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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (498215)	7/25/2009 2:48:26 PM
From: bentway	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578012

I could tell you that same story about my mother. She spent the last two years of her life in and out of the hospital. Her medical bills ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, most covered by her insurance, but what wasn't was covered by her savings and split among her children. My share ran over $20,000. We Americans handle the end of life very badly, in the most expensive and stupid ways possible.

To: Alighieri who wrote (498215)	7/25/2009 8:15:18 PM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578012

But its so much better in VA hospitals and the Indian Health Service, I'll bet. But lets just get back to Medicare which was involved here .... here you have a federal insurance system and this paperwork problem exists - why don't they fix the paperwork problem for their patients before taking over more health care? The federal govt doesn't run the parts of the health system they have now so well .... why think they'll do better if we put more on their plate?

To: Alighieri who wrote (498215)	7/26/2009 1:02:18 AM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578012

medicare negotiated that down to about $8K.. They didn't "negotiate" it down. Medicare pays Part A claims based on DRGs (Diagnosis Related Groups). The hospital bills Medicare, and Medicare pays what Medicare pays. The remainder (other than any patient share) is written off. Part A fees are determined under a complex "prospective" system. But the important point is that it has to be that way because the mean-old private insurance companies subsidize Medicare. Most major hospitals have long had EMR systems. But an 85K hospital stay might involve hundreds of individual charges for lab, supplies, medications, diagnostic imaging, etc. It is complicated stuff and often, obviously, involves life or death. That's why you don't discard a system that works better than any in the world and replace it with something dreamed up by politicians. The $8K bill may have been "cheap", but you simply have no idea what is involved here. Hospitals must provide care to Medicare patients, and they don't make much money on it. Even at that, Medicare is broke. Doesn't that tell you something? Can't you see why the Obamacare initiative is failing? You can't turn something like this over to the government. You'll have $600 hammers and $1,200 toilet seats.

To: Alighieri who wrote (498215)	7/26/2009 7:34:09 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578012

Al, thanks for the story, but I really don't think universal health care is going to solve the problems that you experienced when taking care of your father-in-law. I suspect that everything that contributed to the three-inch-thick folder is a complex tale of "cover your ass" medicine, doctors who neither have the bandwidth nor the freedom to diagnose properly, and utter bureaucracy. I could be wrong, but that sort of stuff is all too common. The reason why I'm cynical when it comes to universal health care is because it's being sold as a panacea to all of these problems and more. I could take the optimist viewpoint and say that as long as universal health care is inevitable, we might as well stay one step ahead of the curve and push for real solutions while we have the chance. But I think before we get to the promised land, we'll need to spend years in the desert figuring all of this stuff out. Tenchusatsu