Health Care

[Penn]

A thought on Health care insurance. For years, 20+, our health insurance was with Atena. Cost avg $6000.00 per/yr. Never had a problem and we used it twice for two major surgeries in the $125K range, walked away clean with a couple of thousand in extended care items iirc.
At 65, auto enrolled into Medicare, we pay $405 per quarter, for Part A and B, and for Part C $179.00 per/mo, employing the same medical team and facilities, the transition has been seamless.
That said, and with reference to Obamacare and the mess created by that law, why did congress not follow this proven system, or use it/extend this insurance, which you must buy into, as the national health program for America?

[Old Dog New Trick]

I would think it wasn't profitable enough for the insurance companies.

I'm not sure that Medicare and/or Medicaid were ever funded well enough through income taxes alone to pay for them, and as the average life expectancy (Medicare) grew and entitlement families increased (Medicaid) it became an unaffordable government subsidy.

I never thought the ACA was going to fix anything and as it turns out it probably wrecked more than it fixed. Government redistribution plan in action that failed on so many levels.

There is no reason (other than greed and stupidity) that proper and adequate healthcare can't be made affordable, available and appropriate to the level of care everyone deserves.

From birth to schools years to employment and into retirement and death. But we have allowed greedy people with deep pockets (and lots of lobbyists) and lawyers with forked tongues to control the message that healthcare has to be expensive to cover the costs of mistakes. Fix tort reform and liability at all levels and watch the costs come down to affordable levels for all.

Bilking the entire system to pay for unnecessary high risk low outcome procedures and diagnostic equipment and the ensuing liability insurance to cover mistakes with astronomical consequences (right or wrong) have gotten a simple outpatient procedure or treatment to cost thousands more than the actual costs involved. From there inpatient hospitalization, ER, elective and non-elective surgeries have price tags no one can afford yet they are being done because someone else pays. And when it all goes awry again someone else pays.

Medical care in America is a Win-Win for anyone involved in it (the business side) and a lose some-win some for everyone that needs it (the patient side.)

[Box]

The pandering to free stuff America is embarrassingly obvious but it is the government we as a nation deserve.

Allow me to share an old fairy tale that my mom used to read me when I was little. It is purely fiction and has no real similarities to the current state of the USA or the political state of health care in America.

So I bring to you, the story of the peasant and the stab wound....


There was once a nation of random people. Some of them were common peasants, some of them were powerful, arrogant, despicable, elitist, liberal minded shitheads, and some of them were court jesters and minstrels. The court jesters and minstrels were sometimes disrespectfully referred to as Hollywood actors and the mainstream media.


The powerful, arrogant, despicable, elitist, liberal minded shitheads decided that it was the governments job of dictating the type of stab wounds that would be levied against the peasantry...
...they said it would not be a deep stab and they would allow the peasants to pick between three different knives of increasing price and quality. They said it was a great idea to let YOU pick the blade, and then THEY would stick it to you. You still said you didn't want them to stab you in the ribs. They replied that EVERYONE would get the same stab wound and as a result, the economy would grow (after all-we gotta buy a lot of knives to stab folks with). The kings court subsequently accused the peasants of being racists for not openly celebrating the kings new stab-wound initiative.

The kings court took pride in their self-proclaimed commitment to sticking it to the people. (for discsussion sake, lets just call them dimwitcrits) They even told the peasants that "if you already have a knife, that you could keep your knife".

...however, they forgot to tell you that "THEY" would not be getting similar stab wounds because they were on a different stab wound plan
(one that your tax dollars are paying for of course).
They also forgot to tell you that there would be tax penalties for not buying one of the preselected stabbing knifes. You told them you still did NOT want to get stabbed, and you certainly didn't want to be forced to PAY for the blade they wanted to use to stick you with.
-The kings court subsequently accused the peasants of being racists for not openly supporting passage of the kings new stab-wound initiative.


They set up a multimillion dollar website for you to visit to pick out and purchase a blade for them to stick in your ribs. They even promised that poor people would get free knives. You still said "no... I don't want to get stabbed in the ribs."

They decided to take a vote and since "YOU" didn't get to vote, only "THEY" got to vote, it was an overwhelming victory since only the people who DIDN'T have to get stabbed in the ribs got to vote. When you went to the website to begrudgingly purchase your knife, the website didn't work. The phone number to call the helpline didn't work. You elected NEW people because they promised not to stab you in the ribs.
It didn't matter because the new members of the kings court decided that it was a bad time to change their mind. Too much money had already been spent buying knives. Oddly, many of the people that really did want to get these cheap knives, couldn't afford the knives. Some folks hated the knives so much that they just refused to buy the knives and instead, paid the fines because the fines were cheaper than the knives in some cases.
The jesters and minstrels subsequently told stories and sang songs about how the peasants were racists for not openly celebrating the kings new stab-wound initiative.


Eventually, these cocksuckers got their way and they stabbed you right in the mother-fucking ribs...
...you told them it would hurt and cause you to bleed, but in a one man one vote democracy, you were outvoted. As a result, you now have a fucking knife wound in your thorax. It doesn't seem to be fatal and your life is not in any immediate danger but everyone realizes that that stabbing everyone in the fucking ribs didn't turn out like they promised.

In fact, everyone was in agreement - "this stabbing peasants in the ribs with a big assed knife" idea was a colossal failure of common sense. "We should stop stabbing peasants in the ribs"......

There was much discussion and lots of harrumphing....

" harrumph - harrumph
harrumph - harrumph harrumph
- harrumph -
- harrumph - harrumph"


One particular breed of rib stabber (for the sake of argument lets just call them republicants) made it a point to rally loudly around the effort to do away with all of this unwanted rib stabbing. Now, the republicants have taken control of both houses of parliament as well as the royal palace and change is sure to happen as soon as the new king is coronated....

...except for the fact that the waves and waves and waves of court jesters and minstrels have danced and sang so loudly about how the peasants and republicants were racists for not openly celebrating the kings new stab-wound initiative that it scared and intimidated some of the republicants.
...it scared them to their bones.

In public, the republicants cried out in fornt of their constituents, "we will remove the knives from betwixt the ribs of our esteemed countrymen so that the healing can being" but in private there was much harrumphing....

" harrumph - harrumph
harrumph - harrumph harrumph
- harrumph -
- harrumph - harrumph"


The republicants began to waver saying silly shit like, "maybe we should wait to remove the knives until we have something else to stick in the wound"

...others lamented, "lets not just remove the knives just yet-the wounds will be clearly visible and the peasant will be able to see how treacherous we have all been"

...some proclaimed, "we shall remove the lesser knives, but the nicer more finely crafted knives should remain"

...the weakest of heart, those republicants with the most fractured moral compasses simply held quiet, worried that the waves of court jesters and minstrels would dance and sang that the republicants were racists for trying to rob the peasants of their free knives that they were forced to pay for.


Alas, it seemed as though the dimwitcrits would eventually triumph as they awarded themselves with fine ribbons for service and golden trophies for a lifetime of achievement and they smote the weak and ineffective republicants and the nation of peasants lived on with their festering stab wounds - frustratingly ever after.





I hope you enjoyed this little tale. If you'd like to make a donation to my foundation let me know and we can exchange PayPal information.
Thank you and good night.

[Old Dog New Trick]

Ha ha ha LMFAO!!! Well done *clap*

And with that: "You Lie!" It wasn't just a sucking hemopneumothorax they forced upon us taxpayers and employers of the land to bend over yet again and get the pommel shoved up our anus for demanding the King hath no clothes.

Pre hospital phase: Occlusive dressing-
Field expedient: $0.00 - $5.00
Manufactured: (Actual $2.79 retail $27.99 industry applied (EMS) $279.99)

Emergency Room Phase: Thoracic Catheter (Chest Tube)
Government Price NSN / Hospital bulk order per 1000: $1.35/unit
Hospital Restocking Price: $135.00/ea
Valve Assembly: new $3.98
Hospital Restocking Price: :$398.00

Out-Patient Hospitalization Phase:
Chest X-Ray: (Actuall $35.00 but to cover the costs of installing new equipment across town at the Acute Medical Clinic for the depraved section-8 housing where these services are provided free your X-Ray will be billed to insurance at $3,500)

In-Patient Hospitalization Phase:
To be sure everything was in fact needed and then done right...the doctor has ordered a CT scan and MRI to be sure placement was correct. Total costs billed to insurance providers or individuals for diagnostic imaging services: $75,000 - $190,000 depending on whether you were treated in a level II or level V Trauma Care Facility.

Suction apparatus, electricity used, monitored I/O by nursing staff, multi-function bed, anti-decubitus ulcer compression sleeves, assisted trips to the bathroom and jello pudding for a three day two night stay in ICU: $347,498.00 of which your insurance company will pick up 80% leaving you with $69,499.00 to pay for a simple penetrating knife wound to you chest.

In Thailand, minus all the "extras" outpatient services including chest tube intubation, manual auscultation and syringe confirmation or absence of fluids, manual suction and take home instructions with pharmacy script to stop by local pharmacy and pick up OTC Percocet for pain as needed (PRN): 1,000 THB ($28,17 USD)

Or you could find an out of work 18D to do this and a baggie of 800mg Ibuprofen.

Note: If you climb in the Ambulance that will raise your bill by: $2,000 - $18,000 depending on type of Ambulance, distance and whether it flies or drives.

[tonyz]

Billy...sharp as always. LMAO.

[bblhead672]

Originally Posted by Billy L-bach

Allow me to share an old fairy tale that my mom used to read me when I was little.

Holy crap....it's a good thing she read you the knife story and not the giant double ended dildo story.

[miclo18d]

Originally Posted by Old Dog New Trick

Ha ha ha LMFAO!!! Well done *clap*

And with that: "You Lie!" It wasn't just a sucking hemopneumothorax they forced upon us taxpayers and employers of the land to bend over yet again and get the pommel shoved up our anus for demanding the King hath no clothes.

Pre hospital phase: Occlusive dressing-
Field expedient: $0.00 - $5.00
Manufactured: (Actual $2.79 retail $27.99 industry applied (EMS) $279.99)

Emergency Room Phase: Thoracic Catheter (Chest Tube)
Government Price NSN / Hospital bulk order per 1000: $1.35/unit
Hospital Restocking Price: $135.00/ea
Valve Assembly: new $3.98
Hospital Restocking Price: :$398.00

Out-Patient Hospitalization Phase:
Chest X-Ray: (Actuall $35.00 but to cover the costs of installing new equipment across town at the Acute Medical Clinic for the depraved section-8 housing where these services are provided free your X-Ray will be billed to insurance at $3,500)

In-Patient Hospitalization Phase:
To be sure everything was in fact needed and then done right...the doctor has ordered a CT scan and MRI to be sure placement was correct. Total costs billed to insurance providers or individuals for diagnostic imaging services: $75,000 - $190,000 depending on whether you were treated in a level II or level V Trauma Care Facility.

Suction apparatus, electricity used, monitored I/O by nursing staff, multi-function bed, anti-decubitus ulcer compression sleeves, assisted trips to the bathroom and jello pudding for a three day two night stay in ICU: $347,498.00 of which your insurance company will pick up 80% leaving you with $69,499.00 to pay for a simple penetrating knife wound to you chest.

In Thailand, minus all the "extras" outpatient services including chest tube intubation, manual auscultation and syringe confirmation or absence of fluids, manual suction and take home instructions with pharmacy script to stop by local pharmacy and pick up OTC Percocet for pain as needed (PRN): $1,000 THB ($28,17 USD)

Or you could find an out of work 18D to do this and a baggie of 800mg Ibuprofen.

Note: If you climb in the Ambulance that will raise your bill by: $2,000 - $18,000 depending on type of Ambulance, distance and whether it flies or drives.

I come cheap: .04¢ per 200mg Motrin (I'm getting 100% profit here!) and .06¢ for the baggie (again 100%)

3 Days @ 400 mg tig + 1 baggie = .78¢

Plus $1000 for my shitty diagnosis of operatorus vaginitis and the difficulty of writing and explaining this code for you to take your meds: ll-ll-ll

[Box]

Originally Posted by bblhead672

Holy crap....it's a good thing she read you the knife story and not the giant double ended dildo story.

Yes indeed..... because THAT would have been really weird.

[casey]

[QUOTE=Billy L-bach;622371]The pandering to free stuff America is embarrassingly obvious but it is the government we as a nation deserve.

Allow me to share an old fairy tale that my mom used to read me when I was little........



Billy, that was awesome!!

Would love to hear any bed time yarns Mom might have passed on relative to colonization by very, very, peaceful religious types??

[Golf1echo]

Billy your Mother is obviously an insightful and compassionate woman, great fable.

I can see a strap on plastic protest knife finally making the point....
Sales projections of 120 million units and upwards. 62 million to conservatives customers and 59 million to liberals....( they wouldn't know or understand but will throw money at you anyways ). Hope you will remember us when those account statements come rolling in.