Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
People who choose to live in small rural communities accept as a fact of life that they do not have access to the economy of scale that applies to larger urban centers. They have to buy their groceries at non-competitive monopoly prices or drive to a city. Their kids go to schools that lack many extracurricular perks. The snowplow doesnt get to their road until the afternoon. Their drinking water may not meet minimum standards. It's a $100 tow to get their disabled car to a garage. There is no cable or hardwire interent. When the power goes out, it is out for days. Forget about theater and dining, unless you like Sonic.
Nobody asks for the government's help in redressing these problems, because it is understood that it will not be forthcoming, and that is discounted in the cost-benefit ratio of country living. Why should health care be any different?
I agree. Let's make sure health care and all the other problems persist so that one day each and every one of them move to cities by choice. We are better off as a nation if all those rural population just move into cities.
I agree. Let's make sure health care and all the other problems persist so that one day each and every one of them move to cities by choice. We are better off as a nation if all those rural population just move into cities.
To meet some minimum driving distance goal for rural populations, it would require a vastly lower doctor/patient ratio than that found in urban areas. If an area is willing to support that higher medical cost then I encourage them to do so via property and other local taxes.
There are pro's and con's to living anywhere and I hope that no one here is in the sucky position of making decisions based heavily on proximity to medical care. It's not a fun thing.
I make medical decisions nearly everyday based on proximity. In fact I made one today. I thank God everyday I am not far from a well staffed small hospital that provides better care than most large hospitals. The problem is we can't bribe a Cardiologist to make regular visits because we don't have a Cath Lab, and no Pulmonologist will drive 50 to listen to lungs. We are very lucky because the hospital provides home nurses who recognize the difference betwen wet and dry 'crackles' and eminent death. It's what I need. We have a PA that is better than most doctors. But, we still would have to drive 50 miles for an eye exam, kidney disease and a host of other things. .
My last experience with a large hospital - about a month ago - was gawd awful. My dog has better treatment. All the highly polished marble floors and parking attendants in the world, and do not make up for an understaffed surgical wing and thoughtless nurses. Had I known I could not trust the hospital, had I known no one was listening, I would have left with spouse in tow right then and their. Had I known the nurse was talking out of both sides of her mouth at the same time, I would left with spouse in tow, too. No one should have poor treatment based on clothing or lack of makeup. Quite frankly I resent the whole treatment. I would not voluntarily go back. It is a really good thing this hospital was not nervy enough to send a quality survey.
I do not know why anyone would think all rural Americans cannot live in a larger urban area if they choose. I do not want to; been there done that and I have no desire to do it again. I've always had access to Internet. The only time I suffered a power failure was due to a transformer. All the towns I lived in, but one, had good medical care. The hospital owned doctors were pitifull ; They were just as bad 25 years ago. There were only two good doctors in town. One was a DO and the other DVM.
Rural America has an ample supply of ignorant doctors and dirty hospitals. Maybe this is where health care experts should take the first step instead of wandering off in obscurity. . .
Rural health care has been a problem for many many years. I worked in a University Family Practice Clinic as an LPN that was training Docs for rural care. My ex was also in the program. We moved to a needy town in rural Co. My ex's malpractice was so high that the town agreed to pay a portion of it to keep him. This is happening over and over. I do know that for years if Docs go to a rural location for x amount of years part of their schooling will be paid for...nothing new here. The USA is HUGE, and there will always be rural areas, we need those farmers to grow our food and crops etc. They can't do it from an apartment in a large city. These people should not be made to suffer with little or no healthcare.
I have been on both sides of the bedpan as it were. Our whole health care system is broken, costs have skyrocketed for many reasons greed being among one of the big ones. Quality of care is suffering due to many reasons most of which point to greed again. Back in the day we had an "efficiency expert" follow us around and the bean counter determined that we only needed 2 1/2 nurses per floor...now where is the extra 1/2 nurse when we need them
The insurance and pharmacy industries have been given free reign for too long and asking them to police themselves is the old fox in the hen house issue.
Many people have become working poor due to health care costs going thru through the roof and can no long afford their preimiums. I've watched my paycheck shrink at an alarming rate and watched my health insurance go up at an even more alarming rate and you get much less care and coverage for a whole lot more that's IF you can get them to pay for services. And then there is now the "pre-existing" issue that drives many of us into debt.
For those of you who have not see Michael Moore's Sicko documentary it is certainly worth a look, there is no perfect healthcare system but it seem the USA's is certainly not the best by a long shot unless you are among the wealthy.
Every several generations some group of people has stepped up and tried to re-vamp our system in some form or fashion for many years nothing new. And everytime they try to fix it a "war" breaks out between the haves and have nots. Scare tactics are used and financed by the wealthy insurance and pharmicutical companies and nothing gets done. I fear that it is happening again, I hope Obama and his team can bulldoze thru some legislation that will at least begin to address some of the healthcare issues. I think it will need to be done in stages so as not to "scare" everyone.
I read this rather lengthy article in the hard copy of Atlantic Monthly over the weekend. The author raises some good points and provides much food for thought. Here's the lead in to the article entitled: How American Health Care Killed My Father
After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem.
My ex's malpractice was so high that the town agreed to pay a portion of it to keep him. This is happening over and over.
Supposing there was a doctor that hung a sign in his office that said "I have no malpractice insurance. If you sue me, you will get nothing. I charge $25 for an office call. Take it or leave it."
Supposing there was a doctor that hung a sign in his office that said "I have no malpractice insurance. If you sue me, you will get nothing. I charge $25 for an office call. Take it or leave it."
For me that choice might include looking around the office to see if it look more like a medical practice or a torture chamber...
As long as the profit motive is involved with going to the doctor, people will be subconsciously if not consciously aware of a conflict of interest. They will always wonder if they are being sold unnecessary snake oil in the form of expensive tests, surgeries, and drugs.
As long as the profit motive is involved with going to the doctor, people will be subconsciously if not consciously aware of a conflict of interest. They will always wonder if they are being sold unnecessary snake oil in the form of expensive tests, surgeries, and drugs.
And then insurance refuses to pay for those things and people complain that the companies are out to screw them and make them die.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
