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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 3:15:33 PM
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JustaFan
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
Well, I don't even make $3,000 a month. So if I found out I was diabetic and had those kinds of expenses, they'd have to take some kind of payment plan.
But why so high? I'm doing some quick google searches on the cost of insulin, and the numbers I'm finding are much lower.
You'd need those meds and supplies every single month for the rest of your life. If you somehow convinced somebody to let you go on a payment plan, you'd sink further and further behind every month.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 3:26:16 PM
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Elena1030
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From: Music City, USA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JustaFan
quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
Well, I don't even make $3,000 a month. So if I found out I was diabetic and had those kinds of expenses, they'd have to take some kind of payment plan.
But why so high? I'm doing some quick google searches on the cost of insulin, and the numbers I'm finding are much lower.
You'd need those meds and supplies every single month for the rest of your life. If you somehow convinced somebody to let you go on a payment plan, you'd sink further and further behind every month.
Exactly -- 'cause it's not just insulin; you've got test strips, syringes or pump supplies, and lancets, at least. Plus, alcohol swabs and other antiseptic pads (if you use them), numbing ointment or pads (if you use them), batteries (for any device that needs them), glucose tablets or gel (if you use them).
And then any time you get an upgraded device, like a new glucose monitor. (The monitors aren't that expensive; it's the test strips that are heftily priced.)
And also eventually add in costs to see specialists to take care of eyes, teeth, feet, joints, or any other body part that needs specific monitoring for complications... or once complications arise.
That's just ONE chronic disease. *whew -- enough to wear ya out!*
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:26:59 PM
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Consecrated2God
Posts: 5244
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quote:
In another thread it was reported that the CBO assumes malpractice is 0.5% of healthcare cost... so it's not the biggest contributor. Unless you factor some other part of it into the equation.
If that's so, then what is the biggest contributor? Because that number is bigger than some of the other factors people have mentioned, such as school loans that the doctors have to pay off. I'd be interested in seeing why it costs so much for healthcare.
I remember several years ago when my little sister was born (I guess that's been about twenty years now) and my dad looked at the itemized bill and told them he wasn't paying for all of that. They had so many extra charges on there for things like bottled water and having a TV in the hospital room, and he said he wasn't paying for things that my mom didn't even use. They weren't happy about it, but they ended up taking it off the bill.
With all of the money being spent, you'd think someone out there's got to be making a killing. Who is it? The doctors? The insurance companies? The hospitals? When someone spends $60,000 on a C-section, what does that money actually go for?
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:31:24 PM
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GroupW
Posts: 3009
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From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
quote:
In another thread it was reported that the CBO assumes malpractice is 0.5% of healthcare cost... so it's not the biggest contributor. Unless you factor some other part of it into the equation.
If that's so, then what is the biggest contributor? Because that number is bigger than some of the other factors people have mentioned, such as school loans that the doctors have to pay off. I'd be interested in seeing why it costs so much for healthcare.
I remember several years ago when my little sister was born (I guess that's been about twenty years now) and my dad looked at the itemized bill and told them he wasn't paying for all of that. They had so many extra charges on there for things like bottled water and having a TV in the hospital room, and he said he wasn't paying for things that my mom didn't even use. They weren't happy about it, but they ended up taking it off the bill.
With all of the money being spent, you'd think someone out there's got to be making a killing. Who is it? The doctors? The insurance companies? The hospitals? When someone spends $60,000 on a C-section, what does that money actually go for?
Actually, the CBO estimate is that tort reform would reduce overall medical costs by 0.5%. The actual direct and indirect components of medical malpractice suits are significantly higher than that. The true number there is very tough to get at - estimates range from 5-20% if you include the cost of defensive medicine. The better estimates are at the low end of that range but can't really be relied on as a general rule since they typically focus on only one type of care.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:33:59 PM
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blueeyedgirl2
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The hospital I work at posts it's prices for common services on it's website. For a C-section it shows the average insurance payment to be approx $7000 for the mother and $2400 for the baby. That doesn't include the obstetrician or the anesthesiologist. Even so though, that's a far cry from $60,000. That seems astronomical.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:36:51 PM
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Consecrated2God
Posts: 5244
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Do you know how much the obstetrician and the anesthesiologist make per delivery, and how many deliveries they do on average by any chance?
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:40:47 PM
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blueeyedgirl2
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I really have no idea. My guess would be $2000 for the anesthesiologist. As far as the OB, I'm completely clueless. I'm off work until the middle of next week, but if I think of it when I go back I'll ask around. . .
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 4:43:30 PM
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Consecrated2God
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That would be cool--thanks!
I'm enjoying this thread. I think it's really interesting to discuss the problems without it being political. It's such a complicated issue, though. I don't hold too much hope that we'll solve the problem here in this thread, since people much more educated about these issues can't figure it out, either. But it's still interesting to talk about. 
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 5:40:11 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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If you are basing on my numbers, I had 2 c-section for almost 60,000. The cost is raised because the hospital makes money on the insured patients to offset for the write offs.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 5:48:41 PM
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Pat-rebel_lady
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quote:
Why do such things have to cost so dang much??!!!???
I suggest because people are gabble and accept it all.
My grandparents; who had 6 kids who had all the childhood diseases, some broken bones and etc; had no health insurance, yet owed no man when they left this earth.
I want you to know their daughter, my 98 year old aunt, born Feb. 4, 1912, just passed away; she was 1 pound 2 ounces when she was born. The doctor had little to no hope for her survival, but my grandparents did. They had to carry her everywhere on a pillow and kept her bed [basket] on the open Oven door of their Kitchen Stove and turn her basket at regular intervals to keep her warm. I was told she was so small she could fit into a quart jar. Father, God, answered their prayers and their great faith in Him.
My grandmother, born 1890, had to have a diseased kidney removed in 1938, she was given 6 months tops to live, she lived a full active life until 1963, without taking any meds.
Health Care was affordable back then, and it was "Wellness" Not Preventive Care.
Welcome to the Age of 'Preventive Care' where everyone covers their butts; The Age of 'Drugs' (legal Drug-a-holics); And the Age of 'Science and Technology' and the High Cost that comes with it all. 
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 6:10:10 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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quote:
Welcome to the Age of 'Preventive Care' where everyone covers their butts; The Age of 'Drugs' (legal Drug-a-holics); And the Age of 'Science and Technology' and the High Cost that comes with it all.
And I am happy to be here. My children and I would have died in childbirth without modern medicine. You are more than welcome to go back to what was available a hundred years ago. For me and mine, we will take advantage of what modern medicine has to offer and be grateful for it, very, very grateful.
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Karen
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 7:14:39 PM
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Elena1030
Posts: 2970
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From: Music City, USA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace
quote:
Welcome to the Age of 'Preventive Care' where everyone covers their butts; The Age of 'Drugs' (legal Drug-a-holics); And the Age of 'Science and Technology' and the High Cost that comes with it all.
And I am happy to be here. My children and I would have died in childbirth without modern medicine. You are more than welcome to go back to what was available a hundred years ago. For me and mine, we will take advantage of what modern medicine has to offer and be grateful for it, very, very grateful.
Amen, amen, amen, SP.
If I had been born any time before 1922 and gotten type 1 diabetes, I would have died young -- insulin hadn't been developed into an injectable form until then, when Frederick Banting and his associates figured it out.
_____________________________
"I like to stride, not mince." -- Maggie
Prayer thread for singles who desire to marry someday
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 7:22:39 PM
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GroupW
Posts: 3009
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I have a knee that actually works well enough to ski, hike, bike & run thanks to modern medicine.
_____________________________
“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant and wrong.” -H.L. Mencken
"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so." -Bertrand Russell
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 7:27:15 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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What is the difference between "Wellness" and "Preventative Care". It seems like the same thing to me, just semantics.
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Karen
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 7:28:14 PM
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Abbreviated
Posts: 2266
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From: Kansas
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
Do you know how much the obstetrician and the anesthesiologist make per delivery, and how many deliveries they do on average by any chance?
Our midwife charge 1500$ for a standard delivery. She doesn't delivery twins. Then if you want a Rabbi to circumcise she has one flown in from St. Louis.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/4/2010 7:36:27 PM
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blueeyedgirl2
Posts: 3617
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quote:
ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace
What is the difference between "Wellness" and "Preventative Care". It seems like the same thing to me, just semantics.
I think they are the same thing. I know my insurance will pay for one wellness visit with my primary care doctor (internal medicine) and one wellness visit with my OB/GYN.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/5/2010 1:03:37 AM
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JustaFan
Posts: 711
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Pat-rebel_lady
As a follower of Jesus I can't help but ask: Did Jesus have Health Insurance?
Fact is the health insurance subject makes my blood boil, because FEAR of the unknown is where far to many people place their arguments for health insurance and/or for government run health insurance entitlements. So in saying this I'll stick with what I said in my first post in this thread, and just lurk.
In Jesus time the life expectancy was 30 to 35 years old. If you got cancer you died. If you got diabetes you died. If you got an infection you died. If you were a woman who had complications giving birth you died. There was no healthcare insurance in Jesus day because basically there wasn’t any healthcare.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/5/2010 9:11:28 AM
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Consecrated2God
Posts: 5244
Joined: 4/4/2005
From: Formerly Jesus Land
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quote:
If you are basing on my numbers, I had 2 c-section for almost 60,000. The cost is raised because the hospital makes money on the insured patients to offset for the write offs .
If a hospital continually raises their prices for the paying patients to offset others that could not pay, that is a terrible vicious cycle that's eventually going to cause a breakdown somewhere. The higher the prices, the less likely people are to be able to afford it. The higher the prices, the higher insurance premiums people have to pay. The higher the insurance premiums are, the less likely people are to be able to afford them. More uninisured patients who can't pay their bills lead to more write-offs, and then if they raise their rates again to compensate, more people can't afford to pay them. Eventually you have a few people paying for everyone's health care. That can't work in the long run.
quote:
Our midwife charge 1500$ for a standard delivery. She doesn't delivery twins. Then if you want a Rabbi to circumcise she has one flown in from St. Louis.
That's about how much our midwives were, too.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/5/2010 9:23:18 AM
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Consecrated2God
Posts: 5244
Joined: 4/4/2005
From: Formerly Jesus Land
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quote:
ORIGINAL: solo_soprano24
5 Reasons Behind Soaring Health Costs
Why Are Health Costs So High? The System Pushes Doctors To Give Unnecessary Care
Wow--those are fascinating articles! Especially the second one. I believe it, though--I know that there is a very high rate of unnecessary c-sections in our country, and the main reason is that doctors make more money off a c-section than they do a vaginal birth. I think we need to be careful, whether or not we have insurance, to watch what kinds of medical procedures we allow.
My son had a swollen lymph node in his groin a couple of years ago, and we saw the doctor twice. She scheduled a third appointment to check on it after he took an antibiotic for a certain amount of time to make sure the swelling had gone down. I felt the lymph node myself and could feel that the swelling was gone, and didn't take him to the appointment. I couldn't see paying her another $80 to tell me something I could figure out myself.
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