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I am not on Medicaid and am not sure where you got that from. As to your point, look at the percentage of people already covered by Medicaid. Back to the original point, it is not a lack of access to prenatal vitamins. If you talk to a practicing ObGyn in a poor area, you will find that lack of patient compliance and poor dietary habits are the primary problems with fetal and maternal health.
You made the claim that Medicaid would handle pregnancy health care. The woman better have been on Medicaid before she got pregnant, or the kid will be a year old before she receives any assistance. If you talk to a young pregnant woman without medical insurance in any area, you will hear that the waiting list to get on Medicaid is a year and a half long, the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic is 60 miles away, and there is no way they can afford to pay cash for an ObGyn. That's why the US ranks 37th in the world for live birth mortality, on a par with many third world nations. Chances are the first time she will ever talk to a doctor is at the ER when she delivers the kid.
Many of my friends are doctors and nurses in the US. They marvel that the US medical system would rather pay millions of dollars to maintain a child with spinal bifida than offer prenatal care and vitamins to a poor pregnant girl. They marvel that people in Austria and Germany don't go blind, have limbs amputated and die because they can't afford insulin. A large part of the US medical system is an abysmal failure, and that is reflected most obviously in our huge infant and child mortality rate.
Exactly... the emphasis there in on the unborn, young and productive... not so much for those outside those categories.
The 97 year old that had back surgery in Oakland California injured his back rototilling the same garden he has been rototilling since 1958...
The Austrian Doctor in Vienna's AKH hospital said it simply would not be possible for such a operation to be approved in Austria and more so in the effort that 97 year old could continue driving...
I live in Oakland California which comes under the Alameda Alliance Health Care system which is our version of Medi-Cal which is California's version of Medicaid.
The benefits pay enough so that every hospital accepts it...
Maybe other states fall short and offer less for those dependent?
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-07-2017 at 08:05 PM..
And yet out of all the developed countries we are almost at the bottom of the life expectancy list. Medicine is about two things - prevention and then everything else. We are failing at the first and only addressing the second. Why? 'Cause medical school is also business school and because medicine and healthcare here have only one motivation primarily - to make money and sustain the millionaire doctor/clinic/hospital admin class.
Interesting that the number of Hospital Bankruptcies has increased 3 fold recently... it would seem owning a Hospital could be equivocated with a license to print money based on some of the posts.
I think most of what you write about is not true. I think you are relaying what people are telling you but you actually have no first hand experience with this.
My parents live in former Yugoslavia and by all standards it is not EU and not US by any means. However, as a leftover from former Yugoslavia, the country still has a single payer health care system. My father has had multiple back surgeries (titanium screws and plates and all), my mother has had multiple surgeries as well. They have ALWAYS received them for free (fully covered). when needed. In addition to that, they ALWAYS have the option to go to a private clinic and pay for everything themselves. If they were to do that, they would pay more and out of pocket but we are talking about being pampered post-op in a hotel-like setting. We are talking about almost a 3rd world country here (well, ok - probably "2nd world" but definitely NOT 1st world). The country is poor by all standards, average income is about 200 euros a month or so. If they can do it - why can't we?
Oh yes - the private hospital doctors are paid better, private hospitals are much nicer but the government run hospitals observe all standards of care. My father had all his surgeries done by top government employed surgeons who were also professors at the local medical school.
This is not to say their system has no issues. However, on average, it delivers better care for ALL of its citizens. People don't live in fear of getting sick. They don't have special funds to cover what-if scenarios when it comes to their health. They don't go into bankruptcy over medical bills. In summary, the healthcare cartel doesn't control their lives.
Their comment every time they visit with us here is how cruel the system is here to its citizens. They simply cannot compute how people can have no access to a doctor in the 21st century and it is all based on income. They cannot compute paying out of pocket every month for insurance for something that may or may not happen and then if it happens, not knowing if you will be covered or not and for how much. I had to explain "deductibles" multiple times to them and they still just don't get it...
Not my experience at all... and every visit to Austria includes reconnecting with my Doctor and Nurse friends in Vienna and Salzburg... I have 27 years in at a SF Bay Area Hospital so we discuss medical all the time to the frustration of spouses... also arranged for them to visit professionally my facility...
The mother of one of my friends needed Dental work... she lives in Salzburg and I was surprised when her Doctor is over the boarder in Germany... 20 minutes travel time... she pays cash to her German Doctor because it provides options not available to her in Austria AND Germans pay cash to Austrian Dentists... go figure?
My post on the Canadian that recently came to my facility is 100% factual... the patient simply said he was not going to wait 22 months for an ortho procedure and was willing to come to the US and pay cash... which is not isolated as some might think.
I grew up without any insurance... bought my first policy on my own dime at age 18... it was what is called Major Medical... and of the type not even offered today as it was basically a Hospital Plan... all my Doctor visits were paid out of pocket...
One huge difference my Euro colleagues don't have to deal with is over the top malpractice premiums like their US counterparts... plenty of Docs have retired because they spend too much time not treating patients...
Interesting story recently about a Doctor, the only one in her poor county delivering babies that had her licensed revoked simply because she does not submit electronically... so the State said she was non-compliant but with a perfect medical record... what do you tell her patients that have no one else?
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-07-2017 at 08:06 PM..
the bottom line is to make money you need to find what others can't or won't do for themselves .
it is not only about a school education .some are very creative at finding that sweet spot , others suck at it or won't even try ,they just follow the herd no where .
my septic guy we used when i had the house in pa has a multi million dollar company with a fleet of trucks and a grade school education .
i was a sales engineer and top salesman for more than a decade up until i retired in a very technical field with just a high school diploma and no knowledge of a damn thing except drumming .
some will always find a way to do well -most of the rest end up just finding an excuse why they can't.
in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king .
if most of us l had a disease and couldn't move our arms , those who could pour coffee would make a lot of money .
Similar to the my RotoRooter guy... makes a very good living and only high school...
Came to know a local gardener... came here with his wife as refugees from Cambodia with their infant... started mowing lawns with throw away mower put out for trash collection then bought an old truck... fast forward to today has 3 college grad kids... engineer from UC Berkeley, Lawyer and Doctor.
Really makes one wonder why so much negativity when concrete examples to the contrary defy this... the Cambodian gardener didn't speak a word of English and would often be seen with his wife and kids working on jobs together... he wanted them to know hard work so they would seek better.
Fewer and fewer are willing to take the risk to open a business and chart their own destiny... maybe this is what we have lost?
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-07-2017 at 08:08 PM..
What do they do for water and sewer. Around here, a small town water/sewer bill has a base rate around $128/month, which only buys 5000 gallons. If they have a drippy faucet or a leaking toilet, their water bill can easily be over $200.
I think most people have no idea what depths of poverty exist in America. I have a friend who lives on an Indian reservation. He is an old guy, and all he has to live on is $600/month SS, $75/month tribal allotment, and food stamps. The unemployment rate on the rez is 60% during good times and 80% in the winter when the weather shuts down outside work. When I go visit I take food, bath soap, shampoo, toilet paper and cigarettes. I wonder how many people here have to budget buying toilet paper? Food stamps won't cover TP, bath soap or laundry detergent.
Indian Reservations are not what they use to be... I managed property in Washington State where each adult tribe member received 6k monthly stipend from Gaming... things were not always this way but the pendulum has swung and Indian Gaming and Reservation Tax Exempt Sales have made a huge impact...
My experience is limited to West Coast and fully admit that I do not know what I don't know...
Spending decades managing Low Income property I have personally seen even providing a clean, decent and nice home is no guarantee it will be appreciated or even valued.
The services and assistance available to those of low means is truely amazing and I still meet people that simply cannot fathom the extent of the largess... one of my very good friends... I was in both of his kids weddings worked for the Telephone company... lived in a two bedroom home with a basement... had 4 kids, a mortgage and mother in law all living in the tight quarters... he had a job and medical and retirement.
One of the investors I know started buying homes in that neighborhood and was gutting the kitchens and baths and doing a nice job updating plus adding new windows, efficient central heat etc...
My friend with the family of 7 in a two bedroom home and paying all the bills couldn't believe his new next door neighbor was paying $135 a month for the same but remodeled home for her and her child on Section 8...
Had my working friend been on housing the Federal Standard would not have ALLOWED a family of 7 to be in a two bedroom home... but as a working man it was OK... the disparity is stark.
The lady on Section 8 was very nice... as is her daughter... she had full medical coverage, discounted utilities, school lunch and a rent payment of $135 a month.
Maybe Section 8 is like retiring but decades earlier than those working?
I have seen some success stories on Section 8 but l can count them on one hand... more to the point is generational assistance... one single family home in a 600k neighborhood covers 4 generations... the kicker is the Grandmother on Section 8 had 3 kids... one in the military and did very well another that is a Police Officer and then there is the problem child with 3 kids from 3 fathers and all of those kids are screwed up and now their kids are screwed up... the Grandmother was disabled... and it became a way of life for her youngest who is now age 55
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-07-2017 at 08:14 PM..
Interesting that the number of Hospital Bankruptcies has increased 3 fold recently... it would seem owning a Hospital could be equivocated with a license to print money based on some of the posts.
we are in crisis mode here in nyc so many hospitals have closed their doors and went bankrupt ..
In most of the country hospitals just close their ER. When they are no longer required to treat anyone who walks in the door, they can eke out a profit.
With congress and the prez taking a wrecking ball to the ACA, the number of deadbeats will mushroom, but the big wave of hospital closings won't happen for a couple years at least.
You made the claim that Medicaid would handle pregnancy health care. The woman better have been on Medicaid before she got pregnant, or the kid will be a year old before she receives any assistance. If you talk to a young pregnant woman without medical insurance in any area, you will hear that the waiting list to get on Medicaid is a year and a half long, the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic is 60 miles away, and there is no way they can afford to pay cash for an ObGyn. That's why the US ranks 37th in the world for live birth mortality, on a par with many third world nations. Chances are the first time she will ever talk to a doctor is at the ER when she delivers the kid.
Medicaid will handle it when they apply. A pregnant woman is NOT rejected in getting healthcare, regardless of coverage. If you have proof to back up your claim, other than just asking us to take your word, then please provide it. Your last point proves what I am saying. Much of the outcomes are based on lack of patient compliance. Some will not actively seek care until much later. One of the largest issues of our healthcare outcomes are based on patients lifestyle issues. Take a look at our obesity rates as well as drug and alcohol abuse. Dig further. What are the primary contributors to preterm labor? What percentage of patients in poverty avoid seeking medical care? Have you spent any time studying the actual causes of patient outcomes? Apparently not.
Last edited by Jim1921; 12-08-2017 at 05:00 AM..
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