Healthcare for all?

loriangel14, RN · Jul 27, 2014

You will be opening a can of worms with that question.it has been brought up before and lead to some very heated discussions.

I am from Canada and we have universal health care. I couldn't imagine having to worry about how I was going to pay for my care. My oldest daughter was a preemie and was in the hospital for 3 months. My only cost was my parking at the hospital and she got excellent care. As a struggling single mom of 2 it was a blessing to be able to get care for them whenever they were sick and not have to worry about cost. I don't have to worry about losing my house if I was to get ill and had a mountain of bills to pay. I get the care I need and my doctor doesn't have to get permission for any procedures from an insurance provider.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jul 27, 2014

This is a hot button topic; there will be a ton of opinions sure to come to this post.

Personally, I had an incident where it rendered me eligible for Medicare. When I was ineligible for insurance, my health suffered.

Now that I have Medicare, I enjoy having not to pay exorbitant co-pays; my specialist bill is 1/5 of what it would be if I had a to pay multiple co-pays; diagnostic testing is low (one bill was 3 dollars for my X-Ray!), and it is far more affordable that it was for my private insurance; including annual exams and preventive exams are free.

Personally, I think there should be some form of model of Medicare for all; whether through payroll taxes, or a tax to pay for it, so be it. I'm just for a meeting of the Healthy People 2020 goals and not having people choose between eating and getting their medicine (my experience).

loriangel14, RN · Jul 27, 2014

I find that having universal health care means people access attention from a health care provider to prevent problems from getting worse instead of waiting until they are so sick that they have to go and then the damage is done. As a diabetic I can get free eye check ups and free foot care. My glucometer was free as well.

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2014

Good day, Khalesi25:

I think one of the big questions is to define what "access to healthcare" means. Do you mean access for help with immediate, life threatening health-related situations? If not, then what would and would not be covered? Since resources including human providers, medicine, research into new/improved/replacement medicine, equipment, and money (both to pay for the human providers, the drugs, equipment, etc.) does not grow on a whim, what consideration is given to answering "access to healthcare" in terms of its scope as it relates to resources? I.e. is it easier to broaden the scope of access beyond life threatening because it is other people's resources or we'll just handle that later or is there a means to provide the resources that does not remove hinge on the removal of freedom?

If you can provide a framework for what does "access to healthcare" means along with where the resources are located, then answering your question becomes easier.

Thank you.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 27, 2014

I.e. is it easier to broaden the scope of access beyond life threatening because it is other people's resources or we'll just handle that later or is there a means to provide the resources that does not remove hinge on the removal of freedom?

Or would it be much more affordable for everyone if they could treat a disease before it enters crisis mode? Expanding access to primary care has the potential to reduce the number of people hospitalized because they couldn't afford to get care/treatment for a disease process until it's to the point of requiring inpatient urgent/emergent care instead of outpatient management.

Khalesi25 · Jul 27, 2014

I know it is a heated topic. It is hard to get to the point when emotions come afloat. We as nurses are patient advocate, we also work on health promotion and moreover we strive to do good for others. Well, referring to "Healthcare for all" I am not pointing to a single group of people. It can be someone with a moderate income. Then finding himself trapped whether to attend the appointment or wait because of financial worries. This was the case of a friend who asked me about the issue. I did not have the answer. I do not have the answer now. As a nursing student, I will appreciate your input. There is so much to learn! Thank you again!

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2014

Good day, Khalesi25:

For me, it is hard to answer your question without knowing the scope of what you mean as well as where how the resources will come into play.

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Good day, Rose_Queen:

My wife works for a doctor of naturopathy who has a growing good reputation in the areas of methylation and working with a person's DNA (through 23andme) to come up with a natural plan to address medical defects either before they occur or prevent them from becoming worse.

So I'm all for various means of dealing with problems before they occur; yet, there is still the issue of resources.

Thank you.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Jul 28, 2014

I also agree with LadyFree. I am on Medicare myself right now. I see the advantages and disadvantages. My disability came up for review and the thing I was scared of the most was losing my Medicare while in school. Let me emphasize that I do not think ACA is the answer. That piece of crap legislature is one of the absolute worst things to hit this country. But previously I was paying almost $800 a month in premiums alone. That did not count my hospitalizations or my monthly meds. I think in the year 2009 I claimed over $30000 on my taxes for healthcare. My husband and I spent over 30k for my healthcare that year. And that was with me talking to doctors and getting stuff written off. It's very frightening. Now I pay about $150 in premiums and my monthly costs are much lower. I have copays on my epilepsy meds which can get very expensive. With epilepsy medications I have found docs like the brand name. They very rarely use generics on those. I used to pay 50% of the cost, now I have a copay. I think Medicare is an excellent system. Never once had a problem with it.

We need a more universal system like that. Obama half-assed the ACA because it was expected of him. It was not well thought out or well planned. The whole thing needs to be scrapped and started over. I know some people won't agree with that, but that's how it is. Otherwise, nurses in particular are going to bear the brunt of cutbacks that will take place. I forsee that those of us that are in school now, will not see the salaries that people are making now. RN's will make about what a LPN makes, a LPN will make a CNA salary, and CNAs will be pushed down to min wage. A hospital is a business. When a business loses money, the first thing they cut is payroll. I worked in business for a lot of years and I would turn them around and make them more profitable. The first thing I looked at was their payroll and where they could cut.

And while I believe everyone should have some type of healthcare, I am not for it coming and being handed out for free. I don't think the woman who does nothing all day but watch Jerry Springer and screams at her 8 kids should be able to just continue to sit there and get that for free. I honestly don't know what the answer is, but someone who is a higher up thinker should be able to come up with something decent.