The Other Credit Crunch

National health care yields higher qualtiy care at a much lower cost than private insurance.
Read the facts and different options at:
http://www.accc-chiro.com/National%20Health%20Care%20ACCC%2006.ppt

The problem with Healthcare in America is not the system or the Government, it is US. I am in the health insurance business and 80% of all healthcare dollars are spent on Chronic, PREVENTABLE conditions! Hearth Disease, high blood pressure, and Diabetes are the top three things we spend almost all our healthcare dollars on. And they are PREVENTABLE!
What country is the most overweight? We are. What country has the highest incidence of Diabetes? We do.
We are FAT, LAZY, DON'T EXCERCISE YET WE DEMAND THAT DOCTORS FIX US WITHOUT CHANGING OUR BAD HABBITS! A single payer system will NOT help, it will just enable us to go on living our fat, lazy lives and making others pay for it. Ever see a retirement community in Europe where people drive around itn golf carts? NOPE! They (gasp) walk!
Health Insurance IS affordable, but it IS a CHOICE! If you choose to have car insurance but not Health Insurance you are just plain Stupid. Don't tell me health insurance is unaffordable and then go smoke your cigarettes, drink your daily latte, drink your booze, drive your SUV, or eat out all the time! It is a CHOICE to protect yourself but it REQUIRES you to give up other things. The real problem is that people are too stupid to make a good decision to buy health insurance, take a gamble without it, and then complain when they have a major medical problem which is expensive! Of course our politicians won't talk about this, because it requires people to change their bad habbits, which no one owns up to

with all these comments ,I really have a hard time with most ,in so much as i have personily seen,in a health care ward ,if you will, Old folks sitting in their room with wet pants on and beds not made ,trying to get a drink of water ,all with their room lights on,the lights on that are in the hall over the door. These old folks need help now not after they have sores all over ,because they haven't been changed. All the while the nurses and aides are all standing around planning for the thankgiving holiday..The so called boss is doing the gal form down the hall and all the others have gone to lunch .And these people have all gone at the same time,so now theres no one to help these old folks. I could go on and on for i've seen it for myself,because my mom was there.. They are all afraid of the state people coming in and catching them or are afraid that one of the residents have called them to complain. These people have NO compassion at all. They want their paycheck and thats it . So now you see another waste of money by people that don't get it .and they are paid very well

I am in a situation in which a hospital charges a "facility fee" for each visit to physicians whose clinics are located in its outpatient center. This means that I pay two bills - one to the physician and one to the hospital for THE SAME OUTPATIENT VISIT.

The hospital is creating a fee where none existed before. Even though the facility fee is mostly covered by insurance, it requires the payment of two co-pays for one visit. This means that I have had to stop seeing physicians located in this facility. The hospital is shooting itself in the foot - creating fees that I cannot afford, and thus I do not avail myself of their services. They actually are losing revenue opportunities because of this practice. To put real numbers on it - My insurance reimbursed the hospital $100 for a facility fee - I was charged a $15 co-pay separate from the physician's co-pay, who also was paid by insurance company, for the same visit. I can't afford the extra $15 co-pay. I don't go there anymore and the hospital has lost a $100 per visit (sometimes 4 visits a month) revenue opportunity. I've also spread the word among friends and co-workers, and I hope the hospital loses other revenue as a result. Word of mouth may begin to have some power in healthcare.

Also, I wonder how much of the uncollected revenue represents real cost of services for the actual patient - and how much is what the hospital charges to make up for other patients who cannot pay. I'm not forced to pay for another diner's meal if I go out to eat. If hospitals charged fair prices would they be more likely to be paid?

The U.S. Health Care System is a tragedy for the poor and the middle class. Who can afford $11,000 for a simple day surgery that took 3 hours. That is absolutely ridiculous. and very unfair. It is also unfair to a Physician who works their butt off in the ER where one out of every three pay their bill. So they jack the prices up so that the one person is paying for the ones who don't. I don't understand why the Government does not use a system like Canada. In the Province of Ontario, EVERY person who works has to pay a small fee to the Government every month to be medically covered by OHIP (Ontario Hospitlization Insurance Program) this fee is around 50 - 75 dollars a month per family of the working spouse and a lot of employers include this as a benefit on your pay package. This money is given to the Government to administer the medical system in Ontario. The Province also contributes a small portion towards the system. So if little Johnny cuts his finger and has to go to the ER there is no Charge. Grandpa has a heart attack and spends a week in the hospital, No Charge. Need open heart surgery, No Charge. There are no excessive waiting periods to get in to see a specialist. and the system works great. Doctors get paid for every patient they see. Medication on the other hand is not covered by the Government unless you are over 65 or are on welfare or any other social programs. My wife works at a major medical facility and she advises that if a patient cannot genuinely afford meds, the doctors will arrange through drug companies for meds for that patient acoording to their finances. I guess the sytem works becasue there is no gouging allowed by hospitals. Every illness or injury has a payment chart provided by the Government who pay the bill and hospitals are not allowed to charge more. The only thing you may pay more for is the TV in your room. ie: you go to the ER with a broken arm, the government may say the total cost is 700.00. That's it. Follow up visits to your own family doctor are also no charge. All family doctors bill OHIP every time they see a patient.
Open Heart Surgery has a price cap on it which is under $10,000
Basically the Hospitlas have no say on what the prices are. They provide the service and get paid by the Government.
Every Ontario Resident whether they work or not are covered by OHIP. The system seems to work OK. I am surprised that the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world has such a shoddy health care sytem. I can't imagine some heartless clerk running a credit check on me while I have my wife in the ER suffering from a major stroke.
Shame.

A large part of the problem is that we simply pay doctors too much in this country, from three to nine times what doctors are paid in other industrialized nations. It's obscene. If you have cancer or some other life threatening disease, the doctors and hospitals know they can charge obscene amounts because it is literally your money or your life. The only answer is single payer national healthcare. One entity negotiating prices for everyone.

I see a lot of comments by "those in the health care insurance industry". So for them, making 40K to millions of dollars a year, getting their health care insurance provided as a benefit, "insurance is affordable" (they don't have to pay for it) and is a choice (they don't have to pay for it). For the poor gal making tips at the local diner (under $20K a year) and not given any benefits of any kind, the $12 THOUSAND a year IS AFFORDABLE and IS A CHOICE.

Statements like that are just tasteless, bordering on obscene. Excuse me, but try to live on other people's salary (and lack of benefits) and then come back and tell us all how insurance IS AFFORDABLE.

Have car insurance but not health insurance. Yep, you are right, THAT is a choice. The state will not give you a license if you don't have car insurance so yep, you make a choice to pay car insurance so you can get to work, and HOPE that you don't get sick (since you don't have the 12K a year to buy the health insurance anyway).

Insurance used to be about spreading the cost of a loss over a large population. MOST insurance now (whether medical, flood, housing or anything else) is about denying insurance to anyone likely to cause a loss, in order to make enough to pay shareholders a nice sum and (of course) pay executives a kings ransome.

Insurance is a BUSINESS, it is not about being nice. Profits and losses. Oh, WAIT A MINUTE, did I say LOSSES? NO LOSSES!!! Profits and profits! Yea, that's the ticket!

Do you have diabetes? Nope, no insurance for you. (Remember that STUPID statement about "a choice"?) Have a history of heart problems or cancer (EVEN IN YOUR FAMILY?), nope, no insurance for you. (Remember that STUPID statement about "a choice"?) Do you use a CPAP machine? OH MY GOD, your rate just DOUBLED!!! (Remember that STUPID statement about "a choice"?)

We only take people that we can see won't cost us much. How can we possible charge you 12,000 dollars a year if you might cost us a hundred thousand? That would SEVERELY cut into the CEO's benefit package. Spread the risk? What are you an idiot? NO RISKS!!!

AFFORDABLE? A CHOICE? Excuse me while I throw up on your nice new BMW.

PLEASE, let us all realize that healthcare is a PRIVILEDGE, not a right. Not everyone is entitled to care, not everyone is entitled to services. If you cannot pay for your procedure or care, sorry, you don't get it. This feeling of entitlement that has overtaken our nation has run our health care system into the ground. As a Registered Nurse, I understand that we all would like to have healthcare services for free, however, none of us work for free and hospitals cannot continue to do business in an environment where reimbursements are down and patients don't pay. We, as healthcare providers, need to choke up on the issue, learn to evaluate for ability to pay, start collecting up front , and if you can't pay and are not in a TRUE emergent situation, then... go stand in line at the clinic down town. Until we realize this, our healthcare system will continue to spiral down the drain - taking with it a large group of good healthcare providers.

my husband is from the UK . and i have to say that in 5 yrs when we retire we will moving back there. WHY becaise with prices for health care rising and the quality of care declining we can get better care there for nothing. the US suck in health care. i go to my dr for a problem i am told welcome to old age and here are your new drugs. i doubt he even knows what meds i take anymore. . drs are over paid . if your taxes were raised to say 9% a yr that would still be less then 3000 you pay for insurance and another 5000 you pay for co pays and deductibles. do the math america . we are being ripped off by the very goverment we voted in office. don't know about you but i am moving out of the country so i can live just a bit longer

To Shatten, a muffler repair is not comparable to medical care. First of all if I go to a hospital with an emergency and ask how much it will cost, nobody can tell me because they don't know either. tI could depend what insurance you have and what percentage they pay. If you don't have insurance they still can't tell you. Also for the price a muffler repair is much more n line and consumerate with what you pay. For instance I just cut my finger and i thought maybe it needed stitches. When I went to the emergency room nobody could tell me what it what the cost would be. It didn't need stitcthes and they bandaged it and gave me a shot. The bill for that was $1,100 for giving me one shot in the arm and wrapping my finger in a bandage. No doubt the service I got from the hospital was not worth $1,100, but I would pay $100 for my muffler to be replaced. So I didn't get your analogy because it was not a good one. Also in almost any business, you can get an estimate of charges, you need a new roof on your house, you get an estimate. This is not possible in medicine unless you are having vanity medical procedures. If that muffler repair was overpriced and say $300, the mechanic might take a 33% down because he knows he ripping you off and got what it would normally cost and can wait to make his killing, that would be a better analogy shatten.

I am a Health Care Employee, and I must say people are misinformed a lot. We dont control what the Dr. charge those are Professional Charges that come from them alone. Due to the Current state of Health Care here in G.A. where I live (and everywhere else i'm sure) most people just show up in the E.R. and get treated for the most trivial things. They dont have Health Care. And they are from all walks of life!! Working Class with no Health Care, not Working, Goeed Job just cant afford it, lots of different people so Its not just poor people from one Race or another. Its all. So in the instance by Cindy Drake who has insurance her insurance is charged the Maximum!! to try and make up for the people who have nothing. I'm sorry to tell you that but it's true. Hospitals only get 1/3 of the Money they ask for and without help from State, County's, and the Federal Goverment we would have closed down a long time ago. We can't treat people for Nothing!! Who is going to pay Rn's, Tech's, Emt's, Lpn's,Radiology, Laboratory, Cath Lab, all these are specialty Fields that people have when through 2-4 years of training. And if you make a mistake...Your Fired!! hardly an room for error . Hospitals are Constantly sued for Real, and Made Up issues. We have to have a Legal Staff here. So, Lawyers,Doctors,Rn's,Lab,Radiology,Finance,IT department,Management,Administrators...people think we run all this on Monopoly money??? But the First time your sick you want the Cure Right Now!! If you want Universal Healthcare...Fine we dont care at least we know will get some kind of payment. If you don't want Universal Healthcare....You'll have to pay for it anyway, by hiking up your insurance premiums to cover the losses or by Taxing the Hell out of You and making the State pay it to the Hospital. Same difference. If you really knew the cost of keeping open a GOOD Hospital you would not complain, you would just come to a concensus about how to handle it. We cant just let people Die everywhere....and for the record our CEO doesnt have a Private Jet, I saw him this morning picking trash up in the Parking lot on the way in he drives a 2008 Toyota. He was Listening to complaints on the way in also, we have laid of 120 workers. Think about that.

Here's 2 tips for people to save money in these hard times.

1) Especially during the holiday season, check out deal websites. From free magazines to black friday ads, doing a bit of planning and checking around for things you need to buy or how tips on how to reduce bills are all over these frugal sites. I started using coupons and paying attention to what comes in the mail or using deal websites like www.slickdeals.net as you can find a ton of deals and it gets new deals every minute. www.fatwallet.com is another great web site for deals. You can even find free subscriptions to magazines and stuff on those web sites. before I buy anything major I first do a search on those web sites.

2) My biggest savings was my mortgage. My loan with Countrywide was in an adjustable rate and interest only loan. My payment was 3800. I'm now paying 2200 and that rate is fixed for all 30 years. I used a web site called www.LoanModAssistant.com. It was only $199 and worked like a charm. It took me 6 weeks to finish this. That was like getting a 1600 per month raise. Anyone that needs help with this should check it out.

I hope these tips help.

I am a stage III cancer patient who can't even begin drug therapies because of the Medcare Drug Gap... my husband , who had had a lung transplant and I have trouble getting doctors to take us on... even though we both have insurance.... Too many doctors refuse to take us because Medicare is too slow to pay doctors for their services... and as a cancer patient unable to afford drug therapy, nothing experiemental, just the standard treatment, because of the Part D gap which would leave us in the whole for thousands of $$ which we don't have, is unconscionable for this country's lawmakers to allow. We no longer have savings of any kind. And yet my husband and I both have "good" insurance plans... We paid, over $22,000 in medical bills between us last year... as a transplant patient, he has to have those drugs and treatments... so I do without. Congresss needs to fix this drug gap... but there is an apparent indifference to this matter. I don't blame doctors for starting to refuse Medicare patients if they are MONTHS behind in getting paid for their services... thousands of $$... by Medicare. I read of one doctor who was $400,000 in behind in Medicare payments for his services. Something MUST be done! The system is a mess. No one should go bankrupt or have to refuse treatment for life-threatening illness.

By the way, talk to a a few average Canadians and they will tell you that they have no choice which doctors they see, and often have very poor care... they can't simply change as we can... It's hardly a dream system.. I would rather fix ours than have what they are stuck with.