Health Care: Charlie Rangel, "We've got a problem on both sides of the Capitol. A serious problem"

[davester]

Dakota wrote:
I agree but the not THIS kind of reform.

What do you mean? What kind of reform do you want? I had the impression that you were one of those "well employed" folks who didn't have any problems with healthcare, in which case I would imagine that you'd not have a good understanding of what the issues are.

[Mac1337]

I have said it a hundred times here what kind of reform I like. There is something wrong with the system when I know to the cent how much my brake work costs but have no idea what my blood work, MRI, doctor's visit, etc. etc. costs. As long as people think their medical care is "free", you have not reformed the system. As far as I am concerned insurance companies and medical profession are both in it together to milk the consumer. The current reform puts even more distance between the patient and the costs.

[michaelb]

They have a serious problem until they get a deal. Which I think they will do. Charlie Rangel has always struck me as a bit of a blowhard, and I don't think he is central to these negotiations. Generally all conference committees go through this pattern: dug in postering until a last minute deal is struck.

I still think something gets passed in the next month or so.

[kanesa]

Dakota wrote:
I have said it a hundred times here what kind of reform I like. There is something wrong with the system when I know to the cent how much my brake work costs but have no idea what my blood work, MRI, doctor's visit, etc. etc. costs. As long as people think their medical care is "free", you have not reformed the system. As far as I am concerned insurance companies and medical profession are both in it together to milk the consumer. The current reform puts even more distance between the patient and the costs.

So sending you an itemized bill is going to fix health care? Please show me one person who thinks their health care is free. I would like to meet this imbecile.

[rgG]

kanesa wrote:
[quote=Dakota]
I have said it a hundred times here what kind of reform I like. There is something wrong with the system when I know to the cent how much my brake work costs but have no idea what my blood work, MRI, doctor's visit, etc. etc. costs. As long as people think their medical care is "free", you have not reformed the system. As far as I am concerned insurance companies and medical profession are both in it together to milk the consumer. The current reform puts even more distance between the patient and the costs.

So sending you an itemized bill is going to fix health care? Please show me one person who thinks their health care is free. I would like to meet this imbecile.
I have to agree with Dakota about the vagaries of health care billing. I have often gripped to my husband about how all of health care is a blind item, as far as cost. This is ridiculous. And I also agree that many people think that just because insurance is paying for it, it is somehow free. I have also bitched about this on more than one occasion. There is so much wrong with our health care system, but mostly with the administration and billing, more than the actual delivery of the care.

I am really disappointed with the bills as they stand now. I had such high hopes that something constructive was going to come out of this, but once again both parties have disappointed me, just as they usually do. More politics from both sides of the aisle and very little good action.

[kanesa]

I understand about the vagaries of health care billing but how would receiving an itemized bill change anything? And I have to repectfully disagree that people think health care is free just because their health insurance is paying for it.

[Dennis S]

"There is something wrong with the system when I know to the cent how much my brake work costs but have no idea what my blood work, MRI, doctor's visit, etc."

This is supposedly a free-market health-care system, but when I called a hospital and asked how much a gallbladder operation would cost me out-of-pocket, no one could or would give me an answer. How can you have competition like that?

[davester]

kanesa wrote:
I understand about the vagaries of health care billing but how would receiving an itemized bill change anything? And I have to repectfully disagree that people think health care is free just because their health insurance is paying for it.

Exactly. Not only that, but for many of us who are not covered by all-encompassing employer plans, we DO receive the scary itemized billings (and then info on what part of that the insurance company feels they will pay. I don't know how it would matter since those of us with insurance could do nothing about it anyway (since the insurer is the purchaser) and those of us without insurance cannot afford the several hundred thousand bucks it costs to deal with a major illness/surgery and hospitalization so it's irrelevant anyway whether if the bill is $250,000 or $450,000.

[kanesa]

Dakota does not answer my question how sending itemized bills to the cosumer is going to reform health care.

My doctor and I discuss options about my health care. He offers to send me to specialists if I am concerned about something. He gives me a choice. Sometimes I say yes, sometimes I say no. If he said I really needed to go, of course I would. I think about the costs to my insurance and whether the information I recieved would really be beneficial. We have had diagreements but I am still alive so we must be making the right choices. :wiggle:

[Mac1337]

One individual getting a bill while the rest of the system is in place is not going to help of course. My point is that the insurance companies, employers and the medical profession are in it tog ether against the consumer. Aetna never asked me if I want to be their customer. They got together with HR behind closed doors and cooked something up. Believe me, if you had to look the doctor in the eye and write him a check they'll think twice about charging $150 for 5 minutes of their time.