What is Digg?494 Comments
- bamafun, on 11/02/2007, -1/+57Having insurance doesn't solve all the problems. I know people who went to use their insurance and were dropped if they had a serious problem even if they had the policy for years. I think they need to pass better legislation so these insurance companies can't drop you on a whim.
- brusty, on 11/02/2007, -11/+58I am one of these people, and since I lost my spleen 13 years ago, I've had loads of health problems. My entire life would have been different had I gotten the proper care I needed.
- futureb, on 11/02/2007, -20/+50POLICYMAKERS TAKE NOTE: cashman57 has offered a wonderfully random and totally idiotic set of anecdotes. i think he has identified some key issues for policy reform, namely:
1. buying gold coins,
2. avoiding costly preventative care;
3. using gold coins to pay for healthcare costs up front, especially if you have as much money as an NFL player;
4. ignoring figures you don't like (47 million...HA), and
5. allowing poor families to fend for themselves.
/extremely bitter sarcasm - thentro, on 11/02/2007, -1/+31What happened when I went to the ER for a badly cut finger:
1: Check in - do you have insurance? (Yes)
2: Ok, wait here.... (ow)
3: Ok sign this (good thing I cut my left hand)
4: And this (i'm bleeding kinda bad here)
5: and this, I will be right back.. (ok...)
6: OK what is your pain on a level from 1-10 (It hurts! fix my hand!)
My experience that the American Medical system is broken even if you do have heath "insurance." - derforseti, on 11/02/2007, -6/+35Sucks to not to be rich.
- lhbaker, on 11/02/2007, -10/+33Dude. Cable costs $24 a month, my insurance at my last job for me and my family was $804.
- Kitsune818, on 11/02/2007, -9/+31People against universal health care because you "have to pay for someone else": The only reason you have anything of worth in the first place is because we have a society constructed that allowed it to happen. Your continued ability to work and earn money, save it, and use it to advance you or your family entirely depends on the continuing function of society. The problem is, society is much larger than you and your family. If people aren't getting basic health care, and therefore productivity drops, there is less money in the economy, and you lose money. Now you don't have enough to pay for healthcare for you or your family, and you fall by the wayside, and so on up the hierarchy. Stability starts with the foundation, after all.
- demicritter, on 11/04/2007, -17/+39Proper care needed? I don't have insurance and had two major health crisis's last year which meant I had to pay for them....which I'm still doing. Proper care is available just like everything else in life is, but it costs money. The fact that insurance is so expensive is totally due to all the non-service providers (insurance companies, management companies and the government) sticking their peckers into the mix. How else would your life be different if you would have made different choices?
- brufleth, on 11/02/2007, -2/+24What about the consequences of other the actions of others? What about when someone else causes an accident that makes you lose your job, health care, etc? What about health care costs growing much faster than inflation? I'm pretty sure I'm doing things right but the company that employs me says they're having a hard time paying for health care. So my out of pocket contributions have more than doubled but health care providers are covering less and less. As it is I can never seem to get prescriptions filled and haven't bothered going to a doctor for a check-up in years because I can't seem to get the medicine they prescribe anyway.
- inactive, on 11/02/2007, -4/+25I just wish that everyone could get the facts straight in the health care debate. Yes, insurance is too high. Why? Because the cost of health care in this country rises at 8 times the rate of inflation annually. This is because the for profit health care organizations must return said profit to their share holders with an annual increase ro make their stock look attractive, like any other company. As long as the cost of your health is weighed against shareholder profits bad health care systems subject to heavy administrative bureaucracy will exist. Just ask a any health care worker.
- darkened, on 11/01/2007, -2/+22There is 1 very simple solution to all health care issues. Create laws that mandate an open specification on procedures for submitting insurance claims and issuing payments, and the same for medical documents. The reason health insurance is so expensive is it is a virtual monopoly due to the fact every billing system is 100% properitary and MADE to not allow competition. If these laws were encated insurance companies couldn't get away with these scams they run any more because the market would actually introduce real competition instead of a monopoly or cartel/oligopy for those with an economic background.
- inactive, on 11/02/2007, -5/+24It's fortunate that you waited until you had enough gold coins saved before you fractured your vertebrae. I guess the poor bastards with just one gold coin will just have to be careful.
- inertic, on 11/02/2007, -10/+28Yeah, our system is so much better than socialized health care. Which is why the U.S. spends more money per person yet our healthcare system is ranked much worse than other countries with socialized healthcare that spend less money per person. But don't let the facts get in the way.
- lhbaker, on 11/02/2007, -5/+23I have only catasrophic health insurance after losing my job last year (COBRA would have been $1,600 a month for my family). After losing 40 pounds (about 20% of my body weight) with no real explanation (not exercising, no significant change in eating habits, etc.) I went to my doctor. I wore my normal clothes, and looked like a scarecrow. He seemed concerned, poked my abdomen a few times, and told me that a blood screen would probably set me back about $1,000 and that I should probably wait until I'm covered.
It strikes me as completely amazing that in this country, I have to use my credit card just to find out if I'm sick. - brufleth, on 11/02/2007, -2/+20I have what is considered excellent coverage from a group plan provided by my employer (one of the most valuable companies in the world) and I still have given up even trying to get prescriptions filled. There's always some issue with my coverage (this is with generics of course). Health insurance in this country is at best questionable and often a joke.
- SteelChicken, on 11/02/2007, -7/+25and 30 million illegal aliens do!
renounce your citizenship and come back as a mexican. - incandescent, on 11/01/2007, -9/+26I live in the UK and have had absolutely no problem getting dental care.
- jhnewt, on 11/02/2007, -2/+18I HAVE NO IDEA WHY YOU WOULD BE GETTING DUGG DOWN.
- TheHydrogens, on 11/02/2007, -0/+16I THINK IT IS BECAUSE YOU WERE USING CAPS LOCK LIKE AN *****!
AND EVERYBODY KNOWS DAMN WELL WHAT RON PAUL IS AND IS NOT FOR, WE HEAR ABOUT IT ON EVERY FREAKIN POST ON DIGG! - MacEnvy, on 11/04/2007, -16/+31Basic health care should not be a luxury. Not that you care - you're just a troll shilling for the GOP (nice comment record, by the way).
- jamesallen74, on 11/02/2007, -8/+23Instead of paying $400 a month in healthcare premiums (which doesn't include co-pay and deductible if I need a service), I would rather pay that $400 into a single-payer health insurance plan nationwide. Anyone can go to the hospital or take more steps in preventative health care, no paying for the services. The plan would cover it all. Reducing all the red-tape and profiteering in healthcare and big Pharmo, we could actually save money.
nationwide single-payer health insurance is the way to go. No more medical-bill driven bankruptcies and people selling their homes to live with their kids just to pay for medical care and drugs.
I for one would rather pay that $400 a month to help EVERYONE, not just myself. - Anub1s, on 11/01/2007, -4/+18Just as a little tip that I found out over the past week, UPS hires part time package handlers in their main hubs that provides full health benefits at no cost to the employee. It doesn't pay all that well, about $515 per month take home in my area, but the benefits are well worth the 25 hours of work you put in. With the upcoming busy season, I'm sure they're going to need some help.
- hotw00, on 11/02/2007, -21/+35I'd love to know how many of those 47 million have cable TV and/or cellphone service - luxuries in my opinion. The last Habitat for Humanity homeowner I spent a Saturday building a house for spent the entirety of the morning on her cellphone on the front porch. And every Habitat-built home in the neighborhood had a satellite dish mounted on it. At the time I was jobless and chose to maintain my own health insurance over cable/dish.
- inactive, on 11/01/2007, -14/+28....and I'm sure the DiggNation will soon be calling for me to pay for the insurance of those people, in addition to my own. How generous.
- fuckingusername, on 11/02/2007, -9/+22what the USA has spent in the War of foolishness could have gave us a free health care.
- wreckosaurus, on 11/02/2007, -3/+15That's a great plan, because everyone makes enough money every month to invest in gold coins. It's really fortunate that there's nobody in this country living pay check to pay check, and just barely scraping by. For those people to save the $15,000, just in case they needed some surgery would be impossible. But they don't exist, everyone without insurance just spends all their money on luxury items.
Also, that story sounds like total ***** *****. - Jimmyb207, on 11/02/2007, -1/+13I believe the number of uninsured will continue to increase for some time to come. Every year the cost of health care goes up and up. It's getting harder to afford it every year. In fact EVERYTHING is getting more expensive. People will have to drop their health insurance in order to pay mortgages, groceries, heating oil and what ever it takes to survive. Did I just see news today that the economy is getting better?........not in my world.
- maliath, on 11/02/2007, -1/+13It's not the government that doctors are sick of dealing with. It's the insurance companies.
- Mysticum, on 11/01/2007, -12/+23Guys, it DOESN'T MATTER, because you still have bombs and the ability to toss your military weight around! Who gives a ***** about all that trivial crap when you have the ability to nuke the ***** out of whatever country you arbitrarily deem a threat next? ***** health insurance, stop worrying, and learn to love the bomb, you whiny hippies.
- dfdemar, on 11/02/2007, -0/+10Better hope you don't break a bone or something. I broke my leg near my ankle earlier this year. If I hadn't had insurance I would have had to shell out over $25,000.
- aupton, on 11/02/2007, -11/+21America needs to be rebooted!
America Is: Over Populated, Riddled with Tyranny, Corruption, Pollution, Disease, Blatant abuse of human and civil rights coupled with hard working Americans paying 40+% of their salary towards "TAXES" which are clearly not funding what the tax payers represent....
So I say it again... America needs to be rebooted! - EXreaction, on 11/02/2007, -2/+12Current Taxes + HMO costs > Current Taxes + UHC.
(and that is greater than as in costs a hell of a lot more) - MrNexus, on 11/02/2007, -3/+13If you put that into perspective, there is more uninsured people in the US that the entire population of Canada.
- roodammy44, on 11/01/2007, -1/+11I hope you don't get a cronic injury. Cos if you do then you're screwed
- incandescent, on 11/02/2007, -7/+16The US keeps telling us it's the richest, the best, the freest, the most powerful etc etc etc. So why on earth doesn't it have the best universal health care in the world? That's a basic, not a luxury.
- redthumb, on 11/01/2007, -0/+9Right. Why would anyone want to pay out huge monthly $$$$ for the privilege of having their CLAIM DENIED.
- pintomp3, on 11/02/2007, -2/+11consequences of their actions? like choosing to get cancer?
- inertic, on 11/01/2007, -8/+17The most hilarious thing is that I keep on hearing doctors bitching about how they can't live off 150-200k salary. They think it is the end of the world if we go to socialized medicine. Most med students should know what they're getting into but they are naive and think they will own ferrari's and a huge mansion. And all through college, they would spew their bs about helping people.
- chris9902, on 11/01/2007, -2/+10Last year I had to have a root canal. Cost me £78 in total because of the NHS. Going private was over £1,200 with follow up treatment.
- incandescent, on 11/02/2007, -5/+13Ha ha! I got free dental care throughout my childhood and student years, including free orthodontal care when I needed braces as a teenager. Even now I get free dental checkups.
How many Americans can say that? - Kitsune818, on 11/02/2007, -2/+1036% of my salary plus 13% on purchases is actually less than I pay for healthcare every month, so my disposable income would increase.
- inactive, on 11/01/2007, -3/+11why am i getting dugg down? i am merely stating the facts.
- MrARPA, on 11/07/2007, -3/+11Why do Americans always come out with ignorant ***** like this ? European countries typically spend around 10% GDP on _universal_ healthcare the US spends over 15% GDP. You pay more for your current private system than the Europeans do. It's your system that is breaking the bank.
- wreckosaurus, on 11/02/2007, -4/+12Exactly man, everyone who doesn't have health insurance, can't afford it because they spend all their money on BMW's and private jets.
- azprofessional, on 11/02/2007, -0/+8Furthermore a system setup to punish people with existing medical conditions they didnt cause as 'finanical risky' and 100% insurance deniable is in no simpler terms CRIMINAL.
- luther70, on 11/02/2007, -3/+11Along with reducing frivolous lawsuits we need to address profit centric health care and encouraging preventive care.
- EXreaction, on 11/02/2007, -3/+11Thats a load of BS, people are denied access to hospitals/ER all the time because they don't have insurance or enough money to pay it out of pocket.
You know what one of the first questions the guys asked when they came in an ambulance to pick up my grandfather who just had a stroke was?
"Does he have health insurance?" - digggggggggg, on 11/02/2007, -1/+9We already pay to get other peoples' kids though school, to pave roads that mostly other people drive on, and to build public works that we will likely never use.
We already "have to pay for someone else" for just about everything. What's wrong with adding health care to the package as well? - kyouteki, on 11/01/2007, -0/+8I have something of a different problem - I have health insurance, but it's a so-called "high premium" plan. Basically, the insurance is useless unless I need healthcare after a catastrophic injury or illness - and even then, I will be out thousands of dollars. Preventative care is strictly defined and still expensive, an office visit to my local doc costs me $45. My wife, who has more health problems than I do, isn't offered health care through her employer...but the extra expense of adding her to my plan (it's free for me through my job) is certainly not worth the poor plan. I wouldn't pay for it for me, either.
I'm used to the health care I got as a child. My father is a Boeing employee, so we had $10 co-pays on office visits, less than that on prescription meds, and we didn't have to worry about a thing if we needed a surgery or any other hospital stay. - bjornski, on 11/02/2007, -0/+8Why don't our public school systems let us opt out? Why doesn't the police department let us opt out? How about fire coverage?
It's because you benefit by not being surrounded by cripples. -
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