I am 22, why should I care about health care benefits at work?

[WesHollywood]

That was my attitude until a few months ago. A 26 year old friend of mine woke up one morning with what felt like a pulled muscle in his shoulder. He makes $1,600 a month driving a delivery truck for a department store.

He ended up in surgery, and had to lay out $1,000 on the spot which he scraped together. NO $1,000, no surgery. NO surgery, no truck driving. How many of us tweens have $1,000 in savings?

My bud negotiated his medical bill payments down to $600 a month, and his rent is $850 a month for a studio apartment. He has crap health coverage with a $5,000 deductable, but he has no savings. As he has been off work, he has only received 60% of his pay check for the last three months. Now that has ended, he gets nothing.

Over the weekend came the knockout bomb. Pay $375 a month to continue his health and dental insurance. And, there is no guarantee he will get his job back, (this is a good job by L. A. standards these days). That just blew him out of L. A. and his life as he knows it.

It is pretty clear bankruptcy is coming if he does not catch a break. The soonest he could go back to work is this February. Looks like he will be heading back to Keokuk, Iowa to live with mom and dad. We will all miss this great guy.

While The Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare), would have prevented this, the thrust of the legislation does not go into effect until 2018. Too bad for my bud. Republicans are trying to scuttle the Affordable Care Act in order to provide more tax breaks for the rich. I just think it is important that we tweens know how this can work - failed - sucks!

Hypocratic Oath my ass, these guys are the worst kind of thieves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath

[COLOR="DarkRed"]I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.[/COLOR]

[pellaz]

so what else is news

all this was fine in the pre Bush times. Since then the country got sorta run down, no longer such the big land of opportunity. but we won the war on terrorism. this was supported by many Americans by a big majority.

I guess health care didnt matter when there were jobs out there. we are starting to see some growth but if Europe falls things will get real bad here again.

not good times boo.

[oldster]

i had worked for like 30 years doinf ihss (thats in home supportive services ) for the handicapped i had been paid directly from gov but they decited to prvitise the service
so the company took my hours down to 1 hr under where they had to pay insurance
so with in 2 months i found out the problem i was haveing was brain tumors
so i couldent work and the sugron wanted 100,000.00 up front cash plus the fee's of the
hospital. then it took me like 16 years to 1/2 recover from thoes + 3 years later i had to have a triple bypass . So i am still not in good shape for life but i struggle along.and you never know when something will come falling ouy of the sky i know youth has it's invunability
feeling but they are 100% false.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Don't point the finger at the doctor. Many doctors are as much a victim of the whole health care scam, er I did mean to say system - as you and I are.

I have had more than one doctor tell me their feelings, and more often than not they feel like their hands are tied.

I had one doctor come right out and say "Dave, I want to do X procedure, however Kaiser won't allow it until Y procedure has been done. If we go with Y first X won't help - and you will never walk right again."

So here I am three years down the pike waiting for some administrator at Kaiser to figure out that doing Y first ruins all chances of X actually working. But hey that's ok, I have darvocet and a cane pop another pill and grin.

Its worse with the the hospitals who do the billing, decide how much costs what. hospital Administration, not the doctors doing the treating, decide all of the prices and work with the HMO's to decide how best to screw the patient over.

A lot of doctors are actually struggling. The young ones, fresh out of school are burdened with school debt to the point that they are nearly slaves to HMO that they work with or partner with only because they need to make money to pay the debt.

The Older ones with their independent practices fair much better. My second neurologist who decided that transposition of my ulnar nerve was the best 'first' treatment to deal with the impinged nerve (pinched at both the elbow and the neck) Told me that if it was up to her she would fuse my neck and have done with it. But once again who won't pay for it? My Health Care Insurance carrier.

Your buddy is yet one more casualty of a Profit pushing health care system. He got the double whammy, losing the job and being faced to pay for private health care.

Oh an be careful when he does drop the insurance and attempts to get back on it again - a 'preexisting condition' is now there. He's screwed both coming and going.

[ToddYoung]

In most western countries you can walk into a hospital and not have pay a cent. It's called collective empathy, and these countries (generally speaking) tax the rich at a higher level to afford the system. America is still so caught up in its communist fears that it can't make the smallest move toward a welfare state, something that every developed democracy already has.

[WesHollywood]

i had worked for like 30 years doinf ihss (thats in home supportive services ) for the handicapped i had been paid directly from gov but they decited to prvitise the service
so the company took my hours down to 1 hr under where they had to pay insurance
so with in 2 months i found out the problem i was haveing was brain tumors
so i couldent work and the sugron wanted 100,000.00 up front cash plus the fee's of the
hospital. then it took me like 16 years to 1/2 recover from thoes + 3 years later i had to have a triple bypass . So i am still not in good shape for life but i struggle along.and you never know when something will come falling ouy of the sky i know youth has it's invunability
feeling but they are 100% false.

When President Obama took his Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare) to Congress, he supported the legislation as the Constitutional Attorney he is, (many forget this credential). President Obama has been successful so far in justifying the Affordable Care Act as as part of the Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are [COLOR="Blue"]Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."[/COLOR]

To date no one has successfully challenged the president's interpretation.

Best of luck on your health issues. As you see I have only recently had my eyes opened to how vulnerable we all are regardless of age.

[WesHollywood]

In most western countries you can walk into a hospital and not have pay a cent. It's called collective empathy, and these countries (generally speaking) tax the rich at a higher level to afford the system. America is still so caught up in its communist fears that it can't make the smallest move toward a welfare state, something that every developed democracy already has.

Well, this is a myth. Please provide a link to verify your remarks.

When my friend went in for the shoulder surgery, (even though on an employee health care plan), he was informed in advance that $1,000 payment was expected prior to surgery. He was told this one week before the operation. For those of us who are just starting out, and living paycheck to paycheck, this is a fortune.

Since America's Affordable Care Act will not be fully implemented until 2018 people will continue to die for lack of affordable treatment. Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to gut the Affordable Care Act by withholding funding.

Just FYI, every hospital does not have to take indigent patients. Often hospitals dump patients on government funded institutions. Government hospitals have to justify their financial balance sheet every year. Some have been known to keep indigent patients waiting in the ER for days before initiating treatment. They hope the patient will just up and leave. Remember medical corporations are "CORPORATIONS" first with financial responsibility to shareholders, and only secondly medical facilities.

I have no respect for these bastards, these doctors are in it for the money, otherwise they would be working in a free clinic. This oath is a joke.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.[/COLOR]

[Drew]

*This* pharmacist has always been a strong supporter of universal healthcare coverage and making healthcare more affordable for *everyone* for ages, and is primarily concerned with the health of the patients I see in my clinic. Many doctors, nurses, and mid-level practitioners I know feel the same way.

[cloud999]

I have no respect for these bastards, these doctors are in it for the money, otherwise they would be working in a free clinic. This oath is a joke.

You seriously think people who spend 30 years studying and going $200k into student debt for an MD should work for free? Do you still believe in Santa Claus? We pay sexy people who recite memorized lines on film more than individuals who spent decades learning to save lives.

[Almac]

Thank god for the National Health Service, just hope to god the nasty party (Conservatives) don't spoil it while they are in power...