What is Digg?282 Comments
- inactive, on 04/08/2008, -2/+24When the thumbnail pulls up an unrelated banner ad, it's usually a good idea to select "No thumbnail" when submitting.
- EllieElliott, on 04/08/2008, -11/+32Did you shop around for the best price before you had anything done for your broken neck?? Did you take the time to research which Emergency Room you wanted to be taken to?
- GrandmaSheila, on 04/08/2008, -11/+29Well if you "oppose more gov't intervention" bla bla bla, don't participate in it. But you don't get to decide that OTHER people can't have government paid insurance. Keep stockpiling gold. You'll need it when you perhaps get a major illness, requiring major surgery, prolonged treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation treatments, long term hospitalization and home care. I know a cancer patient who racked up almost a million dollars in the above mentioned. treatments. The company insurance still left her with $300,000 in debt, a sum she can never hope to repay. Few people have a million in gold coins tucked away.
- lndmn01, on 04/08/2008, -5/+20right now I pay $150 a month for my own, private, insurance. If the government will increase my taxes by less than $150 per month I'm all for it. However, under Obama and Hillary's plans I would pay $200 to $300 more per month in taxes... not a good trade off.
- martgonman, on 04/08/2008, -2/+16I am a physician, and even though I make good money, I would not mind even a 10% decrease in salary if that would mean:
a) To know that all of my patients have insurance, and therefore I do not need to make medical decisions based on economics (tough to send an uninsured patient to the hospital knowing how it will break his credit to end up with a $20,000 bill)
b) Decrease my fear of malpractice. The uninsured situation and our litigious society have skyrocketed malpractice insurance. I have never been sued, but the thought is there with you every day. That fear drives up medical cost, as doctors tend to do much more studies than in other countries for similar situation just to protect themselves. Easy to critique, but a single malpractice claim, even if dismissed or settled, can cost you millions in extra malpractice insurance costs over time. Do you know who are the only winners? Yes, Insurance companies and liability lawyers. YOU pay the extra cost of health care to cover their wins. Just an example: After practicing 2 1/2 years in Chicago, I chose to move to Texas. I had to pay the insurance 45,000 dollars (one third of my yearly salary) for "tail" insurance, even with a perfect record. Anyone cares to pay a third of their income to their insurance carrier?
It is sad to see the richest country in the world lag behind in every health statistic despite spending more that any other country, and to see 45 million people uninsured while major insurance carriers enjoy records earnings. There is no perfect system, but other countries have attained universal health coverage and improved health for their population with decreased costs. Why can't we? - Ajajadude, on 04/08/2008, -11/+24You, sir, are an idiot. Let's just completely ignore the fact that "socialized" healthcare actually lowers the cost of healthcare per person while also extending life expectancy and lowering infant mortality rates. Health insurance these days is nothing short of a sick joke being played on the public. Odds are an average person's health insurance wouldn't help much in the face of major injury or illness making me wonder what we pay these companies for health "coverage" for. If this was any other industry that was this bad things would have been forcibly changed a long, long time ago.
- sb66, on 04/08/2008, -9/+22Wow that looks scripted; I bet your a schill for the insurance companies. Seriously they pay people to spread this propaganda...hey lets throw the 'socialism' label at it instead of having a thoughtful discussion of the pros and cons.
- wastelander, on 04/08/2008, -3/+15You seem to be under the odd impression that you aren't already paying for the uninsured's healthcare. Do you think people without insurance don't get sick and end up in the hospital? Or perhaps the expenses the hospital incurs while caring for them magically "evaporate"? Sure you can get back some of the cash by driving them into bankruptcy.. but not much. Guess what? In order to stay in business the hospital passes on those additional expenses to everyone else in the form of higher bills and thus higher insurance premiums. Of course the uninsured won't bother with minor things like preventative care so they will come in sicker and for more costly stays. Also, they will get all their healthcare through the emergency room which is far more expensive and causes long waits for those with real emergencies; but still private health insurance is one of the most profitable industries in America.. and those luxury cars and private jets aren't going to buy themselves!
- wastelander, on 04/08/2008, -6/+17As a doctor I must say you are full of $#*! .
For those of you whose work just consists of shifting papers around it may all come down to numbers, but for those of us that deal with actual people--and get to know them in sometimes more intimate detail than we would like, the situation is different.
Doctors want a system that works, and delivers proper healthcare to their patients--ALL their patients.
BTW.. its not the doctors who will be looking at a reduced (or absent) pay-check, its those in the health insurance industry--and thats a heck of a lot of cash to plow back into the system.
BTW you might want to check out http://www.pnhp.org/ - TheBasass, on 04/08/2008, -0/+10The top 41% of doctors don't make anywhere near 10 million.
- inactive, on 04/08/2008, -3/+13Exactly. Americans get by far the worst return on their health care expenditures of any country in the world. It's always funny when right-wingers act as though economics is on their side, when in fact it's the extraordinary inefficiency of the current system that is pushing us into the abyss.
- gta3mobster, on 04/08/2008, -7/+16No ***** they'd like it. They could jack up prices. It'd be just like all the military contracts we have going right now; It's like giving hospitals blank checks.
- stretch611, on 04/08/2008, -0/+9On average we pay more than twice what any other industrialized nation and in most areas we rank 20-25 in quality of the healthcare.
- niczar, on 04/08/2008, -0/+8I'm French. I can go to any doctor I want. There is no "maxing out." They (national insurance + complementary private insurance) will pay $10 million if it costs $10 million. The system's overhead is below 2%. In the US, private insurers run a 20%+ overhead -- those advertisings, campaign donations, lobbyists and executives' jets gotta be payed by someone!
- tinman79, on 04/08/2008, -0/+8You really get it. This is very true as a soon to be MD, I have seen much of this first hand.
- danjayh, on 04/08/2008, -7/+15To those of you who are saying "well, if you're opposed to more government intervention, then don't participate!" Fine by me, but I don't want to pay the oppressive taxes that this system would require either, then. Let the people who use the system pay for it. Guess what, though: It'd go broke. Most people who generate enough value within our economy to pay for healthcare expenses already have private insurance, and would prefer not to finance insurance for those who *don't* contribute as much to our economy.
- inactive, on 04/08/2008, -1/+8my dad heads a small practice group, and he hates the insurance companies more than anyone. he's even more pissed-off at the insurance companies than at all the government red tape or the drug companies.
- Spartycus, on 04/08/2008, -0/+7Thats not how the government likes to operate. If you can opt out then they dont get to exercise their increased power!
- inactive, on 04/08/2008, -1/+8I know lots of doctors who support a single payer system. It's less of an issue for doctors who are affiliated with HMOs or other similarly large operations that negotiate with the insurance companies, but talk to a doctor who works for a small practice group or tries to (god forbid) go it alone and ask them how easy it is to get reimbursed by insurers at a reasonable rate. Ask them how they survive without a steady stream of patients with BCBS or one of the other more generous outfits. It's unreal. Insurers will nickle and dime these doctors to death, so that oftentimes the reimbursement amount for a particular procedure is less than what the doctor pays to sterlize his equipment!
I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors they interviewed were primary care physicians who provide the most urgently needed types of care and routinely get hung out to dry by insurers. - mmd643, on 04/08/2008, -7/+13I guess the fact that we unquestionably CANNOT AFFORD it means nothing in this debate.
- somnambulator, on 04/08/2008, -0/+6Insurance companies and private/for profit medical are all about shareholders wanting a constant and increasing return for their investment.
In Australia we have a Medicare levy, a percentage of our income is paid to fund a national health system. This means the rich pay more and the poor pay less.
Then the government sets prices for everything medical.
You can go to a medical centre and if their pricing is the same as the government pricing you get your consult for free.
If you go to a 'private' doctor you only pay the difference between his/her price and the government price.
Medicines that are considered essential are heavily subsidized, so everyone can afford basic life saving medicine.
This seems to work fine.
We also have private medical insurance, with private hospitals and it is popular, but it suffers from the same problems as America: rising charges to pay for shareholders and CEOs etc.
Having both seems like a win/win situation to me, it may not be perfect, but at least I don't have to worry about medical treatment, whatever my financial situation. - inactive, on 04/08/2008, -0/+6It really depends on what state you're in. Medicaid is federally funded but management is left to the states, and some states manage it better than others.
- Berek, on 04/08/2008, -4/+10As a doctor, what scares me most about socialized medicine is what it would actually cover vs. what the patient would still be responsible for. If the Medicare system is any model for whatever is designed for a National Healthcare system watch out. There are certain procedures that Medicare doesn't cover. And they ones they do the doctor's get screwed with the fee schedule. That is why more and more doctors are opting out of Medicare as we speak.
- txchica, on 04/08/2008, -1/+6In Texas Medicaid pays for quite a bit of care, it's easier for me to get my patients their equipment when they have Medicaid, than it is with private pay insurance or Medicare. To me Medicare is actually more anal about what they'll approve and not approve and private insurance just takes too long and requires soooo much paperwork to justify your request.
- eir574, on 04/08/2008, -0/+5What happens when the people paying $50 a month for insurance that doesn't cover them well in the case of a catastrophic illness or accident have that catastrophic illness or accident? That's how even people who are insured can go bankrupt. My mother had uterine cancer during a period of time when our only option as a family was to buy a plan like that. My parents paid 20% of costs associated with her care, and that was after high deductibles. Of course, those days looked pretty good once we could no longer participate in that plan and other insurance companies wouldn't take my mother on at all (or at least for anything approaching an affordable price) because she was a cancer survivor.
You may be correct that some people are putting cell phones and cable television ahead of insurance premiums. But, the situation is quite grim for those who don't have access to a group plan, particularly if they have preexisting conditions.
I'm not saying that there are easy answers. But, the situation's a lot more complicated than you make it out to be. - ellealle, on 04/08/2008, -1/+6Its hard to generalize from one example.
Free health care to me, as a Canadian, is not worrying about going into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in debt if I get cancer.
Though I recently moved to the States so...crap - inactive, on 04/08/2008, -2/+7that's the most incorrect comment i've seen in a long time. medicaid pays the lowest out of all the different payment options, by far. my dad is a doctor, and he refuses to see medicaid patients because he could make much more money seeing medicare and private insurance patients, given his full schedule. he only sees medicaid patients every once in a while, as a volunteer. medicaid doesn't pay, and that is why medicaid doctors are usually the worst. the doctors that go into medicaid are usually the ones that barely made it through med school.
- inactive, on 04/08/2008, -1/+6"Why did someone digg me down?"
Because you posted a bunch of random nonsense based on nothing but a hunch. When you say things like "medicaid covers jack crap" and actual doctors start putting you in your place, it's time to either cough up some data or crawl back under your rock and STFU. - stretch611, on 04/08/2008, -3/+8How many doctors' offices have at least one full time person that only does medical claims, billing, and eligibility requirements? If you tell the doctor's that this position can be eliminated because every patient will be eligible and the office will have only one "insurer" to deal with which would greatly simply the entire billing process.
- smackphat, on 04/08/2008, -2/+7Wow. You sound like a monster. When you've murdered your family in their sleep for insurance money or some other hideous crime because you are a sociopath, I'll make sure to digg the story about it up. In the meantime, go ***** yourself. You represent everything that is wrong with this country, you neo-con, corporate *****-sucking whore.
- elipabst, on 04/08/2008, -0/+5You do realize that most private insurers are already setting reimbursement rates based on what medicare covers, right? So basically you're already paying for the same system, they're just taking an extra cut off the top.
- stretch611, on 04/08/2008, -0/+5I just started my 4th year of individual insurance. When I started with the plan, it was about $180/month and now with the latest contract I am paying $290/month and my deductible as doubled.
lndmn01, your $150/month won't last long... - shamirox, on 04/08/2008, -4/+9I am annoyed that the very first part of your comment was that doctors will have to suffer a pay cut. If any doctor out there publicly admitted that he'd rather earn enough money to live a ridiculously cushy life than be able to save the lives of people who would otherwise be unable to receive treatment because they lack healthcare, I can guarantee that doctor would have absolutely NO job by the end of the week.
Good medical practice is about helping and healing, not overstuffing your own wallet. - Hananda, on 04/08/2008, -6/+11"Well if you "oppose more gov't intervention" bla bla bla, don't participate in it."
One can't avoid participating in it. Just about the only folks who've managed to opt out of this sort of thing are the Amish. So, it's either pay into the system or spend some time in Federal prison. - Bodieslikesheep, on 04/08/2008, -2/+6As a student and member of the IU/Bloomington community - I find it cool that the school is doing more than providing students with corn fed midwestern women, basketball, and beer.
Oh wait, the average IU student is a pretentious, spoiled yuppie. - stretch611, on 04/08/2008, -0/+4Here is how to pay for it:
Take all the money that is currently spent on Medicare.
Add all the money spent on the VA's medical coverage.
Add all the money that is given out in tax credits for employer sponsored plans. (essentially eliminate the tax exempt status on medical premiums.)
Add all the money spent on plans for government workers (Federal, state, and local)
That is probably most of the money you need to get it funded properly.
But then think of a possible economic boon... Employers can add more people to payroll without having to pay insurance benefits ad some cost might come down. (It is estimated that $1500 of the price of each American built car is used for the health care costs of the employees.) - smackphat, on 04/08/2008, -1/+5Why don't you look at my comment history to see that I'm not a socialist pussy? ***** idiot. Telling someone they sound like a hippie for caring about their fellow man makes you a ***** *****. Socialism is great when the people are involved. Socialism is not good for America. We are too mired in apathy.
Belief in free markets and capitalism is just as bad in belief in communism. They all look great on paper, but they are all flawed. The only check against runaway government OF ANY KIND is an involved and empowered citizenry. If you have an involved and empowered citizenry, then any form of non-totalitarian government is viable. So why don't you go ***** yourself, you ***** idiot. Calling me non-american and representative of the problem. I can't wait until civil war breaks out. I'll see you on the other side. Prick. - RobotCitizen, on 04/08/2008, -0/+4Um, MediCARE is also a government program. You are right that MediCAID pays a pittance, but MediCARE pays reasonably well, and more importantly, is much easier to deal with than many private insurance companies that make you jump through hoops for every little lab test you order.
- mfc5200, on 04/08/2008, -3/+7Just allow people to opt out of ***** insurance plans that have the politicians in their pockets. Allow people to opt out of Medicare. etc etc. Let people avoid HMO's that have also bought off the politicians. There is a simple solution (assuming its done correctly) Health Savings Accounts.
It's very simple, every year you should be able to deduct dollar-for-dollar payments into your health savings account from taxes. This number should of course be high (say $5,000/year). Of course the politicians will be against this because it takes power away from them (you get to decide what to do with your money) and leaves them out of the picture. Instead, they would rather tax your for the same amount of then claim they are helping you when they offer you "free" healthcare.
I come from a family of doctors and this is talked about frequently. Recently, my dad needed neck surgery, for that surgery and 1 week in the hospital, the bill was $20,000. That is versus the $200,000 charged to Medicare for the same exact treatment (according to my Dad's friend who specialize in this).
There is no competition in government run programs. No reason to try and save money. In my opinion, government run health care isn't the solution. True private solutions (not the corporate care we have now that is corrupt as hell because the laws are set in place to benefit special interests) is the answer. Let people save their own money (pay less taxes, dollar for dollar tax credit) and pay for their health care in the regular private manner.
By the way, if I had to guess why doctors would be in favor of a socialized system the way its currently being proposed, it is because they will reap all the benefits at the expense of the taxpayers. The American Medical Association and Medicare are very close friends people. Like the example I gave earlier, I can think of example I know of second hand from family friends who are doctors, that openly admit they can charge Medicare 2-10x more for the same procedures than they can for individuals paying cash.
Another thing that should be made available, dollar-for-dollar tax deductions for health care related charitable donations. If your friend needs help, and you give him $1,000 for the surgery, you should be able to completely write that off in your taxes (up to a certain amount per year). With enough friends, family members, etc doing this, paying your medical bills should be easy, and private dollars being spent will lead to more competition Bottom line, there are plenty of simple ways to solve the health care problem in this country, that doesn't directly involve the government, the same people that ***** up health care in the first place. The problem is, politicians for the most part don't seem to like giving up power, they like to pretend they are helping you with your own money. - inactive, on 04/08/2008, -0/+4Good luck pitching that idea to the American voter!
- elipabst, on 04/08/2008, -2/+6Ummm, so the PRIVATE insurance company that you had already paid for screwed you over and refused to pay for a procedure that you ended up paying out of pocket? How is that in anyway an endorsement for privatized healthcare? Their only obligation is to their shareholders.
- DRINKxREDxBULL, on 04/08/2008, -9/+13So you're saying that I won't be forced to pay the taxes that fund it?
- Dewhead, on 04/08/2008, -1/+5We all know how well the VA government run hospitals are.....
- smotpoker, on 04/08/2008, -2/+6I feel bad for ya, but this auto-rejection form of healthcare provided by the government currently is not exactly what most people want. It exists as it does because of the simple fact that government employees, at the lowest level, are typically underpaid and social welfare systems are underfunded because so many conservative right-wingers feel they are being taken advantage of if the poor (or anyone for that matter) doesn't have to work as hard as humanly possible to get needed assistance.
It explicitly states on social services websites that almost EVERYONE is rejected at least once or twice for any form of disability, with each rejection taking six months to one year. Supposedly it is a deterrent of fraudulent claims but you are a living example of how harmful refusal to accept social/moral responsibility hurts everyone and, while people are busy fighting to keep you and people who are impoverished from getting decent/fair assistance from the government, beuarocrats are embezzling money right and left, charging $250k each for new toilet seats and *****.
For the record, Obama's healthcare plan doesn't mandate government insurance for everyone, only government subsidies for the poorest (IIRC). You will still be free to use private insurance and that private insurance will be cheaper - brufleth, on 04/08/2008, -0/+4I posted above about this but the attitude that you'll never get ill and your insurance company will always "take care of you" is a lie. At $150 dollars a month you'll probably be going bankrupt (and driving up cost for everyone else) after any serious illness or accident.
Look up the numbers, the US pays more per capita and more GDP than ANY OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH for health care. And we pay more by a lot! Our health care system is broken. The costs are rising at something like 8% a year. Well in excess of inflation and devouring those cost of living raise that many people get. In the case of company sponsored insurance plans they are eating away at the bottom line and dramatically impacting other forms of employee compensation.
So you're probably under insured and think you're immortal. That's great and all but back in the real world, those of us that work hard and don't want to be destitute if they have an accident or get cancer, well we realize that something needs to change and socialized medicine seems like a better alternative. - pintomp3, on 04/08/2008, -3/+7we already pay more for our health care, and get less..
- afruff23, on 04/08/2008, -1/+5Sure, get rid of the gun in the room.
- Christ0s, on 04/08/2008, -0/+4Yea i always knew those damn doctors were part of a secret communist plot that's why they are always sticking you with needles trying to steal my precious bodily fluids.
- pintomp3, on 04/08/2008, -1/+5most people don't die from lack of good web design.
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