The Human Animal (Humans)

by David Turell , Sunday, August 30, 2009, 16:30 (5355 days ago) @ xeno6696

The situation in the US in which millions of people who cannot afford insurance just have to hope never to fall ill seems awful. - George, you are reading political propaganda. The so-called 47 million without insurance is made up of 8-12 million illegal aliens, about 10 million between jobs, and about 10 million young folks who feel they don't need insurance but can afford it. That leaves an accepted figure of 14-16 million who should be covered by insurance, but as Matt notes below, they are covered by law. The 10 million between jobs is a gap in our nutty health insurance history. After WWII this country had a huge boom. To entice workers employers offered hedalth insurance as a benefit and the Congress allowed it as a business tax deduction. As a result much of our health insurance is from the employer, and the employee has no reason to ration his health desires; he feels he is not paying. That is why HMO's have co-pays and other methods to try and draw attention to costs. - One solution for the between-employment is to mandate portability of coverage. An other is to remove employers entirely from the mix and allow employees to have their health money as part of their salaries and as a group choose their company coveraage. This is what our federal employees do, and studies show they have better and yet cheaper coverage. By the way, our government does supply 40% of health care in this country through various coverage like medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP, a children's program. - 
 
> Having worked in a hospital for nearly 5 years I can give you a bit of perspective on the current system. Anyone who walks in must be treated--by law. There is no escaping this. - 
> Really, the only debate is on the cost of health services, which has risen much faster than inflation over the last 30 years. The no-insurance fear propagated by US media (and our president) is irrational. - I've covered this above. - 
> Many variables go into the rising health costs, first and foremost is malpractice insurance. - Another variable is the cost of medical research, and for the world we are the leaders. Further it is our pharmaceutical companies that develop most of the new drugs for the world. You fellows benefit at our cost, and our patients who can afford it pay. - Another consideration is our national psyche. This is a very capitalistic, competative society. It is impatient and demands instant gratification. We are appalled at the queues you folks tolerate. If in this country note the number of check-out counters in a large store. there is no questioning the rationing that goes on in Britain or Canada. A research paper I read indicates the French system is better, but I only know what I read as you do. If there is no important rationing in Britain then why do you have an allowed private practice? Is it only for the rich? All polls show that most people in this country are satisfied with the coverage, about 65%. - 
> But if you watch our veteran's health system--those citizens that deserve the best--they get treated like shit and a government-run system would likely end up that way here for all citizens. No sane man wants that. - I worked part-time in the VA teaching, early on in my practice. I spent two forced years in the Army Medical Corps as head of Internal Medicine in a large base hospital. I enjoyed my time and was very patient-oriented. Of the 19 two-year, fresh-from-training doctors (not regular Army), only three of us had that attitude. Private practicioners have a profit motive, and must please their patients or lose them. 8-5 hired doctors have a fixed salary and tend to be 8-5 factory workers. That is why Army medicine and VA medicine are like they are in this country. Perhaps Europeans are different. - Any comments?