What is Healthcare ??? not many people seem to know.

DoctorWho

The problem with Healthcare is how our dollars are spent.

I for one never asked for "FREE" goldanged Healthcare, if you work a job for 20 years, then are laid off or quit, your healthcare gets cancelled.

The Medicaid system works well in NYS, and you can use private Dentists who get paid fixed fees for each procedure, so do the Doctors you see.

So why not expand the Medicaid program as an option that you can pay into each pay period for premium care at any Healthcare facility, so you also have protection if you are laid off, your plant closes, so you do not lose your Healthcare coverage, and the fee you pay gets lowered as your wages decrease.

Healthcare should not be an all or nothing approach, I think people that want Healthcare should be held responsible if they are addicts / alcoholics and refuse to get into a drug treatment program, they do not need Healthcare.

Healthcare is not free anywhere, those Countries tax the heck out of their citizens, so it is not free.
And people die faster in those Countries due to excessive red tape to get an MRI or any expensive operation.

Preventive care can save billions of dollars, how ? untreated hypertension causes ESRD (kidney failure) debilitating CVAs (strokes) blindness et..... and extended stays at nursing home for these people is very expensive.

Dental care ? poor dental conditions can lead to heart disease and mitral valve disease costing much money in treatment and valve replacement surgery.

Again Healthcare reform is a misnomer, it should be healthcare fund administration reform, calling this socialized medicine is **** !!! We do not need "Socialized Medicine" what We need is the money we pay to go into a fund and this fund vested for our future care, for the working people of this Country.

As a sidenote, I know how Healthcare works, and it seems many folk out there do not, private insurance carriers are run for profit and do not benefit the patient in any way other than to rake in all that money to show a profit to the shareholders.
And if you lose your job, they kick you to the curb.

CHIRO1989

The fee schedule for Medicaid is a joke, I would have to see 100% more patients to get by at those reimbursement rates if those were the only patients I could see, it is actually worse for the dentists. Medicaid are the worst patients, the most likely to not show up, not call, and not follow through, "I forgot" and "I overslept/fell asleep" are common reasons for not showing up. That being said, I have never refused to see anyone based on their insurance or method of payment, just if they are disrespectful to me or staff.

DoctorWho

"The fee schedule for Medicaid is a joke"

I have seen the Medicaid fee schedules, however it is a viable system and can be made to work better.

robert38-55

I think you are right Dr.Who. I for one at this point have been confused and bamboozled by so much political BS, that its going to take me a year or two to sort out all the BS from the truth. I know this: Given a country like we have, and given the great accomplishments this country has made in the 237 year history, given the fact that we used to produce the best teachers, engineers, doctors, professional persons, there is no reason that every working American shouldnot have some type of decent health and hospitalization insurance plan that not only fits a buget, but is reliable and covers any and all health issues, one might have.

bullsi1911

DoctorWho wrote: »

Again Healthcare reform is a misnomer, it should be healthcare fund administration reform, calling this socialized medicine is **** !!! We do not need "Socialized Medicine" what We need is the money we pay to go into a fund and this fund vested for our future care, for the working people of this Country.

What we need is a system where you pay directly for the services you need. Something like... a free market.

And if you can't afford it, that is what charity, family, and pro bono work is for.

DoctorWho

"And if you can't afford it, that is what charity, family, and pro bono work is for."


It will not work, malpractice alone, the devil child in need of an exorcism rears it's ugly head, eliminate that demon seed and the cost of Healthcare dives, feed all the taxes from tobacco and you can have free clinics in every State.

DoctorWho

"Malpractice is an issue, but it gets overblown IMHO."

Yeah sure, Malpractice can clean out a Physician financially and cost them their license to practice medicine, sure sounds overblown to Me..
I think a fair exchange in a malpractice fee setting and lower costs for Healthcare insurance would serve a better purpose.

"Until we begin to openly and honestly discuss this issue we're never going to come close to solving our healthcare problems."

No, that is an ignorant all or nothing BS statement.

All we need is a to be able to buy HC insurance that will pay for the care we need and cover us without any gaps from one job to the next until retirement.
Don't get confused or sanctimonious.

bklysen

....while insurance companies do everything in their power to deny claims....

That is absurd. They do everything they can do to stay in business, while balancing risks. They owe an honest effort to those that work for them. Unfortunately, I have some very recent experience with insurance coverage that completely and thoroughly refutes that statement, and I had to take issue with it.

Alpha, you bloviate. You pontificate. Other than that, carry on.

DoctorWho

I have actually worked in Healthcare, filled out medical claims and so forth, I do know how the system works from the inside.
I still maintain evidence to back it up, most people are ignorant about Healthcare, they know they need it but the how sure evades even those charged with improving it.

" The current all or nothing system clearly isn't working."

Well that sure is an understatement.

Jeeper

alphasigmookie wrote: »

That sounds great as a soundbite but doesn't work all that well in practice. It may work ok for things like regular doctors checkups and things like common colds and flu, but it doesn't work so well for major medical events like car accidents, cancer, heart attacks, etc. Do you have $100k in the bank to pay for treatment if you or someone in your family got cancer? Even then should your entire savings be wiped out to pay or you just left to die if you can't? What if you get sick as a child and your parents can't pay? Should we just thank Darwin for removing your defective genes from the gene pool?

There needs to be some sort of system to spread risk, otherwise people have to save up money and not spend it just in case the worst case scenario hits them. A major problem with the economy of China is that people save something like 40% of their income to pay for school for their kids, health care costs, retirement, etc. When you have that much money sitting idle you have issues with growing your domestic economy and the only way you can grow is by forcing your goods onto the export market.

Insurance makes a lot of economic sense for spreading catastrophic risk. No one complains about car insurance, homeowners insurance (both of which you are required to purchase btw), or even the socialist national flood insurance program that many in the country are having to take advantage of this year. Spreading risk by pooling lots of people together is a long established and efficient way to deal with risk. The only problem is that unlike the car and homeowners insurance industries, the health insurance industry is not transparent and there is not open market competition due to the current employer centric structure of the current system.

Yes, but what we have now, and what we are busy discussing, is NOT "catastrophic health insurance". What we have been discussing is HEALTH PLANS (general). These are NOT the same things. Car insurance (to which you liken it) is NOT a "car care plan".... it's for when you have an honest to goodness ACCIDENT. You can't go bill your vehicle insurance company for your latest engine tune-up. If you want to do that, your vehicle insurance is going to be a LOT more.

Perhaps a more important question to ask is, at what point do we decide that one person's catastrophic health costs become too great a burden on the system. Admit it, there are only so many doctors, so many nurses, and only so much money to go around for health care in general. Is it responsible to let one person rack up $500,000+ in health care bills for (for example) a terminal case of cancer when we have many children who are not getting adequate health care?

The three major issues that need to be addressed atm are IMO
1) Tort reform. Ridiculous lawsuits are a HUGE driving force in medical costs.
2) Reasonable cutoff's for maximum payouts.
3) Addressing the issue of allowing people who either cannot or will not contribute to our system to have an unlimited number of children (ie. crackhead moms & dads)

Address these three issues, and you'll solve MOST of our current problems IMO.

Luis

shotgunshooter3

I don't really have much to add to these debates. I've been fortunate enough my whole life to fall under either my Dad's health insurance from work, or Tri-Care. Reading these threads here has been very informative for me.