Moving forward… in some direction or other:
It’s an issue of trust:
The only true legacy of obama is that it will take forever to get rid of obamacare.
…ehh no it’s not obviously but keep blowing smoke.
I keep reading Americans saying that the American healthcare is the best in the world and more than 90% of the population are insured blah blah blah. I’m not sure how you can improve the system when lots of people think that way, sort of like the sidewalk bullshit in Taiwan, if people think it’s fine then it’d never change.
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The Republicans are sure doing their best to ensure that tens of thousands of people will die each year by taking away their healthcare. One may reasonably conclude that the Republicans love death.
In the meantime, many on the right who decry the notion of affordable healthcare enjoy it for themselves while living abroad in places like Taiwan, and the Republican senators and representatives voting against it enjoy their own healthcare provided by the government.
“Affordable healthcare”? Ha, ha, ha, ha!
[quote]Patients are coming forward complaining that hospitals are taking advantage of them when they’re sick and hurt.
In Florida, you’re most likely to be overbilled by a hospital if you are out of network, if you’ve been in an automobile accident or if you are not insured.
An expert tells us how you handle that big bill could determine what you will end up paying.
“These bill amounts have no basis in reality,” said Jeremy Reimer, who says he is astounded at the huge hospital bills he’s seen recently.
“They’re charging 10, 20, 30 times more than they would otherwise accept as payment,” said Reimer.
Wendy Hunt went to the ER at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point after a minor car crash.
“I was in the hospital for six hours. $40,000. $36,000 of which were CT scans,” said Hunt.
Reimer looked over her bill, including a CT scan that cost $14,000.
“The Medicare payment for that CT scan is $375,” said Reimer. “36 times what’s a reasonable amount, what the hospital accepts as payment all day long, every day of the week.”
But when accidents are involved, hospitals get reimbursed 200 percent of the Medicare rate under Florida Personal Injury Protection, or PIP coverage, required of all drivers.
Hospitals can seek an even greater percentage of insurance settlements.
“So in these instances, the hospital is incentivized to say here’s the bill, you owe the full amount,” said Reimer.
Other big bills come from out-of-network claims.
Karen Ford was told she owed $22,000 of a $24,000 bill she received after going to Oak Hill Hospital for a stomach ache.
Reimer said she found out the hard way about something called "balance billing,” in which the patient is billed for the entire amount not paid by insurance.
“In certain states, balance billing is illegal. The AMA has spoken out against that practice. But unfortunately, the patient is caught in the middle,” he said.
Ford talked to the hospital about the high charges and eventually negotiated her $22,000 charges down to $800.
Reimer says even if you have no insurance, hospitals will discount bills by up to 85 percent.
“I don’t think too many medical providers advertise that they have substantially lower rates for self-pay patients,” he said.
Reimer says always ask for and verify itemized billing statements, then work with the hospital to bring those big bills down before agreeing to any type of payment plan.
“It’s not illegal to charge a million dollars for a CT scan. But should anybody have to pay that amount?” he said.[/quote]
Maybe a good start on the way to truly affordable healthcare in the U.S. would be to make it illegal to charge a patient a million dollars for a CT scan.
Back to you, Chris, and your “Republicans love death” crusade.
Political realities? Those can be altered. Next election cycle…
IT’S TOO LONG, I DON’T WANT TO READ. TRUMP IS KILLING OUR BABIES: CONFIRMED.
Procedural shenanigans? Well, that’s how it got passed in the first place.
Prediction: nothing gets fixed until all the lawyers are shakespeared and the healthscare system stops charging $546 for a $1 bag of saltwater.
Live by the bureaucrat, die by the bureaucrat:
Didn’t a Finnish composer once write something about a black swan?
Speaking of solutions, the only solution America has been able to come up with for its many domestic problems is endless class warfare. Its only solution for its foreign problems is drone warfare. Fittingly, it’s chosen not a Washington, Lincoln or Roosevelt to lead it thru one of the most difficult times in its history but a deranged clown. What does that tell you?
At some point you just have to cut your losses. It’s like cultural canary in the coalmine Xander Cage observed recently, “Patriotism is dead. Now, there are only tyrants and rebels.” In other words, the end is in sight. America’s implosion is inevitable and the only real solution is to stand well clear if you want to survive the mess.
That’s only a problem in the cities run by lefty types. And the lefty types think class warfare is a good thing.
Until recently there was a lefty type fond of class warfare in the White House. Now there’s a populist out to… uh, well. At least he didn’t start that war. And if he manages to win it, he’ll be the one who ended it.
Because that’s the way most wars end. One side wins.
I wonder what your criteria are for win/loss of this type of war. (I hope it’s not too obvious to be worth explaining to us mortals.)
America’s war with itself is more like cancer, which means it’s not like most wars.
If it’s not clear who won and who lost, then the war’s not over. At best it’s a prolonged cease fire.
When the war’s over, you’ll know.
(And there may never be agreement on which side was tyrants and which side was rebels. These are largely propaganda terms anyway.)
Or as a man you once likened to Jesus would say, when the mission’s accomplished, you’ll know. 
Heretical, but on topic:
How dare that writer say that in a free market system the cost of health insurances goes down with the increase of private offerings? That’s what Hitler said. And probably Mussolini too.
Yes not everybody needs to eat. Some should starve to serve the free market principle.
Would love to transport you idiots into the middle of a famine zone and no way out , see how quickly you’d change your tune. As soon as your belly was empty you’d be first in the queue. Your conviction goes as deep as a bowl of oatmeal.
Someday you’ll lose your job or your family member will get sick…bankrupt and heading to deaths door you’ll not utter a word that you’ve written here. Have you handed back your Taiwan NIH cards yet to join the private schemes you love? How about family shouldn’t you hand theirs back as well?
Hypocrites.