Dear US citizen... - Page 4

[treemom2]

Originally Posted by Ifluffedthree

I was surprised to find this list of the WORLD's top ranking of 1000 hospitals. We go to Universal we can kiss much of this goodbye. See for yourself and hopefully be glad you live in a country with so many good choices in your own back yard.
http://hospitals.webometrics.info/top1000.asp?offset=0

might want to check out how these were ranked

[Mommiska]

Originally Posted by Ifluffedthree

while I agree with much of your post I wanted to point something out that I found lacking about the US coverage and being privately run.

While there are HUGE problems and greed attached to Privately run US Health Care -- it is the Privately Run US Health Care that is the most innovative and aggressive when it comes to research and development of new medical technology. It is the US Hospital Facilities that many come to from around the world to save the most desperate because we have the technology and the tools and the latest developement because it is competitive and run as a business.

Funding for research does not happen if the product can't be marketed. This does not happen in Universal Care -- the innovative edge is lost and the next child who could have been saved by a new cancer research is now lost to running a care system on the flat line of norm.

I realise this is coming from your personal experience and what you have been told, but I would be interested in seeing studies that show that the US innovates more than other countries. Or that countries with nationalised health care do not innovate. I suspect that while there might be truth in the first, that the later is false.

I would tend to reject, as well, the claim the US is providing state of the art care that people don't/can't get elsewhere. If you look at comparison tables of quality of health care received in the States vs. countries with universal care, the US does not fare well.

And here is a huge reason:

http://sev.prnewswire.com/insurance/...0032007-1.html

Administration associated with health care claims and billing accounts for nearly one out of every three dollars that patients spend on health care, according to a nationwide survey of executives from hospitals and insurance companies.

Competition, while it may encourage innovation, also encourages companies to increase their bottom line profit. Which means there is a huge incentive for insurance companies to both deny legitimate claims, if they can get away with it, and to drop more expensive patients who are actually going to make expensive claims.

We know that US insurance companies routinely do both of these things.

No system will be perfect. But I will take a system that treats rich, poor and middle class alike over one in which only some people receive necessary treatment any day.

[Mommiska]

Just wanted to give this link to a World Health Organisation report which compared health care deliverance in countries around the world.

http://www.who.int/whr/2000/annex/en/index.html

If you click on the Annex Table 10 at the very bottom, that will take you to a spreadsheet, where you can see the overall rankings on health care deliverance/outcomes for different countries in the WHO survey.

Despite the fact that the US spends more health care dollars per capita than any other country, it ranks only 37th in overall health care performance.

Lots of countries with nationalised health care perform far and away better than the US. But the US spends far and away more money.

The US health care system is broken. If we want to fix it, we better run far, far away from John McCain, as he is only promising more of the same (i.e., more power for insurance companies and less for individual patients).

[fruitful womb]

:
Mommiska,

I love how you're so brilliantly well spoken!

I'm thinking of dropping my Health Insurance. We can't afford co-pay yet we're shelling out $700.00 per month to cover our entire family. I don't know why I didn't drop H.I. sooner they deny just about every claim anyways, so not only are we paying them to PAY our claims (which they don't 70% of the time) but the money paid to them is breaking us, and our food cubbord.

I'll just have to do a lot of home herbal remedies to compensate. That shouldn't be too bad. Or, I bet when we have the extra income we'll have more to pay out of pocket for any health attention....

There is that fear that they'll shun us away because we don't have H.I. even if we do have the money.

[treemom2]

Originally Posted by fruitful womb

I'm thinking of dropping my Health Insurance. We can't afford co-pay yet we're shelling out $700.00 per month to cover our entire family. I don't know why I didn't drop H.I. sooner they deny just about every claim anyways, so not only are we paying them to PAY our claims (which they don't 70% of the time) but the money paid to them is breaking us, and our food cubbord.

If you do drop your insurance, will you be to at least save a portion of that $700? The reason I ask, is what if something unexpected did happen that herbals and homeopathics can't cure, or cure quickly enough would you still be able to go to the ER or have longer term care? Unfortunately in our medical system, insurance companies are sticklers when it comes to pre-existing conditions or taking on new clients who have gone without health insurance for a period of time (my MIL who worked as a claims person for a while said this was the main way insurance companies invalidated claims--one person went for just several months without insurance and they hit her with that when she got cancer). These are the reasons we keep paying for our insurance, heck, I think we've only claimed one or two things in the last year. . .but we're scared of the what-ifs (and DS has that pre existing condition mentioned in a pp).

[Phoenix_Rising]

Originally Posted by Mommiska

Also - it's a HUGE amount of health care money that goes towards...denying treatment to insured individuals. Shocking, but not surprising when you run health care as a for-profit business, rather than a service (as most other developed countries do).

We have private insurance through my employer - a PPO plan that is supposed to cover any out of network provider (except "alternative providers" after you meet your deductible. We have been more than $2000 past the deductible for DP since June and they are STILL denying her out of network claims. It is amazing.

[Joyster]

Originally Posted by the_lissa

None of my family has had any wait with cancer. I have never had a wait either. My hernia surgery was scheduled so fast, I couldn't get child care in time.

Health care is not fantastic in the U.S. Look at infant mortality rates, which is a huge indicator of a nation's health.

Neither has my mom. She's survived cancer twice, as has several of our relatives. One uncle has been fighting it for 20 years and is finally in a long term remission. Anyhow my mom this week saw a doctor, doesn't like the look of a couple moles on her back. She's having them removed next week.

[kriket]

DH and I are so totally white-bread it hurts, we both work, own our house, make enough to make ends meet (with careful budgeting) have a little in savings, are young 24 and 23, and can't afford HCI. Just can't do it, we've looked and there is nothing in our budget range thats worth anything.

I tripped and hurt my back 2 years ago and had to go to the ER about $6k later, we're finally done paying the bill. We did qualify to have the hospital bill waved, but the DR the ambulance, the Xray and something else, I am missing, was about $6k.

There are always exceptions to the rules, horrible illness that a hospital in socialized health care can't cover, the wait for needed medical care, blah blah. It boils down to the average white-bread family can't afford and doesn't have HCI. I hate to throw out names, but Obamas HCI plan that requires employers to offer HCI then gives breaks and incentives is a step in the right direction. Even my boss who has 8 employees likes the idea.

[lovin'leo]

Originally Posted by the_lissa

None of my family has had any wait with cancer. I have never had a wait either. My hernia surgery was scheduled so fast, I couldn't get child care in time.

Health care is not fantastic in the U.S. Look at infant mortality rates, which is a huge indicator of a nation's health.

Neither did my dad. They had him in surgery to remove it within a few days of finding the cancer. Sadly, they hadn't realized it was cancer for many months after he started showing symptoms (stomach cancer, his main system was indigestion, they figured it was ulcers, which he'd had before, plus he didn't go to the doctor immediately because well...what does indigestion have to do with a serious disease?) and he didn't make it, but it had nothing to do with the speed he was treated and everything to do with the tendency of doctors everywhere to look for the simplest, easiest explanation & only do more testing if that turns out to be the wrong diagnosis.

This poll makes me really sad for all of those without decent health care. And really baffled about the misconceptions and fear surrounding universal health care.

[newcastlemama]

Dh is a self-employed contractor so we pay for all our insurance. My insurance comapny decided that since I had PPD and quit antidepressants over 2 years ago that I was still high risk and I am paying $428 per month for insurance that would normally cost $100. We have high deducable insurance and we apy $700 per month. This is our last month...we simply cannot afford to pay out all this cash and then pay $120 per dr visit and have claims recpedly denied! I cannot tell you how much stress Blue Shield (and Blue Cross) has caused me over the years. I usually get off the phone with them defeated and crying. People them tell me to challenge the denial and I do but they just come right back with a big NO. How much of my life can I spend pursuing (deserved) payment from these giant companies.

We have paid THOUSANDS out of pocket in medical bills because they are somehow able to weasel their way out of paying them. For example, they are supposed to pay 90% of allowable charges for a homebirth. They paid LESS THAN HALF because they decided the charges are not ALLOWABLE. The whole dang bill was only $3,000 for prenatals, brith, post natals ect!!! My midwives even use a medical biller who is a pro at getting the maximum amount out of the insurance company. She said she actually had to quit for a while because she was so distressed at claims being constantly denied or barely paid. My husband worked off most of it at the midwives' home because they needed some repairs, thank goodness he could do that!

We are joining something call Christian Healthcare Ministries http://www.chministries.org/links.asp where you share other people's medical expenses with them. It is not insurnace but helps cover major medical bills as well as homebirth. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to cancelling my insurance.

I don't know the solution. I am generally a libertarian in most things...this one really makes me think that there must be a better way. We are talking about human lives here and there seems to be no simple answer. I have to go because my blood is starting to boil just discussing this again.

Jen