"Best healthcare system in the world"

[Blue]

Quote paraphrased from Botanyboy.

I'm going to use this thread to spew stories regarding the disaster that is US healthcare in a similar way to the 'Your friendly police' thread because the US paywall for healthcare hurts and kills way, way more people than police abusing their authority, and is discussed about 5% as often. Last I checked, which was admittedly about a year ago, only just over half the US population supported reforming US healthcare to align with that of the rest of the industrialized world - a variant of a 'single payer' system which covers everybody. That's way too many people who don't realize how much they're being screwed over to ever achieve that goal.

Woman sustains horrific, life-threatening injury; "Please don’t call the ambulance, it costs too much"

When a 45-year-old Boston woman’s leg became caught in the gap between an Orange Line train and the platform Friday afternoon, she was in agony. The cut on her leg went down to the bone.
[...]
Her fellow passengers rushed to her aid. One man stood behind her so she could lean on him. Another passenger placed a cold bottle of water to her leg. And at least 10 people pushed on the car together, moving it just enough for the woman to pull free, according to a video of the accident the MBTA released Monday.
[...]
A few people helped wrap her leg in a compress, Polanco said. Despite her injuries, the woman did not want anyone to call an ambulance, saying it would cost her thousands of dollars. “Do you know how much an ambulance costs? ... it's $3000, I can't afford that!

For reference, that's about 3 times what a person in the UK earning median income pays toward the NHS every year for all services provided. $3000 out of her pocket for just the ambulance, the fee for merely being treated and transported to a hospital disincentivized her from calling 911, which almost certainly further endangered her life and added to the severity of the injury by delaying treatment. This is not a situation that anybody in any other modern country ever finds themselves in.

Fortunately the woman was actually mistaken, according to Jim Hooley, chief of Boston EMS, said an ambulance transporting people within the city would [only] cost between $1,200 to $1,900 at most for patients with the most pressing needs, like resuscitation. What a bargain!

 

[someoneyouknow]

$18,000 for non-existent treatment.

https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20180702/price-for-a-nap-and-a-bottle-of-formula-18000#1

 

[sharingfantasies]

Quote paraphrased from Botanyboy.

I'm going to use this thread to spew stories regarding the disaster that is US healthcare in a similar way to the 'Your friendly police' thread because the US paywall for healthcare hurts and kills way, way more people than police abusing their authority, and is discussed about 5% as often. Last I checked, which was admittedly about a year ago, only just over half the US population supported reforming US healthcare to align with that of the rest of the industrialized world - a variant of a 'single payer' system which covers everybody. That's way too many people who don't realize how much they're being screwed over to ever achieve that goal.

Woman sustains horrific, life-threatening injury; "Please don’t call the ambulance, it costs too much"


For reference, that's about 3 times what a person in the UK earning median income pays toward the NHS every year for all services provided. $3000 out of her pocket for just the ambulance, the fee for merely being treated and transported to a hospital disincentivized her from calling 911, which almost certainly further endangered her life and added to the severity of the injury by delaying treatment. This is not a situation that anybody in any other modern country ever finds themselves in.

Fortunately the woman was actually mistaken, according to Jim Hooley, chief of Boston EMS, said an ambulance transporting people within the city would [only] cost between $1,200 to $1,900 at most for patients with the most pressing needs, like resuscitation. What a bargain!

When I needed an ambulance a couple of years ago, it cost me $1900. I got the money back eventually, after insurance covered it, but I had to pay upfront first.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Quote paraphrased from Botanyboy.

Yea, "paraphrased" because it's bullshit.

We have a large share of the best HC in the world.....that's why when the rich/elite in your country and most other get fucked up and want the best surgeon, the latest and greatest tech/treatments, or just the best looking tit/ass job money can buy they usually come here.

We have a terrible system of public distribution of or access to those goods and services for those who can't afford it.

The HC itself and the system by which folks access it aren't the same thing.

 

[Blue]

Striking US workers have their employee healthcare subsidies turned off.

Striking energy workers in the New England region of the US — particularly in Massachusetts and New York — have not received pay and as of July 1 found that their company-provided health care has been shuttered as well.
A spokesperson for the UK-based National Grid power company noted that a so-called no-strike clause would be added to employee contracts and that existing employee health plans would see additional fees added, according to the Boston Herald.

Over 1,000 United Steelworkers union members went on strike June 25 after National Grid, a UK-based company that owns and manages several key power networks in the US, threatened [introducing] the no-strike clause and medical fee increases against employees.
[...]
The energy corporation stopped payment to employee health contracts on July 1, in a new strong-arm tactic to get unions to agree to not be able to go on strike at all, essentially gutting any remaining tool that could be used by workers to improve conditions or increase pay and benefits to match US inflation.

Oligarchs exploit the fact that healthcare is not considered a human right in the USA to entirely eliminate any bargaining power their workers have, pressuring them into bowing their head and being satisfied with their status as powerless wage slaves, as many of them are financially dependent on their employer providing healthcare insurance.

 

[Blue]

The total US spending on healthcare will soon equal 20% of the country's GDP as the cost of healthcare continues to increase, and insurance coverage decreases, after the Trump admin's destruction of the ACA and war on the poor. Well above the OECD average of 10%.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-americans-spend-so-much-on-health-carein-12-charts-1533047243

Hey Trump supporters, do you remember when Trump said nobody would lose their coverage and that his (apparently imaginary) ACA replacement would cover everybody? What happened to making healthcare more affordable and increasing coverage?

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-obamacare-promises-236021

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,”...“There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us. [People covered under the 'replacement'] can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”

We have to make the U.S.A. RICH again so that we can afford to pay Social Security, Medicare,and Medicaid and STRONG to keep our enemies out

I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.

I am going to save Medicare and Medicaid, Carson wants to abolish, and failing candidate Gov. John Kasich doesn't have a clue - weak!

"Weak"

If you think Trump cares about you or has actual policy principles he stands on, you're delusional.