[clee1]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

What about the young person who thinks he is healthy so chooses not to buy insurance?
Say he has a good job but lives paycheck to paycheck.
Should taxpayers pay for his care if he is in a bad accident or develops cancer?

Nope. This person made a poor choice. He/she should pay their bill out of their paycheck, and I give less than a darn if they have to do without restuarant meals, satellight TV, or DSL internet to pay for it.

With Medicare for everyone everyone pays, everyone is insured. I also think a single high standard of care is needed. No waiting until it is an emergency.

That is the fallicy in your logic - everyone PAYS now; if they work. The only way it pays for your bills is if you are retired, disabled, or indigent. This is more Karl Marx "from each according to their gifts; to each according to their needs" bullsqueeze. And, it is WAY past time for this to stop. What incentive do I have to be productive, if all I get for being productive is the "privilege" to pay the healthcare bills of the unproductive?

Whatever happened to the preventative care the HMOs promised twenty years ago?

That was sacrificed on the altar of outrageous executive pay, stockholder dividends, etc. Call your congresscritter.

As Quentin Young MD says, "Everybody in. Nobody out"

Then let Quinten Young MD pay for it. I'll take care of me and mine, thank you very much.

Consider this: do you REALLY want a government that cannot seal our borders effectively, manage health and safety projects (NOLA levees), public works (sewers, water systems, schools, highways) nationwide, to manage YOUR healthcare???? Not me, friend... not me!

[pickledpepperRN]

Problem is the hypothetical person is now disabled and unable to work.
Who pays the bill after the accident?
Or the cancer treatment?

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by clee1

Consider this: do you REALLY want a government that cannot seal our borders effectively, manage health and safety projects (NOLA levees), public works (sewers, water systems, schools, highways) nationwide, to manage YOUR healthcare???? Not me, friend... not me!

So is our country hopeless?

Anyplace better?

[clee1]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

So is our country hopeless?

Even though it is beyond the scope of this thread, and even this board, I'll say that, IMHO, the answer is "yes". I see another Civil War (or Revolution)coming in the medium-term future. Too many people want the gooberment to be everything to everyone, from cradle to grave; and too many others would rather die fighting the total loss of their cherished and hard-won freedoms. It is the irresistable force meeting the immoveable object: and something has to give, sooner or later.

Anyplace better?

None that I have ever seen or heard of, God help us all.

[clee1]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

Problem is the hypothetical person is now disabled and unable to work.
Who pays the bill after the accident?
Or the cancer treatment?

You answered your own question: the person is now disabled and is eligible for Medicare.

[pickledpepperRN]

I'm going to let someone smarter than I continue this discussion.
Or let it sink off the page as the case may be.

I still love my country and hope we the people will improve our lives.
I also think many people here and in other countries live productive, enjoyable lives with purpose and joy.

Rainbow Race by Pete Seeger

One blue sky above us,
One ocean lapping all our shores,
One Earth so green and round,
Who could ask for more?
And because I love you,
I’ll give it one more try.
To show my Rainbow Race
It’s too soon to die.

[soliant12]

It's all the frivlious lawuits filed by attorneys and people trying to scam the system that are driving up the costs for everyone

Originally Posted by grannynurse FNP student

Actually there are very few multi-million dollar malpractice awards. And those that are won, are frequently settle for substantially less then the jury award, in exchange for the judgment not being appealed. And it is the bad investments, the insurance companies have made, that have lead to higher costs to physicians. And lets face it. We have all worked with a doctor or two that we know shouldn't be practicing.

Grannynurse

[VeryPlainJane]

Originally Posted by soliant12

It's all the frivlious lawuits filed by attorneys and people trying to scam the system that are driving up the costs for everyone

My state did a study of so called frivolous lawsuits...what it found was over 70% of the malpractice lawsuits was tied to only 4% of the doctors. No one wants to address the issue of bad doctors. As nurses if we lose our license in one state we lose it in all states, bad doctors can just move on.

[VeryPlainJane]

Is it any coincidence that the states least likely to discipline doctors are among those with insurance crises? … The problem is not the compensation paid to injured patients, but an epidemic of medical errors.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...50C0A9659C8B63

[lindarn]

Originally Posted by VeryPlainJane

Is it any coincidence that the states least likely to discipline doctors are among those with insurance crises? … The problem is not the compensation paid to injured patients, but an epidemic of medical errors.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...50C0A9659C8B63

I do Legal Nurse Consulting, and I can say, "Amen", to that. Between what i saw as a bedside nurse for 26 years, and the cases that I have worked on as a Legal Nurse Consultant, I cold write a book on the evils of the powers that be in the health care industry. There is no "malpractice crisis".

Here in Washington State, we just voted down a state initiative, that was draconian in what it would have done to individuals who were injured maimed, and killed, with the most agregious incidents of neglegence and malpractice. And the length that the hospital industry, AMA, JCAHO, etc will go to cover up the huge mistakes is an outrage. I am proud to say that I parterned with a malpractice attorney who I do work for, and supplied him with a plethora of articles, research, statistics, etc, to give the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association ammunition to fight off this measure. It was not just the issue of "job security" that I helped, it was to fight the grave injustice that it would have caused. I do not have the space to provide all of the details of the initiative, but suffice to say, that the "devil was in the fine print", of the initiative. JMHO.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington