Tag: insurance

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Healthy by ignorance

For 14 years, I lived a healthy life. I was healthy because I did not know any better. For those 14 years, I was uninsured and avoided the doctor. Since I avoided the doctor, I had no reason to believe I was anything but healthy.

Today I go to the doctor as an insured person to receive a physical complete with EKG. I suspect that I will have very good results with the exception of high blood pressure; none the less, I sit in the waiting room with butterflies in my stomach. See, nothing makes an uninsured person more ill than visiting the doctor and after nearly a decade and a half, more than a third of my life, without insurance, my mind cannot help but think of worse case scenarios and how they, no matter how minor, could devastate my life and finances.

I have good insurance now. However, I have walked the walk and am acutely aware of how desperately this country, the United States of America, needs healthcare reform. The Obama administration made a start but gave in to too many concessions. Were I still uninsured, the healthcare “reform” would be doing nothing for me.

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Senior Health Care Solution – according to Maxine

So you’re a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available to you – what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot 4 politicians – not necessarily dead!

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, and all the health care you need! New teeth – no problem. Need glasses, great. New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart? All covered. (And your kids can come and visit as often as they do now).

And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you that they cannot afford for you to go into a home.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don’t have to pay any income taxes anymore.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?

[Source, imgur.com]

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The US Healthcare System is the Best in the World!

Well, actually it’s ranked 37th.

Evidence that other countries perform better than the United States in ensuring the health of their populations is a sure prod to the reformist impulse. The World Health Report 2000, Health Systems: Improving Performance, ranked the U.S. health care system 37th in the world…

It is hard to ignore that in 2006, the United States was number 1 in terms of health care spending per capita but ranked 39th for infant mortality, 43rd for adult female mortality, 42nd for adult male mortality, and 36th for life expectancy. These facts have fueled a question now being discussed in academic circles, as well as by government and the public: Why do we spend so much to get so little?

[Source, , ]

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On Healthcare Reform

Why doesn’t everyone have health insurance? Shouldn’t we make a law like the one that requires car owners to carry car insurance? Seems simple enough right? I have health insurance therefore everyone must have it. Those 50 million people without it are just bums unwilling to pay their premiums or welfare abusers who won’t get a job right?

If only it were that simple. Take Jen for instance. She has a job with an employer who offers health coverage. That employer happens to be a hospital but Jen is still uninsured. Why? Because pre-existing conditions cause her to be uninsurable (possibly NSFW). That’s criminal.

Please get involved! Talk to your representatives. Look at options such as Standing with Dr. Dean. (I’ll update here with other options as they appear in comments below or I find them)

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US could insure everyone by reducing bureaucracy

By adopting Canada’s system of administration, the cost savings would allow all uninsured people in the United States to have medical care.

USA wastes more on health care bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to all of the uninsured … Administrative expenses will consume at least $399.4 billion out of total health expenditures of $1,660.5 billion in 2003. Streamlining administrative overhead to Canadian levels would save approximately $286.0 billion in 2003, $6,940 for each of the 41.2 million Americans who were uninsured as of 2001. This is substantially more than would be needed to provide full insurance coverage. [Source, Medical News TODAY]

The benefit to the single payer plan is the reduced overhead and associated costs of managing the health care system. France has issues but it may be a better model for the US health care system.

The American health care model, [Houston native Jennifer Hua] says, is too expensive and too insecure. France offers her family good medical treatment, better insurance, more convenience and no worries about how to pay medical bills if her husband’s job changes.

French model encourages people to put health ahead of economic anxiety.

As America seeks a better way to provide medical care, France offers an example of a system where everyone has government-provided, basic health insurance – citizens and immigrants alike. Expenses for such chronic illnesses as cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis are covered entirely by the state so patients can focus on treatment rather than financial ruin.

[Source, Dallas News, Is French health system a model for U.S.?]

I personally think I’d live longer and contribute more to our society if I wasn’t constantly worrying about how I will be able to pay for my family’s health care. The worry makes me more ill than anything else.