State of Healthcare is worse than I thought

[Big Gills]

There is an old expression that says "If it aint broke dont fix it". I think the opposite is true too and would like to say "If it is broke then fix it" Your health care system apprears to be broken so why not try to fix. At least Obama is trying to fix it. I really dont know how he is doing in that regard. But please STOP giving free healthcare to illegals. You folks make fun of our healthcare up here but we dont do the hand outs like you do. We dont give free healthcare unless you are a Canadian citizen. If you are illegals then you are taken by Immigration Officers to the airport and shipped back home. Anyway, I digress as I usually do. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

[DJD]

Brian,
You make some good points. The best one is the gubment being inept. I agree some sort of intervention, tweaking was necessary but the approach they took was wrong. Noone in their right mind knew what was in the bill when passed and it stunk to high heaven. When a bill starts off like that it's doomed to be another failed, bleeding, money sucking gubment program.
I have no faith that this was a good move. I see this as a political move nothing more. If they wanted to fix something they could have fixed many other things. Tort reform, border security, economy, foreign aid reform and on and on.
Going after healthcare was easy since they were not fixing failed policies like with other items I mentioned. In this case they were creating a new one (what they do best) and many people say its gonna cost big time! We will see once they start taxing us taxpayers for this program.

[MrSplitshot]

Brian,
You make some good points. The best one is the gubment being inept. I agree some sort of intervention, tweaking was necessary but the approach they took was wrong. Noone in their right mind knew what was in the bill when passed and it stunk to high heaven. When a bill starts off like that it's doomed to be another failed, bleeding, money sucking gubment program.
I have no faith that this was a good move. I see this as a political move nothing more. If they wanted to fix something they could have fixed many other things. Tort reform, border security, economy, foreign aid reform and on and on.
Going after healthcare was easy since they were not fixing failed policies like with other items I mentioned. In this case they were creating a new one (what they do best) and many people say its gonna cost big time! We will see once they start taxing us taxpayers for this program.

Oh, don't get me wrong....I don't think Obamacare and the bill were the answer either....the government is completely inept at trying to fix the problem. (Most problems, for that matter....and especially ones where cost and operational efficiency are involved!!)

But I do think they have to take a leading role...

Very basic example of government ineptness:

When Sara was born last month I filled out the paperwork at the hospital to get her birth certificate from the state. On the form, I asked for 5 official copies. When they arrived in the mail, it was 5 separate copies, in 5 separate envelopes, with 5 separate letters, and 5 separate postage charges. If it were you or me footing that bill as a private company, you save the cost of envelopes and the cost of postage by using common sense and putting all 5 in 1 envelope. Very basic example, but multiplied times over in many other areas when the government and anything related to cost or efficiency is concerned.

[RoadToad]

There's no easy answer. As I type this, my Mom is undergoing open heart surgery here in Lewes, DE (my wife and I drove up Friday night). She's already gotten some of the bills for the pre-surgery tests, and, while they're covered by Medicare and they don't have to pay any of them, they were still outraged at how high they were. Medicare was billed >$8,000 before she even went in for the actual surgery! It'll probably be close to a quarter million dollars by the time it's over with. But getting the government totally out of it is not the answer. Instead, we've got to get the government to make to right moves, something they've failed to do so far.

[Big Gills]

Prayers sent for you mom Roadtoad.

[DJD]

There's no easy answer. As I type this, my Mom is undergoing open heart surgery here in Lewes, DE (my wife and I drove up Friday night). She's already gotten some of the bills for the pre-surgery tests, and, while they're covered by Medicare and they don't have to pay any of them, they were still outraged at how high they were. Medicare was billed >$8,000 before she even went in for the actual surgery! It'll probably be close to a quarter million dollars by the time it's over with. But getting the government totally out of it is not the answer. Instead, we've got to get the government to make to right moves, something they've failed to do so far.

Prayers sent RT.....

[RoadToad]

Thanks guys. They got her on the table with the breathing tube in, and the anesthesiologist decided her pulmonary function wasn't good enough, and since it wasn't an emergency, they cancelled it. So now she's in ICU on the ventilator, expected to come off that by tomorrow, and will see a pulmonologist, and hopefully they can do it when her pulmonary function improves. My Dad is pretty upset about it, and she will be too when she finds out, not to mention madder than a wet hen. They did pulmonary tests pre-op, and said she was fine

[Chubminnow]

Sorry to hear about your mom Toad. Hang in there with your mom and dad as I know you already are. I recently had 1/2 my thyroid removed. Did the pre-op thing where they did the lab work the week before, etc. Day of surgery I arrived about 7:30 am, I left the hospital around 1:00 pm. Thus far (as far as I know), total costs were $12,500.00 dollars, my part out of pocket was smack dab dead on $1000.00 dollars. The fact that my out of pocket cost was $1000.00 dollars even sort of makes me wonder.

[Netboy Extraordinaire]

Can you get an itemized bill? 3 bags of saline would be 150.00 at our hospital, and 3 protonix drips would have been roughly $600 total. Well under a grand and we are much smaller than UofL - a 25 bed critical access hospital.

I have been in UK since Saturday with same internal bleeding. They have given me 4 units of blood, protonix and the other usual stuff. Endoscopy is on for tomorrow, so I can at least compare prices when I get The Big Blue bill.

[BuckeyeAl]

As a person who doesn't have insurance because I hate insurance and think medical insurance is too expensive I can speak a little on this. I always figured that I would die pretty quickly from a heart attack or something since my lifesyle pretty much precluded living to a nice old age. I never invisioned a long hospitalization. I figured I could afford whatever it cost.

On 1/6/11 I went in the hospital for hernia surgery. While in recoverfy I suffered respiratory failure renal failure and then heart failure I finally went home on 4/13 from a rehab hospital. The main hospital's bill was over 500,000.00 and the total when it was all said and done was pushing 650,000.00. All medical providers to charge a lot due to uninsured and insurance reimbursement cuts but it's not 300%. Every provider was willing to take anywhere from 40 to 45% of their bill. When it was all said and done, I'd spent just over 350,000.00.

I still don't have have insurance because of pre-existing conditions. I can get insurance now at about 1000.00 a month but it's almost worthless coverage. I will get insurance when pre-existing conditions rule take effect.

Al

[RoadToad]

The law doesn't go into effect until 2014, but you don't have to wait. "The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan makes health coverage available to you if you are a U.S. citizen or reside here legally, you have been denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, and you’ve been uninsured for at least six months."

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/featur...e-plan/oh.html

Some states run their own programs, some participate in the federal program. Ohio runs their own. It's not bad coverage, and it's not $1,000/mo. You might want to look into it.

[pontooner]

Sorry to hear about your mom Toad, hope all goes well when they get her healthy enough for the procedure she needs.