How's this idea for healthcare?
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My fix for healthcare is to prohibit employers from offering insurance. The employers are an unnecessary middle man who only drive up costs. Let everyone buy their insurance individually. This will force insurers to actually compete for customers and drive costs down.
This would hurt me personally as I work for a large hospital system and pay almost nothing for healthcare.
For instance, my dad's 2 day hospital stay with just a 1 hour procedure was billed to medicare for $78,000. Even though my dad paid almost no part of that $78,000, he still bitched about the $30 co-pays to visit specialists, and the $15 / month cost for one of the medications. Imagine if he got stuck with the tab for $78,000!!!
Governments and corporations won't stop meddling in the insurance game.. however.. I have an idea that is along those lines…
It gets to be a sick joke. At many Optician places, they have a selection of frames to choose from which are about $60. They have a separate selection of frames which are virtually identical to the $60 frames, only they are for people with insurance coverage and they cost $350 and up! I call that fraud and gouging, but since the consumer doesn't feel the hit directly, nobody does anything about it.
Trivia: Did you know John Lennon's iconic glasses were standard issue from the British healthcare plan? :cool2:
@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
@Fred, governments NEED to get lobbyists out of Washington. That's the first step in the right direction to unwed the two.
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My fix for healthcare is to prohibit employers from offering insurance. The employers are an unnecessary middle man who only drive up costs. Let everyone buy their insurance individually. This will force insurers to actually compete for customers and drive costs down.
This would hurt me personally as I work for a large hospital system and pay almost nothing for healthcare.
Now that you mention it, that's how Japanese healthcare works. It's paid automatically from my employer to the government (like Social Security in the states).
Do you think that will ever happen, the perk of health care given up for a government system?
It's already starting in MA. Under RomneyCare the rule was that if you had insurance AVAILABLE to you then you had to take it and you were not eligible to buy from the exchange. That changed under ObamaCare and a lot of low wage workers just went on Medicaid instead of paying for the insurance via the employer. Medicaid is MUCH better insurance in most cases so it was a huge benefit to both the employee and employer. As a result, the Medicaid rolls have increased astronomically.
The Governor has now imposed a fee on businesses for every employee they have that is on Medicaid. In most cases, the fee is still less than what it would cost to cover the employee via private insurance.
I believe this is a first step at separating employers from health insurance. I think most business owners would gladly just pay a fee to cover their employees instead of having to buy private health insurance for them.
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
Almost nobody pays the cash price. Insurers reimburse at MUCH lower rates. I wouldn't have paid the money. They would have treated the students anyway.
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
Almost nobody pays the cash price. Insurers reimburse at MUCH lower rates. I wouldn't have paid the money. They would have treated the students anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
Almost nobody pays the cash price. Insurers reimburse at MUCH lower rates. I wouldn't have paid the money. They would have treated the students anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
The industry does it to force people to buy health insurance. It's either that or go bankrupt (or die).
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
The industry does it to force people to buy health insurance. It's either that or go bankrupt (or die).
Let them go bankrupt. In capitalism.. failures go bankrupt.. and should. The moonbats like to prop up failures by throwing money at doomed disasters. Everytime the republicans try to change healthcare at all, the moonbats start whining that people will die. People do die. All people will eventually die except for me. It's just a matter of when. The moonbats don't even wait to evaluate the changes or even read the proposed legislation.
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
The industry does it to force people to buy health insurance. It's either that or go bankrupt (or die).
Let them go bankrupt. In capitalism.. failures go bankrupt.. and should. The moonbats like to prop up failures by throwing money at doomed disasters. Everytime the republicans try to change healthcare at all, the moonbats start whining that people will die. People do die. All people will eventually die except for me. It's just a matter of when. The moonbats don't even wait to evaluate the changes or even read the proposed legislation.
Why should a person die from a disease that is curable? How much money is your life worth? Your dads life? Is the amount different for him?
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
The industry does it to force people to buy health insurance. It's either that or go bankrupt (or die).
Let them go bankrupt. In capitalism.. failures go bankrupt.. and should. The moonbats like to prop up failures by throwing money at doomed disasters. Everytime the republicans try to change healthcare at all, the moonbats start whining that people will die. People do die. All people will eventually die except for me. It's just a matter of when. The moonbats don't even wait to evaluate the changes or even read the proposed legislation.
Why should a person die from a disease that is curable? How much money is your life worth? Your dads life? Is the amount different for him?
You never know what your next day will bring up..
That's life!
::)
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@Adam, when a hospital charges 78,000 dollars (or 5000 in my school's case), where does that money go? Doctors aren't that rich. Seems like someone's getting a larger piece of the pay than they deserve.
udents anyway.
Wait, are you saying the insurance companys don't actually pay that large amount?
Insurers pay MUCH less than the bill you receive in the mail. A $5000 charge to you would probably be paid at around $400 by an insurance company.
What? :blink:
Then why do hospitals make a big show of putting those super high costs on our bills, well, your bills. One step in making the healthcare industry seem less evil would be to show them charging less.
The industry does it to force people to buy health insurance. It's either that or go bankrupt (or die).
Let them go bankrupt. In capitalism.. failures go bankrupt.. and should. The moonbats like to prop up failures by throwing money at doomed disasters. Everytime the republicans try to change healthcare at all, the moonbats start whining that people will die. People do die. All people will eventually die except for me. It's just a matter of when. The moonbats don't even wait to evaluate the changes or even read the proposed legislation.
Why should a person die from a disease that is curable? How much money is your life worth? Your dads life? Is the amount different for him?
You never know what your next day will bring up..
That's life!
::)
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To a point I agree with you: That's life. If the life choices you've made lead to a place where you're grossly obese and you're heart can't take the strain, or you have type two diabetes, etc. When someone is born with a birth defect that in previous times would have meant they die, or that life would only be physical suffering then I understand your sentiment, that's life.
But in today's America and Europe it's still possible to get the common cold and die.
There's that famous footage from Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, where a man had to choose between one of two fingers after an accident because of the cost.
This is a philosophical topic otherwise it becomes a long branching road that leads to Sarah Palin's death panels.
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To a point I agree with you: That's life. If the life choices you've made lead to a place where you're grossly obese and you're heart can't take the strain, or you have type two diabetes, etc. When someone is born with a birth defect that in previous times would have meant they die, or that life would only be physical suffering then I understand your sentiment, that's life.
But in today's America and Europe it's still possible to get the common cold and die.
There's that famous footage from Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, where a man had to choose between one of two fingers after an accident because of the cost.
This is a philosophical topic otherwise it becomes a long branching road that leads to Sarah Palin's death panels.
There is a mystery about fat / obesity. Some people eat like pigs.. and are quite thin, while other people eat like pigs and are 600 pounds of unidentifiable flesh. I don't eat much.. and don't eat junk food or candy.. and eat healthy stuff. I don't have any external flab. My blood work is perfect. My heart is perfect. I'm surprisingly strong considering I don't work out at all (a tall, very butch neighbor found that out the hard way last month). However, I have what is called "visceral" abdominal / internal fat that I can't get rid of. It's a genetic thing from my Norwegian ancestry. In Norway, there were many famines. People without stores of body fat did not survive the famines. Those built like Hagar The Horrible did survive. I think it is related to having a slow metabolism. My family members typically live into their 90's unless they were severe alcoholics and smoked all day long.
Decades ago, there was a cocktail medication known as "PhenFen" which effectively caused people to lose weight.. but like always.. some people took WAY more of the medication than they were supposed to and died of heart attacks, so that combination of medications is no longer available for weight loss.
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To a point I agree with you: That's life. If the life choices you've made lead to a place where you're grossly obese and you're heart can't take the strain, or you have type two diabetes, etc. When someone is born with a birth defect that in previous times would have meant they die, or that life would only be physical suffering then I understand your sentiment, that's life.
But in today's America and Europe it's still possible to get the common cold and die.
There's that famous footage from Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, where a man had to choose between one of two fingers after an accident because of the cost.
This is a philosophical topic otherwise it becomes a long branching road that leads to Sarah Palin's death panels.
There is a mystery about fat / obesity. Some people eat like pigs.. and are quite thin, while other people eat like pigs and are 600 pounds of unidentifiable flesh. I don't eat much.. and don't eat junk food or candy.. and eat healthy stuff. I don't have any external flab. My blood work is perfect. My heart is perfect. I'm surprisingly strong considering I don't work out at all (a tall, very butch neighbor found that out the hard way last month). However, I have what is called "visceral" abdominal / internal fat that I can't get rid of. It's a genetic thing from my Norwegian ancestry. In Norway, there were many famines. People without stores of body fat did not survive the famines. Those built like Hagar The Horrible did survive. I think it is related to having a slow metabolism. My family members typically live into their 90's unless they were severe alcoholics and smoked all day long.
Decades ago, there was a cocktail medication known as "PhenFen" which effectively caused people to lose weight.. but like always.. some people took WAY more of the medication than they were supposed to and died of heart attacks, so that combination of medications is no longer available for weight loss.
The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, was an anti-obesity treatment that utilized two anorectics.
Fenfluramine was marketed by American Home Products (later known as Wyeth) as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems, which eventually led to its withdrawal and legal damages of over $13 billion!
>:D
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The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, was an anti-obesity treatment that utilized two anorectics.
Fenfluramine was marketed by American Home Products (later known as Wyeth) as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems, which eventually led to its withdrawal and legal damages of over $13 billion!
>:D
Look at YOU posting more than emoticons! ::) :clap2:
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To a point I agree with you: That's life. If the life choices you've made lead to a place where you're grossly obese and you're heart can't take the strain, or you have type two diabetes, etc. When someone is born with a birth defect that in previous times would have meant they die, or that life would only be physical suffering then I understand your sentiment, that's life.
But in today's America and Europe it's still possible to get the common cold and die.
There's that famous footage from Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, where a man had to choose between one of two fingers after an accident because of the cost.
This is a philosophical topic otherwise it becomes a long branching road that leads to Sarah Palin's death panels.
There is a mystery about fat / obesity. Some people eat like pigs.. and are quite thin, while other people eat like pigs and are 600 pounds of unidentifiable flesh. I don't eat much.. and don't eat junk food or candy.. and eat healthy stuff. I don't have any external flab. My blood work is perfect. My heart is perfect. I'm surprisingly strong considering I don't work out at all (a tall, very butch neighbor found that out the hard way last month). However, I have what is called "visceral" abdominal / internal fat that I can't get rid of. It's a genetic thing from my Norwegian ancestry. In Norway, there were many famines. People without stores of body fat did not survive the famines. Those built like Hagar The Horrible did survive. I think it is related to having a slow metabolism. My family members typically live into their 90's unless they were severe alcoholics and smoked all day long.
Decades ago, there was a cocktail medication known as "PhenFen" which effectively caused people to lose weight.. but like always.. some people took WAY more of the medication than they were supposed to and died of heart attacks, so that combination of medications is no longer available for weight loss.
The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, was an anti-obesity treatment that utilized two anorectics.
Fenfluramine was marketed by American Home Products (later known as Wyeth) as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems, which eventually led to its withdrawal and legal damages of over $13 billion!
>:D
That is true, but it was actually a good drug combination. The problem was that people were abusing it… taking far more than the recommended dosage. One can die from drinking too much water or breathing pure oxygen.
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@I:
The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called fen-phen, was an anti-obesity treatment that utilized two anorectics.
Fenfluramine was marketed by American Home Products (later known as Wyeth) as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems, which eventually led to its withdrawal and legal damages of over $13 billion!
>:D
Look at YOU posting more than emoticons! ::) :clap2:
Come on..
The majority of my posts include text and emoticons!
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