Life without insurance a picture story...

news.bbc.co.uk...

Here is a little insight into the lives of those living in the "richest country in the world".


This is what people are duped into emigrating for? Man what a rip off!

I am one of those uninsured Americans. For about 4 months now I have had this weird rash on my hands. I finally got 400.00$ dollars together to go see a doctor. She did no blood tests. Just looked at my hands proscribed Lamisil 250mg 1 a day for 15 days. Total time seeing doctor less then 15 min charge 100.00$. Then I head to Walgreens, Lamisil cost with a 20.00$ coupon was 313.00$. 22 days later I still have this rash and its not getting any better, and I don't have any way of getting more cash for a revisit. I am massage therapist by trade. I can't work with these hands the way there are.Everything that I try to do with my hand hurts. I am at a loss now . With now clue as to what to do now. Don't get me wrong> I have been out of work for a very long time and even applyed at other types of jobs. Its like know one is hiring. Soon my saving will be gone and thin I can't pay rent. I am not looking forward to this winter.

Strength and slolidarity coming your way bro.

Can i have a massage in return?

Originally posted by Sistinas
I am one of those uninsured Americans. For about 4 months now I have had this weird rash on my hands. I finally got 400.00$ dollars together to go see a doctor. She did no blood tests. Just looked at my hands proscribed Lamisil 250mg 1 a day for 15 days. Total time seeing doctor less then 15 min charge 100.00$. Then I head to Walgreens, Lamisil cost with a 20.00$ coupon was 313.00$. 22 days later I still have this rash and its not getting any better, and I don't have any way of getting more cash for a revisit. I am massage therapist by trade. I can't work with these hands the way there are.Everything that I try to do with my hand hurts. I am at a loss now . With now clue as to what to do now. Don't get me wrong> I have been out of work for a very long time and even applyed at other types of jobs. Its like know one is hiring. Soon my saving will be gone and thin I can't pay rent. I am not looking forward to this winter.

could it be something in the oils you are using? I had the same problem for years....until I moved out into the country....WIth me, my hands would blisters, then dry out, then crack and peal.......and, of course, while they were blistered, crap would run out of the blisters quite often. At one point, I was literally cleaning my house out with baking soda, and stuck with the same soap, shampoo, and the like for years. I honestly think it was the chlorine in the water......It finally cleared up when we moved someplace where we had to rely on well-water...with less chlorine in it. I've noticed, people just don't realize just how delibilitating it can be when you have giant blisters on both your hands. You use them for everything you do. and, even with insurance, I imagine that the hundreds of tests that they would have to do to find out the culprit would be out of alot of peoples pricerange....most of the time I had the problem, I wasn't insured either. I use hydrocortizone creams on my (they still do occassionally break out...especially if someone in the house goes swimming in a pool and then I handle the laundry.) If I catch it early enough, it clears it up before it gets that bad. At one time, I had both hands bandaged up for close to a month, the blisters had turned black.

I'd start trying to find out what wooould be causing the problem..
Unfortunately, they have spent far less money researching the effects of the crap they put into our soaps, our shampoos, cosmetics, detergents, and such....so it is something that is really hard to get a handle on. With me, it was by trial and error.

Ah yes, the economic troubles that our country and her citizens face. I too am uninsured. My husband has been out of work for more than a year. There is no money coming in, but we're making it!

My husband got laid off the day after our daughter was born last August. If it wasn't for the support of family and friends, we never would have made it. I believe that God provides though.

Brian (my husband) has migraines. He gets them bad, to the point that it practically paralyzes him. He takes Relpax for them, and they cost about $500 for a 16 day prescription. He is enrolled in school, and believe it or not, the school had a program for him, and they paid for his meds.

So whenever I see how bad off we are, I look at how good we are doing. Our 3 children are healthy and happy, and we take it one day at a time

So keep your heads up, prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

Originally posted by deeprivergal
Ah yes, the economic troubles that our country and her citizens face. I too am uninsured. My husband has been out of work for more than a year. There is no money coming in, but we're making it!

My husband got laid off the day after our daughter was born last August. If it wasn't for the support of family and friends, we never would have made it. I believe that God provides though.

Brian (my husband) has migraines. He gets them bad, to the point that it practically paralyzes him. He takes Relpax for them, and they cost about $500 for a 16 day prescription. He is enrolled in school, and believe it or not, the school had a program for him, and they paid for his meds.

So whenever I see how bad off we are, I look at how good we are doing. Our 3 children are healthy and happy, and we take it one day at a time

So keep your heads up, prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

ya...we made it too, or we've almost made it...one more son school aged, when they are all gone, we might be sitting pretty good for awhile at least. Unfortunately, the problem isn't taken as seriously as it should be. some doctors claim that if being uninsured was a disease, it would be the third leading cause of premature death....of course stupid doctors are pretty high on that list also, but that's besides the point. And, well, my oldest son had his heart set on going into the Navy, and was all set to go in, but couldn't pass the medical exam...not that he was sick, but rather, he couldn't provide adequate medical records to prove that he wasn't. He had asthma as a child, and then a collapsed lung, if we could have come up with the documentation concerning the nature of that collapsed lung, or even if the DOD was willing to use some common sense, he's be happy in the NAvy, instead of in the house, still trying to find a job in a very depressed area of the country....and I am waiting to see if they pass their draft bill....he wasn't medically acceptable for the navy with it's clean salt water air....will he be for the army, with their damp forests full of pollen and molds?
And, then there is the school systems who refuse to excuse your child from gym class unless you have a note from the doctor...even when there is a nurse on duty who should be qualified to look at the swollen ankle and say yep, it's sprain and he can't run. My kids missed school sometimes, just because of minor medical problems that really didn't need medical attention, except for the fact that the school would expect them to participate in gym and take the risk of making those minor injuries into something more serious.

By creating the medicaid system, our government, promted by society has decided that it is not acceptable for our "poor" to go without medical care. so, why is it acceptable for others to? I don't believe it should be treated too lightly.

Australia has had a national medical care program run by the govt since 1984 - called "Medicare".

Every Australian citizen has a Medicare Card which they can use to visit their local doctor. I can walk into almost any private medical centre and see a doctor without paying a cent. Some people on higher incomes are required to pay an amount of up to around $50.00 per consultation but can then claim up to 85% back from Medicare.

If you are in an accident or have an emergency you can visit any public hospital and receive totally free medical care including x-rays. There are procedures that are classed as non-urgent and you have to go on a waiting list to receive an operation or procedure free.


Medicare also cover pathology, treatments by specialists and people who are un-employed or on "govt sickness benefits" and some low income earners can also obtain prescription medicines subsidised by the govt for under $5.00.

Many Australians complain about the Medicare system, it's not perfect but is sure is better than what some other countries provide.

Where I am in holland some of the tax thats deducted from your wage is set aside for the "medial pot" if you will. The advantage her eis that you don't have to wiat till budget time to find out how much the govt. really cares. You then have a choice as to what insureance company you want as there are a few offering the state package (ziekenfonds). You then have to pay a 30 odd buck (euro) premium "yourself" (as if the other "tax" money isn't coming form me but hey) and thats pretty much it, there are limits to what you can claim of course but essentially its free, that's dental included btw!!

I always get so confused when I read these things! Back before I had a corporate jibs with benefit packages, I went years when my kids were small with no insurance! My kids were updated on their shots, one had a tonsillectomy, I had several cancerous tumorous removed, they had the flu, the typical childhood problems....all through the health clinics here. It went on a sliding pay scale....every city has them.

umm.... does your sliding scales help with the cost of the drugs.......
ya, there's sliding scales here......the income guidelines aren't really that much higher than the ones they use to determine eligibility for medicare..

meanwhile...the cost to insure a family at my husband's workplace was something like $160 per week!! the state noow has a program that will help with the kid's guidelines that puts the income for a family of five well over $30,000 (sliding scale), so it seems that right there they are saying that at least for a family of five, you have to be making close to $30,000 to get your children insured...but then when it comes to the adults....it falls way back down to under $20,000. In a way, considering that it's mostly mothers of young children that opt to stay home and not work, well....it seems to put those women at a great disadvantage when it comes to healthcare.....exposing them to that premature death much more than other groups.

The cost of treatment is a model of lunacy here in the US. I would like to use a self example.

I went to the emergency room with what I thought was a stroke. After all test it was determined that it was a Bells Palsy (virus infection, plus stress). I finally received the final tally.

Emergency room vist cost: $2,600.00
My inurance company pre-negotiated payment to the hospital: - $ 350.00
My requiired Emergency Room cost co-pay: - $ 50.00
Outstanding part of bill that the hospital writes off: $2,200.00

Essentially, out of my pocket... fifty dollars. The hospital receives four hundred dollars and writes off two thousand two hundred dollars. The interesting part of this is that if you have no medical insurance of any sort, it appears that you are held responsible for the total of $2,600.00.

I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, by any means, but somehow, this doesn't make sense to me.

I work for an insurance company. please don't hiss....

the pre-negotiated rates are a asimple function of a discount for the hospital getting the "business" because they participate in our network. If you are not a member of our plan, you don't get the discount.

the problem isn't funding, its cost.

no matter how we pay the bills, the bills are getting bigger.


americans , as a population are getting...(sweeping generalization here)fatter, more stressed out, drinking more, using drugs more, getting disease younger (astma, diabetes)....we are simply not a healthy group of people, and it shows in the claims......next time you see a 300 lb person driving into mcdonalds with a cigarette in his mouth, get $1,000 from him, thats what he is costing you......


don't get me started on the gov't taking over.......

Insurance almost makes things more difficult for a person. I needed to see a specialist, was referred by my Primary Care Doctor, got the approval within one week. I called the Specialist to make the appointment and their FIRST available appointment was 4 months later. That is not acceptable.

Women can see their Gynocologist without having to get authorization from their insurance. So, when I started having problems my Primary Care doc said I needed to go ahead and see my Gynocologist ASAP. I called in June '04 to schedule an appointment and their FIRST available appointment was February 2005!!!! My brother, (an Ortheopedic surgeon) suggested I call as a CASH patient and see if I could get in earlier. Sure enough, I called the next day and said I had no Insurance and all of a sudden they could get me in the following week. I called my Insurance company to see if I could pay cash and then submit the bill and be reimbursed and they told me no.

This makes NO sense to me and as far as I'm concerned it is discrimination against those WITH Insurance. My theory is that since they have to eat the cost between the prenegotiated rate and the copay, they make up for it through their cash patients.

I dont think that government regulated Insurance is the solution but I think some major changes need to be made with the way Insurance is right now!

Jemison

Originally posted by dawnstar
meanwhile...the cost to insure a family at my husband's workplace was something like $160 per week!!

That is steep ($640 per month) but when I became an independent consultant a few years back we eventually had to leave my wife's benefits because we moved to NY. I did COBRA for four months (out of necessity as I whacked my thumb with my table saw) and it cost me $5,500 for the premiums. As I did not know how much therapy or reconstruction I might need I opted for the COBRA because they will automatically retro your coverage provided you pay all premiums in full.

The funny part is, my thumb ended up costing about $1,200 in all.

COBRA increased their rates for a family of two last year under my wife's plan to $1,600 per month. That's when I took a job with a firm.

On the flip side, my broken jaw only cost me $50, my supposed heart attack only cost me $50, so all in all I guess I cannot complain. Still, the minute you leave a company plan you are screwed.

Originally posted by Jemison
Insurance almost makes things more difficult for a person. I needed to see a specialist, was referred by my Primary Care Doctor, got the approval within one week. I called the Specialist to make the appointment and their FIRST available appointment was 4 months later. That is not acceptable.

Women can see their Gynocologist without having to get authorization from their insurance. So, when I started having problems my Primary Care doc said I needed to go ahead and see my Gynocologist ASAP. I called in June '04 to schedule an appointment and their FIRST available appointment was February 2005!!!! My brother, (an Ortheopedic surgeon) suggested I call as a CASH patient and see if I could get in earlier. Sure enough, I called the next day and said I had no Insurance and all of a sudden they could get me in the following week. I called my Insurance company to see if I could pay cash and then submit the bill and be reimbursed and they told me no.

This makes NO sense to me and as far as I'm concerned it is discrimination against those WITH Insurance. My theory is that since they have to eat the cost between the prenegotiated rate and the copay, they make up for it through their cash patients.

I dont think that government regulated Insurance is the solution but I think some major changes need to be made with the way Insurance is right now!

Jemison

discrimination against the insured??
umm...ya,
I had an operation on my ankle after I broke it.....the bill is for more than I could make in two years!!
then, later on, I hear on the tv that the doctors, the hospitatals, ect. are adding costs to the uninsured bill....sometimes doubling it, to make up for the fact that the government and the insurance companies trying to put some kind of downward pressure on the providers for these services. umm....to me, this is also discrimination. And, well.......I plan on paying only one years worth of my labor for their services.
while in the hospital, the aids would come in everymorning, bringing in towels washclothes and extra gowns......sometimes I got about ten gowns for the day.....with as many towels and washclothes. I finally joked and asked them if it was their way of ensuring their friends had job security. To me it was just one giant waste of money!
then there is the story about the ring in california, where the doctor would get with a middle man and they would find themselves a patient. who cared if that patient was sick and actually needed the surgery, they would agree to have the surgery, and then the doctor would overcharge the insurance company and the three would split the cost. So, when discussing the cost of healthcare, one would also have to consider the cost of the fraud and abuse that runs rampant throughout the system.
one should also consider the pay of the fat cats in the insurance companies, hospitals, ect. If the healthcare industry in such dire straights, what is the justification for the ceos and upper management's outrageous salaries?
The drug companies get alot of help from our govt. to develope the drugs...which they in turn turn around and try to zap the taxpayer/consumer for reimbursement for in the form of high, outrageous prices, although they have no problem giving the drug away to poorer nations or reducing the price and marketing it in canada.
sorry, just don't buy the idea that the costs have to be that high to begin with. but, hey, if the gov't is forcibly taking the money from the taxpayer to pay for it in the form of research grants, medicaid and medicare, ect....well, they are just your average business men, they'll gladly take all that they can get.

Sorry Radagast.... Don't be downhearted. I would never hiss you or denigrate anyone working in the insurance industry. You're just a working stiff like most of the rest of us...

Like I said, I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but I wonder when we pay top dollars for medication that we can get out of country for much less. And yes, I know that some of them are bogus, but not all. Like Robert Anton Wilson says, "sombunall"...

However, I see that the insurance companies are making money hand over fist, and deny people treatment based on what? I needed some medicine a number of years back, and it was denied out of hand by my insurance company... Wonder why?

No... It's not the folks working the industry that are at fault, I don't think... It's more the folks who are at the top making the real money that are putting the people who pay in at risk. And I feel very, very badly for the folks who need medical help, do not have insurance, and can not afford to pay for it themselves.

I don't have answers, obviously, but we do need to come up with some, and real soon. WE have an aging population whose needs grow more each day, no matter whether it is age induced or self induced (300 pounds, smoking and eating McDonalds)... It would be, in my mind, morally reprehensible to deny medical care to anyone, regardless of cause. Kind of like the difference between a child breaking his ankle playing on a play ground or a punk breaking his ankle in a gang/street fight. A broken ankle is a broken ankle is a broken ankle.

We need a more intelligent, or at least, not so greedy a bunch of insurance overlords.

discrimination against the insured??

When an Insurance patient has to wait 8 months to get the "first available" appointment and a cash patient can get in to see the SAME Doctor with only a ONE week wait, THAT is discrimination!!!! And this is based on MY experience so I know it to be true. 2 phone calls within 24 hours to set up an appointment, first phone call telling them who my Insurance carrier is when they asked, second phone call telling them that I would be paying cash. They are disriminating against the Insured by not providing services in a timely fashion AND they are trying to get more cash patients in so that they offset the cost of seeing Insured patients.

It's a big scam all the way around. We pay 700 a month for our Insurance and are at the mercy of the Insurance company who decides which tests we can and can't have and which specialists we can and can't see and even determines in a round-a-bout way how long of a wait we have for an office visit. A cash patient doesn't have the high monthly premium and can get in to see the Doctor/Specialist quickly but then they get raped when they have to pay the bill. There has got to be a better way!



Jemison

I know our system isn't perfect by a long shot but I think we have a better system for medical than south of the border.Right now I need a new knee,I will probably have to wait a couple years for it but it will be done and I won't have to pay a cent.I am in a medical plan that pays about 80% of my meds and it costs my a wopping $17 cdn a month for wife and I but I sure wouldn't think of moving anywere else in the world.I have also had an operation on my eye and a hernia repair and orthiscopic surgery on my bad knee all within the last 3 years at no cost to me other than a few subsidized meds.

why doesnt the US use or have a NHS?

Originally posted by dawnstar
umm.... does your sliding scales help with the cost of the drugs.......
ya, there's sliding scales here......

Yes it did...on the scale I was on, as long as I got them from the pharmacy that worked with the clinics....all of my scrips were 4.95