Healthcare in this country stinks

a reply to: dfnj2015

You could move to another country where the government is for the people and by the people.



But seriously, here's a Wikipedia list of countries that provide either free or universal health care (or both).

Surely,in the 21stCentury, only a third world country would withhold something that is obviously such a basic human right as health care.

I would think that the managed provision of such universally publicly available services is one of the reasons for the existence of a government in the first place.

We need socialized medicine and a government who doesn't allow unnecessary tests to be done. Many doctors prescribe tests that aren't really necessary, chasing a wrong diagnosis on purpose, so they can make sure that workers in healthcare and other doctors can keep employed. You find this in hospital employed doctors more than in those completely separate from the hospitals.

The cost of all the emergency room use is driving insurance premiums up too. So is the cost of medicines which are increasing a lot lately. The cost of cancer drugs is jumping even though there is more competition, evidently everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to get rich in the Pharma industry.

We need to fix this system, this has been going on before Obamacare, and spreading the cost out between more insured is not working. I do not know where they dreamed up that lie from, people will go to the doctor more if they are paying a premium even if they sneeze. They want to get something for their money they pay. This whole philosophy is messed up, it is going to turn into a country where you either a patient or a healthcare worker. Taking medicines when you do not really need them is not good. You can alter the diet to control things like G-protein receptor activation which makes up around a third of the types of medicines prescribed. Modifications of diet can treat a lot of things, but following the government's food guidlines most often will not help anything. Sometimes eating more supposedly good food on a regular basis will make people need medicine.

A friend who's an expat resident of Mexico (where I'm about immigrate) just had for stints put in near his heart. Total bill was $4,000. He said every aspect of the process was totally Professional.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Every subsidized senior I transport reg. to dialysis... has had theirs doubled per month as well.

EMT

originally posted by: rickymouse
We need socialized medicine and a government who doesn't allow unnecessary tests to be done. Many doctors prescribe tests that aren't really necessary, chasing a wrong diagnosis on purpose, so they can make sure that workers in healthcare and other doctors can keep employed. You find this in hospital employed doctors more than in those completely separate from the hospitals.

The cost of all the emergency room use is driving insurance premiums up too. So is the cost of medicines which are increasing a lot lately. The cost of cancer drugs is jumping even though there is more competition, evidently everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to get rich in the Pharma industry.

We need to fix this system, this has been going on before Obamacare, and spreading the cost out between more insured is not working. I do not know where they dreamed up that lie from, people will go to the doctor more if they are paying a premium even if they sneeze. They want to get something for their money they pay. This whole philosophy is messed up, it is going to turn into a country where you either a patient or a healthcare worker. Taking medicines when you do not really need them is not good. You can alter the diet to control things like G-protein receptor activation which makes up around a third of the types of medicines prescribed. Modifications of diet can treat a lot of things, but following the government's food guidlines most often will not help anything. Sometimes eating more supposedly good food on a regular basis will make people need medicine.

Doctors order unnecessary tests because they don't want to be sued. This is why tort reform is so important. Doctors are practicing defensive medicine to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

Our healthcare system is messed up because of government. If you get government out of the way, the market will lower costs.

I think this is end game burn plan ... most if not all my acquaintances have no insurance anymore just the kids have it

So every year the price goes up more people drop it and the price goes higher to replace the money from the lost customers

Plain and simple math the cost is increasing far faster than wage increase ... insurance will be phased out

a reply to: dfnj2015

I just wanted to add to my reply... yours is a family.. and mine are mostly disabled and retired widows and widowers on fixed incomes... and really can't afford increases of any kind...let alone a $2-300 monthly premium increase..

I'm luckily not affected yet.. But I will be... my wife and myself... April 1St.

EMT

Serious question and comment. US could probably afford universal healthcare, but what other services is society willing to give up to get it? Government cannot do it all. The feds spend too much on frivolous stuff and thus it doesn't leave a lot of money for necessities like healthcare.

We could cut military, foreign aid, other entitlement programs, subsidies, etc.

Someone else posted about taxes. Another part of the problem is not everyone is paying federal taxes. We have half the country not paying a dime in federal taxes. How about everyone have to pay at least 5% to fund healthcare, not matter how much or little you make?

originally posted by: dfnj2015
I just got a letter from my healthcare insurance company announcing a 24 percent increase in the cost of my premium. I'm too angry to show you the exact numbers but my premium went from $1500 per month for family of 4 to $2000 per month. A $500 per month increase. I run my own business. I've paid 100% of my healthcare premium for 25 years now. Every year before and after the ACA the premium goes up 20% to 25% on average. Every 5 years it doubles in price. This government sucks. This country sucks. Healthcare sucks. All you people with political opinions eff you. Until you pay your own healthcare premium eff you! Eff you all! Eff this country!!

So, you drone on about healthcare in the title and, and how it sucks, and how this country sucks, and how the government sucks.

But you're gripe is about health insurance.

You'll excuse me if I disregard both your rant and your math: If you were paying $1500/mo, and now you're paying $2000/mo, that's a 33.3% increase, not a 24% increase.

But, you know, eff this country that protects your right to yell "Eff this country" and own your own business. You sure are spot on with your anger...and math.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Yes, which means those of us that work our arses off payin for everyone's subsidies will keep paying...big change there

a reply to: Edumakated

The U.S. can't afford anything that it does right now.

Have you noticed the revolving deficit each year?

Have you noticed the $20,000,000,000,000.00+ amount of debt that we have as a nation?

Please, tell me again how we can afford anything. Even if we gave up every non-constitutionally mandated entitlement, we still could not afford socialized medicine for many, many years.

"Afford" is a word that has lost all of its actual meaning when it comes to government expenditures. Redistribution of wealth (additional taxes) is not tantamount to being able to afford anything.

originally posted by: chr0naut
But seriously, here's a Wikipedia list of countries that provide either free or universal health care (or both).

There will never be a list of "free health care," because nothing is free when paid for by taxes.

Surely,in the 21stCentury, only a third world country would withhold something that is obviously such a basic human right as health care.

Health care is not a right, just a fabricated argument when it is called such. No one should have the right to someone else's products, services, skills, or time without due compensation (paid for by the individual, not a government). We have a right to life, not a right to artificially sustained health.

And regardless, every single person in America has forced-by-law access to emergency health care, even if they cannot afford it.

I would think that the managed provision of such universally publicly available services is one of the reasons for the existence of a government in the first place.

Not all governments, and not in all places...and I'm not saying that with the implication that this is a bad thing. The government should only do what private industry can't, won't, or shouldn't do (like national military).

originally posted by: TrueBrit
Socialise your damned medicine, and you will not be having this problem. Fail to do so, and you do away with your own right to complain.

That's right, because the first amendment is null and void when a government doesn't do something that you see as appropriate.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: Edumakated

The U.S. can't afford anything that it does right now.

Have you noticed the revolving deficit each year?

Have you noticed the $20,000,000,000,000.00+ amount of debt that we have as a nation?

Please, tell me again how we can afford anything. Even if we gave up every non-constitutionally mandated entitlement, we still could not afford socialized medicine for many, many years.

"Afford" is a word that has lost all of its actual meaning when it comes to government expenditures. Redistribution of wealth (additional taxes) is not tantamount to being able to afford anything.

I don't necessarily disagree, but that is somewhat of entirely different debate (debt...). I'm just asking what are people willing to give up to have free healthcare? All people do is drone on and one about free healthcare, but never actually put up what exactly we are going to cut so that it could be paid for.

If healthcare is going to be a priority, it means something else has to take a back seat, especially considering how expensive free healthcare would be.

I mean the same people who say they want free healthcare have no issue with open borders which to me seems to be incompatible. Are we going to get government out of schools? Cut the Dept of Education? How much of the military budget should we cut. Corn subsidies?

Just asking where the money is going to come from.

a reply to: TrueBrit
Jesus christ TrueBrit, ain't you glad you don't live over the pond? I've said before, how can you Americans be so stupid to pay an insurance company mega bucks and THEY take the lions share of the money before it even reaches the hospital?
You still equate a few paying mega money is keeping the system going for all. Why not everyone pay a small amount to cover.
In the UK you seem to be mixing us up by saying we pay heavy taxes for our NHS. This is completely wrong.
Everybody that works pays for what we call a stamp. This is approx. 12%. Some pay more, some pay less.
That covers you for health care, unemployment benefit and all other social benefits.
Think on it this way, you have one person paying a million dollars, he's not very happy. But why not one million people paying one dollar the figures the same.
You just have to work out what is a fair figure which the majority can pay, take insurances and greedy medicos out of the equation and you can have a free point of contact health system.
But, and it's the biggest but, your government HAS to play it right. Thay is our problem now. We have a greedy government that WANTS to get us into the American way of paying private insurance. Notwithstanding we already pay insurance through our stamp. So to force the issue they are starving the NHS of funds so they can announce "look the system is not working so we need everyone to pay for private insurance".

a reply to: Edumakated

All very good questions IF universal healthcare is a consideration.

But to me, it should not be a consideration at all, therefore I find it a mental exercise and nothing more. HOWEVER, I still would love to see things cut from the government, and instead of replacing it with something else, just letting me keep the money that I earn through my own knowledge, skills, time, and effort.

However, I think that the more appropriate solution is not single-payerizing health insurance through taxation, but just ridding the nation of the middle-men that are insurance companies (or, at the very least, removing that as the normalized way of paying for health care). Getting people back in the process of paying directly from pocket to doctor/hospital would do wonders in reducing costs and headaches and uncertainties. HSAs should obviously remain a thing.

Think about that, for a moment--if the OP put aside even 1/4 of his upcoming $2,000/mo health-insurance cost each month into an HSA, by year's end, he'd have built up $6,000 if he spent nothing. Assuming that, on top of that, he spent $500/mo out-of-pocket on healthcare costs (which I think is pretty high for the average person and would cover, on average, everything), that still leaves him with a monthly reduction of 50% of what he will be paying this upcoming year, plus he could keep building up the HSA the following year.

Of course, that's assuming that $500-$1,000/mo would be a good, average expenditure per month for a family of four people, but in most cases, I think that it would.

In theory, this reduces the monthly financial burden on the family, rids the healthcare industry of the headaches, uncertainty, and need to deal with the insurance industry, would reduce the actual cost of healthcare procedures, AND brings the individual back in direct contact with the doctor when paying.

I absolutely view this as a much better next step than talking about single-payer, universal, government-administered healthcare and insurance.

originally posted by: TrueBrit

Socialise your damned medicine, and you will not be having this problem.

It will happen here eventually, but then we will have a different set of problems.

You drink? You smoke? You don't take government approved drugs? Are you too old? Overweight? Are you "incurable?" Well, you can keep paying into the "system" but your benefits will be curtailed or eliminated. But don't mention "death panels" though. Call them "cost cutting measures."

Eventually, politics will seep in. Wrong political party? Back of the line, buddy. Attend a protest? Own a gun? Inappropriate Facebook post? Sorry about your broken leg, here's an aspirin.

Government controlled health care sounds like a good idea until you realize how corrupt the government is.

a reply to: crayzeed

This is why many Americans despise the idea of universal healthcare--give the government sole ownership of that sector (which, BTW, is responsible for saving lives in exchange for dollars) and it is absolutely, 100% fated to become a disaster.

Look at how they run and use our military.

Look at how they administer the health coverage and healthcare that they do control (Medicaid, Medicare, VA hospitals).

Look at how they abuse the tax system and the enforcement of paying them.

Look at how they allow homeland security to trample on 4th-amendment rights.

Those are four tiny, tiny examples of how once our federal government digs its talons into something, how they use, abuse, and mismanage the agencies and activities and costs.

No thank you, I'd prefer not to pay insurance companies (and, instead, pay hospitals directly), but if it's between the insurance industry and the federal government, the former is the lesser of the two evils.

originally posted by: ManFromEurope
a reply to: intrptr

My gallbladder wasn't removed by faith.

Why would faith remove your gall bladder?

originally posted by: incoserv
A friend who's an expat resident of Mexico (where I'm about immigrate) just had for stints put in near his heart. Total bill was $4,000. He said every aspect of the process was totally Professional.

The two stints I had put in five years ago the hospital bill was $250,000 for 3 days in hospital in Jersey City. That is more money that I could ever possibly save up in my lifetime.