What Happens When Republicans run Healthcare

[rdean]

​

"The irony is that had the accident occurred in Canada… her care would have been covered because, unlike the U.S., Canada has a system of universal coverage," wrote Wendell Potter, an insurance executive-turned-whistleblower who writes for iWatch at the Center for Public Integrity. "No one in Canada finds themselves in that predicament, nor do they face losing their homes as many Americans do when they become critically ill or suffer an injury..."

(Republicans call universal health care (gasp) "socialism")

On Monday, Potter pointed to the plight of a 13-year-old Caroline Richmond on life support in Alabama after collapsing from a stroke, which turned out to be caused by leukemia. Her self-employed parents do not have health coverage.

“As it turns out, Caroline is one of more than 50 million men, women and children who do not have health insurance in the United States, which is why her family is in the same predicament as Sarah Burke’s,” Potter wrote.

An estimated 700,000 American families file for bankruptcy every year because of medical debt, Potter said.

U.S. News - Iconic skier's death points out U.S. health gap

​

Knowing that Dallas and his wife, Christy, are worried not only about their daughter but also about the real possibility they might be forced into bankruptcy and lose their home because of the medical bills, Smith has joined other friends of the family to raise money. Caroline’s classmates and teachers have put “Cups for Caroline” in all the homerooms at Fairhope Middle School, where Caroline is an eighth-grader. They’ve also held car washes.

Caroline’s story is not unique. Tragedies like her’s occur so often, in fact, that they rarely make the news anymore. But it is precisely because they are an everyday occurrence that health care reform was so urgently needed. We have been led to believe by opponents of reform that our health care system is the best in the world. The reality, of course, is that, while we do indeed have some of the world’s best doctors and hospitals, the system in which they operate has become increasingly dysfunctional and unnecessarily expensive. This is why the reform law, despite its flaws, must go forward. (Never happen. Republicans want health care companies so soak Americans for all they can. They ignorantly call it "capitalism".)

ANALYSIS: Another family's tragic tale of unaffordable health care | iWatch News by The Center for Public Integrity

I don't understand the "let him die" mentality. I simply don't get it. And this party might once again rule America and finish the job they started under Bush.

 

[BookinWeasel]

While the Republicans have consistently touted, "Let the free market" take care of health care, which has resulted in a catastrophe for many families, the one line in the story that stood out:

"Her self-employed parents do not have health coverage." -- Sorry, but that is beyond irresponsible. A catastrophic policy could have been had for a couple of hundred a month. Yes, a $10,000 deductible, with little to no coinsurance, for approximately $200/month. The family COULD NOT be rejected, unlike before when insurance companies could just tell you no. The parents did not have a policy. Their responsibility. A catastrophic policy would have given them much more help than they had with NO health care insurance.

Yes, the Republicans ignoring the health insurance problem was just asking the Democrats to push a 2,500+ page monstrosity of a law on the US public, but IMO both sides have royally F*ed up the whole matter.....

 

[merrill]

While the Republicans have consistently touted, "Let the free market" take care of health care, which has resulted in a catastrophe for many families, the one line in the story that stood out:

"Her self-employed parents do not have health coverage." -- Sorry, but that is beyond irresponsible. A catastrophic policy could have been had for a couple of hundred a month. Yes, a $10,000 deductible, with little to no coinsurance, for approximately $200/month. The family COULD NOT be rejected, unlike before when insurance companies could just tell you no. The parents did not have a policy. Their responsibility. A catastrophic policy would have given them much more help than they had with NO health care insurance.

Yes, the Republicans ignoring the health insurance problem was just asking the Democrats to push a 2,500+ page monstrosity of a law on the US public, but IMO both sides have royally F*ed up the whole matter.....

What the hell is wrong with you? Perhaps a $10,000 deductible plus co-pay is still beyond their means.

You are not in their situation therefore you know nothing about their finances.

The government collects trillions in taxes therefore allowing some of those trillions of our tax dollars to cover the cost of very efficient medical insurance makes sense. And no one will ever be without insurance.

IN this country health care is treated like a high profit SUV by way of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Canada and the VA prescribe the same pharmaceuticals yet consumers pay wayyyyyyyyy less. Why? One reason is the 400% margin or better in the USA which is outright theft.

 

[merrill]

Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

The study estimates that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans annually -- counting debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children.


Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by illness had health insurance. More than three-quarters were insured at the start of the bankrupting illness. However, 38 percent had lost coverage at least temporarily by the time they filed for bankruptcy.


Most of the medical bankruptcy filers were middle class; 56 percent owned a home and the same number had attended college. In many cases, illness forced breadwinners to take time off from work -- losing income and job-based health insurance precisely when families needed it most.


Families in bankruptcy suffered many privations -- 30 percent had a utility cut off and 61 percent went without needed medical care.


The research, carried out jointly by researchers at Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School, is the first in-depth study of medical causes of bankruptcy. With the cooperation of bankruptcy judges in five Federal districts (in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas) they administered questionnaires to bankruptcy filers and reviewed their court records.


Dr. David Himmelstein, the lead author of the study and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard commented: "Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy. Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick."


Today's health insurance policies -- with high deductibles, co-pays, and many exclusions -- offer little protection during a serious illness. Uncovered medical bills averaged $13,460 for those with private insurance at the start of their illness. People with cancer had average medical debts of $35,878.


"The paradox is that the costliest health system in the world performs so poorly. We waste one-third of every health care dollar on insurance bureaucracy and profits while two million people go bankrupt annually and we leave 45 million uninsured" said Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program.


"With national health insurance ('Medicare for All'), we could provide comprehensive, lifelong coverage to all Americans for the same amount we are spending now and end the cruelty of ruining families financially when they get sick."


Read more: Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy, Harvard Study Finds