IIIT'S NOOOOOOOOOOT WOOOOOORKING!

[ourbluenation]

Our health care system that is.

Finally watched sicko last night and it confirmed what I knew already, but it really brought the point home. I wanted to go to washington, walk into the rotunda, and scream it at the top of my lungs. People who think profit driven health care is a good idea are either asleep at the wheel, or they're in on it too. The whole thing is so fucked up it's ridiculous.

[NC_Nurse]

1. I don't even need to see Sicko, I live it every day.

At work
At home.
Myself.

Broken system, all the way around.

[ourbluenation]

3. It featured a nurse who's husband couldnt get a bone marrow transplant at the hospital she

worked at because it was considered experimental by their insurance company. He died not long after. Your brethren are represented well in this movie. I highly recommend it. The visits to other countries were fascinating.

[NC_Nurse]

10. I'm sure I'll see it eventually. I'm not sure I can take it right now.

I'm glad nurses look good in it. Seems we often get the short end of the stick.

[Warpy]

6. I was declared uninsurable 20 years ago

and couldn't even be hired on staff at hospitals because they were terrified I'd fall apart and cost their insurance plan money. Float pool, per diem and agency were how I lived.

I've been screaming at people, trying to wake them up before it's too late for all of us. It's now too late. Insurance companies are now brazenly refusing to pay what they promised and hospitals are starting to bill for anything the insurance company refuses to pay for if they do cough up part of a bill.

Insurance is for the young and healthy. When people get seriously ill, they realize that, but by then it's too late. They find themselves choosing whether to live and bankrupt their families or die and allow their families to survive financially.

"Your money or your life," it's not just for ghetto thieves any more.

[ourbluenation]

8. what do you think of Obama's healthcare proposals? n/t

[Warpy]

13. They suck

I hope he'll adopt the Edwards plan after he gets in, the only plan that has hope of succeeding to get Medicare for all of us by allowing us to opt into it instead of paying through the nose for private insurance that cheats us when it's time to use it.

[LWolf]

19. Or better:

the House could pass HR 676, send and send it to the Senate.

[Warpy]

23. Given how loyal the Congress is to the people who bribe them

and how little regard they have for their suffering constituents who can be counted upon to vote for the only name they recognize election after election, don't hold your breath.

Edwards's end run around the insurance giants has a great chance of passage because it is an end run, not a direct confrontation with a powerful and generous (in bribes) industry.

[LWolf]

25. All that is true, sadly.

It's also true that HR 676 has 90 cosponsors. The more cosponsors, the more support, the more pressure Congress feels,

the more likely they would latch onto Edward's "compromise" plan, which is a damned site better than Obama's.

[jwirr]

28. Medicare does not cover many things my disabled daughter needs.

What are we going to do with this group? Also Medicare does not pay for nursing homes - what about them? I would prefer we all have Medicaid - it does cover those things.

[Warpy]

29. People who are in long term care now

have a combination of the two when their funds have been exhausted.

What we don't need is business as usual. It's killing us and Obama should be smart enough to figure that out.

[jwirr]

30. I agree with that I just have a problem with the Medicare vs. Medicaid.

If we want a single payer plan we are going to have to choose one of them and I do not want a plan that only pays half of what we need because then we will have the UV single payer plan & yet another plan. One plan for all would be better and less expensive to administrate.

[NC_Nurse]

21. I think that they're a start, which is all we can do for now. You have to take

into account how many interests are involved...BIG interests like pharma companies, insurers, medical workers,
medical equipment makers...and others I'm forgetting at the moment. They have huge lobbies.
Then remember that the Repubs aren't going to be cooperative with anything that smacks of "socialism"
or big govt bureaucracies in charge of everybody's care.

It's going to be complicated and a long process.

[NC_Nurse]

9. I'm about to sign a travel contract. Been working per diem for years...

My husband just left his job and we have to pay COBRA for a month until I'm employed.
It's OUTRAGEOUS because of my pre-existing stuff. None of which is life-threatening
or requires more than a little medication. Stupid.

[loveable liberal]

11. you have 90 days to apply for COBRA

I think, and it can be retroactive. I found this out by going through 3 jobs last year. I saved money with the 90 day thing.... Maybe its a Minnesota thing, I dont know....

[NC_Nurse]

20. Yeah, you're right. We're going to do it until Sept. because we are traveling

a lot until then and you never know when you might have a car wreck or whatever...

[Flying Dream Blues]

26. Yet another great reason to have universal health care...there would be NO need

for employers to discriminate against workers with chronic health issues. I'm sorry you've had to go through all this, Warpy. It's tragic that things had to get this bad before it got everyone's attention...but I am really hopeful that change is on the way.

[ccharles000]

2. We can always hope that things will change.

major hugs :hug:

[lonestarnot]

5. Working for change helps too.

[bemildred]

4. More evidence that private enterprise is a failure.

When you need it to work, you need the government to take control.
:-)

[ourbluenation]

7. That's not entriely true. Some companies treat their employees quite well and turn a profit.

Google and Microsoft come to mind. The models are out there.

Thom Hartman talks about "The Commons"...things like police & fire, infrastructure, school, etc. Healthcare needs to be included in with those Commons. A healthier populace is good for everyone.

[loveable liberal]

12. i love hartmann..... nt

[bemildred]

15. Well, it makes at least as much sense as the "the governent can't do anything right" argument.

That's why I posted it. There is plenty of evidence that shows that private enterprise is no panacea, Capitalism has a long history or spectacular failures, repeated, over and over again, that get swept under the table. I don't mean that some sort of socialist dictatorship is the answer, either. The answer, if there is an answer, lies in prompt and direct accountability of the economic and political system to the public they are supposed to be serving. That is what's missing.

[hootinholler]

24. Microsoft? Not so much.

Good pay, good benefits, 60 hour weeks, everyone's exempt from overtime.

Don't know people who work for google.

-Hoot

[Prophet 451]

31. Hartman has it right

The private enterprise system doesn't work and can't work for essential services (what Hartman calls "the commons") because it's not like a hamburger. When the price of a Big Mac gets too high, you just don't have one but you can't choose not to have essential services. Police, fire, schools, infrastructure, healthcare, gas, electricity, water and, I would argue, mail. You need these things (or at least, access to them) all the time and in the modern world, you can't choose to go without them. That creates a captive market and anytime you let private companies run a captive market, the same thing happens: Prices explode, service declines. Happened here (England) during Thatcher's attempt to privatise the entire world (Blair was only slightly better) and the prices of gas, electricity and water have risen over a thousand percent.

[ElboRuum]

27. Just a minute there...

Private enterprise has its place, just not in the realm of necessary services.

[eridani]

36. No, if what you are talking about is public goods, then the government should be in control

Not all economic activity involves public goods, though.

[Graybeard]

14. On the Nixon tapes they laugh about starting HMOs.

I remember hearing on the Nixon tapes someone discribing how these new HMOs would be able to deliver less health care and charge more. They all laughed about it. From the very beginning they knew it was a scam.:grr:

[bemildred]

16. It was obvious at the time that it was a scam.

A bunch of bullshit put in place to avoid single-payer public health care.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. We have no insurance. I came down with shingles last week.

anybody had them?
Painful.
Long lasting painful.
So off to local doc I trudge.

35 min,. wait to see doc, she took one look at my stomach ( front to back of one side,
top to bottom of stomach) did not even touch me, thank god, it was pretty evident what I had,
she started writing scripts.
I asked for generic.

Office visit: $56.00
The antiviral med, 7 days worth, generic =$136.00 ( fu Big Pharma)
Neurontin, generic, for nerve spasms, month supply, (can get refills) ,= $10.00
Pain pills, 30 of them, take every 4 hours or so, NOT generic
(past experience taught me that) =$45.00
( refills any time I want)

total = less than one month of what would be average health insurance premiums.
Med. expenses came out of our "emergency fund."

Small town local Dr. who knows half the people I do.

Dr.to pharmacy to home, and comfortably numb in 2.5 hours.


Message:

We do not need mandatory "Universal Health Care"
aka Mandatory pay the insurance companies.
We need mandatory affordable medical treatment.

[Vinca]

18. We need universal, single payer healthcare, not an insurance scheme.

I had a recent experience having no insurance and coming down with Lyme Disease. The pharmacy and doctor both gave me a discount and the whole course of treatment was $60.00. Today's my last day of taking antibiotics and I'm now fine. If I had been able to pay for insurance over the past 4 years I haven't had it, I would be out $48,000 just in premiums and nothing that has happened to our family over the past 4 years would have been covered. We would have had to pay out of pocket for everything anyway. Of course we worry about catastrophic illness - we're not idiots, but what can you do? If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. The November election will determine if there is any chance of healthcare in this country in any way, shape or form. If the worst happens, I'm taking my Canadian husband and heading north . . . for good. The so-called greatest country on the planet and people have to leave to be sure they can get adequate healthcare.

[area51]

22. k&r

We need to move toward becoming a 1st world country by transitioning to single-payer. Where are the so-called "pro-lifers" on this? Nowhere, of course, b/c they're not pro-life. When you are dependent on your job for access to healthcare, that's slavery.

[LuckyLib]

32. Watch this -- some folks are trying to fix it by applying the 3rd world relief model.

Bless RAM for its work:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Edited to add: Congress, Repugs, and their corporate enablers need to hang their heads in shame.

[Xenotime]

33. America shoudl be ashamed for the HC system we have.

Utter disgrace.

[KoKo]

34. I think Obama will fix that one. I think it's top on his list........n/t

[Uncle Joe]

35. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, ourbluenation.

[Cleita]

37. Maybe what you just said needs to be done.

Walk into the rotunda and scream until someone, who can make a difference, takes notice. I've been aware of this since before Bill Clinton was elected. "Sicko" has only confirmed what I have known for the last thirty years, but as long as the for profit health care industry is allowed to own our politicians, we won't get anything meaningful done just trying to present facts and being quiet about it.