Healthcare

[Commander Cody]

WASHINGTON – Liberal Democrats failed Tuesday to inject a government-run insurance option into sweeping health care legislation taking shape in the Senate Finance Committee, despite widespread accusations that private insurers routinely deny coverage in pursuit of higher profits.

[Drewthetexan]

WASHINGTON – Liberal Democrats failed Tuesday to inject a government-run insurance option into sweeping health care legislation taking shape in the Senate Finance Committee, despite widespread accusations that private insurers routinely deny coverage in pursuit of higher profits.

Accusations? More like S.O.P.

[TDDude]

Note

WASHINGTON – Liberal Democrats failed Tuesday to inject a government-run insurance option into sweeping health care legislation taking shape in the Senate Finance Committee, despite widespread accusations that private insurers routinely deny coverage in pursuit of higher profits.

Accusations? More like S.O.P.

Two undeniable truths:
Health care is not a "right"!
Insurance is a business.

If you practice healthy lifestyle choices, your premiums will be lower than those who don't. It’s that simple. Insurance for catastrophic care is not that expensive. With catastrophic care, when you have a major injury or illness, then you can be helped. You pay your deductable and the insurance picks up the rest. Other than that, do what you know you have to do to stay healthy and pay cash for doctor visits. Most doctors will give big discounts for cash and they are perfectly able to give "samples" for the more expensive antibiotics that you may need for those times that you get sick.

I know this is the case because I spent many years as a contractor and couldn't afford any insurance. Actually, I could have afforded it but my wife wanted our kids to have piano lessons instead. So, that was the choice we made. I basically had an Ear, Nose & Throat as my main doctor because with me and my family, most ailments happened there. We worked out an affordable fee and whenever I or a family member needed antibiotic, we left there with a brown bag full of samples.

Not taking care of your health is like the driver that gets a bunch of speeding tickets and his insurance goes up. If you get too many tickets, your car insurance may not get dropped immediately but they won’t renew your policy. Since it’s a Texas law that we have to have insurance, we’re stuck. Taking away driver’s licenses for the most part won’t work because Texas has no real public transportation system. If the driver’s record is so bad that no insurance company will cover him at any cost, then that driver has to purchase from a “pool”. This pool is comprised of all insurance companies licensed to operate in Texas and they get assigned the bad drivers whether they want them or not. Believe me! You DO NOT want to be in the pool. It is super expensive and takes many years to get out. I’m sure all of you are great drivers and have no idea what I’m talking about.

I can agree with this system because auto insurance is set up to protect the driver WHO IS NOT AT FAULT. Health insurance is designed to protect the individual. This is the difference. I do not want a nanny or a mommy and I certainly don’t want to government in that role.

Basically what I’m not doing such a hot job of presenting is that since we live in a free market society, we can’t have it both ways. Our medical industry and insurance industry need to stay market driven and private in order for both to remain the best in the world. Having the government run any part of it will be disastrous.

If this government was really concerned about health care reform then the very first thing that would happen is tort reform. Since tort reform is not on the table at all, this is nothing but a huge power grab. If the government can dictate our health care, they can dictate and restrict anything that is deemed a hazardous activity.

[Dudley]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

[gemini]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

Dudley, mind telling us Americans where you're from? Maybe we can patterrn our healthcare system after your Shangrila.

Before you jump on all malpractice medical or insurance lawsuits........ ask yourself what your arm is worth, a leg, a lung, a breast?
You need to ask yourself these questions. Fact: there have been Dr's that have operated under the influence, Dr's that have amputated
the wrong appendage, breast etc. Recently, in California, a Air Force enlisted man in for a gall bladder operation had his aorta "nicked", the military hospital was not equiped to handle this emergency, they stalled.... before they transferred this man to a facility that could handle this surgical mistake......the man had to have his legs amputated thigh high to save his life. I know you can't sue the g'ment military....but civilian Dr's make these same type of mistakes. MOST Dr's in pre-op will take a felt marker and actually mark the area or appendage to be operated on....to prevent surgical mistakes. However, mistakes do happen. Whether through negligence or surgical error. So, do you want strict tort reform where they assign a arbitrary amount of money as to the value of your fingers......if say you're a concert pianist? A right arm is worth what.....? Better make sure you fully understand what true and complete tort reform means. Many lawyers will not take cases for medical malpractice claims if the value of the case victory is not financially enough to pay them for research, pre-trial, depositions, expert testimony and witnesses, actual court trial time etc.

[TDDude]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

Dudley, mind telling us Americans where you're from? Maybe we can patterrn our healthcare system after your Shangrila.

Before you jump on all malpractice medical or insurance lawsuits........ ask yourself what your arm is worth, a leg, a lung, a breast?
You need to ask yourself these questions. Fact: there have been Dr's that have operated under the influence, Dr's that have amputated
the wrong appendage, breast etc. Recently, in California, a Air Force enlisted man in for a gall bladder operation had his aorta "nicked", the military hospital was not equiped to handle this emergency, they stalled.... before they transferred this man to a facility that could handle this surgical mistake......the man had to have his legs amputated thigh high to save his life. I know you can't sue the g'ment military....but civilian Dr's make these same type of mistakes. MOST Dr's in pre-op will take a felt marker and actually mark the area or appendage to be operated on....to prevent surgical mistakes. However, mistakes do happen. Whether through negligence or surgical error. So, do you want strict tort reform where they assign a arbitrary amount of money as to the value of your fingers......if say you're a concert pianist? A right arm is worth what.....? Better make sure you fully understand what true and complete tort reform means. Many lawyers will not take cases for medical malpractice claims if the value of the case victory is not financially enough to pay them for research, pre-trial, depositions, expert testimony and witnesses, actual court trial time etc.

There has to be middle ground somewhere.

The very first time I went to jury duty it was for a medical malpractice. Basically a guy hurt his hand. The doctor fixed it and deemed the guy healthy. The guy goes out and re-hurts his hand and is suing the doctor because he claimed his hand wasn’t fully healed and was mislead.

Dude, if it still hurts, take it easy!! (That’s what I was screaming in my head).

The atty. asked me a question or two and my answer was “You’ve got to be kidding me??”

I didn’t get picked.

Regardless, there has to be some kind of tort reform.

[Abraham]

Dudley makes a very good point.

Many sue doctors because they assume "deep pockets" means big bucks for them if they win. So, many sue when their suit is spurious. A great many.

Therein lies the problem.

[joe817]

Dudley makes a very good point.

Many sue doctors because they assume "deep pockets" means big bucks for them if they win. So, many sue when their suit is spurious. A great many.

Therein lies the problem.

There are litigate claims, and there are the frivolous claims. I suggest the frivolous claims, that are awarded by juries, is the root cause of the extremely high cost of malpractice insurance that health care givers are required to pay to stay in practice. And health care givers have to pass the cost increase to us. And that therein is by a large part, is the reason health care costs, have become affordable to so many Americans. That and health insurance fraud.

[Liberty]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

Actually we have had tort reform here in Texas and gave the insurance companies pretty much every thingthey wanted.. Our rates still continued to go up while the malpractice insurance did go down.

If We start charging people for unacceptable behaviors I believe we should go after the athletes joggers and people that work out. These people seem to get all kinds of injuries that the couch potatoes have to pay for.

[gemini]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

Actually we have had tort reform here in Texas and gave the insurance companies pretty much every thingthey wanted.. Our rates still continued to go up while the malpractice insurance did go down.

Thank you for saving me having to post the above ...... and the Dr's rates did not go down.....as anticipated and touted to drum up support for tort reform.

If We start charging people for unacceptable behaviors I believe we should go after the athletes joggers and people that work out. These people seem to get all kinds of injuries that the couch potatoes have to pay for.

Ouch. I think a torn ACL might be cheaper to fix than a couch potatoes quadruple bypass. Otherwise, we finally agree on something.

[Liberty]

You Americans will never fix your healthcare system as long as your doctors spend half their income on malpractice insurance.

Actually we have had tort reform here in Texas and gave the insurance companies pretty much every thingthey wanted.. Our rates still continued to go up while the malpractice insurance did go down.

Thank you for saving me having to post the above ...... and the Dr's rates did not go down.....as anticipated and touted to drum up support for tort reform.

If We start charging people for unacceptable behaviors I believe we should go after the athletes joggers and people that work out. These people seem to get all kinds of injuries that the couch potatoes have to pay for.

Ouch. I think a torn ACL might be cheaper to fix than a couch potatoes quadruple bypass. Otherwise, we finally agree on something.

Perhaps, but the obese smoking coach potato might just drop dead without ever having any medical bills. I thought we were already being billed extra for being over weight or smokers, anyway. Its those darned athletes that aren't paying their fair share.

[Drewthetexan]

I've already started eating bacon everyday, fried chicken, lots of candy and sticks of butter; smoking and drinking; canceled my gym membership; and otherwise engaged in high risk behaviors. I'm gonna use all the healthcare I'm going to be paying for, by god. Odds are you will pay for some of it too.

[TDDude]

I've already started eating bacon everyday, fried chicken, lots of candy and sticks of butter; smoking and drinking; canceled my gym membership; and otherwise engaged in high risk behaviors. I'm gonna use all the healthcare I'm going to be paying for, by god. Odds are you will pay for some of it too.

I believe I'll keep eating only what I (meaning my wife of course) cook, drink only things non-fermented, smoke only meat, and ride my MTB bike 4 times a week to stay healthy.

If I have to pay for everyone's health care, that doesn't mean I'm all that fired up about depending on it. And it's for the same reason that I homeschool my kids even though I still pay school taxes.

I'm with Rush: I pray earnestly that nObama fails with everything he tries related to domestic policy.

[Keith B]

I've already started eating bacon everyday, fried chicken, lots of candy and sticks of butter; smoking and drinking; canceled my gym membership; and otherwise engaged in high risk behaviors. I'm gonna use all the healthcare I'm going to be paying for, by god. Odds are you will pay for some of it too.

You are off track; it doesn't pay for SUICIDE.

[Drewthetexan]

I've already started eating bacon everyday, fried chicken, lots of candy and sticks of butter; smoking and drinking; canceled my gym membership; and otherwise engaged in high risk behaviors. I'm gonna use all the healthcare I'm going to be paying for, by god. Odds are you will pay for some of it too.

You are off track; it doesn't pay for SUICIDE.

Truth be told, I take better care of myself now than at any point in my past.

I don't know that I want Obummer failing at everything. He has some good ideas on a few things, although none come to mind immediately...