Health Care in America: Good or Bad?

*Priestess Angel* · Jul 15, 2007, 09:33 PM

Hi everyone! Recently, there has been a lot of debate on America's health care system due to the movie Sicko produced by Michael Moore. My question is do you think that health care in America is good or bad? Also, why do you think it is good or bad? And what are you think could make the health care system better?

Me, I think that the health care system is pretty bad. I mean the problem I have most with is health insurance companies and a number of doctors. A lot of health insurance companies will simply not cover anything. Like for instance, the one my family has. Our insurance is a rip off and won't even cover for my asthma and the major reason is that we own a small business. My mother is currently going to college hoping to get a job that provides better health insurance. I have also read many stories, watched videos, and actually know about people who can barely make it by due to medical bills and the insurance will simply not cover it.

Also, my problem with many of the doctors is the fact that many of them take the easy route and just prescribe their patients with painkillers instead of trying to find the real problem. Now, I am not saying that all doctors are like this but there is certainly a great number of them. Not to mention, that is this country is overly prescribed on medication and this is the main source to the problem.

I think that medical care should be funded by the government, myself. Because personally I don't mind spending more on taxes if I know that my money is going toward hospitals and is saving lives and maybe will even save my life one day.

Also, for more information on the subject here are some links

glumbert.com - Michael Moore rips apart Wolf Blitzer on CNN
This is a CNN coverage of the subject. It also contains an interview with Michael Moore. The interview isn't pretty either.

YouTube - Wheelchair Medicare Don't Care

YouTube - Re: SiCKO Movie -- Michael Moore Wants to Hear From You

YouTube - Re: SiCKO Movie -- Michael Moore Wants to Hear From You

YouTube - Response to Michael Moore Part 1
YouTube - Response to Michael Moore part 2

The youtube links are various accounts from people with medical problems, medical issues, and what they have had to go through when it came to insurance and such.

MichaelMoore.com : SiCKO : Michael Moore's Health Care Proposal
This is the homepage for Micheal Moore's movie. It has his proposals of what to do to change the system and has various facts.

WHO | World Health Organization
This is the World Health Organization of World Health. It is a goldmine of information. It has the health statis on countries and tons of statistics on all sorts of subjects pertaining to health.

Sorry for the long post guys but this is a subject that I am very interested in and very passionate about. What are your thoughts?

Mechazawa · Jul 15, 2007, 10:15 PM

Your right the health care system in the US isn't very good (I live in the US by the by). The doctors are more likely to throw some pills at you and get you out of there hair, there are two reasons for that:

1. I remember hearing a story on the news that if a doctor tells you to take or steers you to a certain drug for your illness the company that makes that medicine will pay the doctor. There more advertisers than doctors

2. Is that at least around the area where I live the hospitals and clinics are always full up. Its easier and may be safer for the doctor (mal-practice and all) to just throw some pills at someone.

Private Insurance is a huge rip-off, but you have to have something otherwise the hospital will turn you away. I've heard about people getting turned away more and more lately.

My Mother had to have her gall-bladder removed about two and a half years ago and when all was said and done the bill came to 20,000 dollar. That was just to remove something that's less than the size of an Ice Cube. She has insurance through the place she works and got lucky to the fact that she hadn't used it for anything major other than going to the clinic a couple of times so she only had to pay 200 bucks.

One of her co-workers has had to go to the hospital quite a bit though, and the insurance company just flat out said that this person was using it to much and wouldn't pay very much on any operations they needed do.

I tell you its a real same, that one of the most powerful countries in the world can't come up with something to help.

*Joe Mage* · Jul 16, 2007, 06:29 AM

6 years ago I got diagnosed wit cancer and I've been on medicaid ever since, 'cause the docs say I can' work. I haven' noticed a problem wit most of the docs in my area, but the healthcare sucks. My docs get visibly frustated, as do I, wit the way things r bein' handled nowadays. My regular doc prescribed me my Nexium for my acid-reflux diesease and gave me 6 refills. Then I ran out and called it in to get a refill. When we went ta pick it up, they told me that I needed have my doc contact them ta get the prescription refilled. Wait a minute, I thought that's what the refill marks on the bottle were for. It's all on account of some new law Congress passed or something. I've seen our healthcare system deteriorate, first-hand, badly over the years and if somethin' isn' done soon it's only gonna get worse.

*Priestess Angel* · Jul 16, 2007, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Your right the health care system in the US isn't very good (I live in the US by the by). The doctors are more likely to throw some pills at you and get you out of there hair, there are two reasons for that:

1. I remember hearing a story on the news that if a doctor tells you to take or steers you to a certain drug for your illness the company that makes that medicine will pay the doctor. There more advertisers than doctors

2. Is that at least around the area where I live the hospitals and clinics are always full up. Its easier and may be safer for the doctor (mal-practice and all) to just throw some pills at someone.

Private Insurance is a huge rip-off, but you have to have something otherwise the hospital will turn you away. I've heard about people getting turned away more and more lately.

My Mother had to have her gall-bladder removed about two and a half years ago and when all was said and done the bill came to 20,000 dollar. That was just to remove something that's less than the size of an Ice Cube. She has insurance through the place she works and got lucky to the fact that she hadn't used it for anything major other than going to the clinic a couple of times so she only had to pay 200 bucks.

One of her co-workers has had to go to the hospital quite a bit though, and the insurance company just flat out said that this person was using it to much and wouldn't pay very much on any operations they needed do.

I tell you its a real same, that one of the most powerful countries in the world can't come up with something to help.

Well, now it makes a little more sense that doctors do that. I can kind of understand why they may be pressured to just prescribe some painkillers if they are being bombarded by patients. But it personally disgusts me that a doctor would prescribe patients a number of medicines just so they can have some extra money in their paycheck. It's true what they say "money is the core of all corruption".

Something I don't understand is why the health insurance is so job-based. I don't think your job should determine what kind of health insurance you get. I think you should be able to obtain any kind of health insurance from any company but that isn't the case.

Quote:

6 years ago I got diagnosed wit cancer and I've been on medicaid ever since, 'cause the docs say I can' work. I haven' noticed a problem wit most of the docs in my area, but the healthcare sucks. My docs get visibly frustated, as do I, wit the way things r bein' handled nowadays. My regular doc prescribed me my Nexium for my acid-reflux diesease and gave me 6 refills. Then I ran out and called it in to get a refill. When we went ta pick it up, they told me that I needed have my doc contact them ta get the prescription refilled. Wait a minute, I thought that's what the refill marks on the bottle were for. It's all on account of some new law Congress passed or something. I've seen our healthcare system deteriorate, first-hand, badly over the years and if somethin' isn' done soon it's only gonna get worse.

Yeah, that is the complaints I have heard the most about. It seems like so many of the health insurance companies have become corrupt and your insurance depends heavily on what career you are in. I think that needs to change really bad!

I have read an article that explains why health insurance has become so job-based. And it actually traces back to WWII which surprised me.

Quote:

To understand how our health care system developed in this way, we need to look back to World War II. As the U.S. became involved in the war, with the goal of ensuring that production of weapons and supplies for our soldiers would not be disrupted by labor disputes or cause economic problems such as increased inflation and war profiteering.

The Board decided that it is was in our country's best interests to freeze wages and establish price controls, at least for the duration of the war. Unfortunately, the wage freeze made it much more difficult for employers to attract employees from a workforce that diminished as more and more workers were sent overseas for battle.

The National War Labor Board, perhaps realizing that it had created a monster, ruled that the wage freeze and price controls did not apply to fringe benefits like pensions and health insurance coverage. This gave employers the means to attract and retain employees. Back in those days, health insurance was a relatively cheap benefit, and the fact that it was (and still is) tax deductible was an added bonus for the employer. Furthermore, labor unions strongly supported the NWLB ruling and encouraged businesses to offer health insurance benefits to their employees. Thus, employers began offering employee health coverage as part of their fringe benefits as a matter of course.

World War II eventually ended, but job-based health coverage did not. The workforce had grown accustomed to receiving health insurance coverage as an employee benefit, so that even after the wartime labor shortage ended, they continued to demand it - as we continue to do so today.

From about.com

Mechazawa · Jul 16, 2007, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Something I don't understand is why the health insurance is so job-based. I don't think your job should determine what kind of health insurance you get. I think you should be able to obtain any kind of health insurance from any company but that isn't the case.

Well for my mom anyway she's had the same job for going on 30 years now, and only in the past ten did it start offering her health insurance. A man my family knows worked at wal-mart part-time (and worked at some rental place also), anyway he worked at wally-world for 12 years sometimes full time other times part time it was mostly because they offered health insurance and it was just cheaper to get it that way. Well I saw him in town recently and found out that he got fired because they no longer wanted to pay his insurance. Wal-mart can hire teenage part timers or college kids part-time and not have to do anything insurance wise.

Insurance shouldn't be based on whatever job you have, there should be insurance for everyone weather they work or not. There should be some kind of extra tax when filing an income tax return.

Universal health-care wouldn't come without its problems though I live in Tennessee, we had for a while this thing called Tenn-care, it was for health care insurance for the whole state. It was also part of the reason the state every year was building crazy debt every month. There was so much corruption (if thats the right word for this) doctors who just write scrips, people getting massive amounts of medicine and re-selling (mostly painkillers).

Its really annoying when it comes right down to it.,, real good hard working people getting sick and almost brought to the poor house because they can't pay doctor bills, and there is so scumbag thats getting either their fixx or getting rich.

_gwenibe_ · Jul 17, 2007, 03:04 AM

I don't understand why health care isn't free in America ( looking at the amount they spend of military anyways..)

I mean the cost I've seen/heard of some life saving procedures in America I could never afford, and I wonder how some people in America can do it. How can they let people die like that, simple because they are less fortunate then others are.

Having said that, I'm not in America so correct me please if I'm making the wrong assumptions ^^"

Avatar theif#1 · Jul 22, 2007, 05:19 PM

I think the health care system makes no sense how are you going to let corporations that try to avoid providing you with service run something so important i think its the governments job to take care of health care if we spent less money on weapons and more on civil services then the country wouldn't be in the shit hole that its in now

Jul 15, 2007, 09:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
Priestess Angel Nisou Tenshi Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Right where you think I am Posts: 544 Thanks: 18 Thanked 21 Times in 17 Posts Credits: 14,647	Health Care in America: Good or Bad? Hi everyone! Recently, there has been a lot of debate on America's health care system due to the movie Sicko produced by Michael Moore. My question is do you think that health care in America is good or bad? Also, why do you think it is good or bad? And what are you think could make the health care system better? Me, I think that the health care system is pretty bad. I mean the problem I have most with is health insurance companies and a number of doctors. A lot of health insurance companies will simply not cover anything. Like for instance, the one my family has. Our insurance is a rip off and won't even cover for my asthma and the major reason is that we own a small business. My mother is currently going to college hoping to get a job that provides better health insurance. I have also read many stories, watched videos, and actually know about people who can barely make it by due to medical bills and the insurance will simply not cover it. Also, my problem with many of the doctors is the fact that many of them take the easy route and just prescribe their patients with painkillers instead of trying to find the real problem. Now, I am not saying that all doctors are like this but there is certainly a great number of them. Not to mention, that is this country is overly prescribed on medication and this is the main source to the problem. I think that medical care should be funded by the government, myself. Because personally I don't mind spending more on taxes if I know that my money is going toward hospitals and is saving lives and maybe will even save my life one day. Also, for more information on the subject here are some links glumbert.com - Michael Moore rips apart Wolf Blitzer on CNN This is a CNN coverage of the subject. It also contains an interview with Michael Moore. The interview isn't pretty either. YouTube - Wheelchair Medicare Don't Care YouTube - Re: SiCKO Movie -- Michael Moore Wants to Hear From You YouTube - Re: SiCKO Movie -- Michael Moore Wants to Hear From You YouTube - Response to Michael Moore Part 1 YouTube - Response to Michael Moore part 2 The youtube links are various accounts from people with medical problems, medical issues, and what they have had to go through when it came to insurance and such. MichaelMoore.com : SiCKO : Michael Moore's Health Care Proposal This is the homepage for Micheal Moore's movie. It has his proposals of what to do to change the system and has various facts. WHO \| World Health Organization This is the World Health Organization of World Health. It is a goldmine of information. It has the health statis on countries and tons of statistics on all sorts of subjects pertaining to health. Sorry for the long post guys but this is a subject that I am very interested in and very passionate about. What are your thoughts? __________________
Status: Offline

Jul 15, 2007, 10:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mechazawa Otaku Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Inside my mind Posts: 337 Thanks: 1 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts Credits: 4,404	Re: Health Care in America: Good or Bad? Your right the health care system in the US isn't very good (I live in the US by the by). The doctors are more likely to throw some pills at you and get you out of there hair, there are two reasons for that: 1. I remember hearing a story on the news that if a doctor tells you to take or steers you to a certain drug for your illness the company that makes that medicine will pay the doctor. There more advertisers than doctors 2. Is that at least around the area where I live the hospitals and clinics are always full up. Its easier and may be safer for the doctor (mal-practice and all) to just throw some pills at someone. Private Insurance is a huge rip-off, but you have to have something otherwise the hospital will turn you away. I've heard about people getting turned away more and more lately. My Mother had to have her gall-bladder removed about two and a half years ago and when all was said and done the bill came to 20,000 dollar. That was just to remove something that's less than the size of an Ice Cube. She has insurance through the place she works and got lucky to the fact that she hadn't used it for anything major other than going to the clinic a couple of times so she only had to pay 200 bucks. One of her co-workers has had to go to the hospital quite a bit though, and the insurance company just flat out said that this person was using it to much and wouldn't pay very much on any operations they needed do. I tell you its a real same, that one of the most powerful countries in the world can't come up with something to help. __________________ I BELONG TO AN ANGEL NOW!
Status: Offline

Jul 16, 2007, 06:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
Joe Mage Mage of Eternity Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: In the end, it doesn' really matter. Posts: 876 Thanks: 26 Thanked 33 Times in 30 Posts Credits: 34,208	Re: Health Care in America: Good or Bad? 6 years ago I got diagnosed wit cancer and I've been on medicaid ever since, 'cause the docs say I can' work. I haven' noticed a problem wit most of the docs in my area, but the healthcare sucks. My docs get visibly frustated, as do I, wit the way things r bein' handled nowadays. My regular doc prescribed me my Nexium for my acid-reflux diesease and gave me 6 refills. Then I ran out and called it in to get a refill. When we went ta pick it up, they told me that I needed have my doc contact them ta get the prescription refilled. Wait a minute, I thought that's what the refill marks on the bottle were for. It's all on account of some new law Congress passed or something. I've seen our healthcare system deteriorate, first-hand, badly over the years and if somethin' isn' done soon it's only gonna get worse. __________________ "Believe in yourself, if in nothing else." My myspace page: www.myspace.com/joemage
Status: Offline

Jul 17, 2007, 03:04 AM	#6 (permalink)
_gwenibe_ wtf mate? Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 1,167 Thanks: 1 Thanked 24 Times in 21 Posts Credits: 19,525	Re: Health Care in America: Good or Bad? I don't understand why health care isn't free in America ( looking at the amount they spend of military anyways..) I mean the cost I've seen/heard of some life saving procedures in America I could never afford, and I wonder how some people in America can do it. How can they let people die like that, simple because they are less fortunate then others are. Having said that, I'm not in America so correct me please if I'm making the wrong assumptions ^^" __________________
Status: Offline

Jul 22, 2007, 05:19 PM	#7 (permalink)
Avatar theif#1 Diamond in the Rough Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: In front of a computer monitor Posts: 345 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Credits: 2,320	Re: Health Care in America: Good or Bad? I think the health care system makes no sense how are you going to let corporations that try to avoid providing you with service run something so important i think its the governments job to take care of health care if we spent less money on weapons and more on civil services then the country wouldn't be in the shit hole that its in now __________________ Do to others as you see fit Avatar Thief#1
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