What are you doing?

[CharlieD]

Most of the developed world has "socialized medicine" in some form. Trying to figure out why so many people in the US oppose it is a political discussion and that is not really allowed on DC.

Actually it's quite simple. Do you want to give away most of your salary for taxes? Do you want to live in a small apartment, do you want to take bus to work, are you willing to give up your close drier? List goes on.

 

[medtran49]

IMHO, what it boils down to is that the U.S. pays for the vast majority of R and D for new drugs, medical equipment, techniques, etc., as well as just plain greed. Drugs cost pennies/nickels/dimes on the dollar in the rest of the world compared to what they cost in the U.S. Labs and imaging are vastly less expensive. Physician fees are vastly lower. When it's still VASTLY cheaper to fly out of the country to have a procedure done at a well-respected hospital by a well-respected doctor than it is to have it done in a U.S. hospital that should tell you something. When it's so much less expensive to have drugs shipped from reliable sources in Canada (or elsewhere), even though you run the risk of them getting seized by customs, that should also tell you something.

 

[GotGarlic]

IMHO, what it boils down to is that the U.S. pays for the vast majority of R and D for new drugs, medical equipment, techniques, etc., as well as just plain greed. Drugs cost pennies/nickels/dimes on the dollar in the rest of the world compared to what they cost in the U.S. Labs and imaging are vastly less expensive. Physician fees are vastly lower. When it's still VASTLY cheaper to fly out of the country to have a procedure done at a well-respected hospital by a well-respected doctor than it is to have it done in a U.S. hospital that should tell you something. When it's so much less expensive to have drugs shipped from reliable sources in Canada (or elsewhere), even though you run the risk of them getting seized by customs, that should also tell you something.

How does that explain why so many people in the US object to universal health insurance?

 

[CakePoet]

Sorry to say this but apartments here that are for rents are cheaper, cleaner and better standard then in USA according to most my American friends and how can 20- 25% tax of your salary be most of it??

Whats wrong taking a bus to work? I take the train and my husband the bus, most of us do here, it is clean, goes on time, safe and gets us faster to the inner city jobs. It cheaper then taking the car and we get it removed form taxes in the end of the tax year, so yeah I can get this money back to.

What is a close drier?

 

[medtran49]

How does that explain why so many people in the US object to universal health insurance?

Are you the post police now? It's a whatever you want to discuss forum. At least my post is about healthcare and not something totally out of left field that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand..., like maybe Pinterest.

 

[GotGarlic]

What is a close drier?

He meant clothes dryer.

 

[GotGarlic]

Are you the post police now? It's a whatever you want to discuss forum. At least my post is about healthcare and not something totally out of left field that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand..., like maybe Pinterest.

I was just asking for clarification. It seems to me that the high cost of procedures should make more people want health insurance, not less.

Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? So crabby... Here, look at a cute otter show you her baby [emoji2]

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I'm looking at an Otter and her baby and having a huge case of the AAWWWwwww's.

 

[CakePoet]

But we have clothes dryer, my landlord has to provide a laundry room with washing machine and dryers or have laundry machines and dryer in the apartment and they will mend it if it breaks, it part of the rent. It is the set standards otherwise it isnt cleared for renting.

So why would I have to given that up? My house even have a drying cabinet with heat fan so I can hang dry clothes too.

 

[medtran49]

After the increase in premiums this year in the "affordable" program currently in place, there are a whole lot of people who now can't afford or can barely afford health insurance. I work for a decent sized corporation and mine and Craig's insurance premium basically doubled for 2017, just over $40 per month less than actually doubling, for the same insurance program we had last year. My company suggested looking at the healthcare market place to see what your premium would be. I did and the premium came out to be actually more than what I could buy through my company (and with less coverage) because we didn't qualify for any subsidies.

The corporations involved in medical care don't want socialized medicine or an affordable health insurance program, as their profits would have to take a huge hit. It would be great if the U.S. could actually have a reasonably priced program for health insurance in place, but I have my doubts it ever will simply because of the fact that the big corps are not going to want to give up their profits.

 

[cjmmytunes]

Whats wrong taking a bus to work? I take the train and my husband the bus, most of us do here, it is clean, goes on time, safe and gets us faster to the inner city jobs. It cheaper then taking the car and we get it removed form taxes in the end of the tax year, so yeah I can get this money back to.

Nothing wrong with using public transportation, in my opinion. In my situation with my Mom, HRT (Hampton Roads Regional Transportation) charges $20 for a week of unlimited use, be it light rail, buses, or ferries. Senetara Norfolk General Hospital, for the amount of time each day that I was staying with Mom each day, was charging up to $20 a day for parking. I have a cousin who lives a 5-minute walk from one of the light rail stops. I stayed with her nights.

 

[Addie]

As part of my "every six month checkup," I am expecting a nurse for her to see if I have a healthy environment. So I am trying to get my house in order. Well at least the big room where she will be. I hate these visits. Next will be the dietician, then the social worker. Oh yeah. I forgot the rehab department.

What are they looking for? Can I cook my own meals, clean my home, take care of my personal needs, etc. A couple of years ago I made my first New Year's Resolution. I was going to stop fighting them and start comply with what they ask of me. Let me tell you, it is hard. It just goes against my nature. Leave me alone, I can take care/do for myself. That has been my motto almost my whole life. But I finally faced the fact that I am not 20 anymore. They do have services that I need and use. Such as transportation.

Let me tell you, becoming a compliant patient has been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. I have always been able to take care of myself as well as five kids. And I have always resented when anyone tried to help me. There is still a little feistiness in me. I used to think that they thought I was stupid. Had no knowledge or very little about my health. That would really get me riled up. But they finally got the message. I am far more intelligent than most of their patients. I know how to dial 911 if I need help. And I have done it a few times without letting them know until long after I was home.

Back to work. I am almost done with this room. Then into the kitchen. That one is easy. One cup to wash and the counter tops.

 

[Farmer Jon]

Going to Minnesota to look at a used catapillar dozer. 8 hour round trip.

 

[Addie]

Going to Minnesota to look at a used catapillar dozer. 8 hour round trip.

Good luck. Hope you find what your need.

 

[Addie]

Nothing wrong with using public transportation, in my opinion. In my situation with my Mom, HRT (Hampton Roads Regional Transportation) charges $20 for a week of unlimited use, be it light rail, buses, or ferries. Senetara Norfolk General Hospital, for the amount of time each day that I was staying with Mom each day, was charging up to $20 a day for parking. I have a cousin who lives a 5-minute walk from one of the light rail stops. I stayed with her nights.

I live on what used to be an island. Now it is connected to the North Shore. But we are part of Boston. We are only five minutes from Downtown Boston by taking the T. The T covers areas from Boston to Maine and down to Providence. We have the subway, busses, commuter rail, and the ferry. All to get folks to work in Boston.

 

[CakePoet]

I pay 85 dollar for 30 days travel but only 2 zones, som my villages/ suburb to main town and inside the main town. Yeah, we have Swedens highest price per kilometer and this isnt in one of the big town, just medium one. Oh well , I am happy. The parking cost in town is insane.

 

[ixamnis]

After the increase in premiums this year in the "affordable" program currently in place, there are a whole lot of people who now can't afford or can barely afford health insurance. I work for a decent sized corporation and mine and Craig's insurance premium basically doubled for 2017, just over $40 per month less than actually doubling, for the same insurance program we had last year. My company suggested looking at the healthcare market place to see what your premium would be. I did and the premium came out to be actually more than what I could buy through my company (and with less coverage) because we didn't qualify for any subsidies.

The corporations involved in medical care don't want socialized medicine or an affordable health insurance program, as their profits would have to take a huge hit. It would be great if the U.S. could actually have a reasonably priced program for health insurance in place, but I have my doubts it ever will simply because of the fact that the big corps are not going to want to give up their profits.

This is a very complex issue, and it goes much deeper than simply saying that we will never have affordable health care because insurance companies don't want to give up their profits.

I'm a provider in the health care industry, so I see this on a daily basis.

We have a whole host of issues that come into play that make health care here not only more costly, but that also make the idea of switching to some form of government-subsidized plan (such as a single payor plan) more costly than it is in many European countries.

I did a study a number of years back analyzing our health care industry and came up with ten reasons why health insurance here is more expensive. I don't remember all of them off of the top of my head, and I don't have the study in front of me, but to name a few....

1. Obesity and Lifestyle: Americans are the most obese nation in the world (or we were at that time. I think Mexico is ahead of us, now). Obesity related illnesses, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease eat up a huge amount of our health care dollars.

2. End of life care: Americans are unique in that we want facilities, not families, to take care of our elderly. For most people, the amount of money spent on health care in the last 3 months of life exceed all the dollars spent on health care for that patient up to that point. If we would take our elderly into our homes and let them die a natural death (with in reason; I'm not saying we don't provide health care when appropriate) instead of extending their lives by a few days or weeks through machines, our health care costs would diminish greatly.

3. Nutrition: Americans have the worst diets of any first-world country. We eat more fat, sodium, processed chemicals, sugary soft drinks and other horrible things than anyone else. Yet, many Americans, including many wealthy Americans, are malnourished and constantly dehydrated. The lack of proper nutrients in our diet, combined with the fat, sodium, sugar and artificial chemicals leads to more disease as we age.

4. Medications: We take more medications than almost any nation in the world. Part of the reason for this is that we have more diabetes (see #1) and hypertension/heart disease (see #1 and #3) than almost anywhere else in the world. Spending years and years on expensive medications and multiple doctor visits increases the cost of health care.

5. "Disability": I put this one in quotes for a reason. America has more people on disability than any other nation and almost twice as many as were on disability a generation ago. (Side note: As a health care provider, I can tell you that about half of the people on "disability" here in the US would not qualify for any form of disability in any other place in the world. Even in Europe, where health care is "free," they police this issue more than we do here). Keep in mind that there are many types of disability, and not everyone on disability is on Social Security or Medicare. Federal programs and state programs have different rules. In many states, the State programs have more lax rules than the federal programs. My state is one of these. I've seen people on disability for dyslexia and for mild anxiety attacks. These are people who are not working and not financially contributing to society.

....................


I don't want to make this a political post. I think there are ways to solve this issue (at least to some degree). However, the politicians in Washington on both sides don't really have a handle on what's driving costs in health care, and as long as that is the case, they won't have a solution to fix the problem. Expect costs to keep rising for the foreseeable future.

 

[Andy M.]

This is a very complex issue, and it goes much deeper than simply saying that we will never have affordable health care because insurance companies don't want to give up their profits...

Your study focused on the relative health of Americans as causes for expensive health care. Health care doesn't have to cost more because there is more of a need for it.

The cost of health care has risen at a much higher rate than the cost of living because the health care industry isn't regulated and providers and insurers can charge whatever they want (except for Medicare patients and such).

Another non-patient driven factor in health care costs is drug costs. It's common knowledge that you can buy the same drugs cheaper in other countries than you can here. Anywhere that drug costs have a government dictated ceiling, drug companies make up the profit differences here in the US. Did you know that Medicare is forbidden by law from negotiating drug prices with drug companies?

Don't blame the patient for the problem.

 

[taxlady]

Actually it's quite simple. Do you want to give away most of your salary for taxes? Do you want to live in a small apartment, do you want to take bus to work, are you willing to give up your close drier? List goes on.

Yeah, I think that's exactly it. Many Americans have the mistaken notion that they will pay an outrageous amount in taxes and have a lower standard of living.

I live in Canada with socialized medicine. We don't pay most of our income in taxes. We own a townhouse and a car, but my husband usually takes the bus and Metro. And yes, we have our own washer and dryer.

Here's an article about taxes and the Swedish system by an American who lives in Sweden:

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/8/11380356/swedish-taxes-love

 

[taxlady]

Your study focused on the relative health of Americans as causes for expensive health care. Health care doesn't have to cost more because there is more of a need for it.

The cost of health care has risen at a much higher rate than the cost of living because the health care industry isn't regulated and providers and insurers can charge whatever they want (except for Medicare patients and such).

Another non-patient driven factor in health care costs is drug costs. It's common knowledge that you can buy the same drugs cheaper in other countries than you can here. Anywhere that drug costs have a government dictated ceiling, drug companies make up the profit differences here in the US. Did you know that Medicare is forbidden by law from negotiating drug prices with drug companies?

Don't blame the patient for the problem.

Maybe they would have better health if they had cheaper healthcare. I know a lot of poor people avoid going to the doctor because they can't afford it.