OMG Politics, I'm over it already.

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Johnny N. said:
The last part seems to make sense on paper but the idea that complete control goes to the government scares me.
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I don't see how that is any scarier than giving complete control to insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and medical centers who are trying to make a profit off your illness.
 
Kerouac said:
I could have had a much better quality of life for many years if I had insurance... I think a lot of people in our country tend to undervalue that, and only want their insurance for "emergencies."
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Same here. I went through a decade or so without any. When I was diagnosed with heart failure, the doctors seem to think it was a direct result of my cancer treatment when I was a kid and that I have been in heart failure since at least high school. I didn't get it diagnosed until I was in my late 30s. I probably lost a good 5 to 10 years off my life by not treating it for so long.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Just to weigh in on insurance, fuck insurance. Especially when you require a specialty that doesn't take insurance. Bring on single payer.
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I almost always tend to favor the very tedious balance between private business and government oversight - which is a very difficult balance for properly achieve.

But on health care, yeah, I'm totally on the one payer train. I know too many people who are paying more for their health insurance coverage than they are for their rent or mortgage. And all the 'affordable' plans with $4000.00 deductibles. How in the world can anyone expect a person barely able to afford the $100.00 per month insurance to come up with a huge deductible and a 30% co-pay if an actual health crisis were to occur?

Go to single payer and slap either a income or sales tax on everyone and be done with it. We are a nation of people afraid to go to the doctor and who are one slip on the ice or car accident away from bankruptcy. The private/for profit health care industry in the US simply does not work financially for the vast majority of the population.
 
Kerouac said:
I could have had a much better quality of life for many years if I had insurance... I think a lot of people in our country tend to undervalue that, and only want their insurance for "emergencies."
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Chad said:
Same here. I went through a decade or so without any. When I was diagnosed with heart failure, the doctors seem to think it was a direct result of my cancer treatment when I was a kid and that I have been in heart failure since at least high school. I didn't get it diagnosed until I was in my late 30s. I probably lost a good 5 to 10 years off my life by not treating it for so long.
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My cousin has never had medical insurance after aging off his parents policy. He's one of those people works unskilled low paying labor jobs and lives in the margins of near poverty w/ no benefits...been in and out of the hospital a number of times for conditions that could have been treated & kept in check by a family doctor and wound up completely bankrupted by the bills. One of his conditions is severe asthma and he couldn't afford inhalers so his grandmother was giving him hers that she received on her medicare. He was hospitalized again about a year ago, unable to walk and passing out; diagnosed with MS. He's lived his adult life under a never ending mountain of medical debt. No one should have to live like that.
 
Johnny N. said:
100% with you on the first part. The last part seems to make sense on paper but the idea that complete control goes to the government scares me. Couple it with term limits, campaign funding reform to somehow reduce the power of the special interest and eliminate or reduce the stranglehold of the two parties and I could possibly get on board. At this point, I'd worry that the two parties would just continue to sabotage anything the other party enacted. When I stop to think about how much I pay in insurance; health, life, dental, vision, car, property etc. it makes me crazy. So yeah, F insurance.
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I'm all for term limits, campaign finance reform, lobbying reform, and third party candidates. Universal health care should be guaranteed. Like clean water, clean air, and education. This whole "government death panels" thing is a boogeyman to keep us from the reality that we already have death panels consisting of insurance company employees.
 
Lerxst said:
My cousin has never had medical insurance after aging off his parents policy. He's one of those people works unskilled low paying labor jobs and lives in the margins of near poverty w/ no benefits...been in and out of the hospital a number of times for conditions that could have been treated & kept in check by a family doctor and wound up completely bankrupted by the bills. One of his conditions is severe asthma and he couldn't afford inhalers so his grandmother was giving him hers that she received on her medicare. He was hospitalized again about a year ago, unable to walk and passing out; diagnosed with MS. He's lived his adult life under a never ending mountain of medical debt. No one should have to live like that.
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The first (and sadly hidden) rule of medical debt is to request a "spin down". The difference can be between 20% to 40% less than the hospital billed you for, and can sometimes be negotiated to even lower amounts.

Also, health insurance companies usually send you a bill on the costs they've already covered. Some people panic and pay this bill. Double dipping is a regular practice by health insurance. My wife caught them attempting this just 2 weeks ago. Once confronted by phone, they said, "Oh, disregard that invoice. Everything has already been paid." What they didn't say is that the invoice was sent out just a day before they paid the claim.
 
Tig said:
The first (and sadly hidden) rule of medical debt is to request a "spin down". The difference can be between 20% to 40% less than the hospital billed you for, and can sometimes be negotiated to even lower amounts.

Also, health insurance companies usually send you a bill on the costs they've already covered. Some people panic and pay this bill. Double dipping is a regular practice by health insurance. My wife caught them attempting this just 2 weeks ago. Once confronted by phone, they said, "Oh, disregard that invoice. Everything has already been paid." What they didn't say is that the invoice was sent out just a day before they paid the claim.
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Yep. So even if you don't have to pay, they're killing you minutes at a time while having to argue about this bullshit.
 
Tig said:
The first (and sadly hidden) rule of medical debt is to request a "spin down". The difference can be between 20% to 40% less than the hospital billed you for, and can sometimes be negotiated to even lower amounts.
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Even after a few rounds of the hospitals forgiving some of his bills, he was still in debt for over $75,000 at one point. IIRC he started out well over $100.000 before that

Edit: I have no idea how many times he has hospitalized and I can remember at least 4 occasions that required ambulance rides, diagnostic tests & multiple over night stays. At one point he had an infection & cellulitis that landed him in the hospital for a couple weeks as did the instance w/ the MS diag.
 
Lerxst said:
as-is it was DOA....if he's not going to renego, might as well pull the plug.
NAFTA re-do is next supposedly
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i hope so. both those were bad for working americans. screw the f'ing "global economy"....that translates in real terms to "making other countries rich at our countries expense".
 
mongooz said:
i hope so. both those were bad for working americans. screw the f'ing "global economy"....that translates in real terms to "making other countries rich at our countries expense".
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Right after we build that wall we can close the border to all foreign made goods & domestic exports to end that f'ing global economy I suppose.
 
High tariffs and backing out of international trade so we can pretend goddamn factory jobs last seen in Bruce Springsteen songs from the 70s are coming back...watch everyone's standard of living fucking crater.

We'll be buying Gibson everything forever.
 
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