Planning on dropping Health Insurance. Change my mind.

[two_bit_score]

Yup. Rich people who are not willing to wait their turn can always get what they want from a country where they can buy their medicine on an ad hoc basis. What I worry about is the guys who can’t afford $1.5 million for their wife’s treatment. It is just a shame.

People from all over the world come to the Houston Medical Center for treatment for a reason also.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The best way to lower healthcare cost it to limit offering it one way or another. I seems to be working for Canada based on these posts in some cases.

Some are learning access to health care on demand is not always a Right. Gate keepers are in place for a reason.

This matter can only get worse because no one has the will/motivation to fund universal healthcare on demand.

If we can not afford to be private pay as is the case for many of us we have a boat without a paddle. I was reading the other day many see the need to be worth $5 million dollars at retirement to make sure they can buy the medical care they may want when it is needed.

A couple with a child or two making $10 hourly can not pay for much insurance plus food and a roof over the head. In our area the $20-$30 blue collar jobs are going away fast and there goes middle America I expect.

 

[riptides]

...
I was reading the other day many see the need to be worth $5 million dollars at retirement to make sure they can buy the medical care they may want when it is needed.
...

That seems about right. I should go back and add up the whole family for the past 6 years. And project out exactly how long? Average man/woman lifespan?

 

[check]

The best way to lower healthcare cost it to limit offering it one way or another. I seems to be working for Canada based on these posts in some cases.

Some are learning access to health care on demand is not always a Right. Gate keepers are in place for a reason.

This matter can only get worse because no one has the will/motivation to fund universal healthcare on demand.

If we can not afford to be private pay as is the case for many of us we have a boat without a paddle. I was reading the other day many see the need to be worth $5 million dollars at retirement to make sure they can buy the medical care they may want when it is needed.

A couple with a child or two making $10 hourly can not pay for much insurance plus food and a roof over the head. In our area the $20-$30 blue collar jobs are going away fast and there goes middle America I expect.

Right on, Gale. In fact, many countries have universal healthcare systems, but they use a “triage“ method to determine who can wait and who cannot. For example, my father-in-law wanted some I work, and he was told he had to wait a year, where as my brother-in-law had cataracts that were so bad he was going blind, and he was in within two weeks. He was also given the option of “upgrading, the lens that they were going to put in to a more “Cadillac” model (!), but it only cost him $200 for the upgrade.

 

[Streetcar]

Universal care is rationed and there is little innovation. I saw that over 2/3 of new medicine and procedures originated in US in past decade

 

[ultrarunner]

Universal care is rationed and there is little innovation. I saw that over 2/3 of new medicine and procedures originated in US in past decade

Very true... innovation, even from foreign owned Pharm is often US driven market driven... follow the money.

My Austrian Docs and Nurses are amazed at the broad coverage Medicare provides and Austria is known for having very good Universal Health Care... but, even then many pay for a supplement giving them choice...

One could argue the US has Universal Health Care through the County Hospital... especially since the law is that emergency treatment cannot be denied anyone...

I have no idea what the answer is but will add a comment on abuse of the system.

The Bay Area is known for a very large transient population of people living on the street. There is an entire community very well known to Hospital staff and Law Enforcement.

I can name several that are weekly users of public services... sometimes almost daily calls to Law Enforcement and weekly ambulance service to County Hospital...

They are so well known that I can call police dispatch and EVERYONE knows these individuals by first name and this includes EMT... the manpower and resource drain to the entire system by just one individual is tremendous... and this is no exaggeration.

 

[Travelover]

.........

One could argue the US has Universal Health Care through the County Hospital... especially since the law is that emergency treatment cannot be denied anyone...

But would a county hospital provide a full course of cancer treatment including drugs? That is what bankrupts people.

I have no idea what the answer is but will add a comment on abuse of the system.

The Bay Area is known for a very large transient population of people living on the street. There is an entire community very well known to Hospital staff and Law Enforcement.

I can name several that are weekly users of public services... sometimes almost daily calls to Law Enforcement and weekly ambulance service to County Hospital...

They are so well known that I can call police dispatch and EVERYONE knows these individuals by first name and this includes EMT... the manpower and resource drain to the entire system by just one individual is tremendous... and this is no exaggeration.

This is indeed a situation that needs to be addressed, but with national health care costs at over $8000 per person per year, it is a distraction. The problem is that the excessive costs issue is not being seriously addressed. There should be comprehensive data comparing our spending, by category, with other major industrialized countries and a plan to meet or beat the best. Instead we have anecdotes, half-hearted efforts at reform and unlimited campaign contributions from the medical and pharmaceutical industries with robo-letters to constituents that complain.

 

[ultrarunner]

So Medicare for all with the optional supplement for additional cost?

I firmly believe we expect a lot more when it comes to health care than past generations...

Have many family and friend Anecdotes going to my own Grandfather who had NEVER been to a Doc in his entire life until a farm accident at age 88... all my aunts and uncles all delivered at home...

When he went to the Hospital the Doctor noted an irregular heart beat... they did some tests and wanted to put in a pace maker... Grandpa refused saying when it was his time it is his time... lived another 8 years and passed in his sleep.

Contrast that with what we see coming into the ER... insect bites, scrapes, bruises... many come to get checked out... it is big business... a few X-rays, maybe a scan, blood work... etc...

The only people we knew growing up with a Health Plan worked for the government or a large company that provided Kaiser... and plenty had things to say about Kaiser!

Is there anyone that believes Universal Healthcare that pleases everyone is even a possibility?

The reason I bring this up is there are not enough Doctors and Hospitals to see everyone if it was "Free"...

Hospitals are closing every day somewhere in America... the standard of care comes with high overhead... and in California... large Hospitals are finding seismic retrofitting often is not feasible...

What percentage of GDP should go to Healthcare?

 

[Agvg]

If you have a health care like rest of the western world things would probably calm down, if there no mony to be made by checking everything that is possible to do for profit or fear for getting sued for something minor it's no point do more than necessary.

 

[ultrarunner]

If you have a health care like rest of the western world things would probably calm down, if there no mony to be made by checking everything that is possible to do for profit or fear for getting sued for something minor it's no point do more than necessary.

Sounds more like tort reform...

My Austrian colleagues have little fear of mal-practice... the concept really doesn't exist there... unlike here where anyone remotely involved may find themselves in court...

They simply say we did the best we could and that is the end of it...