What is Digg?79 Comments
- scottknick, on 11/13/2007, -1/+47Ah, the wonders of free-market health care.
- colberrep, on 11/11/2007, -1/+37profits before people. unfortunately so far, only kucinich has called for true single payer universal health care.
- ettin, on 11/12/2007, -1/+27This is what i dont get about RP's platform. How can he deny that for-profit healthcare always leads to the incentive to deny healthcare?
And even more infuriating is all these greedy little ***** that make up the majority that spout ignorant talking points like "I dont want to pay for you to get sick by choice and use the healthcare system for all its worth" or "i dont want to pay for your clutch of white trash kids". How myopic can you possibly be not to see that even the lowest common denominator affects society as a whole? Or to lack compassion not to wish to support your fellow man in their darkest hour?
Simply pathetic how greedy and incompassionate this capitalistic society has become. - JD7772, on 11/11/2007, -2/+25Health insurers have a conflict of interest. Their profit motive conflicts with their purpose to pay out claims. They obviously need to be regulated more closely. Want more evidence our health care system is broken? Our health care system costs all of us more than twice as much as any other worldwide, yet the United States ranks 37th, right next to Cuba, in quality of care.
Once again, our Republican government is asleap at the switch. They aren't even thinking about options. They are in denial. They are even heading in exactly the wrong direction in many ways, such as by vetoing expanded childrens' health insurance coverage for lower middle class families who currently can't afford it.
Republicans are the problem. They are a party that is against government and government regulation, so they don't have a clue as to how to run a government. They are incompetent. And surprisingly corrupt.
We need politicians like Obama who will bring us change. - shikal74, on 11/11/2007, -2/+18This problem will get fixed when the baby boomers retire and really start getting sick because the lucky who have insurance don't realize that they are underinsured. Once this becomes a major middle class problem, bring on HIP (Canadian national insurance which rhymes with SCHIP).
- pintomp3, on 11/11/2007, -0/+12there are still a lot of people who romanticize the wild west idea of america where every man fends for himself. first, they don't realize corporations don't play by the same rules and fight dirty. second, the world has moved more to the idea of collective good. the american dream is just that, a dream.
- infiniteshadow, on 11/11/2007, -1/+11have you watched Siko its ALL about this
- rz8472, on 11/11/2007, -0/+10I think the term "healthcare" in the country violates the Truth-in-Advertising Act.
- buzznjackal, on 11/11/2007, -1/+11We have socialized the police, the fire departments, the mail, the primary education (grades k-12), why not socialize medicine? 1 out of 5 Americans cannot afford health insurance and the other 4 out 5 can be dropped or denied treatment by their insurance carrier. Something must be done to change the way greedy insurance companies have profited from so many sick.
- thomasprebble, on 11/11/2007, -1/+9Are the New Zealand politicians taking note of this? Privatization of the medical system does NOT work and America is a good example of why. Social responsibility you say? *****! When did a health company ever act socially responsible?
- getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -0/+8The government really needs to do something about this kind of *****. Whether it be a government health program, or legislation penalizing insurance companies that engage in this kind of swindling, something needs to change.
Personally, I'd love to see private health insurance companies shut down by the government, but that's me. - QuickeningYak, on 11/11/2007, -0/+8This is one of a handful of standard operating tactics. How do you think insurance companies make money ?
- reeder, on 11/11/2007, -2/+9You know that almost a billion people worldwide are on the verge of starving, right? You might want to pick a better counter-example next time, instead of using one that supports the conclusion opposite to the one you feebly attempt to prove.
Man, are you brainwashed. - dnafrequency, on 11/11/2007, -8/+14More of the same evil corruption. And you think Obama is going to save you! What a joke! That pretty boy is just another NWO shill ready to screw you like the rest of the politicians. All that sexual charisma will sure get him a lot of votes though. You sheeple have got to wake up and stop worshiping these soulless people the government bought and paid for media parade around. Turn off your TV!
- eclectro, on 11/11/2007, -0/+5I think that you wrongly assume that insurance companies are needed. I would submit that with insurance companies only insuring healthy people now, one can argue that they may not be needed. If you're healthy, you don't need care anyway, right? And if you get sick, the insurance companies are not going to insure you (or as this article demonstrates, get you off the rolls) no matter what. Even if you have a hang nail, you won't get coverage. I know, I've tried.
So really, insurance companies, and the profits they make, really are not needed. - geddon, on 11/11/2007, -0/+5Surprising to see the number of Diggs in response to your comment, considering the fact that you've struck out against Ron Paul and stated that America includes the lowest common denominator. More Diggs to you, my friend!
- MacEnvy, on 11/11/2007, -1/+5Privatized health care de-emphasizes the importance of preventative care, leading to what can only be termed "sickcare". Study after study has shown that this system is terribly inefficient. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" ... unless you own a company that only makes money by delaying prevention and supplying expensive cures. Thanks, Big Pharma!
- nyrfan444, on 11/11/2007, -0/+4Insurance COMPANIES are by definition for-profit entities. Denying coverage like this is pretty much standard operating procedure, and unless the insured can prove that the denial was truly "in bad faith" (which is tough to prove) it has a good chance of standing.
- chodaboy, on 11/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah well harp on Michael Moore all you want, but I think he's right on the money. There's a serious conflict of interest in "health insurance" and it really needs to be fixed.
- mattyj77, on 11/12/2007, -3/+6Infinite demand? Are there infinite people? No so you are wrong.
Food supply? Huh, at the moment there is a market for food, however there is nothing stopping governments from owning farms and supplying food based on survey information. In fact the only information you need is demand, and doctors can and do determine demand, not insurance companies. Infact insurance companies are increasingly bureucratic anyway so you have insurance and hospital bureucracy, why not streamline and kill insurance
Entire pay check? Do they give up their entire pay check in Sweden, New Zealand didn't when they had full healthcare, in fact i'd say healthcare is worse since we switched to a dual system and private companies get to use public resources, in fact we actually curb demand by having nominal doctors fees.
Greed? Only a problem in capitalist society, which is of course the natural society for hierarchical humanity, can't really argue with that, but then again the father of capitalism Adam Smith urged people to never allow privatisation of health care. health care is not really a commodity, unlike food where you can eat cheap or expensive food, your life depends on health care and generally there is no choice. - cecinestpasvrai, on 11/11/2007, -1/+4The health care system, as is, has already been ruined by our efficient government full of corruption and special interests.
- alvarezg, on 11/11/2007, -3/+6We need to use our own government to insure ourselves.
- skews13, on 11/11/2007, -1/+4so the real question is;is it more important that insurance companies make profits at the expence of the health of average working class americans.or is it more important that average working class americans have access to health care at the expence of insurance company profits?
- mattyj77, on 11/11/2007, -2/+5No, I think he's full of it.
- art42, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3Medicare (Gov't run) spend less than 5% on over head.
Private health "insurance" spends 25-40%. 'nuff said... - spucky, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3Single payer healthcare does mean the government makes the health decisions. It means the government replaces much of the current private insurers. The degree to which they influence what procedures you can or cannot have or how they are administered is up to a specific plan - some better than others.
- requiemtower, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3The health insurance companies are practicing unethical policy cuts because of greed, not because they are trying to run a business. Dr. Linda Peeno worked for Humana as a medical director. She denied a man heart surgery and save Humana 500,000 dollars. This surgery would have saved his life. When she went outside her office, she notice some construction in the front lobby. A statue was being installed that was worth 3.8 million dollars. So you see the people's money wasn't spent on a "lung cancer patient with a smoking habit". It was spent on a over-priced statue that nobody would care for in the first place. So you see why health companies have a terrible reputation on being greedy.
- colberrep, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2maybe the free market fairy will come and heal her? I thought corporations were kind hearted folks, this is very surprising. I mean after all, their commercials are always so heart warming.
- getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2I was referring to the federal government, of course. Thanks though.
- Octaman, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2Crap, I have diabetes type 1... there is no known preventative measure that can be taken against type 1 diabetes. Most affected people are otherwise healthy and of a healthy weight when onset occurs.
Care to join? - Damian91, on 11/10/2007, -0/+2Shocking? lol...
- ganjadude4391, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2My question is this... Can the company that dropped these people be charges with aiding in a murder if someone is to die due to their shady business practices?
- bjornski, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2And the unregulated rising cost of health care wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with that, I'm sure.
What's your proposal, to get rid of it entirely? - 4eloBek, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2Its not shocking, just money, nothing personal. So many crooks now everywhere! Is legal system dead or just turning a blind eye?
- art42, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2According to WHO the US's health system ranks #37 :
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html - gobleepyourself, on 11/11/2007, -1/+3This is why I'm sometimes ashamed to be American. We're supposed to be the greatest nation on Earth? As individuals, we might be "good people" but as a country, we become the the obnoxious, drunk, loudmouth uncle that everyone has to put up with at the family picnic.
50 years or less....the USA becomes a full-on Socialist nation. - requiemtower, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2When you pay for health insurance, you expect to be covered. So where is the charity part?
- themonkman, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2This worries me because I have HealthNet. Many scientists in the field of cancer research (I know them because I work with them) agree that by and large the propensity to have cancer is a genetic trait and account for most causes of the disease. Cancer, in some aspects, is a natural thing as well. For example, the main reason we could not feasible live forever is because the divisions of cells is a finite number, and as cells reach their predetermined division length (which is specified by it's telometers), it will eventually turn cancerous. Most of the time the body's immune system will locate these cancerous cells at an early stage, but as the immune system loses strength at older age and as we begin to produce fewer adult stemcells to replace dead and damaged ones, the cancer can easily spread. Lifestyle of course plays a part, but for an insurance company to leave you while you are at your most vulnerable is despicable. They made a bet that you'd stay healthy and would make money off of you, but as soon as they lose that bet they pull from the table.
- superrad, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2And i'm sure 20,000 of that was mine. I used to have healthnet. and had a daughter. when i no longer had healthnet a couple of months later, i was sent a billion denial letters, saying i had coverage from somewhere else when i obviously didn't. and i've been fighting with there reps non stop.
- spawnfree, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2congratulations on making me angry.
- spawnfree, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2profits demand sacrifice.
end result; everybody pays and nobody gets cured.
so, why is a care system run by people who.... dont care? - bjornski, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2Yeah, so I guess it's more "competitive" so price 20% of the population out of health care entirely. Know why there are shorter lines for health care in the US?
Because 47 million people aren't in them. - CaptA, on 11/11/2007, -0/+1jeffiek,
No sense trying to educate the booboisie! These addlepated diggers, wheedlers, gimme-gimmes and "ism" lovers merely detract from the true meaning of life. Capt. A. - Pake, on 11/11/2007, -0/+1Yup, get rid of it entirely and pass legislation that limits what health care companies can and cannot do. Force competition between health care companies to lower prices instead of moving towards a socialist country where we are controlled by a large federal government. You can't have a small federal government when you're asking for them to do everything for you.
- colberrep, on 11/11/2007, -0/+1Clinton tried to institute universal health care but the GOP torpedoed it. Open a book.
- Sogui, on 11/18/2007, -0/+1RON PAUL AND FREE MARKET WILL SOLVE THIS! Surely open competition always benefits the consumers, or was it screws the consumer? Oh well I have no formal education about our government but RON PAUL 08 sure sounds great!
- jeffiek, on 11/12/2007, -2/+3"unlike food where you can eat cheap or expensive food, "
But you MUST eat some type of food. Tell you what. You go without eating, I'll go without a doctor. Let's see who cries "uncle" first.
"Infinite demand? Are there infinite people?"
OK, technically you're right. Is "greater than 100 percent of the GDP" acceptable?
"Entire pay check? Do they give up their entire pay check in Sweden,"
You really need to look up hyperbole in the dictionary. - Octaman, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1The real problem here is the use of the word "socialized".
Where I live the government does sponsor health care big time, but it's not free. We do have to pay for it... I roughly fork over €120 a year. On the plus side: we still have the choice: "socialized" or private. I mix both. - zombies187, on 11/26/2007, -0/+1'Anyway, who cares if some black person is sick, get a new slave. White people have cash to pay for medicine.'
Isn't that what you really meant? -
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