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 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care 
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
I've had better luck paying medical costs out-of-pocket. I only have catastrophe insurance with a $10k deductible. That is how ludicrous health insurance costs have become.

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Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:47 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
Angela Merkel wrote:
I've had better luck paying medical costs out-of-pocket. I only have catastrophe insurance with a $10k deductible. That is how ludicrous health insurance costs have become.


If you are a relatively healthy individual that is fine. For a lot of people that is fine actually, especially if you have a decent income. For people like me, who tend to get sick a few times a year (sometimes seriously) that wouldn't work.

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Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:50 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
Angela Merkel wrote:
I've had better luck paying medical costs out-of-pocket. I only have catastrophe insurance with a $10k deductible. That is how ludicrous health insurance costs have become.


That's why if everyone had health care, the costs would go down; because people like you wouldn't use it all up! :thumbsup:

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Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:56 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
bABA wrote:
Beeblebrox wrote:
Eagle wrote:
Government run and controlled health care is a nightmare I never want to experience.


Then you should never run for political office. You should never work for the government or in a state run school. And you should never ever live anywhere but America, rather than face the "nightmare" scenarios of France or Canada with their longer life expectancies, better access, and lower costs. Whoo. Who wants that?!


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Better Access

I laugh.


There is better access here in Canada compared to the US. It's the wait times that are an issue.


Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:10 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
Cotton wrote:
bABA wrote:
Beeblebrox wrote:
Eagle wrote:
Government run and controlled health care is a nightmare I never want to experience.


Then you should never run for political office. You should never work for the government or in a state run school. And you should never ever live anywhere but America, rather than face the "nightmare" scenarios of France or Canada with their longer life expectancies, better access, and lower costs. Whoo. Who wants that?!


Canada
Better Access

I laugh.


There is better access here in Canada compared to the US. It's the wait times that are an issue.


better doesn't neccessarily equate to 'good'.


Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:51 am
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
Beeblebrox wrote:
Dolcinea wrote:
6. People shouldn't be dependant on a job they want to leave because of health issues. I guess that makes me a socialist libertarian, but I think there are some things the government should provide that enable its citizens to make personally independant choices.


I agree with you here, but the government in this case doesn't provide anything. It mandates coverage but relies on private insurance companies to provide it.


It's worked out pretty well for auto insurance.

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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
insomniacdude wrote:
Beeblebrox wrote:
Dolcinea wrote:
6. People shouldn't be dependant on a job they want to leave because of health issues. I guess that makes me a socialist libertarian, but I think there are some things the government should provide that enable its citizens to make personally independant choices.


I agree with you here, but the government in this case doesn't provide anything. It mandates coverage but relies on private insurance companies to provide it.


It's worked out pretty well for auto insurance.

Auto insurance companies don't mandate that you insure for damage to yourself; this scheme does.

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Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:58 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
There's virtually no worse alternative to the system we have now. Single payer is awful, but it's still better than the corrupt system we have now.

Here's how fucked up the system is:

I recently received a statement from an X-Ray place. It read something like this:

X-Rays taken and analyzed - $280
Insurance company payment - $50
Contractual write-off - $210
Balance Due - $20

What does this mean? The X-Ray place billed my insurance company $250, knowing full well they won't recover the entire amount. Sure enough, my insurance company only paid $50. Because my co-pay is $20, the X-Ray place gets to eat the $210.

Now, what happens when an uninsured person decides to get X-Rays taken? They get stuck with the full $280, and if they don't pay, their credit gets ruined.

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Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:04 pm
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Post Re: 59% of US doctors support single-payer health care
Krem wrote:
There's virtually no worse alternative to the system we have now. Single payer is awful, but it's still better than the corrupt system we have now.

Here's how fucked up the system is:

I recently received a statement from an X-Ray place. It read something like this:

X-Rays taken and analyzed - $280
Insurance company payment - $50
Contractual write-off - $210
Balance Due - $20

What does this mean? The X-Ray place billed my insurance company $250, knowing full well they won't recover the entire amount. Sure enough, my insurance company only paid $50. Because my co-pay is $20, the X-Ray place gets to eat the $210.

Now, what happens when an uninsured person decides to get X-Rays taken? They get stuck with the full $280, and if they don't pay, their credit gets ruined.


Yep.

I'll give you another example. The psychiatrist I work for charges about $270 an hour (which is actually a bit below "average" most charge $300-$500 per hour for "cash" customers). For a 20 minute visit we bill insurance for $135 (cash patients pay this for 30 minutes), the average "contracted" rate is between $50.00-$70.00 with Medicare being slightly below the low end normally. For a 15 minute visit the reimbursement is $47.50-$53.00, again with Medicare being slightly below this.

Cash patients pay $90 for normal visits (which can last 15-25 minutes) or $135 if they specifically request 30 minutes (and usually they end up getting 40 or so). They also get a host of other services though (priority scheduling, new patients generally get put in within 48 hours -- insurance patients generally wait two weeks, we don't bill them for missed appointments or other services etc). It is just the way it works.

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