PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - Hospital visit........better be insured!!

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- - Hospital visit........better be insured!! (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=147408)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

Firstly, let me say that I agree that the system needs some attention to address the issue.

But, the working poor don't subsidize Cheney. It's Cheney who subsidizes the working poor. All of the people who receive emergency health care, or any health care, and are unable to pay the bill, leave the hospital with a defecit. This defecit must be made up in some fashion. So, the health care system...........the people paying the insurance.........must pay more to subsidize the hospitals to keep them in business. Mr. Lim is correct with regard to this.

For the people that can afford the health insurance, the system works in an acceptable manner. For those that can't afford it, the system will leave them with a huge tab that will burden them for the remainder of their days if they are working. For those that can't afford it and have no W2 wages and no assets, the system works perfectly well as it is.........the people who pay into the system subsidize these individuals.........and.........yes that includes Cheney.

Those groups you mention are referred to in Medical Medicare Lingo as DRGs(diagnostic related groups-300 to 400 DRGs) and they dictate for example, how long you can stay in a hospital(how many days medicare will allow you lounge around the hospital after your operation ect), how much Medicare will pay a Doc fore a Procedure--supplies ect just like a Rate Book in a MB Garage for estimating a repair job. Usually at the End of the time allotted and payed for by Medicare, out the Door you go, you may have an IV and an Indwelling Urinary Catheter in you but out you go to recuperate at home.

In this respect I am correct about a Poor or middle class Taxpayer/wage earner footing the Bill for Cheney. He has health care insurance in the Federal Employee Benefit Plan, depending in which of the 200+ plus plans he is able to choose from as a Federal Employee. He pays a Portion(maybe around 40-50% towards his health insurance) and the AMerican Working Taxpayer certainly does pay the Bill for the remaining part of his coverage. This was Kerry's plan to alleviate the Health Insurance crisis in the USA-let all who are uninsured and who desire--join the same FHEBP as Cheney and the Senate/congress, Note key word was to Pay-it was not a freebie! These working poor subsidize his coverage yet they cannot afford this Graet insurance themselves. Same for the Congress/Senate--best of the insurances subsidized by any minimum salary worker thru his/her federal wage taxes......

Special coverage

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Special coverage like what? Aren't there plenty of ads on the Canadian side of the border for shorter wait times, etc, etc, to attact Canadians who cannot wait to this side of the border?
***
Hi AK,

These ads are place by US clinics and labs which are not being fully utilized by US residents because thare may be too many such places.... Rather than leave the facilities unused or underused, they advertise to those desperate Kanadians to "come on over".
Sometimes a Kanadian "Agent" clinic gets a kickback.

In some cases the Kanadian government sends Kanadian patients to the US for some procedure that is not available in Kanada or if the wiating time is exxxessive, We then complain about the
added costs of doing this by voting for a different political party which promises in increase healthcare funding.. When they do, the unionized healthcare workers demand raises and
eat up the funding. ..... Next Election we vote them out again and life goes on.
***
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Doctors are sued because it is their handiwork that is in question. If the policy is in question, the HMO will be sued. IIRC, there was a case where they got sued about their transplant operation policy or something like that.
***
In Kanada, you can not sue the doctor or if you do, you must have your own specialists
to prove negligence.. There is only one payer.... the government.

Even when a victim has the wrong leg amputated or the wrong kidney removed, the settlement
is with the government, not the doctor and is rarely broadcast.

Of course, the insurance companies are slowly trying to sell malpractice insurance every time we elect a conservative government, so that we can be more like the US... I am sure that the business friends of the conservative goverments are waiting with bated-breath for a bigger piece of the government action so they can cut costs and pocket the difference..
***
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If don't follow why medicine should not be run as a business.
***Nothing wrong with the doctor's ofice being run as a business, but not the administration of
the citixen taxpayers for a profit. Why should the doctor be forced to charge whatever the HMO says he should, even if it is less than would be earned in Kanada?
The government is only acting as the Kanadian HMO and doing it NOT_FOR_PROFIT.
That is the difference.
Many of our full-time doctors are making over $400K a year... is that not enough?
***
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What is so special about medicine that it is any different? I didn't go to school to be say computer literate so I could help those without skills. I went to school to make money for myself. Same as the nurse, doctor, shipbuilder, homebuilder, etc, etc. I didn't go to school nor did I send my wife to school to do Pro-Bono work.

***
In Kanada, there is NO pro-bono work unless the doctor chooses to do it and not bill the government for it.
Doctors on-call fill out forms for what procedures they did and are paid accordingly.
When you go to a hospital emergency room, you are fixed when there is a need and sent home
if there is no life-threatening problem..
A drunken streetperson with chest pains is given the same care as a business executive
when they arrive on a stretcher.
We complained when our new Prime Minister went to a local hospital ER because he was having breathing difficulties and suspected that he was pushed to the front of the queue to get
faster attention. ( Unfortunately, he lived.) :)

Everyone is paid by the government for their time at work... even if the victim arrives without
their healthcard. The paperwork is done later (not before) in emergency cases.
***

Ron (Canada)

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Please explain to me then. If they lowered the rates for everyone to what a major buyer like a HMO pays, who makes up the difference? If there isn't enough incentive, who will work there?

Because the hospitals do not collect on more than 80% of the bills over $10,000 because the people simply cannot pay, if they would charge half that they would increase collections, that's why.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miamimike

In this respect I am correct about a Poor or middle class Taxpayer/wage earner footing the Bill for Cheney. He has health care insurance in the Federal Employee Benefit Plan, depending in which of the 200+ plus plans he is able to choose from as a Federal Employee. He pays a Portion(maybe around 40-50% towards his health insurance) and the AMerican Working Taxpayer certainly does pay the Bill for the remaining part of his coverage.

Yes, I agree.........the taxpayer pays Cheney's salary and a portion of his health insurance because he's a Federal employee.

It's a Disgrace to the American People.

Michael Moore, is making a Movie about it called SICKO.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

I am having my own Battles with it now. If you haven't yet, you will.:mad:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron (Canada)

A drunken streetperson with chest pains is given the same care as a business executive when they arrive on a stretcher.

Well, most likely the exec can pay and the drunken streetperson cannot. Why should they be the same? Why should I pay for someone's problems? When you have socialized medicine, I am paying for your issues. Why should I pay for your health?

Further to that, look at the systems we have in place. So far, I have not seen too many things run by the government that are not time bombs waiting to blow up in our face. Am I against the Road Tax? Yes and No. I think it is fair, you use so much fuel and it is assumed you cause so much damage to the road so you need to pay for it to be fixed. Guess what? There is a surplus in the fund and the WI government, IIRC, tapped that fund for some other projects. Yes, having the government run it is a good idea IN THEORY. Somehow, like SS, it will have problems. At that point, you will realize that it is way easier to give benifits than to take them away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MedMech

Because the hospitals do not collect on more than 80% of the bills over $10,000 because the people simply cannot pay, if they would charge half that they would increase collections, that's why.

I see. Here is a good thought for you. If people don't pay, they get to write off a larger sum when it is tax time. If you half it, you sure people will pay up? I doubt it will change anything. Perhaps a better system would be pay for service. I go to my vet and they give me an estimate. Doctors should be able to give you an estimate too. No method of payment, no service. I go to get my car fixed and they do the same thing.