theatlantic.com — The figures are from a new study by the Department of Health and Human Services, which examined how different U.S. demographics contributed to medical costs. It looked at the $1.26 trillion spent by civilian, non-institutionalized Americans each year on health care.
Jan 13, 2012 View in Crawl 4
crom99Jan 14, 2012
Solution: ship the sickest 5% of people to Canada. Where's my Nobel prize?
MondayWarriorJan 14, 2012
That's a great idea! Any of the sick, physically degenerated, mentally ill people we should just forcibly remove from the country and make another country take care of them. And if that doesn't work I am sure we can find a camp program for them; or perhaps sterilization. /s
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
Or we have a huge military budget, use that. Line them up, use for target practice. End of problem, and almost no shipping costs. As I watch the GOP, I know this idea has been discussed, they cut all care money and increase the military budget.
leodinJan 14, 2012
Um, isn't that just common sense? Most people are perfectly healthy and incur almost no health care expenses.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
but then there are people that don't have health care who really need it.
norman619Jan 14, 2012
And there are starving kids in China...
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
even though your sarcasm is noted what you are saying is it is more important to care for china's children then U.S children?
norman619Jan 14, 2012
I'm saying you can't save everyone. It's impossible and we are CLEARLY spending far more than we can afford to. It's an ugly fact of life. Yes in the real world, where we all live, some people get the short end of the stick. That's life. Government is not the answer to everything.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
I'm sure you would change your opinion quickly if you were one of those people who got the short end of the stick... You are right we are CLEARLY spending more than we can afford to but it's not health care. If it wasn't for all the other bulls**t issues this country is being forced to deal with there would be no reason everyone in this country couldn't be helped.
u2canfailJan 27, 2012
Is food covered in health care? No
grgt1994Jan 14, 2012
Everyone who needs health care in the US can get it, free if need be too.
markfradlJan 14, 2012
No, everyone can get EMERGENCY care - you need a doctor visit and can't afford it? Too bad. Can't afford your medicine? Too bad.
And even that emergency care is sub par - controlling for other factors, a person admitted to the ER with insurance has a much better survival rate than someone admitted without insurance.
starmanjonesJan 14, 2012
bulls**t. no preventative medicine and only the medicine that makes you able to leave the emergency room.
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
If a diabetic, you can show up at the ER, and get stabilized. You go home. Then you show up again, same outcome, then again, same outcome. Loose a foot, surgery free, sent home. Then you are back for the entire leg. Great, free again. We send you home. Blind and dying but you had excellent care for free, just never the treatment you needed.
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Doctors Without Borders created for 3rd world medical care, now spends 1/3 of their time in the USA, we are officially a 3rd world country. Be proud.
grgt1994Jan 27, 2012
Right, and if you refuse to work you will eventually starve. But by your logic the failure of personal responsibility is ignored, and we just focus on the fact that after being nourished from your emaciated state, it is a failure of the health care system that you are not given permanent and free medical care to ensure you put food in your pie hole.
u2canfailJan 27, 2012
I am self employed, I pay my entire health insurance bill, do you? Personal responsibility comes with interesting costs, you don't yet pay.
You have your employer buy your health care plan. Then pay at least part of the cost. How is that personally responsible sir?
Explain:
grgt1994Jan 28, 2012
Thank you for underscoring my point. You are correct that an employer does not buy health care for employees. In fact, it is the employees' labor that purchases their own health care. It's just that in the barter of the employment contract, both employer and employee agree to a LOWER PAY in exchange for LESS PAY with health care.
Of course employers do not GIVE health care to their employees. They pay their employees for their labor, both in cash and in PAYING FOR HEALTH CARE.
So you are correct, you DO pay, regardless whether your employer writes the check. YOU PAY.
So you see, I do not need to explain, because you already did.
bille3Jan 14, 2012
All they need do is go to the nearest E.R. and get in line to see the doctor. It is illegal and most importantly unethical to be turned away and refused to be treated.
In case you missed the story from Fresno CA.
"Doctors say Marco Antonio Fuentes is well enough to go home today.
At last. Fuentes has spent 374 days at Community Regional Medical Center, the longest uninterrupted stay by a patient at the Fresno acute-care hospital, according to staff recollection. "God has helped me to make it in here and to make it out of here," Fuentes said softly from the edge of his hospital bed Tuesday. Doctors struggled to keep him alive since Fuentes was admitted to the hospital Dec. 26, 2010, with an excruciating belly ache".
Mr. Fuentes is an illegal alien, he had no ability to pay for medical care.
If someone needs medical care and does not receive it, it is because they did not go ask for it. Can you imagine what the total hospital bill is for an acute-care hospital is after 374 days?Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
And you should also know that you get a bill afterwords. Sure there are exceptions but there always are.
u2canfailJan 27, 2012
You sir, are responsible for those who are citizens that would do this. Because the ER, the most expensive care is what those without coverage have.
This guy was illegal, the nice thing is, your costs went up every moment he or any "not insured person" shows up! It would cost you far less, to insure all citizens.
You do know we are a 3RD World Country, Doctors Without Borders now spends 1/3 of their time here in the USA.
norman619Jan 14, 2012
Which is why most people really only need medical insurance to cover catastrophic medical emergencies.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
so... screw the people that need to see a physician on a regular basis because of diseases such as diabetes, cancer... ect...?
norman619Jan 14, 2012
Yes unfortunately we can't help everyone. It's cost prohibitive. We should focus on those we can afford to help. Use our money where it will do the most good. Some people have to accept that it is their time and make their peace with it.
If you haven't noticed our country is broke.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
lol our country is not broke because of health care.... its broke because of the failed drug war, its broke because of wars we shouldn't be in, its broke because of corrupt politicians, its broke because of banks taking advantage of the system. its funny how you believe only the wealthy deserve to be healthy.
u2canfailJan 27, 2012
Thank you, I totally agree.
It took Romney, without working a minute, less than 35 minutes to earn $34,500. A citizen on a salary of $34,500 per year pays 10% more in taxes.
His BAIN was part of a lobby group, that bought the lower rate for the wealthy investor.
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
They think, it is not a truth, but a false assumption. Visits to a Doctor for the human body can "save money".
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
You exhibit "smart". rare on digg.
johnnysoftwareJan 14, 2012
Cell phone companies would cut them off from health care if they ran the medical industry. "Heavy users". 0.o
mlw4428Jan 14, 2012
They did...it was called rescissoring...ObamaCare stopped that practice. It took the Democrats to bring sensibility to health insurance...just a bit more and we can have a fair and amazing health care system with Universal Healthcare.
ganjadude4391Jan 14, 2012
where can i get a set of those rose colored glasses you got on?
mlw4428Jan 14, 2012
So your saying ObamaCare didn't stop rescissoring or are you saying that ObamaCare wasn't a Democratic initiative?
ganjadude4391Jan 14, 2012
it may have stopped it in wording, but in practice its still there, just called something else according to my friends who work in the medical field
darth0Jan 14, 2012
For the love of god, it's rescission not rescissoring. Using a completely wrong word multiple times is like a poke in the eye.
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
We did know what he meant though.
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
I have been self employed for years. I totally agree. Our problem is most Americans only pay a small portion of their insurance costs. And in a big group, the insurers are easier to deal with.
My biggest fear was becoming ill. It meant I would never have health insurance again, at any price. I am glad that is over.
melthornalJan 14, 2012
Duh. There are often times certain patients that an ER will see repeatedly, with varying complaints, and demand certain tests be administered. They know complaining about chest pains gives them guaranteed time for observation before the hospital is allowed to "let" them go. You guys working in the ER know who I'm talking about. The term Hypochondriasis comes to mind.
ganjadude4391Jan 14, 2012
not sure why you got dugg down, my buddy who works in the hospital near me (going to be an anesthesiologist in another 9 months) you are dead on.
Graf_OrlockJan 14, 2012
Anecdotal evidence so feel free to ignore it...
My sister-in-law's been a nurse in an ER, and one thing she noticed is that there were some folks that would routinely show up, once or twice a month, for the kind of things I would think most people just deal with at home. Like really bad cramps, or a bad headache (non-migraine), or in one case a girl who'd broken a nail below the nail line. Seriously.
Digg me down for the thought, but I have to wonder if these types of things would go down if there were either an annual cap on visits, or an increase in copay costs if you're repeatedly abusing the system.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
Umm... you guys do know that the government doesn't pay for ER trips for everyone right?
melthornalJan 14, 2012
Indirectly the government does. The hospitals are driven into enormous amounts of debt by this behavior, and they are forced to use creative accounting to make the government pick up as much of the tab as possible.
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
Aspirin is $99 on my last bill, (years ago) I can purchase 100 Bayer for $6 at a store today. Yes, we do pay a lot more, to have so many uninsured bodies.
Closed AccountJan 14, 2012
So?
norman619Jan 14, 2012
It means most Americans are in great health for now. Awesome news.
hillsfarJan 14, 2012
And 50% of Emergency Room visits are by the same few people with panic attacks who may call 911 50 times a year each.
hillsfarJan 14, 2012
Also, 25% of all Medicare spending was made in the last year of a person's life. Since seniors get their Medicare paid for by everyone else (the typical retiree takes out TEN TIMES what they ever put in, and they still think they "paid their fair share into the system and "deserve it").
We have to decide that someone who calls 911 ten times in a year doesn't get to anymore. And we have to decide that not all efforts should be spent on a 97-year-old when the outcome clearly only buys a few months and it may be better that they face a dignified time getting their affairs in order.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
Yeah... why the hell should we have respect for our elderly and try to take care of them when they cant take care of themselves.... /s
u2canfailJan 26, 2012
I do have issues with both sides here. I love Medicare, it was great for my elderly parents, kept them going, on very little income.
But I also know, we simply will never be able to foot the bill for unlimited care for all, no matter the outcome. "Terri Shivo" sp? comes to mind. If you want to keep her alive on machines for years, I do think you should foot the entire bill. We have to have a point to stop.
mlw4428Jan 14, 2012
Are you adjusting to inflation? Where are your numbers or sources?
I heard Republicans use 11929383387474747478458435843583454587% of public services than Democrats, but only pay .00000000003023023%.
Ahh I love making up bulls**t too and not having to cite it.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
Graf_OrlockJan 14, 2012
Well, it does seem to be your forte...
razorsfuryJan 14, 2012
I'd like to know where you got that statistic from.
bille3Jan 13, 2012
So the other 45% were illegal aliens?
johnnysoftwareJan 14, 2012
Uh, there are words in that headline between the numbers.
salbatrossJan 14, 2012
Good lord, you don't know a SINGLE thing about statistics, do you?
bille3Jan 14, 2012
I see you failed to see the sarcasm. No surprise..
salbatrossJan 15, 2012
Being incredibly wrong about something, whether you meant to or not, is not what sarcasm is.