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If the AMA lobbyists have anything to do w/ this (and they do), we'll get one just about the same time that hell freezes over.
More than the small percentage of undocumented immigrants here, it's the legal majority's unhealthy lives that are straining the medical system. if I had my way, those folks would have to pay triple for their health care for their dumb eating and living habits that have spiked obesity, diabetes, cancer, and all the other diseases and illnesses caused by unhealthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, you can't legislate out stupidity.
The way things stand now, people are being gouged more than ever by health insurance carriers whether they use their insurance coverage or not. I'm very glad they can't be penalized any longer for having illnesses, but there's still no meaningful coverage for mental illness, and more than a few people neither qualify for Medicaid nor have the $$$ for health coverage that is kind of a joke -- if you pay $6,000 out of pocket for the premiums AND an additional $2500 deductible, OK, THEN you have health coverage, but not before.
It's time for real universal health care access, based on citizenship, not on your liquid assets.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
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Quote:
Originally Posted by f5fstop
Why do we need to follow other countries in their social issues? In other words, I could care less what type of healthcare systems are in other countries.
Let me answer that as a Canadian.
We, Canada, spend 33% less as a percentage of GDP on healthcare, with better outcomes.
It is the cost of medical care that determines the cost of health insurance coverage.
Explain how charging $55,000 for an appendectomy that really only costs $2,800 isn't price-gouging by hospitals.
Explain further how the insurance company settling the claim for $11,000 for a $2,800 appendectomy isn't price gouging.
Explain how charging $117,000 in assistant surgeon fees isn't price gouging.
Explain how charging $1.3 Million for a premature birth that really only costs $35,000 isn't price-gouging.
Aren't those examples more like the distant rumbling of thunder as the gods of finance battle it out for megabucks while we powerless lilliputians cower in fear, clutching our blankets and massaging our appendix scars?
I mean, BigMed and BigInsurance aren't particularly interested in what the uh Public thinks, are they? It's the lobbyists who make policy, and they've got both the pachyderms and the jackasses in their pocket, anyway.
It is the cost of medical care that determines the cost of health insurance coverage.
Explain how charging $55,000 for an appendectomy that really only costs $2,800 isn't price-gouging by hospitals.
Explain further how the insurance company settling the claim for $11,000 for a $2,800 appendectomy isn't price gouging.
Explain how charging $117,000 in assistant surgeon fees isn't price gouging.
Explain how charging $1.3 Million for a premature birth that really only costs $35,000 isn't price-gouging.
I can give you a very good example of what you're talking about. About 5 years ago my cardiologist recommended I have a heart cat-scan, but he didn't believe my insurance would pay for it. So he told me to go down to the hospital and bargain for the price of it. I thought he was crazy. I forget the exact figures, but the scan was going to cost something like $1,300 BUT if I paid for it in cash on the day of the procedure, they would only charge something like $900. I said, "Are you saying the paperwork for billing costs $400?" In the end, my insurance did pay for it. But I never fail to be amazed at situations just like this.
Canada ethnically homogeneous? You haven't been in Toronto or Vancouver or any of the other major cities, have you?
But let's not go by perceptions. Let's look at some research. By a group everyone agrees has credibility, Pew Research. In this map, darker green is more diverse. Even Mexico is more diverse than USA, and Canada much more.
And the 33 page study with details, statistics and indepth charts are here:
Though I'm in favor of UH, and I believe that the US could have an EXCELLENT universal healthcare system, Yeledaf is correct. Compared to the US, Canada, with the exception of the 3 largest cities, is a FAR more homogeneous population (I'm originally from Southern Ontario, btw).
That's why folks flock to the US to get state-of-the-art health procedures?
Socialism breeds mediocrity.
Oh, good God. I SO wish this fantasy would go away, once and for all.
Where on earth do you get the idea that so many average, middle-class Canadians, Australians, Brits, etc. could possibly afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, for those state-of-the-art procedures? Can YOU afford to pay for procedures out of YOUR pocket?
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 04-24-2016 at 10:13 AM..
The best health care in the world is useless to someone who cannot afford it.
Bingo! So much for all of those "state-of-the-art" procedures.
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thinks, are they? It's the lobbyists who make policy, and they've got both the pachyderms and the jackasses in their pocket, anyway. 
