IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

It's a fairly common sight in some Boston area hospitals for the very wealthy ( US citizens and others) to take over a complete section of a hospital floor for the duration of their stay, which may be as long as 6 months at a stretch.

These folks pay cash ( no insurance) and are very welcomed by the hospital.

They bring in their own guards, cooks and attendants.

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Miller wrote:

My response was to MysteryMan.

I know. And he responded to what I wrote about Germany ...

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"The length of stay in a hospital will depend on the specific medical case, the specific hospital, the specific attending physician, the age of the patient, the medical history of the patient, and available social /health support to the patient on her release home from the hospital among many, many other variables ... "

Are you sure, Mystery? I've been in the hospital fairly recently and found that the length of my stay was dependent on my desire to leave... unfortunately, the doctors failed to inform me that there was nothing more they could do, so I stayed four days too long (and ended up owing thousands the insurance company won't cover).

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Wy wrote:

"The length of stay in a hospital will depend on the specific medical case, the specific hospital, the specific attending physician, the age of the patient, the medical history of the patient, and available social /health support to the patient on her release home from the hospital among many, many other variables ... "

Are you sure, Mystery? I've been in the hospital fairly recently and found that the length of my stay was dependent on my desire to leave... unfortunately, the doctors failed to inform me that there was nothing more they could do, so I stayed four days too long (and ended up owing thousands the insurance company won't cover).

Mystery didn't write the above. I did.

"the doctors failed to inform me that there was nothing more they could do, so I stayed four days too long (and ended up owing thousands": Why was the comunication so poor in your case?

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Here's an article written by a physician which echoes what I pointed out a few times regarding the lack of primary care doctors and the privitization of healthcare.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/03/shortage-of-pri.html

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More than 50% of all phydicans in practises in Germany are specialised in "primary care". Additonally, most internal specialists in practises do primary care as well.

More than 90% of them make home visits.

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Dems still can't decide who won the Texas caucus:

Quote:

from http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiLpWMaIEe0T0buAOcXm-Eb7DIQQD8VBG4M80

But they want to run the nation's health care system. Laughing

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

More than 50% of all phydicans in practises in Germany are specialised in "primary care". Additonally, most internal specialists in practises do primary care as well.

More than 90% of them make home visits.

Unfortunately, that isn't the case here. Primary care docs are the bastards of the system.

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USAFHokie80 wrote:

Unfortunately, that isn't the case here. Primary care docs are the bastards of the system.

Well, since they aren't only doing primary care but a lot more .... one of the numerous disadvantages of our system.
And they usually make home visits only during daytime, on working days. Otherwise, at night and on wekends, you probably get on surgeon at home when you need just the normal doc (because he's on 24/24 duty for your district).

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Back in 2001 I posted an idea about how to bring down health Care costs, and I think it was a good idea.
I am reposting it here for everyone to peruse, but some of you have seen it when I first posted it...

Quote:

Emergency rooms or waiting rooms

In almost every city,you will find the hospital emergency rooms flooded with people that
are there for non-emergency reasons.Usually these people don't have a family Dr. Of their
own and are there for basic services (stitches removed,flu shots,blood pressure
checks,etc)I am a US Navy reserve corpsman (medic),and I have come up with a solution to
the problem,I think. What would be wrong with having all the active duty and reserve
military medics,(navy,army air force,and coast guard) set up what are basically aid
stations? I mean a place to go if you need minor medical care. The military medics are
getting paid anyway,so lets use them.If a medic runs into something they cant handle,they
send you to a hospital,but as a combat medic,there is not much I cant handle. If you need
non emergency medical care,you go to one of these aid stations,and that would free up the
hospital for real emergency's.These aid stations would be open 24 hours a day,and staffed
by 3 medics at all times.Tell me what you think of this idea.

I first posted that on Abuzz on Sat, Mar 31, 2001

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The forces' hospitals as well as the (smaller) "specialist centers" can be used by anyone here .... since all are part of the universal health system.

(Though not the medical instutions in barracks/units - but usually you don't go some company's physician neither. :wink: )

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MM - that's a noble concept, but imho it's invariably a mistake to use the armed forces in purely civilian capacities, other than for temporary emergencies like floods and earthquakes.

It's been tried many times in many countries with dismal results. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

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High Seas wrote:

It's been tried many times in many countries with dismal results.

Either Germany isn't within those "many countries" or I don't understand "dismal results".
It works perfectly here - and both sides, the military as well as the civilian, like it.

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high seas wrote :

Quote:

It's been tried many times in many countries with dismal results.

what were the dismal results suffered by the sick people needing medical help ?
hbg

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Hamburger - pls read the whole post before commenting. The reference is to assigning military personnel to permanent civilian occupations.

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high seas :

yes , i did read the whole article , specifically :

Quote:

What would be wrong with having all the active duty and reserve
military medics,(navy,army air force,and coast guard) set up what are basically aid
stations? I mean a place to go if you need minor medical care. The military medics are
getting paid anyway,so lets use them

wouldn't it be better to get such minor treatments done quickly , even if it's through a military medic ?
the emergency rooms and physicians don't seem to be able to handle all the work (or don't want to for the amount of money they are paid) .
if the medical establishment can come up with a system to handle minor cases quickly and a cost affordable , of course , they should handle it .

from what i hear and experience , the medical establishment (and i understand that applies to both canada and the U.S.) is simply not able to handle all the work at an affordable cost .

if there is no work for those medics they won't be needed , but in the meantime ... (see mm's entry) .

(you may have read my earlier entry on the knoxville "expedition" ) .
hbg

(btw. isn't the corps of engineers used to handle work that could be handled by private enterprise ?)

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hbg wrote: (btw. isn't the corps of engineers used to handle work that could be handled by private enterprise ?)

Normal practice from what I have observed. Remember NO?

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From the Washington Post:

Army Corps Is Faulted on New Orleans Levees
Panel Says Studies Foresaw Failure, Urges New Scrutiny

By Joby Warrick and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 25, 2006; Page A06

An organization of civil engineers yesterday questioned the soundness of large portions of New Orleans's levee system, warning that the city's federally designed flood walls were not built to standards stringent enough to protect a large city.

The group faulted the agency responsible for the levees, the Army Corps of Engineers, for adopting safety standards that were "too close to the margin" to protect human life. It also called for an urgent reexamination of the entire levee system, saying there are no assurances that the miles of concrete "I-walls" in New Orleans will hold up against even a moderate hurricane.

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High Seas wrote:

Hamburger - pls read the whole post before commenting. The reference is to assigning military personnel to permanent civilian occupations.

How are they being assigned to "permanent civilian occupations"?

I specified using active duty "permanent" military medics and using "reserve" medics.
The reservists do 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks in the summer, then they go back to their civilian jobs.
While they are serving, they draw their mlitary pay,so why not use them where they will do the most good?

And as for the active duty"full time" medics, while they are on the base they dont have alot to do, especially if they are assigned to a combat unit.
They handle mostly injuries resulting from training, or they work in the sick bay.

If you are worried about them being asked to treat something they cant handle, I seriously doubt that will happen.
As a former navy corpsman (medic) there wasnt much I couldnt handle.
I have delivered babies, treated trauma, set broken bones, and treated almost every type of minor illness and injury you can think of.

But even so, thats why each station would be equipped with an ambulance, to transport serious cases to a local ER.

I do think it could be done, and I do think it would work.

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mm wrote :

Quote:

I do think it could be done, and I do think it would work.

i would think that it would certainly be a possibility - nothing lost if it doesn't work .

i think there is "a fly in the ointment however " .
i was chatting to a physician who comes out to our morning swim .
he complained that too many patients go to the ER , who really do not need ER care : bad cough , cut finger ... ...
i suggested that right next to the ER there could be a regular physicians office staffed by perhaps an intern - we have a large university teaching hospital - and some RN's .
the triage nurse would direct the less serious cases to the physician's office for treatment . surely that would reduce the load of the ER staff , take up less space ... ...
and the ER would be close by in case of complications .

he seemed rather shocked at my suggestion . "no, no , that would never do . once a patient is in the ER waiting room , the patient must be treated by the ER staff ! " - end of discussion .
i tried , but couldn't even get him to say "maybe" .
hbg

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IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

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