Health Care: The Ticking Time Bomb

You're right, I am an idealist. I can't stand seeing poor standards of care by any HCP. The greed of doctors in most big cities in the USA is apparent in the parking lots of hospitals and office buildings. They protect each other, won't call anyone on poor performance that kills patients; and have less and less hours in their offices. If it was any other business they were in they'd be out of business. The latest addition of "hospitalists who are family practitioners has occurred because interuptions in their private lives aren't welcome. That's realistic!

I don't "punish" anyone. I "calls 'em like I sees 'em" (said by a marvelous long gone comedian, Red Skelton - you may be too young to have known his knack for satire). Certainly I'm not the one to set standards for doctors' incomes! I know of no doctors whose skills are rare. What do you see as rare skills? I do see doctors who have chips on their shoulders for the time they spent studying; and loans for their education they have to pay back; and malpractise insurance premiums that are sky high......

I do know some doctors who take more responsibility for their patients than other doctors do; and as nurses we sure notice patient neglect; and physician incompetence, when we see them. Please don't tell me you haven't
seen any (unless you haven't finished your schooling yet). If you have physicians in your family or friends, that could cloud your perception. Stating "give me a break" makes me think you have........

ShayRN:
Your mom went from a discounted healthcare premium, to a retail one. Companies can negotiate premiums with insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies; and watch average peoples' finances go down the drain like Rome burning while they fiddled with fate. Having one's employer responsible for payment of premiums for healthcare jeopardises job security!

It is abominable that insurance companies have access to your medical records (through the signing of a paper that is presented as one that preserves privacy!!???!!). Then (believe me) they share your "private" information with your employer. Many a job is lost, due to that. I have been an Employee Health Nurse, and I know what is done.

Our government will be subsidising your contribution to healthcare costs, so that the amount you will pay is affordable. Priorities for financing healthcare will be the equal provision of it for everyone, so the expensive furnishings in hospitals and doctors' offices currently paid from their high profits, will have to be sacrificed.

Equipment that is underutilized due to excessive numbers of the expensive items (that soon become obsolete) in communities which need only few, will be shared by hospitals that don't have to compete for their business by having the same equipment as all the others.

K98 and JOPACURN:

Your reactionary display of quickly and inaccurately drawn conclusions mirror what you think of our government! You need to become responsible voters, listening carefully to what candidates say, just as all of us need to do. You have hit on some of the problems that make politicians look ridiculous, but who elected them?

I saw a cartoon the other day that begged the question about what the difference is between a Republican official who has an extramarital affair, and a Democrat who does that. The answer given, was that a Republican statesperson gives a talk about "family values", first. That parodies human weakness, and the ease with which people believe what they want to hear!

European countries are much older than ours, so they've worked out some of their problems with health care there as best they could, knowing the results of not having programs that keep everyone as healthy as possible. Volunteer fire fighters have many more injuries, and property loss than fire departments with all paid (therefore more highly trained), focused workers.

If the people of the USA wanted nannies to spoonfeed all that is needed for our wellbeing, those poor caregivers would be dead from overwork, psychotic from lack of respect and regard; and desolate about human nature carved from savages that hasn't gotten much better or wiser. Satisfaction is elusive here, because disagreement exists about everything that would make it possible.

When credible scientific studies demonstrating reasons for what is before our very eyes, (higher water levels) is dismissed as "junk"; and conclusions are drawn without facts to back them, one wonders how educators live with themselves, knowing that some adult society members wield words proving they have insufficient information and a lack of fortitude to look at the possibility that they may be (gasp!) wrong. When you have read and examined thoroughly the studies that brought about theories with which you disagree, you may voice such opinions. Until then, please keep your views to yourselves, they make you appear unintelligent. I hate to see that exhibited by fellow nurses!

Lamazeteacher,

Odd how you liberals always view your position as the correct one, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Even better, when anyone disagrees with you, they are characterized as unintelligent.

The term "single payer" is somewhat of a misnomer. Sure the single payer is the government, but exactly who is the government? It is the representatives we elect, the myriad departments (and ever-growing number of "czars" - does anybody recall the real, original meaning of that term?), and ultimately the citizens of the United States. That "single" payer is actual several million hard-working taxpayers who elect those representatives and pay their salaries (and for the programs they mandate).

Have our legislators actually read any of the proposals being put forth (or will they???)? Will health care quality improve with socialized and/or a "public option" system? If so, why? If not, then why not? Will the number of providers and support staff increase or decrease? If so, then how (and how well) will they be paid for their work? Will that affect the quality of their work? Will such a "system" be able to support the extended care (i.e., on a ventilator) of everybody's Uncle Fred and Aunt Ethel for several months because the family wants that care extended (for whatever reason), or will the elderly be eventually treated as a commodity that is cheaper when dead?

Forget what the news media and blogs say about care in other places being far superior to that in the US; look directly at what goes on... talk with people who have "been there and done that". Look at the amount of government control that is exerted upon our health care already, and think "Postal Service, "Department of Agriculture", "Department of Education, etc.

Will handing the control of more than one-seventh (some are now saying it is more like one-fifth) of the national economy to the government be an improvement? GM and Chrysler thought that handing themselves over to the government would be a good thing - how will that actually play out?

As with anything that sounds/looks good because of what it is called, the devil is in the details; the taxpayers are not being provided with the necessary details.

"Why do people equate government sponsored insurance with limited access and choice? There isn't any evidence for this at all - it is a fear tactic being perpetuated by those who do not have all the facts."
Wrong. Tell me which docs are willing to "jump" through government hoops (and I mean the ones that are seriously good and seriously busy practices--who TURN AWAY patients). I know those docs are already saying, "I don't have to participate, therefore I won't." THOSE are MY docs. I don't want someone who is going to see me as "#7370303000403020030403--you can go in now." I DON'T THINK SO.
I will not--and I mean WILL NOT--be on anyone's waiting list.
My fave ortho surgeon has his PICK of patients--he's that damn good and I know two IM docs who don't take ANY insurance. AT ALL.
They have minimal overhead and explain to their patients that they are responsible for paying out of pocket. These two docs make house calls too.
Yes, I admit I live in a region where this exists.
But I tell you again, I am NOT going to wait because I've never had to and I'm not starting now.[/quote]



You sound like a bratty 3 year old! The world isn't just about you and your healthcare options. The Obama administration isn't talking about a single pay option anyway and is advocating for private insurance to continue. The government will just use an insurance plan to try and regulate costs and spending by the private insurance companies. If you are going to argue, argue about that. Don't whine because you think your doctor is the best and you don't want to pay 100% of his fee.

I don't want to banter with you. It's more important to convey information on this crucial topic in an adult way, without taking pot shots. Site sources of information if you want credibility, or don't make suppositions.

No suppositions here. The left wing never could tolerate an opposing viewpoint.

Wow! Watch much X-Files? You obviously did not vote for Obama, and that's no big deal but really, the conspiracy theory stuff is going a little far.....

You would have more credibility if you presented ideas rather than taking shots. Lamaze has treated you with nothing but respect as have I on other threads. None of us are going to agree with each other 100% of the time. We do owe it to each other to discuss our ideas respectfully.

Thank you for proving that your interest in writing to this thread is for political points alone!

Left, right, opposing, confirming - what does it matter when people are being killed by our dratted healthcare system? And others become obscenely wealthy through it!