Another Reason for Healthcare Reform

Avatar for claddagh49
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Another Reason for Healthcare Reform
378
Mon, 05-11-2009 - 7:57pm

I have to say, this is ridiculous. Ins. companies are so greedy and so unfair. It seems even if you are young, you can be turned down for Health Ins.


http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2009/may/11/being-young-is-no-guarantee-of-health-insurance-coverage.html

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 6:52am

 


 


I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 7:23am

<>


Insurance company bureaurcrats are somehow preferable to government ones when you are doubled over in pain?

 


 


I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 7:46am

>>I think the reason for this (IMO) is that education can provide the knowledge for kids to grow up and get good jobs and take care of themselves.<<

And healtbhcare ensures them the ability to do so.

>> But with free healthcare no one has to be educated or have a job to receive it, it is just free, they don't have to work for it.<<

Is health care the only reason you work? Also roads are gov funded as well so no one has to work for them.

>>Kids do have to work/study in school to become someone. So our taxes are going towards kids that are working hard to be educated, but with healthcare part of it is just going to people who are not contributing to society at all.<<

And it also goes towards many kids who just kill time for 12-15 years. Education, like health care, goes towards those who are not contributing. The drug dealers in my school got the same free education I did

Photobucket
*
Follow me to the Unplanned Pregnancy board!Follow me to Hot Debates!Follow me to Abortion Debate!
Photobucket

Photobucket
*
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 7:49am

>! Our taxes should not be required to pay for health insurance for those who CHOOSE to stay at low paying jobs. <

there are simply not enough good jobs for EVERYONE to have one. Also young people need coverage as well so a 20 year old working a crappy job needs to be medically provided for just as much as you do.

Photobucket
*
Follow me to the Unplanned Pregnancy board!Follow me to Hot Debates!Follow me to Abortion Debate!
Photobucket

Photobucket
*
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 7:54am

>>Isn't it amazing that I worked lower paying jobs without healthcare and hey, I'm NOT dead! I'm alive and well, how 'bout that!<<

Actually I would say it is very lucky. You could have easily gotten meningitis for example during that time, had an ectopic pregnancy, or developed cancer.

Photobucket
*
Follow me to the Unplanned Pregnancy board!Follow me to Hot Debates!Follow me to Abortion Debate!
Photobucket

Photobucket
*
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 7:56am

>>, so still no excuse, disabled people can find jobs with health insurance.<<

Many can if they can find a compassionate employer but if for example you are a parapalegic it is harder to find a job. A seeing person generally gets hired over a blind one.

Disabled people are at the bottom of the food chain for available jobs.

Photobucket
*
Follow me to the Unplanned Pregnancy board!Follow me to Hot Debates!Follow me to Abortion Debate!
Photobucket

Photobucket
*
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2002
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 8:02am

I'd love to see concrete data that backs up this author's assertions. For example:

"For one thing, “universal health care” in these countries means months of waiting for surgery that Americans get in a matter of weeks or even days."

Really? What types of surgeries in particular? Having dealt with childbirth (with an emergency situation after the baby was born), numerous childhood illnesses, and two rounds of cancer, I haven't seen those delays. Nor have other friends of mine, some of whom have dealt with very serious issues that required repeated surgeries. In addition, Swedish law requires the local health insurance authority to pay for procedures carried out in other locations or countries in case of delays within the local region (there is a time limit on those procedures, if the procedure cannot be carried out within that time frame locally, the patient has the right to go to another region or country and the procedure must be paid for by the local health insurance).

"In these and other countries, it means having only a fraction as many MRIs and other high-tech medical devices available per person as in the United States."

According to the following article:

content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/24/4/903.pdf

Sweden had 7.9 MRI units per million in 1999, while the U.S. had 8.2 MRI units per million in 2001. Switzerland, by comparison, had 14.1. With regard to CT scanners per millions, the numbers were 14.2, 12.8 and 18.0 for Sweden, the U.S. and Switzerland, respectively. That is hardly "a fraction as many MRIs and other high-tech medical devices".

"In Sweden, it means not only having bureaucrats deciding what medicines the government will and will not pay for, but even preventing you from buying the more expensive medicine for yourself with your own money. That would violate the “equality” that is the magic mantra."

Um, no. The health insurance scheme doesn't actually pay for medicines. The patients do. In case of medication that must be taken routinely, the patient pays up to a limit and the rest is covered by the health insurance (I think the limit is several hundred dollars per year). I've never heard of a patient not having the option to buy the more expensive medicine him or herself. The government certainly can't stop a patient from going somewhere else (e.g. abroad) to get a prescription and buy the medication. Otoh, American insurance companies do routinely refuse to pay for necessary medication, medication that can be so costly there is no way for the patient to purchase it.

"No one who compares medical care in this country with medical care in other countries is likely to want to switch. "

Really? No one? I grew up with American medical care and now watch my family (all of whom have good insurance) deal with non-stop issues with the insurance companies, the doctors and health care system overall. In addition to the American system, I've dealt with the Austrian, Swiss and Swedish medical care for years. I hated the Austrian system for a number of reasons (though to be fair, my SIL is still alive after a stage IIIB breast cancer diagnosis 3 years ago, thanks to extremely prompt and competent action on the part of a number of Austrian oncologists), but I'd take the Swiss or Swedish system of medical care (which are very different, though both ensure universal medical care)any day over the U.S. system. It's one of the main reasons we would not consider moving back to the U.S. at this point.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 8:09am

>>Anyone who thinks a private insurance being able to exclude "pre-existing" conditions is disgusting or inhumane does not understand the concept of "insurance". Or they're simply being ridiculous.<<

I understand perfectly but if their policy causes deaths and disabilities AND it is the only option for adequate health care then yeah they are inhumane.

If I was in the states and had to but coverage I would not qualify or if I did my real issues would not be covered. What good is health care that doesn't take care of me?

Photobucket
*
Follow me to the Unplanned Pregnancy board!Follow me to Hot Debates!Follow me to Abortion Debate!
Photobucket

Photobucket
*
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2006
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 9:11am

Interesting article from Sowell.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2006
Sat, 05-16-2009 - 9:24am

<>


I just loved this paragraph too.

 

Pages