by purplesofa 32 Replies latest jw friends
5go
Oh thank you, I keep hearing how bad you guys got it but realy Atleast you have something I lost my sister to no insurance problems. At the AGE OF 9 just about to turn 10 god I miss her. She died in my arms at least it wasn't painful from what I was told. I was 12 at the time.
im sorry to hear this...........((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((5go))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
purps
| |||
Uninsured children also are less likely to get expensive treatment or rehabilitation and are discharged earlier, says the study by the health care advocacy group Families USA. The report was sent this week to congressional committees that are considering ways to help some of the nation's 47 million uninsured people, including 9 million children, get coverage. A federal-state program created in 1997 that has insured more than 6 million children is up for renewal this year. "The clear implication … is that when kids get sick or hurt, insurance matters," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "As is true throughout our health care system, children without health insurance receive less and inferior care." ON DEADLINE: Read the report Representatives of two major hospital associations disputed the study's methodology. They said it failed to take into consideration the types of hospitals involved, clinical decisions made and details on each patient's condition. They said the sample size was small and the report was not peer-reviewed. "I consider the study irresponsible because it is not sufficiently thorough," said Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals. "I'm worried that this will get people to focus on hospitals, rather than the kids." The Families USA study comes from an analysis of government data for 2000 and 2003. The data were adjusted to control for age, health, severity of injury and other factors. Still, researchers said some factors could not be controlled. J. Mick Tilford, associate professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said the data he studied for the Families USA report included 25,000 uninsured children with general injuries and 6,500 with traumatic brain injuries. Compared with insured children, he said, the uninsured had 327 "excess deaths" over two years. Hospitals and their emergency rooms are often the only option for uninsured children and adults. They are supposed to treat patients regardless of ability to pay. Some costs eventually are paid by the uninsured, and some are passed on to other patients. In 2004, more than $25 billion in uncompensated care was borne by hospitals, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Hospitals are "the last resort of care," said Molly Collins Offner of the American Hospital Association, which also disputed the study. "They're clearly covering patients who need care and can't afford to pay it." The Families USA findings are consistent with others showing the medical implications of living without health insurance. Studies by the Institute of Medicine, the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine and the Commonwealth Fund have shown higher death rates among the uninsured. The Institute of Medicine and the Center for Studying Health System Change found evidence of lesser treatment and fewer surgeries in hospitals, but children were not studied separately. James Mongan, president of Partners health care in Massachusetts and a former hospital administrator who served on the Institute of Medicine panel, said choices in treatment result from a "complicated interaction" involving hospitals, doctors and families. Hospitals "would like to treat patients as if we were blind to their financial status," he said. Many studies show that the uninsured are less likely to have doctors, get preventive care and seek timely treatment. The American Hospital Association cited those factors in its own report. "Children's health and well-being are compromised needlessly," it said. Families USA findings for uninsured kids admitted to hospitals: •Those with general injuries were more likely to die in 26 of 29 states studied. They were 44% less likely to go into rehabilitation. •Those with traumatic brain injuries were 32% less likely to receive aggressive treatment known as intracranial pressure monitoring. On average, they were discharged after five days, rather than eight days for insured patients. •Those with appendicitis were 18% less likely to get a more expensive laparoscopic appendectomy. •Those with middle-ear infections were 57% less likely to get ear tubes surgically inserted. "It's a pattern," researcher Tilford said. "You look at stuff by insurance status — boy, you find differences." |
Purps,
No consolation maybe, but it's the same this side of the Atlantic.
Although everyone is entitled to free health and dental care here, our health service is dead on its feet. Those who haven't got company-sponsored private health plans are really going to suffer in the years to come.
Dentists are leaving the NHS in droves as funding gets lower and lower, and it's the kids on welfare who will pay the price eventually.
tim
Thanks Timbo for the information.
Juni
yesterday 6,000
today 9,000
growing .......
thanks
purps
I love how anti national health care supporters say well there is charity. But they don't realize that it takes people giving and volunteering for that to work. I credit charity for giving her what 9 years my sister had but she could of made it to her tweenties with proper healthcare. My mom and dad struggled to get her meds the whole time because charities rarely cover it fortunatly she was picked for some experimental drugs and got those free. But she still had to take some they wouldn't cover.
Signed and forwarded to many friends. Keep up the good work, all.
I am really astonished that the USA doesn't have a health care system for its citizens who can't afford medical insurance and also dental fees seem to be so exhorbitant, $2000 for root treatment and a crown, those dentists really know how to charge and put themselves in such a lucrative business, why doesn't the state control them? In the UK there are the state associated dentists who charge the patient only a relatively small fee and get the rest from the state, there is also an overall limit to what one has to pay. In addition for major dental work one can use dentists in Eastern European countries, some are very good and way cheaper than private dentists in the uk. When in 2005 I broke a tooth while cracking walnuts in Bulgaria and got it fixed (root treatment and ceramic crown) I paid a mere US$120, the dentist was very professional at her work.
Thanks for the reply Ronnin, there seem to be some powerful lobbies in the USA that got control of things. The way things are it would be cheaper for an American to travel abroad to a much cheaper country for extensive dental treatment if say a root treatment and a crown cost $2000 and three would cost $6000 in the USA. One might as well also visit and see another country. I wonder how much an ordinary tooth filling costs.
@greendawn I'm by no means an expert on this subject.. but I would guess it is because no one wants to regulate the cost. Everyone is too afraid to touch it. You're going up against a very profitable/powerful industry. Eventually tax structures would have to be redrawn, and the cost passed onto whom, and how?
I'm not sure if this has ever been posted, but before 1958, Canada did not have a publically funded health care system---it was all run "for profit" like the States. Someone in politics who actually had the public's best interest at heart realized that a publically funded health care system would provide health for rich and poor alike as well as keep control of how much doctors were charging. They realized that this new system would not go over well with the doctors, so they had doctors from England on stand-by in the event of a strike. It was not nationwide, but they tried it only in Saskatchewan. Sure enough, the doctors went out on strike. The doctors from England were brought in and it broke the strike. After that, the other provinces followed suit.
If the USA were to try and implement the same thing, it would probably also have to be done in a similar fashion. The bottom line is: Health insurance in the States is so astronomical due in large, because of the outrageous fees the doctors, clinics and hospitals charge. I was stunned when Gumby told me that he had to pay some doctor $3,000 to stich up his knee earlier this year----a procedure took about 5 or 10 mintues. This is just bullshit that anyone can charge so much for doing so little. The doctors need to be reigned in. The fact that someone can lose their house, or even declare bankruptcy, just so that these guys can buy a bigger boat or bigger mansion, is just plain wrong.
I have no problem with them making an good, or excellent salary, as that's what they go to university for. But there's a big difference between making a really good living and gouging the shit out of the public.
