Monday, February 16, 2009
The way to affordable health care.
Americans spend more money per-capita on health care than any nation on earth. But still, we have something close to 50 million people without health insurance. And in terms of outcomes, we Americans are far from being the healthiest in the world. We are put to shame by many nations that spend far less. But apparently more wisely. I think this is an indictment of our health care system. One designed to make exorbitant profits for insurance companies and other health providers. Countries with socialized medicine do a much better job. Even little countries like Cuba outshine us in many ways. But we Americans seem to have a notion that socialized medicine is bad, bad, bad. Well, it ain't. It can be run effectively. Often under a single payer set up. And it can bring affordable health care to everyone. But the providers raking in big profits under the present system keep telling us that socialized medicine will hurt. Yes, it'll hurt the providers pocketbook and profit-margin. But it'll help the consumers. The people who need affordable health care. --Jim Broede
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11 comments:
I am not saying that health care needs to be fixed. I know more than you think about health care issue's. I pay my own health care insurance and have for over 13 years. Yet I do not agree with socialized medicine.
Facts:
The most visible consequence of socialized medicine in Canada is in the poor quality of services. Health care has become more and more impersonal. Patients often feel they are on an assembly line. Doctors and hospitals already have more patients than they can handle and no financial incentive to provide good service. Their customers are not the ones who write the checks anyway.
When prices are zero, demand exceeds supply, and queues form. For many Canadians, hospital emergency rooms have become their primary doctor -- as is the case with Medicaid patients in the United States. Patients lie in temporary beds in emergency rooms, sometimes for days. At Sainte-Justine Hospital, a major Montreal pediatric hospital, children often wait many hours before they can see a doctor. Surgery candidates face long waiting lists -- it can take six months to have a cataract removed. Heart surgeons report patients dying on their waiting lists. But then, it's free.
I think opinion polls show that the vast majority of Canadian citizens prefer their universal health care system over the system in the U.S. And I don't see any country with socialized medicine clamoring to get rid of it. Of course, every health care system could be improved. Especially in the USA. So that everyone is covered. The rich in the U.S. have access to pretty decent health care. But if you ain't rich or if you're unemployed, gawd help you. --Jim Broede
Anonymous---I'm happy that you have been able to pay for your own health insurance for 13 years. When my COBRA runs out in June I will be faced with the prospect of paying for mine for 8 or 9 months. The estimates that I have received from insurance companies run from $2000.00 to $5000.00 a month.
There are countless others facing the same dilemma. I think that many of us would choose waiting several hours to be seen by a doctor, or several months for a cataract operation over either paying outrageous insurance premiums or going without it.
At least Canadians have the option of seeking 'private pay treatment' within Canada or hopping across the border to receive it. I suspect that eventually Canada will adopt a "mixed public-private health insurance and delivery system". When it does you will enjoy the 'best of 2 worlds'...A fee system of some sort and insurance premiums that are relatively reasonable.
Unless something is done in the US conditions will only get worse.
Then god help me. I do pay over $900 a month with a $4000. deductable for 2 adults. Neither of us have a preexisting condition. With that $900. a month insurance my husband recieved 8 stitches at a local hospital. They claimed they had a urgent care. Sure they did but they still charged for an ER visit. The total bill came to $2800. That the insurance paided $400. Leaving us with a $2200 bill PLUS the $900 we paid for insurance. I think a better idea is to stop hospitals from charging inflated costs.
Yet, I also have many friends and relatives in Canada. Most of which also pay for individual private insurance. Why because the health care they recieve from the govt. prevents quality care. Many of them come to the USA for treatment. Why because they can not afford to wait months to see a doctor, or have to travel further in Canada to get treatment than to the USA.
In the states MANY use Medicaid when in truth they have hidden things to recieve those benefits. Is this practice right? I have no idea, its not up to me to judge.
I am not here to argue with anyone, and seeing that that is what cheri wants to do this will be my last posting.
I said yes there is a VERY serious need for a CHANGE in health care in the USA. I also know for a fact that an uncle of mine DIED waiting for care in Canada. He did NOT have the funds to buy the private insurance that could of prevented his death. Many hospitals DO NOT have the ablilty to treat some because of the LACK of testing equipment, or the ablity to preform some procedures. They also have the ability to have MANY strikes, walkouts and work shortages. This happens due to lack of pay. In Canada private insurance is VERY costly, so no many do NOT have that.
The ONLY reason I was able to pay for my health insurace was I played the insurance game. You get a very low rate your first year, then the increases start. After our cobra ran out I went from $375. to $590 to $900. then to $1200. a month. I searched and changed. I had to go back to work paying these. My whole paycheck was going to pay for health insurance. I have since dropped all of our health insurance.
In 2007, wait times for access to health care in Canada reached a new historic high: 18.3 weeks averaged across 12 medical specialties. (how would you feel knowing you have breast lump and it took you 18.3 weeks to see a doctor for it?
Canadians waited a median of 25 weeks for cataract surgery from the time their general practitioner referred them to a specialist to the time they received treatment.
More alarmingly:
Canadians waited a median of 42 weeks for joint replacement.
This means that those patients who were referred by the their general practitioner for a hip or knee replacement surgery on January 2, only half would have received their treatment by October 23 while half would still be waiting for care. (how would you feel not being able to walk, run your miles a day, suffering in pain)
Consider the personal costs a wait line of that magnitude entails:
A patient may experience an adverse event while waiting.
The wait could cause a potentially more difficult surgery and recovery.
Any wait time entails some amount of pain and suffering, mental anguish, lost leisure, lost productivity at work, and strained personal relationships. (how would you feel not being able to work, no work means no paycheck which in turn means no food, heat, or internet??)
We pay approx. $3,000/month for medical insurance. $36,000 per year. The only time our costs exceeded our premiums, was when I had my kids.
We have a $2,500 deductible, and pay 20% after that is met. We also have co-pays for prescriptions, office visits, ER visits, urgent care visits, dental and optical. We do not have high enough medical costs to claim them on our income tax, 7.5% of adjusted gross income.
What boils my blood, is the difference in the charges, and what the insurance co. "allows".
Such as:
$65.00 charged for a urinalysis, and the insurance co. "allows" $9.57. $9.57 is what the lab has to accept for the UA. Why, then, do they charge $65??
SOMEBODY must be paying $65!
Insurance needs to be made more affordable, healthcare needs to be provided for those in need, the costs of healthcare need to be scrutinized and regulated, medical costs need to be tax deductible for those of us who continue private insurance AND, those abusing the system need to be harshly dealt with.
I have also read that in Canada, healthcare differs greatly, from Province to Province.
Anonymous (emergency room visit)---Part of your problem may have been a misunderstand of the term "urgent care" by the hospital person that you spoke to. They may have used the literal meaning...Your husband's care was urgently needed. To prevent the same thing from happening again...Check with your insurance carrier. I think that they will furnish a list of approved Urgent Care facilities in your area.
One of the reasons that hospitals charge inflated prices (especially in emergency room where no up-front money is paid) is that so many of the people that they treat do not have health insurance and are unable to pay little or nothing for the care received. Hopefully...If everyone had some form of insurance prices would be more equal to the actual cost of services rendered.
One thing that you might do the next time that you are faced with a hospital bill is to call the business office before paying it and ask if they will reduce the bill for prompt payment of a reduced amount. Billing someone each months costs money. They know that the longer payments are dragged out after the person is healed the more frequently the balance is not paid.
I can't guarantee results...but ... conversations that I've had produced reductions of 15 to 25%.
Anonymous (Wait Time In Canada)---It is my understanding that for fee care facilities are springing up all over Canada because of the very wait times that you mention. As I mentioned in a prior post...Maybe they will lead to the adoption of a mixed system like some European countries have switched to.
The turn no one requiring 'critical care' away policy that the US has in force often has been abused and some people have been denied treatment or told to go to other facilities. This has resulted in deaths here. The problem with the US system is that people either put off or completely do without needed medical care (even when in pain) because they have neither insurance nor the money to pay for care.
When we when to the hospital I asked "do you have an urgent care/quick care here?" This was not an emergency, he needed stitches. There wasn't even any blood he cut himself with a grinder. An emergency is a life or death situation. As a matter of fact I have a family member that works in the urgent care/quick care in that hospital. They do NOT get paid the same pay scale as the ER employee's. In fact LPN's can NOT work in the ER yet can work in the urgent care/quick care section. I did NOT get the amount charged to the insurace company I got charged FULL amount. So in fact there is a difference the ER is to the left urgent care to the right. My insurance says to go to that hospital for those types of things. The problem we have with hospitals is that they do inflate charges is that fair to other's whom do purchase their own insurance OR to any insurance company??? I can go a step further, a friend whom has nothing stayed in that hospital for over 4 weeks total in 1 year. Had 2 surgeries, paid not one dime. That also included phone and tv. This is where I have problems. I had insurance, (which included er)I was willing to pay a uninflated charge for the stitches. I was NOT willing to pay $2200. for it plus the $900. for the month insurance. That equal's $387.50 per stitch. I could buy alot of super glue with that! I did call the business office they refused to change anything. Also at this hospital if you do not have insurance you pay an upfront payment.
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