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[Speedymanic]

Yeah, I'd go an NHS route in a heartbeat. I don't know what the tax would cost, but I bet it would be cheaper than my current premiums, and there'd be less bullshit to wade through.

It being lower is all but guaranteed as everyone working pays into the pot. You obviously pay more if you earn more, but it goes the other way too, earn less - pay less.

I honestly don't know why other countries don't aspire to use a similar model to the NHS, but more tailored to their needs and population.

That's simply insane. My wife needed an MRI a couple years ago for a torn up shoulder (muscles or tendons or something)... Our family doctor wrote up the request and she got an appointment the next day to have it done in about 6 weeks... but she was in a lot of discomfort and wanted it done faster than that, so we went to the "private" clinic across the river the next day and got it done for $800...

You know, I feel terrible for the kid and her family in the OP, but after watching Americans all over the US supporting the political shenanigans that eviscerated Obama's attempt to reform their health care system, I'm all out of sympathy for the average US citizen and the fact they are at the mercy of grotesque corporate greed and merciless insurance companies. From here it seems the Republicans just have to imply that taxes may go up for something and everyone in the country goes completely apeshit! I honestly don't understand their vehemence against taxes down there - they act like taxes are a bad thing; ime, as a Canadian, taxes pay for much of the security and comfort I enjoy in my life (a nice city, great roads, good schools, health care, policing, fire and paramedic services, etc etc). Taxes - well spent by good government - are the very cornerstone of a decent civilization.

Yup, it's hard to feel sorry when stories like this one come out. I know a lot of the people on GAF probbaly support the bill, but they are clearly a minority with the majority actively campaigning agains their best interests. If it wasn't so depressing and disheartening, it would make for a fascinating social experiment. See just how far people would go in voting against their best interest.

 

[ronito]

A lot of us have insurance that covers all this, when I was moving along in my career one of my requirements when picking where I wanted to work was the health benifits, I would not work with a company who did not provide good coverage. And even when unemployed I always maintain private coverage, paying for it out of savings if I have to. I feel really bad for people who are in tough situations and lack insurance though, thats why I was for Obama care and hope they push it forward even more, and also why I will not vote for Mitt when he claims the first thing he will do is have it torn apart.

To be fair, I have a good employer, publically traded with an average- to above average insurance plan and I max out my FISA account.

And still with deductibles and co-insurance (I mean think of the co insurance on a $22,000 bill) it's still really expensive.

 

[itsgreen]

Good that this is news... the PR damage is going to make them wish they didn't do this...

 

[dalin80]

I don't see how anyone can ever get truly healthier with the threat of your medical care ruining you hanging over your head. From a outsiders perspective it even seems that having insurance is far from a guarantee after reading a lot of stories of insurance companies pulling cover for all sorts of BS reasons.

Honestly it feels a great relief to me knowing that I have a healthcare service that will cover me for anything I need regardless with no cost to me other then a few £'s for a prescription now and then. Stress kills, worrying that your healthcare will ruin you has to be stressful as it gets.

 

[Speedymanic]

Good that this is news... the PR damage is going to make them wish they didn't do this...

Will it though? Weren't there people at a political rally clapping and cheering when it was announced that someone who didn't have insurance had died?

I'm probably missing the finer details, but it shows that people clearly won't be out to condemn Wells Fargo.

 

[Riggs]

I don't see how anyone can ever get truly healthier with the threat of your medical care ruining you hanging over your head. From a outsiders perspective it even seems that having insurance is far from a guarantee after reading a lot of stories of insurance companies pulling cover for all sorts of BS reasons.

Honestly it feels a great relief to me knowing that I have a healthcare service that will cover me for anything I need regardless with no cost to me other then a few £'s for a prescription now and then. Stress kills, worrying that your healthcare will ruin you has to be stressful as it gets.

Yeah being stressed out about bankrupting your family probably is not very good when you are trying to heal up. Good points man.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

By the way, out of curiosity I checked wikipedia's entry on obamacare and wow during the 112th congress republicans have alredy put up 31 votes to repeal it.

That's an insane level of ferocity.

 

[Complex Shadow]

This is america dude and it's cancer. It probably would've been hundreds of thousands.

This is the bill from my kids MRI, and that's just an MRI.

Granted that's what they billed my insurance, but still the whole thing ended up costing me around 3k out of pocket when it was all said and done WITH insurance.

Cancer? Surgery? No insurance? Dude probably couldn't get a credit card big enough to charge it to.

i knew it was alot for the treatment. but the numbers your throwing at me just don't make seem so out there. i am looking at that image and going "that has to be Photoshopped or something" but i know its not.


Also i know this has been said before but isn't this pocket change for a company that was the 23rd largest company in america.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

This is america dude and it's cancer. It probably would've been hundreds of thousands.

This is the bill from my kids MRI, and that's just an MRI.

Granted that's what they billed my insurance, but still the whole thing ended up costing me around 3k out of pocket when it was all said and done WITH insurance.

Cancer? Surgery? No insurance? Dude probably couldn't get a credit card big enough to charge it to.

Good god, do they look throw darts at random prices to determine what to charge? This is insane!

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Yeah, and for non-US Gaf, Ronito's numbers are completely typical. Any little procedure you get is always just like that. You get a bill later that shows they've charged your insurance 20K or whatever, and you "only" have to pay a couple grand or so. X-Rays, MRI, CT, anything. Maybe it's only $1500. Maybe it's $4,000. You just have to suck it up and get on a payment plan for a couple of years.

 

[soepje]

What about dentists fees in the US? Are they as insane?

 

[Felix Lighter]

By the way, out of curiosity I checked wikipedia's entry on obamacare and wow during the 112th congress republicans have alredy put up 31 votes to repeal it.

That's an insane level of ferocity.

The current state of the US Congress is terrifying. Every single one of those votes were done knowing full well that with a Democratic Senate and with Obama in office, repeal is impossible. They just needed material for their political ads to run in their shitty districts. I would rather the country was run by children.

 

[MJLord]

Christ this is depressing. I've said for a while (probably many of you) that Insurance Companies are a bunch of con artists and thieves.

 

[GungHo]

People against a single payer system genuinely hate their fellow humans - there's no other explanation.

No, they don't hate them. They just don't care.

It's sociopathy.

Precisely.

This is an empathy problem, and it exists in many large organizations and affects people in ways beyond just fucking up their employment benefits. Optical rectitis is epedemic.

 

[Zoe]

That's crazy. We're the most developed, first world country of all in most respects, but if you really squint your eyes and look closely, there are little ways where we're third world as fuck.

You may not agree with it on a moral level, but somebody has to pay for those services. There are people who actually live in unincorporated areas so that they don't have to pay for them. The option their equivalent of the tax is there for them if they wish.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

I think a fire department shouldn't be elective. How do the police work in areas like that? County sheriff or something? Can't the fire department be set up the same way?

 

[Hilbert]

I think a fire department shouldn't be elective. How do the police work in areas like that? County sheriff or something? Can't the fire department be set up the same way?

Frankly might as well be no police, at least not for emergencies. Sheriff has very few people and it is quite likely they could be all they way on the other side of the county, a good 45 minutes or more away.

My mother owns quite a few guns.

 

[Dunlop]

Fucking disgusting, I expect the insurance to screw them over, but for the hospital not to perform the surgery is inhumane.

There are many things I like about the USA over Canada and then I read a story like this.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Banks are nothing but sophisticated, glorified crooks so this doesn't surprise me in the least.

Disgusting.

 

[GaimeGuy]

How can anyone seriously believe that the guy was fired for not filling out his time sheet correctly? What a shit excuse to come up with.

Uuuh, improper labor charging is a serious criminal offense and WILL get you shitcanned at most places.

 

[2real4tv]

Why does it seem like the care provider gets unscathe aren't they the ones that set the prices?

 

[Zzoram]

You know, when "Obamacare" first passed, I got all caught up in the OMG THE GUBMENT'S GUNNA TAKE OVER UR LIFE" hoopla. But shit, seeing stories like these makes me glad the supreme court upheld the law.


Oh, right, and fuck you Wells Fargo.

What I always found strange about the argument that the government was going to death panel people is that private insurance companies already do that when they decide to cover a person for a treatment or not.

The main difference is that government's mandate is the best for the most, while a private company's mandate is profit for shareholders. I'd much rather have the government run my death panel than a private company.

 

[ronito]

Why does it seem like the care provider gets unscathe aren't they the ones that set the prices?

Yeah I don't get this either sure the insurance is the most visible in the whole ordeal because people don't want to believe that their doctor is greedy or anything like that.

Fact is, it's the whole industry.

Pharma knows they can charge whatever the market will bear because they have a 7 year monopoly on anything they come up with. Further when their 7 years is up they just add a new chemical call it extended release boom, another 7 years!

Medical equipment manufacturers know that it takes a ton of money to get into the business (as it will, we're talking high tech) so they know how much their competition is charging and they set their prices accordingly.

Overly litiguous lawyers. This is the one most talked about but really is probably one of the smaller factors when taken in with everything else. Yeah the numbers are ridiculous but when you look at the other stuff yeah, they dwarf any malpractice stuff. But it makes me laugh when you hear people saying "if it was a free market this wouldn't happen!" yeah, it's BECAUSE the free market that this happens. Because it's free everyone is in essence entering into a contract whenever they go to a doctor/hospital, which gives you the right to sue.

Doctors/Hospital chains aren't blameless either. I'm tired of everyone making excuses like "Their prices are high because of the lawyers!" or whatever. If your doctor specifically isn't greedy his boss or executive running it is and he is by definition, he has to be. If he isn't he's gone. Also they have to cover for all the people that can't pay plus all the medicine which is high because pharma is taking their cut and the medical equipment which is high because the manufacturers are taking theirs and the lawyers are taking theirs as well.

I'm not saying that insurance isn't to blame and aren't bad companies. But they have the misfortune of being the face to people's healthcare costs and that's a bad situation from the get go.

It's funny though, how nationalized healthcare solves a lot of these problems and people just don't get it. If the government is the one buying all the pharma product you can negotiate incredible discounts further you could strip the 7 year monopoly and replace it with a 7 year licensing agreement. There are more MRI machines in Salt Lake County than there is all of Canada. With a proper National health office you could take all that excess equipment and dispense it where it's needed. Even if you couldn't do that the fact that MRI people wont be able to charge whatever they want will cut back on medical equipment excess. If you're part of a national health plan run by the government it would be easy to set the "contract" for healthcare upfront and for everyone instead of letting it run on a per contract basis. And insurance companies? If you ran a national healthcare tier and implement a data sharing standard that would allow one doctor to bill one insurance or any other without having huge costs incurred. Of course that's if there's even medical insurance at all.