humors.

Actually, the are still performing bloodletting through the use of leeches (and maggot therapy may fall under this as well...).

That also includes Hemochromatosis, for which the only treatment is....bloodletting.

[Tallpine]

Well, here is the solution to the health care crisis:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317189,00.html

"Sex Your Way to Better Health: A Dozen Reasons Why You Should Have Sex Tonight"

 

[Firethorn]

Name one country that has socialized medicine that has a better standard of care then the US.

Canada, France, the UK, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark...

Canada has patients come down to the US for treatment all the time.  UK is having a crisis with things like a woman who ended up going to France to get a hip replacement because she didn't want to/couldn't wait a year to get it.

Don't know about the other countries, but in my experience when we try to do this sort of stuff we usually end up worse than the Brits.

At most this should be a state level system.  Though I agree - dial the government involvement way back, and adjust things so that people get their own healthcare.

[Paddy]

Though I agree - dial the government involvement way back, and adjust things so that people get their own healthcare.

doh.  As I already explained above, there is nothing stopping you from 'getting your own healthcare'. I 'get my own healthcare'.  You can too. Shop around and buy a policy, that's all.  What's the problem?

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

A single payer healthcare system has been proven successful for the last 40+ years.  It's called 'Medicare'.  The solution to the 'healthcare crisis' is to simply expand Medicare to cover every U.S. citizen, and get rid of the private insurers.

Make up your mind, Riley.  You say you'd let us shop around, but your first post states you'd get rid of private insurers, and put us all on Medicare.  Which is it?

[Paddy]

I am saying that a single payer system will go a long way toward solving the 'healthcare crisis', which really means large numbers of uninsured/underinsured people.  Medicare is already a successful system in terms of providing necessary healthcare to large numbers of people. Many medicare recipients also purchase Medigap insurance from private insurers to pick up Medicare coinsurance, deductibles, etc.

There is currently no single payer system and I'm not old enough for Medicare, so I must buy my own insurance.  Nothing prevents me, or you, or scout26, or anybody else from doing this.  It is not, however, an efficient system in that 20% -30% of our healthcare dollars go to corporate profits.  That's a helluva lot of money that could buy a helluva lotta insurance, if there were a not-for-profit or government single payer system.

[Firethorn]

Riley,

Part of the problem is that the government has set things up such that due to tax benefits that it's frequently significantly cheaper to get your health care from your employer than privately.

I think things are improving somewhat, but the system is still biased far too much into the 'health insurance' assumptions.

For example, I would be ineligible for a HDHP and HSA because my work doesn't offer it.  They might of fixed that by now, but when it first came out it wasn't available directly.

On another point, I find how people assume that businesses should provide their employees with health care bad.

[wooderson]

Canada has patients come down to the US for treatment all the time.

Canada has patients come down to the US for certain treatments.

Canada would have far more Americans trucking up there for general treatment and drugs, were it legal.

The thing about your anecdotes is that, by every measure - quality of care and cost-related, the health systems of Canada and the UK are markedly superior to the US. The only objective way to claim supremacy is to focus on quality of care for those for whom money isn't an issue and ignore the bottom 40% - and most Americans don't envision as a health system that functions on have/have-not lines as being particularly successful.

[Glock Glockler]

As I already explained above, there is nothing stopping you from 'getting your own healthcare'. I 'get my own healthcare'.  You can too. Shop around and buy a policy, that's all.  What's the problem?

You cannot collect Social Security without also accepting Medicare, this becomes a problem for someone who simply wants to buy their own and wants to work with a doc that doesn't deal with Medicare. 

[Paddy]

You cannot collect Social Security without also accepting Medicare, this becomes a problem for someone who simply wants to buy their own and wants to work with a doc that doesn't deal with Medicare.

Part A Medicare, hospital insurance, (covers inpatient hospital care, operating rooms, and other medical services and supplies received while in the hospital.  It doesn't pay your doctor.) comes premium free with Social Security. 

Part B, medical insurance (covers doctors, outpatient hospital services, ambulance, diagnostic tests, lab services, outpatient therapy, durable medical equipment and supplies and a variety of other health services) is also called 'voluntary supplementary medical insurance' and is optional. Premiums are deducted from your SS check each month. You're automatically covered at age 65, but if you don't want Part B, return the card and notify SSI.

So, the bottom line is, collect SS, turn down Part B, and buy your own policy if you want.  You CAN collect Social Security without accepting Medicare.

I'm curious why you care whether or not your doctor accepts Medicare?

[Paddy]

Nothing.  Crickets chirping.  Maybe they're all out buying their own health insurance, now that they know they can.

You're welcome.

[De Selby]

Nothing.  Crickets chirping.  Maybe they're all out buying their own health insurance, now that they know they can.

You're welcome.

Nah-we're all out working double shifts to pay off medical debts.