Your Wonkette had to go to the hospital about a year ago for a two hour long procedure. We had a good friend come pick us up, and as we left, she indicated a desire to take the brown paper bag of basic first aid supplies that the doctor had left for us to bring home for after care. DO NOT TAKE THE BROWN PAPER BAG, we yelled. DO NOT TAKE IT! But our friend was worried, so she took the brown paper bag anyway, and we were charged $20 for a bunch of gauze and a couple Tylenol. Whatever, this was small potatoes, since the entire bill was over $2500 for this two hour procedure, and it was tough to get particularly excited over $20, but still, it was the principle of the thing!
From north of the border: my father back in 1981 almost died; he ended up in ICU for 6 weeks, had almost total kidney failure, a heart attack or two, lungs collapsed. He pulled through and lived another 16 happy years. It cost us nothing. Well, maybe tv rental at the hospital. But my younger sister and I were able to finish university. Now, he did work for a big company, so who knows, we might have been ok if it was like the States. However, my very underemployed older sister 13 years ago was diagnosed with leukemia, and was in and out of the hospital for a couple of years. She had a t-cell transplant and chemo and the whole nine yards. She didn't have to worry about paying for that cutting-edge treatment. I think that the drugs my younger sister had to take before they harvested her t-cells wasn't covered. And maybe that was it. On top of which over the years I've had two sons delivered, bunions done, tonsils out, hernia repaired, a couple of lady-parts procedures, and I paid nothing. NOTHING. So yeah, staying here, thank you.
If Obama had called it &quot;Health <i>Insurance</i> Reform&quot; instead of &quot;Health <i>Care</i> Reform&quot; it would have passed unanimously.
You&#039;re right. If Obama proposed putting Saint Reagan&#039;s face on the $100 bill, Go-Pee&#039;ers would be against it because it of socialism.
It isn&#039;t that people are dying in their apartments, as Mitt Romney put it. It&#039;s that they&#039;re dying on a bench outside the hospital deciding if that funny feeling is worth $2500 to get treated.
If there was a reasonable free market in healthcare, it would be possible to get estimates for a procedure from various hospitals. It tried that once for a fairly common procedure (colonoscopy). If I could get anyone to answer the phone in the appropriate department, they became extremely indignant that I was asking, and demanded standard codes (which of course I did not have) before they could produce a figure. I know that one of my work colleagues and I have been charged different deductibles and co-pays for a stress test, admittedly performed in different places, and we have the same insurance. A single payer system would certainly level the playing field, as it were, but the system we have now is so Byzantine and opaque, that it is virtually impossible to make a reasonably informed choice as to where to go. An educated consumer is most definitely not the customer hospitals and insurance companies want. As for Sean, Anderson was probably the best-rated, and therefore the most expensive, place to go for treatment. If he could have compared rates he may have found somewhere with a lesser rating, where he could more easily have afforded treatment. I would have taken a 50% outcome with 100% chance of affording the procedure, rather than a 95% chance of a successful outcome with 0% chance of affording the treatment.
The propaganda machine has done a very good job of persuading the gullible that a Socialized system will be inefficient. Chances are, that if you ask one of the conservatives about individual items in the ACA, they will support them, but the whole thing is evil and un-American.
From north of the border: my father back in 1981 almost died; he ended up in ICU for 6 weeks, had almost total kidney failure, a heart attack or two, lungs collapsed. He pulled through and lived another 16 happy years. It cost us nothing. Well, maybe tv rental at the hospital. But my younger sister and I were able to finish university. Now, he did work for a big company, so who knows, we might have been ok if it was like the States. However, my very underemployed older sister 13 years ago was diagnosed with leukemia, and was in and out of the hospital for a couple of years. She had a t-cell transplant and chemo and the whole nine yards. She didn&#039;t have to worry about paying for that cutting-edge treatment. I think that the drugs my younger sister had to take before they harvested her t-cells wasn&#039;t covered. And maybe that was it. On top of which over the years I&#039;ve had two sons delivered, bunions done, tonsils out, hernia repaired, a couple of lady-parts procedures, and I paid nothing. NOTHING. So yeah, staying here, thank you.
Got space on your sofa until I can find a pad of my own?
If Obama had called it &quot;Health <i>Insurance</i> Reform&quot; instead of &quot;Health <i>Care</i> Reform&quot; it would have passed unanimously.
Well, we just got rid of the last son so you&#039;re in luck!
In Canada-stan, codeine is available over the counter... more than makes up for small differences in quality of base generic Tylenol.
man that&#039;s really powerful.
and awful.
i got canadian citizenship a couple years back (mom is canadian).
this thread is like a kick in the butt reminder that we were seriously talking about moving.
i blame bamz.
best wishes to sean. i hope he finds a way out of this rat&#039;s nest.
You&#039;re right. If Obama proposed putting Saint Reagan&#039;s face on the $100 bill, Go-Pee&#039;ers would be against it because it of socialism.
<i>&quot;Despite being a gay, I can still talk to my conservative friends about same-sex marriage...&quot;</i>
If any of them accepted your proposal, let me be the first to say mazel tov and congratulations!
It isn&#039;t that people are dying in their apartments, as Mitt Romney put it. It&#039;s that they&#039;re dying on a bench outside the hospital deciding if that funny feeling is worth $2500 to get treated.
If there was a reasonable free market in healthcare, it would be possible to get estimates for a procedure from various hospitals. It tried that once for a fairly common procedure (colonoscopy). If I could get anyone to answer the phone in the appropriate department, they became extremely indignant that I was asking, and demanded standard codes (which of course I did not have) before they could produce a figure. I know that one of my work colleagues and I have been charged different deductibles and co-pays for a stress test, admittedly performed in different places, and we have the same insurance. A single payer system would certainly level the playing field, as it were, but the system we have now is so Byzantine and opaque, that it is virtually impossible to make a reasonably informed choice as to where to go. An educated consumer is most definitely not the customer hospitals and insurance companies want. As for Sean, Anderson was probably the best-rated, and therefore the most expensive, place to go for treatment. If he could have compared rates he may have found somewhere with a lesser rating, where he could more easily have afforded treatment. I would have taken a 50% outcome with 100% chance of affording the procedure, rather than a 95% chance of a successful outcome with 0% chance of affording the treatment.
The act of comparing life expectancies in various countries is a communist plot.
Your insurance is much better than mine. Mine would try everything they could, not to be stuck with the $89.
The propaganda machine has done a very good job of persuading the gullible that a Socialized system will be inefficient. Chances are, that if you ask one of the conservatives about individual items in the ACA, they will support them, but the whole thing is evil and un-American.
Yeah, but I only roll that out when the boss comes over for dinner.