64 yrs old, rectal bleeding, works 2 jobs, has health insurance, can't afford the co-pays for tests

[RedEarth]

The 64-year-old man with a family history of colon cancer working two jobs has insurance, but can’t afford the co-pays for tests to analyze his rectal bleeding. So he says he’ll wait a year until he’s eligible for Medicare.
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Dr. Richard Lucarelli says the solution to this dilemma is a single-payer government health plan that covers everyone.

Dr. John Black says the answer is expanding private insurance to everyone and spreading the risk to make it affordable.

That disagreement is at the heart of the debate over health care reform that began in earnest last week with the introduction of bills to overhaul the system.

Some 47 million Americans are uninsured and millions more have inadequate coverage or go without care because their out-of-pocket costs are too high. Most of them are working.

New research shows that medical bills are implicated in more than 60 percent of bankruptcies and that more than three-quarters of those families were insured.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/june/doctors_drawing_batt.php

[aquart]

1. And another American will die to protect executive lifestyles.

[roguevalley]

14. I die a little bit too everytime I read something like this. :(

[AndyA]

2. Hopefully he will be alive in a year to be treated.

And hopefully treatment will still do some good at that point.

This is sick. Everyone should send this to the idiots on the committee that don't think we need single payer health care.

Disgusting. What lousy people we have looking out for our interests. :puke:

[SharonAnn]

19. In a year, he may be dying. Colon cancer at the bleeding stage is pretty far along.

He can't afford to wait.

if he's still alive by then, he can have lots of expensive treatments, suffer the side effects, and then perhaps die anyway.

He can't afford NOT to have it checked out today.

[Bozita]

3. 62% of bankruptcies caused by medical bills. And 77% of them had health insurance.

The system is badly broken.

[Soylent Brice]

4. 5th rec

[corpseratemedia]

5. i really dread my future ...

what a few people mentioned to me on this board is true..

there can't be a real overhauling of the health system (a "solution" that doesn't end up hurting americans) until big pharma etc. is stopped from funding elections.

either that or our reps need to grow some ethics, not likely for many

lol it's perfectly ok for insurance reps to continuously deny claims and care, but opponents invent a govt. bogeyman that supposedly operates just like the ceo/investor profit-driven private insurance company.

when a govt. employee dresses up like a dr. and goes into my sibling's room and tells him he's ok and it's ok for him to leave now (after major surgery and suffering great pain AND against his actual real dr.s orders) then I'll half believe the bs the opposition touts. This really happened with a private insurance rep. who dressed up as a dr. You should have seen what our father did and said to him. Priceless.

[8 track mind]

9. i'll bite

what did he do????

[corpseratemedia]

10. cornered him outside the room

then threatened to do something with a um... flag and shoving it up an orifice:mad:

"you know what I'd like to do? I'd like to take this ___ flag, and I'd like to shove it up your ass"

he was a feisty one

[8 track mind]

12. Hahahhaha! hell yeah! n/t

[pansypoo53219]

6. insurance PROFIT companies

do not insure.

[Stellabella]

8. Yep. A more accurate description would be 'Profit Care Companies'.

Because all they care about is their profit.

[ejpoeta]

17. that's the problem with 'insurance' for health. see, you get insurance

for something hoping you will never need to use it. Like car insurance or fire insurance or life insurance. These things are meant to be for a worst case scenario. Using this as a model for health insurance does not make sense. Your car insurance doesn't pay for you to go get a tune up or your oil changed. It is simply there in case you have an accident. So the very nature of 'health insurance' is that it is a worst case scenario option. What we NEED is healthcare coverage... not health insurance coverage. There are things we need to be paid for in the interest of preventative care and management of health. The current system isn't set up for this. And they purposely set up deductibles and copays to ensure that it's going to take a catastrophe for them to cover . And chances are, when you DO have a catastrophe, they'll have some cap on it or will find a way not to pay for it anyway.

[safeinOhio]

7. Write your rep

Tell him or her to either vote for public health ins. or refuse the government(socialist) insurance that you receive. If you vote with the special interest, insurance companies, and not with your constituents, I will work very hard to unseat you in the next election.

[slipslidingaway]

11. knr nt

[Eyerish]

13. K&R nt

[Politicalboi]

15. And to make health care cheaper

More people should donate their organs when they die. Families of the dead should get some compensation and no medical bills when you donate.

[Gman2]

16. Problem is, by the time you are sick, you are too sick to beat some ASS.

I however am a miracle. I have heart failure. Heart enlargement. Leaking Mitral and Aortal valves. Brought on by a LIANG FUCKER by the name of George W Bush. BPA in plastics. I can NEVER get health coverage. I am a med Marijuana patient, so I can NEVER get a job. Now, they want to tax me for my medicine. Incredibly, I went from deathcamp inmate to ripped and lean, buff. And I am PISSED. I just was raided at midnight by cops playing games disregarding my 4th amendment rights. My previous employer held up my benefits for 5 months, till I wiped the floor with them. If I was WEAK, as well as sick, I would be dead. These FUCKS will send you to your death, on the street, without even blinking. There is a coming medieval acceptance of "just bad luck" coming. It is life and death dog eat dog. I asked the jackbooted thugs three nights ago, what is causing a fivefold increase in fire calls since the meltdown. One tried to fit me with a tinfoil hat, while the other mumbled and answered my question with his hemmin. It is getting really rough out there. God help you if you havent a residence. That is a big mark against your dignity, when rousted.

[Seldona]

18. 'If I was WEAK, as well as sick, I would be dead.'

'These FUCKS will send you to your death, on the street, without even blinking.'

That is the absolute truth about health care in America, ugly and immoral as that is. There is a 'vulture class' of people feeding very well off our 'system,' while contributing essentially nothing. Profiting from death is the lowest of the low.

[pauldg0]

20. I'm somewhat similar to him....

..I'm sixty-two living in Detroit area, have severe sleep apnea, with sugar, asthma and no insurance.

I'm barely hanging onto my house. I work 15-hours a week and had to sign up for early retirement.

I may be able to get on Medicare as a disability due to sleep apnea, but they said a year ago I make too much.

This kind rigamarole would not happen if we had insurance paid by the gov. It is clear and straightforward.

[zeos3]

21. Why doesn't Dr. black understand?

I didn't read what's at the link, all I read was this:

"Dr. Richard Lucarelli says the solution to this dilemma is a single-payer government health plan that covers everyone.

Dr. John Black says the answer is expanding private insurance to everyone and spreading the risk to make it affordable.

That disagreement is at the heart of the debate over health care reform..."



If we have a single-payer gov'nt health plan that covers EVERYONE, THAT is spreading the risk to make it affordable. Why would anyone listen to anything else Dr. Black has to say on the topic?

Now, eliminate the profit margins of the private insurers and the inefficient bureaucracy and paperwork needed for all the different plans and tell Dr. Black not to join the discussion unless he has something productive to add.

[quidam56]

22. My first hand experience with the best health care system in the world,

In TN & VA this is deemed, defended and supported as "the acceptable standards of health care". How many more will suffer and die while the politicians and profit machines are making a killing, killing us.

http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62

[jxnmsdemguy65]

23. I recently took an insurance exam...

and was told a story by our instructor about a young woman in her 20s here who went to work for one of the health insurers, attained an executive position, and is now making over $500,000 annually, paid cash for a Mercedes... this is truly madness!