How is Bernie going to pay for it??!!!111

[untermensche]

No. These doctors are accepting patients, they aren't accepting medicaid patients. The reimbursement is too low.

They have that option because they keep their numbers low.

If there are more doctors then more would have to take Medicaid just to stay in business.

 

[coloradoatheist]

No. These doctors are accepting patients, they aren't accepting medicaid patients. The reimbursement is too low.

They have that option because they keep their numbers low.

If there are more doctors then more would have to take Medicaid just to stay in business.

Actually agree with you. Doctors have long been pushing of keeping doctor numbers low. But you are the one who is pro workers and the AMA is just a medical union.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Here's the thing, why should people have to pay at the door for health care? Some people are lucky and have little need for health care. Some aren't. Should luck determine whether people aren't going to be going out to restaurants for the next several months because their gall bladder crapped out on them?

Worse yet, you force people to pay "the price", that will lead people to not getting things taken care of, and problems becoming worse... and more expensive down the road.

We all need health care. We should all be paying up front to help ensure the infrastructure exists to meet our populations need and no more paying for services individually.

For most healthcare, it's just a part of life like buying a car or buying a house. Insurance should just be that, insurance. Most health care is normal predictable expenses.

Yes. And if you haven't noticed, without insurance, no one can afford health care. I can't imagine how much it'd cost to have a child, then the umpteen visits to the doctor the first year. So clearly, insurance is required to make it "affordable".

 

[untermensche]

They have that option because they keep their numbers low.

If there are more doctors then more would have to take Medicaid just to stay in business.

Actually agree with you. Doctors have long been pushing of keeping doctor numbers low. But you are the one who is pro workers and the AMA is just a medical union.

You like to twist things into your little twisted vision of the world.

Supporting the rights of workers to join together to bargain for better working conditions is not the same as supporting collusion between Universities and the medical profession to artificially limit the number of doctors.

The world cannot pass through your pigeonholes.

 

[braces_for_impact]

I've worked in the healthcare for forty years. I don't think some of you understand our so called system. For one, Bernie talks about FREE care with no premiums. I think he's called it Medicare for all. Well, as someone who receives Medicare and who continues to serve people who are on Medicare, let me explain a few things. Medicare A is free, but it only covers hospitalization, ( after about a 1200 dollar deductible ) home health and hospice. Medicare B costs about 105 dollars a month for most recipients. It only pays 80% of out patient services. Part D is the drug plan. It's offered by private insurance companies. The cost ranges from about 20 bucks a month to over 100 a month. It includes co pays and there are a lot of drugs that aren't covered at all by most plans. Then there are the supplements. They cover the 20% not paid for by part B and the hospital deductible. None of those plans cover more than what Medicare will pay, so there are quite a few providers that won't even take Medicare for payment. The supplements usually cost anywhere from 125-300 or so per month. The price increases as one ages. So, if an individual has all of the parts, it's going to cost as much as 300 or more a month just for the premiums. There are still copays and deductibles for the drugs. Medicare is currently in financial trouble unless Congress votes to fix it. One big problem is end of life care, which accounts for as much as one third of total costs.

So, are Americans willing to give up aggressive end of life treatments? In my experience, a fairly good percentage of older adults want everything possible done to extend their lives. What about younger recipients if we had Medicare for all? Are they going to simply give up if they are diagnosed with a terminal or very serious chronic illness?

Oh, I forgot to mention Part C. Part C was introduced by a Republican Congress. It is basically an HMO with strict limitations. It is very cheap, but that's the best thing I can say about it. Everyone of my patients with Part C couldn't wait until open enrollment so they could change to the more traditional Medicare. Part C is a great option as long as you're younger or very healthy. Once you start having health problems, Part C can be a nightmare. Most of the better providers won't accept it.

In order to transition to what we have now, to Medicare for everyone, it would not only take a tremendous amount of support from both parties, it would require a lot of support from the medical community or medical industrial complex if you prefer. And, it most likely wouldn't be free. I wish the Bernie would at least be honest about the fact that Medicare isn't free. He never gives any reasonable answer when asked how free healthcare would be financed. I find him to be as dishonest as most any other politician. He promises things that, unless he's totally delusional, he knows won't happen. He takes advantage of the naivety of people that don't understand the complexity of our healthcare conglomeration.

I'll be the first to admit that our healthcare system needs vast improvement, but I don't think promising pie in the sky is going to help solve our problems with healthcare. Obama care was a step in the right direction but a lot more needs to be done and it's going to have to be done with baby steps.

So, Bernie supporters, I ask you this: just how do you think Bernie would be able to convince Congress to totally change what we have in exchange for FREE care for everyone? How would it be paid for? What programs would be ended or greatly reduced? How much would you be willing to pay in increased taxes in exchange for guaranteed healthcare?

But there is no reason this system needs to continue like this. "Privatization" and "free trade" has led to health care being treated as any other for-profit, commercial commodity. You have all sorts of providers, ancillary 'services' and parasites trying to extract as much money as possible from their clients. Everybody has a finger in the pie and the interests of the patient are secondary.
If healthcare were treated as part of the commons; as a public service like police, fire or elementary education, it would cost a fraction of what it does currently in the US.

This. I've worked in both healthcare and insurance. You have every side of the for-profit system screwing the patient every which way they turn, because if they don't everyone else involved in care will get a huge profit margin and they won't. First the actual suppliers: the guys making the stuff. There's a decent profit margin here. Fine. Manufacturers gotta make their money. Then the facility that used those items to treat the patient marks these items up - extravagantly. The ibuprofen they gave you? You can walk on down to the Dollar Store and get 40 of these for .99 cents. The two they gave you? They'll charge you $4.00 to 8.00 or more. Do hospitals and nursing homes and other facilities have a mark up based on supply/demand and initial cost for the item? No. They literally price for what they think they can best get away with without complete outrage. I've watched nursing homes easily charge patients six times or more the cost of adult diapers.

Skilled medical care? HOLY SHIT. I know they have loans to pay off, but FUCK. Is anyone's time worth thousands of dollars per minute? I've watched doctors walk around a nursing facility, say "Hi" to 28 patients (taking about a half hour) and then turn around and charge them all for a medical "visit". Boom, done. Easy money. He has several more nursing homes to "visit" this month.

Don't even look at dentistry. There's a reason poor people and even most middle class people have bad teeth. Just like there's a reason we keep seeing dentists that own airplanes and take vacations shooting lions in Africa.

Then the insurance companies, also motivated by profit, they deny coverage, weasel out of contracts, avoid paying or offer such shitty services and high deductibles that it's hardly worth having. Oh, I'm so glad I had insurance. I only need to pay 20% of three million dollars after my accident - after deductible. The insurance companies negotiate these prices, get them lowered and pocket the difference. Yay for them. It's a huge money making hard fucking without lube for the patient. And we take it and ask for more.

 

[ksen]

And they do such a good job. VA care for everyone!

Actually a lot of the VA Hospitals actually do a good job.

If it's good enough for the president . . .