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My wife suffers from several medical ailments. Some are minor and don’t require much treatment. Others are more chronic and require regular Doctor appointments and even an occasional ER visit. With all of these problems comes a regular dosage of prescriptions. We have medical insurance which is offered through my employer. My employer happens to be a family run business that my father and I have been managing for over twenty years. We employ about 10-12 people and have watched our insurance costs increase year after year. In the last couple of years we have also noticed a simultaneous decrease in what that insurance covers. Deductibles continue to rise as do co-pays and most recently a large prescription deductible. It also seems that the “contract amounts” the Hospitals, procedure centers and doctors’ offices charge have also become overwhelmingly high. This of course comes as a shock to probably no one reading these words.
Recently a small example hit close to home. My daughter who is a nineteen year old college student and dance instructor hurt her back. She was advised by our physician to get a series of x-rays. We went to our local imaging center and were advised that our insurance was accepted but that since her deductible was not met we would have to pay the full amount up to $2500. Ok, how much could a couple of x-rays be? About $1500. Seriously? I was advised, “That is the contract amount we bill your insurance company.” Ok, what if I didn’t have insurance and was paying in cash? Answer, $138. Seriously? Needless to say I wrote the check.
A few weeks later my wife was suffering from abdominal pains in the night that required a trip to the local Emergency room. We were there for a total of four and a half hours. During that time there was one blood draw for testing, she was given one IV bag of saline solution and then an ultrasound. We were sent home and advised to follow up with our physician. At the time we paid a $100 co-pay. And then a few days later received the bill for our less than 5 hour visit; $16,000. I have an inquiry out as to what the “cash amount” would be. As for our insurance, our deductible is met so our amount due is about $6000. This of course does not include the ER doctor bill sent separately for his 4 minute consult. $694 is that amount. Of course this is by no means an extreme example. It is one of many that people throughout America (including our beloved OC) face daily. It is a system that is seriously broken.
The number one reason for bankruptcy in America is due to medical bills. People, who work all their lives, pay their bills (play by the rules) and even perhaps pay off a mortgage find themselves wiped out from one illness. The government, which technically means the public, can find the money to save GM and many other corporations and banks that have failed (often not playing by the rules) and somehow the heads of these companies at the end of the day still find themselves wealthy despite being the failures and fools that they are.
My short and small examples are not very dire and we will overcome them. But American’s do die every day because of a lack of medical resources. People do not get the medicines or treatments they need. Parents have to make choices that are unthinkable to most of us. I can’t think of a greater and more imminent threat to our National Security. Yet the Treasury can open up its coffers to rain a trillion dollars for wars of occupation to “protect our security” but not to help the security of our own suffering.
The lack of political will to have a serious discussion about the crisis in health care in this country in any meaningful way should itself be considered a scandal. The folks who just a few years ago were angry with the French (to the point of renaming a staple potato treat “Freedom Fries”) haven’t seemed to notice that France is number one in delivery of health services and care to its citizens. The US (usually determined to hold all things in number one position) is in the mid thirties (just ahead of the embargoed island of Cuba-which is another story itself). Our leaders and our punditry are incapable of at least examining a method by which we can move ahead into the first world and truly have a number one health system for all of our people.
It seems to me that until we can do that it is very hard to proclaim ourselves a super power.
We’re #37! Last we checked. But Ted, I’m pretty sure Cuba’s way above us.
Obamacare is supposed to help a little, but everyone knows we really need Single Payer.
That would explain all of the rafts and other craft seen loading up in Miami and heading towards Cuba . . . no, wait . . .
You are such an idiot Nelson, I lived under the single payer system for 22 years.
You did not….. so shut up.
Just look at the VA health case……. horror.
I know people in different countries who have both had to deal with medical catastrophes. In one case (Spain), a medical crisis was simply that – there was no financial crisis to follow. The issue was dealt with using their (universal) medical system and the patient recovered quickly without the added burden of endless medical bills. In the other case (Costa Rica), the person actually had to LEAVE the United States to seek medical care that was not deemed “necessary” here by his insurance company. Both patients have had outstanding results and the unforeseen events and treatments that they faced did not lead to their financial ruin. In the meantime I, a single mother, am still making small monthly payments toward the 45 minute outpatient surgery that my daughter had in February 2010 because my deductible had not been met…
I don’t believe anyone here extolled the great virtues of Cuba. As a matter of fact I pointed only to the fact that we are close to Cuba in our ability to deliver health care to our people. BUT, since the subject has been brought up, Cuba, despite its lack of political freedom and its dictatorial rule under Castro it has (with the support of most of its population) made dramatic strides in the areas of health and education. None of this takes away from the litany of charges that can be leveled at the regime.
However, for historical clarity, it should always be remembered that the United States has had its boot on Cuba’s neck for the last 60 years. Attempted invasions, terrorism, crop destruction, bombings of petro-chemical plants as well as multiple assassination plots against its leaders. Of course most crippling has been the economic embargo that drove Castro to seek favor with the Soviets in the first place.(Which JFK signed only after securing a case of Cuban cigars) When all of this is contrasted with the thugs and dictators we do business with around the world (because they support a climate of investment for American business) the hypocrisy is astounding. Maybe when the Castro brothers are finally gone the island can return to the paradise it was for the Mafia and Shell and Coca Cola under Fulgencio Batista.
Cubans leave Cuba for better economic opportunities.
Cubans leave Cuba for freedom of speech & assembly.
Cubans don’t leave Cuba to get health care.
. . . and if a totalitarian regime wants to have decent health care in place of all other economic freedoms we should use that as our model? (That is taking the very large stretch that the health care services or at all comparable given the disparity in population homogeneity between the two countries).
Cuba came up because Ted mentioned it. Are you calling France, Canada, Britain, Japan, totalitarian regimes?
To the core point of your post, are you arguing that it is a “right” of every citizen to have each and every medical procedure that will extend their life regardless of the cost and regardless of the patients ability to pay with no limit whatsoever on resource use? Would a 95 year old have the “right” to the same extremely expensive life extending procedure as a 30 year old?
I think everyone would agree that we should strive for better health care – the question is on how to fairly deliver that.
Well, those are some tough, and familiar, questions, in your first paragraph. It doesn’t follow that we can’t do universal healthcare, AND save lots of money, by eliminating the completely useless, wasteful, and yes murderous, middlemen known as for-profit insurance.
Single Payer, dude!
That is the problem Vern. When we put the health care crisis in individual terms it is difficult not to have sympathy for those dying or going bankrupt (or both) because of the expense of medical care. I think EVERYONE would like to do what we can to make that happen. THAT however is completely unrelated to the concept of growing the government bigger to be the national health care provider. Just like union/non union, I am not aware of a single example of where the government provides services faster or more efficiently than the private sector. The “bail out” from THIS administration is a classic example of simply throwing a TRILLION public dollars away through waste and mismanagement.
Well, I don’t have the energy to defend Obamacare, although I think it will be an improvement.
Under a single-payer system though (NOT the same as national health care) we are NOT making the government the health care provider. Doctors, hospitals, medical manufacturers, drug companies, all stay independent. All we do through the government is insure ourselves. All together. In one big pool. Not for profit. Cheapest, best way.
Even right wing hero Frederick Hayek said that is an important and legitimate function for a government. Health insurers should not be profiteers, that is murder.