tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post6062938825353476591..comments2024-01-17T04:14:40.892-05:00Comments on A Pastor's Cancer Diary: September 27, 2007 - Looking Goliath in the EyeCarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-9016246840121505432007-09-29T11:22:00.000-04:002007-09-29T11:22:00.000-04:00We also need a candidate who has the leadership to...We also need a candidate who has the leadership to gather people together and get them to believe that together they can persevere against the giants. This health-care issue is absolutely huge in voters' minds. I think it may be the number-one issue for many people, even bigger than Iraq. I'm convinced that if one of the candidates who's already got a fighting chance has the courage to pick up a few smooth stones and ready the sling, he or she will not stand alone for long.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-18010759796708836492007-09-29T10:24:00.000-04:002007-09-29T10:24:00.000-04:00Carl and Julie - I have appreciated your cogent co...Carl and Julie - I have appreciated your cogent comments. I'm ready to sign up for Ehrenreich's army! The wasted time and money are horrendous - but the anxiety which works against healing is yet another cost of our broken system. It's time for a change. (No wonder that, when I took an internet mini-test, the results indicated that Kucinich was the candidate for me!)<BR/><BR/>blessed with healthcare,<BR/>RobinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-14701188316667856472007-09-27T16:51:00.000-04:002007-09-27T16:51:00.000-04:00I'm glad to see, Julie, that I'm not the only one ...I'm glad to see, Julie, that I'm not the only one who's got some passion about this issue!<BR/><BR/>In "Sicko," Michael Moore makes the interesting argument that we happily let the government run urban fire departments, and no one goes around screaming like Chicken Little that this is "socialized firefighting." Ben Franklin started the first of these socialized fire departments back in Colonial days; no one in America has ever known anything different, so nobody sees it as being a problem. Why, asks Moore, should health care be any different?<BR/><BR/>I was horrified to read of the slick tricks you talk about, like an insurance company funding a knee-replacement operation but not the knee. On the subject of the $1,000-per day cap on treatments, my oncologist billed my insurance $7,000 for each of my 6 chemotherapy infusions (a cocktail of 3 chemo drugs plus Rituxan), all of which I received in a single day. After the insurance company had negotiated that price down, they paid 80% of a base price of around $3,000, I recall. If my insurance had maxed out at a grand a day for chemo, I would have been facing one monster of a bill.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for posting.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-65580692307883281602007-09-27T16:14:00.000-04:002007-09-27T16:14:00.000-04:00Glad to see you bringing the topic up again, Carl....Glad to see you bringing the topic up again, Carl. As I mentioned in a previous post to your blog, I saw this issue from the prespective as a licensed insurance sales agent in Massachusetts. Believe me it's a racket! and the sales people can make a lot of money on this, which seems like a waste of the consumer's money to me along with all the advertising dollars that go into advertizing health plans (and pharmaceuticals).<BR/><BR/>As I think about it, I believe we would be better off if we thought about it "health care finance" because we would see it as something necessary, even inevitable, like obtaining shelter or education. No, we call it insurance - to be thought of like car or homeowners insurances. Individually, accidents are not inevitable, house fires are not inevitable. Even floods in many cases (unless your on a river bank or sea shore) are not inevitable. Communally all these occurances are inevitable. Some people will have accidents, house fires and floods and the effects are devastating. It's important to protect our assets against these occurances. Healthcare, on other hand, is inevitable. We will get sick and need to see a doctor. We will need to see the doctor even we don't get sick, in order make sure that catch ailments early when easier to treat or even preventable (as in the case of some heart disease and adult diabetes). Granted some will get sicker that others but as country sharing in that cost, with single-payer system, seems so much more efficient than having average family cost for health insurance be $900-$1600/month (or $10,000 to $19,000 annually). Whether I pay individually or my employer pays for, that is to much. Every other week, when I see my payroll deduction for this ($280) it burns me up! Between me and Historic Deerfield, it comes to wopping $1100/month for plan to cover Paul and me! Would the comparable taxes to cover the same thing be as much? I seriously doubt it.<BR/><BR/>The argument against national health care seems to be that we would loose choice and quality of care. Who really has choice now with restriction the HMOs put on their customers? Or if you have choice, there is limitation on the amount of coverage, so real choice comes out of your pocket in either case.<BR/><BR/>Health insurance creates a whole layers of costs that seem unnecessary - from commissions to the sales force and marketing cost to paying stockholders in case of for profit insurance companies.<BR/><BR/>I have heard of studies that show medicare gets more the dollar spent than any of insurance companies. Why aren't we learning from this?<BR/><BR/>On another point, you talk about insurance companies making money while denying people coverage. In Massachusetts (and Washington) we have a "gauranteed issue" state, meaning no insurance company can deny any one for any reason, as long as they willing to pay the premium. (Definitely a good idea if you are relying on insurance to pay for health care) A lot of insurance companies left Mass when that came into effect in '97 (good riddance) but how do companies get around it now? The use of managed care first of all or in the case of the company I sold for - limiting coverage to higher end ailments. For instance - expensive drugs for chronic ailments, or medical "equipment" were not covered. For instance, the company would cover the surgery (up to the limits of the policy) for a pacemaker or articfical knee but wouldn't pay for the hardware. Also there are lifetime limits or limits per visit. For instance $1000/day for chemo. I always wondered if that was enough.<BR/><BR/>I could go on and on and thankfully I'm out of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com