1. Is health care available to all American citizens?
2. Is health insurance available to all American citizens?
3. Do hospitals turn away those who cannot pay for treatment?
4. Does everyone need health care and health insurance, or will just one do?
...My wife is a RN and has worked in a hospital, done private duty, and now works part-time in a pediatrician's office.
...My take: I am still learning and of course do not know it all, but:
... I think health care is needed by everyone and I think is available to everyone. If you disagree, please tell us where it is not available.
...Health insurance is not available everywhere. It should only be used for catatrophic conditions.
...Most hospitals do not turn away those who cannot afford treatment - they simply charge the rest of a little more.
...
...Please submit your courteous opinions - thank you. I can only speak from personal experience...
Because my husband is self-employed & I am a stay-at-home mom at the moment, we cannot afford health insurance without assistance. My children have state coverage, but my husband & I did not qualify. So we were on a waiting list for a couple years & now pay minimal premiums, since our insurance is state-subsidized. Most people probably don't realize what's available, but we recently found out that we qualify for 100% coverage by our local hospital (& affiliate offices) of anything that our state insurance doesn't offer. Also, when I delivered my 1st baby by C-section, the hospital (in accordance with their billing policy) agreed to whatever monthly payments we could afford until our bill was paid in full.
I am not sure what your #4 means ... will just one what do? Otherwise, I think I pretty much addressed your other questions.
Oh btw, I specifically waited for our coverage so that I could have my mystery neuro-muscular disorder investigated. It's been almost 2 years, & with 5 MRIs, 2 neurologist specialists, extremely expensive DNA blood tests, & other more routine blood tests, I think we're getting to the bottom of it, thank the Lord! Health care is available to all, but a responsible person who has no insurance and little funds is in a bad way in the US. Especially if you live in a rural area, such as those served by the overly limited resources of IHS (Indian Health Services), care options are extremely limited.
Health insurance is NOT available to all citizens. There are people who are uninsurable--I know I am one of them--and yes I tried EVERYTHING. If your employer doesn't provide and you're ill, you can be locked out of insurance. And yes at ANY price--not talking about the expense talking about being denied.
Some hospitals probably do turn people away--the law requires that if you're in a life-threatening condition, not anyone who shows up for any reason (though many hospitals treat anyone no matter how much they should NOT be in an ER).
Everyone should have catastrophic care health insurance BECAUSE the actual historical purpose of insurance is the RIGHT purpose: to prevent bankruptcy. Bogus policies now with a lack of enforcement of contract law principles FAIL to do this. In the US, more than half of all bankruptcies are over medical bills AND 75% of those folks HAVE insurance (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201807/)
(Refusal to honor contract law:
Linda Peeno, MD testified that SHE had often denied treatment JUST to save the insurance company money (http://www.thenationalcoalition.org/DrPe...
Furthermore:
"the vast majority of health insurance policies are through for-profit stock companies. They are in the process of 鈥渟hedding lives鈥?as some term it when 鈥渦ndesirable鈥?customers are lost through various means, including raising premiums and co-pays and decreasing benefits (Britt, 鈥淗ealth insurers getting bigger cut of medical dollars,鈥?15 October 2004, investors.com). That same Investors Business Daily article from 2004 noted the example of Anthem, another insurance company. They said the top five executives (not just the CEO) received an average of an 817 percent increase in compensation between 2000 and 2003. The CEO, for example, had his compensation go from $2.5 million to $25 million during that time period. About $21 million of that was in stock payouts, the article noted.
A 2006 article, 鈥淯.S. Health Insurance: More Market Domination, More CEO Compensation鈥?br>
(hcrenewal.blogspot.com) notes that in 56 percent of 294 metropolitan areas one insurer 鈥渃ontrols more than half the business in health maintenance organization and preferred provider networks underwriting." In addition to having the most enrollees, they also are the biggest purchasers of health care and set the price and coverage terms. 鈥溾€橳he results is double-digit premium increases from 2001 and 2004鈥攑eaking with a 13.9 percent jump in 2003鈥攕oaring well above inflation and wages increases.鈥?quot; Where is all that money going? The article quotes a Wall Street Journal article looking at the compensation of the CEO of UnitedHealth Group. His salary and bonus is $8 million annually. He has benefits such as the use of a private jet. He has stock-option fortunes worth $1.6 billion."
--Save America, Save the World by Cassandra Nathan pp. 127-128
"Insurance Companies Robbing Patients
Robbing patients to pay CEOs leads to unprecedented medical insurance corporation greed.
Thursday, January 3, 2008 8:52 AM
By: Michael Arnold Glueck & Robert J. Cihak, The Medicine Men"
http://www.newsmax.com/medicine_men/medi...
Best plan I've seen yet--you should like it:
QUALITY, ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE health care for all.
That means preventative care (physical with follow up). Real medication (no Medicare "donut holes" the really ill are ripped off again.) No bogus ridiculously low "caps" on needed medical procedures. No abuse of the ER. No paying for the silly with the sniffles to go to the doc for free. No more bankruptcies over medical bills. I want THIS plan that ends abuse of the taxpayer, takes the burden off employers, provides price transparency, and ends the rip-off of the US taxpayer at the hands of greedy insurance CEOs (which has been repeatedly documented).
http://www.booklocker.com/books/3068.htm...
Read the PDF, not the blurb, for the bulk of the plan. Book is searchable on Amazon.com
Cassandra Nathan's Save America, Save the World People from other countries come here for treatment, even when government run care is available in their own country.
Periodically someone from outside the U.S. will post here complaining about the type of treatment or delay for treatment in their own country.
Some people in the U.S. choose to spend their money on other things instead of health insurance. More answers
Insurance Business Health
Http://www.fkttv.com Maybe You should try to google it first ,however if you like some direct resource ,here might be helpful.
http://insurance.online-assistant.info Our current system is a whole lot better than socialized health care. For those who say we need government provided health care, answer this question: Who do you think runs the VA hospitals?! Here are the best answer www.best-seek.com |
