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.
When did a patient's basic rights to receive and appropriate level of healthcare become solely based on money? When did all of the ethical and moral obligations, the whole Hippocratic Oath, become obsolete? When someone who has become, through no fault of their own, disabled and unable to work or care for themselves, why are they denied any compassion within the healthcare system?
my best guess: we have "evolved" (well, maybe "devolved" is a better word) into a society that measures everything in financial terms, and that consistently fails to value anything, even human life, that does not contribute financially. That is one of the "changes" that I want to see, but unfortunatly, not one that government can do much about. . . American values need to change from within.
In traditional health care systems the patients had no rights what so ever. No pay, no service was the rule. Many conservatives want to return to the economic purity of this system.
When did a patient's basic rights to receive and appropriate level of healthcare become solely based on money? When did all of the ethical and moral obligations, the whole Hippocratic Oath, become obsolete? When someone who has become, through no fault of their own, disabled and unable to work or care for themselves, why are they denied any compassion within the healthcare system?
Probably when a person's ability to buy the best house, best car, best food, and best clothes was based upon the money they had.
As to the Hippocratic Oath, if you arrive at an emergency room, unconscious and bleeding, you will immediately receive the exact same care as if you were Rush Limbaugh.
What was health care like 80 years ago? Not the same, not micro managed in which it is today with only a handful of major players insuring the vast amount of americans. Health insurance companies do not, by law, have to abide by federal ant-trust laws. Another words they can collude and fix prices, exactly the behaviour of a monopoly, not to mention the complexities built into the system making it very expensive to comply. Prices are sky rocketing, blowing the whole system out of kilter.
When did a patient's basic rights to receive and appropriate level of healthcare become solely based on money? When did all of the ethical and moral obligations, the whole Hippocratic Oath, become obsolete? When someone who has become, through no fault of their own, disabled and unable to work or care for themselves, why are they denied any compassion within the healthcare system?
I'm sorry for what you're going through, but I guess that it begins with your premise that health care is a basic right, because it isn't. In the old days, you still had to pay the village doctor with chickens or produce. Even back then, it can't be free. When a person could not afford to go to med school, where is the compassion there? Can they go pay with chickens? Long ago, when HMO's first started, it was a true managed care environment and costs were extremely low. But people wanted more choices, more choices, more freedom to choose wherever they want to go, whomoever they want to see. So PPO and POS plans were put in place, because people clamored for it. With the change into cadillac plans, it slowly crept up beyond the reach of beer pockets. As long as people want the best, they have to prepare to pay for the best.
Health care is no different than any other service. It's a service, for which you pay money. That's not to say that you won't get service if you have no insurance and need to go to the ER. This is the system in this country, but health care has always been a profession. Hate on the system, it is broken, but the hippocratic oath doesn't state doctors must see patients without any expectation of payment for their services. Who would go into the profession if that were the case?
my best guess: we have "evolved" (well, maybe "devolved" is a better word) into a society that measures everything in financial terms, and that consistently fails to value anything, even human life, that does not contribute financially. That is one of the "changes" that I want to see, but unfortunatly, not one that government can do much about. . . American values need to change from within.
spot on...we can see it in our familes..."kids pissed because mommy cant afford things and when they grow up they say mommy was a bad mom just because they couldnt get a playstation.....we see it in dating and relationships now ...."a woman is less likely to date a guy unless there is that stability there with his own income being able to provide her gifts and pay the bills.....and the list goes on....no one sees success in a persons integrity or personal skills and their actions anymore it seems....it seems everything has to do in some part with money in how people in the U.S. judge another person...makes me sick really
What was health care like 80 years ago? Not the same, not micro managed in which it is today with only a handful of major players insuring the vast amount of americans. Health insurance companies do not, by law, have to abide by federal ant-trust laws. Another words they can collude and fix prices, exactly the behaviour of a monopoly, not to mention the complexities built into the system making it very expensive to comply. Prices are sky rocketing, blowing the whole system out of kilter.
I can't say that I know what health care was like 80 years ago, although one of my great uncles was practicing medicine in a smallish Nebraska town at that time, but I know for sure what it was like 50 - 55 years ago. My folks had 3 kids (after a string of misscarrages and 1 still born child), Our family Dr. (Dr. Barkus, Chicago) was a fine G.P. who cared more about his patients, than his pocketbook. I am certain that he never went hungry or was unable to pay his bills, but our family of 5 was living on @ 100 dollars a week, enough to just barely pay the bills, not enough for medical expenses. My sister had Scarlet Fever as a young child and nearly died, I was hospitalized with a burst appendix when I was 10 y.o. about 2 weeks after I left the hospital, my brother had appendicitis. Of course we all had the common childhood ailments, measels, etc. My dad told me that when i needed to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, he had to borrow $100 from my aunt. . . I was told, much later, when I was a young adult, that Dr. Barkus had "written off" all of those medical bills that the folks had been unable to pay. This was Chicago, circa 1050 - 1957. . . .seems like a long time ago.
When did a patient's basic rights to receive and appropriate level of healthcare become solely based on money? When did all of the ethical and moral obligations, the whole Hippocratic Oath, become obsolete? When someone who has become, through no fault of their own, disabled and unable to work or care for themselves, why are they denied any compassion within the healthcare system?
When Health Care Insurance companies became For Profit, Not Health, Companies.
Last edited by Who?Me?!; 01-07-2010 at 10:43 AM..
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.
