I believe the American medical system needs to be fixed. It is very broken and as a whole, I feel that the average American pays WAY too much into the medical system. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, the insurance industry is the biggest fraud of an industry in the country. In my opinion, an even bigger fraud than all these people we're bailing out. Sadly, I feel that it's the insurance industry that is the reason why it is so hard to change our system. I say all this as a health-care worker. I see sick people every day: People with acute injuries, such as your typical senior citizen with a broken hip down to chronic problems (one case that particularly had me thinking, was a guy I saw that had a malignant neoplasm of his kidney). Make no doubt about it, if you asked anyone I worked with, they would say that I give great patient care, but I feel like I would gain more out of my profession if I worked in a better system. I can't help but add up the cost of just about every person I deal with's stay in the hospital. It's quite depressing. Insurance or no insurance, you usually run the risk of breaking your bank account when you have to stay an extended period of time in a hospital. I absolutely love my job and what I do, don't get me wrong. But like I said, if our system was better off, I would be much happier. Take into account my recent experience...Like I said, I work at a hospital, so you'd think I would have a great insurance plan. Wrong. I went into my primary care physician (who, by the way, is connected to the place that I work) to have some plantar's warts treated. After three acid treatments, I got a bill for 315 dollars. That is something I could have done for 15 dollars myself, at home. This was after a 20 dollar copay each time. And I have a 250 dollar deductible. A lady I work with had both her parents get into a car accident this past year. Her dad stayed in the hospital for a month before he died, and her mom was in an ICU for a month before she was released. Both were insured. My co-worker is now in debt of over 150K from these hospital stays alone. That's a broken system, in my opinion. I don't really know the ins and outs of the tax system, so I can't give an accurate plan to fix things, but I think Obama had somewhat the right idea. I say that you take all the tax money that we, as Americans pay into the system to support medicare and medicaid programs, and you reward us Americans by expanding that program, thus more than likely removing the negative connotation associated with the program. It makes no sense to me, as a taxpayer, that I should be paying taxes to pay for someone else's medical bills (medicaid bills usually come as no cost to the people on medicaid...and quite honestly, I have been on it before) when I can't even afford my own. So, I pay God-knows how much tax money for someone who doesn't work (therefore, probably doesn't pay into medicaid) to go to the ER for a shoulder that they hurt 20 years ago(I have literally seen this happen before...at 3AM), and then I turn around and pay for my own insurance, and after that, have to pay for whatever bills my insurance doesn't cover, which right now, is just about everything. I say that you have to expand the medicaid program and make it more accessible to everyone, leaving insurance companies to compete. The reason I feel this won't ever happen is (a) money (you'd have to raise taxes to supplement this) and (b) it would bring about bankruptcy for most insurance companies. It's just so unfortunate, that, in the United States of America, the supposed greatest country on Earth, we have a medical system that is worse than quite a few third-rate countries. Have you seen any infant mortality rates(in which we rank just behind Brunei, Cyprus, and New Caledonia), or life expectancy (in which we rank just behind Bosnia and Herzegovina, Puerto Rico, and Jordan)....it's just bad. Sorry for the rant...
Eddie, I was telling a coworker today that the secret of navigating healthcare in America is not getting sick. I have watched a good friend fight tooth and nail with her insurance company to help her fight her breast cancer every step of the way, and it's disgusting. She could better use her time and energy in positively fighting her disease. Hopefully the ideas of health promotion will start taking hold. I don't really like michael moore so much, but I was struck by his visit to the UK and the doctor who said bonuses were awarded for healthy patients, as opposed to decreased costs. Nothing hit me as hard as that one interview on this topic.
As you probably caught on, I recently watched Sicko. That interview affected me greatly also. The movie made me feel great about what I do in one sense, but in another sense, it made me kind of depressed because of just how bad our system is. If someone has cancer or is terminal or something else, they should not have to spend their time arguing with their insurance company.
You're missing the point entirely. The athletes have unlimited amounts of money to spend on surgery. Sure, we have some of the better doctors in the world (although other countries have great doctors too...it's more of a matter of convenience for athletes), but when I say our healthcare system is bad, I'm talking about the average American. Do you think when the average American tears their ACL, they're going to fly to Utah to have Tiger Woods' doctor do their surgery? Other countries have great doctors, and they're in better system. Europe's health system is far and away better than America's. Sure, Brits might have bad teeth, but they can go to a hospital, be treated for everything they need to be treated for, and not have to pay virtually anything. And they don't have insurance companies harassing them, to boot. When you look at pioneering surgeries, many European countries keep pace, if not perform them before doctors in the US.
I have often thought that the biggest problem with our health insurance system is the manner in which it is purchased. Eddie...the person who makes the decision which health plan to offer doesn't give a damn about you. I doubt you even know this person. I doubt you could even name that person. My point? The people making the decisions regarding health care available to workers are employers. They will generally choose the cheapest option available that will not be a deterrent to employment at the company. Therefore, most of the insurance products available are total crap. You will get a crappy plan almost 100% of the time when somebody who does not care about you chooses your plan. The solution? I don't really know. One thought I had is a cafeteria plan with a twist. For those who are employed, you have plans competing against each other. True competition. Each plan must meet standards set by government. There would be a qualification process. The increased cost of the plans (assuming there is any with real competition) can be offset by government subsidy. You pay the remainder through payroll deduction. The employer also pays in whatever they see fit (quite a few employers pay a portion of the insurance cost). For the unemployed or those who choose no plan, they can have access to Medicare. This will, of course, be funded through Medicare taxes. If you are employed and choose to go Medicare, you will have to pay monthly (albeit at a lesser rate than the insurance plans). This would need to be fleshed out completely, but it is an idea that can be built upon.
I think it's a bit unfair to claim that insurance companies are the main reason the system is "broke." Our healthcare system is what it is because insurers want to make money and doctors/hospitals/pharmaceuticals want to make money too. It's capitalism after all. Drug companies/healthcare providers want to make money so they charge a lot for their products/services. Insurance companies want to make money, so they don't want to pay the high prices, and they want patients to share in the cost (copays, coinsurance, deductibles) to discourage patients from over-using the expensive healthcare. If you want to fix the system, you probably gonna have to remove or suppress capitalism in some manner: limit what Doctors/hospitals/pharmaceuticals charge so they can't get rich, and forbid insurance companies from making profit so they can't get rich either. Don't know if that's practical in our capitalist bastion that is the US of A. Here's an interesting PBS Frontline report on healthcare in UK, Japan, Germany. Seems their systems are much cheaper for patients ... but the trade-off is Hospitals/Doctors feel underpaid. In Japan, they reported that 50% of hospitals are in debt. Naturally, patients love their low cost healthcare and go to the doctor all the time. And the Japanese doctor says "Doctors can't get rich." Note that in Germany, insurance companies aren't allowed to make a profit so they negotiate fees down to where once again Doctors/hospitals feel underpaid.
I don't think they provided stats on how much money Doctors make in those countries with universal healthcare, although it would have been useful to know. But, my guess is universal healthcare is going to have be universal INEXPENSIVE healthcare.
Essentially, america has taken the "treatment" part of a diagnosis out of the hands of doctors and into the hands of accountants. It ****ing sucks. My wife is pregnant, and, just like the previous pregnancy, everything is constantly screwed up and overpriced. I spend more time on the damn phone sorting out the billing than my wife spends in the freekin' clinics.
I don't know if the goal of health care should be that doctors get rich. I don't mind doctors making a ton of money and getting rich. Medical school is expensive, they work hard, and provide a valuable service. But we shouldn't not do what's right for health care in this nation because doctors may not be able to get rich.
The best medical research lately seems to be coming from out of the country. They have amazing doctors elsewhere. I'm not saying we should take away their money. I'm just saying that the goal of health care shouldn't be to make docs super wealthy.
I disagree. Very few people complain about the (relatively) large salaries of pilots. It's an uncommon skill and very bad things happen when you screw up. The pilots know this, so they demand high salaries and, if they don't get them, they unionize until they get what they want. Docs in situations presented by wigman should simply do the same.
i absolutely agree. reading xrays should not get you 600k a year. just skim this chart on doctor salaries. do you really think having a 15-20% cut on salaries of over 300-400k would really reduce competency? also medical schools are heavily subsidized anyway. and at times its downright cheap. baylor, southwestern are incredibly affordable. of course, a lot of the cheaper schools are highly competitive too, but medical school education by in large isn't completely extraordinary in terms of cost. perhaps one way to alleviate some concern would be to just have more subsidized loans, which didn't accrue interest while in residency.
But I think the pilots had a history of being undervalued. I don't think that's ever happened with doctors. I believes groups that have been trod upon in the past, might be hyper-vigilant about seeing that it doesn't happen again. I think if instead of making 800K a year, it was dropped to half a million a year, would be acceptable if mal practice insurance went down.
Not to be picky, but their salaries are shocking, given that they have our lives in their hands. I think SF City bus drivers make more than some of these first year salaries. 2004 data: American Airlines: 1st yr F/O: $31,080 and 10th yr Captain $123,420 Delta Airlines: 1st yr F/O: $50,400 and 10th yr Captain $204,636 Southwest: 1st yr F/O: $42,960 and 10th yr Captain $159,000 Think I'll avoid American Airlines for a while!
Do you think that surgeon only does athletes? No, they do multiple operations per week. The guy who does all the Texans did my knee, my coverage paid 90%. In the UK you have to wait 6 weeks to see any specialist. Thats AFTER a doctor says you can see them. In the USA if you give some type of Universal Helthcare this is what would happen The rich who have medical insurence would not participate which if the participation is voluntary would cut revenue. This would creat a large private sector drawing the best medical talent. The middle class would be forced to get rid of their medical coverage and be forced into a new system. This new system would have more people and less money paying into it (or as a best case senario more people with the same amount of money) The poor without jobs would get an upgrade in medical no doubt. The problem I see is how does making something run by the government make it better? Because if that is not the argument then there is no argument.
why? how much does UK spend as a percentage of its gdp on healthcare? we don't have to spend significantly less immediately, we need to control the cost and ensure everyone. if all civilized countries can do it within 8-10% of their gdp, if we spent 14% (which woudl still be a bit less than we spend now) why couldn't we ensure we dont have huge waits, but still ensure more people.
There are two possibilities outside of fantasy world. If you want to get medical coverage to 45 million more people you have to do two things. Spend more money, or lower the quality of care. In reality it will be a combo of both. And the middle class will be the ones paying for it and getting lower quality of care. To say otherwise is to say that somehow the government can run the system for cheaper which is what people are saying but they have no proof. The government has the ability to reduce the cost of prescription meds but they have not done that. Let's do that first.
We are already spending more money every year and getting lower quality care overall, and it gets worse every year. And guess who are the ones paying for it. That's not fantasy world, that's the reality. Premiums and deductibles go up, coverage shrinks - why do you think this is a good thing?
