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That's how Obama answers questions and he's wondering why we are all worried.Steven Vaccaro
Where Racing on a Budget is a Reality!Comment
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I will step in on this issue, Germany was the first country to offer a publicly funded health care system and yes there are waiting issues for not life threating threats within this system. But lads you are the only Western democracy that does not have this ability for health care. Change is required, check out your coverage on private systems if you travel abroad, you may have a shock.
DouggieComment
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My wife took a work related trip to France 2 months ago. Large group (25 people) traveling together. One of the group fell and broke her leg. Went to the local hospital, got X-rayed, got a cast, some meds and sent on her way. Total time was 1.5 hours. Total cost was ZERO. She is an American. And my wife works for a large hospital in the US. The injured woman was the ER nurse manager. If that had happened here it would have been more like 4 to 6 hours wait and a cost with insurance of $500 to $1,000.
Yep, that system is no good, let's keep ours. Much better that Aetna gets richer than having the Gubbermint force socialized medicine down our throats.Don't get me started
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Bill I'm glad she was handled well. It seems you may have solved the entire problem, just add a 20% vat tax on anything bought in the USA like France does and we can now cover a health plan for everyone. I'm in!
It also seems from a few of your comments, that you are upset that a US Insurance company is making money. I'm not happy to make my health ins payments either, but the entire basis of our economy is based off of free market. Controlling markets like both the present and past administration is trending to, isn't what I call American.Steven Vaccaro
Where Racing on a Budget is a Reality!Comment
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So what? I am an American, not a German, not a European. Who says Americans have to do what is popular elsewhere. They should be copying us - we're the ones who liberated them. (Not 100% mind you).
We have OUR Constitution - we don't need to do things their way. A few years ago the Supreme Court referred to a European ruling. They had no business doing that - we have OUR Constitution to refer to.
Oh, that attitude riles me Douggie. I'm proud of my "Cowboy American" independent heritage.
AndySpektrum Development TeamComment
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Not at all. But what I am upset about is a company making obscene amounts of money by delaying and denying coverage, sometimes even retroactively. I also do not like the idea of the high premiums and so on.
In a perfect world I do not see where health care has to be a profit center. If it could be done without sacrificing quality care then I'd be all for it. But that is not the case.
We are number 50 for life expectancy. We are down the list for infant mortality, and so on. By every objective measure there is we pay the most for health care and yet are far, far from #1 in outcomes.
SO this system is OK with you guys?? As long as the insurance company makes money then it's all good??Don't get me startedComment
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Government Moto:
"Why fix it? Blame someone else for breaking it."Comment
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I remember watching an interview with a guy who had worked for an insurance company and he stated that his entire existence was tied to reviewing patients files for any and all reasons to terminate no matter how frivolous.He quit as according to him his conscience couldn't take it...
we definitely need reform in one shape or another...
SteveComment
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Read the last paragraph: "Such investigations involve scouring the policyholder's original application and years' worth of medical and pharmacy records in search of any discrepancies."
In other words, they cancelled policies of people who were untruthful.
"Be sure your sins will find you out." -- Numbers 32:23
AndySpektrum Development TeamComment
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The whole paragraph:
The committee investigation uncovered several rescission practices that one lawmaker called egregious, including targeting every policyholder diagnosed with leukemia, breast cancer and 1,400 other serious illnesses. Such investigations involve scouring the policyholder's original application and years' worth of medical and pharmacy records in search of any discrepancies.Government Moto:
"Why fix it? Blame someone else for breaking it."Comment
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I knew I was into trouble when I waded into this debate. Andy do not worry, I did not wish to rile you. You guys have one of the best government checks and ballance system in the world, but your health care system needs some help.
DouggieComment
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You really do live in a very simple world Andy. Here are some of the "lies" that were used to recind coverage:
"But let me make this more personal and real, through a true story about a 51 year old self-employedSan Diego man named Todd. Todd had been on his wife's insurance plan, but after divorce he found a policy with a well-known company. Five months later, he started feeling tired, and soon had lymphoma.
"Now, the insurance company then went back through all of his records looking for a reason to cut him off. They pointed to a knee problem, unrelated to cancer, and they noted that now he weighed less than he did when he applied for the insurance. Well, duh, of course he did, because now he was sick with cancer. But they cut him off. One month after he got sick the company canceled his insurance. Todd died eight months later. We are taking action so what happened to Todd will not happen to any other Californian."
Another example:
Some insurers also investigate policyholders who become ill and review patients' records looking for omissions or misstatements that can be used to cancel coverage (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 6/16).
According to the investigation, WellPoint, UnitedHealth and Assurant rescinded the policies of more than 20,000 people over a five-year period, which allowed the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims.
The investigation also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescissions, and that employees who rescinded coverage of patients with costly diseases were praised in performance reviews (Los Angeles Times, 6/17).
Blue Shield's policy applications were designed to confuse, so that misstatements would provide an excuse for rescission should a policyholder ever require expensive treatment. "At a time when the policyholders are seriously ill, the insurance company walks away, leaving them uninsured, uninsurable and buried in debt," wrote Shernoff, a pioneer in the field of bad faith litigation and an amicus in the plaintiff's appeal
According to the lawsuits filed today, WellPoint and Blue Cross of California have created "retroaction review" departments whose sole purpose is to terminate policies for patients who had previously been given approval for medical treatments. An undetermined number of patients -- who had been enrolled in policies and paid premiums -- have been told that their coverage is retroactively canceled when they seek medical treatment due to purported discrepancies with information provided in their enrollment form.
So in your simple world, you lie you die. You cannot accept or understand that this goes way beyond looking for fraud, which rightly should be denied. This is a systematic business practice designed to deny coverage for even the most minor of unintentional omissions.
My wife works with a nurse who was a claims adjuster for Blue Cross. She has told us that their policy was to flatly deny all claims the first 3 times they were submitted. This was designed to discourage people from trying to get their claims paid.
Yes, that is the wonderful world of for profit health care.Don't get me startedComment
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