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Another reason for health care reform
Friday, March 13, 2009 11:06 PM PDT
Here is another reason why we need health care reform in this country.
There was a young single mother working two jobs to hold her young family together, with no medical resources. If only this young mother could have gone to the doctor the first time she found a lump, she could be alive today. She could not afford any time lost on her jobs or the money to spend on a doctor until it was too late. A young Christopher, at the age of 13, saw his young mother suffer a long, slow, painful death. At the age of 15, Christopher lost his young mother and his home.
He had no grandparents or any other adults to guide him to a useful life. It was a very sad day to read about Christopher in the Lodi newspaper. Christopher made a very bad and wrong choice to hold up and steal from a store. I am sure that if Christopher's mother was alive today, this would not have happened to Christopher — to be so desperate to do something that is so wrong. Christopher ruined his life and will have to live with his bad choice for the rest of his life.
What a shame for letting Christopher and his young mother down. Just think: no place to turn but to desperate wrong choices. This young man needed help and did not know where to go. What a shame.
Merrilyn Wilmoth
Galt
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Rhodie wrote on Mar 20, 2009 11:55 AM:
You can bet if hospitals ran like there was pricing competition some groups would be out with dirt cheap but just as good services and supplies the next week.
The advantage for the poor and uninsured is now they wouldn't have to worry as much about the costs since the costs would be lower and they can shop for just what they need without the greed of the medical industry padding the bill on them.
Imagine the change in medical costs if before any treatment or test you were told up front what the cost was going to be!? "
onelastthing wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:51 AM:
When AT&T was broke up, it created more competition. There has to be more competition in the healthcare industry.
There are many solutions. Let's talk about the possible solutions. "
Rhodie wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:43 AM:
Another way to look at it is if there was only one mechanic in town they could charge 60, 70, even 100 for oil changes because the only competition is the do it yourselfers. But when a second mechanic sets up shop and charges 30 for the same service, who's going to be busier?
This is what I mean by more competition; (in summery) price and doc options so the patient can choose the level of service and costs (like a menu) they want thus driving down prices because docs and suppliers now don't have a captive audience, but one that is shopping around from the medical bed. "
Rhodie wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:36 AM:
Let's say you go in with a broken bone. After the initial assessment you are provided a list of doctors that provide broken bone services that your insurance covers. Along with their skills is a list of what their prices are. So now you can decide since all you need is a quick set and cast for a month do you want to go with the doc who charges $1000?, $750?, $500?, maybe $150?. What will happen to the docs who charge three times more than the lowest doc? They will drop their prices. On the other hand maybe you see the expensive doc has more experience in what ever it is you have wrong and you want to go with them (in this case their competitive edge would be expertise like shopping a florist for flowers rather than S-mart foods). "
Rhodie wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:29 AM:
" Rhodie, we have a free market healthcare system right now, so not sure what you are getting at by your suggestion to create competition."
I've been trying to think of a good way to explain why (or how) more competition in the medical field could be betterfor the health care system. Then last night as I was was filling up with gas and craving a soda I found a good analogy. Right now our hospitals are more like convienence stores, that is they have what they have and they know you want it. So what do the satores do, they charge $1.69 for a bottle of soda that only costs them .30. Why? Because there is no competition, you are there, you want it and they know you won't leave to get it somewhere else. But what would happen to those prices if instead on one store to choose from you had four or five to choose from inside the same building? The prices would drop to attract more customers.
Cont. "
onelastthing wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:03 AM:
The US does not have the best or most efficient healthcare system in the world no matter what Rush tells you.
-Perhaps it isn't the best or most efficient. But, considering how many people live in the US, the healthcare infrastructure is second to none. So, actually it is the best and most efficient in that sense. "
onelastthing wrote on Mar 20, 2009 7:39 AM:
" Rhodie, we have a free market healthcare system right now, so not sure what you are getting at by your suggestion to create competition.
-Perhaps voter can explain to us how free market economics can succeed without competition. Perhaps it was just a slip up on his part. "
Nextel wrote on Mar 16, 2009 9:12 PM:
danielh wrote on Mar 16, 2009 1:00 PM:
Through the fictitious interface of my computer monitor, I'm having a little trouble figuring out exactly what's going on there, but I see enough to be pretty sure it's not very desireable.
In regards to the joke, though, for licking yourself, I'm going to be laughing all day for that one.
Anyway, I'm serious about surgery at the veterinary clinic. "
voter wrote on Mar 16, 2009 7:18 AM:
Cogito wrote on Mar 15, 2009 11:23 PM:
Cogito wrote on Mar 15, 2009 10:47 PM:
voter wrote on Mar 15, 2009 8:51 PM:
Cogito wrote on Mar 15, 2009 8:41 PM:
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 8:14 PM:
if anyone needs surgery and wants to cut heatlth care costs.
A vet can perform the same surgery for less than 10% of the cost. "
Cogito wrote on Mar 15, 2009 8:04 PM:
Cogito wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:44 PM:
voter wrote on Mar 15, 2009 6:57 PM:
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 3:19 PM:
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 3:18 PM:
Soon, I am optimistic, that the day is near when the American people will become more aware of D.C. "
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 3:11 PM:
We are wasting our time to talk about how to fix District of Columbia. "
Rhodie wrote on Mar 15, 2009 10:43 AM:
" Just out of curiosity, Daniel, what do you think ought to be done to help the uninsured and underinsured access basic healthcare?"
IF (and that is a big "IF") there is anything that can be done about heathcare reform the first step is to reform the expenses. $20 tounge depressers, $5 q-tips and cotton swabs, $2k+ a night to stay in a bed with only a curtain to seperate you from the world. The first step to make health care accessible to all is to get rid of the bloated and inflated medical costs. What we need is competition in the medical fields and this would accomplish it. You may not want to find the bargin bin doc for brain surgery but setting bones and such shouldn't cost $4500 (real life, that's what it cost my parents when I broke my hand. Between teh three casts, x-rays and setting the bones). I'm guessing the tests they run continuously are inflated in their costs as well.
Create competition where hospitals have to compete like stores to attract your business and costs will drop. "
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:37 AM:
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:36 AM:
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:35 AM:
Col. North testified that every US citizen has an account at treasury. The CIA was borrowing funds from these accounts without our notification, using the funds to purchase arms for the Contras, and subsequently putting the money back after money would be earned through various entrapreneurial activities.
I don't recall anyone asking Oliver North to elaborate on just what was this source of funding that he was talking about.
Based upon what I know now, I can imagine that the attorneys were cringing in their seat by his testimony.
I think every judge that sits on the bench in the United States of America certainly knows about this fund. I say this, because it is the responsibility of judges to justify their extraction of funds out of the account by permission of the defendant, who is deemed incompetent. "
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:29 AM:
One of my mentors is buying foreclosure houses in Cleveland and giving them back to the people that the bank kicked out.
His source of funding comes out of an account that was created when FDR stole the gold. "
danielh wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:27 AM:
My complaint is against the FDA, AMA, ACS, etc. I could make the list very long.
Any compliance with the propoganda schemes of these organizations is foolish. "
voter wrote on Mar 14, 2009 7:35 PM:
danielh wrote on Mar 14, 2009 10:40 AM:
Bill campaigned for health care reform, and still today, medicine is corrupt as ever before.
After he was elected and after Hillary had investigated and developed a theoretical system, Bill addressed the nation in his 2nd State of the Union address and offered a National ID Card, with which anyone who surrendered to accept the card, could have free (US-controlled) health care. "
danielh wrote on Mar 14, 2009 10:37 AM:
The purpose for the FDA, AMA, ACS is to prevent people from learning about the cures.
Health Care reform would PROHIBIT the use of cancer cures. "
danielh wrote on Mar 14, 2009 10:35 AM:
Health Care reform would only drive a stake into our hearts.
The problem you describe is a result of the people who offer health care reform. "
voter wrote on Mar 14, 2009 8:45 AM:
Cogito wrote on Mar 14, 2009 8:16 AM:
LodiSafeway wrote on Mar 14, 2009 5:57 AM:
If this reform comes in the form of nationalized medical care for all, at the expense of the government, then we're going to turn into a socialist society. All we need to do is look around to see what an abject failure that would be.
I suspect that Ms. Wilmoth expects that the woman depicted in her story should have had all of her care provided to her, with no contribution from the woman herself. Clearly, our individual pursuits of happiness (as put forth so well in our Declaration of Independence) should include the taking of responsibility to make sure that we care for ourselves and our families to the best of our abilities. To this end some harsh realities must be accepted: don't have children unless they can be taken care of; spend whatever money we have first on the things that will keep us healthy. "
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