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Originally posted by theking
I think the hospital could do one of two things...
-insert things here-
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Neither of which are terribly palatible to the poor bastard who suffers through it, I'm sure. However, anecdotes only serve to illustrate a point and are essentially useless when trying to paint a broader picture.
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Medical bills can present a problem for those that do not have medical insurance or are not poor enough to qualify for programs that assist the poor.
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Which apparently is a substantial portion of your country, according to this report over 13% nationally as of y2k:
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/papers/st38/stat38.htm
I suspect, what with the 15% per annum (!!) increase of health care costs there at the moment, that substantially more people are now in this category. Additionally, there are a great number of people 'undercovered'... that is, with some form of insurance that still leaves bills oenerous to cover, eg. seniors with substandard medication coverage.
For a country so rich, the idea that roughly 1/6th of your population is allowed to be completely fucked if they get in an accident or fall ill seems, to me, cold and incharitable or at least discriminatory against those of modest means.
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To repeat...the US does not have socialized medical care and the last I was aware the majority of citizens do not want socialized medical care...but instead want affordable insurance...primarily via employers.
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Insurance through employers has been used very effectively as a bludgeon to keep employees in line (in at least a few personal accounts I've heard) and I wonder how much people "want" it vs. having it foisted on them.
Considering the never ending refrain about the mountains of confusing paperwork required to file claims, I'd suggest further that people not only want affordable coverage, but also something
straightforward and easy to use. I've seen some of those forms and I couldn't imagine trying to fill those out correctly if my wife had just been in a car accident and my head is 2000 places at once, or god help me if
I was the one in an accident, having some actuary shouting at me while I'm floating on demerol, trying to extract my policy number.
Ironically, the insurance aspect of health insurance is basically a socialist setup anyways. Pay in a little to the kitty, pull out a lot if you need it but money goes byebye if you don't need it... judging by the rapidly increasing health costs, it would appear that free market forces aren't doing their job with multiple insurance providers. I suspect vendor lock-in via employer administration plays a role in retarding consumer mobility there.
Perhaps I'm spoiled... I've lived my entire life secure in the knowledge that, if I get sick, I can see a doctor and she'll fix me up with no strings attached, the most complex aspect of the visit being me producing my health care card and filling my name, address and brief medical history on a form at the front desk.
Wow. Long post. I might need to see a doc about carpel tunnel after this.
