Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group What to do about healthcare? Can it be fixed?

I know we are all waiting to see what the government is going to do about healthcare. (especially here in the US)
As an uninsured person with AS who is currently not able to work - I think about what it would take to make healthcare work. I honestly can't come up with any great ideas.

Do any of you think about this? Any great ideas? Are you insured, uninsured, been denied insurance? (Let's do try to keep politics out of it.) I have come to appreciate the wisdom and insightfulness offered here, if anyone could fix this mess, KickASers could.

Anna

I have decent insurance but I worry about my sons. Once they turn 25, in 5 years, they won't be covered by my policy anymore and will have to work for a large company that offers healthcare or they will be denied coverage everywhere due to a pre existing condition. They are thinking about living in Oregon and Washington due to state run insurance pools for those with pre existing conditions. Expensive but at least it is something.

I do not have all the answers but I know what we have now needs to end. If the senators and congress would put politics aside, stop listening to the big lobby money, and work to solve the problem I believe it could be done though.

I think it will be tough to really do much about healthcare due to an economic phenomenon called Baumol's disease. I think our best hope is that technology can solve the chronic diseases that plague us now. I am sure if we took better care of ourselves that that would help too. I don't think the government can do very much about Baumol's disease or our behavoir. (weight, drinking, smoking, drugs and violence) I think all societies are struggling with the cost of healthcare regardless of the design of their systems.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/07/07/030707ta_talk_surowiecki

Craig

Wow Craig- that is an eye opening article, it really gives me a new look at the healthcare muddle. I have to admit my preception was that doctors had become greedy and on the payroll of the pharm companies. Something new to think about-

Dizzit- have your sons been dx'ed? I worry about this also- my brother has many of the symtoms, I told him to get insured before he goes to a rhuemy, just in case he has AS. I also wonder if some doctors are doing folks a favor by not coming right out and dxing AS ( it would be great if people could get the treatment without the dx!)Ofcourse to get insurance to pay for biologics you usually have to have a firm dx. Boggles the mind! Seems like there is no right path. Thanks for weighing in.

After COBRA was tapped out, I found myself without health insurance and obviously uninsurable. I applied to every provider in Georgia but was denied across the board. I thought for awhile about moving to Tennessee since they have a high risk pool, but there were some other reasons why that wouldn't work out.

Personally, I don't want "government run" healthcare. They'll indirectly find a way to muck it up and make it as inefficient as possible. Just look at the USPS, Amtrak, Social Security, etc. The bill that got a lot of press this summer, HR3200 was a piece of garbage in my opinion. I don't know if the Baucus bill (Senate) is any better. Taxing people for not having health insurance. Come on. That's the best those bloated do-nothings in D.C. can create? Tax this, tax that, they'll tax anything they can. However, these legislators need to find a solution to help folks like us with chronic illnesses. I understand we are a greater risk and expense, but they need to figure something out cause we are the ones that can least afford to be without insurance. Also, somebody needs to hold the insurance companies' feet to the fire regarding retroactively canceling individual policies for minor errors, etc. I can understand it if an individual has blatantly lied, but leaving out something like an acute sinus infection and having your policy canceled is just ridiculous.

I'm kind of all over the place here this evening.

I know where you are coming from. I feel that the insurance companies are a huge part of the problem, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything on the table except the competition concept. My opinion is that they are as shady as the banks.

Hi this is going to be a big problem - one for many now as it stands and another once any change is made. You are right about US government being in the pockets of big pharma- to include the doctor realm. So if the competition was eliminated, all would benefit. Is socialized medicine so bad if everyone gets the care they need? What am I missing here? Don't the Europeans have this in place?
I've read(cant remember where...economist.?.) the Swiss have a very good system that our US gov't might be using as a model.

What can we do? Really?

We ought to find out because it dosen't pay to debate if we have no means to influence the final outcome.

Sorry. Just lying here with no desire to do much,


Lucy

Keep in mind that what the administration is proposing is not government run healthcare. Even with the public option, it will still only be an option. Think Fed-Ex vs. UPS vs. the Post Office; you have your choice between two private companies (among others) and a quasi-government option. The Post Office has not put the other two private companies out of business just as a public option in the health care program would not put private insurance companies out of business -- it would just help to make sure that private companies don't monopolize the industry and thus enable them to continue to raise rates every year.

So, to repeat, the proposed plans are NOT for a government run program, just a public option; it must stand on it's own, will not be subsidized with tax dollars like Amtrak, and will help to lower the cost of the private plans.

Everyone will have a choice! They can stick with the plan they have now or shop around or opt for the public option (if it's included in the final bill -- looks like there might be a trigger for a public option if rates from the private insurers don't fall enough due to no competition).

The good news is that there will be a health care reform bill passed before Christmas. And all of us without healthcare will soon be able to get the care we need. Those of us who can't afford it will get assistance so that we can.

The debate has been good, the plan will be a great start, and over time it will be even better. We have so many cooks in the kitchen in our govt, but even with the politics, we'll still get what we need.

Hang in there, help is on the way!

Hi, Anna:

It is said that in the ancient Roman world, people with arthritis were not taxed by the state. This would be a good thing today, also. In actual fact, the repressive taxes now required just to service the debt will make it impossible to address healthcare in any meaningful way.

The pabulum provided to and by the media in general is not the real story at all. There is a major swindle going on and every aspect of it is ultimately controlled by the unions. The public needed a distraction and the Gordian Knot of healthcare happened to be perfect subterfuge. Don't get any hopes up; the real action is very different than what we are FED.

In my own experience, I was very blessed with good insurance, but today my wife is uninsured and we have "Plan B." Well, it is Plan B for a lot of things, it seems but she is a Filipina, so we can go to Philippines any time we want for medical care. The work I had done on my teeth early this year paid for my trip. And I can get any blood test I want there and buy most drugs that I'm interested in without first bribing some clown in a lab coat.

The entire medical industry got too greedy, it is true, but what the politicians never mention is something called 'tort reform.' The reason the politicians never discuss this is because they are LAWYERS and proper measures would put a lot of them out of business.

Think about who creates the wealth of a nation (and jobs)--and lawyers are not on this list, nor are doctors, unions, bankers, or politicians. But these guys are running the country and pretending to fix healthcare, while union jobs are secured at any cost but it is a temporary sham that will come crashing down before anyone can do anything about it.

So fear not, although change is inevitable, sometimes that change we hoped for is not in the direction we would have envisioned for ourselves.

BE HEALTHY (and careful, too),
John

No, I don't think it can be fixed. I don't think the proposed program will work or be passed. I do think our govt is spending money like drunkin sailors right now. And no I don't have any great ideas on how to make it work.

Aren't I just a bundle of sunshine today!