One-Third of Uninsured Are Chronically Ill

[RedEarth]

MONDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) — One out of every three working-age, uninsured Americans suffers from a chronic illness and isn’t getting the medical care they need, a new report shows.

Although the study didn’t specifically look at the health consequences of lack of insurance and lack of access to medical care, it’s reasonable to assume that these factors would lead to various medical complications, said the authors of a study published in the Aug. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“This is something that is very true in my clinical experience,” said Dr. Andrew Wilper, instructor in medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. “The uninsured can’t get in to see the doctor, they miss medications, their blood pressure is out of control and, really, you see devastating consequences.” Wilper was a fellow in general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School while conducting the study.

Another expert agreed that a lack of insurance along with chronic illness can be a potentially lethal combination.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/august/onethird_of_uninsur.php

[beam me up scottie]

1. The doctors offices around here won't let you see a doc until you've paid them.

If you don't have insurance, that is.

[Truth4Justice]

2. Hopefully they give some kind of cash discount. Last time I had to see a doc I paid 90 bucks cash...

and the 50-something white male behind the front desk, taking my money, said "that a pretty good deal around here"!

Needless to say, I wanted to leap over the desk, grab his collar and slap him around a
little bit.

Hell I probably would have felt better of if I had, then I could have canceled
the appointment and saved 90 dollars! :-)

[beam me up scottie]

3. eep! They call that a pretty good deal?

What do they do if you need tests, put a lien on your first born?

[Truth4Justice]

4. Yeah, I wouldnt doubt it. Highway robbery, thats what it is!

[beam me up scottie]

5. There is something inherently wrong with asking someone to put medical bills on a credit card.

And having collection agencies harass sick people.

[varkam]

6. On a recent episode of Bill Moyer's Journal...

he discusses "The Business of Poverty" wherein things exactly like that are discussed. Some nonprofit hospitals are selling their delinquent accounts to collection agencies that do all sorts of things from charging ridiculous interest to setting mandatory minimum payments that no one can keep up.

Of course, they don't care that you're sick.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Some collection agencies specialize in medical bills.

And many hospitals and physicians' offices automatically turn them over to those agencies after 90 days, even if the patients are paying on them.

[varkam]

8. Sweet of 'em, ain't it?

:puke:

[beam me up scottie]

9. Oh, yeah, especially when they try to garnish your wages.

Like Little Lord Pissypants said one drunken night: "Only in 'Murka".

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. That's illegal in some states.

My folks live in Tennessee, if you pay $25 dollars a month on a bill they can't turn it over to collections.

David

[LeftishBrit]

10. This is shocking

And makes me feel lucky to be living in the UK. However much successive governments have undermined the NHS, at least we have it!

I have a book called "Can We Afford the Doctor"?, which is an anthology of elderly people's reminiscences about medical care in Britain before WW2. It horrifies me that in a developed country in the 21st century, people still need to worry about whether they can afford the doctor.

[Truth4Justice]

11. It would be shocking to someone from a civil nation like yours, but America has never been civil...

lots of Americans were raised on the false gods of Hollywood where our history is rewritten so that we are the "good guys" who do no wrong no matter what evil we actually did to the slaves and the native Americans. Likewise, many Americans have *never* had to worry about medical bills, yet, and they never see how many of us can't afford to become seriously ill or handicapped without falling into poverty, if we haven't already. There are indeed two Americas, not just one.

[beam me up scottie]

12. kick for the people who are sick of Gardasil threads

:hi: