"Healthcare" in the US

[NoXion]

Only Florida Man can save us now!

 

[Yossarian]

Serial killer, python, alligator, or tornado would be acceptable, but I'm really hoping he dies from a preventable disease.

 

[Nylock]

Serial killer, python, alligator, or tornado would be acceptable, but I'm really hoping he dies from a preventable disease.

Ideally, one that's been passed on to him by an infected anti-vaxer...

 

[Streathamite]

I hope this doesn't sound like gloating, but after reading just a few pages of this horrifying, tragic thread, I have come to one very firm, unshakable conviction: I will NEVER complain about the NHS, ever again

 

[likesfish]

Ideally, one that's been passed on to him by an infected anti-vaxer...

the cunt has probably had all the shots he's not a true believer he's like tommy robinson in it for the money and he's rolling in it.
wheres Dexter when you need him?

 

[CRI]

I hope this doesn't sound like gloating, but after reading just a few pages of this horrifying, tragic thread, I have come to one very firm, unshakable conviction: I will NEVER complain about the NHS, ever again

I think you'll be allowed to, once it's been sold off to US healthcare corporations, is no longer free at the point of delivery, etc. though.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I complain about the NHS all the time - there are lots of parts that could be better, and it’s not always down to cuts. That’s different to saying that the underlying concept is bad though. Anyone who says that the situation would be better with a privatised health system doesn’t know what they’re taking about.

 

[yield]

The human cost of insulin in America
14 March 2019

In 1923, the discoverers of insulin sold its patent for $1, hoping the low price would keep the essential treatment available to everyone who needed it.

Now, retail prices in the US are around the $300 range for all insulins from the three major brands that control the market.

Even accounting for inflation, that's a price increase of over 1,000%.

Stories of Americans rationing insulin - and dying for it - have been making national headlines.

The most famous case, perhaps, was 26-year-old Alec Smith, who died in 2017 less than a month after he aged out of his mother's health insurance plan. Despite working full-time making more than minimum wage, he could not afford to buy new insurance or pay the $1,000 a month for insulin without it.
Ms Marston knows the feeling - like most of the diabetics I spoke to, she has experienced frightening lapses in coverage through no fault of her own.

A few years ago, when the small law firm Ms Marston worked for abruptly closed, she found herself without an income and suddenly uninsured.

"I was spending $2,880 a month just to keep myself alive - that was more than I was making even working 50 hours a week," says Ms Marston.

She was forced to leave her home in Richmond, Virginia, to find a new job in Washington DC to ensure she could pay for insulin.

"I sold everything, including my car, and had to give up my dog - he was eight and I had to give him away - and move to DC."

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

One of my guilty pleasures is surf music. One of its legends recently passed away. Dick Dale toured almost to the last day of this life. Here is why:

Dale’s health concerns have become an unlikely viral sensation following the wide dissemination of a July 29 interview for the Pittsburgh City Paper that had the guitar hero declaring: "I can’t stop touring because I will die. Physically and literally, I will die." The 78-year-old’s road regimen has less to do with the love of satisfying oldies hounds and Quentin Tarantino fans (1962’s "Misirlou" having found a second life as the theme to 1994’s Pulp Fiction) than with paying medical bills involving diabetes, post-cancer treatment and other debilitating conditions. Suddenly, he’s the poster child for a generation that’s not too sick to work, but too sick to retire.

His is not a case of lacking health care -- he’s double insured -- but of insurers refusing to pay for the replenishment of supplies he says is necessary to keep his stoma infection-free. That’s why Dale says he has to tour, to make up for thousands of dollars of uncovered medical expenses every month. "My only income is what comes in when I’m on the road," he says (with "Misirlou" bringing in performance rights payments but no writing royalties).

Ailing Surf Guitar Legend Dick Dale Is Touring to Stay Alive -- Literally

As much as I enjoyed his music, I wish he'd had the ability to retire on his timeline instead of continuing to perform just to pay his healthcare costs.

 

[19sixtysix]

This thread just reminded me of the death of Vic Chesnutt who had huge debt and uninsurable health problems.

Death


Chesnutt several days before he died
On Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma in an Athens hospital. He was 45 years of age.[6] In his final interview, which aired on National Public Radio 24 days before his death, Chesnutt said that he had "attempted suicide three or four times [before]. It didn't take."[8]

According to him in the same interview, being "uninsurable" due to his quadriplegia, he was $50,000 in debt for his medical bills, and had been putting off a surgery for a year ("And, I mean, I could die only because I cannot afford to go in there again. I don't want to die, especially just because of I don't have enough money to go in the hospital.")

Vic Chesnutt - Wikipedia

ETA his music

 

[spring-peeper]

Federal judge ends North Carolina ban on abortions after 20 weeks | Reuters

A U.S. federal court struck down North Carolina’s decades-old ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, saying any “week- or event-specific” abortion ban is unconstitutional.

The law, which took effect in 1973, only allowed an abortion after 20 weeks in the case of a medical emergency. Abortion-rights groups sued in 2016 after the health exception was further narrowed.

U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro overturned the ban on Monday, allowing an abortion to take place at any point before the fetus is viable, or able to potentially live outside the womb, as determined by a doctor.

His order will take effect in 60 days, allowing the state to appeal, should it decide to do so, or to propose alternative abortion legislation.

 

[spring-peeper]

Hooray!!!

NPR Choice page

For a second time in nine months, the same federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's plan to force some Medicaid recipients to work to maintain benefits.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocks Kentucky from implementing the work requirements and Arkansas from continuing its program. More than 18,000 Arkansas enrollees have lost Medicaid coverage since the state began the mandate last summer.

Boasberg said that the approval of work requirements by the Department of Health and Human Services "is arbitrary and capricious because it did not address ... how the project would implicate the 'core' objective of Medicaid: the provision of medical coverage to the needy."

The decision could have repercussions nationally. The Trump administration has approved a total of eight states for work requirements, and seven more states are pending.

BOO!!!!

Still, health experts say it is likely the decision won't stop the administration or conservative states from moving forward.[\quote]

 

[spring-peeper]

Americans borrow $88 billion annually to pay for health care, survey finds - CNN

Americans borrowed a staggering $88 billion in the past year to pay for health care, a new survey finds.

About 1 in 8 had to resort to borrowing to afford care in the previous year, according to a West Health-Gallup survey released Tuesday. Also, 65 million adults say they had a health issue but didn't seek treatment due to cost. Nearly a quarter had to cut back on spending to pay for health care or medicine.
"Not only do you have a real significant number that are deferring care, forgoing care altogether, you also have a big chunk that are getting the care but having to borrow to get it," said Dan Witters, Gallup senior researcher. "There are few Americans out there who are safe from the American health care cost crisis."

These statistics are the latest examples of how the nation is struggling with the high cost of medical care. The United States spent more than $10,700 per person on health care in 2017, federal data shows. That's more than any other country, yet America consistently ranks near the bottom of major health indices among developed nations, the survey said.

 

[CRI]

 

[spring-peeper]

.

 

[NoXion]

Fucking hell, that's brazen.

 

[wiskey]

I read a thread on fb the other day, possibly below a huffpo article, about how much it costs not to have a baby in the states - so miscarriages and still births. It costs a fortune and a lot of it is not covered by insurance because its deemed as elective or planned, as if you actually have a choice in whether to have an emergency operation to remove a stillborn baby

It was such a miserable collection of stories from women that it's really stuck with me

 

[CRI]

I read a thread on fb the other day, possibly below a huffpo article, about how much it costs not to have a baby in the states - so miscarriages and still births. It costs a fortune and a lot of it is not covered by insurance because its deemed as elective or planned, as if you actually have a choice in whether to have an emergency operation to remove a stillborn baby

It was such a miserable collection of stories from women that it's really stuck with me

And paid maternity leave is rare as hens teeth as well.

 

[CRI]

Texas lawmakers consider the death penalty for abortion

House Bill 896 would criminalize abortion and classify it as a homicide. Women who have abortions could be sentenced to the death penalty.

“I think it’s important to remember that if a drunk driver kills a pregnant woman, they get charged twice. If you murder a pregnant woman, you get charged twice. So I’m not specifically criminalizing women. What I’m doing is equalizing the law,” said State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican from Arlington.

 

[a_chap]

Death penalty for abortion?

I guess most/all of those Texas lawmakers are men.

Mere words fail me.

 

[spring-peeper]

Did Free Birth Control in Colorado Drop Unplanned Pregnancies by 40 Percent? - Truth or Fiction?

 

[Nylock]

Texas lawmakers consider the death penalty for abortion

Well, they do everything bigger in Texas -including misogynistic cuntitude it seems....

 

[likesfish]

Did Free Birth Control in Colorado Drop Unplanned Pregnancies by 40 Percent? - Truth or Fiction?

but that's godless socialism and pandering to sluts
ffs thats how republicans think they make "normal" torys look sane

 

[CRI]

Male lawmaker says he’s trying to restrict abortion because women ‘are not having enough babies'

“God is moving in strange and wonderful ways, folks,” the lawmaker insisted. “Gun bills that we’ve talked about will save essentially no lives because it will have no impact on criminals getting of keeping their guns. But every single year, we kill hundreds of people in abortions.”

“You know, we have a massive problem in this country,” he continued. “Our birthrate is way, way below replacement [levels]. You know, we are just not having enough babies.”

According to Collins, women are “doing away” with their fetuses “before they have a chance to grow into these people that we need to support us.”

 

[editor]

Totally fucked up

A 21-year-old legal assistant from Tulsa, Oklahoma was hit with a $93,000 hospital bill after attempting to take his own life. Oliver spent a week in the hospital after the incident, and while he was there, he racked up tens of thousands of dollars in charges.

Obviously, when the young man made the decision to attempt suicide, he was not thinking of the potential hospital bills. The medical system may take some of the blame as well, considering that Oliver had trouble finding decent treatment for his mental health issues.

21 Year Old Lands $93K Hospital Bill After Surviving Suicide Attempt

 

[8ball]

This thread just reminded me of the death of Vic Chesnutt who had huge debt and uninsurable health problems.

Vic Chesnutt - Wikipedia

ETA his music

Ah, poor Vic.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

This senator did exactly what you never do to nurses. I hope she doesn't have to spend time in a hospital any time soon. You do not disrespect the nurses for the simple reason that they choose the size of catheter they put in you.

Lawmaker slammed after saying nurses "play cards" during shifts

If you look closely, you find that among her campaign contributions was a rather large one from a hospital administration association. She's speaking for them, not her constituency. Her constituency's best interests lie in making sure nurses are fed and well-rested and paid according to their value.

 

[8ball]

This senator did exactly what you never do to nurses. I hope she doesn't have to spend time in a hospital any time soon. You do not disrespect the nurses for the simple reason that they choose the size of catheter they put in you.

Yeah, I do wonder what I said that made me get the grey colour-coded needle that time.
More like a nail, really.

 

[CRI]

This is massive, and absolutely ghastly.

From what I've heard from legal and health bods who've been following this, it goes much further than existing opportunities to opt out of procedures and treatments if they go against your beliefs - for example a pharmacist not dispensing a prescription for the morning after pill because they believe that is abortion and abortion to them is murder. It means that health care staff can literally refuse to provide information, treatment or other services to people if they have a conscientious objection to who they are, their choices or their "lifestyle." Denying health insurance to someone because of your beliefs? Christ, this is awful.

Trump Administration Finalizes Health-Care Discrimination Rule

In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it was close to finalizing an expansive new conscience protection rule for health-care providers. The rule permits providers to refuse to provide treatment, referrals, or assistance with procedures if these activities would violate their stated religious or moral convictions. The rule goes beyond refusing to provide health care; it also includes refusal for any health-related services, including research activities, health studies, or the provision of health-related insurance coverage.

“This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won’t be bullied out of the healthcare field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life. Protecting conscience and religious freedom not only fosters greater diversity in healthcare, it’s the law.”

 

[Ming]

Yeah, I do wonder what I said that made me get the grey colour-coded needle that time.
More like a nail, really.

‘Sorry Charge. And i forget to administer the lidocaine gel too.’