America Is Not "Sicko," Filmmaker to Tell Lawmakers

For those who can afford to pay, the U.S. has an outstanding health care system. Those who cannot afford to pay get nothing but the emergency room, which means zero preventative care, and nothing gets treated until it's an emergency. And even that emergency-room care is sub-standard for those who cannot pay. People who cannot pay do not get medicines for critical illnesses, either.

Lots of old people in the U.S. cannot afford their medicines, and the U.S. government, pandering to the drug companies, prohibits the importation of medicines from Canada, claiming they are "not safe" even though many of them are made right here in the U.S.

Wealthy Canadians may come to the U.S. to get treatment faster. But plenty of U.S. citizens get no treatment at all. The U.S. is a great place to live if you've got the dough.

 

i'm not pushing for socialism. i don't think that nationalized healthcare is the perfect solution, and i only claim to know anything about the insurance system from the patient's perspective.

but how do you fix the problem when someone has a major health problem that nobody seems to be able to figure out? when this person is going to specialist after specialist, paying thousand after thousand out of their own pockets for zero progress? and what of the insurance company getting sick of paying for them? what of the annual limit on specialist visits? when that person has to rearrange their whole life in order to meet the medical bills- what do we do then? pat them on the back, the same way the specialists all do, and say i'm sorry but there's nothing i can do for you? f*&$ that. something is wrong when this happens. i don't know enough about the system to fix it, but i hope that people with the right knowledge and no personal agenda come together to propose a solution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FloridaWen @ Jun 21 2007, 09:56 AM) [snapback]465685[/snapback]</div>

They do have health care, and you and I are paying for it. When they get sick, they just go straight to the emergency room for treatment. Hospitals are not allowed to turn them away, so they are forced into treating them even though the hospital knows they won't pay. Those costs get rolled into the overall operating overhead of the hospital and get passed on to paying customers like us and our insurance companies.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FloridaWen @ Jun 21 2007, 07:19 AM) [snapback]465703[/snapback]</div>

This is exactly why the immigration laws will not change anytime soon. There are too many big time donors who want to keep the status quo. Pay low wages, work the illegals hard, and then have the government pick up any incindental costs. If migrant farm laborers, janitors, maids, etc. were actually paid what the jobs are worth then there would be plenty of legal workers willing to do the work. But that means us consumers would need to pay more for a head of lettuce and we can't have that so the exploitation continues.....

 

I recall an article written several months ago that said that no one gets the health care that they need. This cut across all demographics. The very rich didn't fare any better than the very poor.

 

FYI - 2 cases of active TB along with at least 100 cases of "exposure" reported this week at a chicken plant that employees Illegals in Georgia.


They usually under report the facts - so there is no telling. But they assure us the chicken is safe - HA!

 

Let's grant amnesty to them all.

Then we can have 12 million legal aliens who don't speak english, don't have health benefits and still use the ER as primary healthcare and are still carriers of these diseases. I think amnesty will solve the healthcare crisis as well as the imigration problem.

Let's also build a highway to mexico with a free shuttle service from deep inside mexico to all points in the US. We don't want anyone to have to trek through the hot desert to sneak in.

:lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Jun 21 2007, 02:27 PM) [snapback]465878[/snapback]</div>

Isn't that what we are already doing??? Along with supporting the economic skeleton of MEXICO by allowing the so called 12 million (It is more like 80 million) to send tax free money back to Mexico.


If this money were taxed at the check cashing outfits, we could get a true picture of how much is being sent back.


Why don't these Mexicans just take back their own country, instead of coming here a wreaking havoc?

 

Libertarians do not care about the health of citizens.
They only desire that the government is crippled.Eliminate or weaken all government regulations over big business. EPA, FDA, Social Security,Dept of Labor etc.
Anyone who takes the libertarian Cato Institute seriously has got to realize their intentions.
Ultimately in Libertarian utopia,big business will rule the world.

 

It's not difficult to see where Stuart Browning stands when he attaches "liberal" to anything he disagrees with. The first sentence on his website contains "socialized" and "democrat". The name says it all: freemarketcure.

Like other neocons, Mr. Browning has no solution for the working poor. And forget comparisons to Canada. Do you really think the U.S. would pass any legislation that would outlaw private healthcare? You got money? Buy any insurance plan you like. But competition and a free market isn't going to provide healthcare to the working poor. That is the problem when everything is considered "for profit". What I consider sicko is companies looking to make a profit off of people who are sick because they'll pay...they don't want to die. Sick people are a great source of income. They'll beg borrow or steal the money because they don't want to die. So not only can you make money, but you can pretty much demand any amount you want and they'll pay. It's even worse than the profits and abuses in the funeral industry.

"Rather than turn over basic health care decisions to HMO bureaucrats as we did in the mid-90's or to government bureaucrats as many are now advocating, we should choose market reforms that encourage competition, contain costs and give patients choices."

What choice? Buy health insurance or buy food? Live in your car so you can pay your insurance premium?

Contain costs? Has competition contained the cost of auto insurance or home insurance? The purpose of insurance from the company point of view is to get as much money as you can and deny paying out as much as you can.

Get a clue. Corporatism is not looking out of for the best interests of the American public, they are looking out for the best interests of their bottom line. And since the majority of the stockholders are the richest 5% of Americans, don't pull that everyone profits from corporations cr@p either.

What I don't get is the resistance to having a healthy public. Those pushing green are saying that you can go green and still be profitable. Well, there is profit in having a healthy workforce. That's why some companies provide healthcare for their workers. They understand that it's cheaper to have healthy workers than sick workers.

Well, take that concept to a national scale. How much money can we save when emergency rooms become JUST FOR EMERGENCIES?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jun 21 2007, 03:22 PM) [snapback]465928[/snapback]</div>

Just a curiosity question. Who do you work for?

 

There are some interesting observations about 'job lock,' where more and more Americans are afraid to pursue advancement in their careers due to fears of losing health coverage.

It's actually becoming such a big issue that some feel it's beginning to have an impact on our productivity, since people are willing to do less than they're capable of (and get paid less while underperforming) just to hold onto their benefits.

That doesn't sound right to me. I've personally weighed opportunities like this, where I find myself considering continued/quality access to healthcare as a primary element of my employment decision. I found it distressing that something like this, that has nothing to do with my career goals/filling my employment potential, had to be factored into the decision.

That said, some of the socialized medicine horror stories don't exactly fill me with hope, either.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jun 22 2007, 01:36 PM) [snapback]466542[/snapback]</div>

You just described my situation perfectly Pinto.

 

I've had a couple of jobs with private health insurance. Never been particularly bothered by it - it's a rather minor perk in this country, thank goodness. Would hate to have to actually rely on my company for health treatment.

Did use it once (at my wife's insistence) in an attempt to see a consultant for a minor ailment a bit faster. Had to show my credit card at the reception desk, in case the insurance company didn't cough up. :blink: Really creeped me out, the thought of worrying about payment to see a doctor. Had never occurred to me before. It should be free when you need it - that's the only civilised way of running things.

America's attitude to healthcare is frankly rather odd - no other first-world country I'm aware of doesn't have universal coverage in some form or another.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Jun 22 2007, 02:58 PM) [snapback]466584[/snapback]</div>

What you need to keep in mind is that America is not a civilized country. Somebody once said that America is the only country in the history of the world to go directly from barbarism to decadence without ever passing through civilization.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roryjr @ Jun 21 2007, 06:13 PM) [snapback]466076[/snapback]</div>

The San Diego Unified School District.

Like our local grocery store clerks, my employer takes money out of my pay before I even see it and pays for an HMO. I have Kaiser. I'll probably work until I die because once I retire I have no healthcare anymore. Unless I want to pay $500 a month for it privately. I'm in a lot better shape than a lot of others. And in case you don't think I DESERVE to have healthcare, I have a master degree and have worked my entire life for LESS PAY than comperable jobs of requiring equal education. For the reduction in pay I get I think my healthcare should be covered. And it is. *I* pay for it by having a smaller paycheck. *I* pay into my retirement too the same way....smaller paycheck.

But it could be worse.

I could be working for Walmart or Target.

(BTW my sister works for a credit card company as a programmer. She doesn't have a bachelors or masters....just an associates from Coleman College. She gets paid more, has better health care and retirement than I do and less experience. I've been working for 28 years. She's only been with them for 3 years.)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jun 22 2007, 03:36 PM) [snapback]466542[/snapback]</div>

Teachers have lived this way forever.

Teachers are penalized for changing districts.

I'm on the top of the pay scale in my district. But if I were to move, any other district that hired me would start me on the bottom again. I might get credit for having a masters degree, but I would NOT receive any advancement based on the 28 years of experience I have. So I'd start on the bottom with all of the new college graduate hires. Not a lot of incentive there to relocate. And moving to another state is a whole other thing. You have to go back to school to earn more units just to be qualified as a teacher...again. (On your own time and own dime.)

This is why more and more teachers are leaving teaching and going into the private sector. Pay AND benefits are better.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Jun 22 2007, 04:58 PM) [snapback]466584[/snapback]</div>

What other first world country considers healthcare to be a FOR PROFIT business?

 

Given current cost trends in US healthcare, I believe that some amount of socialization (ie, governmental control of structure, and top-down rules that reduce costs) is inevitable.

We cannot afford the current rate of increasing rates.

Like it or not, get used to the idea, and get involved if you have druthers on how it turns out. You should. The older you get the more it'll matter to you.

Insist on evidence-based medical practice. Limit the influence of drug companies, as much as possible. Ignore their advertising. Get involved in your local and national political struggles re: healthcare.

And from the bottom of my heart, don't go to your doctor asking for a name-brand med from an ad -- particularly if a generic med is equally effective, equally safe, and 1/76th the cost.