Comments on: Health “care” in the US http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us random thoughts of a western buddhist Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:38:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: bodhipaksa http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us/comment-page-1#comment-73927 bodhipaksa Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:25:57 +0000 http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us#comment-73927 We've had some experience of this. Our insurance company is refusing to allow us to upgrade our coverage (for which we'd be paying more) because of a bogus "prior condition" which is in fact something completely benign and a medical non-issue. They previously tried the same trick on the grounds that our daughter was adopted from Ethiopia and had previously had an infection (which had of course been treated a long time ago and is also a non-issue). As Michael Moore pointed out in "Sicko," the health insurance industry's term for paying for healthcare is a "medical loss." Their <em>raison d'être</em> is to pay as little as they can get away with in order to maximize profit, even if it means that people die. We’ve had some experience of this. Our insurance company is refusing to allow us to upgrade our coverage (for which we’d be paying more) because of a bogus “prior condition” which is in fact something completely benign and a medical non-issue. They previously tried the same trick on the grounds that our daughter was adopted from Ethiopia and had previously had an infection (which had of course been treated a long time ago and is also a non-issue). As Michael Moore pointed out in “Sicko,” the health insurance industry’s term for paying for healthcare is a “medical loss.” Their raison d’être is to pay as little as they can get away with in order to maximize profit, even if it means that people die.

]]> By: trinlayk http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us/comment-page-1#comment-73925 trinlayk Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:28:32 +0000 http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us#comment-73925 Even when the insurance covers things well... if someone gets seriously ill the company can suddenly cut them off... no warning or anything. If you've had cancer as a child, or have a pre-existing or chronic condition you cannot buy Private Insurance, as almost none of the companies will take you on as a client, and the ones that WILL will exclude anything you've had before (childhood cancer, means no future cancer will be covered even if different kind), and exclude anything pre-existing or chronic. Even when the insurance covers things well… if someone gets seriously ill the company can suddenly cut them off… no warning or anything.

If you’ve had cancer as a child, or have a pre-existing or chronic condition you cannot buy Private Insurance, as almost none of the companies will take you on as a client, and the ones that WILL will exclude anything you’ve had before (childhood cancer, means no future cancer will be covered even if different kind), and exclude anything pre-existing or chronic.

]]> By: bodhipaksa http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us/comment-page-1#comment-73922 bodhipaksa Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:31:18 +0000 http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us#comment-73922 I'm self-employed and spend what I consider to be a ridiculous amount of money on health insurance, AND end up paying heaily for doctors' visits and prescriptions. Lat year, when my daughter was ill, we were hit with an $800 bill for a 15 mile ambulance trip. It's frightening that despite having health insurance I could potentially end up losing my home and livelihood because of an illness or accident. I can only describe the story I highlighted from the article as a scam -- calling drugs, medications, and medical procedures "other" expenses and excluding them, while offering an improbably large sum for mere board and lodgings is frankly dishonest. It's designed to mislead. I’m self-employed and spend what I consider to be a ridiculous amount of money on health insurance, AND end up paying heaily for doctors’ visits and prescriptions. Lat year, when my daughter was ill, we were hit with an $800 bill for a 15 mile ambulance trip. It’s frightening that despite having health insurance I could potentially end up losing my home and livelihood because of an illness or accident. I can only describe the story I highlighted from the article as a scam — calling drugs, medications, and medical procedures “other” expenses and excluding them, while offering an improbably large sum for mere board and lodgings is frankly dishonest. It’s designed to mislead.

]]> By: nathan http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us/comment-page-1#comment-73918 nathan Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:17:24 +0000 http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/health-care-in-the-us#comment-73918 I've been uninsured over 7 years now. This whole privatized system is rotten, and needs to be put out of its misery. Policies are more and more meaningless by the day, even as our sorry Congress continues to pander to these companies and their greedy, profit focused ways. And this, even though the majority of nurses and doctors want to see a single payer system, or at least something that reduces greatly the influence of the insurance industry. As far as I'm concerned, there is little "care" in this system. I’ve been uninsured over 7 years now. This whole privatized system is rotten, and needs to be put out of its misery. Policies are more and more meaningless by the day, even as our sorry Congress continues to pander to these companies and their greedy, profit focused ways. And this, even though the majority of nurses and doctors want to see a single payer system, or at least something that reduces greatly the influence of the insurance industry.

As far as I’m concerned, there is little “care” in this system.

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