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(CNN) Fail While serious people debate health care, CNN does interview with morons from West Virgina who ignored their health issues until it became critical   (cnn.com) divider line 189
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bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:48:26 PM  
this just in,

medicine for money, and quite a staggering amount of money at that, keeps rich people healthy. The poor, not so much.

 
Dr._Love 2009-07-10 06:49:22 PM  
Korovyov

One thing to note with regard to that state is that requiring people to have health insurance doesn't instantly increase the supply of doctors willing to be primary care providers. In theory, if they can figure out how to fund it (which is being quite problematic for them) the increased demand may bring more in, but medical training is not fast.

/would be highly interested in having skillwires and a datajack


Note that the current Medicare system works in conjunction with the AMA to make sure that the supply of Doctors is low, increasing demand and therefore price.

I work in a dr's office. Insurance sucks; they fight medical determinations, they fight medications, they spend more money on this ridiculous prior authorization process (which they spent huge amounts of money lobbying into existence) than they would if they just approved treatments. You've got price collusion on the part of the pharma companies, both overt and de facto, due to the incompetence of the medicare/welfare system; it's effed-up all around.

As a guy who works in a building full of doctors, you know who MY primary is? A guy who I pay cash, takes no insurance, will come to see me in my house if I'm immobile(yeah, he charges more for that; it's worth it), draws his own labs at 1/10th the price of Labcorp/Quest, and has never made me wait more than 48 hours for an appointment when I'm sick. He charges ~200 a visit, but that's 30-45 minutes, and the email explaining the labs is part of the cost.

In other words, he's a 19th-century country doctor, only with more computers and a hotter secretary.

 
Dio2112 2009-07-10 06:50:59 PM  
i255.photobucket.com

Guy who works in a machine shop across from me has no upper teeth. He pulled them all out preventatively, since he has no dental insurance. Here's the bizarro-world catch: he is opposed to any changes to our health care system.

/taking "personal responsibility" a bit too far, methinks

 
keithrogan 2009-07-10 06:52:46 PM  
If you can afford beer, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford smokes, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford vacations, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford cable for your big screen TV, you can afford health insurance.

If you can't afford those things, then you're not working and thus eligible for medicare.

The real problem is that people don't want to buy health insurance, they want the rest of us to buy it for them.

 
Korovyov [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:54:04 PM  
bunner: this just in,

medicine for money, and quite a staggering amount of money at that, keeps rich people healthy. The poor, not so much.


Because lifestyle makes no difference? The well-off and well-educated have similar diets, similar exercise habits, similar awareness of their own health issues (and are less likely to distrust doctors as 'legal drug pushers' as does one of the two subjects of the article), as the less well-off? It's just pills?

 
ZAZ [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:54:48 PM  
There is no coverage at all for anything but emergency care, which seems absolutely retarded to me.

A policy that only treats serious conditions can be a sensible choice. A policy that treats emergency room visits and nothing else, regardless of severity, invites abuse.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:58:35 PM  
keithrogan: If you can afford beer, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford smokes, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford vacations, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford cable for your big screen TV, you can afford health insurance.

If you can't afford those things, then you're not working and thus eligible for medicare.

The real problem is that people don't want to buy health insurance, they want the rest of us to buy it for them.


I don't drink beer, smoke or use cable TeeVee or take vacations and I have no idea what sort of beer you drink or how much, but if you can swap it even for health care payments, per month, you'll probably be dead from cirrosis in an hour.

Let's try and not lose track of those extra charges, hidden fees, ridiculous rules, deductibles, and other wahrgarble that makes health care contracts so borderline useless, especially if you need surgery.

It's a lovely bit of admonition and assumption but the real world doesn't quite work like that. Not even for the working poor.

 
Korovyov [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:59:16 PM  
keithrogan: If you can afford beer, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford smokes, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford vacations, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford cable for your big screen TV, you can afford health insurance.

Not necessarily... especially if you're smoking, and your work does not offer a satisfactory health insurance plan (due to very high premiums, low lifetime limits, high out-of-pocket limits, lack of coverage, or what-not). Individual plans can be substantially more expensive especially w/ a pre-existing condition or if you smoke, and may offer less legal protections (e.g. the state might have rules that prevent insurers from blocking individuals from workplace group plans).


If you can't afford those things, then you're not working and thus eligible for medicare.

Medicare doesn't care if you're poor or employed. *Medicaid* may, but that's done in conjunction with state governments, and most states aren't feeling too wealthy right now.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:59:42 PM  
Korovyov: bunner: this just in,

medicine for money, and quite a staggering amount of money at that, keeps rich people healthy. The poor, not so much.

Because lifestyle makes no difference? The well-off and well-educated have similar diets, similar exercise habits, similar awareness of their own health issues (and are less likely to distrust doctors as 'legal drug pushers' as does one of the two subjects of the article), as the less well-off? It's just pills?


I can see the vague outline of your strawman but it keeps falling into the mud.

 
steamingpile 2009-07-10 07:00:25 PM  
Ryan2065: what_now: Carl shrugs at the suggestion that more frequent visits to the doctor might have detected his heart troubles sooner or helped him avoid major trauma through changes in his diet, drugs or even angioplasty or other procedures that, though expensive, are dwarfed by the cost of the helicopter ride and emergency surgery.

Thanks, Carl. You're not part of the problem AT ALL...

Er, he didn't have health insurance and because of back surgeries money was tight. People living paycheck to paycheck don't always have $200 for a doctor's visit. I can't really say he is completely at fault here.


They may be morons, but pro active health care would end up saving billions in the long run. Even though people call it frivolous, health care plans do not cover diet drugs, I have a lady that wants to control her eating over depression but her health care wont touch it. If they take care of it now then they wouldnt have to cover the litany of health issues that will cause 10-15 years down the road, health issues that will cost thousands more than a little pill or a nutritionist to put them on the right path.

Some people have the will power, they just feel run over by life and give up.

 
anniepoonanny 2009-07-10 07:00:59 PM  
If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

 
cuzsis 2009-07-10 07:01:57 PM  
Dr. Nick Riviera: Befuddled: I have constant pains on the right side of my abdomen. I would really like to get my doctor to take it seriously but his attitude is the same as all the other doctors I've met; if it won't kill me within 48 hours, they won't do anything as they are in the clear liability-wise. They probably avoid doing any sort of test as then that could be construed as acknowledging the potential seriousness in a future trial; without tests there's always deniability as they can claim I didn't make the problem known. Even with insurance, there's no preventive medical care in the US, at least not in my experience.

Then find another doctor? If you have faulty brakes and your mechanic won't fix the problem, you certainly wouldn't keep going back. Same goes for physicians. If this is a sincere problem and they're still not taking you seriously, your best bet is to document, document, document. Take meticulous notes on when your abdomen hurts, where it hurts, what you're doing when it hurts, what makes it better or worse, etc. If you go in with a nondescript, "Oh, my side just kind of hurts all the time," they're going to think you're drug-seeking and write you off. If you want them to take you seriously, you need to show that you're serious about the problem.


There was a really shaitty mechanic in my town in WI when I lived there. He'd been sued I don't know how many times for faulty work. Yet he was still in business and getting clients. Why?

He was the only game in town.

You may have a crappy doc, but it may be that the general medical help in your area sucks. My grandparents deal with that in AZ unfortunately...

 
spasemunki 2009-07-10 07:03:06 PM  
keithrogan: If you can afford beer, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford smokes, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford vacations, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford cable for your big screen TV, you can afford health insurance.

If you can't afford those things, then you're not working and thus eligible for medicare.

The real problem is that people don't want to buy health insurance, they want the rest of us to buy it for them.


Um, no. If you're middle aged or older, and particularly if you have any pre-existing chronic health condition (like diabetes or a history or heart problems) you probably 1) will be rejected by many private insurers and 2) may be paying $20000+ a year for coverage in a 'high risk' pool. You also won't be elligible for medicare, medicaid, or any other assistance program if you have even modest personal property (like you have a home that you are paying the mortgage on).

You can be living very frugally and still not be able to afford insurance. You can also be buying a lot of non-essentials, and still not be able to afford insurance even if you dropped all of them.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:03:53 PM  
anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

Yeah! Jobs are just falling out of the motherfuc*ing trees, these days, you lazy hillbillies!

Especially in "TheMineClosedTwentyYearsAgo" WVA.

*facepalm*

 
mmagdalene [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:04:23 PM  
Submitter is an utterspasemunki: We already have socialized medicine in this country. It's just the retarded kind.

You are exactly right. I once had the pleasure of a 5-hour wait in a San Diego emergency room because the chronically ill and uninsured had no where else to go. My brother, despite having a college degree, builds grain silos in the rural midwest because that's where our ailing father is. Brother's also diabetic, but while his employer has received millions in federal and state subsidies, he's not so generous as to offer his employees health coverage. In a tight job market in a dying town, he doesn't have to.

Many times my brother has also let his preventive care slide - not checking his blood sugar, reusing needles, buying fast food because it's cheaper than the half a tank of gas required to get to the nearest grocery (not convenience) store. Inevitably, he's ended up very ill and nearly died twice, but as he sees it, he has no choice. What most people with insurance don't realize I think is that UNLESS YOU HAVE INSURANCE OR CASH UP FRONT, A DOCTOR WILL NOT SEE YOU. You'll never make it past the receptionist.

 
Korovyov [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:05:16 PM  
bunner: Korovyov: bunner: this just in,

medicine for money, and quite a staggering amount of money at that, keeps rich people healthy. The poor, not so much.

Because lifestyle makes no difference? The well-off and well-educated have similar diets, similar exercise habits, similar awareness of their own health issues (and are less likely to distrust doctors as 'legal drug pushers' as does one of the two subjects of the article), as the less well-off? It's just pills?

I can see the vague outline of your strawman but it keeps falling into the mud.


Here's your claim: medicine keeps rich people healthy. As if that were the main difference.

 
mmagdalene [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:05:27 PM  
keithrogan: The real problem is that people don't want to buy health insurance, they want the rest of us to buy it for them.

And the last time you tried to purchase private health insurance with a pre-existing condition was...when?

 
EthelPP 2009-07-10 07:05:47 PM  
It's also the mentality of - get this - if you don't have the money, you can't afford it. Rather than going on credit, if there's no money in the grouch bag, then you do without.

And I get the "legal drug pushers" mentality - you go to the doctor, you explain 1/8 of 1/4 of 1/16 of your symptoms, s/he says, "Oh, you have ... " and shoves a bunch of samples at you and a prescription for the latest and greatest that the drug rep who just left through the back door just dropped off and hustles you out the door with a pat on the head. Why get at the root cause? We can just give you Newly-to-Market Miracle Drug C(tm)!

Fun fact - did you know that any meds YOU'RE taking that say "Mylan" are a West Virginia product?

 
moothemagiccow 2009-07-10 07:05:56 PM  
uh, yeah, this is the American way. This is the point. Health care is such a pain in the ass that we avoid it until we're seriously farked

 
moothemagiccow 2009-07-10 07:06:53 PM  
what_now: Ryan2065: I can't really say he is completely at fault here.

No, but his attitude was...bizzare. He's opposed to doctors in general, but was happy that they treated him well when he had an emergency due to his lack of preventive care.

It's a really weird article. CNN FAIL.


Pretty simple. He likes emergency doctors and surgeons, but not family doctors.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:07:31 PM  
Korovyov: As if that were the main difference.

It's the main point of access.

If you care to test this theory, walk into the waiting area of a private practice M.D. declare you need to be seen but have no money.

Doctors don't read medical journals, yo. They read the Wall Street Journal. Medicine is just a great way to raise capital.

 
cuzsis 2009-07-10 07:07:40 PM  
anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

You got some extra jobs lying around that will actually cover regular bills for a place to live and healthy food to eat?

/several hundred thousand people in America would like to talk to you...

 
daclark100 2009-07-10 07:08:08 PM  
I have a new game for us all to play. Let's call it Natural Selection. Here's the rules.
Everyone gets free health care from top to bottom.
You must visit you Dr(s) at least once a year.
All employers are mandated to give off so many hours/days per year for health maintenance.
You must follow your Dr's orders.
You are entitiled to 2nd and 3rd opinions.
Failure to visit or follow orders results in your loss of free healthcare for 2 years and you are *NOT* entitled to *any* emergency care.
Winner goes on to reproduce. Loser dies.
Ready? Play!

 
SpiderQueenDemon 2009-07-10 07:08:55 PM  
I presently live in West Virginia. And yes, this happens. A fellow I work with had a tooth break -he went to a university dental school and is paying it off $10 at a time. Another guy just used pliers and Jack Daniel's.

Of course, I can see a doctor any time I please. For free. House calls, no less. But I suppose not everyone has my idea for a health plan.

/owns two duplexes
//one apartment contains an E.R. resident and his veterinary science-major wife
///we cut their rent for medical advice and little procedures like vaccinations
////they're dear friends and often join us for the other sort of shots

 
spasemunki 2009-07-10 07:10:45 PM  
Korovyov: bunner: Korovyov: bunner: this just in,

medicine for money, and quite a staggering amount of money at that, keeps rich people healthy. The poor, not so much.

Because lifestyle makes no difference? The well-off and well-educated have similar diets, similar exercise habits, similar awareness of their own health issues (and are less likely to distrust doctors as 'legal drug pushers' as does one of the two subjects of the article), as the less well-off? It's just pills?

I can see the vague outline of your strawman but it keeps falling into the mud.

Here's your claim: medicine keeps rich people healthy. As if that were the main difference.


His actual claim is that a for-profit health care system disproportionately benefits the wealthy.

 
Kirk's_Toupee [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:10:46 PM  
ricbach229: Ryan2065: what_now: Carl shrugs at the suggestion that more frequent visits to the doctor might have detected his heart troubles sooner or helped him avoid major trauma through changes in his diet, drugs or even angioplasty or other procedures that, though expensive, are dwarfed by the cost of the helicopter ride and emergency surgery.

Thanks, Carl. You're not part of the problem AT ALL...

Er, he didn't have health insurance and because of back surgeries money was tight. People living paycheck to paycheck don't always have $200 for a doctor's visit. I can't really say he is completely at fault here.

Where do you go to the doctor? I asked my doctor the other day how much an office visit is if I dind't have insurance and it's a flat $70. Even with some blood work it's barely be over a hundred.

Depends on your dr and locality. 70 bucks is a lot of money.
As for mass health plan getting more expensive, of course the costs will significantly rise there, the merchants don't want it to succeed. What a better way to force the plan to fail (behind the scenes) then say , see it failed, you need us.

 
Impasse 2009-07-10 07:11:18 PM  
Befuddled: I have constant pains on the right side of my abdomen. I would really like to get my doctor to take it seriously but his attitude is the same as all the other doctors I've met; if it won't kill me within 48 hours, they won't do anything as they are in the clear liability-wise. They probably avoid doing any sort of test as then that could be construed as acknowledging the potential seriousness in a future trial; without tests there's always deniability as they can claim I didn't make the problem known. Even with insurance, there's no preventive medical care in the US, at least not in my experience.

It could be Lupus.

 
Nocens 2009-07-10 07:11:46 PM  
anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.


I dunno, I have a great job. I went to see a doctor for an eye exam. Preventive visit, glaucoma is a hereditary beast in my family. Took off work and was an hour early for the appointment. SEVEN hours later I finally got in. I reamed his ass, he didn't give a fark. He cost me 5k that day. He sent me his bill. I sent him mine.

Now the lawyers get to make the money.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:12:12 PM  
spasemunki: His actual claim is that a for-profit health care system disproportionately benefits the wealthy.

*clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap*

/touchdown

 
anniepoonanny 2009-07-10 07:12:27 PM  
cuzsis: anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

You got some extra jobs lying around that will actually cover regular bills for a place to live and healthy food to eat?

/several hundred thousand people in America would like to talk to you...


I hear Pizza Hut is hiring.

 
EthelPP 2009-07-10 07:12:49 PM  
Also, as someone who self-insures in WV, I pay, for a 45-YO woman and a 50-YO man, $507.00 per month with $5,000.00 per person deductible - let me state that again, FIVE THOUSAND PER PERSON DEDUCTIBLE. With one small pre-existing condition of a bad thyroid, which costs perhaps $150.00 a year to manage, including the yearly check-up and blood tests and meds.

And no, I'm not moving. I could no more live in the city than I could grow wings and fly to the moon.

 
anfthebamf 2009-07-10 07:13:35 PM  
www.toothpastefordinner.com

seems fitting...

 
Korovyov [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:14:03 PM  
bunner: Korovyov: As if that were the main difference.

It's the main point of access.

If you care to test this theory, walk into the waiting area of a private practice M.D. declare you need to be seen but have no money.

Doctors don't read medical journals, yo. They read the Wall Street Journal. Medicine is just a great way to raise capital.


FTA:

It is the dilemma Dr. Sarah Chouinard faces every day.

She runs a community health clinic in Clay, where nearly 30 percent of the population falls below the poverty line and at least 35 percent of the residents lack health insurance.

"We offer sliding fee payment scales," she said during a clinic tour. "If they are at 100 percent federal poverty level or worse, they owe us $5 only, and the rest of their care is waived."


You were saying?

This isn't unique to Clay. For instance, there's a non-profit physician's cooperative in the much more expensive area I live, that provides discounts (all the way down to free) for the less than well-off. They're a pretty darn good practice, too, not a hole in the wall operation; I don't have to be cost-sensitive and use them anyway.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:15:48 PM  
anniepoonanny: I hear Pizza Hut is hiring.

Yeah, which one?

You may not have noticed this but the "you poor people are all just lazy and can live WONDERFULLY on sh*t money if you try!" troll is sorta clapped out, hon.

Even when you cap it off with "NATURALLY, *I* don't have to because I am wildly successful". : )

 
steamingpile 2009-07-10 07:17:34 PM  
bunner: anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

Yeah! Jobs are just falling out of the motherfuc*ing trees, these days, you lazy hillbillies!

Especially in "TheMineClosedTwentyYearsAgo" WVA.

*facepalm*


People do not realize that in the mountains, these people have even less of an opportunity than kids in the ghetto, at least in the ghetto you are near a city and assistance. In the mountains you have to travel a day to get to their city with assistance.

American Hollow

Highly recommended if you want to see how dirt poor people live.

 
Dr. Nick Riviera [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:17:48 PM  
cuzsis: There was a really shaitty mechanic in my town in WI when I lived there. He'd been sued I don't know how many times for faulty work. Yet he was still in business and getting clients. Why?

He was the only game in town.

You may have a crappy doc, but it may be that the general medical help in your area sucks. My grandparents deal with that in AZ unfortunately...


I understand that very well, but as has been broached elsewhere in this thread, how much is your health worth to you? Is finding out if that nagging pain is in fact being caused by a tumor (not that I'm saying it is) worth the hassle of driving three hours each way to a better doctor? For a lot of people it's not, so the issue doesn't get taken care of until it's a crisis, and then it's everyone else's fault that they're in that situation.

 
anniepoonanny 2009-07-10 07:18:34 PM  
bunner: anniepoonanny: I hear Pizza Hut is hiring.

Yeah, which one?

You may not have noticed this but the "you poor people are all just lazy and can live WONDERFULLY on sh*t money if you try!" troll is sorta clapped out, hon.

Even when you cap it off with "NATURALLY, *I* don't have to because I am wildly successful". : )


Poor people are lazy.

 
Kludge [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:18:34 PM  
Hold on here...

So all of you are saying that there might be some benefits to having money?

And there are detriments to being poor?

Goddammnit, I wish someone would have told me sooner.

 
spasemunki 2009-07-10 07:20:38 PM  
Korovyov: bunner: Korovyov: As if that were the main difference.

It's the main point of access.

If you care to test this theory, walk into the waiting area of a private practice M.D. declare you need to be seen but have no money.

Doctors don't read medical journals, yo. They read the Wall Street Journal. Medicine is just a great way to raise capital.

FTA:

It is the dilemma Dr. Sarah Chouinard faces every day.

She runs a community health clinic in Clay, where nearly 30 percent of the population falls below the poverty line and at least 35 percent of the residents lack health insurance.

"We offer sliding fee payment scales," she said during a clinic tour. "If they are at 100 percent federal poverty level or worse, they owe us $5 only, and the rest of their care is waived."

You were saying?

This isn't unique to Clay. For instance, there's a non-profit physician's cooperative in the much more expensive area I live, that provides discounts (all the way down to free) for the less than well-off. They're a pretty darn good practice, too, not a hole in the wall operation; I don't have to be cost-sensitive and use them anyway.


A community health clinic is not a private practice in the conventional sense; it's most likely a grant funded social service agency. Free and sliding-scale clinics can't scale to meet the actual need because there isn't sufficient funding behind them. In urban areas they're usually booked solid and have to turn people away. In rural areas, access to them is difficult because the people who need them often can't get to them because they can't drive or it's too far to travel. Funding streams for them are often dependent on grant funding which tends to make it easier to start programs than it is to keep them running

 
Fano 2009-07-10 07:20:49 PM  
ZAZ: Massachusetts found that people who are forced to have health insurance don't go to the doctor more often than they went with no insurance. Free or fee, doctor visits aren't priorities for many people.

This. I saw plenty of dumbasses in Memphis that never went to the doctor for checkups, because they were doing fine. Oh sure, ten years ago some doc told them they might have a touch of the sugah, but they was a-ok.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:20:59 PM  
Korovyov: If they are at 100 percent federal poverty level or worse, they owe us $5 only, and the rest of their care is waived."

And of course, most people AREN'T eligible for that 100% poverty level waiver because ethey have enough money for food and gas to GET to the clinic.

You're missing the point.

Let me lay it out for you.

FU*K charity, FU*K greed as a motivator to practice medicine and FU*K handouts or having to stay poor to stay alive. Health care costs are a lie, and are so far out of hand of COURSE the rich benefit disproportionately from profit oriented health care. They can afford 13.00 Tylenols and and 6,000.00 test procedures that burn up about 7.00 in electric, 250.00 in labour and 120.00 in equipment and materials.

 
bunner [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:22:13 PM  
anniepoonanny: Poor people are lazy.

uh huh

2/10

bye, Ayn

 
EL_FABREZ 2009-07-10 07:24:13 PM  
keithrogan: If you can afford beer, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford smokes, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford vacations, you can afford health insurance. If you can afford cable for your big screen TV, you can afford health insurance.

If you can't afford those things, then you're not working and thus eligible for medicare.

The real problem is that people don't want to buy health insurance, they want the rest of us to buy it for them.



What kind of chain smoking, vacationing taking, super-alcoholic are you that you think it's affordable to insure a family nowadays? Did you know it costs a healthy family almost $14,000 a year to keep insured? That's not pocket change for most Americans when the mean income is $40k a year.

 
ban_sidhe [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:24:24 PM  
trappedspirit: Yo, subby-moron, there's a difference between just "ignoring" health issues and not having them treated because you can't afford it. A really big difference.

Yep. Some years back, I worked in an urgent care. A lady came in one day because she'd been having symptoms for some time - months and months. She was a single mother who worked full time but had no insurance, since her company didn't offer health care benefits. She didn't make a ton of money and with kids, car, groceries, and bills couldn't afford to visit a doctor and pay for loads of diagnostic tests. Finally, she came to the urgent care because she just couldn't stand it anymore.

She died of colon cancer about a month later.

That's one story. Multiply her by thousands and thousands more.

I've got insurance and hope on a daily basis that my disk doesn't herniate again, because even with coverage, I paid several thousand dollars out of my own pocket the first time it happened. Naturally since then, my insurance has reduced the amount it will pay, while increasing the amount my husband and I pay.

It's a freaking disgrace.

 
Nocens 2009-07-10 07:24:51 PM  
Kludge: Hold on here...

So all of you are saying that there might be some benefits to having money?

And there are detriments to being poor?

Goddammnit, I wish someone would have told me sooner.



I'll be damned, Bernie Madoff gets internet in prison... And free healthcare.

Thanks, Bernie.

 
feffer 2009-07-10 07:25:24 PM  
spasemunki: A community health clinic is not a private practice in the conventional sense; it's most likely a grant funded social service agency.

OMG SOCIALISM

 
Hagbardr [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:27:18 PM  
basemetal: Much like dentistry, over half of the medical problems in this country are preventable.

I'll brush my teeth but I'll be damned if you get me to floss.

 
cuzsis 2009-07-10 07:27:44 PM  
Dr. Nick Riviera: cuzsis: There was a really shaitty mechanic in my town in WI when I lived there. He'd been sued I don't know how many times for faulty work. Yet he was still in business and getting clients. Why?

He was the only game in town.

You may have a crappy doc, but it may be that the general medical help in your area sucks. My grandparents deal with that in AZ unfortunately...

I understand that very well, but as has been broached elsewhere in this thread, how much is your health worth to you? Is finding out if that nagging pain is in fact being caused by a tumor (not that I'm saying it is) worth the hassle of driving three hours each way to a better doctor? For a lot of people it's not, so the issue doesn't get taken care of until it's a crisis, and then it's everyone else's fault that they're in that situation.


Depends on if you can afford the 3hr drive (gas, time off of work, and the bills.)

I'm having to put off figuring out a niggling digestive issue (my gi tract periodically just stops working...more or less.) but the costs of tests that they'd have to run is more than we can afford right now with hubby out of work and me on reduced hours plus a kiddo to take care of.

My dad was going to help me a bit right up until he had to go to the ER himself for gi issues (more diverticulitus, yay.) and had someone hit his car on the side. Now what little extra cash he had managed to carefully save up is completely blown.

Sometimes, life just sucks.

/had to put off dental care for a month for the kiddo too, as it was either that or be able to eat/pay rent that month.
//being poor sucks.

 
highwayrun 2009-07-10 07:29:09 PM  
Nocens: anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.


I dunno, I have a great job. I went to see a doctor for an eye exam. Preventive visit, glaucoma is a hereditary beast in my family. Took off work and was an hour early for the appointment. SEVEN hours later I finally got in. I reamed his ass, he didn't give a fark. He cost me 5k that day. He sent me his bill. I sent him mine.

Now the lawyers get to make the money.


There's a LensCrafters in your local mall that would have seen you on a walk-in basis. Why wouldn't you just go there? Heck, even Wal-Mart has an optometrist.

 
cuzsis 2009-07-10 07:30:01 PM  
anniepoonanny: cuzsis: anniepoonanny: If you can't take time off of work to take care of your damn self, then maybe you should focus your energy on getting a better job instead of complaining about your situation.

You got some extra jobs lying around that will actually cover regular bills for a place to live and healthy food to eat?

/several hundred thousand people in America would like to talk to you...

I hear Pizza Hut is hiring.


Pizza hut pay the bills where you live? Because it doesn't over here...

/either that or it was a reading comprehension fail.
//feeding time anyway...

 
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