Nationalizing healthcare is only the first domino. It will lead to cost control in the medical field (not necessarily evil) which will ultimately lead to the same things it has lead to in other Western countries. Decrease in the quality of medical care available. I'm not opposed to a national health care system that makes sense, but they are sort of destined to NOT make sense. Great in theory, bad in practice.
I Like Obama, but that quote isn't particularly insightful. I'd certainly consider voting for him though.
I think the biggest factor is that Americans in general feel that they are entitled to not just healthcare, but every single possible procedure that may save a life regardless of the cost. Insurance is a business. They accept risk for compensation. Why should they be forced to lose money? Insurance companies pay much more than they take in so they must be shrewd investors to be able to make money on the float over time before they pay out. The pharma industry is similar and research and the FDA process is so constrictive, that costs are passed on to the public. Lawsuit abuse in both scenarios and against physicians increases the costs of insurance, drugs and services to all. Physicians also are so scared of lawsuits, that they are doing every possible test on a patient in order to not get sued. This snowball affect is why healthcare is so expensive. But silly and frivolous lawsuits won't be limited until the public perceptions change. If someone dies and its not the fault of the physician or insurance company, the insurance company will still settle because they are scared to death of a jury that sees family crying and thinks they deserve money from the big bad company. I don't feel that people here know what they are getting into by having the government involved. Anyone here been to the DPS lately? Or howabout the resounding efficiency of the passport office? In some universal coverage countries if you have cancer or other ailments you recieve a certain amount of treatment and from there its over. I don't think that resounds well with the "I DESERVE" society here that wants every possible procedure done and believes someone else should get the bill.
This puts my future in jeopardy. I'm graduating medical school in 1.5 years, and it's making me wish I didn't have a passion for medicine at all. After going to a university for 8 years, accumulating enough debt to buy 2 extremely nice houses, the future that awaits me will be an assembly line of patients. Being a doc used to have prestige; if this goes through we'll be reduced to being the government's workhorses. This affects those paying for care, too, as it will decrease the quality of care they receive. Imagine, you, who has good insurance coverage visiting your doc who has to see another 40-50 patients in his office just to break EVEN for the day. That's not the future, that's what's going on NOW. People don't realize how hard we work. Ever since the government stuck their nose in the field, people are still sick, docs are overworked, and treatment prices have skyrocketed, and all at the same time the government is trying to cut costs (reducing docs wages, not paying hospitals enough, etc) and look where healthcare is going for you, our patients -- more expensive, less quality. Nice one, Hillary. I haven't even touched on the sue-happy culture we have today. Next time anyone's in Barnes and Noble's, pick up a book called The Voice of Reason by Ayn Rand, and turn to Chapter 29 and read "Medicine: the Death of a Profession". This essay was written about 20 years ago but it has predicted what's happening right now.
Glad to hear about the age 25 thing... as for the rest - I tell you it was possible in the year 2001 when I was specifically denied coverage by both my employer's health insurance and every private insurance company I contacted. I took a job with the state in order to insure she would have coverage as a result. The specific reason I was given by my employer's health insurance was that her condition is on a list of automatically disqualified conditions. This is the same reason I was given by all other insurance companies I contacted at the time. Best Regards, Brock
Look the basic facts are that the other western industrialized countries provide universal coverage, get better overall health outcomes, and do it for less per capita than the US. We have several models for universal coverage to learn from. We need to just do it already.
Problem with too much socialism is that it's often imposed and results in mediocrity. It limits people's drive and takes away from individualism. Take France, you can't fire people at all easily, and thus things like customer service is terrible. Lots of inefficiency as well. China is another example. And you only have to look at our own gov't - which is slow, inefficient, and filled with lack-keys. Capitalism taken too far though can be bad as well - particularly in exploiting people and the enviornoment. Therefore, you need balance. We don't want to be China, but we don't want to run amok and become the east india trading company.
Private insurance companies can deny you. If your company told you that they wouldn't give her insurance because of a condition you need to sue them. It's illegal. I'm dead serious. I work in this industry everyday.
It wasn't my employer - it was the insurance company they contracted through. They didn't offer insurance when I was first employed and they were just setting up the system. They had an insurance representative, from the company they decided to offer coverage through, meet with all employees seperately to discuss the options available and associated costs. When my turn came he specifically denied my daughter coverage do to her condition.
Would you mind sharing the name of the insurance company? Texas has laws that regulate these things. Unless it was a self funded insurance plan by your company, it's simply illegal for them to do that. If I were you I'd raise a stink if you get into the situation again. They may have pulled the wool over your eyes to save some insurance premium. I don't know all the facts here (was it self funded for example) but a company such as a Blue Cross,Aetna, UHC, etc. cannot deny you or your daughter coverage due to any medical condition. We have a client who has a daughter with brittle bone disease (not sure of the real name of the condition) and she racks up thousands of dollars in claims routinely. The insurance company has to bite the bullet. Edit: I'm in no way trying to say the industry is perfect though.
Don't whine... an MD concerned more about themselves then society doesn't look good. Some professions are more then the salary and you chose one of those... there's also firefighter, teacher, cop, to name a few more. You also have choices beyond the standard practice. Haven't you watched any episode of Northern Exposure or Doc Hollywood? And by the way, Rand didn't write that chapter... it was done by the guy that is the keeper of her legacy... or to put it the way some cons would understand, her Paul.
No, I could've clicked on it. Obama's plan allows states to continue innovating on health care reform. Much of the summary sounds good... well more like principles and goals than a roadmap. A mention of innovation ...nice. Increasing competition. The insurance business today is dominated by a small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases and force insurers to spend more funds on patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. Competition...Yes, onesidedness... no: Sometimes it take big health plans to have enough leverage to negotiate for reasonable prices from the hospitals and large medical groups who can often have their own form of geographic monopoly, esp wrt hospitals in many cities. If you squeeze only one side of the balloon, the other side will expand. You need to use both hands and try not to pop it.
man, I have no idea what the name of the insurance company was. And I can't remember all of the details of payment although if I recall correctly very little was paid by my employer. I can try contacting someone who works there to see if it is the same company. That was quite a few insurance dealings ago for me and was the first time that company had offered something to the employees. I am not the sueing type and wouldn't have any way to prove what I say is true anyway. That is indeed how things went down. She was on some program they had for uninsured kids in Texas for a time after that at which point that was going to run out do to increased income from another job (which didn't offer insurance). At that point I gave up the income for employment with the State of Texas so that I didn't run the risk of her being denied by the high risk pool. All of the stress of medical issues and lower income eventually led normal marital issues to become fairly exagerated down the road. Now she has good insurance through her mother's teaching job. Paying for that isn't an issue - but man... if my ex ever leaves that job I will be again faced with the option of coming up with a grand a month or take a job that offers insurance that cannot deny her. My experiences so far with all of this are less than smooth. In the meantime, insurance for myself is simply out of the question. We all agree there is a problem with the existing system. Finding a mutually satisfying solution is the rub... I really appreciate your comment about the age 25 issue. That makes me feel much better as she shouldn't really have any issues other people don't have after that age. Cheers, brock
Sorry to hear you had such a rough time. I really don't understand how all that could have happened unless people were giving you bad information. If you run into a problem like this again, post something on here so I can help you out. I work for an insurance consulting firm so I deal with these situations everyday. I'd gladly give some free advice on this message board if you need it. The system isn't great, but people shouldn't have to put up with it being worse than it really is.
Thanks so much man. I called a friend of mine who still works there and they currently use Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I know for a fact that wasn't the folks on the first go 'round as it was a company I had not heard of before. I didn't dive in deeper as we got to talking about three gigs he just played with Aretha Franklin which seemed much more interesting to me... If I do run into issues I will absolutely let you know. thanks again, Brock
You are correct, you don't want to be on either extremes. However, many people in this country have no idea what socialism really does and just throw out Caplitalism as if it is the holy bible, they do not realize in many ways the United States has a modified form of socialism already. Countries like Denmark England Norway are closer to true socialism then the US but the US today is much closer to socialism than it used to be where it is a big free for all.
The socialist we have in office now wants to beat the Democrats to the punch. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-09-17-clinton-health-plan_N.htm?csp=34
Just a few thoughts, although I admit not reading the whole thread: First, I believe we need a sound national health insurance plan (plunk -- the sound of some of my Republican friends falling over in a dead faint). However, I have some fears without answers. The biggest fear is further insurance of the ever increasing illegal alien (okay, undocumented worker for those who are hyper-PC) population. Medicaid has been a godsend for them because they have no houses or property to lose like most normal taxpayers. This would be even worse than subsidizing their education -- which already is a huge burden on property owners. The second fear is employer subsidy rates. Parties always find it easier to tax companies than individuals. On the surface this doesn't sound bad until you factor in the number of small businesses (like mine) that have 50 employees or fewer. When they get crushed under the weight of burdensome taxation, America will die through unemployment. We will have insurance but no money for food, shelter, clothing or GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip. One final fear is the ultimate intrusion of big brother government. Will the government look at some kid and say, "You're too fat." Lose weight or go to the prison fat farm. You get my drift. There will be no smoking, no foods with too much sugar, etc. etc. I know that, as of now, that is a foolish fear. However, we all know how the government loves to constantly push the envelope. Well, there are more fears like the fear of a new bureaucracy filled with faceless bureaucrats sucking up money but I'm out of gas. It's been a loooooong day.
