Thread: Health Care

Ugh. Good question. I have always had health care. I was a student until I was 20 so I had it under my parents. I got a job right after that and had benefits through them. They were expensive. Like 160$/month. I thought it was expensive for a 21 year old single guy. Now at my new job they pay for all benefits which is sweet. I can't really identify with the lower class when it comes to that. I was born into a family of working middle class parents. I then got a job and always had benefits. Now, with that said, do I think we should have universal health care? I say no. It will probably cost us tax payers, people that actually fuckin work, a piss load of more money and the quality will go down. I don't agree with young kids dieing of ear aches though. Its a tough decision. I say we go back to natural selection. Let nature take its course and weed out the meek.

the heath care industry needs a major overhaul no doubt. im just not convinced governmental heath care is the way to go to fix it. the government doesnt do things very efficiently in my book. i would like to see the government pass laws that put more power and decision making in the hands of the consumer. i understand this would hurt the health care industry some, but i want them to lean out a little bit. see what happens when good old fashioned competition forces them to fight for buisness

Even if we had universal health care, it would just be like Britain where you would still pay for private health care if you could afford it. Universal Health care means even Longer waiting times. Not only that, but now instead of paying for your own health care you're also paying for another persons health care.

If it is free to everyone, who pays for it?

Fuck insurance companies! I told those crooks to cancel my shitty insurance today. I go to fill a prescription and it cost $400 with insurance. What the fuck am I paying for? I told those fuckers at BCBS to go fuck themselves and I was ordering my shit from Canada.

Originally Posted by KelJu

Fuck insurance companies! I told those crooks to cancel my shitty insurance today. I go to fill a prescription and it cost $400 with insurance. What the fuck am I paying for? I told those fuckers at BCBS to go fuck themselves and I was ordering my shit from Canada.

You'll be paying a lot more if there is universal health care.

Originally Posted by KelJu

Fuck insurance companies! I told those crooks to cancel my shitty insurance today. I go to fill a prescription and it cost $400 with insurance. What the fuck am I paying for? I told those fuckers at BCBS to go fuck themselves and I was ordering my shit from Canada.

What do you think it will be without Ins.?

Damned if you do, damned if ya don't.

We're screwed.

Originally Posted by dg806

What do you think it will be without Ins.?

A heck of alot cheaper he is ordering from Canada

Ideally some sort of two tiered system would make sense. However the universal health care would be dependant on your ability to take care of yourself. ie. no smoking, proper diet.

If you can't take care of yourself, why should you get universal coverage.

Originally Posted by dg806

What do you think it will be without Ins.?

$500 with insurance, $400 without. I'm paying $200.00 a month for a group plan through the company I work for. I got my prescriptions filled for $6.00 a piece last time, now it went up to $400.00.

I don't want universal coverage for the reasons mentioned above. Longer wait times, paying for people who can't afford it. I get livid just thinking about insurance companies just like Kelju's. There has to be something done about them jacking up unreasonable prescription costs and premiums. My wife has coverage provided free through her work, but it would be and extra $500/month for me to be on the plan.
I am very fortunate though in that when I become a union member at my work, my coverage will be 100% paid. No copays, no referrals, $1 prescriptions.

Originally Posted by KelJu

$500 with insurance, $400 without. I'm paying $200.00 a month for a group plan through the company I work for. I got my prescriptions filled for $6.00 a piece last time, now it went up to $400.00.

So you are paying $200 a month and you want them to pick up your $400 medicine? To me this is the problem, people view insurance as that parent who pays things we can't afford. That money has to come from somewhere.

The future will be something similar to Health Savings Accounts. Insurance pays for big issues - kicks in at $5,000 or so for families....but until you hit that max, YOU pay.

Insurance companies do suck. Don't get me wrong. But far too many people expect the insurance company to lose money on them.

We just switched to high deductible insurance with savings accounts for all of our employees and are very happy with it. The 30%/year increases in standard insurance was killing us.

Originally Posted by Pepper

So you are paying $200 a month and you want them to pick up your $400 medicine? To me this is the problem, people view insurance as that parent who pays things we can't afford. That money has to come from somewhere.

Take it from the 4 years of payments I've made since my last doctors visit....

We had it back in the 70's. If you were poor and couldn't afford health care you received it free through the welfare system. Reagan killed it, then Bush made it even less available, and each successive President has made health care less and less available. Have a tooth ache and need a dentist? Have no insurance? Lol ... you're screwed.

Hitlery had a horrible plan back in 94ish. Hope we don't see that come around again.

The major grocery chain in my area now has a low cost blood screening center that also treats common colds and similar minor health issues. I paid $15 for a blood test, and $35 for a PSA prostate check (blood test not an anal probe). I was in and out in less than 15 minutes and knew the results in 3 days for $50. Next blood test will not need a PSA so it will only be $15. These guys are making a profit here. This is not a subsidized program, this is a for profit business called RediClinic.

So if RediClinic can make a buck with this business model (they take major insurance) why does it cost me a whoping total of a little under $700 to go to my doctor for the same service?

Originally Posted by Pepper

So you are paying $200 a month and you want them to pick up your $400 medicine? To me this is the problem, people view insurance as that parent who pays things we can't afford. That money has to come from somewhere.

My father has paid into a system 10 times more than he has ever taken. He paid for his family to be taken care of. I rarely ever go to the doctor and he never goes. I lost my insurance when I turned 25 and I am basically needing these prescriptions for another 5 months in which that point I will graduate from college, have a good job in my career, and I can afford to pay for it myself. I go every 6 months to see my neurologist who writes me 6 months worth of two prescriptions. I take half of what I should to stretch things out, and I don't take the medication at all for weeks at a time when I feel that I don't need it. Now my employer is paying 400 a month, and I am paying 200 a month. The prescription cost $500.00 a month. Now tell me who is coming out on top? I have worked full time since I was 17 while going to college. I never got any financial aid other than a loan which I will pay back.

Now you make it sound as if I am mooching off of the system, and don't care. That isn't the case. I'm doing the best I can, and I just canceled my insurance today. I can order the medication from Canada at a fraction of the cost. It isn't the patients that are ruining the system, it is the criminal health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, and the insurance companies. They run the prices up on everything so people are forced to get heath care coverage just to afford a medicine that should cost a fraction of what they are charging for it.
The system is so messed up, because there is no fucking sense in a prescription costing $500.00. The reason my insurance won't cover it is because it is a medication for bipolar disorder and only half of the cost is covered by insurance. Oh if I was a diabetic it would all be covered, but since it is a metal heath drug, I should pay out the ass for it. Well I'll figure out a way to get it, because I can't put a price on my sanity.

The only thing I can think to do is find a work around. I'm not going to waste anymore energy and time on insurance companies.

Originally Posted by Pepper

So you are paying $200 a month and you want them to pick up your $400 medicine? To me this is the problem, people view insurance as that parent who pays things we can't afford. That money has to come from somewhere.

Pepper why you post drivel? You know the law of large numbers and the huge profits these companies make AND how they make it. Why post nonsense?

I don't think healthcare is a right. Poor people shouldn't have it, and rich people should. Especially if you are born rich, you are entilted.

Case in point, the kid who died from a tooth ache that led to an infection in his brain--he was poor. The system worked then, and it will work again without these newfangled bleeding heart dems trying to make me pay more! Even though no one ever looks to solve the problem by cutting down on the fraud waste and abuse in the system, we should forget about that.

No universal health coverage in the US! On top of that, no universal healthcare for children even!


Corporations wouldn't be as rich under a universal healthcare system, and we all want corp CEO's to be able to afford the most expensive house in the Hamton's, instead of a second class mansion in miami.

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I don't think healthcare is a right. Poor people shouldn't have it, and rich people should. Especially if you are born rich, you are entilted.

Case in point, the kid who died from a tooth ache that led to an infection in his brain--he was poor. The system worked then, and it will work again without these newfangled bleeding heart dems trying to make me pay more! Even though no one ever looks to solve the problem by cutting down on the fraud waste and abuse in the system, we should forget about that.

No universal health coverage in the US! On top of that, no universal healthcare for children even!



Corporations wouldn't be as rich under a universal healthcare system, and we all want corp CEO's to be able to afford the most expensive house in the Hamton's, instead of a second class mansion in miami.

Could'nt agree more. This way only those who have fine breeding and heritage will survive to the furtheration of the human race. Thus, by getting rid of the riff raff and disease ridden poor, and leaving a society of upstanding pure breed citzens, typified by societies finest level elite such as Doublebase, the race will progress. H'orderve & Cognac anyone?

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I don't think healthcare is a right. Poor people shouldn't have it, and rich people should. Especially if you are born rich, you are entilted.

Case in point, the kid who died from a tooth ache that led to an infection in his brain--he was poor. The system worked then, and it will work again without these newfangled bleeding heart dems trying to make me pay more! Even though no one ever looks to solve the problem by cutting down on the fraud waste and abuse in the system, we should forget about that.

No universal health coverage in the US! On top of that, no universal healthcare for children even!


Corporations wouldn't be as rich under a universal healthcare system, and we all want corp CEO's to be able to afford the most expensive house in the Hamton's, instead of a second class mansion in miami.

Did you just say that poor little kid deserved to die because his family is poor??

Originally Posted by ReproMan

Did you just say that poor little kid deserved to die because his family is poor??

Sarcasm much!

Originally Posted by IainDaniel

Sarcasm much!

Duh!!

I would have told him to fuck his mother had I though he was serious.

Fuck you asshole.

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

Pepper why you post drivel? You know the law of large numbers and the huge profits these companies make AND how they make it. Why post nonsense?

Its taking all the restraint I have not to tear him a new ass on this issue, and what you just posted is good enough, so I'll be mum.

Originally Posted by IainDaniel

Fuck you asshole.

I am on the fence. I think, as someone else mentioned, the system needs an overhaul. For example, I had blood drawn for a cholesterol test and on my benefit form it showed the cost as $160. It took the nurse 10 seconds to draw the blood, 20 seconds to send it off to the lab, and a couple of days to get the results. I am fairly certain that the research/tech costs of the cholesterol test has paid itself off 50-fold since it was first done in the 70's or whenever, so what am I paying for?

I also see the flipside. I am a Dr. who has $500k in school loans to pay for who gets the insurance companies coming in and only paying %50 of what the cost of something is. This could effect the type of person who decides to go to medical school.

With our current system, I believe remedial shit should be for free. Catching stuff like cholesterol, high BP, and stuff like that early is absolutely essential.
It also affords the ability to show a pattern of bad behavior. If someone is told they have High BP and Cholesterol at some point and the next year they come in and it increases along with their waistline, this person should not be afforded the opportunity of free health care, same with smokers. When something is outside the person's control, such as the case with a child who breaks a leg playing soccer or something, it should be covered.

So, IMO, Universal healthcare is a viable option, but only if the current healthcare system is revamped.