Health Care Reform a Welcome Change

[Sanctuary]

hah! CYA = cover your ass. It's not a medical term. :-D

Sanctuary - hospitals ALSO have an interest in not being sued...

Lol yea you see what I mean. All those tests aren't always necessary but they're done anyway. And when neither the patient or the hospital has to think about the costs, the door for abuse is open.

[vashti]

I think the profit margin for most health insurance companies is around 10% when life insurance is included.

Compare that to the profit margin for grocery stores, which is 1-2%.

Hmmm.......

[Sanctuary]

I just googled "profit margin" and "health insurance" together.

They don't seem to be doing as well as you'd think.

On the other hand, beverage industries seem to be making a killing lol.

[vashti]

They are still making a lot more than grocery stores, and as I pointed out, when combined with the profits of life insurance (related, I think) they are sizeable.

[Sanctuary]

They are still making a lot more than grocery stores, and as I pointed out, when combined with the profits of life insurance (related, I think) they are sizeable.

Life insurance and health insurance are 2 different things. That's like lumping baseball in with lacrosse and saying both sports makes a lot of money.

Well maybe not that extreme but I see what you mean.

[Sanctuary]

Wow I just procrastinated so much time on LF. This is worse than facebook.

[MVPlaya]

Actually, I do think most of the 'sweatshops' in Asia are fine. Child-labour is not fine, there are laws against that. Businesses that sell restricted technology are by definition breaking the law.

I don't see the parallel between insurance companies and businesses that engage in illegal activity.

You attack the insurance company because it worries about it's bottom line. I'm asking why can't it worry about it's bottom line? A business' goals should reflect the interests of it's shareholders. If it didn't, we'd have major problems.

If that is how you view healthcare, the problem is then that healthcare is left to businesses to take care of. Your arguments are great arguments for a public option.

[Petit Papillon]

I'm just wondering... If so many small countries can deal with Free Health Care ,why USA can't? I don't think it's a money problem? Or is, cause suddenly they would have to pay for something that every citizen should have ?
I really don't imagine to get sick and won't be able to go to the doctor because I don't have a health insurance or/and no money to pay for the visit.
But wait... I hope it's not like, that if somebody is dying ,they don't have any medical help? Just tell me cause I really don't know.

[starbuck]

I'm just wondering... If so many small countries can deal with Free Health Care ,why USA can't? I don't think it's a money problem? Or is, cause suddenly they would have to pay for something that every citizen should have ?
I really don't imagine to get sick and won't be able to go to the doctor because I don't have a health insurance or/and no money to pay for the visit.
But wait... I hope it's not like, that if somebody is dying ,they don't have any medical help? Just tell me cause I really don't know.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here in the U.S. if someone goes to the emergency room for a life-threatening emergency, insured or not they'll be treated. It will end up costing them a fortune though.

I don't know if any of you read this story in the New York Times about an uninsured pregnant woman in Florida who got swine flu, lost her baby, and now owes the hospital 200,000 dollars. If this is not an argument for health care reform, I don't know what is.

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/health/20pregnant.html"]http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/health/20pregnant.html[/URL]

[Petit Papillon]

i can't correct You cause i never was there That's why I asked ,but... It's sad. I don't know if I would like to survive just to pay 200 000 $ back... Like, for real ;/

[vashti]

Hospitals are obligated to treat anyone who walks through the door, regardless as to whether or not they are even there with an emergency, and regardless of their ability to pay. That's why you have so many uninsured people sitting in the ER with the common cold. The problem with the US healthcare system (from the patient's point of view) is not on the emergency end... it's on the preventative medicine end. The woman with the $200,000 bill won't be paying it, trust me.

BTW - another big problem with health care comes from the patients, particularly uninsured addicts. They REALLY know how to work the system. They travel from ER to ER claiming chest pain, and get a few days in the hospital being pumped full of morphine while tons of unnecessary tests are done to cover the doctors and hospital's asses. Then when they are discharged, they make their way to another facility and do it all again.

[Only-virgins]

Free health care is the first thing a great country does. America is a piece shit. Can we get free health care already for ****s sake? I haven't done anything with myself. I swear I have been having mild heart attack for a while but **** it if I have to pay I'm staying at home. Where the hell is 30% of each check they steal from me going?!?! $300 dollars for a tooth cavity?...**** it I'm not going...I'll deal with it. I'm sure I'm not the only one living like this.

[Lipp]

Meh, I'm altogether not a fan of having the most vital services provided in a country being owned by, controlled by or dependent upon corporations, their business aims tend to be more suited to other fields.

Public transport, can work out, entire educational system, no, healthcare, no, military, no. And yes, I know that the healthcare itself isn't privately owned, but if insurance is the only way to foot a bill when there's no government support, well, it's a small step.

[starbuck]

The problem is affordability. With less and less employers providing their employees coverage (some companies can get around hiring staff people who they must insure by hiring "freelancers" but keeping them on as if they're fulltime time staff) even professionals in jobs in fields like advertising and publishing are finding themselves completely insured unless they can afford it (They often can't, or have to remain uninsured until they can save up for it, and hope they don't get hit by a car or be stricken with some terrible illness). And the freelancers themselves, well, hell, they just need a job. Insurance is a luxury.

There should be some kind of affordable alternative and the private companies aren't going to provide it, which is why the government needs to step in. If our taxes can fund the military, why shouldn't it fund public health care? Still seems insane to me that we don't have public health care here beyond Medicaid, which only the poorest of the poor qualify for. There is a whole chunk of the population still uninsured, working class, middle class, self-employed, etc.,

[NeoSeminole]

Silly IndiReloaded says:

"We have socialized healthcare in Canada and we don't use PAs.

as usual, you either missed the crux of my post or chose to avoid it. Canada has a population of 33 million while the US has a population of over 300 million. If we extend health insurance to tens of millions more individuals, then overall health care costs will skyrocket and the current shortage of primary care doctors will only get worse. A solution to this dilemma would be to utilize more physician assistants in holistic medicine.

"Its just another category of nurse, really. One more psychologically acceptable to males, I suspect."

sure, just "another category of nurse." lol

Physician Assistants No. 2 on 2009 Best Jobs in America List
[url]http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2009/snapshots/2.html[/url]

PA = glorified nurse, IMO. I don't see them as different from nurse practictioner, maybe not even. Can PAs prescribe any meds?"

you've never worked with a PA. They don't even have them in Canada, and yet you're putting down a profession you know nothing about? Cute.. Here's your homework assignment for the day - read up about PAs, what they do, and their role in the health care team. I look forward to hearing what you've learned