Posted on June 3, 2008 - 8:01pm By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, communications specialist CNA/NNOC
What a great night of political speeches. And it was wonderful to hear both the now-presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, and the presumed runner-up Senator Hillary Clinton cite healthcare as a major concern. (Whew, the titles alone require hip-boots for wading.)
But we need a little retooling... Both said every American should have health insurance. Wrong. Every American should have health care.
The presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain has a more outwardly obvious, pro-corporation healthcare strategy. He wants to make sure he keeps the old insurance giants thriving.
But what did Barack Obama say there towards the end of his speech? That we'll look back on this moment as the turning point? That we'll see this moment as the time and place in which we made sure every American had healthcare. Right on, Senator Obama. But now we're going to help you see what real change looks like for every American: single payer, universal health care. Everybody in, nobody out. This is the moment.
A single-payer, national health care plan, HR 676 would be the ultimate, transparent solution in terms of equitably securing an accessible health care delivery system for people based on medical need. It would be publicly accountable; a responsible public health policy, as opposed to a proprietary, bureaucratic for-profit private wealth policy.
How do you deal with the myriad of ethical dilemmas that must confront you on a daily basis at work? If I understand you correctly, your recommendation to deny is based on whether or not the request for medical treatment is a "covered" commodity according to the policy that the patient, (or their employer), has purchased from your company. The patient's own physician, based on his or her assessment and judgement, has recommended a treatment plan that will restore a patient to optimum wellness. As an RN, you are educated and are able to make a determination that the requested treatment would be therapeutic and it would be in the best interest of that patient to receive that care.
Your job, on behalf of your employer, (not the patient), then, is to determine if the policy that the patient, (or their employer), purchased, actually stipulates the disease, injury, illness, or treatment of it thereof is eligible according to the company policy? And, that your recommendation is subject to review, by a physician who is also an employee of the insurance company. He or she sits at a desk, and never hears, sees, or feels the patient to make a direct assessment. But then again, I guess, they don't have to, because they're not accountable for the patient's well-being. Their job is to recommend what's best for the insurance company, based on company policy, not what's in the best interest of the patient.
It's unconscionable and almost unimaginable that good and well-meaning people have to worry about balancing "making a living" and "getting in to hot water" when they find themselves working for a company that profits by denying care to people based on policy. Dr. Linda Peeno used to be a claims reviewer for Humana and I was so moved by her testimony and her appearance in the movie, SiCKO.
The point being that most of us who think we have insurance that will provide for our health care if we need it, and prevent us from financial ruin in the event of illness or injury may be sadly and tragically deceived. In fact the evidence is overwhelming that we are; nearly 80% of people who are bankrupted by illness had insurance at the onset. Having insurance is not the same as being able to get needed care!
It's a shame that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world in terms of material goods, but we're morally bankrupt among all the other industrialized nations of the world because we don't have a national health plan that provides medically necessary care for our most precious resource, the people who live here. It's a shame that 101,000 people die of PREVENTABLE illness in this country every year; not the "best healthcare in the world" at all!
We the people, are finally getting mad enough to organize against this injustice, and in support of HR 676. You lend a credible and important voice in the fight to achieve a universal, guaranteed national health care plan in this country.
I took this job because it was the only one I could get. My husband asked me for a divorce last year and I had to go back to work. But, thats right folks, a registerd nurse with a BSN and 25 years of critical care experience cannot get a job anyplace in Spokane Washington or even Seattle. I was turned down time after time while the local hospitals have ads up the kazoo for nurses. Oh, but they have an ICU internship that they are looking for a new grad to fill. Don't say another word- I know what my next step will be. I will keep everyone posted. I plan on putting my money where my mouth is.
I took this job because it was the only one I could get. My husband asked me for a divorce last year and I had to go back to work. But, thats right folks, a registerd nurse with a BSN and 25 years of critical care experience cannot get a job anyplace in Spokane Washington or even Seattle. I was turned down time after time while the local hospitals have ads up the kazoo for nurses. Oh, but they have an ICU internship that they are looking for a new grad to fill. Don't say another word- I know what my next step will be. I will keep everyone posted. I plan on putting my money where my mouth is.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
I believe you about the jobs. Employers here do the same thing. I think some of that has to do with the cost insurers charge employers to offer disability and health insurance. Aren't the premiums based on age? As we age we are more prone to developing chronic illnesses, so the rates go up based on average age of the workforce. Also, nurses have a higher rate of career ending back injuries than construction workers. Even so, our bones may be a little more brittle, and our joints a little more rusty, but as a critically ill patient, I'd want to have the sophisticated skill, experience. and the intuitive, creative applied art and science of an experienced ICU nurse at my bedside. Dr. Patricia Benner eloquently wrote about the value of having experienced nurses, not only for patients, but as mentors for the novices. There's money to be saved by hiring younger workers, and money to be made by insurers if they get to collect premiums from healthy workers, with a low risk of having to pay out for medically necessary care.
I'm sorry things didn't work out for your marriage. Circumstances happen and it would be wonderful if we had a single payer national health plan so that we didn't have to worry if some life changing events, whether they occur by misfortune or desire, weren't barriers to our ability to get health care when we need it. We have case managers in our hospital that are starting to talk about the job they have to do too.
If the public only how those "friendly, patient centered" community hospitals pressure doctors to move patients to lower levels of care and to the so-called subacute/nursing home faciilites that don't have to follow the RN to patient ratio law. Patients in those places have a significantly higher risk of suffering from preventable complications or even death due to the much higher number of patients per RN.
I'd like to move out of the megalopolis some day, but I'm afraid that I'd be uninsurable because I've collected a couple of chronic illnesses along the continuum of life. Despite the nursing shortage, the hospital's bean counters drive the hiring policies. A single payer national health plan is portable, not tied to employment, gender, marital status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, past medical illness, or age.
Are you running for Congress? You're a courageous advocate.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
'something wrong in america'
sometimes the only way to control the spread of a hazardous infection is to quarantine it at the source.
more than 150 union members and allies did just that today when they "quarantined" representatives of the nation's private for-profit insurance industry--along with one of their biggest allies, newt gingrich--at a downtown washington., d.c., hotel.
the event, spearheaded by the california nurses association / national nurses organizing committee (cna / nnoc), included members of the washington, d.c., metro council and the afl-cio community affiliate, working america.
the symbolic quarantine featured several cna/nnoc members in bio-hazard suits and protesters carrying signs that read
"warning! the insurance industry is hazardous to america's health."they strung yellow "caution" tape in front of the hotel where members of the american health insurance plans (ahip) and gingrich were meeting to discuss how they can "save medicare"--and make a tidy profit....
sometimes the only way to control the spread of a hazardous infection is to quarantine it at the source.
more than 150 union members and allies did just that today when they "quarantined" representatives of the nation's private for-profit insurance industry--along with one of their biggest allies, newt gingrich--at a downtown washington., d.c., hotel.
the event, spearheaded by the california nurses association / national nurses organizing committee (cna / nnoc), included members of the washington, d.c., metro council and the afl-cio community affiliate, working america.
the symbolic quarantine featured several cna/nnoc members in bio-hazard suits and protesters carrying signs that read
"warning! the insurance industry is hazardous to america's health."they strung yellow "caution" tape in front of the hotel where members of the american health insurance plans (ahip) and gingrich were meeting to discuss how they can "save medicare"--and make a tidy profit....
thanks, herring, for the good news: evidence of a growing grassroots national movement to alert the public to the dangerous deceit of ahip and their insidious, perverse profit taking at the expense of the sick and injured.
insurance company policies of payment delays, denials, exclusions, and fraudulent recissions have rationed people out of healthcare. the ahip parasites suck precious financial resources away from direct patient care. not to mention the broken promise of the insurers to protect the people who buy their defective products from bankruptcy. nearly 80 percent of people who filed for bankruptcy had insurance at the onset of their bankrupting illness or injury.
it's time for health care to be provided to everyone who needs it. it's time for a single-payer, guaranteed national health plan, medicare for all!
I work for a large insurance company. I am a nurse reviewer who approves or denies claims for members. We have to go by each insurance contract that each company has. Believe me, the public has no clue what and how much infrastructure goes into the insurance industry. I have no trouble believing that if we cut out the middleman, that there WILL BE MORE THAN ENOUGH MONEY FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE! Profit has no place in healthcare.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
I agree with you, the profits are excessive considering there are lives at stake. But I have to make a couple of points. First, the profits are shared by the owner of the contract: the employer. As you mentioned, each policy is a contract worked out between the insurance payor and the employer. It is the employer who chooses the coverages from a list of options, and they are often the bottom line..... Secondly, do you think your job will change with UHC? Not much is my guess. The government may be the payor, but they will not be doing the work. As with Medicare, they will simply set the policy. THe actual administration will be outsourced and you will probably find yourself doing the same job (with a few variations) - for less money. The government will still see the need for QA and Utilization Review. They have been implimenting that in Medicare, it will certainly be needed for UHC. Same game, new rules, less money.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
nurses rally on golden gate bridge
san francisco --
more than a thousand nurses marched across golden gate bridge on friday, calling for universal health care coverage. the nurses were from 20 states representing the california nurses association and its sister organization, the national nurses organizing committee.
many nurses said they frequently see patients without health insurance avoiding medical care. they said those patients then end up in county hospital emergency rooms at taxpayers' expense.
the nurses rallied in support of a bill in congress, hr676, which proposes to expand medicare benefits and would guarantee health care through a single payer system. supporters of the bill say with the country facing a financial crisis, it is a right time to push for universal health care.
"if we're really worried about the financial state of the country, we can't be competitive in the global marketplace when it costs our businesses so much money to provide health care," said geri jenkins, a registered nurse and member of the california nurses association.
I can hear the voice of a thousand nurses across the nation still chanting.
Pass it on.
We must restore dignity to the patients of the US. There is no dignity in the United States as long as even one person is denied care because of insurance status.
I can hear the voice of a thousand nurses across the nation still chanting.
Pass it on.
We must restore dignity to the patients of the US. There is no dignity in the United States as long as even one person is denied care because of insurance status.
:typing Thousands, at least 85,000 CNA/NNOC members...and counting. The nation has approximately 2.3 Registered Nurses. Nurses are frequently the first contact point for the patient in the health care system. This means that they can witness the effects of human rights violations on individuals and the effects these have on families and communities.
We have a duty to ACT to change circumstances which are against the interests of patients who need care. The current market-based insurance industry is just such a circumstance. It needs to be eliminated and replaced with a socially responsible system of health care delivery: MediCare for All.
It just makes fiscal and administrative sense; a single payer system eliminates waste, and controls costs. One payer, the government, pays providers, (public or private), for medically necessary care. Businesses, employers, individuals will pay an equitable fair share, based on a transparent, publicly accountable system.
We pay once, instead of the multiple co-pays, premiums, and deductibles to hundreds of different insurers. We eliminate them and their greedy self-serving policy of delay, denial, exclusion, and recission.
That's why we support universal healthcare for all, based on the single-payer model. It's good public policy. Everybody in, nobody out! :redbeathe
Nurses march across the Golden Gate Bridge to support Single Payer, guaranteed healthcare.
Wasn't that a time? So many people have marched across that bridge because of what they're AGAINST. We the nurses, marched across that bridge because we're actually FOR something: the RIGHT to health care. Everybody in, nobody out!
A single-payer, guaranteed healthcare plan for all?
lindarn
1,982 Posts
I took this job because it was the only one I could get. My husband asked me for a divorce last year and I had to go back to work. But, thats right folks, a registerd nurse with a BSN and 25 years of critical care experience cannot get a job anyplace in Spokane Washington or even Seattle. I was turned down time after time while the local hospitals have ads up the kazoo for nurses. Oh, but they have an ICU internship that they are looking for a new grad to fill. Don't say another word- I know what my next step will be. I will keep everyone posted. I plan on putting my money where my mouth is.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington