miked10270 0 #1 April 2, 2001 Hi Y'all,After stopping at a gas station & paying $US4.60 per gallon of fuel (sorry, that's "Imperial Gallons, so it's $US 4 per US Gallon... HEY... THAT'S SOMETHING AMERICAN THAT'S SMALLER THAN IT'S BRITISH EQUIVALENT!!!). Then going to a supermarket & paying $US27 for a bottle of Jack Daniels I went home feeling kind of "51st State" (not uncommon)... At least, until I logged on....First I did the "Life Insurance" poll.... 34% DONT KNOW!!!! Personally I know that if I "Go-in" I'm worth c.$US200K, plus the house (that's why Iona doesn't get to pack)!So... To the 34% "don't know"... FECKIN' FIND OUT. To the 26% "no" FECKIN' FIX IT. Insurance is cheaper when you're younger & even if you've no "responsibilities" now, that can (probably will) change. Get it past your insurers while they think they don't have to pay out money.Next thing I looked at was the John Mathews Vs. Aetna battle!!!!! It took me back a year+. Skydiving accident = well bust leg & ankle. So, one double manned paramedic unit to scene, initial treatment & entinox with ambulance ride (round trip for the ambulance was 90 miles), to the most suitable hospital (not the nearest). Radiographs, Manipulation Under Anaesthetic & joint reconstruction surgery (so far we're still under 3 hours post incident). 3 nights in hospital with first 12 hours in Intensive Therapy Unit. Crutches supplied & cast refit on a bi-daily basis for the next 4 weeks until the size of my leg kind of stabilised. Then 6 months of almost daily Physioterrorist attention ("Would you like to move in to the hospice as an in patient?" "NO I FECKIN' WOULD NOT!" - Yes, the offer was made). Then 2 further operations to remove the plates & screws in my lower leg (General anaesthetic & overnight in hospital). More Physioterrorists (NOT a spelling error).Result... legs & feet that work as well as they did beforeCost... $0.00 (I even still got paid while off work!).Maybe someone who's involved in US Medical care (Froggie?) would like to put a cost on this... But suddenly the $US 4 gallon of fuel for my truck starts to sound reasonable - even a bargain!MEDICAL DECISIONS SHOULD BE BASED ON NEED, NOT COST!! And NOT based on whether your Senator is going to make a 'phone call on your behalf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So... The discussion point is this: Should the US abandon private medicine as it's PRIMARY care provider & adopt a system funded by the Central Government (similar to the British NHS) even if that does mean much higher (7% of gross income) taxation? Would you pay 7% of your gross income to Central Government effectively as " All Risks Health Insurance"?Opionions please,Mike D10270. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #2 April 2, 2001 Well, there's pluses & minuses to this... Sounds like you had a good experience w/ your leg, but I've heard other stories. A Puerto Rican friend of mine whose sister was visiting in England & came down with the flu. When the doctor asked her where she was from, she said "Puerto Rico" and he replied, "Hmmmm. probably MALARIA!!"Sometimes when medicine gets socialized you don't wind up with the best & the brightest people going into medicine. I agree that something needs to change in the US, but I wouldn't want to give up certain things. Many of the major advances in medical technology & technique still seem to come from the USA. I remember in the late seventies when my great aunt was losing her sight to cataracts, and at first the local doctor said there was no cure. But just a few months later doctors in Boston had started using a technique for removing cataracts with a laser beam & saved her vision. It's a tough decision either way. Many of us have relatively low cost health insurance thru our jobs, but many others have none, and you're right, something needs to be done about that. I just wouldn't want a system that would scare off the brightest minds from joining up.Speed Racer"Blue Skies, Red eyes, Sore thighs!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skreamer 1 #3 April 2, 2001 Mike, that is one of the things I do like about the UK (along with cheap air-fares and London's umm *cosmopolitan* flavour). About two years ago, I broke a shoulder quite badly in a mountain-bike race (luckily it was my left shoulder). The NHS medical care here is awesome (despite what some locals say). Even though the bone still sticks out a bit on my shoulder, it works fine. I agree with you about the physioterrorists though... hee hee /s[drop till you party!] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zennie 0 #4 April 2, 2001 Heh, I'm not touching the socialized medicine issue with a 20-foot pole. But I will say this with respect to insurance companies. Your experience is largely dependent on who your insurer is and what plan your employer has. Small to medium size companies, with a few exceptions, have crap policies.In John Matthews case, I have just a three word comment: Aetna is evil. And I base that on stuff other than his case.Now in contrast to John's case, you have Dead Mike. Mike worked/works at Enron. I don't know what policy he had but I do know that they covered *everything*. And he was a mess. But Enron has some very good plans.I have Cigna PPO. They've been pretty good with me and my wife. Never had any real problems. We had Aetna for a while when I was with another employer and they were nothing but problems for my wife and her doctors.So like I said, quality of health care insurance is largely dependent on the plan you have. I've also found that I generally prefer PPOs to HMOs. Under the Cigna plan I can self-refer to my hearts content to any doctor in their network. If I have nose problems, fine, I just call up an ENT and make an appointment. If he doesn't find anything wrong I call up an allergist. Shoulder's giving me probs? I call up a sports medicine doc. It's nice.------------Blue Skies!Zennie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
