Many nurses are "single-payer" supporters. Here are some anecdotal stories to show why.
...insurance companies already decided who deserves to live and who deserves to die and if you want the real truth about what our healthcare industry does to it's people work in the industry for 33 years. Hope and pray you don't need a specialty mattress to prevent bed sores because you won't get it until you have a stage IV bed sore and that is one that goes through muscle, soft tissue and to the bone because insurance won't approve the fee for the rental even in the hospital and I could go on for days. I do not trust our government to initiate any plan of any kind that benefits the patient because it might impact the insurance companies,pharmaceuticals and big paying lobbyist in a negative manner and after all they can afford to pay, if they are charged which many times they aren't, for the best of the best. I have worked home health, ER, ICU, case management and have seen first hand the tragedies that follow private insurance decisions , etc , etc, etc. I am ready to leave this country for good and regret not taking that job in Canada that I was offered 3 years ago.
...if you are crippled and need a lift chair to get from a sitting to standing position or visa versa Medicare will pay for the motor and you have to purchase the chair or maybe you could just sit on the motor.
1- Medicare denied payment for replacing a bone plate in a woman's skull because not having the bone replaced after brain surgery was not life threatening (she could wear a helmet to protect the soft spot left by removal of the bone 2- Private insurance refused to allow a patient with a rare muscle cancer to be transferred to an out of network hospital because her prognosis was too grave and the treatment that was only available at an out of network hospital only promised her 24 mos to live , now she will die in 3 or less and die in agony. So what are they really proposing to change. The last lady was 37 and had 2 young children, but she had no say so in the matter, unless she wanted to foot 100% of the bill and she could not afford that.
I have often said that auto insurance is really a tax since we are required by law to have it. Insurance companies are really some kind of branch of the government since they control it and we really can't survive without health care and insurance.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed that this country has the amount of poverty and ignorance that so many live in. Yes, most (at least a percentage) live that way because they are lazy or ignorant, but in todays age of enlightenment and education; how do we have this situation? How can we have such an expansive amount of underbelly? I bring this up because the poor are always used as an excuse or reason for those who are against universal health care; which is usually the weapon of choice to reform or fix the problems like the stories that you have posted. I think we need to continuously examine our system and try to correct problems; no matter what system or payment plan we are working with. I think our system is out of whack and needs an overhaul if not outright rebuild. I certainly don't know how to achieve balance in our current system, but bureaucracy gives me a bad taste, too.
I wonder if the stories like you have here will ever be eradicated or fixed. Will we always have people who are not taken care of? People with stories of how they were denied treatment? I think there will be those who don't get the kind of health care that they think they should get or the choice of doctors, etc. I believe we should always try to improve the quality of care in this country and I think that will require open minded administrators and doctors striving for the best for all people. I hope all Americans can see the benefits of proper education and health care and that we can unite in an effort to give those things (maybe not on a silver platter) to our future generations (the future economy that will provide old people with the comforts we need). Without working, intelligent, innovative, and dedicated to our countries future, people; there will not be any kind of retirement for us. Looking at it from a selfish point of view; we need to take care of the kids that are growing up now. Of course a healthy environment is part of that care.
Here is another link to a story and a very good opinion piece.
ReplyDeleteThanks Thomas. Very well said.
ReplyDeleteI will add a link with a note of humor on health care questions on the blog in a few minutes.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/jstreet/461264/your_questions_about_health_care_reform_answered?rel=emailNation
I agree with Thomas.
ReplyDeleteThe health care future doesn't look hopeful to say the least and I know sooner or later my aging butt may be in sling. I have been lucky so far and I know it. Enjoying the good days and taking care of myself as best I can in the interim is all I Personally know to do.
I am off on another tangent.
ReplyDeleteWill be posting either one huge post or two large ones on other answers to "Our Government".
Try the www.thenation.com link read the blog there about answers to health care reform questions. It is really funny, sad maybe, but funny.