NEVER get in an American ambulance or go to an American hospital...

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   paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

   Unless you KNOW that you are going to otherwise die.
   
   "Lifeguard gets $2,600 bill after rescuing boy from surf"
   
   http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/lif … 32240.html
   
   I'm sure the kid's parents got equally screwed...

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2. 82

   SimeyCposted 13 years ago

   As a Brit who lives in America I find it incredible that no one over here wants socialized medicine.
   Sure there are problems in the British Healthcare system, but everyone can walk into a hospital without that added stress of a huge bill afterwards - when my wife visited 15 years ago our daughter was ill - as a guest of mine they also got free healthcare.
   
   For those who don't like waiting for operations there are a ton of private insurances to add to the healtchare (BUPA being one).
   
   When my mother moved over here she sadly got cancer. When she was lying in a hospital bed dying, an administrator came up to her and told her that there was a problem with the health insurance she had through the airline - she was very upset and distressed.
   
   Take the money factor out of healthcare and you get better healthcare.......

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   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I should have put this under Politics and Social Issues. So I flagged my own OP and requested that HP moves it there.

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   2. 75

      Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm trying to justify this last statement with your previous statement that some people can buy private insurance to add to the healthcare. How does that "take the money factor out"? It seems to me that it merely shifts the money factor. "Better healthcare" is automatically free healthcare? There are many issues about American healthcare that I am trying to puzzle out and that I still have a hard time understanding.

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      1. 82

         SimeyCposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         One of the problems with socialized healthcare is the you may have to wait a month or two for non emergency surgeries. However some people buy additional insurance above and beyond the normal 'free' healthcare and can go into private hospitals - so there's a choice - if you want the best healthcare you can pay for it, if you are happy with socialized healthcare then you don't pay extra.
         
         Of course, it should be noted that Social Healthcare is not free - everyone who works pays a contribution from their salary - when I lived there it was 6% not sure what it is now...
         
         The idea of social healthcare is that 'we' all pay a tax so that there is a healthcare system that provides services for anyone - there are no co-pays or any other costs to the person receiving the healthcare...

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         1. 75

            Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            This basically corroborates my statement that socialized medicine doesn't remove money from the equation, it merely shifts it.  [Well, actually, you did say that, didnt you?] What happens to the person who can't afford the added insurance? Is the healthcare they receive truly identical to what the privately insured person receives? Time can be an issue in healthcare, even when someone can't afford the extra, private insurance. And time can change a non-emergency into an emergency.
            
            When I lived in Germany for a year, I had to visit a doctor for a slight problem I had. When I asked about payment after the appointment, I was told that there was no charge because of the free healthcare system. I hated it! I know that other people would not feel the same way, and if it had been thousands of dollars I would possibly have appreciated it. But in my situation, I did not.
            
            I have met people within the past two years who can walk into an American hospital today and receive free healthcare. Other people end up paying their costs because of higher fees that are passed along to them either through higher hospital costs or through their insurance. The money gets paid somewhere - from individuals, through insurance, through the government.  I just haven't connected yet with the idea that it is somehow better to pay the same money through the government. (Or more money.)

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            1. 61

               paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               The government is indeed better. I have personally witnessed from my neighbours how both ways work.
               
               Example #1
               
               Corrupt ambulance company sends $1,900 invoice to government for a 3-mile, non-emergency trip. Government basically says, "go f**k yourselves, here's $200 and you can only bill the patient $170 more, take it or leave it." Company invariably accepts it.
               
               Example #2
               
               Corrupt ambulance company sends $1,900 invoice to individual for a 3-block, non-emergency trip. Individual can't or wont pay because of the extortionist amount. Individual then gets hounded by collection agencies for years, and then eventually ends up paying around $4,000 after also paying the ambulance company's legal fees and court costs

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            2. 64

               psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Shifts it and increases efficiency.  You pay for it through tax, and get the same service universally for a ~30 cut in cost (base on comparisons from US to UK/NZ. It is better because of this saving and because you don't end up with the working poor uncovered and getting no preventative (e.g. pre-natal) care.  You don't have the case like the guy shot in Aurora with a bill shooting up but $50,000 a day and no way to pay it.

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