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Peggy M's avatar

Our country’s policies regarding healthcare are unconscionable. People’s health and survival should not rely on a for profit system hell bent on sucking profits out of the system while people suffer or die. Way to go America

Fred Jonas's avatar

Please watch Michael Moore's "Sicko."

JOHN VICEDOMINI's avatar

Yep. I’m on the receiving end as a mental health care provider. Getting paid is like pulling teeth. The prior authorization stuff is just a way to deny services. The pay to play society Trump has created only works for the wealthy. Americans are catching on and Republicans know they will be slaughtered come the midterms, but that’s just the beginning.

Fred Jonas's avatar

General Azmundus, I am not going to write a comment that is as long as your post. I will tell you that you have hit many nails on the head. I'll just add a little.

The American medical industry is not "health care." It commonly has little or nothing to do with anyone's health. It is about moving money from wherever it is to providers, other vendors, and insurance companies.

The two most important facts to keep in clear focus are 1) that we spend far more money on the American medical industry than real countries spend on actual health care, and 2) that our results are worse than in almost all developed countries. 1) is not hard to conceptualize, and you've addressed various parts of it. 2) is much more complicated. Please familiarize yourself with the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG).

The other two facts that are important to remember are 3) that the commonest cause of personal bankruptcy in this country is now, and always has been, an inability to pay medical bills, and 4) that whatever of the American medical industry is available is not available to everyone.

I will also ask you to adjust "Medicare Advantage" to "Medicare Disadvantage." And keep in mind all the people who have insurance, but are not insured. If they can't afford the deductible and copay, or proposed intervention is denied, then they're not insured.

I will quote this paragraph of yours: "The public was warned that a government bureaucrat might interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. It was not asked whether an insurance reviewer, restricted network, or payment algorithm might do the same thing without democratic accountability."

K. Page's avatar

This is a very thorough article on all the complexities of the healthcare system we have and what we need to address to get the healthcare system we need with all the patients needs as the priorities.

It is vital that we as a people and country get together and figure this out.

Did I miss the end result of Gary's situation? I really hope he got the rehab that he needed.

General Azmundus's avatar

Thank you for the kind words. Sadly he passed away 😔

Fred Jonas's avatar

Of course he did. He needed intensive and relatively urgent treatment, and he got nothing.

K. Page's avatar

That is so sad.🥺