Premiums Unveiled For Health Overhaul Plans

[Frieza_Prexus]

Originally Posted by Tiddlywinks [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Living paycheck to paycheck is your definition of a "comfortable existence". Where if they were to be fired they would have no savings to fall back on and would most likely end up on unemployment while searching for another paycheck to paycheck job?

God forbid those people get sick and are uninsured or don't have a sold family/friend support system to help them through those rough times. Not to mention all the luxuries I'm sure their paycheck to paycheck jobs is currently affording them.

Living paycheck to paycheck is not necessarily a "comfortable existence." I was responding directly to Millburn who admitted that while he was check to check, that his existence was "comfortable." In light of his admission, I take exception to the idea that subsidizing his supplies is good policy.

If a person is incapable of meeting their own needs for something, say insulin, there's little objection in a safety net that provides for them for the duration of that inability. I'm not challenging the notion of social spending, I'm challenging the idea that it's somehow good policy to pay for the needs of those who are capable of providing for themselves.

Originally Posted by Tiddlywinks

Then again, they are a member of a certain class, and that is to be expected.

Are you implying that I view diabetics as inferior? What's the equivalent of calling someone a racist, but for medical conditions? Conditionist? Is that what you think I'm being here?

Would I have to get diabetes before my opinion is properly qualified?

[Millburn]

Originally Posted by runlvlzero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I also wanted to assure that I really do empathize with Millburn. Even if I myself do not have a medical condition like that.

I think you're one of the most well articulated people on these forums right now, you've got my vote!

[Misto]

Being a doctor is going to suck.

You can multiply the number of crackheads trying to scam pain medication from their doctors by 10.

This country is so fucked.

[MrSparkle001]

Originally Posted by runlvlzero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And I do think prices/costs are artificially or meaninglessly high. This is however just an opinion I can't thoroughly back up with data for the sake of this debate.

Way too high. In August I got a small cut from my cat on my inside pinkie right below the first knuckle. It wasn't large but it was sort of deep and bled like a stuck pig at first so I thought maybe it might need a stitch (notice it's singular stitch. The cut was small). It was late on a Saturday so my option was the emergency room. I figured it was no big deal. I put pressure on it, bleeding stopped, I cleaned it up, put some neosporin and a bandaid on it and head out.

They examined it and said it didn't require a stitch. They cleaned it up themselves, put some bacitracin on it, wrapped it in gauze, gave me an antibiotic pill and a prescription for more. That's it.

The hospital bill came to over $1100, not including the doctor's bill. When I voiced my great displeasure at that insane rip-off we settled on $125 for the entire hospital bill. Two weeks later I got a doctor's bill for $400, and a week after that another hospital bill for over $350, after I already agreed to a payment in full. That's over $1850 for a small cut that they put bacitracin and gauze on, which I already did at home for free for fuck's sake. All I wanted to know was if it needed a stitch! I already had neosporin and a bandaid on it, they just replaced it with bacitracin and gauze.

Are they insane? Where the hell does the doctor get off charging me $400 to put bacitracin and gauze on a cut that's maybe a half inch in size, if that (it was smaller than the width of my pinkie nail). Fuck I'm in the wrong business. I'll do that for $200, that's half price! It's a steal! And the hospital charging me almost $1500?? What that really is is what they'd have charged my insurance. That's what insurance would have paid. They would have paid about $1850 for a small cut I could have easily taken care of myself.

These hospitals and doctors are overcharging extreme amounts. It's damned criminal.

The prescription cost me $30. That's reasonable. I have no problem paying reasonable bills, but this doctor will not see a dime of that $400 she's charging me unless she agrees to knock that bill down to under $100.

What sucks is a month before I got ripped off my brother went to the same hospital after a collision playing softball (cut his nose and got banged up). He didn't raise hell over what they were charging him and instead agreed to a payment plan. He has to pay over $2500 for services that were only slightly more involved than mine, and only because they did concussion tests (edit: found out today it's $5200 he owes, not $2500). Holy shit. I didn't know he had to pay that much or I would have never gone myself; I guess I should talk to my brother more often.