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The real reason health care is so unaffordable


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2012 Aug 4, 11:51pm   13,757 views  54 comments

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http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/08/03/obesity-surpasses-smoking.aspx

obesity surpasses smoking in terms of ill health effects

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are overweight. This does indeed place a heavy burden on the health care system. It's important to realize that a large number of diseases are directly attributable to obesity,

http://www.termlifeinsurance.org/harmful-soda-full

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1   jhall   2012 Aug 5, 1:37am  

Obesity is a huge problem (heh, heh). But what about end of life care? As medical technology keeps us around for longer and does more miraculous things to keep us alive, we're paying for that final year of life. Lots of razzle dazzle, let's put off the inevitable, but not a lot of quality of life.

I looked around and found a figure of $147 billion for obesity-related issues. And I also found the final year of life costs account for around 30 percent of health care costs. With all the boomers coming up on their last year, that percentage is only going to increase - by a lot...

2   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 2:19am  

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Right. Doctors have one imperative - get the patient into a death spiral scenario as quickly as possible to charge them for all manner of crap and seize every last liquid or liquidatible asset before they call the morgue for a pick-up.

You clearly do not know... When you see a physician there is often a profession fee and a hospital fee. Physicians collect the profession fee, which is a fraction of most bills. I find it funny that you think physicians are the ones making the money. If you look at physician earnings, they have actually gone down in the last decade. Most physicians work longers hours and yet take home less money than they did 10 years ago. Physician make up about 6-7% of the entire healthcare costs. They are simply the work horses in medicine, but not the money makers. Look else where with your conspiracy theories.

Increases in healthcare is attributed to many issues such as mal-practice insurance and un-ending number of frivolous lawsuites, aging population, rampant obesity and diabetes, caring for the uninsured/illegal immigrants, high administrative costs of some insurance companies, labor laws and unions which drive up costs of nursing and support staff, pharmas which charge more in USA than other countries, etc etc. I can go on and on... its not as simple as doctors want to make you sick so they can collect...

3   KILLERJANE   2012 Aug 5, 2:49am  

Umm, doctors are my least favorite. They constantly mis diagnose and know virtually nothing, or rather practice nothing in regards to health nutrition. I took my daughter to clinic, she hurt her arm roller skating. They took X-ray, said it was broken, put on semi cast and referred me to a specialist. $255. Went To the specialist the next day and he said it WAS NOT BROKEN, cut off the $255 cast and sent us away. $189. I always pay cash and claim no insurance. I have insurance but have found this is the cheaper way.

So I spent about $450 for nothing and 340 a month for insurance coverage in fear that if we ever really need serious medical attention I won't be sued and liens placed on my property.

We eat both healthy and junky depending on the situation. My children won't regular dentists either due to good practices brushing and flossing. Baking soda. No need for braces as if you guide their teeth as they are growing in, you can help them to grow straight. Duh. No one really knows this. That's how my grandmother taught me. It hurts less than braces, doesn't really hurt at all to tug them straight when they grow in.

Most problems with health are due to lack of knowledge and education, poor diet, poor hygienic care.

4   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 2:55am  

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Exactly, doctors are victims and therefore entitled to come up with any set of billings they can throw at the fat, lazy litigious old unionized fucks before hey die. Given the strangle-hold the insurance companies have, no one can blame them.

Never said doctors are the victims, please do not put words into my mouth. I was simply correcting your inaccurate accusations. You simply blamed physicians for the cost of health care yet you had NO evidence nor facts... and you will find very little because like i mentioned physicians are only 6-7% of healthcare costs.

Oh btw, physicians cannot bill anything they want as you incorrectly suggest again. Medicare has a strict billing code in which they will ONLY pay as it is designated per procedure or visit. All insurances will set their payments based on medicare standards, although it can be little lower or higher.

You can speak about insurance companies as they are a complete separate identity from physicians. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, some insurance companies are a part of the problem. But you incorrectly associate physicians which insurance companies.

5   elliemae   2012 Aug 5, 3:45am  

End-of-life care is HUGE business! Hospices get paid $175/day to care for patients - and their marketing practices are thru the roof.

There's a lot of pressure for docs to refer to hospices - from hospitals, insurance companies and the hospices themselves.

Yes, people are sicker at the end of their lives, and cost more. But people are being pressured to sign up for hospice like you wouldn't believe.

6   futuresmc   2012 Aug 5, 3:46am  

Meccos says

Increases in healthcare is attributed to many issues such as mal-practice insurance and un-ending number of frivolous lawsuites,

Malpractice insurance is high because of insurance companies wanting fatter and fatter profits, not because of frivolous lawsuits. These companies know that doctors feel commited to their professions and will pay higher rates to continue practicing. Malpractice insurance providers collude with health insurance companies (often a different division of the same company) to drive up those costs. When an injury at birth will cost a family over 30 million dollars in medical and special education costs over a lifetime, how can you cap that accurately? No, tort reform opponants want to give a family like that $250,000 and wash their hands of liablity. Limit malpractice claims and all that will happen is a windfall for insurers. Doctors will still see their malpractice insurance continue to rise.

7   KILLERJANE   2012 Aug 5, 4:09am  

I wish everyone all together would just stop paying for insurance and let the free market rule. And remove the legislation that allows for liens to be placed due to med costs.

8   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 4:57am  

futuresmc says

Malpractice insurance is high because of insurance companies wanting fatter and fatter profits, not because of frivolous lawsuits.

Sorry you couldnt be more wrong. YOu have no idea the number of frivolous malpractice lawsuits that are filed every year. The problem is that it is often cheaper to settle than to actually fight and win the cases even though the overwhelming majority of cases are found to be without any cause. This unfortunately causes the cost of insurance to rise. On average each and every doctor has one lawsuit every seven years. Many lawyers do not charge a fee unless their client recieves money, thus making clients easy to find since they do not lose out of anything.
Like I said, I dont disagree with insurance company greed, but to make a statement that frivolous lawsuits do not contribute is totally off base.

9   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 5:01am  

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Right. Insurance companies just MAKE UP those billings

I dunno what billings you are talking about, but it is a fact that there are certain payment schedules for visits and procedures. That is a fact.

10   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 5:02am  

KILLERJANE says

I wish everyone all together would just stop paying for insurance and let the free market rule. And remove the legislation that allows for liens to be placed due to med costs.

I totally agree...

11   raindoctor   2012 Aug 5, 5:11am  

From another site, I think, mish
Healthcare Key Points

* "Health care" (HC) spending is now 17% of GDP and an equivalent of 50% of private wages and of total government spending, growing at twice the rate of GDP since '00.
* 50% of HC spending is on the sickest 5%.
* 20% is spend on end-of-life services for elders.
* Private HC and total government spending is an equivalent of 100% of public and private wages.
* HC and war spending make up and equivalent of 25% of GDP.
* Out-of-pocket HC costs are now the primary cause of personal bankruptcy.
* HC in the US is unaffordable for most people were they to have to pay for it themselves.
* "The market" is "rationing" care for at least 50 million uninsured people and would for most elders were they to have to bear more of the true costs of their late-life care.

12   Buster   2012 Aug 5, 5:17am  

Meccos says

They are simply the work horses in medicine, but not the money makers.

Have to laugh at this one. No, Dr's are not the work horses of Medicine, Nurses are. You had better figure this one out and in the future your very life may depend on it.

The Doctor's bill is actually a small part of where your healthcare dollars actually go. What is amazing is that the Insurance Administrative costs suck up about 25% of every healthcare dollar spent. In countries that have socialized medicine, and with the US VA, those amounts are cut nearly in half. This also does not account for the fact that a huge chunk of the Doctor's bill is there to cover his own administrative costs sucked up by his staff shuffling papers all day that the insurance companies demand of them in order to get paid.

Once again, the rather obvious hulking 900 lb gorilla in the living room is ignored and the half starved kitten in the corner is blamed for all the poop on the carpet.

13   curious2   2012 Aug 5, 6:46am  

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14   curious2   2012 Aug 5, 6:58am  

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15   Peter P   2012 Aug 5, 7:56am  

I support universal healthcare, and I am someone who wants to privatize sidewalks.

16   bob2356   2012 Aug 5, 8:07am  

curious2 says

In Holland, babies are born at home, with a midwife followed by a visiting nurse. Costs and infant mortality are both lower than here.

That's not true, home birth in netherlands is about 30% and that's after very careful screening for potential problems. It's not a valid comparison. It's a very small country and even if something goes badly wrong a hospital is very close at hand. Costs are lower than the us for all the oecd countries for all medical care. Infant mortality is also lower for all the other oecd countries. Netherlands is mid pack, so home delivery isn't really a factor.

Home birth can be a good option for carefully screened women, but until there are major reforms in malpractice insurance, home births in the US are going to struggle to get to the 1% mark.

17   jhall   2012 Aug 5, 8:12am  

curious2 says

Making people die more slowly and profitably isn't a miracle, it's a business model. Most people fear a slow painful death more than anything, but it's what they get.

I don't want to be kept alive at all costs -- literally. And I agree, the medical system is designed to do everything possible to keep us alive, even when it's time to go. It's up to my (only) kid to pull the plug, and I'm confident that she'll make the right decision when the time comes. My end of life wishes are in writing...

18   curious2   2012 Aug 5, 8:15am  

[...]

19   curious2   2012 Aug 5, 8:17am  

[...]

20   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 9:57am  

Buster says

Have to laugh at this one. No, Dr's are not the work horses of Medicine, Nurses are. You had better figure this one out and in the future your very life may depend on it.

Do you work in the hospital? I do. Trust me nurses are not the work horses. You are lead to believe that by the nurses and nursing unions, who you probably see on TV protesting about patient care, yet at the bargaining table only seem to care about their pay raises and benefit improvements. You would be surprised to see some of the crap that goes on in the hospitals. Im not saying they dont have their role however. Doctors may seem like they dont care but usually because they only have 15 mins to spend with you until they move onto one of the next 30 patients they need to see. Nurses have all day to spend with the 2-4 patients they take care of. So as a patient, the friendly faces you often see are the nurses, but the trust me they are not the work horses. They have nurses aids who clean the poop and blood and change bed sheets and get crap for them (basically the nurses slaves), they have environmental workers who clean the rooms and toilets, they have transporters who wheel patients to and from tests, etc, etc. You think they do all the work, but TRUST me they dont. This is not to take away from their role, but please do not exaggerate what you dont know. I live it every day at work.

21   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 10:06am  

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

A doctor would just as soon stubb out a cigarette on your face as look at you.

But a nurse would actually have to dress the burn wound.

You should just go to a nurse the next time you are sick... Ill stick with my doctors.

22   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 10:07am  

Buster says

The Doctor's bill is actually a small part of where your healthcare dollars actually go. What is amazing is that the Insurance Administrative costs suck up about 25% of every healthcare dollar spent.

Totally agree with you here. I think i stated the same facts earlier.

23   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 10:16am  

jhall says

I don't want to be kept alive at all costs -- literally. And I agree, the medical system is designed to do everything possible to keep us alive, even when it's time to go.

Its not the medical system, but the laws passed by our legislators.

24   Meccos   2012 Aug 5, 10:20am  

curious2 says

Making people die more slowly and profitably isn't a miracle, it's a business model. Most people fear a slow painful death more than anything, but it's what they get.

Honestly, you guys are crazy if you think that people do this to make a profit. In fact, end of life care make up the majority of health care costs and if this could be eliminated, would curb health care costs greatly.

Even if this practice did take place, the solution would be very simple. STOP going to the hospital and die at home. Physicians CAN NOT touch you without consent. Also you can always check yourself out of the hospital even against medical advice.

25   elliemae   2012 Aug 5, 10:40am  

Meccos says

Doctors may seem like they dont care but usually because they only have 15 mins to spend with you until they move onto one of the next 30 patients they need to see.

Doctors will be paid $50 to $100 for each patient they see. They work 3 days in a row. Yes, they are responsible for their patients, but they are paid handsomely for their work. They rely on the nurses, cnas & med techs to follow the orders that they write.

Meccos says

Nurses have all day to spend with the 2-4 patients they take care of.

ICU patients have this amount. Medical Floor nurses have more, and run their asses off. Please don't diminish what nurses do. They spend all day with patients, follow MD orders, deal with families, and have to deal with endless bullshit from the hospital administration.

But also be aware that nurses aids do the actual patient care, and are the lowest paid. One complaint and they're fired.

I think it's fair to say that most hospital staff members work hard and are underpaid. Not the docs - they do work hard, but have time off if they wish to take it, and make a shitload of money.

Meccos says

Even if this practice did take place, the solution would be very simple. STOP going to the hospital and die at home. Physicians CAN NOT touch you without consent. Also you can always check yourself out of the hospital even against medical advice.

Correct - and if the patient is truly dying, they can choose hospice or comfort care if their doc will cooperate.

Problem is, they can also choose hospice if they're not. Hospice is big business and there are patients who are a full code, don't accept the hospice philosophy and yet still qualify for hospice. hospices pay their marketers HUGE commissions, so their incentive is to sign on every patient regardless of their physical condition. you don't have to have any type of license to be a hospice marketer - and yet you are giving patients advice about their physical condition. lots of abuse, there.

26   taxee   2012 Aug 5, 10:51pm  

I retrieved my sweetheart from the trauma center in Walnut Creek after she was hit head on by a junkie who crossed a double yellow line while staring at his GPS. The bill for the ambulance ride and a two hour stay with diagnostics in the ER was $30,000. We're raising our car insurance liability to one million. Yet another way to go bankrupt.

27   Tenpoundbass   2012 Aug 5, 11:13pm  

errc says

obesity surpasses smoking in terms of ill health effects

errc says

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are overweight

OMG 2/3rds of us don't look like fashion models, I'm fucking shocked, somebody call Richard Simmons!

Hmm it would seem to me 2/3rds of us are dying from one form of cancer or another. What does the propaganda machine say about that?
Because to honest, I don't know where you Clowns live, but here where I am, 2/3rds of the people are NOT fat. What kind of shake down is this, Michelle Obama's Wholefoods stock doing bad or something?
But What is alarming, cancer seems to have touched at least 2/3rds of every family I know, in the last two years.

28   zzyzzx   2012 Aug 5, 11:23pm  

jhall says

Obesity is a huge problem (heh, heh)

Obligatory:

29   Tenpoundbass   2012 Aug 5, 11:32pm  

OK yeah good point, 2 fat kids, one fatter than the other, what are there must have been at least 50 other patrons in that McDonalds, what they weren't fat enough to make a point for the photog? Where's the 6 fat fucks standing next to 3 skinny guys? It's just propaganda folks, when the libs control what you consume, they will control what you consume.

30   bob2356   2012 Aug 5, 11:41pm  

curious2 says

From what I have read, the major barrier to home births remain legislative restrictions driven by hospitals and AMA. This was litigated in Missouri, for example, with midwives having to go to the state's Supreme Court.

There are no restrictions at the federal level on home births. At the state level the only restrictions I've ever heard of are certified nurse midwife vs certified professional midwife. CNM have medical as well as midwifery training. CNM's can deliver at home in all 50 states. CPM are direct entry, with no medical training. They are trained only in midwifery. CPM's can deliver at home in 27 states.

What legislative restrictions driven by hospitals and the AMA are you talking about? CPM vs CNM seems to be mostly a bureaucratic cya thing from what I've read although I'm sure protecting turf enters into it.

As someone who has several family members who are ob's some of the tales I've heard are very hair raising. When things go bad in childbirth they can go really bad, really fast. As in dead mother and child. Home birth is a good option for someone who is very low risk, but even then things can still go very bad out of the blue.

Insurance for home births is a bigger problem. Malpractice insurance for ob's doesn't cover home births. Get caught doing one you will lose your insurance and no other carrier will pick you up. For CNM's it depends, but if they are part of a dr's practice home birth is not insured. Most CPM's don't have insurance. I can understand why, ob insurance can run 100k plus a year. A CPM doing home births would be pretty expensive insurance also without nearly the billing of an ob to cover it. But if the CPM drops the ball then the patient is out of luck in terms of getting an insurance settlement to pay for damages. It's not something CPM's advertise.

31   jhall   2012 Aug 6, 12:04am  

curious2 says

I have an AHCD as well, naming a friend to pull the plug. In case of any hesitation on his part, I've also given him contact information for someone who really hates me and would show up with a bat to finish me off ASAP.

I hadn't thought of that. Great idea!

32   jhall   2012 Aug 6, 12:07am  

elliemae says

Hospice is big business and there are patients who are a full code, don't accept the hospice philosophy and yet still qualify for hospice. hospices pay their marketers HUGE commissions, so their incentive is to sign on every patient regardless of their physical condition. you don't have to have any type of license to be a hospice marketer - and yet you are giving patients advice about their physical condition. lots of abuse, there.

Good information here. I had no idea.

33   KILLERJANE   2012 Aug 6, 11:47am  

Old news but reality none the less
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_109143.html

And many of them had insurance, we'reallfucked.org

34   Meccos   2012 Aug 6, 12:10pm  

elliemae says

Doctors will be paid $50 to $100 for each patient they see. They work 3 days in a row.

WTF? where do you get these numbers? First of all, doctors get paid differently depending on specialty. On top of that, they do not get paid per patient, but on what is done per patient and why it is done. Clearly there is some lack of knowledge with this original poster. Secondly, most doctors work minimum 5 days a week, with many often working 6 days or even 7 days a week.

elliemae says

Yes, they are responsible for their patients, but they are paid handsomely for their work.

They were paid handsomely. Doctors get paid less now than they did 10 years ago. There are MANY nurses in the hospital that I work at that get paid more than most doctors...

elliemae says

They rely on the nurses, cnas & med techs to follow the orders that they write.

Yes, true.

elliemae says

Meccos says

Nurses have all day to spend with the 2-4 patients they take care of.

ICU patients have this amount. Medical Floor nurses have more, and run their asses off. Please don't diminish what nurses do. They spend all day with patients, follow MD orders, deal with families, and have to deal with endless bullshit from the hospital administration.

Yes, nurses do deal with bullshit everyday. Unfortunately everyone in the hospitals deal with bullshit everyday. Sorry I am not trying to diminish nursing work. BUT the fact is the nursing:patient ratio in ICU is 2 to 1, and on the floors its usually 4-5 to 1. Physicians to patient ratio is usually 20-30:1.elliemae says

But also be aware that nurses aids do the actual patient care, and are the lowest paid. One complaint and they're fired.

Yes nurse do actual patient care. BUT i have to disagree that they are the lowest paid. Nurses in general are usually the next highest paid after the doctors. I cant say what happens outside of California, but in California, there are plenty and plenty and plenty of nurses who are easily making 6 figures. Some, as I mentioned, make more than most family medicine docs, internal medicine docs and pediatricians.

elliemae says

I think it's fair to say that most hospital staff members work hard and are underpaid. Not the docs - they do work hard, but have time off if they wish to take it, and make a shitload of money.

This is laughable on all parts. MOst ppl in hospitals are overpaid (ill admit, even some docs), Docs cannot take time off as they wish, and certainly it is not a shitload of money...
If you wanna talk about people who get paid loads of money for what they do, then look into these nurses... yes they are nurses

http://www.anesthesiazone.com/crna-salaries.aspx

35   Auntiegrav   2012 Aug 6, 1:06pm  

Meccos says

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

A doctor would just as soon stubb out a cigarette on your face as look at you.

But a nurse would actually have to dress the burn wound.

You should just go to a nurse the next time you are sick... Ill stick with my doctors.

Personally, after the experiences I've had with doctors and nurses both, I would choose a nurse over a doctor, a veterinarian over either one, and if I have a broken bone? A mechanic: someone who is good at actually fixing something, rather than burned out from paperwork.

36   elliemae   2012 Aug 6, 1:30pm  

Meccos says

Yes nurse do actual patient care. BUT i have to disagree that they are the lowest paid. Nurses in general are usually the next highest paid after the doctors.

Please re-read the quote; nurses' aids (CNA's) do the actual work and are paid the least.

Nurses make less than many OT's, PT's, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and many other professionals. So, no, they aren't paid second to docs. And that doesn't count the fat in hospital adminstration.

The docs I was talking about are the consultants, who see patients for five minutes, make a note in the chart, order labs and bill the patients for their time. Consultants are usually called in for every condition that the patient has.

Many docs such as ER or other specialties work 3 day shifts. Those who work five usually work eight hour days. New docs, residents or workaholics work seven days a week.

The nurses with whom I've worked mostly bust their asses, and aren't overpaid. Sorry that you have a different experience.

37   Auntiegrav   2012 Aug 6, 1:44pm  

Just as nobody who travels ever says, "My, what a beautiful airport.", nobody discussing health care seems to want to discuss the E.O.B. .
"Explanation Of Benefits".
This one item, if collectively analyzed demographically, will tell you more about the costs of health care than all of the 'experts' combined.
The E.O.B. will show how hospitals bill for stuff they didn't do, how they pad the expenses with 200 dollar aspirin, and how insurance companies act as a union negotiator, so that you pay premiums like you're getting gold plated bed sheets, but the insurance company stongarms the hospital until it pays for dirty paper, while insisting that hospitals charge too much. Who insures the hospitals against bankrupt patients? Who insists that every insurance plan needs a new form to fill out?
Why are hospitals being built as far from poor people as possible? What are the parameters used by Medicare to set "usual and customary" rates? What relationships are going on between legislators, campaign contributions, and the health of citizens?
People don't need insurance. They need good health.
This is the first place to start asking about how to be decent to each other. The price won't matter if people are actually healthy, because they won't need to go to the doctor in the first place. We may have to rethink the whole concept of using medical practices at all (let some people die of disease and at birth so the rest are overall healthier). I'm not saying that is what we SHOULD do, but that we have to actually DECIDE what to do, not shift around a lot of words and money and then mindlessly pick the cheapest or easiest thing from a spreadsheet.
If that was the case, I would say that all medical personnel should be drafted in the military and put an end to all of this private ripoff horseshit. If we are to be a military-fascist Empire, conquering and spreading the White is Right power around the world like Teddy Roosevelt wanted, then let's just BE the most efficient killers we can be. It might cut down on health care costs. If socialized medicine is good enough for the troops, then make everyone a troop.
In the sane world, however, we need to evaluate the root causes of all the sick people, not the costs of the marketing and buildings and landscaping and campaign contributions. The first area to address is Cheap Food and its cousins, Consumerism and Wealth Extraction. Our biggest problem with health is really food, but the Agriculture department wants nothing to do with health, and the Health department wants nothing to do with food. The ignorance is a problem of the education system that focuses on getting people into good jobs so they can afford the expensive insurance, rather than ensuring they are able to care for themselves and choose proper food. We allow market forces to push people apart based on the color of their skin or clothes, rather than work to cooperate as communities for a better living space. Just about everything about our human "success" is a failure, but we are too wound up by language and hatred (and working 3 jobs to pay for a car to drive to 3 jobs) to stop and think that if we cooperated as a neighborhood, half wouldn't even need cars or jobs. The health care issue is a side effect, like the boom and bust economy, of our frantic cognitive burnout in a senseless society of shiny, noisy crap and the people who push it like drug dealers. Every spectacle, every argument, every idiotic rampage sets the advertising meter spinning.
If you want Change, keep it in your pocket. Smash the TV. Come up with a plan to eventually sell the car and find a doctor to live in your building. We don't need Them..They just sold themselves to us. We used to do it all ourselves and we died for the right to do so. It's not that 'you didn't build that', but that They made it illegal for you to do so without a corporation or a lawyer or a doctor or a permit.

38   Auntiegrav   2012 Aug 6, 1:53pm  

elliemae says

Consultants are usually called in for every condition that the patient has.

I WISH!! The doctors I get to see won't call in a specialist unless you are catatonic or spazzing out on the floor. It might cost money or time in the HMO world, where people are treated like cars at the drive-thru, and they'll do everything they can to ruin your chance to slow down the process. Mostly, they just nod and smile and say, "you don't have anything to worry about", you're fine: here's some expensive free pills. The 'experts' say stupid shit like "get a second opinion" or "see a different doctor". Yeah, THAT's gonna get you somewhere useful in a world where only a missing organ will get admittance through the insurance gauntlet. The 'specialists' are always somewhere on one of the coasts, and would require a week off (if you can get to see them sometime in the next frackin' DECADE).
"My GOD, MAN!! Drilling holes in his brain isn't the answer!!" -Dr. McCoy

39   Auntiegrav   2012 Aug 6, 2:10pm  

elliemae says

The nurses with whom I've worked mostly bust their asses, and aren't overpaid. Sorry that you have a different experience.

My mom was an aide, then went to school to be an LPN (tuition benefit of the hospital). When she only had a couple of credits to take to get her RN, she said, "what the heck" and continued her education. The nursing union chased her out because she was overqualified (they wouldn't let her keep her LPN job). So she left hospital nursing and started doing nursing home care, then in-home care (basically calling the morgue for terminal patients who were sent home). The job would be maybe 2 hours of patient care, 4 hours of driving (it's a very rural area), and 5 hours of paperwork. She made more money on the mileage wearing out her car than on salary. Why did she do it? Because my dad was a farmer and they needed to get health insurance.
This leads to a 'P.S.' for those who don't know: Farm Bureau is an INSURANCE COMPANY, not a union of farmers (but they exploit farmers to be on local 'boards' and convince them to lobby for the company platform), so when you hear something like "The Farm Bureau likes the new farm bill in Congress", it means something totally different than what they are implying.

40   Dan8267   2012 Aug 6, 2:15pm  

errc says

The real reason health care is so unaffordable

errc says

obesity surpasses smoking in terms of ill health effects

Hospitals charge by the pound.

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