Health insurance is not health care !!

[eridani]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/96682782/Sick-in-Massachusetts

Today most sick adults in Massachusetts see the cost of health care as a serious problem for the state, and they view the problem as having gotten worse over the past five years. Sick adults are more troubled by costs than they are by quality.

Although Massachusetts has nearly universal health insurance coverage, the costs of health care are a serious financial problem for many sick adults and their families. Some sick adults report having been refused medical care for financial or insurance reasons. Additionally, some sick adults say they did not get needed medical care because they could not afford it. Taken together, these finding suggest that insurance coverage does not protect some Massachusetts residents against the financial hardships of illness, likely reflecting recent trends in higher deductibles and co-payments.

Comment by Don McCanne of PNHP: This survey is particularly important because it provides the real life health care financing experiences of patients who have serious medical problems - precisely those for whom the system should be designed to serve.

In Massachusetts, "Forty percent of sick adults in the state said the out-of-pocket costs of medical care are a 'very serious' (16%) or 'somewhat serious' (24%) problem for them." Obviously the financing system is not serving well those individuals with major medical needs.

Another significant finding: "About a quarter of sick adults (24%) who have been insured at any time during the past year say they have had a problem with their insurance paying a hospital, doctor, or other health care provider in the past 12 months." Thus the insurers are not doing their job either.

Since the Affordable Care Act uses a financing design similar to that of Massachusetts, we can anticipate the same miserable performance for the nation, or more likely even worse because of other design flaws in ACA.

At a minimum, we should expect the health care financing system to work well for those with serious problems. The ACA design won't cut it. We really do need a single payer national health program that would work well for all of us.

My comment: In no other country in the developed world is cost a serious barrier to obtaining health care for most people. Why do we tolerate this?

[DLevine]

1. I agree. We need single payer.

Unfortunately, I don't believe the oligarchy will ever allow it. They like things just the way they are.

[eridani]

5. That's why we need to do it state by state

That's how Canada did it.

[xchrom]

2. du rec. nt

[Denninmi]

3. Well, duh.

I quit going to my doctor for twice a year checkups or as needed visits back in 2009. My insurance, BCBS of Michigan, went up dramatically, and I had no choice but to switch to a cheaper plan with a $5000 deductible. Had I stayed on the prior plan, it would have cost me about 40% of my monthly take home for the premiums. As it is, my current plan is about 17% of my monthly take home. I get no real world benefit from it except to know that if I have a major medical problem, it will cover it after I pay $5k out of pocket.

So, the things I used to be treated for and on meds for just aren't treated now.

Right now, I have several medical issues that really should be diagnosed and treated. I'm afraid one of them may be very serious/life altering, but I just don't have thousands of dollars to shell out now. I guess I will have to wait until its a real crisis.

It's the Republican plan -- let us die.

[dougolat]

4. Health insurance is extortion,

a maelstrom of swindles, a crap shoot, and a real money maker!
Our environment getting more poisonous won't help.

Yet, we're hoping the Supremes help enshrine it?

[eridani]

6. If the Supremes vote it down, what will happen is

--that conservatives will be emboldened to go after Medicare and Medicaid. WE DO NOT WANT THIS!!!

[dougolat]

7. Yes, but they're already about as emboldened as possible!

And the further cementing in place of the Health Insurance scams seems to be a blow to eventual single-payer; and we do not want that, either.

That old Chinese curse about interesting times has us every-which-way.

[Bandit]

8. Are you under the impression that Republicans are not already going after Medicare and Medicaid?

If so you better do some research into just what in the Hell they are proposing....

[kenny blankenship]

11. So if you're right the Individual Mandate was the strategic blunder OF THE CENTURY.

Could something that destructive be purely accidental?

[L0oniX]

9. Sociopathic medical health "COST" management.

[kenny blankenship]

10. The Insurance Mafia is insured, which was the important thing.

What with Boomers starting to graduate to Medicare. And that's about all you can for say for sure. Except that it will cost out the ass, since there are no cost controls whatever.

[jwirr]

12. I am for single payer but that will not necessarily make all procedures automatic. My daughter has

been covered my Medicaid/Medicare for many years now - before this insurance company mess started. We often had to fight for needs that the state denied because they did not understand why it was needed. Dental care every four years comes to mind. These pre-authorizations are by no means new.

As an example she has a custom made wheelchair that is at least 30 years old. It has a steel frame that is still as good as new and it can be kept in good condition by putting new accessories on it. We needed new armrests which cost $22.00 each and we were refused because they had destroyed the records of the wheelchairs purchase. They said she did not have a wheelchair. (Why would we need an armrest if we did not have a wheelchair?) They would not listen to anyone - the doctor, the social worker, etc. - so they asked me for help as I am pretty good at lobbying. I told the agency that they had a choice: A brand new custom made wheelchair or two armrests. The armrests were there in 2 weeks.

[TheKentuckian]

13. No, but I bet we'd really reduce the "Death Panel of One" issue of self denial

because folks cannot afford care.

Reduce to about ZERO.

[jwirr]

14. Agreed and that is why I support the idea of single payer.