Going forward on Healthcare for the U.S what should be done?

[alexkeren]

Three part answer, all three are me saying the PPACA is a load of crap. It's actually called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

P1) My first career when that "it will implode act" was implemented, plus the second negotiated rates a couple years later, caused me to pay double in premiums what I was paying before for a MERE one third of the benefit. Does pay more get less sound like what should happen from the PPACA let alone PROMISED by Obama?

P2) Took a year off work, COBRA was nowhere near affordable and the cheapest marketplace rates would have cost me over $100 more than just my annual checkup with the doc and eye doc PLUS the mandate penalty. Insurance should be a choice if I can afford the regular visits. And for those who want to pipe in about emergency services, that is covered by a whole different government program but I would go with payment plan from hospital.

P3) Went back to school out of state so I could help dad take care of grandparents. Qualify for Medicaid thanks to PPACA, but it's so restrictive.

[bearlolzx]

Hello, doctors take 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, MIN 1 year residency (family doctor/GP)

you think after almost 10 years of schooling past HS doctors dont deserve to be paid 200k+?

this is why healthcare CANNOT be free,

oh that and insurance brokers need to make money aswell (cant be 0 commission work)

[Logwyn]

I mean for example last year I slipped with a knife and cut my finger. Being diabetic I had to goto the ER because it was 9pm to make sure I wasn't going to bleed to death. The ER bill was $600 which the VA covered for me. However the ER Dr bill came later and was for another $600. I got 2 stitches to fix the wound which the doctor didn't do. He came in and took one look at it without even touching it said "we'll fix you right up." and then he left. The nurses did all the work. So that ER doctor got paid $600. There was no negotiating on the price or anything. I don't have insurance because I'm seen by the VA and it meets the requirements for health insurance. However when the ER dr bill comes separate about a month after the ER bill they wouldn't cover that. Maybe that $600 fee could be severely reduced to around $150 since the doctor didn't even do anything. Maybe it's time for the government to regulate what doctors can charge for things.

There is much irony in your post.

[alexkeren]

We already spend more in public funds alone as a percent of GDP and per capita on healthcare than every other industrialized nation. It's not a matter of, "oh, it'll be expensive," because it already is. It's a matter of using that money better. I can imagine that the savings in preventative care alone would be enormous if people like my uncle, just by way of personal example, didn't feel like he had to wait until his foot was already rotting to see a doctor because he was in between jobs and didn't have insurance. Some antibiotics and care early on would have saved the state—he's an amputee now, and on our state's poor people insurance—tens of thousands of dollars (probably more) in the long run.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that. To say nothing of a public, non-profit system acting as a single payer for medication and services, thus giving a baseline of cost and care for private insurance to have to compete against. Folks are all about competition in the marketplace, right?

While true, that's mostly because of 2 events since 1995, 9/11 and Obamacare.

http://data.worldbank.org/share/widg...high_desc=true

[RaoBurning]

Hello, doctors take 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, MIN 1 year residency (family doctor/GP)

you think after almost 10 years of schooling past HS doctors dont deserve to be paid 200k+?

this is why healthcare CANNOT be free,

oh that and insurance brokers need to make money aswell (cant be 0 commission work)

1) Do you actually, really think doctors don't make pretty good money in other countries with public healthcare? Because they do. Nobody in a public system works for free. They get paid, just like teachers, cops, firefighters, soldiers, etc.

1.a) School in other countries, as I understand it, isn't as astronomically expensive as it is in the states either, so a marginally lower pay scale isn't a huge deal.

2) Fuck the insurance industry.

[kail]

After completing medical school and the required on-the-job training, in 2010 the average doctor earned $80 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This hourly rate translates into an annual salary of $166,400.

http://work.chron.com/average-doctor...hour-3154.html


That is not a lot.

For a starting job that isn't bad.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Hello, doctors take 4 years undergraduate, 4 years medical school, MIN 1 year residency (family doctor/GP)

you think after almost 10 years of schooling past HS doctors dont deserve to be paid 200k+?

this is why healthcare CANNOT be free,

oh that and insurance brokers need to make money aswell (cant be 0 commission work)

I don't want to haggle down doctors when people like CEOs make what they do.

[Jastall]

50% of Americans are insured with their employer. Some employees don't pay anything but most pay a small deductible and a copayment each month of $20-$50. This is very cheap in comparison to Europe where if you and your wife make $100K a year you pay a huge sum for health insurance which also covers the poor.

As if Americans didn't also put huge amounts of tax money into healthcare via Medicaid and Medicare just to keep the other 50% from being fucked over. Americans have the most expensive healthcare per capita, bar none. So no, Europe has no lesson to receive in this regard.

[Vash The Stampede]

The only true solution is socialized medicine. Something that Republicans don't want to upset their lobbying buddies, not that Democrats don't' have theirs. Also Sonic Boom made a joke about it too.

[bearlolzx]

More on previous post:

doctors who train other doctors in medical school deserve to be paid A LOT as well (they have debt and loans too and that's why average med school debt is over 100k)

so you are now underslept, been in school for 10 yrs, and while you see everyone you graduated HS and college with ALREADY in the prime of their careers
you are now entering the work force being OVER 100k in debt to someone.

The pay you get in residency is enough to pay for groceries rent and the interest on your loans

[RaoBurning]

The only true solution is socialized medicine. Something that Republicans don't want to upset their lobbying buddies, not that Democrats don't' have theirs. Also Sonic Boom made a joke about it too.

I can't believe we just burned by Sonic goddamned Boom.

[derpkitteh]

public option, like every other developed nation in the world.

[CJMoffitt]

Make it accessible freely. Everybody ought to have health insurance.

[Alvito]

I am glad you put the part in which is in bold. Makes a huge difference. And the income of the Vet. Also if there is any service connected health issues involved.

The real issue with health care is the raising costs for such. Which Obamacare and the GOP health care have not and will not address to the extent it needs to be. To fix a problem, it is always best to attack the root cause of the issue.

Im down there every single week with my dad so I have seen and talked to people of all coverage levels far too often. My dad was an active duty Marine for 24 years with 3 tours in Vietnam between that and wounds during service he is 100% covered now. On a side note, I'd love it if politicians had to use the VA for themselves and their family for healthcare. Both would magically improve over night.

[Cruor]

Here is my heath care plan:

You get a job with a good health plan, or you pay for any medical expenses with your own damn money. If you get sick or injured and can't pay for it, ask liberals for their money. If they won't pay, die in the gutter. A simple, solid, and fair plan.

- - - Updated - - -

Make it accessible freely. Everybody ought to have health insurance.

Yeah, YOU pay for that. I don't want my taxes spent on it, thanks.

[Deleted]

America needs a social market economy, with a state driven compulsory health- and unemployment insurance.

[NihilSustinet]

None of the above? The public option shouldnt be an "option" it should be the default. we need full single payer. america pays more per person than any other industrialized nation, and we get the worst healthcare. what people who "dont want to pay more taxes" dont seem to understand is that if we had single payer, and we payed the same rate for healthcare that other countries pay, the average tax payer would SAVE money. Sure, taxes would be higher, but lack of insurance payments, copays, deductibles, all that bullshit more than make up for it.

[Elegiac]

Here is my heath care plan:

You get a job with a good health plan, or you pay for any medical expenses with your own damn money. If you get sick or injured and can't pay for it, ask liberals for their money. If they won't pay, die in the gutter. A simple, solid, and fair plan.

You first.

I know that a lot of people are particularly ignorant of history, but there is a reason that civil unrest has become something of an exception in the West as opposed to a chronic issue; quite a lot of that is due to the fact that, owing to highly developed civil services that manage public assistance and social welfare, most people aren't in a situation where it is revolt or die.

The key term here is social investment. People who are taken care of by society whether through public assistance or just infrastructure generally have a vested interest in that society's preservation and stability; people who the system ignores or are actively discriminated against by it will feel just the opposite. They have no investment in society, therefore they will undermine it at every available opportunity. Why do you think poor people tend to engage in a lot of antisocial behavior like vandalism or theft at a far higher rate?

Not letting people die of easily preventable causes means that society as a whole is more stable, and ultimately more prosperous. You have healthier workers with more money in their pockets to spend on encouraging economic growth, who have an interest in being law abiding and wanting social stability. It is an investment in the exact sense; an upfront capital and continuous operating expense that pays far higher dividends in the long term.

I thought conservatives understood finance?

[Healing Rain]

Repealing the Obamacare mandates and then passing a law that outlaws any such mandates from being implemented ever again would be a great start.

[Elegiac]

Repealing the Obamacare mandates and then passing a law that outlaws any such mandates from being implemented ever again would be a great start.

I'm not sure how you think health insurance is supposed to work if there is no cost sharing.