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137 Comments
- AllEvil669, on 06/24/2009, -2/+43Does this report really surprise anyone?
- Maddoktor2, on 06/24/2009, -6/+41All the more reason for universal health care.
- defwheezer, on 06/24/2009, -2/+32When it comes to health care, insurance companies are not the solution to the problem, they ARE the problem.
- Kesereti, on 06/24/2009, -1/+30Efficient or not, at least under a universal health care plan they'll be REQUIRED to cover me. No insurance company in the nation will do so currently. Yes, employers' insurance is required to cover you if they cover anyone, but the first time I use such insurance I get shunted off into some form of coverage where I am asked to pay 3-4x as much as other employees yet do not receive ANY benefits. Illegal? Probably. Commonplace? You betcha.
Why? I have a metabolic disorder that results in my passing kidney stones on at least a semi-monthly basis. Doesn't matter what I eat or don't eat, doesn't matter what supplements I do or don't take. It's just how it is. Have had to have several procedures called "shockwave lithotripsy" where they literally lie you down on a bed of shallow water with a giant subwoofer under it and sonically pummel your kidneys for an hour or so, resulting in quite a bit of bleeding and passing of gravel for about a week afterwards. Costs about $12k every time once you factor in all the various bills.
So now that I don't have insurance? I get to sit at home, grit my teeth and nearly pass out from pain and nausea at least twice a month, and pray to (insert deity) that I don't get another one that's large enough to require a lithotripsy.
Prayer is NOT a good health care system. - sb66, on 06/24/2009, -0/+26Canadians just read this ***** and shake their heads. Universal healthcare is totally the way to go. But first, you need to give a ***** about your fellow citizens, something many americans seem to sorely lack.
- thelastcivilian, on 06/24/2009, -2/+27Insurance = Racketeering
- dalittle, on 06/24/2009, -1/+23Why else would private health care fight so hard to prevent a public option? Answer, they will have to compete and cannot continue to gouge hardworking Americans for ill gotten profits.
- WasabiBomb, on 06/24/2009, -2/+23One word- lobbyists.
Nobody's saying that UHC would be perfect. We're just saying it would be BETTER. - enantiodromia, on 06/24/2009, -1/+22please give a cogent reason why. this is your big chance to step up and explain why you think this to be so.
- DangerCollie, on 06/24/2009, -3/+20I deal with it all the time. We have good insurance and still they keep sending back charges that should be paid. If they're not arguing with us, they're arguing with the doctor, who then sends the balance to us.
I've had to take some extreme steps. I send a letter to the billing office prior to treatment telling them that if the insurance company isn't paying, the procedure is not authorized. They know exactly what major plans cover and how much. That actually works most of the time. Since I started doing that, all we get are the co-pays and deductibles.
And this is the system the Republicans are standing up to support. - magamiako, on 06/24/2009, -1/+18Keep in mind that you still currently pay for people who need medical treatments when you buy into an employer's healthcare plan.
That big fat guy in your office? Yep, he has the same insurance you do.
Insurance is provided to employees through a company regardless of things such as pre-existing conditions. So yes, you are paying for the obese people in your company and other companies when they go to the doctor for complications such as diabetes.
There's only one difference between what you have right now and what we would have with a government-run system: profit will not be the primary driver for how money is paid out for medical bills. And that's a good thing for the people in our country. - publiclurker, on 06/24/2009, -4/+20Repeating lies do not makes them true.
You don't happen to be whoring for an insurance company would you? - MofS, on 08/13/2009, -3/+18"Meanwhile, the vast majority of Canadians, 91 per cent, felt that Canada's health care system was better than the United States. "
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNew ...
So, please, right wingers, STOP speaking on behalf of Canadians by saying we think national healthcare sucks.
Also, I find it pathetic that things like "That's what she said..." and "Depp leaves $4000 (0.0001% of his paycheck) as a tip" get 3-4k diggs, and look at this. - magamiako, on 06/24/2009, -1/+161shawn:
Until you need a $200,000 medical procedure to transplant a failing organ in your body. - enantiodromia, on 06/24/2009, -0/+13you won't fact check it because you already have your mind made up, regardless of the facts.
so go ahead, either fact check it and report your results, or admit here and now you just don't want to believe it so you wont. - Kyrgizion, on 06/24/2009, -2/+15FTA: 'Rockefeller said he was exploring "why consumers get such a raw deal from their insurance companies." '
Sure, Rockefellers caring about the rabble... and I've got a few acres of land on the Moon for sale. - WasabiBomb, on 06/24/2009, -2/+14"Nice body ya got dere. It'd be a real shame if somethin' were ta HAPPEN to it."
- enantiodromia, on 06/24/2009, -1/+13Hello, Logical Fallacies? It's Meor, aka, The Poisoned Well.
"Sally lied about eating the last piece of candy, so how can we believe her when she says the house is on fire?" - boombume, on 06/24/2009, -3/+15Jeez you don't have to be such a negative nancy.
- magamiako, on 06/24/2009, -1/+12@ssaya:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/24/liver.transpl ...
Steve Jobs. Wealthy man, good life, lives kind of odd. A model health nut, doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, is far from fat. Liver transplants cost $500,000. - costumemaker, on 06/24/2009, -1/+12unrelated, but I hope you read this, kesereti
I have a similar problem but more like once to twice a month. I started drinking natural lemonade. Lots and lots of it. Within a week of doing that, I started passing them like crazy with no pain whatsoever. They were just coming out. There is something in lemonade that expunges them from the kidneys and help to prevent new ones from being formed, but you have to buy the natural stuff.. newman's own or simply lemonade. Real sugar, real lemons.
I feel for you, man and I hope this helps. - Kesereti, on 06/24/2009, -1/+11@CM
Yeah, I'd heard that actually. Not from a doctor, of course, but just from my own research. So I tried it (I liked Newman's Own even before I started having this problem, so it wasn't that much of a stretch), and what happened in my case is that I didn't pass a single stone for over 2 months. I was ecstatic. I thought the worst was behind me. Then I was diagnosed with a 24mm (yes, 2.4cm) stone in my right kidney. Apparently rather than passing them, they'd just been accumulating into a giant stone.
Obviously, it does help quite a few people! But as there are different types of stones (Uric acid, calcium, sodium, and so on), they require different treatments. The best thing I've found so far is what's marketed as "magnesium citramate" -- a 2:1 ratio of malic acid and magnesium from a compound called, appropriately enough, magnesium citrate-malate. It has reduced the size of the stones (from 3-4mm average to 1-2mm), but not their frequency, unfortunately.
I do greatly appreciate the advice though -- if nothing else, it's nice to know someone ELSE who knows what it's like...misery loves company and all that. =P - dalittle, on 06/24/2009, -0/+9You don't have to use the public option. You can continue to use private health care.
- enantiodromia, on 06/24/2009, -1/+10it is already you paying. you think your current insurance is paid for by charity?
- publiclurker, on 06/24/2009, -4/+13Right, and every other country has nothing but good things to say about their government and how they are always right.
Just admit it, sam, you got nothing. - publiclurker, on 06/24/2009, -1/+9And then it will be too late for you to get insurance.
- Shanich, on 06/24/2009, -2/+10 And yet they still try to lie about how health care reform is not fair - boo hoo -
- awfl, on 06/24/2009, -1/+9Medicare; don't they often cover the sickest, oldest, poorest, most vulnerable of our society? Aren't the others more likely to have younger, stronger, healthier pools, on average? Would this not skew the data; is your chart a fair overall comparative view?
- Ne007, on 06/24/2009, -1/+9Health insurers should offer "sickness forgiveness" just like car insurers offer "accident forgiveness".
I mean, how can anybody complain when insurance companies will forgive each and every one of us? They give out their hard earned money and bless us with their kindness and generosity.
/s
I think these insurers forget that that is their job and whole reason of being to cover sicknesses (or accidents) and then they want to act like it's our job to pay them money and bow down to kiss their feet....in other words
....."beg for forgiveness"
Those "accident forgiveness" commercials get under my skin as you can tell. Why else did I give them money for all these years? I should get it all back if I never have an accident. - jivatmanx, on 06/24/2009, -1/+9When we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." -Bush, June 18, 2002
- youliveinfear, on 06/24/2009, -2/+9just based on the right wing shills that are posting here, i'm going to assume that if i were to turn Rush on i would probably hear him railing against Medicare and touting the talking point "Medicare denies more people!" as proof that universal health care will fail. I always love seeing the talking points trickle down. Mix in some "Canada's system sucks" from people who don't live in Canada, and it's about par for the course.
- borez, on 06/24/2009, -3/+10This is news?
- publiclurker, on 06/24/2009, -3/+10Just out of curiosity, which of those companies are signing your paycheck?
- Rikkochet, on 06/24/2009, -2/+9Insurance is somewhere between a lottery and marketing.
Keep everyone afraid of everything and pay really ***** odds and you'll come out ahead. - xenuxenuts, on 06/24/2009, -1/+8And if you get hit by a car?
- kingmanic, on 06/24/2009, -1/+8I circumvent this by living in Canada.
- MissCellania, on 06/24/2009, -1/+8Which insurance company are you schilling for? Or are you just a stockholder?
- publiclurker, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6Try reading the rest of his entry. He was a greedy SOB who was trying to by a better reputation.
- algaeturd, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6Amen about the Johnny Depp comment. People in general...Americans at least, give WAY more of a ***** about Johnny Depp and likewise celebrities than they do about their own health and finances.
Kind of puts this country into perspective, doesn't it? - yocouchdigga, on 06/24/2009, -2/+7jesus ***** christ, you 'neener neener' types on both sides of the aisle need to pull your ***** heads out of your asses. the vast majority of both sides in power do not give a flying ***** about you, just that you pay your taxes and shut the ***** up.
stay status quo and keep blaming each other... it seems to be working so well for this country - /s - SammyJr, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6@ssaya, watch out for that bus!!!
- Dauntless1, on 06/25/2009, -0/+5California and a number of other state governments ARE pushing for UHC at state level. Hopefully we'll see something like that happen.
- Dauntless1, on 06/25/2009, -1/+6Isn't it amazing? The people complaining the loudest about Canada's healthcare system are people who've never even been to Canada and a handful of doctors who *gasp* manage to make more money off of a few republican advertisements then they do from their day job. Who knew?
- Dauntless1, on 06/25/2009, -1/+6When they break the rules, people die. Hard to sue when you're dead, isn't it?
- Rikkochet, on 06/24/2009, -1/+5You drunken oaf! Of course it is!
- kingmanic, on 06/24/2009, -3/+7Look kids, a shill in it's natural environment. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear it's loud high pitched whine and to see the wonderfully sold-out plumage of it's insipid paid opinions. Remember not to feed it though.
- bdbr, on 06/25/2009, -1/+5Then he just won't be able to pay, and the cost will be passed onto us.
- manano, on 06/24/2009, -10/+14And yet, nothing will be done....can you hear the crickets? No? Maybe you need a hearing aid? I know a great insurance company that pays for hearing.... oh nevermind....
- Gumphlumph, on 06/25/2009, -1/+5Potter's successor as spokesman for CIGNA said the company strongly disagrees "with the suggestion that, motivated by profits, the insurance industry has deliberately attempted to confuse or unfairly treat covered individuals."
That's like the CEO of ConcoPhilips saying that cutting down on oil consumption will cause widespread disaster. The corporatocracy is finally being brought into line - no surprise they're kicking and screaming. - Dauntless1, on 06/25/2009, -0/+4Yes, but a decent person understands that greed beyond a point is simply evil.
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