Re: [Vo]:OFF TOPIC A friend without health insurance

[Edmund Storms]

Yes, I agree. However, even if I were paying the bill, how would I, 
while sick, bargain with the doctor to lower my payment? The insurance 
company and the government are supposed to do this for me, in their own 
 self-interest. If the government were the single payer, they would 
have a bigger stick to keep the costs under control. I suggest, the 
problem is that the medical and insurance companies are in bed together. 
Together, they have paid for a government that won't intervene. As long 
as the employer/employee pay, and the government won't stop the rape, 
why change a profitable system? The medical/insurance companies have no 
reason to lower costs because both gain profit from the situation, the 
insurance companies with higher premiums and the medical companies with 
more income. Every time the government tries to bring the situation 
under control, both scream socialized medicine and predict loss of 
quality. The voters buy the nonsense and continue to pay. Unfortunately 
for the medical/insurance companies, the rest of the system is stating 
to hurt and is starting to put pressure on the government. Perhaps if a 
few more of the purchased congressmen are voted out of office, things 
will change.

Ed
leaking pen wrote:

Unfortunately Ed, health insurance is in part the problem. When
insurance and not a person was paying the bill, doctors and hospitals
found they could charge more. Insurance companies raise prices to
compensate, but are thus willing to pay more, and the cycle continues.

On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 8:10 AM, Edmund Storms <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

This is indeed a sad story, Jed, that is repeated many times each day. The
basic problem is that the American people have accepted the idea that life
in this country should be based mainly on the individual effort, with
socialism being un-American. Liberalism, which tries to use the state to
protect the individual, is considered a dirty word. These ideas are accepted
by the ordinary working person even though this is not in their
self-interest to do so. Your friend probably even voted for Bush and would
not support a politician who proposed socialized medicine, even though
variations of this approach work well in other countries. We get what we
vote for. If we are too ignorant to vote wisely, we get the government we
deserve. Hopefully, the pain inflicted by the Bush philosophy will cause
people to reexamine their criteria for voting.

Ed



Jed Rothwell wrote:



A friend of mine in his 50s has no health insurance. Normally this is not

a problem because he is a vet who goes to the VA hospital. He has a lot or
problems, including some service related ones. The other day he suffered
from a minor stroke and passed out while at a Lowe's hardware superstore.
They called an ambulance, which took him to Grady Hospital, because that is
usually the only hospital in Atlanta that take uninsured patients. He was
there for 4 days, mostly doped up or asleep to keep him from moving. He is
much better now.

At Grady they did not have to do much for him other than to take some cat

scans and keep him immobilized. They sent him home and he went to the VA
hospital a few days later, where they did a bunch more tests and declared
him okay.

Anyway, the point of this story is to relate the appalling fact that Grady

just sent him a bill for $82,000. This is an self-employed, ordinary, middle
class guy who probably doesn't earn that much in a year. In other words,
four days of hospitalization for a relatively minor health problem cost
enough to bankrupt an ordinary person. This is insane. The U.S. healthcare
system is unsustainable.

Bush correctly pointed out that anyone in the U.S., even an uninsured poor

person, can get healthcare at an emergency room, just as my friend did. He
did not say that after a few days in the hospital you will be billed more
than your net worth, and then hounded by bill collectors until they run you
out of house and home.

- Jed