Texas Ebola patient dies

[Matt1970]

And to top it off, it is most expensive health care system as well.

All you have to do is look at what we have done to our education system in the US to see what great and wonderful things we have in store for our government's total takeover of healthcare. I can hardly wait..........

 

[doubledeluxe]

It's awful. Even with health insurance and a HSA to cover every possible expense I was always saddled with non stop bullshit and 4 digit bills that the insurance refused to pay. Now of course I would fight with them and 6 months later they would give in and cover the procedure but it was a huge time drain. Was a giant joke that I had a one inch file on my desk at all times with notes keeping things organized just to deal with my insurance company. And in case you're wondering I'm healthy. Just active which means the occasional broken bones or other normal wear and tear that the human body goes through.

Even with insurance our system does not work. Get cancer or real sick and you're probably going to need a second mortgage or file for bankruptcy.

My health care costs in other countries was not even an issue . When done correctly health care is affordable and relatively simple.

 

[theeedude]

"Although 3,109 hospitals receive this adjustment, Medicare DSH payments are highly concentrated. Ninety three percent of total DSH payments go to large hospitals in urban areas and teaching hospitals receive about 65 percent of all DSH payments."

So much for your theory that Medicaid expansions in rural areas were going to offset uninsured reimbursements. Doesn't look like they were getting any of the reimbursements to begin with. I also cannot find how much partial compensation amounts to.

If you really want to remain ignorant, where there is a will, there is a way
Luckily the people of your state knew better, so it's all just hot air. But many states aren't so lucky, Texas being one. But it looks like they are getting a crash course.

 

[doubledeluxe]

Here's another idiotic thing about our healthcare system.

I got hit with a $5000 bill for a scan. Wtf. So after spending months getting the insurance to pay for it I decided I needed to try to cut down on the time wasted. I was heading to Africa and needed a yellow fever vaccine and a few other things so I got the procedure codes and called up my insurance to make sure everything was covered.

They refused to give me an answer. They will only look at approving a procedure after it's been done.

It's idiotic.

 

[DCal430]

There is a reason many right wing states such ass Utah and Pennyslvania have decided to expand medicaid, because they realized the screwed up by not doing it earlier.

 

[boomerang]

Here's another idiotic thing about our healthcare system.

I got hit with a $5000 bill for a scan. Wtf. So after spending months getting the insurance to pay for it I decided I needed to try to cut down on the time wasted. I was heading to Africa and needed a yellow fever vaccine and a few other things so I got the procedure codes and called up my insurance to make sure everything was covered.

They refused to give me an answer. They will only look at approving a procedure after it's been done.

It's idiotic.

Your issue is with your insurer and you've given several examples of that but you're very glad to throw that blanket over every health care provider. It's not our 'healthcare system' that is your problem, it's your provider. Your assumption that a government run health care system would cure many if not all ills is simplistic. We have examples of the pitfalls of government run systems and agencies aplenty and this very thread is about one. It's becoming apparent that the CDC is very good at what they do as long as nothing untoward actually happens. One instances of a brutal disease hitting our shores has shown how inadequate their processes and their leader truly is. The latest victim contracted it despite wearing full protective gear.

Ebola having been more or less invited to our shores should be a wake up call to the worshipers of government. But that doesn't appear to be the case. What exactly will it take to get these same people to raise a wary eyebrow? The answer is that there is nothing that will shake their faith. Instead of having faith in themselves, they foist it off on government and continue to throw money at them them despite their failures. The same thing over and over expecting a different result.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

There is a reason many right wing states such ass Utah and Pennyslvania have decided to expand medicaid, because they realized the screwed up by not doing it earlier.

So tell us about how health care for the typical PA resident compares to that of an ordinary North Korean citizen? What disease has their Dear Leader cured with the magical unicorn horn they found?

 

[theeedude]

Your issue is with your insurer and you've given several examples of that but you're very glad to throw that blanket over every health care provider. It's not our 'healthcare system' that is your problem, it's your provider. Your assumption that a government run health care system would cure many if not all ills is simplistic. We have examples of the pitfalls of government run systems and agencies aplenty and this very thread is about one. It's becoming apparent that the CDC is very good at what they do as long as nothing untoward actually happens. One instances of a brutal disease hitting our shores has shown how inadequate their processes and their leader truly is. The latest victim contracted it despite wearing full protective gear.

Ebola having been more or less invited to our shores should be a wake up call to the worshipers of government. But that doesn't appear to be the case. What exactly will it take to get these same people to raise a wary eyebrow? The answer is that there is nothing that will shake their faith. Instead of having faith in themselves, they foist it off on government and continue to throw money at them them despite their failures. The same thing over and over expecting a different result.

Typical rightwing rant. Gut the government with spending cuts, complain about the government not doing enough. Propose to fix the problem with more cuts.

 

[theeedude]

So tell us about how health care for the typical PA resident compares to that of an ordinary North Korean citizen? What disease has their Dear Leader cured with the magical unicorn horn they found?

Beating North Korea at orders of magnitude the cost, the new Republican definition of a successful health care system

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Here's another idiotic thing about our healthcare system.

I got hit with a $5000 bill for a scan. Wtf. So after spending months getting the insurance to pay for it I decided I needed to try to cut down on the time wasted. I was heading to Africa and needed a yellow fever vaccine and a few other things so I got the procedure codes and called up my insurance to make sure everything was covered.

They refused to give me an answer. They will only look at approving a procedure after it's been done.

It's idiotic.

This is absolutely an issue with your provider. I've had both a CT scan and MRI in the last year and my copay was no more than a $100 for either. The facilities I use always get procedure preapproved with the insurance provider and informed me of my copay prior to scheduling the procedure.

 

[werepossum]

You have to be a moron to believe that lack of Medicaid expansion had nothing to do with Ebola patients not getting care. You treat patients different if you assume you are getting paid vs if you assume you are taking a loss. Then you do the bare minimum the law requires, which is get the patient stable enough and out the door.
"Hospitals will provide care" but there is a difference between "care" that barely satisfies EMTALA, and discharges you in stable condition, vs care that aims to actually find out what's wrong with you and provide curative treatment. This Republican naivete that ER's are a replacement for universal health insurance is just plain folly.

Ahem. You've just been owned by DCal430.

Again this patient wasn't a resident of the U.S or a U.S Citizen, they were a foreigner visiting the U.S, on a short term VISA. They have nothing to do with medicaid. This would be like a Canadian visiting the U.S, nothing to do with medicaid.

I salute you for not seeing this as something furthering your left wing beliefs. That's never an easy thing for any of us.

You have provided absolutely no evidence whatsoever that anyone was knowingly sent home or refused treatment due ability to pay who was known to have or was thought might have ebola. The first incident was already understood by virtually everyone and when it was later realized he got in and RICK PERRY didn't put him back on the street.

Now would be a good time to say something like "Gee I feel really strongly about having more people covered but I got a little carried away and now I realize that no one has been harmed by ebola due to lack of treatment due to insurance. Dumb moment, sorry."

If you did that I'd be "Hey it happens". As it is now, you aren't looking too good. Maybe Perrybola?

lol +1

Also goes back to the education aspect of implementing a protocol.
1. Management: We have implemented a protocol for managing Ebolla.
2. Nurses: No one has explained this protocol to us.
3. Nurse has Ebolla.
4. Management: This was a breach in protocol.

Well DUH.

 

[fskimospy]

This is absolutely an issue with your provider. I've had both a CT scan and MRI in the last year and my copay was no more than a $100 for either. The facilities I use always get procedure preapproved with the insurance provider and informed me of my copay prior to scheduling the procedure.

If it was a CT scan or something of that type that's particularly ridiculous as your average charge for a CT scan is somewhere around $400-500 even if you have no insurance.

 

[bshole]

Is it ok to panic now? This is some scarey shit. The CDC looks absolutely terrible throughout this. I wish they would quit telling us how they have this under control and how difficult it is to transmit. Everytime they open their mouths they get proven wrong. Jesus I have lost all confidence in these buffoons.

 

[fskimospy]

Is it ok to panic now? This is some scarey shit. The CDC looks absolutely terrible throughout this. I wish they would quit telling us how they have this under control and how difficult it is to transmit. Everytime they open their mouths they get proven wrong. Jesus I have lost all confidence in these buffoons.

Why would you panic? Use your head.

The CDC has looked fine so far, in fact they have been pretty much entirely right about things so far.

People on here always seem to think they are more logical than the average person. You guys are going to feel awfully silly when you realize you were sent into bouts of hysteria so easily.

 

[WelshBloke]

Is it ok to panic now?

Feel free to panic all you like, at least people that actually have some knowledge about the situation are in charge.
You panicking at least interjects some humour into the situation.

This is some scarey shit.

Its scary if you've got it, or if you have close contact with someone with it otherwise it's an interesting, if tragic, news story.

The CDC looks absolutely terrible throughout this. I wish they would quit telling us how they have this under control and how difficult it is to transmit. Everytime they open their mouths they get proven wrong. Jesus I have lost all confidence in these buffoons.

They look like they are doing fine from here, it's not exactly spreading like wildfire there is it?

 

[werepossum]

The reason some places do not accept medicare or medicaid isn't due to the reimbursed amount, its about the length of time until payment.

It can be both. I've spoken to my doctor about the "No new Medicare/Medicaid patients accepted" signs and he tells me that compensation is well below the cost of providing the care, so the only way they can provide ongoing care to their existing patients who are on or graduate to Medicare is to accept only privately insured new patients. Even this is no panacea; my new ACA-compliant BCBS-TN policy pays providers at a lower scale, and they do not accept new patients with that plan either.

This is a major problem and it's not just the ACA and Medicare/Medicaid. For years, private insurance companies have been negotiating reduced compensation for health care providers. We just had a doctor cancel an expansion and renovation project we had already finished. Between the cuts in Medicare/Medicaid compensation, the new people with ACA-compliant but low compensation plans, and the general reductions in compensation for general practitioners, he came to the conclusion that he was working for practically nothing, and if you are losing money on each patient, seeing more patients is no solution. Even with adding nurse practitioners, he could not develop a workable business plan which would give him enough space to add nurse practitioners and break even paying for the expansion. Thus instead of expanding his practice, he retired. Two of the GPs (one was in geriatrics which is nearly exclusively Medicare) at my doctor's office have retired for similar reasons, and honestly I think the only reason my doctor hasn't followed them is that he is one of the Doctors Without Borders - he regularly makes trips to Africa and his practice keeps his license and certifications current as well as helping fund his trips.

 

[werepossum]

Someone texted me this. They said they got it from the net somewhere

More Americans have been dumped by Taylor Swift than have died from ebola

lol There is nothing I've seen that sums it up so well.

 

[theeedude]

Ahem. You've just been owned by DCal430.
Well DUH.

Well WHOOSH.

 

[bshole]

They look like they are doing fine from here, it's not exactly spreading like wildfire there is it?

You realize that it is a single mutation away from catastrophic civilization altering destruction? Couple a 50% lethality rate with air-borne transmission and you just wiped out half the population of the United States. Unlike ISIS, this is a clear and present danger to the United States. The CDC should not be in the business of caliming fears, they should be in the business of killing this epidemic.

PS. My cabin up north is only an hour or so out of Minneapolis. Bober if you are interested in hunkering down with me to weather this one out, I may have an empty cot for you. I will have to charge you a nominal bunking fee.... maybe $100/day and you will need to supply your own food.

 

[theeedude]

It can be both. I've spoken to my doctor about the "No new Medicare/Medicaid patients accepted" signs and he tells me that compensation is well below the cost of providing the care, so the only way they can provide ongoing care to their existing patients who are on or graduate to Medicare is to accept only privately insured new patients. Even this is no panacea; my new ACA-compliant BCBS-TN policy pays providers at a lower scale, and they do not accept new patients with that plan either.

This is a major problem and it's not just the ACA and Medicare/Medicaid. For years, private insurance companies have been negotiating reduced compensation for health care providers. We just had a doctor cancel an expansion and renovation project we had already finished. Between the cuts in Medicare/Medicaid compensation, the new people with ACA-compliant but low compensation plans, and the general reductions in compensation for general practitioners, he came to the conclusion that he was working for practically nothing, and if you are losing money on each patient, seeing more patients is no solution. Even with adding nurse practitioners, he could not develop a workable business plan which would give him enough space to add nurse practitioners and break even paying for the expansion. Thus instead of expanding his practice, he retired. Two of the GPs (one was in geriatrics which is nearly exclusively Medicare) at my doctor's office have retired for similar reasons, and honestly I think the only reason my doctor hasn't followed them is that he is one of the Doctors Without Borders - he regularly makes trips to Africa and his practice keeps his license and certifications current as well as helping fund his trips.

They are under-compensated, you see

 

[WelshBloke]

You realize that it is a single mutation away from catastrophic civilization altering destruction?

So is flu.
So are squirrels.
So is my mum.

Couple a 50% lethality rate with air-borne transmission and you just wiped out half the population of the United States.

You really think that this is going to wipe out half of the US?
Shouldn't you be building and stocking your bunker rather than posting here if you believe that?

The CDC should not be in the business of caliming fears, they should be in the business of killing this epidemic.

Well given that, as per your claims, of it being airborne, highly contagious and able to wipe out half the US they would seem to be doing a fantastic job.
Hell, anything under a million or so deaths in those circumstances should get them all medals, yes?

 

[bshole]

Shouldn't you be building and stocking your bunker rather than posting here if you believe that?

If it goes airborne, I will be up there the next day. Where will you be?

 

[WelshBloke]

If it goes airborne, I will be up there the next day. Where will you be?

Can I have some more details about your imaginary scenario first?

Do I get special mutant powers as well?

 

[zephyrprime]

So is flu.

Actually, I think I recall that studying the ww1 flu showed that current flus are 3 mutations away from becoming like the ww1 flue.

 

[fskimospy]

You realize that it is a single mutation away from catastrophic civilization altering destruction? Couple a 50% lethality rate with air-borne transmission and you just wiped out half the population of the United States. Unlike ISIS, this is a clear and present danger to the United States. The CDC should not be in the business of caliming fears, they should be in the business of killing this epidemic.

Except that we don't have a single case ever where a virus has changed like that. Imagine how bad it would be if AIDS had gone airborne or if Hepatitis or some other disease had done so. And guess what? They have infected millions and millions and millions of people, giving them many many orders of magnitude more chances to do so. They haven't.

What the CDC should actually be doing is viewing this disease rationally, assessing the threat vs. the costs of various containment efforts and proceeding accordingly. Just like they're doing.

You're ignorant of the disease and acting hysterically. The reason the CDC isn't doing what you want is that they are neither ignorant nor hysterical.

PS. My cabin up north is only an hour or so out of Minneapolis. Bober if you are interested in hunkering down with me to weather this one out, I may have an empty cot for you. I will have to charge you a nominal bunking fee.... maybe $100/day and you will need to supply your own food.

I definitely want you to go hunker down in your disease fear cabin, as that would be hilarious.