tazzygirl
Posts: 27135
Joined: 10/12/2007
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greetings Masters
greetings Mistresses
hello girls
im late into this thread, but, i can admit to reading at least 90 percent of the posts before posting myself. while im not that politically savy, i do enjoy a good debate and have learned much from many of your postings.
my field is health care. i have friends and family who are Dr's, nurses, and pharmacists. we often talk about healthcare reform at almost every chance. the one thing that keeps returning to all of our dicsussions if the high cost of treating illnesses.
for example: Mr Black has high blood pressure, treated with both medicine and diet. his insurance pays for his medications that is needed to treat his condition, and with it, it stays within normal range. suddenly, Mr Black loses his job. he can no longer afford his medication. his income was too great to allow him aide in most states. the stress of being out of work, on top of the medical condition, causes him to have a stroke. all this is a supposition, placed merely for a background of a possibility.
compared to the cost of a stroke being treated in an ER, then on to ICU, then on to a medical floor before finally being allowed to go home, along with all the man hours of Dr's and nurses, the medications required, the diagnostic tests to be run, ect (yes, that bill is mounting quite high and quickly), the cost of giving the man his blood pressure medication until he returns to work would seem, at least to me, to be the better route to take.
added on top of this problem is the problem of illegal aliens in this country, specifically, for the sake of this posting, pregnant women crossing over from mexico and having their babies in US emergency rooms. almost immediately, a pregnancy with no health care gets elevated to a high risk category- more tests, more meds, more specialized care, sometimes even interpretors. and, unless the rules have changed, and i could be wrong on this, at one time, since the baby was now an "american" the mother could stay and petition to have any other children brought over to the states. now, they are all on welfare. which, by the way, doesnt even begin to pay the bills at most hospitals.
it isnt just lawsuits and lawyers that drives up the cost of healthcare. there are many facets to the problem. many years ago, there was talk of a bill sponsered in congress to limit the availability of healthcare depending on the illness and the age of the patient. at the time, my major was business, so the medical ramifications escaped me. as it was presented in my philosophy class. say a woman of 80 needed a heart transplant. her life expectancy was, maybe, 10 years. under that bill, she would not be able to have the operation. then, the idea came up "ok, what if in a few years, the system again needed an overhaul, would those of 70 suddenly no longer be able to have the poeration?" the answer was.. "possibly". as the age declined, you could see the dawning realization on people's faces. thankfully, the bill never passed.
now, not everyone who has high blood pressure is diet compliant, nor are they out of work. not every illegal alien seeks medical care, even if they deperately need too for fear of the reprisals. i have watched Dr's become so frustrated with insurance companies over tests and procedures they could not get approved for one patient, but could for another. our country has become one of the "has and the has nots"
i recently had surgery after an ER visit. yes, i have insurance, not one policy, but two since i work two jobs. my ER bill was more than my surgery bill, which shocked me. thankfully i wont have to pay much as a result of having both insurances. i also recently read an article that was talking about how hospitals have begun to sell out the bad bills to credit companies, forcing people to take out "loans" to pay off the hospital, then are left owing the credit companies the bill, plus interest.
when we have these debates, we rarely can come up with a concensus as to what must be done. i know myself, personally, would like to see a return to the free clinics. its not a popular decision, but, Dr's and nurses who take government loans could possibly defer some payments, or, even have some payments forgiven for time devoted to these clinics, even though i know both professions are already overworked.
i dont have the answers. but, surely, there has to be some that are not all caught up in a pretty red bow of tape
tazzy
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