an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

jetcitywoman · Post by **jetcitywoman** » Saturday Mar 24, 2012

Why?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezr ... tid=pm_pop

“Other countries negotiate very aggressively with the providers and set rates that are much lower than we do,” Anderson says. They do this in one of two ways. In countries such as Canada and Britain, prices are set by the government. In others, such as Germany and Japan, they’re set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.

We need some type of National Health care reform in this country. Obama's plan is a start but only with the OPTION!

Vote PRO option!

jetcitywoman · Post by **jetcitywoman** » Saturday Mar 24, 2012

I hate to start or engage in political threads but GD it we need healthcare reform desperately. Costs are spiraling out of control. Capitalism in purer form does NOT work here, tha much is obvious.

Heathcare needs to be regulated by the govt like any other monopoly. Yes a monopoly because it's so widely and universally by everyone at some point. Like OIl. Like telecomminucation.

Let govt cap price! please!

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Saturday Mar 24, 2012

Fuck Government run health care. That's all I gotta say.

Autumn Jacket · Post by **Autumn Jacket** » Saturday Mar 24, 2012

RobTheDrummer wrote:Fuck Government run health care. That's all I gotta say.

^^^^Truth^^^^

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Saturday Mar 24, 2012

Here's what the Government does:

Hey, we want to run this!! ....(name whatever it is here)......
(Government proceeds to fuck it up royally)

Oh shit, how will we pay for this??? (collects taxes)

More money??? Shit......(collects more taxes, and wastes more)....

What will we do, we can't keep this afloat??..............wait, I got it!!!

PRIVATIZE!!!!

Dark Soul · Post by **Dark Soul** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

Don't tell me it can't be done. Nearly every other developed nation in the world has universal health care, but not the United States. It's bullshit. And that's all I have to say.

lector · Post by **lector** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

I think you should move to France and save some money because I'm sure that thier doctors are every bit as good as ours....If enough of you get together on this maybe the airplane czar will give you discounted government airfare on one way tickets...

P MAC · Post by **P MAC** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

Health care is already being run by third party pencil pushers and bean counters in the name of managed care. Clinical decisions are greatly impacted by non medical personel who's only concern is the bottom line. And don't forget the whole issue of malpractice insurance costs driven by firvilous legal action. The money spent on health care in the USA is subsidising many attornies and insurance execs in addition to the actual cost of quality health care. We could also talk about the student loan debacle which leaves many doctors 6 figures plus in debt before they begin practicing.
Ultimately, I'm not sure that government intervention is the best way to resolve these issues, but something has to happen. Soon only the ultra rich and the ultra poor will have access to quality health care.

P MAC · Post by **P MAC** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

Health care is already being run by third party pencil pushers and bean counters in the name of managed care. Clinical decisions are greatly impacted by non medical personel who's only concern is the bottom line. And don't forget the whole issue of malpractice insurance costs driven by firvilous legal action. The money spent on health care in the USA is subsidising many attornies and insurance execs in addition to the actual cost of quality health care. We could also talk about the student loan debacle which leaves many doctors 6 figures plus in debt before they begin practicing.
Ultimately, I'm not sure that government intervention is the best way to resolve these issues, but something has to happen. Soon only the ultra rich and the ultra poor will have access to quality health care.

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

Government intervention and insurance are the reasons that it's already expensive. If people could all agree to have no right to file a malpractice suits, shit probably would be cheaper. You can't eat off of the same plate you shit on....well, and expect a good meal!

MistValkyrie · Post by **MistValkyrie** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

RobTheDrummer wrote:Government intervention and insurance are the reasons that it's already expensive. If people could all agree to have no right to file a malpractice suits, shit probably would be cheaper.

I will be the first to agree that the amount of malpractice suits that go on in this country are outrageous and most of them are probably unneeded...but if you take away the ability to sue for malpractice entirely, what are you going to do when some doctor royally does screw up something? Of course, Americans, in general, are thoroughly too litigious in my opinion and need to just calm down and stop suing each other.

Also, being a person with severe health problems, not enough employment to currently get health insurance, and otherwise not enough money to afford health care on my own, I know how tough it is. I am the core demographic of people they're trying to help who aren't currently close to retirement age. I also know what need this country has for reform of some kind. Several years ago, before my health probems got to be as bad as they are, I was an insurance pariah...I couldn't have gotten it if the presidents of the ins. cos were my parents...or alternatively, if I were theirs. It was ridiculous. Now, if I tried, they'd laugh me out of the building. Thankfully, back then I was in college and still covered by my father's work insurance. Even so, I still managed to get screwed once in a while, like the time the insurance was "changing over" to a new format in December of that year, the same week that I needed an MRI so I was conveniently not covered and had to pay 2,000 (which was the amount for an MRI ten years ago at Miner's Hospital, not 1,080) out of pocket when I was in college.

There is medical help available at the state level: the access card, but the income requirements are so low that, if I were to make that little money I would be starving and probably losing my house in the process. Mitt Romney says that there's a safety net in place to help people like me, but it has so many holes in it, that most of the population of people who need it, can't get it. Luckily, I fall into a small group of people who were able to get free healthcare and prescriptions through a local dr.s office...if I didn't have them, I honestly don't know what I'd do.

I really dig the model of the Scandinavian democratic system. People in our country see their high taxation rates and figure that they are ripping off their citizens, because they assume that the "safety net" of those other countries is similar to what we have in this country...that is to say, lacking...but the citizens in those countries are taken care of for anything that they need, at any age, for any problem that may arise (broken bones, er visits, serious diseases, chemo) and if you become disabled and can't work, you'll be taken care of much better than people in this country are.

I don't think that the government's involvement in private affairs makes them better...in fact, I'm convinced that the government (not a reps vs/ dems things here...the whole thing) sucks and generally screws things up more that anything, but keeping healthcare run privatly means that insurance companies can gouge the populace like they have been all these years and there's nothing we can do about it...except go off and die in a ditch somewhere if something happens to us. Insurance companies care about making money, not about helping people and that is what the government needs to start regulating.

Something drastic needs to be done on a federal level and soon. I remember reading this article http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/07/0 ... rstylist-s awhile back and all the things this woman had to go through to get her cancer treated really shocked me. I think anyone who hasn't had a bad experience with an insurance company should read this so they can better understand what we who have needed to go through.

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Sunday Mar 25, 2012

P MAC wrote:Health care is already being run by third party pencil pushers and bean counters in the name of managed care. Clinical decisions are greatly impacted by non medical personel who's only concern is the bottom line. And don't forget the whole issue of malpractice insurance costs driven by firvilous legal action. The money spent on health care in the USA is subsidising many attornies and insurance execs in addition to the actual cost of quality health care. We could also talk about the student loan debacle which leaves many doctors 6 figures plus in debt before they begin practicing.
Ultimately, I'm not sure that government intervention is the best way to resolve these issues, but something has to happen. Soon only the ultra rich and the ultra poor will have access to quality health care.

Well thought out. The current health care ("managed health care") plan is already based on the government run Medicare and Medicaid plans. HMO's were started by a law written by deceased Senator Ted Keneddy, a huge proponent of large government. Look how that has worked out. Total government control will make a bad situation much worse.

RamRod 1 · Post by **RamRod 1** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

We pay 17% of our gross national product on health care. Britian pays 9%. We pay almost double. Think about it.

RamRod 1 · Post by **RamRod 1** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

We pay 17% of our gross national product on health care. Britian pays 9%. We pay almost double. Think about it.

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

No matter how good the healthcare is, we are all going to die at some point.

Naga · Post by **Naga** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

Of course, Rob. But it helps knowing that if something does happen, you're not going to die from the little things. The fact of the matter is, health care isn't about living eternally,... It's more about living in a better condition whether or not we have ailments. Obviously, if you're constantly in pain, you don't have much drive to live. And quite obviously, if you have a dr. that is able to fix that, and assuming you can afford the work they do, your quality of life, for whatever the duration, ends up being 10 fold

Health care is really horrible these days. I personally find it an ugly thing when I have a choice... Eat and pay bills, or have health care, and good health. As I'm not within the top 10% of all wealth, it does come down to huge decisions about health. And unfortunately, I'm sure I'm not the only person who has overlooked things because I can't afford it. Meanwhile, a bunch of fat cats are laughing at us, counting bills out, and think the "insurance necessity", which is actually as good as fraud, is the greatest thing on earth. It's because of things like this that we, the poor, are barely surviving while somebody else is planning on buying a brand new yacht this year

You know,... People tend to say "middle class" a lot in reference to where most of us sit in financial society. With health care and many other things glaring at us while waiting to snatch at our wallets, I dare to think that "lower middle class" is more like "low class", in reference to finances. And the reason for that line of thinking, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that I'm NOT by ANY means in the middle of the wealth bracket. I'm amongst many "lower middle classmen" who can survive at best, knowing I'm doing without. It keeps a serious question constantly floating in my mind... When will this cycle end?

jetcitywoman · Post by **jetcitywoman** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

The US is the last place that I would want to get sick. Let's be honest...greedy opportunistic medicine flourishes here. If you have a good job that provides great insurance, low deducts, low (or even NO premium) god bless you. I can see why you care not about reform (except your selfish). Otherwise your fcked. But your days are numbered. Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and without some form of govt intervention..will get much worse. Your deducts and premiums are going up, and your benefits down. Braace yourself! National healthcare reform is what is needed here. NOW!

Oh, BTW, MEDICARE is actually a wildly successful govt program despite the naysayers. Been availing needing healthcare to millions of people for DECADES. If only the repubs would let us compete and bid for lowest prices

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

RamRod 1 wrote:We pay 17% of our gross national product on health care. Britian pays 9%. We pay almost double. Think about it.

Huge waste and corruption, due to the "managed" care plan based on the government model.

All they manage to do is siphon off money for the white collar criminals.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

Huey's right, for once. Get insurance-company executives out of the mix. I heard the other day that 40% of premiums go to salaries and administrative costs. By removing the influence of people who supply ZERO actual services to healthcare, yet take much of the money, we would not only make heathcare more effective (by putting it's decisions in the hands of actual care-givers), we would lessen it's cost drastically.
Anything you hear on corporate-sponsored media is going to favor the insurance industry bigwigs... because they pay to have it put there.

CHICKSINGA · Post by **CHICKSINGA** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

stumpy is right. A few years ago, in a an article, the CEO of Humana, one of the largest Health Maintenance Organizations, owned 7 houses and 3 or 4 yachts. This man never treated a single patient. He just siphoned money off the top into his pockets.

He would claim his role is to manage healthcare more efficiently. All it led to was limiting essential testing and labwork, hospitalization and medication to patients, reducing payments to doctors and hospitals and making him wealthy beyond imagination.

Sounds like a politician "managing" our money.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

The next time you need a procedure done, ask them how much it will cost and watch the dumbfounded look on their face.

"You want to know WHAT?"

The "go to the doctor free card" has destroyed all price competition. They can pretty much collude on prices because they know that 99% will not bother asking. There are also 3 prices for most procedures:

1. No insurance
2. Private insurance
3. Gumint insurance

jetcitywoman · Post by **jetcitywoman** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

if medical care is so cheap here in the good old USA, why do you need health insurance? i can affo rd $280 for an MRI, why pay a monthly premium 200-300-400-500? each and every month??!! is your healthcare wtii the great bargain a great question for all you stockboy warehouse repubs rush lovers that still think you have a chance?last laptop i bought at bestbuy is said Noooo to their addon warranty. why...because the laps cheap enough to replace.

well..i'd like an answer

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

jetcitywoman wrote:if medical care is so cheap here in the good old USA, why do you need health insurance? i can affo rd $280 for an MRI, why pay a monthly premium 200-300-400-500? each and every month??!! is your healthcare wtii the great bargain a great question for all you stockboy warehouse repubs rush lovers that still think you have a chance?last laptop i bought at bestbuy is said Noooo to their addon warranty. why...because the laps cheap enough to replace.

well..i'd like an answer

I would try to but you need to use English.

jetcitywoman · Post by **jetcitywoman** » Monday Mar 26, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-progr ... 47834.html

40+yrs of success

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/Cr ... 13_03.html