News Us politics - read first post before comment

[scout86]

The failings at the VA (for veterans - not for employees) are not somehow accidental, they're institutional, that's what the institution does.

I just want to add that there are a lot of employees, on many levels, doing many things, and they aren't universally bad. I know veterans who are totally happy with the VA. With the care they receive, if not the paperwork. The types and degrees of dysfunction seem to vary by location and I'm gong to guess that has something to do with ratio of personal to patients.

My own adventures in insurance have me rethinking the whole mess. Before the ACA, I didn't have insurance. Mostly, in my adult life, I haven't. For a few years, when I was married, we bought our own. A couple times, for brief periods, I had it through an employer. That was kind of a gravy deal IMO. But that's because the employer was picking up a big part of the tab. The insurance we could afford to pay for ourselves was terrible, but, I suppose, better than nothing. ('nothing' was cheap though)

Insurance through the state had been an adventure. (This state has 2 state sponsored programs for low income people. I've been on both.) The insurance itself has been fine. Up until there was only one option available in this country & my T was no longer in network. (Got that solved, for now, BTW.) The paperwork hasn't been fun, at least not for me, although I have figured out what about it actually is sort of a trigger. (Long story. Not solved yet, but working on it.)

Here's what concerns me about the state running this. Every 6 months, I have to requantify. At that point, I to have submit my paperwork. In response, I typically get 3 letters, in different envelopes, sent the same day, from the same office. One says they're taking me off a program. One says they're putting me on a program. One says I'm being thrown out completely because I didn't submit the paperwork. :wideeyed:They might arrive the same day, they might not. The last time, the first letter to arrive was different. It told me to disregard the previous letter. Which hadn't arrived yet. :rolleyes: It's taken me 2 years to convince them I'm actually not poor enough for MA, I should be on the other program. They'd look at my file, see what I was talking about, submit it to whoever is responsible for making the changes, and nothing would happen.

I totally don't get it, but it makes me wonder how the government can run anything. Makes me wonder if the moon landing really WAS faked. Makes me think the original version of NASA should run everything. Also makes me think, like @joeylittle said, we have reached the point where the country is to big to function.

 

[scout86]

Interesting article, @Anarchy . It might interest you to know that where I live, there are still things similar to that. My property insurance is through a 'rural mutual insurance company.' It's sort of a toned down version of the same idea. I've been wondering if there might be a way to expand the idea to health insurance, at least in a local area. It really seems like there should be a way to do this.

 

[Anarchy]

Also makes me think, like @joeylittle said, we have reached the point where the country is to big to function.

Christmas and birthday presents from a partner or parent, tell us all that we need to know about that

If the people who are supposed to know us best can get it so wrong, how can a bunch of narcissists who don't know us at all (called government) claim to know what we all really really really want.

Secession to the individual, it's the only way;)

(Hint at the spice girls was deliberate:sick:)

 

[anonymous]

As a Canadian citizen who has worked in the health care field, as well as having been a patient for various reasons over the years. I have also spoken with other people who have been treated under this system. I have also been living in the same province while it has gone from public to semi private in its infrastructure. Meaning, it is free for everyone, should you not mind waiting.
Sounds good on paper. Not so much in practice.

The quality of care has fallen significantly. The training and development of medical professionals is no different, but there simply aren't enough of them. Their caseloads are atrocious.
They have little choice than to rush patients through as fast as possible. This has caused incidents of gross mis-diagnosis of simple injuries and illnesses. I of course can't speak for everyone, but I know what I and a few others experienced. It's not a good system, at least not where I reside.

Here is my most recent experience.

Spoiler: The blind doctor story.

I suffered a broken arm a few years ago. Nothing serious, but it needed a cast.
I went to hospital, had an X-ray. Yup. It was broken. Had a cast fitted, was told to come back in a week for a new one to replace the current one after the swelling went down.

1 week later. I was told I didn't have a broken arm. (Yes I did. The first doctor showed it to me on the X-ray. It was an obvious non-displaced fracture of the radius. Damn near impossible to miss a white line going through a long bone. Or so I would have thought...) I asked the doctor "Oh, really?" I was legitimately surprised.
He snapped at me some snide comment about Google doctoring.
I asked him to show me the X-ray, so he could answer a question. He reluctantly agreed with a sarcastic "oookay doctor...."
I pointed to the fracture on the image and asked politely. "This is what the last doctor said was a fracture, what do you feel it is? I am not trying to upstage you. I will accept your diagnosis, as I am not a doctor. Though I am certainly curious as to how the last guy got it wrong?"

His response?
"Oh. Yeah, that's a fracture."

On X-rays its common practice for a technician to put a little arrow on the film to indicate the region of the problem. The tech in this instance, put the arrow in the wrong place. This I'm sure otherwise competent doctor. Failed to look at the entire image when he didn't immediately see the fracture in the indicated place.
I didn't ask why, but it was obvious that he was only physician in a ward with about 20 full beds and a full waiting room. His manner with me was that of someone who is stressed out and in a hurry to get things done. Upon discovery of his error, he dropped his attitude and was actually thankful that I caught the error. He was perfectly fine after that.

@anthony mentioned that they are using a similar system in Australia. I really do hope it works there, as it is a good idea for balancing costs. In a region so mired in greed and corruption as North America (I say this as Canada seems to be just as guilty of it as the US) I don't think it would be a good solution for the middle to lower class American citizen in terms of health care.
Though this is just my opinion.

 

[shimmerz]

how can a bunch of narcissists who don't know us at all (called government) claim to know what we all really really really want.

I didn't realize that narcissists had, as a high priority, the desire to know about anyone else besides themselves or those that served them? And for those that served them, only knowing enough to know what buttons to push to have them serve them even better?

The quality of care has fallen significantly.

Seconded. When I have interactions with the health care system here, I feel like I am living in 1980's Russia.

 

[Deleted member 41765]

claim to know what we all really really really want.

And I am going to have that running through my head all day thank you very much! ;)

 

[hodge]

@scout86, I feel your pain. I'm guessing I'm probably in the same program (MA-EPD). It is crazy nuts how many letters they send out ALL the time. And, yes, the paperwork every six months drives me nuts, too, as I have a really hard time doing that kind of thing, but I totally understand they have to keep tabs on peoples' incomes to make sure they still qualify. Maybe our county is a little more functional than yours, because I can't kick about the coverage or the efficiency of my worker when I have a question. But mail stresses me and I get tons of it from them, usually saying nothing I need to know.

 

[Deleted member 541]

We're safe for now, they stopped the vote on health care!!!! Thank god!!!,

 

[anthony]

So why can't we attempt their type of healthcare on a small scale like @Justmehere said?

You don't change an entire countries established belief system, is why it won't work. I remember watching a documentary about American capitalism and when they had a choice between socialism or capitalism. Apparently it was believed socialism was going to win, yet political powers to be, went with capitalism instead... if I remember this correctly. Its been a while.

Capitalism is founded on the premise of opportunity. It sounds great, works like shit though, unless you're already the rich (politicians wanted to be, and now are as a result of the structure). The country was then sold it, a big house, two cars, kids, picket fence, abundance for all... it worked when there were less people, globalisation was nothing more than a futuristic thought, manufacturing was booming, jobs were a plenty. Then times change. Progress is made. Improvements in technology. Buy it cheaper elsewhere. Competition. The internet has given reach never before available to the average person, let alone those with a goal to profiteer.

Doing it smarter and better now works over opportunity.

You won't ever change the current system with the current population. There is too much ignorance and backlash engrained within the people to allow it. It is no different than trying to sway your country about how guns allow killing so readily and easily. Take them away, America becomes a safer place. It would be like trying to bring capitalism to Australia. It just wouldn't happen. People are engrained with our system, generational beliefs. Your only choice is to migrate, in essence.

You could talk about the American incarceration system. Just about every country on earth knows it doesn't work. America knows it doesn't work. It isn't working for them. Yet they keep doing it, because the incarceration system is in-built to the capitalistic system. It is a business within America, and business has to thrive. To do that, people need to be incarcerated in volume. The social and economic problems incarceration causes are just horrendous. Generational even. It won't change though either... because it is part of the American belief system.

Outside America, reform is the main focus, not locking people up. Work with them, try and understand them, support them to feel better about themselves, help them into employment and such. People helping people shows much better results, worldwide -- it works. You incarcerate only the worst of the worst where this has failed.

America will not change so readily @lostforgottensoul. You're delusional if you try and convince yourself it will. Not where money is concerned. Other things? Sure. But not the bread and butter of capitalism -- opportunity and right to make money, regardless who you hurt, destroy or kill themselves along the way. America is still struggling, especially in some states, with racism, discrimination, even slavery.

 

[scout86]

From a practical standpoint, I'm not much of a capitalist.

We've had other periods in this country where things got out of balance. And 'balance' is what's needed. Our whole constitution is based on the idea that you can't trust the government and its necessary for laws to protect the rights of the minorities and the less powerful from the majority and the more powerful.

There was a time, back in the late 1890's, I think, where the rich and powerful ran over the rights of everyone else. Monopolies were formed. Bad stuff happened. Laws were eventually enacted to rein in the robber barons. Life went on. If memory serves correctly, this sort of thing has happened more than once. It's happening again and it needs to be stopped.

We have a system where you can but an election, if you have enough money. Well, maybe not quite, but closer. It's also pretty close to where you can buy a politician, if you have enough money. Technology has been used to create voting districts where it's almost guaranteed there's no competition. Somehow, we need to take back the country from this century's version of the robber barons. It's still, technically, a democracy. That really ought to be possible.

 

[joeylittle]

That was my dad's concern with free healthcare. A vaild concern but Anthony showed that Austrialia is doing it without those extreme wait times. So why can't we attempt their type of healthcare on a small scale like @Justmehere said?

The US population is about 5.5 times that of Australia (roughly). That's the most obvious answer. Resources don't automatically compound to keep pace with need. The US (as of the 2014 census) had a little over 100k people living with HIV/AIDS. Australia had 20k. It's not automatic that the US would have 5 times the total resources needed to provide care to that population group alone.

The more detailed reasons:

Canada is a single payer system funded by fluctuating tax rates levied against citizens.

Australia is a dual system: single payer and privatized care. The single payer side is nominally funded by taxes paid by citizens (as far as I'm aware). It is largely funded by other government revenue. The privatized care is an a la carte system - purchase what you need. Each has pros and cons. Purely using the public insurance can result in delays or limits on care. The difference is, no one is totally stuck, and if people want more choice they can pay for it. Also, hospital stay costs are capped at a certain point, so you can't just accumulate more and more debt.

America has public health - Medicare, which is universal for those over 65 (or whatever it is these days), and then a complicated privatized system with clumps - "groups" - and a mish mosh of funding sources.

Single payer health is not a reasonable option for the US. We are too big and too disagreeable.

A universal government funded system - basically, Medicare for everyone - would never stand alone. And it is so antithetical to capitalist and republican ideals, that seeing it actually pass through our dysfunctional government would be a little bit like seeing, oh, cows flying over manhattan.

Without that piece - our only options are totally private care, accessible to those who can afford it, built on a buffet structure where you can purchase what you think you need or go without.
Or, what we have now: confusing sort-of funded, kind-of-accessible,
there's-always-bankruptcy-or-go-to-another-county healthcare.

There is no reason for such a big military other then showing our muscles. Stupid!

When did you become a democrat? Or libertarian, for that matter? I'm not criticizing - but you might want to look into what these parties are all about. Defense of the nation is a big republican priority. I agree, our military spending is seriously inflated. But what drives it is more than just showing our muscles. It's some pretty hefty ideology. Since you are registered republican, it would probably be worth your while.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

When did you become a democrat? Or libertarian, for that matter?

I'm not a dem or a rep. Libertarian would be more mu views. But, I am independant really. Yes, Rep on my voter card so I can vote in the primaries if I wanted to. Only Rep cause I was 18 when I orgonally set that, knew nothing about anything and both my parents are Reps. I just never cared to change it as it really doesn't matter. But I am very middle of the road. I hold many Dem views, many Rep views, many Lib views, and many are just a mish mosh views made via things just like this, discussion.

I am certianly for lesser military. No reason for a military more then 9 of the next biggest put together (going purely off @Anarchy's post as I am not researched on the exact size of our military) and generally (depending on the topic really) less government and more State is usually best. I am more in line with government oversee State to make sure they aren't breaking the rules but other then that I don't like government running a bunch of stuff.

I haven't really decided what party exactly all of that lines up with the most but the one I can identify with most is libs.

Sorry for the confusion as technically, on my voter card, I am Rep but that is no where near where my views are and its also why or what fuels many fights in the house . My dad is far right whom thinks he is middle of the road but isnt. Much of what I overhear is Fox News but I personally hate that channel and if I watch the news its CNN but I try to gain most of my news from research. But that is why a lot of right stuff may be spoken from me. Im overhearing a lot of it from Fox News. Its all my dad watches. At least I work now and don't have to deal with it all day long. But anyway.