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Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
What screws the complaint about the system is that 80 percent of the people actually make little decisions about their HC. It is done for them through their employment. So even though they pay out the nose for inferior product they are happy in their little world. And, people don't usually like change. Change is hard.
I am for a Medicare type plan 80/20. Those with preconditions and who use the system more pay more, that would seem fair. But no matter what anyone pays it should not bankrupt them. Nor should it prevent healthcare workers from making a livable wage.
no matter what anyone pays it should not bankrupt them. Nor should it prevent healthcare workers from making a livable wage.
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
Why wouldn't it be political...there is money and power involved.
And the rest of the countries with national healthcare....their systems are collapsing, they can't afford them.
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
Why wouldn't it be political...there is money and power involved.
And the rest of the countries with national healthcare....their systems are collapsing, they can't afford them.
That's total bullshit. The US system is the one that's collapsing because it doesn't provide for all of its citizens and too much money is being syphoned off in administration and profits for the insurance companies and drug companies which ration care.
No system is perfect. All have issues. Everyone wants healthcare which is good, cheap and fast but you can't have all three. You can have two of those three but not all of them.
Single payer countries have essentially opted for good and cheap. It's not fast but with triage, those who need immediate care get it, and those who can wait, do.
Americans have gone for good and fast but it's not cheap, and you've essentially blocked a large chunk of your population from any access whatsoever except emergency care. Others have limits to their access with caps on coverage. If your problem is to expensive, tough on you. Only the very wealthy can take advantage to the best American health care has to offer.
How they've managed to sell these ideas to the general population is beyond me. But I guess Republican dumbing down of the education system and corporate ownership of all media does have its benefits for the conglomerate.
Americans have gone for good and fast but it's not cheap
Only the very wealthy can take advantage to the best American health care has to offer.
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
Why wouldn't it be political...there is money and power involved.
And the rest of the countries with national healthcare....their systems are collapsing, they can't afford them.
That's total bullshit. The US system is the one that's collapsing because it doesn't provide for all of its citizens and too much money is being syphoned off in administration and profits for the insurance companies and drug companies which ration care.
No system is perfect. All have issues. Everyone wants healthcare which is good, cheap and fast but you can't have all three. You can have two of those three but not all of them.
Single payer countries have essentially opted for good and cheap. It's not fast but with triage, those who need immediate care get it, and those who can wait, do.
Americans have gone for good and fast but it's not cheap, and you've essentially blocked a large chunk of your population from any access whatsoever except emergency care. Others have limits to their access with caps on coverage. If your problem is to expensive, tough on you. Only the very wealthy can take advantage to the best American health care has to offer.
How they've managed to sell these ideas to the general population is beyond me. But I guess Republican dumbing down of the education system and corporate ownership of all media does have its benefits for the conglomerate.
Americans have gone for good and fast but it's not cheap
I don't think anyone is looking for flat-out cheap (though nobody'll complain about paying less), but there's plenty we do in the areas of administrative processing, prescription drug pricing and basic practicality/efficacy that would notably lower the costs:
- Administrative -- When my wife was battling cancer and seeing doctors and getting treatments "left and right," the statements we'd get that explained what the insurance company had paid for were effectively useless. To us, she went to the doctor.
The doctor or other professional treated her or performed a procedure. They gave her some medications. The damn statements we got telling us that had all sorts of things that time and time again, we asked ourselves "WTF is that?" That's just nuts. When the doctor says, "we're going to do a transfusion," and then the insurer sends a statement, I want to see "transfusion." I don't need to see thirty odd things that are all the detailed procedures doctors, nurses and techs did to get the transfusion done.
And here's the key to that foolishness: it doesn't need to be that way. In principle, all those little procedures and gizmos are no different than is a manufacturer's "bill of materials." Manufacturing systems allow users to "pick" what one might call an assembly (or subassembly) and the system automatically knows "A, B, C, D, E, etc." are the component parts and activities associated with that assembly The user merely says customer A bought assembly "123" and assigns it to the customer's invoice, adding "one-off" additional items -- maybe a few hours of extra labor or an odd item here or there -- which is then sent electronically and automatically to the paying customer. Depending on the customer's requirements, their bill can be at the assembly level or the "bill of materials" level. There is no reason the same concept cannot be applied to medical services...and yet, based on the statements we received, it is not.
(Maybe things have changed. I don't know because other than routine visits, dental cleaning, etc., I and my kids haven't since my wife's passing over a decade ago needed medical care. The closest I've come is about five years back reaching the point where I needed contacts. With any luck, I'll be like my dad and not need a damn thing until I'm 88.)- Prescription drugs -- There is little that gals me more than U.S. patients effectively subsidize prescription drugs for patients in other counties. Much of what is keeping drug prices high isn't or should not be political.
- We've been doing so since at least the 1970s! So when people start on about O-care, to the extent any of their "price bitching" pertains to the cost of meds, O-care doesn't have a damn thing to do with it. O-care didn't fix this problem, and for not fixing it, I'm fine with one griping. But O-care is not the source of this aspect of the high medication costs we incur as Americans.
- The cost paid for statins in the U.S. for people younger than 65 years, who were insured by private companies, was approximately 400% higher than comparable costs paid by the government in the U.K.
- We now have medications to fix things that probably don't need fixing.
Acid reflux is the thing that comes to mind for me. Ever since whoever it was came out with and advertised the hell out of their acid reflux medication, every time someone has heartburn they think they have acid-f*cking-reflux. People have probably had acid reflux since "forever." What did they do about it? They changed their diet or drank some vinegar or took some baking soda. What'd that cost? Next to nothing.
Depression is another thing that strikes me that way. What remedy did my grandmother use for depression? She went shopping or threw a party. LOL It worked like a charm. "Back in the day" people had all sorts of solutions for depression. People don't need Prozac; they need to get out of the house or get laid. Between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate for U.S. adults between the ages of 35 and 64 jumped a full 28 percent. Now, tell me please why the hell are people killing themselves more yet, in addition to all the "old school" remedies, we also have all these new meds that are supposed to "cure" depression?
The point of my "rant" on the meds is that we are paying for the development of the damn things and we're not realizing any notable benefit from it.- 5 Reasons Prescription Drug Prices Are So High in the U.S.
- Other examples (click on the images to access more details):
- Efficacy/practicality -- For some reason we Americans feel like we need a specialist for for "everything" or "the best" or "latest" this or that, be it a doctor, a machine or a medication. Quite often, one just doesn't. From watching my parents get old and need increasing levels of care, it's become very clear to me that a better doctor isn't going to help. With my wife, the same was so; she was doing to die when she died no matter what doctors or devices or regimens were tried. Does a person really need to live into their 90s if all they are is breathing, but not really living -- they have dementia, they can't move about on their own, they may be incontinent, etc?
We're at the point where we use our healthcare system to make too many individuals' lives last far longer than they "naturally" would, and yet our overall life expectancy isn't notably longer than is that of people in far less-costly-healthcare nations. Part of that is because we're using our healthcare system for stuff it really shouldn't be used for.
Only the very wealthy can take advantage to the best American health care has to offer.
Yes, in some ways that's somewhat so. If one wants to look young and have perfect teeth, for example, one needs some "coin" to make that happen. If one is of a mind to die dirt poor, regardless of how wealthy one started out, one can use the healthcare system to live damn near indefinitely, but that takes a hell of a lot of money. On the other hand, if one is content to live a natural and healthy lifestyle, aside from accidents and unusual circumstances, one doesn't need much intervention from the healthcare system.
One need only look at the top things that make one healthier don't require healthcare of any sort. And yet how many people live a lifestyle that keeps them fit? There's no reason not to be fit and healthy at any age, and yet in the U.S. we have one of the most preventable epidemics known to man: obesity. Quite simply, everyone's health, thus lack of need for healthcare, would be much better if most people it important to be fit when they are young and be a MILF/DILF when they are over 50. All one has to do to make that happen is eat right and exercise, and one of those things inexpensive and the other is free.
The interests of both Big Food and Big Medicine are too entrenched. I don't see any way of changing it.
The interests of both Big Food and Big Medicine are too entrenched. I don't see any way of changing it.
They don't need to be changed. All that needs to change is each individual's eating habits, and that doesn't really have anything to with the intertwining of "Big Food" and "Big Medicine."
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
Asshole, you are a liar. Show me where it says Healthcare is a private issue. Here is a link to the US Constitution;Under the US Constitution we recognize health care as a PRIVATE issue, not a Right and definitely not a Governmental issue. If you prefer Government healthcare, I suggest moving to Europe.
As for the private insurance issue- Caveat Emptor.
(Preamble)federal government regulating healthcare is also unconstitutional here. The biggest reason why and you fail to mention itHealth care is political because ethical governments spend public money on providing it. For all its size and wealth, the USA is behind European Union countries because capitalist interests control the Federal Government and the politicians prefer to wash their hands of the responsibility and leave it up to the free market and profit motive to do the job.
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
OK, OK, but one question----->why do 53000 Canadians a year come here for healthcare, and none of us go there? If you answer that logically, we can have a conversation-)
By the way, I have a feeling you know EXACTLY why our longevity is rated where it is........just like I do, but I am gonna let you put on your superman outfit and defend your nonsense before I crush your argument-)
Say what you will about O-care, Graham-Cassidy, and all the rest of the elements of healthcare in the U.S. The simple fact is that we citizens have allowed to become political what really should not at all be political.
The solution to healthcare should be very simple:
There are some 280M voting age adults in the U.S. and why they have allowed insurance companies to co-opt and control the practice and delivery of healthcare in this country is, frankly, a travesty. If health insurers cannot profitably insure people without all the "strings attached," fine, let them exist the health insurance business. What will happen when they do? Providers will be left with two choices: lower their fees or provide services only to people who can afford the high fees. The latter will mean a lot of health care providers will have to find other forms of employment because there just aren't enough rich folks to sustain the quantity of highly paid medical professionals and medical industry device producers that are currently in existence. Now may sound horrible, but it's really not. The vast majority of those people are multitalented; there are other gainful means of employment they can pursue.
- To health insurers --> Cover everything or don't offer insurance.
- To providers --> Charge prices people can pay or do something else for a living.
- To care recipients --> Let professionals do their jobs and stop looking for ways to find fault when they are doing the best they can to heal your sick ass.
Now why do I say the above? Because it's absurd that we spend so much more than any other nation on Earth and yet our health outcomes aren't any better.
OK, OK, but one question----->why do 53000 Canadians a year come here for healthcare, and none of us go there? If you answer that logically, we can have a conversation-)
By the way, I have a feeling you know EXACTLY why our longevity is rated where it is........just like I do, but I am gonna let you put on your superman outfit and defend your nonsense before I crush your argument-)
The interests of both Big Food and Big Medicine are too entrenched. I don't see any way of changing it.
They don't need to be changed. All that needs to change is each individual's eating habits, and that doesn't really have anything to with the intertwining of "Big Food" and "Big Medicine."
Schools used to teach cooking, nutrition and healthy eating in Home Ec classes. Those are long gone. Children learn to eat from their parents. If your parents didn't keep a kitchen garden or make their food from scratch, you won't either.
Lots of people don't cook at all and have take out all of the time. They know how to cook and are unlikely to teach their children about cooking or nutrition.
My neighbour has an assortment of diet related health problems. He's pre-diabetic, gets heartburn regularly, and suffers from constipation. He has coffee for breakfast. Cheap luncheon meat sandwiches for lunch, and throws a can of mushroom soup over pasta and calls that dinner. He sees no relationship between his health problems and his diet.
I've heard it said that today's children are likely to be the first generation that doesn't live longer than its parents because they're not being taught good eating habits.
I have a freezer full of frozen dinners - all stuff I've made myself from scratch, freezing the leftovers. I have friends who tell me they wouldn't go to all that bother just for themselves.
People bitched like hell about Michelle Obama's healthy school lunch program. Kids don't want to eat healthy. Let them eat what they want. Our school cafeteria didn't serve fries or hamburgers. They made us eat proper nutritional foods like fruit and salad at school. I can remember when our town got its first supermarket. Today my little town has no green grocer, no butcher shop, just two supermarkets and a small farmers market two days a week.
Big food had taken over. And not for the better.
Lots of people don't cook at all and have take out all of the time.
Schools used to teach cooking, nutrition and healthy eating in Home Ec classes. Those are long gone.
If [one's] parents didn't keep a kitchen garden or make their food from scratch, [one] won't either.
He sees no relationship between his health problems and his diet.
Kids don't want to eat healthy.
Today my little town has no green grocer, no butcher shop, just two supermarkets and a small farmers market two days a week. Big food had taken over. And not for the better.
What does Canada's healthcare system consider to be "elective surgery?" To me "elective surgery" is cosmetic surgery....nose jobs, face lifts, implants, etc.we have waiting lists for elective surgery.
That's the preamble. It's not a legally enforceable clause.(Preamble)federal government regulating healthcare is also unconstitutional here. The biggest reason why and you fail to mention itHealth care is political because ethical governments spend public money on providing it. For all its size and wealth, the USA is behind European Union countries because capitalist interests control the Federal Government and the politicians prefer to wash their hands of the responsibility and leave it up to the free market and profit motive to do the job.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Constitution of the United States - We the People
Promote the general welfare. Seems that would include healthcare.
What does Canada's healthcare system consider to be "elective surgery?" To me "elective surgery" is cosmetic surgery....nose jobs, face lifts, implants, etc.we have waiting lists for elective surgery.
What does Canada's healthcare system consider to be "elective surgery?" To me "elective surgery" is cosmetic surgery....nose jobs, face lifts, implants, etc.we have waiting lists for elective surgery.
These are medically necessary surgeries which aren't life threatening. You can have the surgery now or chose to postpone. I need a knee replacement. I could have had it done last year but I chose to wait because my knee isn't bothering me and I didn't want to do it in the winter. That's an elective surgery because you can chose when to have it. Hernias, cataracts, that sort of stuff. If you have cancer, there's no waiting.
When I had my heart attack which was on a Friday, they sent me for an angiogram on Tuesday and had I needed stents, they would have done them right then and there. It's a triage system. If you need care now, you get it.
Yes, non-necessary surgeries such as cosmetic surgeries are elective but they're usually done in private clinics, not publically funded hospitals.
In regards to your response to my food post, and my disdain for supermarkets, for me it's a freshness and quality issue. When I lived in Toronto, I shopped at St. Lawrence Market which is heaven for cooks. Anything you might think you want to cook is available and very affordable. My greengrocer went to the Ontario Food Terminal every morning for fresh produce for her stall. The produce didn't spend days being trucked to a warehouse to be packaged and shipped back out to the stores. It was fresh off the farm truck that morning.
But it's my butcher I miss the most. The quality, freshness and flavour of his meat is so much better than even the expensive supermarket in town. I actually made a special trip to Toronto a few weeks back just to go to St. Lawrence Market for things I can't buy here, not the least of which were masala spices to make some Indian food and fresh lamb for the curry.
The supermarkets here only sell white peoples food because that's who their clients are. I especially miss Greek food, Indian food and Pad Thai. I'm learning to cook ethnic because I don't get to the city often. T
One of the attractions in moving to Foodland Ontario was being able to get the freshest produce, except the supermarkets here aren't buying from the farmers here. They're buying from the corporate distribution centre, and I don't have a car to go cruising for farm gate vendors. I do go to the farmers market and I'm getting to know some of the farmers who are there regularly.
n regards to your response to my food post.....
Asshole, you are a liar. Show me where it says Healthcare is a private issue. Here is a link to the US Constitution;