TweetJust another reason to vote for Nader.

https://www.votenader.org/issues/index.php?cid=4

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Originally Posted by kite

Educate yourselves and vote informed.

Did you look at Naders web site and educate yourself on what he would do


I did and I voted Informed.

Tweettake my word for it guys, the country's healthcare system is in the toilet. The problem as I see it is greedy docs, greedy administrators, too few nurses and other personnel to take care of the people (on top of cuts made by greedy administrators), plus an uneducated public. So many problems can be prevented or managed ahead of time so that big time medical problems can be avoided. hear me when I say this...Your doctors, the majority that is, are overworked and do not really care about you. They (as human beings) are worried primarily about A) how much your insurance will reimburse them and B) getting out of there and getting home. Docs being overworked, IMO, is their own doing as they are trying to get as much money as possible...they could save themselves alot of grief and help people get better faster, again IMO, by taking on fewer patients. Ive seen docs MANY TIMES walking into a patient's room and the only way they know who the patient is is because the nurse that's shadowing them is telling them the person's name. You are a NAME, a DIAGNOSIS and a REIMBURSEMENT (or not) to them. Ive heard many doctors complain like a big baby because they have to go see a medicaid (state-funded or indigent) patient. If you have no insurance or state-funded insurance YOUR DOCTOR DOES NOT WANT TO SEE YOU. you are keeping him from seeing other, more well-funded patients.

Insurance companies are even worse. You are considered a "life" to the insurance company. that is the term.."lives", not people or clients. Insurance companies DO NOT WANT TO TAKE CARE OF YOU and are NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOU. they want you to get the absolute cheapest care possible, regardless.

To hospital administrators you are a "bed"..not a person or patient..you are a "bed" with "X" number of insured days or set fee the hospital will get paid for your stay. Do a little math, for example, if it costs the hospital $700/ day to take care of a "bed" and your insurance comp pays them $5000 for your condition, guess what? Youve got about 1 week to get well or you are an "outlyer"..meaning your costing them money and they want you gone. Administrators keep stats on this stuff and will LET YOUR DOCTOR KNOW if he/she has too many "outlyers" lying around, taking up space. a doc can be put on probation for costing the hospital too much money or having patients stay past their welcome.

Nurses and other staff get caught in the middle of all this. Their numbers have been cut to the bone and they are truly stressed. do you want a nurse fresh out of school who has been working 3-12 hour shifts drawing up your meds just as the clock is running out (she can't stay past time because ADMINISTRATION has complained and has cut out all overtime) on her shift?

Dont say it, socialized--or a national healthcare system is NOT the answer. Not unless you want to wait 2-3 months to have that rotator cuff scoped, or you want to have 10 different docs in 10 different visits. Oh, and by the way, docs in a national system are paid salaries. There is NO incentive for them to get better or work harder.
The answer in my opinion is less greed and more care for the patient by all parties. Greed, my friends is what is driving the best healthcare system in the world down. More docs with fewer patients with less interference by administrators and government. Thats MY rant for the evening.


Have a BENCH day!

TweetThose greedy lawyers aren't helping either, the more they sue the high malpractice ins. is so the Docs have to get the money from some where to pay for it to stay in practice. I think we need to look at insurance companys, they are the greedy ones not the Docs, there are some but for the most part being a Doc isn't as rewarding as it once was. There aren't many Docs living the life of a rich person, besides the definition of rich is, "your money wirks for you, you don't work for you money" which leaves Docs out of that loop.

We do have a problem but what can we do, force companys to buy insurance and if they think it's to much they'll pack up there company and move it to a place that won't make them spend money. That's one thing about trying to tax the rich, they don't need to make more money. So if their company is making money but taxes is taking away that money, they'll close the company put their money in the bank and they'll be fine. Why do you think lots of these companys are going to other countrys, because their not under big tax burdens and some are just greedy.

JohnnyB

TweetI agree totally. When my first wife died about 13yrs ago i was looking into malpractice, so i retained a medical malpractice attorney to look over the time line before her death. He told me that especially drs with patients that have HMOs, their primary objective is to keep as many patients in their hmos as possible, because once they have to go to the hospital or specialist they loose a portion of the monies they get for having certain number of patients retained within a particular HMO. So if that dr has a patient that he/she can treat they will keep them as long as they can, in my case longer prob then it should have been before she got the care that a hospitial can provide. Of course the law is on the Dr.'s and hospitals side, as one not only has to prove malice, but intent that what the hospital or Dr. did caused the outcome, which in most cases is very hard to prove. Lawyers too, will take on cases even if they know they cant win just to make the extra $. Its all a racket. Drs. want to make the max on insurance, insurance want to make the max $ on their policies etc. It is the middle and lower income brackets that always get hit the hardest.

TweetHere's my rant. My wife has a mental illnessand has been suicidal. We have no health insurance so the only place I could take her for inpatient care was the Maricopa County Hospital. While she was in thier care, she slit her wrist with a screw she removed from the fire alarm. No supervision whatsoever. She was completely suicidal. That's a government funded psychiatric hospital for ya. And to make matters worse, they never knew she did it because she was doing it while I was having a discharge briefing with her counselor. She walked out the door to my car with blood all over her arms and they never knew.
BTW for her to see a psychiatrist it costs us $250/hr because we don't have ins. and the wait is 3-4 weeks to get in. Now thats fuckin greed.
Oh yeah, here's my other rant, if I walked across the border from Mexico illegally I can get taken care of by the good ol' goverment but since i make too much to qualify for the gov't programs(health ins.), i am left to pay for these healthcare bills that i can't afford. ($8,964.35 to date and the bills keep coming) Ambulance bill for bls transport from one hospital to the country psych ward get this - $864.32 . Welcome to America.

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Originally Posted by Whurston

Here's my rant. My wife has a mental illnessand has been suicidal. We have no health insurance so the only place I could take her for inpatient care was the Maricopa County Hospital. While she was in thier care, she slit her wrist with a screw she removed from the fire alarm. No supervision whatsoever. She was completely suicidal. That's a government funded psychiatric hospital for ya. And to make matters worse, they never knew she did it because she was doing it while I was having a discharge briefing with her counselor. She walked out the door to my car with blood all over her arms and they never knew.
BTW for her to see a psychiatrist it costs us $250/hr because we don't have ins. and the wait is 3-4 weeks to get in. Now thats fuckin greed.
Oh yeah, here's my other rant, if I walked across the border from Mexico illegally I can get taken care of by the good ol' goverment but since i make too much to qualify for the gov't programs(health ins.), i am left to pay for these healthcare bills that i can't afford. ($8,964.35 to date and the bills keep coming) Ambulance bill for bls transport from one hospital to the country psych ward get this - $864.32 . Welcome to America.

Just a thought bro. I don't know where you stand religiously, but most Christian shrinks will offer their services at huge discounts. They are the only docs I've ever seen that actually care more about helping than about padding the wallet. I went to one that a guy from church set up for me and he only charged me $20/hr because that was all I could afford back then. I wasn't sucidal but I lot of issues that I needed to work out before I got married. It was the best move I ever made.

Either way, I will pray for you and your wife. My father commited suicide and I know how it feels to lose someone to that.

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Originally Posted by T-Man007

Just a thought bro. I don't know where you stand religiously, but most Christian shrinks will offer their services at huge discounts. They are the only docs I've ever seen that actually care more about helping than about padding the wallet. I went to one that a guy from church set up for me and he only charged me $20/hr because that was all I could afford back then. I wasn't sucidal but I lot of issues that I needed to work out before I got married. It was the best move I ever made.

Either way, I will pray for you and your wife. My father commited suicide and I know how it feels to lose someone to that.

I appreciate that bro, it's been a really tough year. Where would I go to look for something like that? I too am christian. That sounds more reasonable than padding some greedy doc's wallet.

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Originally Posted by Whurston

Here's my rant. My wife has a mental illnessand has been suicidal. We have no health insurance so the only place I could take her for inpatient care was the Maricopa County Hospital. While she was in thier care, she slit her wrist with a screw she removed from the fire alarm. No supervision whatsoever. She was completely suicidal. That's a government funded psychiatric hospital for ya. And to make matters worse, they never knew she did it because she was doing it while I was having a discharge briefing with her counselor. She walked out the door to my car with blood all over her arms and they never knew.
BTW for her to see a psychiatrist it costs us $250/hr because we don't have ins. and the wait is 3-4 weeks to get in. Now thats fuckin greed.
Oh yeah, here's my other rant, if I walked across the border from Mexico illegally I can get taken care of by the good ol' goverment but since i make too much to qualify for the gov't programs(health ins.), i am left to pay for these healthcare bills that i can't afford. ($8,964.35 to date and the bills keep coming) Ambulance bill for bls transport from one hospital to the country psych ward get this - $864.32 . Welcome to America.

I feel you man. My wife has been having similar problems. At 15 there was almost an entire bottle of asprin and a year ago she shot herself in the shoulder. The latter wasn't an attempt at death, but one for attention. There's been prescription drug abuse and numerous health problems as a result of all the self abuse. She can't get health ins. cause they say she's too high of a risk. I make too much for medicaid and her latest hospitalization was over 7 grand.
Like T-man said, I think a Christian Psych is the way to go. A secular money hungry shrink is the last thing you and your wife need right now. It's tough to find one, like anything else, but you will, just ask around or do an internet search. Our biggest problem wasn't finding one, it's her going. From what you've said about your wife, I suspect you've had the same issues. A simple little quote that has helped me in dealing with this situation is by Padre Pio, "pray, hope and don't worry", my first reaction was yeah, easier said than done, but then when I got my ass off my shoulders, I realized that's exactly what wer're supposed to do.