Health Care - Page 2

Prudence · 10-13-2005, 06:34 PM

Health care is monitored in large part by health insurance companies. Publically traded companies. Companies whose "clients" are not the patients, or even the doctors, but rather the shareholders. Their goal is not to provide you with access to care, or even to "manage" care. Their goal is to make and keep the shareholders happy. If care were "managed" so that profits stayed constant, shareholders will not be happy. Profits must increase. If care costs also increase, less care will be covered. Thus I pay for more and more of my health care, so that investors will continue to get dividends.

PanTheMan · 10-13-2005, 08:06 PM

There is a GREAT website called www.opensecrets.org that lists who gives what to who. Check out How much the Health/Pharmasutical Industires give Political parties each year. The Ammount the "Hospital Bizz" makes $$$ is staggering. Above and beyond any other country with Public Healthcare.

As for the System, you find out when you need it if you come down on the "Have" or "Have Not" side.

My Mother-in-law is a nurse and says that in many other countries becoming a doctor is a "Calling" to help others. In this country, it is a calling to the Country Club.

Ghoulish Delight · 10-15-2005, 12:44 PM

Our current employer-provided health care is a bad model. HMOs are somewhat of a failed experiment. They've been used in ways that were never really intended and it's driven costs out of control.

What I'd like to see is, as Pan suggested, a minimum level of coverage provided to all citizens, and with the ability to pay for "better" services. And I see that ability to pay taking the form of pre-tax medical expense accounts, and a system that I don't know the name for but it's essentially a collective bargaining arrangement where several businesses get together and instead of providing insurance for their employees, they negotiate with health care providers for heavily discounted services. This way, no one is paying premiums, you simply pay for what you need, but the guarantee of business lets the providers keep the prices down.

alphabassettgrrl · 10-15-2005, 04:10 PM

Why does our healthcare suck? Malpractice suits (and the required insurance), for one.

HMOs used to work. They don't anymore. I was raised within the HMO system, and I always got what I needed. I guess that was before the greed took over. As noted in a previous post, shareholders get upset when the cycle of ever-increasing profits is interrupted. "I know people aren't getting the care they need, but darn it, the share price went down!" Um, nobody but you cares about that? The rest of us just want to be able to see a doctor!

Stock price *will* go up and down. Deal with it.

We have the best health care that money can buy. :: sigh ::

I saw something once on tv about a group of doctors that priced themselves at a reasonable rate, and refused all insurance. You go in, pay your $25 and you're good. It was working for them.

I do like the idea of medical co-ops, where the group of docs bands together. I don't think doctors are any happier with how difficult our system is to operate.

PanTheMan · 10-16-2005, 11:29 PM

It is a truly unfortunate fact that mixed in with the hard luck cases of people willing to work, willing to try an improve their lives, and people just the victims of a run of bad luck having been dealt a crappy hand, there will be mixed in with them, the trash of the the human race just looking for a free ride.

It is the trash that gets the headlines, the hardworking single mom, gets overlooked. Poverty's victims are once again victimized by some of the scum who really seem to enjoy living down there. They bleed and abuse the system, so when those in real need come along, they all are greeted with cinical eyes.

Society is being ripped apart by so many things, it is hard to point exactly to the cause. I feel personal accountabilty is a cancer eating at the core though. From childhood on- pointing the finger at others for ones own stupidity and poor life choices seems to be where it all starts.

Funny thing though, I Have always noticed a complete lack of personal accountability among the drunks, druggies, lazies, and slackminded, but now i see it within the ranks of the incredibly wealthy and powerful too. Must be something in the air.

10-13-2005, 06:34 PM	#1
Prudence Beelzeboobs, Esq. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Gavel - I haz it Posts: 6,287	Health care is monitored in large part by health insurance companies. Publically traded companies. Companies whose "clients" are not the patients, or even the doctors, but rather the shareholders. Their goal is not to provide you with access to care, or even to "manage" care. Their goal is to make and keep the shareholders happy. If care were "managed" so that profits stayed constant, shareholders will not be happy. Profits must increase. If care costs also increase, less care will be covered. Thus I pay for more and more of my health care, so that investors will continue to get dividends. __________________ traguna macoities tracorum satis de
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10-13-2005, 08:06 PM	#2
PanTheMan Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Somewhere between you, and just over there. Posts: 258	There is a GREAT website called www.opensecrets.org that lists who gives what to who. Check out How much the Health/Pharmasutical Industires give Political parties each year. The Ammount the "Hospital Bizz" makes $$$ is staggering. Above and beyond any other country with Public Healthcare. As for the System, you find out when you need it if you come down on the "Have" or "Have Not" side. My Mother-in-law is a nurse and says that in many other countries becoming a doctor is a "Calling" to help others. In this country, it is a calling to the Country Club. __________________ What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about? ....
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10-15-2005, 12:44 PM	#3
Ghoulish Delight I Floop the Pig Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Alternative Swankstyle Posts: 19,348	Our current employer-provided health care is a bad model. HMOs are somewhat of a failed experiment. They've been used in ways that were never really intended and it's driven costs out of control. What I'd like to see is, as Pan suggested, a minimum level of coverage provided to all citizens, and with the ability to pay for "better" services. And I see that ability to pay taking the form of pre-tax medical expense accounts, and a system that I don't know the name for but it's essentially a collective bargaining arrangement where several businesses get together and instead of providing insurance for their employees, they negotiate with health care providers for heavily discounted services. This way, no one is paying premiums, you simply pay for what you need, but the guarantee of business lets the providers keep the prices down. __________________ 'He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.' -TJ
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10-15-2005, 04:10 PM	#4
alphabassettgrrl Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,978	Why does our healthcare suck? Malpractice suits (and the required insurance), for one. HMOs used to work. They don't anymore. I was raised within the HMO system, and I always got what I needed. I guess that was before the greed took over. As noted in a previous post, shareholders get upset when the cycle of ever-increasing profits is interrupted. "I know people aren't getting the care they need, but darn it, the share price went down!" Um, nobody but you cares about that? The rest of us just want to be able to see a doctor! Stock price will go up and down. Deal with it. We have the best health care that money can buy. :: sigh :: I saw something once on tv about a group of doctors that priced themselves at a reasonable rate, and refused all insurance. You go in, pay your $25 and you're good. It was working for them. I do like the idea of medical co-ops, where the group of docs bands together. I don't think doctors are any happier with how difficult our system is to operate. __________________ Why cycling? Anything [sport] that had to do with a ball, I wasn't very good at. -Lance Armstrong
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10-16-2005, 11:29 PM	#5
PanTheMan Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Somewhere between you, and just over there. Posts: 258	It is a truly unfortunate fact that mixed in with the hard luck cases of people willing to work, willing to try an improve their lives, and people just the victims of a run of bad luck having been dealt a crappy hand, there will be mixed in with them, the trash of the the human race just looking for a free ride. It is the trash that gets the headlines, the hardworking single mom, gets overlooked. Poverty's victims are once again victimized by some of the scum who really seem to enjoy living down there. They bleed and abuse the system, so when those in real need come along, they all are greeted with cinical eyes. Society is being ripped apart by so many things, it is hard to point exactly to the cause. I feel personal accountabilty is a cancer eating at the core though. From childhood on- pointing the finger at others for ones own stupidity and poor life choices seems to be where it all starts. Funny thing though, I Have always noticed a complete lack of personal accountability among the drunks, druggies, lazies, and slackminded, but now i see it within the ranks of the incredibly wealthy and powerful too. Must be something in the air. __________________ What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about? ....
	Submit to Quotes