Now that's a rant I can get behind! The stalemate on improving the health system is infuriating and people are dying. I like your WW1 trench warfare analogy. I wish I had a creative answer to get all sides lurching in more or less the same direction.
Health Care Death WatchPosted: Jul 13, 08 11:07amIt's not as if this is the first time that a patient has died while awaiting treatment (aka patient coverage assessment triage). http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/01/hospital.death.ap/ However, this most recent case is an iconic indictment of the state of the bifurcated manner U.S. Health Care Providers treat their patients. Card Carrying BCBS Party Members get the full load whereas the indigent and uninsured get well we know what they get. Of course the left will trot this out as yet another sign that Universal Health Care is the answer but will fall short of advocating tort reform. The right will toss out the evils of predatory attorneys who add costs and unnecessary precautionary paperwork to the process but will decry universal coverage as the evil "socialized medicine"..is that a contagious disease?. Health Care professionals will site the excessive intervention of govt, insurers and the burdens of carrying the uninsured as the problem Drug companies will say, "take two of your duly assigned non-generic maintenance drugs and dont call us in the morning". The experts in this arena have battled to a woeful stalemate and citizens (such as the lady pictured below) are the victims of this entrenched WWI inane warfare. Each year health care costs rise at 2x the general inflation rate as our age bubble balloons swelling those in need. Nice gig if you can get it..."a booming stack of patients spending and accepting 8 to 10% annualized increased costs." (Got to keep up with those Country Club fees and golf ball prices...don't get me started). Then there is the emptying of the dying patients bank account program (90% of all health care expenses are incurred in a patients last year of life). GOP'ers love this one but decrie the "death tax". Then the biggest perpetuated lie of all is wash over us. The great panacea for the masses sounds something like this..."we have the greatest health care system in the world". A lie that makes the most clever spin masters/ BS'ers blush. Our life expectancy and infant mortality rates are in the middle of the road compared to all nations and yet we pay more than ANY other nation (collectively and individually) for health care services. The industry is reasonably happy with the status quo. Despite the trench bound lobbyists dogs barking to the contrary. Insanity defined is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. I may not be ready to sign off on all things Socialism entails, but if this is the best we can do caring for people...somebody find me a red beret or maybe a white beret with a red cross on it.  Will we become accustom to this as the norm? 6 Comments
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Posted: Jul 13, 08 11:24amPosted: Jul 13, 08 11:35amI feel like I personally am on both sides of it. First.....My daughter and I live in New York State. For the past 8-9 yrs she has been in one psychiatric hospital after another in NYS. Not once have I witnessed any of this happening. Even the worst of the worst hospital she was in in Buffalo wasn't this bad. They just didn't like a white girl on the floor (not bashing....just realism). I have been more than pleased with the cleanliness and care she has received. I did have to argue about her meds but they paid attention and listened. She is doing great. Now me.....I told my Dr of a little sensation in the right side of my chest. She wanted me to get a stress test. My insurance company said NO......that there was no proof that I needed anything done. My records show I am in fine physical shape. Well that Doctor began to push and figure out ways to convince the insurance company that I definitely should have a stress test. She ordered an EKG for another problem (I had thrown up blood due to a tummy thing). She determined that the EKG showed "something". Finally the insurance company said ok...stress test is okay. I get it and sure enough....despite doing perfect on the treadmill, the pictures showed a different story. Off to the cardiologist I went and a few days ago I had an angiogram and the next day 2 stents were placed in my heart for two blockages in an artery. Now if my Doctor hadn't found a way.... Posted: Jul 13, 08 11:49amOur current system is broken but getting major changes will be very difficult. Under this system the rich and well employed do fine but the working poor and unemployed get the scraps. Under a socialized system care ends up being rationed for everyone. There must be a happy medium somewhere, we just have to put out the effort to find it. Posted: Jul 13, 08 11:54am Now if my Doctor hadn't found a way....  You are one lucky lady with one good Dr. Not everyone is that lucky, my Dr. retired this spring, I am looking for a new one but all I hear is people complaining. My youngest daughter is pregnant, she is due in Nov. she got a letter from her insurance saying she is maxed out on her insurance, they will cover no more of the pregnancy. When confronted on it, the insurance company said it is because of the way her Dr bills. The Dr, will not change the billing and neither will budge...so where does that leave her, no insurance to cover the remainder of the pregnancy. Posted: Jul 13, 08 2:52pmAs usual, wc, I'm right beside you! Posted: Jul 14, 08 9:07amMaybe the answer is finding a universal plan for elder care (say post 80 or some medical metric) that provides "final care" and mitigate those costs through control of litigation, processes and oversite. If that lion-sized burden is wrestled to the ground the rest falls into place as an affordable model. | ADVERTISEMENT  |
