[lashes]

I am an RN originally from Canada and have been working in the US for three years, and adjusting to the health care system here both professionally and personally has been rather diffficult. Having been a pt and a nurse on both sides of the border, it has been my experience that socialized medicine is the way to go. In Canada, I never saw the things I see here as far hopital bills, pt's being refused by MD's etc. The health care system here is a mess..

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by NRSKarenRN

Comcast.net News:

Calif. Gov Calls for Universal Coverage

The California Nurses Association today said it welcomed the decision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to address the state’s escalating healthcare crisis. But, said CNA President Deborah Burger, the sum of his proposals may ultimately amount to “little more than a fresh coat of paint on a collapsing house.”...

California Nurses Statement on Gov. Health Plan

[pickledpepperRN]

A second, third and fourth opinion on healthcare

… Those earning more than 2 1/2 times the federal poverty level — a total of $41,500 a year for a family of three — would not receive a subsidy but would still have to buy insurance if their employer did not offer it. The cheapest plan would require families to pay $2,000 a year in premiums, and as much as $10,000 in out-of-pocket medical costs.

"By setting this as a minimum, the tendency will be to undermine and reduce the current level offered by some employers, who will use this to justify reducing their benefits much more," said E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research…

A second, third and fourth opinion on healthcare - Los Angeles Times

[Spidey's mom]

Originally Posted by lashes

I am an RN originally from Canada and have been working in the US for three years, and adjusting to the health care system here both professionally and personally has been rather diffficult. Having been a pt and a nurse on both sides of the border, it has been my experience that socialized medicine is the way to go. In Canada, I never saw the things I see here as far hopital bills, pt's being refused by MD's etc. The health care system here is a mess..

That is interesting - this afternoon I heard a woman who was from Austrailia and New Zealand talk about how bad universal health care is and how much better healthcare is in America.

I did hear something today - about if you don't go to the doc for every little stubbed toe and sore throat you can have reduced health insurance costs. I'm all for a higher deductible and lower monthly payments.

steph

[UKRNinUSA]

I don't have much time to post but I did want to say "Thank you Arnie for trying". It might not be the answer to all of our healthcare problems, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
If anyone woud like to get involved in the grassroots healthcare for all movement in California check out Health Care for All—California Home Page; Achieve Universal Health Insurance

[pickledpepperRN]

Governor Schwarzenegger does seem to be trying. he no longer uses lines from his movies.
I hope he pays attention to what people truly need, but considering healthcare corporations and insurance companies paid for his inagural party I fear they have his attention more than nurses and others who are the real providers of care.

Healthcare packages all inferior, except for one
By Deborah Burger, RN
January 10, 2007

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unwrapping his long-anticipated healthcare package Monday and talk about reform building in Sacramento, Californians may well be wonder if our long healthcare nightmare is finally coming to an end.

Sadly, virtually none of the proposals now being touted in the Capitol is universal, strengthens quality of care or reduces rising costs to consumers…

…Here's 10 ways a similar, single-payer-type system, would benefit all Californians, not only those who profit in healthcare:
1. Everybody in, nobody out. Universal means access to healthcare for everyone, period — the desire of 81 percent of all Californians, as reported in a recent Field Poll.
2. Portability. Even if you are unemployed or lose or change your job, your health coverage goes with you.
3. Uniform benefits. No Cadillac plans for the wealthy and Moped plans for everyone else, with high deductibles, limited services and no protection in the event of a catastrophe. One standardized level of comprehensive care no matter what size your wallet.
4. Prevention. By removing financial roadblocks, a single-payer system encourages preventive care that lowers an individual's ultimate cost and pain and suffering when problems are neglected, and societal cost in the overutilization of emergency rooms or the spread of communicable diseases.
5. Choice of physician. Most private plans restrict what doctors, other caregivers or hospital you can use. Under a single-payer system, patients have a choice and the provider is assured a fair reimbursement.
6. Ending insurance industry interference with care. Caregivers and patients regain the autonomy to make decisions on what's best for a patient's health, not what's dictated by the billing department or the bean counters. No denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions or cancellation of policies for "unreported" minor health problems.
7. Reducing administrative waste. One third of every healthcare dollar in California goes for paperwork, such as denying you care, and profits, compared to about 3 percent under Medicare, a single-payer, universal system.
8. Cost savings. Numerous studies suggest a single-payer system would produce the savings needed to cover everyone, largely by using existing resources without the waste. Taiwan adopted a single-payer system in 1995, boosting health coverage from 57 percent to 97 percent with little if any increase in overall healthcare spending.
9. Common sense budgeting. The public system sets fair reimbursements applied equally to all providers while assuring all comprehensive and appropriate healthcare is delivered, and uses its clout to negotiate volume discounts for prescription drugs and medical equipment.
10. Public oversight. The public sets the policies and administers the system, not high-priced CEOs meeting in secret and making decisions based on what inflates their compensation packages or stocks.

While our politicians debate inferior alternatives, it's up to all of us to insist that Californians deserve the best…

Ventura County Star: Opinion

[Daggummit!]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

A second, third and fourth opinion on healthcare

… Those earning more than 2 1/2 times the federal poverty level — a total of $41,500 a year for a family of three — would not receive a subsidy but would still have to buy insurance if their employer did not offer it. The cheapest plan would require families to pay $2,000 a year in premiums, and as much as $10,000 in out-of-pocket medical costs.

"By setting this as a minimum, the tendency will be to undermine and reduce the current level offered by some employers, who will use this to justify reducing their benefits much more," said E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research…

A second, third and fourth opinion on healthcare - Los Angeles Times

And another gapping hole in proposals such as this is what happens to that family of three when the dad has to have heart surgery and the insurance company jacks the premiums for their coverage up by 100-300% per month, and it is now illegal for the family to drop coverage and almost impossible to find a better price anywhere else?
Even though the governator's proposal supposedly includes protections against "cherry-picking" customers and outlandish increases I seriously doubt that the laws would offer substantive consumer protection, considering that it doesn't include a cap on what base premiums can be charged and the government subsidy is based on the entirely unrealistic federal poverty standards.

[HM2Viking]

Catastrophic illness needs to be federalized.

I am not a fan of any "you must buy proposals" because it seems to keep the inefficiency of small groups alive. Make it possible for small businesses to buy coverage through the larger government employee/medicaid groups.

Really the best system is along the lines of tricare, VA or federal employees system.

[pickledpepperRN]

Arnold Should Be TRULY Inspired by Austria

…There's no reason why Californians should not expect the same quality of care and access to services that are available in the country where our new governor was born. What separates the California from Austria is also what sets us apart from every industrialized country? Schwarzenegger's plan increases the role of private health care corporations (and increases their profits), while Austria's single-payer health system does away with the insurance company middlemen…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-a...n_b_38919.html

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by ZASHAGALKA

What I have a 'right' to, a Constitutional right to, is for the government to stay out of my life to the greatest extent possible.

And THAT's not just some privilege - it's my right....

~faith,
Timothy.

Do you want the fire department and paramedic/EMS system to stay out of your life?