IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

I agree.
I just recently had to file bankruptcy because of medical bills my first wife had.
When she died my insurance company paid most of the bills, but I was still left with a 6 figure bill I had to pay.

Her total medical care came to over 7 figures, and my insurance company paid 80% of it.
There was no way I could pay the rest, so I had no choice but to file.
I hope to never do that again.
It was humiliating to admit that I couldnt pay the bills.

you've clearly never worked in insurance in North America

there are a number of types of policies that have no limits on some of their benefits

crazy. but true.

It is people that are defrauding the government, and thats us the taxpayers that are being bilked, MJ. What happens with Medicare, is it sets up a situation that is conducive to fraud. My brother was a doctor all of his working life, and of course he was never involved with fraud, but he could see how shoddy the government operation was and how easy and common it was for other people to defraud the government. The government is inefficient and subject to fraud by the very nature of how they operate it, MJ. Do not blame private medical enterprise, blame the crooks that see an opportunity. It happens all the time in other sectors of government programs too, surely you would know this?

Do you remember the cash for clunker program? As is true with almost any inefficient government program, corruption will exist.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/24/cash-for-clunkers-fraud-investigation-begins/
"Cash for Clunkers fraud investigation begins"

MJ, at least in the private sector, you have more oversight, especially when the consumer pays for the service he is receiving. Since I have always carried a high deductible medical policy, with my primary goal to insure against catastrophic medical expenses, we have more than once saved money by simply going over the bills with a fine tooth comb. One example was saving the charge of a few hundred dollars charged for an ambulance ride that never took place. If it had been sent to the government or an insurance company, I think the chances are strong that it would have been paid. So there are two ways of wasting taxpayer money with government run programs, one would be mistakes and the other is intentional overbilling or fraud involving nonexistent patients or treatments that never happened. This is just common sense, and this helps explain the fact that free markets work better than central planning. This is established fact, so I fail to see why some people want to keep trying what has been proven to be less efficient and less workable.

okie, All business transactions are conducive to fraud; you just haven't been paying attention. Should we stop all business transaction?

Your tune seems to have changed; still against universal health care?

My sympathies toward you, mm. I have a relative that had to file bankruptcy for medical reasons as well. The good news is that medical bill bankruptcy is not nearly as damaging in the long run as bankruptcy for other reasons. I think that is the case anyway.

I recently changed insurance carrier and realized that after the very high deductible, they pay 100% up to the lifetime ceiling, which is far better than what I had, which had me paying 80% over the high deductible, which could have wiped me out as well as it hit you, if a catastrophic health issue arose.

http://www.insurancefraud.org/fraud_backgrounder.htm



I guess someone should tell the insurance companies that they aren't losing money to fraud according to george.

Well, I have seen private insurance contracts. Of various (European) countries.

My BIL is CIO/CEO in one of Europe's largest insurance companies (which owns a couple of private health insurances).
They would be happy if they got any money from the state ...
They are funded with not a single sent by the taxpayer but by their members (well, those are taxpayers as well. So that means ....)

parados, Didn't you know? Only Medicare suffers from fraud.

Make that "cent".

I've looked up the ownership/funding of that above mention insurance company.

The health insurance comapnies are 100% owned by the insurance group.
The insurance group is 100% owned by one of the world largest re.insurrance companies.
That is owned by more than 128,000 shareholders.

They are Europe's largest private health insurer, second largest in Germany,

Correction to this statement in my post, I meant to say it would have me paying 20% of the amount over the high deductible. The insurance company would pay 80%. But if you consider the possibility of a million bucks charges for a catastrophic medical episode, that is 200 grand, which not many people could survive without being wiped out financially, or at least very damaged.

That's why we've got a different (health) insurance system:
- impossible with private health insurers,
- totally unknown to anyone insured with companies (only) within the mandatory system.

Only in the US could this happen.
---------------------------------------------




Florida to drop 350 patients in AIDS drug program

A money shortage means that hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients might lose their free virus-fighting drugs.
By BOB LaMENDOLA
Sun Sentinel
The Florida Department of Health plans to drop about 350 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients from a federally funded program that pays for all or most of their drugs, because of a budget crisis.

An additional 2,000 or more HIV-positive patients are at risk of being bumped from the program unless the state can close a $16 million shortfall in the next few months, officials said Tuesday.

``We are all pursuing every possible legal and financial option we can to make up the deficit,'' said Tom Liberti, chief of the state's Bureau of HIV/AIDS. ``No one wants to disenroll one patient.''

In June, the shortfall forced the Health Department to put more than 2,300 patients on a waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. About 1,100 live in South Florida. The program also halted coverage for many drugs that treat HIV-related complications.

ASSISTANCE

Dropping patients saves about $10,000 per person per year, Liberti said. The state expects the 350 people to lose coverage in about 30 days, with almost all of them able to continue getting free or low-cost medicine through manufacturer-assistance programs, he said. The state helped those on the waiting list get assistance from the drug-makers as well.

But activists said losing coverage from the program threatens to disrupt the supply of drugs and the drug-taking schedules of HIV-positive patients, most of whom have been stable for years. Taking the medicine on a rigid schedule is crucial, experts say, because missing even 5 percent of doses gives the virus a chance to become resistant to the drugs.

``We are playing with people's lives here,'' said Michael Rajner, of Fort Lauderdale, an HIV-positive activist.

The rate of new HIV infections per capita in South Florida is the highest in the nation. The state has by far the longest waiting list among nine states forced to start them.

Florida's AIDS drug program is in trouble because enrollment has swollen to about 11,000, a result of patients losing jobs and insurance during the recession. In addition, many are living longer thanks to better drugs.

The 350 to be dropped have incomes more than three times the federal poverty level, or $43,710 for a family of two. Until now, the program covered HIV patients with incomes up to four times the poverty level, or $58,280 for a family of two. Limiting eligibility is the least painful money-saving step available now, Liberti said.

RIPPLE EFFECT

Rajner said the change will cause a deeper ripple because it will force counties to drop the same uninsured patients from other federally funded programs that pay for their doctor and hospital visits, dental treatment and other care.

The federal government in June found $25 million to help states shrink their waiting lists. Florida got some good news last week when federal officials allowed more flexibility in how the state uses its $6 million share.

Liberti said the prospects for Florida's drug program look much brighter next year, as the state expects to get more money from at least five different sources.

Chief among them: States with waiting lists stand to get an additional $50 million in a budget bill that will come before Congress, said Deborah Parham Hopson, an HIV/AIDS chief at the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

But none of the extra money would be available until April 1. Liberti said Florida's $100 million-a-year drug program now stands about $16 million short of the amount it needs to make it to April 1.

Liberti is asking the Health Department to funnel more money on an emergency basis, and seeking federal clearance to negotiate lower prices from drug companies.

If those moves don't save enough, he said the program may be forced to temporarily drop ``a minimum of 2,000 people, maybe more.''

OTHER ISSUE

Some activists also are upset by another change. Officials said the state plans to drop patients from the drug program who fail to pick up their medicine within a five-day window. Officials say the move encourages patients to take drugs on time, but Rajner said it would harshly punish people for small mistakes.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/03/1905836/florida-to-drop-350-patients-in.html#ixzz14CMWh75g

Ronald Reagan warned Us About National Health Care.

He was wrong about that too!

The richest country in the world that spends most on health care should be able to provide health care to all our citizens. Most developed countries provide universal health care, and many are more healthy and happier than Americans.

That should be a clue for some of you blind folks who can't see.

Reagan was a senile POS who took direction from an astrologer. Why would anybody put any credence is what he said.

And yet he was superior in to that POS Obama in every way.

Waterman, How "in every way?" Are you really that dumb?

Yes we should keep allowing our poor not to be cover and we should pay double what the rest of the western world pay per person and have the results that we are far down the list in average life span or infants dead rates.