Earlier this week, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have expanded health care coverage to children through the State Children's Health Insurance Program. He argued that the bill would divert funds intended for poorer families to those who are middle class. Critics of the current system of health care argue that it is terribly flawed, and that the US would do better to adopt a universal health care system like Canada.
I don't have an answer to the health care crisis, because if it were that easy, it wouldn't be such an issue. Nor am I convinced that government provided health care is the answer. At an online community I used to belong to, another member was a nurse in Canada and she said the system had its own flaws. It was easy to get basic care, but you could die on a waiting list for heart surgery.
I do know that an easy way to reduce the cost of health care is to eliminate the ridiculous charges that drive prices up.
In August, I took Maureen to see her doctor because her eye was goopy again. The doctor examined her, and when she looked in her ears, used a tiny piece of wire with a wisp of cotton on the end to pick a piece of wax out so she could see the eardrum.
When the bill came, there was a ninety-nine dollar charge for "removal of impacted cerumen." Ninety-nine dollars to pick a piece of wax out of her ear. Ninety-nine dollars. You have got to be kidding me.
I'm not paying it. Here's why. Both kids have had their ears cleaned out at this office and I have never been charged for it. Something like that should be part of the exam. I could have done that myself at home. The doctor didn't mention to me that there would be a charge for the "procedure." Our insurance doesn't cover stuff like that. And it's ridiculous. It's excessive. It's complete and total crap.
After I calmed down a little, I called the office and am still waiting for a call back from the billing people.
The father of a friend of mine had heart surgery and requested an itemized bill. You know that insulated cup they keep your water in? It costs 8 dollars. Those cheap non-slip hospital socks? Twelve dollars. You don't want to know how much rotten hospital food costs.
I take a daily medication for my thyroid. When Maureen was born, I brought my pills along, but was informed by the head nurse that the doctor would rather I take the hospital's pills. Since they have to pay someone to go get it from the pharmacy, someone to bring it to me (along with that eight dollar water jug) and someone to write it in my chart, that thyroid pill costs ten times what it cost to buy it from the regular pharmacy. I should have argued, but I was too tired.
We have insurance, but it doesn't pay for everything. I don't know how middle class families who can't afford private insurance manage it. I get it that doctor's aren't volunteering their time, and considering the enormous cost of medical school, they have every right to make a decent living. But the quality of the healthcare a person receives should not be dependent on your income.
In my humble opinion, getting rid of some of these ridiculous charges would go a long, long way in closing the gap between the poor and the rich.
I don't have an answer to the health care crisis, because if it were that easy, it wouldn't be such an issue. Nor am I convinced that government provided health care is the answer. At an online community I used to belong to, another member was a nurse in Canada and she said the system had its own flaws. It was easy to get basic care, but you could die on a waiting list for heart surgery.
I do know that an easy way to reduce the cost of health care is to eliminate the ridiculous charges that drive prices up.
In August, I took Maureen to see her doctor because her eye was goopy again. The doctor examined her, and when she looked in her ears, used a tiny piece of wire with a wisp of cotton on the end to pick a piece of wax out so she could see the eardrum.
When the bill came, there was a ninety-nine dollar charge for "removal of impacted cerumen." Ninety-nine dollars to pick a piece of wax out of her ear. Ninety-nine dollars. You have got to be kidding me.
I'm not paying it. Here's why. Both kids have had their ears cleaned out at this office and I have never been charged for it. Something like that should be part of the exam. I could have done that myself at home. The doctor didn't mention to me that there would be a charge for the "procedure." Our insurance doesn't cover stuff like that. And it's ridiculous. It's excessive. It's complete and total crap.
After I calmed down a little, I called the office and am still waiting for a call back from the billing people.
The father of a friend of mine had heart surgery and requested an itemized bill. You know that insulated cup they keep your water in? It costs 8 dollars. Those cheap non-slip hospital socks? Twelve dollars. You don't want to know how much rotten hospital food costs.
I take a daily medication for my thyroid. When Maureen was born, I brought my pills along, but was informed by the head nurse that the doctor would rather I take the hospital's pills. Since they have to pay someone to go get it from the pharmacy, someone to bring it to me (along with that eight dollar water jug) and someone to write it in my chart, that thyroid pill costs ten times what it cost to buy it from the regular pharmacy. I should have argued, but I was too tired.
We have insurance, but it doesn't pay for everything. I don't know how middle class families who can't afford private insurance manage it. I get it that doctor's aren't volunteering their time, and considering the enormous cost of medical school, they have every right to make a decent living. But the quality of the healthcare a person receives should not be dependent on your income.
In my humble opinion, getting rid of some of these ridiculous charges would go a long, long way in closing the gap between the poor and the rich.
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6 comments:
I agree with you.
I don't know the solution either it is not an easy fix.
I do agree that the costs are ridiculous!
When hubby needed an MRI, when it was scheduled they asked if we had insurance or not, they have two separate charges a "no insurance/cash/credit card charge and an Insurance charge.
Same with when I get mammograms.
They jack up the Insurance fee knowing the Insurance company will have a "write off amount" that they can not dispute.
~Renae~
I know 6 families from Canada (actually I know more, but I know 6 well enough to know their views on health care), and of the 6, five prefer the Canadian system, even with the flaws.
2 of the families are retired couples, who move back to Canada for a year every so many years to keep their health benefits, and they go back for routine health care. The 3 others who like the Canada system better than the US are now US citizens, but they say the biggest trade off in becoming citizens/permanent residents of the US was the health care.
And the 6th family says the Canadian health care system is a ridiculous mess and the US is much better.
However, people in the US die on waiting lists for organs as well, and my nephew who has kidney disease will most likely die before he's big enough to receive an adult organ, even with the best care Stanford University Medical can provide. Meantime, his family will undoubtedly be bankrupted, and their private insurance is close to being maxed out. So US health care is a ridiculous mess as well....take your pick.
Canada's health care system isn't ranked much higher than the US by the WHO. But this post wasn't intended to be a comparison of whose is better anyway. My point was that doctors and hospitals nickel and diming people to death for stupid things like ear wax is partially responsible for health insurance being too expensive for many residents.
I agree that the doctors charge rediculous fees, however in their defense, they do it because insurance keeps paying them less and less. They can charge 10 million dollars to pull that cerumen out of your kids ear if they want but all insurance will pay is whatever their negotiated rate is (something pathetically small if anything at all). Doctors also have to be careful about what they charge selfpay patients because if the insurance companies find out that they are charging those patients less, they accuse the doctor of fraud and pay them less. Medicine is the only profession where professionals are told what they will be paid for their services and what they charge doesn't matter. I wish I could say to my plumber I know you charge $300 per hour but I'm only going to pay you $25 for that entire job. Oh and by the way, even though you're doing 4 jobs for me, I'll pay you the $25 for the first job, $12.50 for the second and third jobs and nothing for the 4th. Some insurances actually do this for surgical procedures perfomed at the same time. Another reason that all the medical supplies cost so much at the hospital is because on that itemized bill there isn't a line item for labor. Nurses aren't paid nearly enough for the crap that they have to put up with from patients, even though they make decent money. The system is completely broken and I'm not sure how it can be fixed. The problem is that medicine stopped being about helping people get well and became a business. Now its all about the bottom line and care is compromised every single day because of it. I can't tell you how many times we have to cancel surgery because insurance won't cover it, or because there is a pre-existing clause that says if the kid had ear infections before getting the insurance, they won't pay for the surgery for 6 months. Its rediculous what they do to some of these poor patients!
"The problem is that medicine stopped being about helping people get well and became a business. Now its all about the bottom line and care is compromised every single day because of it,"
I couldn't agree more. At the same time, it's not fair for the doctors to screw the patient over because the insurance companies are screwing the doctors over. And there is a difference between charging a ridiculous fee for something that was done and charging a fee for something that wasn't. Charging for extra nights or meds that weren't given is unethical and dishonest. Prevention just had an article about unnessecary surgery. The article sais many ortho docs recommend knee surgery to patients who don't really need it to make up for the drop in their income, and that's bad medicine. It shouldn't be up to the patient to make up the difference, and I don't really feel sorry for people who already make six figure incomes anyway.
I love it when you get all political! Woot, woot! My hospital stay for the two weeks leading up to and including the birth of the Little Man added up to 83+ thousand dollars. His NICU stay was 300 thousand. Craziness.
I have thyroid issues, too! But they let me take my own meds. :)
Btw, I just blog rolled you, b/c I just got around to updating after meaning to for a very long time. :0)
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