Monday, January 16, 2006
For Rozetta.
Imagine you are standing in line at a supermarket buying a loaf of bread. The guy in front of you just paid one dollar for his loaf of bread and the guy in front of him paid fifty cents. Now it’s your turn in line. The cashier scans the loaf of bread and says, “That’ll be $2.50.” You would never tolerate this behavior but this is how the medical field bills you.
Did you ever notice there is no sign hanging in the doctor’s office or hospital explaining fees or hourly rates. That is because you are charged based upon your ability to pay. If you have no insurance you are charged more than the guy with insurance. This reminds me of the movie Vacation when Chevy Chase gets his car fixed in that small town. When the car is finished he asks the guy, “How much?” And the guy responds with, “How much you got?” I laughed my ass off then, but I cry today because this is no joke – it’s the reality.
Health care providers can legally charge one individual 5 and up to 10 times more than someone else for the exact same service. A retiree on Medicare or an employee at a Fortune 500 company pays the least. Everyone else pays more with the uninsured paying the most. Why is this tolerated?
The primary reason nobody can afford healthcare is because about twenty years ago the healthcare industry was given a make over by Washington. A system that was completely non-profit and committed to patient care is now run by "for profit" corporations only committed to earning fat profits. Publicly held corporations answerable to stockholders decide which doctor we can see, which test we are given, which treatment we get as a result of the test, and if we live or die.
Patients wait months for appointments as their medical condition is often evaluated by accounting clerks with no medical training. And these are the lucky ones, the ones who are lucky enough to work for a large corporation with healthcare. Everybody else when they get sick will either be denied healthcare and die, or will lose their home and all other possessions to get treatment. 18,000 uninsured people die every year in America because they have no health insurance and cannot get the treatments needed to save their life.
Politicians like to say that American has the best healthcare system in the world. In truth, it doesn’t come close. Sure we have many talented doctors and nurses but our system is the worst in the civilized world. Here are some facts about America’s healthcare system:
• Excludes 44 million Americans.
• Excludes patients with “costly”, life threatening diseases.
• Discourages doctors from practicing in rural areas.
• Protects bad doctors, driving up malpractice insurance for good doctors.
• Focuses on saving dollars NOT saving lives.
• Allows unscrupulous doctors to victimize elderly patients by prescribing painful, dangerous procedures that are unnecessary but highly profitable.
• Rewards doctors for prescribing less-costly procedures for the insured, regardless of the effect on the patient’s health.
• Taxpayers subsidize the cost of pharmaceutical research and then pay the highest price for drugs than any other country in the world.
• Hospitals charge the highest prices to those least able to pay.
• United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation – 15.3 percent of gross domestic product, and fewer are covered.
• Pay for a man’s ability to get an erection but deny a woman’s coverage for birth control pills.
This does not sound like a good healthcare system to me. Other civilized nations have national healthcare plans so their citizens get healthcare when needed, and they spend less than 15.3% of the gross domestic product for complete coverage. They do not have to worry about seeking care if they become ill or losing their house or filing for bankruptcy. Instead of a war on terrorism or a war on drugs why don't we declare war on healthcare costs?
This is another classic example of how our government, both Republican and Democrat, has abandoned the middle and lower classes and left us as at the mercy of wealthier, corporate America. The lobbyists for these corporations have given much wealth to both political parties to get the rules changed. Even though these rules do not help Americans, our government allowed these changes. In a rational and logical society, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few but not in America. The needs of the wealthiest 1% outweigh everybody else.
As long as Washington continues to abandon its citizens and let corporate American run healthcare, tens of billions of dollars that should be spent on patients will vanish in waste, inefficiency, fraud and profits.
Imagine you are standing in line at a supermarket buying a loaf of bread. The guy in front of you just paid one dollar for his loaf of bread and the guy in front of him paid fifty cents. Now it’s your turn in line. The cashier scans the loaf of bread and says, “That’ll be $2.50.” You would never tolerate this behavior but this is how the medical field bills you.
Did you ever notice there is no sign hanging in the doctor’s office or hospital explaining fees or hourly rates. That is because you are charged based upon your ability to pay. If you have no insurance you are charged more than the guy with insurance. This reminds me of the movie Vacation when Chevy Chase gets his car fixed in that small town. When the car is finished he asks the guy, “How much?” And the guy responds with, “How much you got?” I laughed my ass off then, but I cry today because this is no joke – it’s the reality.
Health care providers can legally charge one individual 5 and up to 10 times more than someone else for the exact same service. A retiree on Medicare or an employee at a Fortune 500 company pays the least. Everyone else pays more with the uninsured paying the most. Why is this tolerated?
The primary reason nobody can afford healthcare is because about twenty years ago the healthcare industry was given a make over by Washington. A system that was completely non-profit and committed to patient care is now run by "for profit" corporations only committed to earning fat profits. Publicly held corporations answerable to stockholders decide which doctor we can see, which test we are given, which treatment we get as a result of the test, and if we live or die.
Patients wait months for appointments as their medical condition is often evaluated by accounting clerks with no medical training. And these are the lucky ones, the ones who are lucky enough to work for a large corporation with healthcare. Everybody else when they get sick will either be denied healthcare and die, or will lose their home and all other possessions to get treatment. 18,000 uninsured people die every year in America because they have no health insurance and cannot get the treatments needed to save their life.
Politicians like to say that American has the best healthcare system in the world. In truth, it doesn’t come close. Sure we have many talented doctors and nurses but our system is the worst in the civilized world. Here are some facts about America’s healthcare system:
• Excludes 44 million Americans.
• Excludes patients with “costly”, life threatening diseases.
• Discourages doctors from practicing in rural areas.
• Protects bad doctors, driving up malpractice insurance for good doctors.
• Focuses on saving dollars NOT saving lives.
• Allows unscrupulous doctors to victimize elderly patients by prescribing painful, dangerous procedures that are unnecessary but highly profitable.
• Rewards doctors for prescribing less-costly procedures for the insured, regardless of the effect on the patient’s health.
• Taxpayers subsidize the cost of pharmaceutical research and then pay the highest price for drugs than any other country in the world.
• Hospitals charge the highest prices to those least able to pay.
• United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation – 15.3 percent of gross domestic product, and fewer are covered.
• Pay for a man’s ability to get an erection but deny a woman’s coverage for birth control pills.
This does not sound like a good healthcare system to me. Other civilized nations have national healthcare plans so their citizens get healthcare when needed, and they spend less than 15.3% of the gross domestic product for complete coverage. They do not have to worry about seeking care if they become ill or losing their house or filing for bankruptcy. Instead of a war on terrorism or a war on drugs why don't we declare war on healthcare costs?
This is another classic example of how our government, both Republican and Democrat, has abandoned the middle and lower classes and left us as at the mercy of wealthier, corporate America. The lobbyists for these corporations have given much wealth to both political parties to get the rules changed. Even though these rules do not help Americans, our government allowed these changes. In a rational and logical society, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few but not in America. The needs of the wealthiest 1% outweigh everybody else.
As long as Washington continues to abandon its citizens and let corporate American run healthcare, tens of billions of dollars that should be spent on patients will vanish in waste, inefficiency, fraud and profits.
posted by DarthImmortal at 10:11 AM
3 Comments:
Great blog I hope we can work to build a better health care system as we are in a major crisis and health insurance is a major aspect to many.
I have always admired the Canadian System. Healthcare for everyone on the same level. I completely agree with you.
Having worked for a hospital for a time, I saw how the insurance companies pushed it around, denied coverage for specific items that were supposed to be covered. And of course my favorite, the Pre-Existing Condition Clause, which meant the insurance company wouldn't cover any illness or condition that the person already suffered from, prior to the start of their insurance coverage.
The survival of this nation, any nation, is ultimately determined by how well their government tends to the freedoms of its people, and how it respects them. I think the welfare of the people should be the number one concern of businesses in general (the employees, the clients, and the nation), with profit coming second. If you treat your clients and employees well, you will typically do well financially to boot.
As far as I am concerned, the way the healthcare system allows so many to fall through the cracks is an Act of Treason to the People of the United States of America, and is no different than selling national secrets to a foreign country. Both harm the country from within. And I think THAT is a greater thing to be concerned with than even enemies abroad.
Just a few stanzas from a poem I wrote a few years back which seems appropo:
There's foolishness in government, it's clear they've lost their way,
instead of forming better lives, they throw it all away,
they pat each others backs and steal, make deals behind the door,
forgetting who's employing them, and what their jobs are for.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, leaders come and go,
pay him off - don't rock the boat, enjoy the status quo,
and when one wants to make a change, completely clear the slate,
intimidation fails to halt, so just assassinate.
There's trouble in Big Business now, competition is now greed,
sell your mother for a song, let all our rivals bleed,
we'll hurt the country - so, who cares?, with profits hand and fist,
to gain the world and lose their souls, there's something that they've missed.
There's judgement in Insurance now, like Tablets from the sky,
a pre-existing illness eh?, we'll have to let you die,
Skip hospitals and doctors then, we chain them like a slave,
with paperwork condemn thee all, just dig yourself a grave.
(It actually turns into an uplifting type of poem at the end. LOL)
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