Okay -- here is an example of WHY the Medical Industrial Complex should be torn down

[Donnachaidh]

I've already posted about my kid's hemophilia and his multiple trips to ER's and clinics.

At the clinic, he was infused with 8,000 units of factor for his bleed. The clinic charged him (our insurance actually) 8 thousand dollars. To anyone who is not familiar with the sorts of charges we get hit with, this is a huge amount.

Well, I just received the bill for his first ER trip to the closest for-profit hospital. For the SAME amount of factor we were charged 24 THOUSAND dollars.

3 TIMES the price we pay at the clinic. TRIPLE the cost we normally pay.

WHY?

They cannot claim to not have the stuff available, because there are lots of hemo kids in Georgia, because of the outstanding programs they have for them here. They even have a doctor on the staff who works with our hemo group. And this is the supposedly busiest hospital in the Southeast (it even eclipses Emory U).

This is price gouging at it's finest. It's obscene. :grr:

[Taverner]

1. It's the Health Insurance Industrial Complex

Not really the Doctor's, or the Hospital's fault

It's all about the supposed "coverage" you get

Michael Moore's Sicko featured primarily insured horror stories

[Donnachaidh]

3. actually no -- I've been in contact with our insurance

They are even hooked up with the same company that supplies our clinic with factor, to keep the costs down. But this ER visit was right after the accident, and we weren't aware of our insurance program - and even if we were, we would have been told to get to the nearest ER because of the accident.

This is pure D price gouging on the part of the hospital.

[Taverner]

4. Really - wow - that sucks

[Donnachaidh]

8. I posted about our great experience with the insurance company here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1100392

And the next day I get this bill. We have an 80/20 co-pay on this bill, too. So I'll be spending the next few days trying to get into programs to cover the 20 per cent we're going to get nailed with.

[RB TexLa]

26. If you don't think doctors and hospitals will steal every dime they can from your insurance company

and/or you, they you are completely lost from reality.

[sarcasmo]

2. Give me the Canadian system any day. My friend who I went to school with and is now Canadian and

has 4 kids loves their system. No worries like the ones you have, the gouging is pure GREED.

[Juche]

32. Does anyone prefer the US system over the Canadian?

Growing up in the US we are constantly told that the Canadian system is inferior and they come in droves down here to get health care. It basically gets drilled into our heads until it becomes an old wives tale.

Then you grow up, meet Canadians in real life and none of them want our health care system. It is the other way around, people in the US go to Canada for medicine and envy the sense of security Canadians get. Never having to worry your coverage will be dropped, never having to worry about going bankrupt and emptying out your 401k, never worrying your kids will be SOL when they grow up, etc.

Of the dozens of Canadians I have known, only 1 seemed to prefer the US system. And he preferred it for ideological reasons (he was libertarian and felt the US system was more libertarian, despite it still being 50-60% funded by public funds), not because it was financially, morally or functionally superior to the Canadian system.

[Fridays Child]

5. You would be a perfect candidate to testify before Congress.

If Congress ever actually wanted to hear the truth, that is. :(

[Donnachaidh]

14. I'm afraid I'd be tempted to start throwing things at my reps

Both are doctors who have vowed to repeal the hcr reform.

[CurtEastPoint]

18. That would be Dr. Gingrey and Dr. Price? Asses, both. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

19. oh you betcha! Both heavily backed by local medical cartels

They protect the profits of their buddies.

[Fridays Child]

20. So you live in one of those enlightened states, too, huh?

Kind of like my state of Arizona, the stinking, conservative armpit of America.

[Donnachaidh]

21. that's the frustrating thing -- an assbackwards state with a top hemophilia program

Believe me, if any other state had a program near to what is here -- we'd be gone in a NY heartbeat. As it stands now, we're watching Vermont, to see if they really do go to universal healthcare. THAT would make us move.

[BlueCollar]

31. As a resident of Texas I have to take issue with you

claiming Arizona as the "...stinking, conservative armpit of America."

We Texans should have claim to that distinction...

:beer:

[Fridays Child]

33. Each of us could probably make a pretty good case.

But you do have the coked-up, fratboy ex-prez in your corner and I would, thus, have to bow to your state's supreme, deluxe, ultimate stinking armpitness.

:)

[dkf]

6. Any idea what the costs are?

Do they get it from the blood banks?

[Donnachaidh]

10. I'm fairly sure they probably use the same company as my clinic does

Georgia's hemophilia group is one of the best in the country, and is really the only reason why we live here. I'm going on a fact-finding mission about this.

The blood banks may be used at some point, but the hemo nurses explained that the cells needed are grown at the Emory clinic.

[ZombieHorde]

7. Sounds extremely frustrating. I hope things work out well for us all. nt

[w8liftinglady]

9. I agree with you. There was a difference of several thousand dollars

between the private hospital I started with and the hematology clinic I ended with when I began getting Iron infusions. same drug. same level of care.

My insurance pays the same for either one. Guess who gets my business....

[Donnachaidh]

12. exactly!

This particular hospital advertises all over atlanta tv stations about their care and services. But what a cost for their 'well care'!

[uppityperson]

11. Things like Factors need to be accessible to those who need them and those prices are obscene

I've missed your postings about your son but wish him and you the best. That is outrageous.

[Donnachaidh]

15. actually the insurance company stunned me rigid with their helpfulness

I posted this earlier:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1100392

After the call, I feel like they've got our backs. But this hospital has really REALLY outraged me with this bill. Well care my shiny metal ass..... :grr:

[uppityperson]

17. Thanks, that is good news but the For Profit Hospital should be ashamed

Yes, pay your costs and get a decent salary but preying on those who have the choice of get help or be crippled, shame on them.

Hemophilia and Factors were the first Medicine as Obscene Profiteering I became aware of as a nurse. Reading about a company that developed a much lower cost product than what was available and was bought out by a larger one so they could sit on the technology and not use it...yeah, I've been uppity quite some time.

You shouldn't have to chose between your child's joints and having a place to live.

[GeorgeGist]

13. Remember the Presidential debate where Obama was asked if thought ...

healthcare was a commodity? He dodged his answer then; but he can't dodge it now.

[Celebration]

16. time for

LETTER TO THE EDITOR!!

[Liberty Belle]

22. You should hold a press conference and invite all the TV and press in your area.

Get all the reporters slamming this hospital and poking cameras in administrators' faces. You may get the bills lowered, and at the very least will have the satisfaction of publicly exposing these SOBs for their greed.

[tblue37]

23. Exactly how I would handle it. I am all about publicizing evil.

Public shaming can be a most effective teaching device!

[Mimosa]

24. OMG. Why didn't Obama and dems seize the opportunity for real change?

I am so disappointed. And scared as hell for myself and family.

Donna, my heart goes out to you and your dear son. This system is horrible.

[PufPuf23]

25. There is no value-added in health insurance but only a drain on resources,

increased paperwork, and skewing of more optimum medical treatments.

There are many people of highest regard in being called to the medical profession but there are also predators that use them and have created the nightmare of the present health care system in the USA, an international embarrassment realtive to G-20 nations and worse than some 3rd world "rogue" states like Cuba and Venezuela.

The health care legislation enacted under POTUS Obama included some hooks but in total is a transfer of wealth to insurance companies and a move away from the pragmatism and effectiveness of a medical system under a social democracy. Zeke Emmannuale was a POTUS health care consultent and, according to his published literature and public statement, the mandates are a step to a totally privatized health care system.

I supported POTUS Obama in 2008 but was disappointed when he pandered to special interests rather than FDR Democrats and appointed a neo-liberal cabinet and expanded the global USA war plan. I still expect to vote for POTUS Obama in 2012. I do not agree with foreign, environmental, financial, geo-political,and legal stances more often than not, alas.

[Mimosa]

28. OMG, googled Zeke Emanual

Puf Puf during the short period before ACA 2010 was enacted we never heard about Zeke. I knew he was an 'adviser' but not what he was advising. After reading your post I googled. All sources say the same thing. He wants a voucher system. We're in trouble. :(

http://blogs.forbes.com/davidwhelan/2011/04/05/paul-ryans-medicare-plan-sounds-just-like-zeke-emanuels-voucher-system/

Excerpt:

I can also endorse Healthcare Guaranteed, Emanuel’s book, as a thought experiment worth contemplating. It was written as a progressive alternative to a single-payer system. Its core idea was the universal health insurance voucher. Let’s say it would cover $15,000 worth of coverage. I might decide to kick in $4,000 to buy a $19,000 plan that allows me to get limitless care. My wife might decide to get the $15,000 HMO plan that just works within a narrow network–and has no cost-sharing.

The Emanuel program would be a means-adjusted to account, as Ryan’s plan does, for beneficiaries with less resources who might not have the cash to pay copays or supplement a bare-bones plan. Today those same people end up on Medicare-Medicaid if they are in a nursing home and have no assets. Or they may go without Medigap insurance if they can’t find the right Medicare HMO.

Emanuel offers a ten-point plan but the main concept is, as he writes: “Each American household will receive a health care certificate for coverage through a qualified health plan or insurance company. The certificate will not be a cash card to buy health services. Rather it is an insurance voucher entitling the individual or family to enrollment in health plan of their choice.”

Like the Ryan plan, it would replace Medicare for younger people paying in to the system. Emanuel writes: “No one receiving benefits from Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP or will be forced out but there will be no new enrollees.”

[I owe]

27. K&R

Good argument

[eridani]

29. The American Health Care Business Model

[bvar22]

30. It IS obscene, and protected by BOTH Political parties.

Rahm was heard crowing to Business leaders about the Obama Administration "protecting" the Private Delivery of Health care.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B2F85DDF-18FE-70B2-A835FE1E7FA8D74C