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It is amazing they can charge whatever they want. My wife laid on a bed in the hallway for three days waiting for an MRI, and the bill was $15 000 for the bed.
And there we go, thats the problem Finn, which has me wondering why you celebrate the passage of ACA which doesnt fix a dam thing..
Last time I was performing volunteer administrative duties in one of your hospital emergency units it wasn't illegals sitting there, but rather it was everyone across the spectrum of lower & middle class Americans most employed but some not, some with teeth, some not, some with cognitive reasoning skills some not, some obviously addicted, some not, some well dressed, some not, .....in short it was your average American citizen and a whole bunch of them DID NOT HAVE INSURANCE OF ANY KIND!
Wow, volunteers certainly are thorough at this ER room. Even to the point of in depth psychological exams?
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It ain't the illegals causing your problems. They are but just one more symptom of a pervasive malaise that goes right to your very core as a country. The only time you folks pull together in anything resembling a familial unit is when you're going to war; even then it's iffy.
I call bogus on this number. A three trillion dollar difference in swag.
Costs don't double if we are single payer, other than the overall costs would be lower and more in check. Actually, they would almost certainly drop
The system as it is now is outrageously overpriced. No other country pays even close to what we pay per capita and still most people limited access to healthcare.
Every one of your arguments just makes clear the reasons why we need single payer and we need it now.
American's would be so much freer if they didn't have to be slaves to employers and insurance companies just to get healthcare.
You'd think those on the far right who always talk about freedom would want that.
Think of the bargaining clout given to the people as a whole to force establishment of reasonable practitioner services, hospital fees and drug prices.
There is no accountability to the present system with hospitals barely 30 miles apart charging 30% differentials in fee rates. It's system that's gone off the rails but yet maintained because of decades of indoctrination using words like communist and socialist when the vast majority have no idea of what those words mean.
You've even got people on here employed by the insurance industry who are shilling for them and deriding other country's systems because they are aware single payer would wipe out their parasitic existence altogether.
Take heart Americans; the light at the end of the tunnel is just becoming a glimmer but I predict it's going to grow in brightness and one day you'll look back on these years and wonder: "whaaah the f*** were we thinking?"
Wow, volunteers certainly are thorough at this ER room. Even to the point of in depth psychological exams?
Now this is pretty close to true.
What the hell are you on about? None of those features I described are of a psychological nature, NONE!
You don't need a psychological skillset when you have eyes and a brain along with a clipboard full of those questions that has been given to you to have those people fill out rather than use the trained health practitioner in a less than optimal role wasting time performing that little task.
That's the very nature of volunteer work; usually performing menial tasks beneath the skillset level of higher trained individuals they either do not want to do or are paid too much to waste valuable time doing it.
If anyone doubts that story is valid, here is my thread I did in 2010 with photos of the bill breakdown for the same procedure but I was in and out in 1 day not 2. Hospital billed $30,000 but settled with $10,000 with my Aetna.
he received a SERVICE
he received CARE
he received a ROOM AND BOARD for 2 days
Don't you think there is a difference between needed care and then later getting the bill whatever they charge and other topics like needing a car repair where you can ask for a quote, shop around and wait if you want to?
If you are in urgent need of care you don't have the luxury to ask for a price quote, shop around and then wait while your appendix threatens your life. But after a person may be faced with a bill that they will spend years paying off if they ever can.
What I am not clear on is how far can the hospital reach into your life and sue or garnish you if you don't have insurance and if their bill will be the same as they first bill it at. Can they put a lean on your house? If so everything you worked for could be gone in one hospital visit.
Last time I was performing volunteer administrative duties in one of your hospital emergency units it wasn't illegals sitting there, but rather it was everyone across the spectrum of lower & middle class Americans most employed but some not, some with teeth, some not, some with cognitive reasoning skills some not, some obviously addicted, some not, some well dressed, some not, .....in short it was your average American citizen and a whole bunch of them DID NOT HAVE INSURANCE OF ANY KIND!
It ain't the illegals causing your problems. They are but just one more symptom of a pervasive malaise that goes right to your very core as a country. The only time you folks pull together in anything resembling a familial unit is when you're going to war; even then it's iffy.
Emergency rooms across the nation are used as doctor offices for minor illness by people who have no insurance because it is illegal not to treat them, this is why you saw such a mixture.
Emergency rooms across the nation are used as doctor offices for minor illness by people who have no insurance because it is illegal not to treat them, this is why you saw such a mixture.
You can thank Ronald Reagan for that. I guess maybe you'd rather let people get sick and die though.
I find a $55,000 for emergency appendectomy pretty outrageous myself. I guess no one else blinks an eye.
Why don't get a listing of what all of the hospitals in that area charge for emergency appendectomies.
Also, you might want to review the medical records -- if possible. In lieu of that, ask your doctor if there is a difference between an emergency appendectomy where the appendix has not ruptured, and one where the appendix has ruptured. To educate yourself, look up peritonitis.
I guess the point is stop making assumptions you cannot prove.
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Originally Posted by tinman01
Why is health care so expensive in the USA? To fix any problem one must seek root cause.
That's right....too bad none of the ACA supporters understand that.
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Originally Posted by tinman01
We are by far the most litigious nation on the planet. Some one has to pay the bill for all those hefty settlements.
The impact of that is negligible, and not the cause of high healthcare costs.
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Originally Posted by GoldenZephyr
In fairness, the Republicans haven't done anything to fix this.
And the US Supreme Court explains why in nauseating detail.
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Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker
Unless you are DRAFTED to go into the military, we the people should not have to pay for what happens to them "on the job".
Why not?
You do for everyone else.
Workers' Compensation......that's a tax...to pay for workers injured on the job.
Hypothetically.....
On the job, you were exposed to toxic fumes that caused internal injuries. Your employer conspires with local doctors and hospitals to hide these facts from you, resulting in greater injury.
Do you believe you have grounds for legal action?
What would you say is fair compensation for the fact that you were permanently injured on the job, and that your employer conspired with local medical personnel to hide this fact from you?
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Originally Posted by pknopp
No, I am saying pills that cost $84,000 dollars for treatment are unsustainable.
Says who?
Why don't you explain to us, how those pills came to be on this Earth.
I'll give you a hint: It wasn't Voodoo.
I'll give you another hint: It wasn't 1,000 monkeys sitting in a room with paper and crayons drawing out chemical formulas.
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Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
It is amazing they can charge whatever they want.
That is 99% of the problem.....aren't you glad Obama was so concerned about you that he reformed your healthcare system to prevent that?
Oh, wait, Obamacare does nothing to eliminate the monopolistic hospital cartels that illegally collude to illegally fix prices, and who also price gouge consumers.
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Originally Posted by weltschmerz
I was wondering when you'd show up, posting your walls of text, ranting once more about the same cardiac caths and your endless logorrhea about the horrors of Canadian healthcare, which you have never experienced up close and personal.
Are you calling the Canadian government and the Canadian Medical Association liars?
What information does the Canadian government and Canadian Medical Association present in those articles that is false, misleading, inaccurate, or untrue?
Here's yet one more opportunity for you to show us...instead of dodging and deflecting like you do 100% of the time.
So, will you? Address the issues? No you'll just keep pretending that it never happened...until it happens to you.
My personal experiences with the Canadian system are totally irrelevant.
I am not so self-centered, egotistical and selfish to focus solely on my healthcare needs in they way you are apparently so selfishly self-absorbed in meeting your needs at the expense of other Canadians.
My focus is on what is best for all Americans.
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Originally Posted by weltschmerz
Did you mention Diane yet, or will that be in your next post?
Wow, you are really callous and have a cavalier attitude.
Excuse me, but I did write those articles....no, they were written by the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian government.
If you have issues, then take it up with them, or disprove the articles.
The mere fact that you have people dying on waiting lists is proof that the Canadian healthcare system is under-funded.
Since your system is under-funded, then you are not paying the true cost of healthcare.
Since your system is under-funded, healthcare in Canada does not cost less, but your government does spend less, due to the fact that your system is under-funded.
Explain why Americans should accept such an inferior system that is under-funded?
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Originally Posted by katzpaw
That was 10 year ago. Given the horrible state of Canada's healthcare you'd think there'd be a plethora or more recent examples.
There are......want me to dig them up?
If I dig them up, I'll be accused of working for the insurance industry, or accused of being in league with the Koch Brothers --whoever they are -- or that all of the articles were written by the Fraiser Institute which some claim have some kind of link with the **** Brothers.
Despite the scare stories about the U.S. health care system, most Americans are satisfied with the care they receive.
I'm not. My plan has a $10,000 deductible.
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