The American healthcare system for the poor
In his report, “This is how American health care kills people,” Ryan Cooper tells the story of 29-year-old Matthew Stewart, who required emergency surgery for hepatitis-induced liver damage, but learned that only about $10,000 of his $74,000 bill was covered by his “gold plan” insurance policy, partly because of out-of-network rules even in emergencies.
When his insurance provider decided to quit the insurance exchange, Stewart was left without a liver specialist, and he couldn’t obtain Medicaid because his state of Texas had refused the option to carry it. His alternative—declaring bankruptcy and leaving the state—would be delayed by a lengthy legal process exacerbated by the physical and mental stress of his illness. But the hospitals kept sending their bills.
Evidence for the Financial Collapse of the Great Majority of Americans
The poorest 90% of Americans lost nearly $2 trillion in wealth in 2015-’16, an average of $8,500 per adult. Every sector of society lost money except for the richest 1%, whose members gained an average of $1.5 million in […]
I just had my paycheck wiped out by Obamacare penalty from last year. Thanks a lot Obama..hope you go to prison some day where you belong..along with your cellmate Hillary. I really appreciate the opportunity to pay extra for the priveledge of not having a doctor or hospital who is trying to shorten my life.
This would not be happening if we had “Medicare for All.”
Everyone who gets a paycheck pays for Medicare, but they don’t all get it.
Neither Obamacare nor Trumpcare is the answer.
While I would like to see everyone cared for, I don’t think humans are born with the right to visit a hospital. If they were born with that right then hunter gatherers human rights were violated for thousands of years by the lack of access to MD’s and modern hospitals?
On second thought, I think Barack & Hillary should get a mansion together. In Syria.
This was fairly disturbing to read. I don’t agree with blaming our leadership for the healthcare issues, I blame the entire system, and we are all part of it. In the short term I think it is important to continue discussing these matters, because people like myself, who were at one time against socialized healthcare, need to be convinced that healthcare for all is as important as clean air and water. In the long term I believe we should all take advantage of the enormous trove of information on the internet and start leading healthier lives. We should all start by looking within, take back control of our lives, and stop pointing fingers. Only then will we be able to turn things around.
I am not blaming leadership, I am blaming the LACK of leadership & also pervasive corruption. I agree with you Charles, it is our responsibility to take care of our own health by being informed & prstarter. What is indeed a human right is the right to health freedom which we do not have because of big pharma, the AMA cartel, the FDA, CDC and the DEA for starters.
Many people join the medical profession to help fellow humans and make an honest living. In our case the medical system has become a profit driven system. Because of this, the price for care is ever increasing. I fully believe we could reasonably afford to pay for everyone’s healthcare if we somehow changed the profit nature of it, along with a lot of other complex issues that I’m not all that knowledgeable on. To adopt an attitude that humans don’t deserve health care because it costs too much is reactive, and I don’t think it is valid considering the cause of the rising prices. If the cost of policing or fire fighting got too expensive would we decide that those weren’t important services to offer people who couldn’t afford it? No, because fire and crime spread, much like illness and disease.
When my wife last went to the hospital for congestive heart failure, the bill was an outrageous $15,000 bill for a two day stay with no operations or anything else that would have been considered expensive, just a few tests. One of the tests they billed us for was the same cardiogram which cost only $100 at the heart doctor’s office, yet the hospital charged us $1000 for the same test. I told them I would not pay that ridiculous rate. I just started sending them $10 a month and they had to comply as long as I kept up the payments. I believe it is the same anywhere; that as long as you pay them something, they cannot refuse, at least that is what our cardiologist recommended. It may take us 10 years to pay the $1200 co-payment, but I will never pay any more than that for their lousy “profit-making” charges; even though they are supposed to be a non-profit corporation and do not pay taxes.
We have a disease management system which is an abuse of humans.
FYI
Migrants are being sold at open slave markets in Libya
Migrants from West Africa are being openly traded in “public slave markets” across Libya.
This is on Hillary and Obombya’s head. Saying these two should be in prison is understatement of the 21st century. War criminals. Seems like Trump is trying to join their ghastly club as of this week as well..