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He should have gotten more skills and a better job with better insurance. His fault he died.
NO this is not what I think, but I am convinced a good sized minority in this country feel that way. Just a thinning of the herd of some loser anyway.
He had skills and modest savings. Unfortunately he was employed by Lehman Bros, who you may recall was the catalyst for the big meltdown when they filed for bankruptcy. He, like the majority of former Lehman employees had nothing to do with the MBS derivative markets or funky accounting.
Sucks for someone in their late 50's to suddenly find themselves unemployed and your resume reflects a long history of employment with Lehman.
He never talked about his perception of the ACA he acquired from Fox News or being uninsured. He was one of those people who parked himself in his armchair and tuned into Hannity every night for the daily dose of outrage. He would not have qualified for a subsidy but could have afforded an Individual Plan that did not discriminate against his preexisting condition.
As I said, there was a fine line between his own denial of his deteriorating health and avoiding seeking medical care because he was uninsured. His intent was to wait till he turned 65 and Medicare. He did not make it.
The United States pays the most for healthcare around the world and we are all in very poor health. While I like the idea of the ACA it does not work. I think there are parts of it that would be nice to retain.
Not being turned away for a pre-existing condition is the one area I do not want repealed. My sister has leukemia. If she loses her health insurance, she will never be able to be insured. My girlfriend had breast cancer. If she loses her insurance she will never be able to be insured. Neither will never be able to change jobs for fear of not getting insured.
We need to turn to preventive care we are a nation that reacts to being sick.
Well for me, I have a very low income but have a home, and an 800 credit score. I might not have money, but I would somehow have to pay the bill to retain these things that are valuable to me.
No one on Medicare complains....put everyone there. Raise income threshold to a million dollars a year for contributions to FICA and Medicare.
So simple.
Medicare, by law, is required to pay the weighted average cost of hospital care in any given geo rated area. This cost includes overhead. Hospital reimbursement is also impacted in a small part by patient satisfaction surveys since mid 2000's. The annual rate of readmission for the same reason within 90 days can reduce Medicare reimbursement to hospitals. The discharged patient's overall perception of their experience is also a factor of reimbursement.
In highly competitive healthcare markets there has been a trend towards bells and whistles to make the hospital experience more pleasant for the patient and to distinguish one hospital from another. This includes a trend towards private rooms/ baths, premium cable, WIFI enabled, room service, ability to order in delivery from local restaurants, Starbucks, valet parking and on and on. One would think it was a hotel instead of a hospital. All these swell perks increase overhead and become a part of Medicare reimbursement.
Then there's the whole marketing thing. No shortage of print and TV advertising being done by hospitals. You don't find this in countries with Universal Healthcare. The cost of marketing is another factor of overhead.
There's a huge difference between many US hospitals and most hospitals in countries with Universal Healthcare. Despite these differences, medical outcomes in most hospitals in countries with Universal Healthcare are the same or better than the US.
Then there's the whole deal about Medicare not being able to negotiate/ regulate the price of prescription meds. Nor can it buy meds from other countries like our friends to he north in Canada. Congress preferred to protect the interests of Big Pharma over that of Medicare and the people.
There's a whole lot of stuff that could be done to reduce the cost of Medicare if there was a political will to do so.
I'm not big on vast generalizations. What exactly does "criminally irresponsible" mean? We should just allow those born less fortunate that others to die?
FYI, "less fortunate" is about as vast a generalization as there can be.
How do you figure? If I walk into the hospital without insurance, they will ask for my contact information prior to treating me and I guarantee they will send a bill, even if I say I have no money to pay. I will be obligated to pay the bill once it arrives. How is this getting free healthcare?
You are talking about the ER.
It all depends.
Your state matters.
The reason you walked in to the ER matters. For e ample, If you are about to give birth, chances are you will be enrolled in your state Medicaid.
Your income matters.
The size of your bill matters.
Your assets matter.
Your employment status matters.
Maybe a better question is what happens when you don't pay your bill. It will eventually be turned over to Collections. Depending on the size of the bill and your employment status a court order to garnish your wages may be sought.
If the bill is not large enough or you are not employed it's likely the hospital will write it off as bad debt after dinging your credit score. When a hospital writes off bad debt it becomes a part of overhead and a factor of the cost of healthcare that is paid by everyone else.
Many hospitals contract out ER services to independent medical groups. The MD cost of the bill must also be written off by doctors. It has an impact on their bottom line. How many people would perform their jobs knowing that say 25% of the time they would not be paid, despite devoting serious time and effort to saving someone's life? So you charge more to those who do pay to offset some of the loss.
Not everyone runs to the doctor when they get sick to begin with. Avoid the doctor, end up healthier in the long run all too often.
You are thinking of illegal aliens. They use the emergency room at 3 times the rate of citizens and Medicaid (taxpayers) pick up the tab. We also cover maternity care for illegal aliens from conception to birth and then cover the anchor.
We were never a Christian nation. Christians are still welcome to help pay the bills of the less fortunate, go for it!
I have lots of colds/bugs over 62 years and never collapsed and never went to the doctor. Your example is just silly!
I'm thrilled by this. Fining people through their taxes was never right. Forcing people to buy health insurance was never right. Nothing about ObamaCareNot was ever right.
Great post!
Exactly. I knew someone whose insurance would not cover their experimental heart surgery, which did work out great, and her husband told me that hearing the price at that time $40,000, he told them they could never afford it. They told him, just like buying a house, we will take payments.
I read that with medical bankruptcy, 75% had health insurance.
I follow the blog of one of those that we subsidize, a full-time RVer, last month's budget insurance dropped $700 since they got ObamaCareNot which allowed them a $100 Red Lobster meal, pedicures/manicures/haircut & style............ I no longer subscribe to the blog.
While this was a boom for some, it was a tragedy for those with too much money to get on Medicaid and not enough to actually afford their co-pays and insurance cost.
ObamaCareNot turned out to be exactly what we knew it would be.
This was not about affordable healthcare to begin with and in the end, neither was it about affordable health insurance for EVERYONE.
I am glad to see this. It should never have been a tax.
A cold or a bug- the flu or even: granulomatosis ( an inflammation of the blood vessels that can ultimately lead to problems with the kidneys, lungs, joints and other areas of the body.) can kill - glad you at 62 are Ok,-- my g-son almost died with the RSV virus-he was 6 mo old.-- so don't be so arrogant to say people do not die from what may NOT be a simple cold-
ACA is insurance legislation, what, who and how paid.
It is not healthcare. It was not intended to be healthcare.
Thus far, the alternatives for replacement being bandied about are no different. The focus is on insurance, specifically premiums, not healthcare or personal responsibility.
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