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Or, we could go with the abbreviated version: American citizens are being screwed over!
Used to be most people, if they had insurance, had major medical. Everything else was affordable, sometimes with a few payments, but it was working. As we lost real jobs, and this started in the 1970s, the industries that started to rise were big pharma industry, the big medical industry, the insurance machine, the prisoner industry and the poverty industry - thus our industries at the present time with little else. These industries have let our wealthy stay wealthy while other industries left the country.
Drain the swamp! Build the Wall! Bring back the American lifestyle which wasn't all about being medicated to take away the pain of living.[/QUOTE
Advances in treatment and cure rates changed healthcare.
HMOs changed healthcare. Federal law required all employers who offered subsidized insurance to their employees as a benefit to offer at least one HMO option.
Non HMO insurers and providers created networks to compete with HMOs.
Location: Sitting on a bar stool. Guinness in hand.
4,428 posts, read 6,510,291 times
Reputation: 1721
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
There is no primary healthcare insurance for elderly risk.
Used to be old people went to the hospital to die. Most insurers declined to insure hospitalization for the elderly and Government created Medicare to fill the gap. Medical conditions that used to kill are now often treatable and in some cases, curable.
No one imagined at the time that Medicare would one day pick up the tab for a heart transplant.
I don't disagree with you here. What I'm getting at Is that the OP is trying to put most the blame on the "others" for driving up healthcare costs. This is just not the case. Even if you were to show no mercy to those groups and not provide any healthcare to them. Healthcare costs would most likely still be going up.
as you said. Who could have guessed what types of advancements we would've made when some of these public funded programs came into being. In fact I would say we still are not keeping up. i'm not even sure if we even can.
I repped you, and I am 63. I keep waiting for more people to discuss this, but it seems like it is almost a forbidden topic. (I did start a thread that just partly covered this in a minor way, about what is the point of keeping "incurables" alive.)
I am NOT advocating killing anyone, but why do we insist on keeping very old people alive with expensive treatment, even when they might not want to be kept alive? If they do want to be kept alive, even though they are virtually bed-ridden, in discomfort, with little awareness of what is going on and no real happiness -- well, that is different, and as I said, I am certainly not advocating killing anyone against their wishes. But why do we spend hundreds of thousands in medical care and nursing home costs on those who would rather die? (And, yes, I am one of those people, and based on numerous replies and reps I have received when discussing this on CD, a LOT of people are with me on this.)
Doesn't it occur to people that one of the reasons healthcare costs are so high is because we insist on keeping people alive just because we CAN? If people can live to 100 or longer just by being on medication, great --but there is a big difference between a 95-year-old who can still boogie with the best of them vs. a 95-year-old who lives in a nursing home bed.
P.S. I will remind you, though, that Medicare is something that working people have paid into, just like Social Security. Now, of course, some people take out a lot more than they put into it, but some people never get anything back or a lot less.
I believe Death with Dignity will become an economic reality as the babyboom ages.
No reason to force anyone to suffer when they are in an incurable stage of decline.
I believe Death with Dignity will become an economic reality as the babyboom ages.
No reason to force anyone to suffer when they are in an incurable stage of decline.
No one is forced. You can opt for hospice and palliative care.
This must not just be applied to elderly. Some children are born with half their brains missing and kept alive. Somehow some survive and suffer for a long time, sometimes years, because parents insist on full treatment costing millions of dollars.
Or, we could go with the abbreviated version: American citizens are being screwed over!
Used to be most people, if they had insurance, had major medical. Everything else was affordable, sometimes with a few payments, but it was working. As we lost real jobs, and this started in the 1970s, the industries that started to rise were big pharma industry, the big medical industry, the insurance machine, the prisoner industry and the poverty industry - thus our industries at the present time with little else. These industries have let our wealthy stay wealthy while other industries left the country.
.[/QUOTE
Advances in treatment and cure rates changed healthcare.
HMOs changed healthcare. Federal law required all employers who offered subsidized insurance to their employees as a benefit to offer at least one HMO option.
Non HMO insurers and providers created networks to compete with HMOs.
In fact, there are too many hands in the pot, and it is over-regulated.
Go back to direct doctor/patient relationship.
Over-regulated, that's a major part of the problem. Greed is another, and yes us decent working people paying for those who don't want to work and make an honest living and live a responsible life, is another part of the problem.
No one is forced. You can opt for hospice and palliative care.
This must not just be applied to elderly. Some children are born with half their brains missing and kept alive. Somehow some survive and suffer for a long time, sometimes years, because parents insist on full treatment costing millions of dollars.
This is something else I agree with, but then I believe very strongly in QUALITY of life, not just quantity of life.
I also personally think there is something very wrong with those who would allow non-citizens without insurance to expect surgeries like the ones you described at no cost to those non-citizens. And even leaving aside the "non-citizen" point, exactly who do the surgeries in such cases actually help or benefit -- except for those who receive payment for his care or who provide other kinds of services.
I don't believe it's one reason, nothing ever happens for one reason, but many, but yes, there are and always will be freeloaders....
My aunt lived in CA, and she told me, they had to close down hospitals, and go to urgent care. Now this was maybe 10 years ago or longer, but she did say, they were not paying their bills. I didn't see it, don't live there and am only repeating what my aunt said.
She got real sick, and had to go to urgent care b/c they closed down her hospital....a few months later she passed away. Not b/c the hospital closed down....it was just that she was so angry about going to some urgent care unit.
Location: Sitting on a bar stool. Guinness in hand.
4,428 posts, read 6,510,291 times
Reputation: 1721
Quote:
Originally Posted by cremebrulee
I don't believe it's one reason, nothing ever happens for one reason, but many, but yes, there are and always will be freeloaders....
My aunt lived in CA, and she told me, they had to close down hospitals, and go to urgent care. Now this was maybe 10 years ago or longer, but she did say, they were not paying their bills. I didn't see it, don't live there and am only repeating what my aunt said.
She got real sick, and had to go to urgent care b/c they closed down her hospital....a few months later she passed away. Not b/c the hospital closed down....it was just that she was so angry about going to some urgent care unit.
Now a days, they are popular with everyone.
The question is. Will society except hospitals/etc. refusing healthcare two people that most likely can't afford Insurance?......And most likely he can't afford to pay For the services provided by the hospital?
If society is OK with that, then the path is clear to stop "freeloaders" and/or Poor people from receiving services at the hospital.
If society is not OK with this. Then Society need to come up with a real solid plan on how they're going to tackle this issue. Which is going to be hard and most likely expensive for everyone.
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