God @#%@ I hate our healthcare system

[Attic]

TBH you can ask most surgeons what a prodecure will run and they can give you a pretty accurate cost for what THEY BILL

most of the cost comes from the other hospitial bullshit like charging 500$ for a disposiable gown and other stupid crap like a 300$ dose of asprin. - that shit you cant ask about

if you happen to get an itemized bill its pretty insane what they bill for all that crap. its generally not the Doc who is doing the operation who is charging you an arm and a leg

I'll never forget when I went in for chest pains and as I was lying in a room a worker (nurse?) comes by and says, "hey, i've got this extra aspirin that a patient didn't want, do you want it?"

Sounds wierd, but it happened.

On the bill it was $74, for that single "oops, want this?" aspirin.

Our health system is scam, it's a wonder it's still going. Lets have costs that the market simply can't afford, and instead of having costs come down we let health insurers write a bill that got passed so that the government can play thug $$$ collector through taxes and fines to subsidize health insurers continued ability to charge more for health insurance than the market can bear. Brilliant?...!*#$ So not only did insurers write a bill that mandated people buy their overpriced crap, they wrote it so that the federal government would be a major enforcer of the scheme.

What better place to let crony capitalism run wildly rampant than on a bunch of idiots who'd vote for exactly this outcome.

 

[mrrman]

love our health care in Canada...had to buy drugs for $3.5K...didnt pay a cent...100% covered

 

[boomerang]

Canada's system sounds good unless you get sick.

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/display.aspx?id=21211

Wait times for health care in Canada have lengthened considerably over the past two decades. Across 12 major medical specialties, the estimated typical wait time has risen from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 18.2 weeks in 2013. These inordinately long waits, among the longest in the developed world, have become a defining feature of the Canadian healthcare experience.

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uplo...fect-of-wait-times-on-mortality-in-canada.pdf

Little if anything is to be emulated in the Canadian system of health care. Those that have not been affected negatively by the system and those that have not lost a loved one to the system are of course, enamored of it.

If we want to change the system in the U.S., we need to not model it on failing systems in other nations. The first step is to realize that Obamacare is an utter failure.

All over the news lately are stories that make it very clear that our government cannot effectively administer a system on the scale of the VA health care system so clearly a single payer system administered through the government is not the answer. What to do? I don't know what the correct course of action is but the wrong course is staring us in the face. We cannot be swayed by those that feel "doing something" is better than doing nothing. Frankly, we can't afford to just, do something.

Going to a single payer system administered by the government will not work in this nation. We have the proof before us in the headlines today.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Canada's system sounds good unless you get sick.

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/display.aspx?id=21211

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uplo...fect-of-wait-times-on-mortality-in-canada.pdf

Little if anything is to be emulated in the Canadian system of health care. Those that have not been affected negatively by the system and those that have not lost a loved one to the system are of course, enamored of it.

If we want to change the system in the U.S., we need to not model it on failing systems in other nations. The first step is to realize that Obamacare is an utter failure.

All over the news lately are stories that make it very clear that our government cannot effectively administer a system on the scale of the VA health care system so clearly a single payer system administered through the government is not the answer. What to do? I don't know what the correct course of action is but the wrong course is staring us in the face. We cannot be swayed by those that feel "doing something" is better than doing nothing. Frankly, we can't afford to just, do something.

Going to a single payer system administered by the government will not work in this nation. We have the proof before us in the headlines today.

I've had some family that lived in Canada and they claimed the wait times were no more than they were here in the US, I honestly think the "wait times" are a boogey man to keep people afraid of going single payer.

 

[WelshBloke]

Going to a single payer system administered by the government will not work in this nation.

Why? Is there something unique about Americans that leaves you unable to run things?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Why? Is there something unique about Americans that leaves you unable to run things?

We have a high level of entitlement and a political aversion to being told "no!" even if it is good for us.

So we need a system where we pay some private company to be the bad guy and set up the "death panels" (which is what every insurance company does), because if politicians are at the switch they will just let everything through in order to get re-elected and our national health care costs will double overnight (which just means our deficit gets that much bigger).

Maybe one day we will grow an American politician with some backbone and enough popular support to set up a responsible system. Until that day we are stuck in the middle.

 

[waggy]

Why? Is there something unique about Americans that leaves you unable to run things?

greed and corruption run unchecked. Those in power (politicians) are on the take so they won't do anything to stop the cash flow.

The VA is just proof that we having the government in charge of health care is a very bad idea.

 

[boomerang]

Why? Is there something unique about Americans that leaves you unable to run things?

Waggy answered for me.

 

[WelshBloke]

We have a high level of entitlement and a political aversion to being told "no!" even if it is good for us.

greed and corruption run unchecked. Those in power (politicians) are on the take so they won't do anything to stop the cash flow.

Neither of those are specific problems to do with healthcare.

You seem happy to let the state run other things, why should healthcare be better off with insurance companies running it?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Neither of those are specific problems to do with healthcare.

No, it is an issue with the American mindset which is MUCH harder to change than what doctor gives what patient some care.

You seem happy to let the state run other things, why should healthcare be better off with insurance companies running it?

Actually in America we have a growing momentum to NOT let the state handle the icky stuff politically because of our mindset. Hence the privatizations of things like prisons, schools, etc.

 

[Jeff7]

Canada's system sounds good unless you get sick.
...

And the US's system sounds good unless you're below upper-middle class.

Why? Is there something unique about Americans that leaves you unable to run things?

Our politicians are too busy doing whatever it takes to get reelected, so they have little time remaining to actually do anything of value. Then they spend half of the time left over to complain about the difficult and burdensome job they have.
Then >90% of them do get reelected.
Congressional approval ratings are incredibly low. It was in the single-digits at one point last year, and is in the teens this year. But reelection rates remain very high.

"Everyone else sucks. But my Congressman is different. He genuinely cares about what matters to me!"

...
You seem happy to let the state run other things, why should healthcare be better off with insurance companies running it?

Saying that sort of thing is what triggers the "communism/socialist" mental tags that our culture acquired during the Cold War.
Things like interstate highways don't really factor into that sort of thing. Why, I've never even driven an inch on I-70, but I bet I'm paying money to have it maintained. Damn commies.

...
Actually in America we have a growing momentum to NOT let the state handle the icky stuff politically because of our mindset. Hence the privatizations of things like prisons, schools, etc.

Highest incarceration rate in the world, a war on drugs with mandatory jailtime for offenders, for-profit prisons with negotiated guaranteed minimum occupancy levels, and the ability to use cheap prisoner labor. What could possibly go wrong with that setup?

 

[squarecut1]

I am neither to the left nor right - both sides have the good and bad. But the sheer cruelty of this health care system in supposedly the richest nation on earth is a moral outrage, and then some.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am neither to the left nor right - both sides have the good and bad. But the sheer cruelty of this health care system in supposedly the richest nation on earth is a moral outrage, and then some.

American didn't get rich giving stuff to people for free.






(yes that was tongue-in-cheek)

 

[squarecut1]

American didn't get rich giving stuff to people for free.


(yes that was tongue-in-cheek)

Yes, I know 🙂

But it is a strange and sad state of affairs that some new laptops cost less than what it does for treatment of something as common as cold / flu. Which would be just the exact opposite in most parts of the world.

 

[boomerang]

Neither of those are specific problems to do with healthcare.

You seem happy to let the state run other things, why should healthcare be better off with insurance companies running it?

So you say that faced with two choices known to be wrong, we still must pick one? No. There are other options but our elected "leaders" are too busy fighting over who's going to be king of the hill to address them.

 

[ZaneNBK]

Got a bill from the local hospital for my wife's recent ER visit for ~$13,000. Turns out they didn't get current insurance info from her and had her plan for 6-7 years ago on file. After filing with the correct insurance policy the total went down to $2,200, of which we had to pay ~$800. The BS they pull with uninsured prices is ridiculous.

The doctor involved sent us a similar bill for ~$800 after filing the wrong insurance claim, that'll probably end up being <$200 after allowed costs and we'll probably pay $50 of it or less.

 

[bradley]

In order for any market to work effectively, you need to have information. If all consumers had easy access to prices for procedures just like they would for buying any other product or service, they could shop around and get good deals. That's why the prices are virtually impossible to determine up front.....

In just a few brief sentences you invalidated all 11,000+ pages of the Abominable Care Act. lol

 

[mcurphy]

My doctor referred me to a specialist to look at a mark on my arm. It was a small little rough patch that developed a few years ago, and the specialist took a graft to determine if it may be cancerous or not. After this little procedure, he asked if I had any other concerns. I told him about these little skin tags I had in each arm pit, and asked if he recommended any specific way to remove them. I told him I had seen several methods on the internet for home remedies. He told me "oh, I can just snip those off now if you'd like." Sure, I said, and literally within 5 minutes he snipped each one off with little scissors.

Two weeks later I received a bill for $250, my insurance didn't cover this cosmetic procedure. Pissed me right the fuck off, of course it was my own damn fault for going with his "suggestion" and kind offer, instead of asking more questions. I still felt a little betrayed, and shocked that this douche made $250 for 5 minutes of "work". I'm not rich by any means, and struggle sometimes to get by, and here this asshole just assumes everyone has hundreds of dollars for bullshit work that I could have done at home for next to nothing, which is what my inquiry was about to begin with.

Anyhow, the results came back negative for skin cancer, and I no longer have little warts in my arm pits. :/

 

[notposting]

Well, to cheer everyone up, our insurance boned the hospital I stayed at after Christmas.

Went in with racing heart beat, skipping beats, pressure in the chest (woke up at 1am day after Christmas and went in around 8am). Stayed one night, had ECG's, IV's, got checked for the flu, blood draws for infection, chest x-rays, heart ultrasound thingy, blah blah blah.

The hospital initially sent their portion to Aetna as "$9900, bitches" pretty much. Was sent back for more detail, and they sat on it for about 2-3 weeks. Nearly everything was rejected, Aetna only paid out on one item billed for around $1000. I actually felt kind of bad...

Mostly because I like that hospital and want to be able to go back lol.

 

[Mai72]

If you've been to other countries you will see that our health care system sucks the big fat one. They are only interested in one thing and that's making a profit.

Korea was awesome. A doctor visit was only $20. I was normally seen within 10 minutes. If I needed meds they only cost me $2. I had all of this done without health insurance.

 

[Noo]

If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. The average peasant will save $2500 a year.

 

[squarecut1]

God I :$_-&) %= hate the insurance companies. Such bastards. Such f&$=/ bastards

 

[xeemzor]

Seriously, how have we not yet required simplified up-front pricing for non-emergency medical care? It should be like buying a car, with a price sheet detailing the base cost and options. Insurance should be simple enough that you can take the base cost and calculate your OOP. Unhappy with the price? Look for another, cheaper provider.

There are some places that do. Google the surgery center of oklahoma.

 

[her209]

I've had some family that lived in Canada and they claimed the wait times were no more than they were here in the US, I honestly think the "wait times" are a boogey man to keep people afraid of going single payer.

Agreed.

Estimate typical wait times going up isn't necessarily a sign that the health care system is a failure. If the small stuff is being caught and treated early enough, depending on how the wait times are being determined, those "savings" aren't being factored in. Likewise, early screenings and testing can catch onset of a more serious health issue which in turn means more people are being treated but also raises the estimate wait times.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Our health care may not be perfect but I will take it over the US system any day.

I have a hard time believing that the US does not have wait times as well. In fact it may even be worse in some instances given there is a bigger population.