They neglect to mention, though, that rationing is already a part of our private health insurance system. Take this story from California:
In late April, Shelly Andrews-Buta was scheduled to undergo treatment for breast cancer that had spread to her brain, threatening her life.
…
But instead of having doctors working to remove her brain tumors on the day the surgery was scheduled, she sat in a San Francisco hotel room. Why? Because at the last minute, her insurance company, Blue Shield, decided it wasn’t going to pay for the treatment her doctors at UCSF Medical Center had recommended.…she was surprised to learn that the company’s policy lays out that a patient who has more than three brain tumors, what doctors call lesions, would not be covered for the gamma knife procedure. [Via Donklephant]
Of course, this is different, because it’s a private insurer choosing to let Andrews-Buta die. If it leads to improved profit margins for a private company, rationing is apparently just fine.
You just don’t get it! A corporation rationing health care is admirable and that is why the government should never encroach on corporations getting in between people and their Doctors!!!!!!!
YOU just don't get it do you? "A corporation rationing health care is admirable"?? by you? Since you can afford such high premiums and rationing and are in a perfectly healthy state then you have nothing to worry about do you? as long as you're still covered, nothing else matters and everyonle else is delusion for wanting reform, right? This is the arrogance and and egocentrism that further degrades Americans' chance at success.
This I have to agree is one of the most incomprehensible talking points from the right…they get so steamed at the idea of ‘healthcare rationing’ if the gov’t takes over when in fact the private sector rations every single day. They just do so a lot more than Medicare or the VA. I am sticking to my belief that under a single-payer system MORE people would recive MORE treatment at a LOWER per unit cost than our current system.
I like the public option, but not single payer. There will be too much pressure from the medical industry to do every possible treatment, regardless of its effectiveness.
People who wish to buy private insurance or umbrella coverage should be welcome to do so if they can afford it, and it fits their priorities in life.
I am in favor of Rational health care, but not of unlimited medical procedures for everyone.
It is simply not affordable. Not now, or ever in the future, regardless of how we can control costs.
There will be too much pressure from the medical industry to do every possible treatment, regardless of its effectiveness.
Based on?
Your speculation about rampant costs and uneffective treatments has no basis in reality.
This meme, that people will get too much health care seems incredulous to me. People do not like spending even an hour at the doctor’s office. It’s not like it’s fun. They will go when they have to. That’s how it should be.
I’m replying to all three of the above posters. I’ll provide several examples:
Chiropractic is pure quackery, yet insurance $$ already funds this industry. People are regularly paralyzed by going to chiros for “adjustments”
http://www.chirobase.org/01General/chirosub.html
“Chiropractic theory is rooted in the notions of Daniel David Palmer, a grocer and “magnetic healer” who postulated that the basic cause of disease was interference with the body’s nerve supply. Approximately a hundred years ago, he concluded that “A subluxated vertebrae … is the cause of 95 percent of all diseases… . The other five percent is caused by displaced joints other than those of the vertebral column.” [1]
Do you think the chiros will be happy being left out of the single payer system?
You’ve heard of Airborne “Invented by a teacher” ?
After paying $23 Million in refunds to consumers, it is still for sale.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdFlu/Story?id=4380374&page=1
Happily, this is not yet covered by insurance.
Lets not forget Homeopathy :
http://www.homeowatch.org/
A particular kind of knee surgery was found to be ineffective. This was first demonstrated several years ago, but the surgeries continue.
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/knee_arthroscopy_no_more_effective_than_
“Approximately 1 million arthroscopic knee surgeries are carried out in the US each year, costing in the region of $7,000 when performance as an outpatient procedure. Previous research has questioned the effectiveness of the surgery for the treatment of arthritis, however the procedure still remains popular.”
$7000 * 1 million = $7 Billion, down the drain every year.
My point is that there is LOTS of incentive for overtreatment and fake treatments, and LOTS of people who will do or say anything to get their share of the money.
Of course there will be procedures that people are denied by any type of health insurance. I wouldn’t characterize your California story as an example of rationing. Rationing is when you have to get in a local town lottery to get a general practitioner doctor, like in one Canadian town. Rationing is waiting too long for simple procedures like MRI’s until you are next in line.
Rembember when HMO’s first came out in the early 1990’s. Everyone thought they would restrict medical procedures. So, government passed laws that forced them to add and expand coverage and gave consumers easier access to sue their insurance companies or appeal to state health boards. If health care is only provided by the government there is no one to sue, there is no one to appeal to when you don’t like the decisions they make about your health care. They are the almightly government and the buck doesn’t go past them. Those are some of the rights that conservatives are afraid will be taken aware with single payer, universal health care.
Are you aware that the lottery was because of a shortage of Doctors in a small community?
Health care policy should not be dictated by the irrational fears of the ultra right.
Or the irrational fears of the liberal left.
No. That is not rationing. That is an underserved rural community. Not surprisingly, Canada, like the US, has a shortage of physicians who want to live in the middle of the godforsaken tundra.
There may be some health care rationing of sorts in my home this year, depending on whether the kids get hurt or sick. With our employer based insurance costing over $800 a month we have taken out a high deductible policy on our healthy kids for a savings of $400 per month. We are not ones to run to the doctor for every little thing and this will make us even more likely to take a wait and see attitude about their health.
Don’t forget about walk-in clinics like MinuteClinic. Having your kids’ sore throat looked at there costs $40, vs. about $100 at the doctor’s office and $400 at the ER.
If everyone did this, we’d save a ton of money. Doesn’t even matter who the payer is.
Sounds great. Increase savings and access. Everything helps.
I am needing a practitioner to help with a specific problem. The issue is, no ones in this field takes Health Partners! I have insurance, it covers the issue, but few practitioners of this issue take health partners because they pay crap. That is your private insurance at work. Limited to no choice.
I would rather do it on my own, but I ended up calling the VA. Blammo, I have an appointment in a little over a week.
And why do I hate private insurance again?
‘Cause you are a veteran but must be willing to again possibly give up your life for insurance company profits or it makes for socialism in America. And I’ll shout down anybody who says different.
(Republican activists)
Because you are a Veteran and you earned it, Alec. Thank you for your service and I hope your medical problem is resolved to your satisfaction. You deserve the best care.
You deserve the best care.
That is only if the best care doesn’t cost DtM more then 50% of his paycheck in taxes. Any more then that, would be immoral and unethical to furnish the best care, regardless of your service.
Richard -
Thanks for clarifying. You are right. We should be able to find a way to manage our nation without having to extract more than 50 cents from the dollar earned by one of its hard-working citizens.
Even if it means our veterans don’t get the “best” care. Adequate care should be fine for them. Most of them don’t really earn enough to warrent the “best care.
Healthcare will always be rationed, no matter what the system. Everything in life is “rationed” - they even have a science that studies rationing - it’s called “economics.” (Economics is NOT about money, money is a means of rationing.) In a totally free market, only rich people would get access to the best healthcare. So, we don’t have a free market, we have people grouping together to share the cost of healthcare through “private socialism”, i.e., insurance. But, it is still rationed, you just have an insurance company making the decision. And the insurance company’s motivation is to deny coverage so they can make more money.
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