Spokane7
65°
August 21, 2011 in City
Patients, families reach out for help with medical expenses
Jessiah Anderson, 11, right, and Cindy Anderson wash cars in Cheney to raise money for cancer treatment for Joey Anderson, their brother and son, on Aug. 13.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
They are neighbors, friends and family, ensnared by chance cruelties of life. Most often they did nothing to bring about their pain and worry. They are accident victims, tots taken suddenly ill, young people blossoming into adults who are stricken with a rare disease. Winning their health care fight, however, is often just part of their ordeal.
Even families with generous insurance coverage may find themselves saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt. The limits of their insurance policies suddenly become real numbers rather than hypothetical scenarios. In addition there are co-pays and deductibles, needed care by doctors who work outside of a plan’s “in-network” list of providers, unapproved expensive drugs and novel treatments – not to mention the expense of travel, meals, lodging, and the sometimes necessary step of having a caregiver quit work to help a sick family member.
It all happens as politician wrangle over health care reform. The new federal law calls for annual caps on out-of-pocket costs faced by individuals or families, which could bring relief to patients facing serious illness in coming years. But as that debate rages, patients and their families are left to basically beg for money. They hold bake sales and car washes, golf tournaments and auctions, concerts and raffles. They use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. They print fliers for display in store windows, and they turn to newspapers and television to tell their stories and seek help.
“I don’t know if fundraising efforts to help pay for individual medical costs are growing or not, but costs of care certainly are,” said Jae Kennedy, an associate professor at Washington State University’s Department of Health Policy and Administration. Rising costs compound problems of under-insurance, where many more people who have insurance have high deductibles or coverage gaps, he said via email.
“I would note that no other developed county in the world puts its critically or chronically ill citizens through this financial trauma,” Kennedy said. “Medicare, the only single-payer health insurance plan in the U.S., does a pretty good job of covering needed services. I haven’t seen many bake sales or benefit concerts for seniors, at least not yet.”
A study published by the American Journal of Medicine and conducted before the economic collapse of 2008 found that more than half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States were caused by medical bills. Such fallout is noted on hospital balance sheets as bad debt and it is costing hospitals and providers across the country billions of dollars.
“People didn’t ask for these problems,” said Teresa Pelus-Antosyn, a glass artist who runs the Millwood Gallery. Pelus-Antosyn is holding a fundraiser from her small shop to raise money for her friend Connie Davis, who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Davis is facing high bills, including thousands of dollars for her share of a PET scan, anti-cancer drugs, radiation therapy and hundreds more for each dose of anti-nausea medication.
Six years ago Pelus-Antosyn conducted a similar benefit for a friend needing a heart transplant.
“I hope that’s what friends are for – to help when it’s needed most,” Pelus-Antosyn said.
Davis said she recognizes the importance of having friends as well as advocates; in her case, the latter role is filled by an employee at Cancer Care Northwest who has aided her with insurance problems and pharmaceutical costs.
Said Davis, “I can’t even begin to say how important it is to have friends and support like this.”
‘Exceptions need to be made’
On Easter Sunday this year, April 24, a driver crossed the Interstate 90 median near Cheney and smashed into Jessica Sharpe’s car as she traveled home from dinner.
Emergency workers spent two hours extracting Sharpe’s shattered body from the car. The dashboard pinned her inside and the floorboard of her 2000 Hyundai Elantra was twisted around her legs.
Once freed from the wreckage she was flown to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where over the next 35 days physicians placed in her traction machines, operated 13 times, performed skin grafts and healed burns from the battery acid that splashed across her left arm.
Her 17 broken bones, including compound fractures, are now healing, but her body will always carry the scars and the surgical hardware – including seven rods, seven plates and dozens of screws and pins – that holds her together.
As physical therapists help her strengthen damaged muscles and walk without a limp, the bills are dribbling in.
Her $500,000 underinsured- motorist insurance policy has been used up – much of it to pay a Harborview bill of $385,000. The other driver’s $100,000 liability policy won’t even cover the charges of her multiple surgeons – and once it comes in, it likely will be grabbed by her insurance company as reimbursement. Then there’s the medication, rehabilitation, and perhaps a lifetime of specialist checkups and therapy to cope with.
“I’m 20 years old and although my family and friends and community have been incredibly generous – bless them all – I might have to start out my life with a bankruptcy,” Sharpe said.
Her co-workers at HuHot Grill held a large fundraiser and her family, friends and even complete strangers have given generously to help cover travel expenses as her parents took unpaid time away from work to care for her.
Especially moving to the Sharpe family is the care and help offered by the other driver’s family.
William Ainsworth, who died in the crash, had a large family that is suffering its own loss with many unanswered questions. Why was Ainsworth driving on the wrong side of I-90? Why didn’t he have his lights on in the black of that April night? Why was he driving so fast?
Despite their own grief, the Ainsworth family held a charity car wash to help the Sharpes.
“I said to Jessica, ‘Honey, God wants us to be near this family and to keep our heart open for them,’ ” said Sharpe’s mother, Shelley Kennedy-Sharpe.
But she believes her daughter’s case underscores a problem.
“There’s something wrong in this country when something like this happens and people face a choice of being healed or going broke,” Kennedy-Sharpe said.
She believes that people should be required to carry richer insurance policies to drive and that at some point, medical providers, insurance companies and even the government need to ensure that people left with devastating injuries and life-threatening diseases are not haunted by high bills and hunted by creditors.
“Exceptions need to be made,” she said.
Raising hundreds, need thousands
In some cases, even when government insurance programs such as Medicaid foot much of the bill, it’s still not enough.
Joey Anderson, a 21-year-old with Stage 4 brain cancer, is running out of options.
“Joey is just a great kid and everyone is doing everything they can for him,” said his uncle, Jeff Crump.
Anderson, who was profiled in news reports during Hoopfest this summer, is up against a deadline: He must quit taking the cancer drug Avastin because of its dangerous side effects, even though it has helped put the cancer in remission.
Anderson needs further treatment and the choices are expensive. Specialists at a Texas clinic need $48,000 to treat him. Another clinic in California also will cost thousands of dollars.
Medicaid won’t pay either one, Crump said, because they’re outside of the approved treatment programs.
Crump and a group of family and friends have held car washes every weekend day this summer to raise money for Anderson’s care and for the well-being of his family in Post Falls.
“Unfortunately, these car washes aren’t cutting it,” he said. “They’re good for morale, but we’re raising hundreds when what we need is thousands.”
Crump is organizing a Sept. 9 charity golf tournament hosted by the Coeur d’Alene Resort in hopes of netting more money.
He has already given so much, he said, but he would do it all over again for Joey.
“I have sold everything our family has,” he said.
Insurer an advocate
Mike Darrar, 44, was born with cystic fibrosis and reached the point where he needed a double-lung transplant. It’s a procedure that carries a price tag exceeding $500,000.
His friends and family have been working for months to reach a $40,000 fundraising goal – much of it coming from his hometown of St. Maries, Idaho.
He has hopes to be home this summer. Rather than rail against insurers about gaps in his coverage, he said Regence Blue Cross of Idaho has been among his most effective advocates, negotiating with medical providers to keep costs reasonable.
“I’ve been at this a long time and it’s still really frustrating and overwhelming,” he said. “You don’t have control over what happens to you.”
Borrowed from a friend
One welcome aspect of health care reform is a provision that allows parents to keep their children enrolled on their coverage plan into their mid-20s. That would have helped the family of “Cat” Davis, a 23-year-old who has been diagnosed with CREST syndrome – a collection of five diseases that is painful and potentially fatal.
CREST causes the skin to tighten and grow hard. A buildup of calcium deposits can develop and cause bumps, which can become infected. And swallowing becomes difficult as esophageal muscles fail to function well. Treatments include drugs, physical therapy and even surgery
Some doctors have given Davis, a 2005 graduate of Northwest Christian Academy, two to five years to live.
After graduation, she moved to Arizona to be near friends and work. Davis worked as a waitress and at a medical clinic, but she often felt crummy, said her mother, Sally Davis.
Meanwhile, her parents dropped their daughter from their insurance policy when they became eligible for Medicare.
“Had we known her condition, we would have kept private coverage to help her,” Sally Davis said. Today they are paying $550 a month for their daughter’s coverage under a COBRA plan that will end soon.
“Honestly, we’re not sure what’s going to happen then,” Sally Davis said.
In the meantime they are accruing medical bills; so far they’ve spent $30,000, the majority of which was borrowed from a friend. “I had to ask my friend and said, ‘I don’t know when or if I can repay you,’ ” Davis recalls.
Perhaps the biggest cost also holds the biggest promise and biggest risk: the Davises have taken Cat to Mexico for an expensive series of regenerative cell therapy sessions. The treatments seem to be working for Cat, and family friends have been able to raise some money to help through garage sales that also solicit cash donations.
“We are so thankful for the help we have received,” said Sally Davis. “It brings hope where there was none.”
Parishes giving $1.5 million toward settling sex cases 
leekinny on August 21 at 7:23 a.m.
Medicare for all.
Orphan on August 21 at 7:49 a.m.
As of Sept 2010 no life time limits are allowed per Obamacare. This reporter needs to do some research and get some new material.
Lee Really “medicare for all” I want the goverment as far out of my life as possable especially when I see how well the goverment has managed the post office, SS, Medicare, BATF etc. I can do much better without the goverment, thank you very much.
wesleyscott on August 21 at 8:07 a.m.
This may sound crass, but if Washington State passed legislation to allow for those with a terminal illness to choose death with dignity, it should also legally allow for those with inexorable medical expenses to choose the same. This would avoid having to spend the remainder of their years living in abject poverty, and their life’s savings would go to their heirs instead of the entrepreneurial insurance companies, doctors, and hospitals.
Hmmm. After reading this well written article, perhaps a single-payer, not-for-profit, government run healthcare system is beginning to make sense.
misjustice on August 21 at 8:24 a.m.
Leekinny is correct; Medicare Part E.
Fine, Orphan, you and gmorton don’t have to sign up for universal health care (Medicare Part E, for everyone) you are free to go it alone. And good luck with that!
Orphan on August 21 at 8:33 a.m.
Westley Let me see if I am understanding you, you are avocating suicide when there are years of life left to avoid paying for health care, living in poverty while maintaining the ability leave your heirs money. If that is indeed your position then crass is insufficiant, conspiriacy to commit murder would be more appropriate.
Now if you meant the ability to end ones life at the very end due to a terminal illness, say within a few months of end of life, I would support you statement.
As far as the artical being well written I guess I can agree with you there as well. But if we are talking about accuracy, factual I have to disagree
soccermomsusie on August 21 at 8:34 a.m.
This article made me a little choked up. And I am no softy.
Just another reason why the USA is a better place than Socialist Canada or France or any other industrialized nation. Only in America have we not succombed to the single payer/ socialized/ govt run healthcare system. We pay twice as much for our healthcare (with results that rank near the bottom) but this article shows why it is important we overthrow Obamacare and always defend our private/for-profit system.
Namely, where else in the world do young people learn the value of their health care? In France and Canada, if a person is sick (from infant to the elderly) they simply crawl in and get taken care of BECAUSE OF THEIR TAXES (taxes which could have gone to bolster their military). But here, in the good ole USA, a baby or a grandparent can have a carwash and pay for that heart and lung transplant. Granted, unless people are heavy tippers it may take more than one carwash.
I have a dear friend who had a masectomy. When she put on her bikini for her carwash to pay off her medical bills, motorists were able to see what their donations were paying for.
Full disclosure. It’s what makes America #1.
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!
Orphan on August 21 at 8:41 a.m.
MisJ I cant speak for gmorton but going it alone in reguards to my health care without goverment interfearance would be fine with me. The problem is I/we can not opt out, the goverment is going to continue to take my money and continue to over regulate my ability to purchase health insurance on my own. Right now I only have 2 very poor options for my health care because of goverment regulations.
mikeln on August 21 at 8:49 a.m.
We need single payer, non profit health care in this country. The very idea of profit driven health care is wrong. People who think otherwise are brainwashed to believe for profit health care will keep costs down. You just have to look at the rising cost of medical care and insurance premiums to see this is just not true. In 1963 the government gave these companies the right to opperate above the laws you and I have to follow. Look what has happened since, financially ruined families and insurance CEOs making as much as 56,000 dollors a hour. No one is worth this kind of money and the fact that it’s going on shows me the crimminality of private insurance.
Scoutster on August 21 at 8:56 a.m.
Susie…home run..thanks.
Orphan on August 21 at 9:27 a.m.
Mikein
Frankly it is none of your business what a CEO of a private company makes.
Are the insurance companys operating within the law.
We need goverment ran grocery stores all you need to do is look around at the rising cost of food. People who think otherwise are brainwashed to believe for profit grocery stores keep costs down.
maria on August 21 at 9:27 a.m.
This is my friend who needs a lung transplant for Pulmonary Fibrosis:
http://www.ntafund.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/CE776CC5-0BCE-CF18-8397967BAAD4D1E4
maria on August 21 at 9:33 a.m.
You see, Don is this absolutely wonderful person. He is so full of positive energy, and he won’t let anyone get depressed around him, even with his prognosis dire. I’m going to use this thread to try to get you all to donate to help my friend live. So there. :)
http://www.ntafund.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/CE776CC5-0BCE-CF18-8397967BAAD4D1E4
soccermomsusie on August 21 at 9:50 a.m.
Orphan, what could really help out the grocery stores is if they could get an exemption from anti-trust laws like the health insurance companies.
If they could price fix groceries like insurance companies can legally price fix their premiums, it would sure help bolster their bottom lines.
Come on people, isn’t this our duty - to make sure our corporate betters make as much profit as possible? IT’S IN THE BIBLE!!!
STAND WITH ORPHAN AND ME TO DEMAND THAT GROCERY STORES BE ALLOWED TO PRICE FIX LIKE INSURANCE COMPANIES!!!! It’s a start.
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!
Orphan on August 21 at 10:09 a.m.
Soccermomsusie Please tell me you dont believe that the grocery stores never check out each others prices. Grocery stores dont need anti trust exemptions when they can simply go shopping at the compitition.
So you believe that compitition will increase prices.
Part of getting the goverment out of insurance would be getting rid of the anti trust exemptions DUH. Remember the insurance companies purchased our congress crittiers to get this result. I am willing to bet that we can agree on that.
cryssT on August 21 at 10:09 a.m.
Medicare is not the total answer. It only pays 80% of the approved rate. So if your doctor charges $110 a visit and Medicare says that $100 is the approved rate, then Medicare pays $80. Leaving $30 to be paid by the family. Doesn’t sound like much it adds up fast. Especially as you’re too sick to work.
Orphan on August 21 at 10:33 a.m.
Cryss Good point, be careful what you ask for folks.
Ninch on August 21 at 10:36 a.m.
Bankruptcy is still a legitimate option for high medical bills and has been common law for centuries. Community helping its members has also been around for centuries. Why are some dismissing both and advocating only mandated insurance to supposedly address all circumstances? What are the victims to do when the federal medical board starts rationing treatments? Why should the feds determine winners and losers. And why would anyone propose Medicare for all when our existing Medicare is going broke?
BTW: Insurance companies DO NOT PRICE FIX. That would be illegal and those who have tried have been stopped by both state police power (federalism responsibilities) and federal anti-monopoly/RICO laws. Please quit spreading exaggerated falsehoods.
Diana on August 21 at 10:43 a.m.
Yeah, great idea, everybody declare bankruptcy. Who do you think will pay for that? Do you really think the doctors and hoapitals are just going to absorb all that?
B-b-but, the free market!
liberal_in_right_wing_land on August 21 at 10:46 a.m.
This might be mean, but man, I hope these disgusting sicko’s actually fighting to keep a for-profit health care system is good and going through bankruptcy is good get some VERY serious and horrible injury and/or disease and have to spend every last cent they have and that they have to go through bankruptcy, they have to lose their house and they have to hold car washes to raise money for themselves that wont even come close to the bills they have to pay.
And most off all, I hope they actually die off and let this country reform its healthcare system properly and get the greed and for-profit health care system out of this country.
Also, for the people fighting against government run health care systems, why does the United States have only the 37th best health care system in the word, behind countries with government run health care system? Our system works only if you are rich. If you are middle class or poor, pray every day you don’t get sick otherwise you are screwed.
Please, try and defend this list and saying we have the best health care in the world. Get off your high horse and come back to reality tea baggers.
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
misjustice on August 21 at 10:58 a.m.
@cryssT; Medicare E would work because having younger folks in the risk pool would spread the risk and lower costs for all participants. And folks that wanted to keep their fancy schmancy gold plated policies could. I’m not talking about making Medicare E the only option, just an option for folks that want to enroll in that type of plan.
soccermomsusie on August 21 at 11:16 a.m.
Ninch, You can celebrate with me that health insurance companies are, indeed, exempt from anti-trust laws.
Here is a link:
http://www.examiner.net/news/law/x1914248650/Health-insurance-companies-exempt-from-anti-trust-laws
I am told that if you “click” on it. Your computer will know where it is and take you there.
“The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, exempts health insurance companies from the federal anti-trust legislation that applies to most businesses.”
Ninch, we just need to get it for other businesses so the Free Market can truly be free. You make a brilliant point that if only we could get the government out of regulating business, that would make businesses not enter into anti-trust pacts. But, I am confused. Are you anti-anti-trust or anti-anti-anti-trust? I am not sure I agree with you, but I respect you as one of God’s children.
Orphan, you are right, as well. I agree completely with you. Having businesses check out the competition’s prices is just like having no anti-trust provisions. You are a very intelligent person. I can’t believe no one has ever said it so clearly before. Thank you.
We just need to enshrine anti-anti-trust as the law of the land for every business!!!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!
mikeln on August 21 at 11:25 a.m.
When people stop voting for people that do not have thier best interest in mind we may be able to solve the problem of health care. It’s everybodies buisness when a person is allowed to make huge amounts of money by using exemptions from laws, exemptions that where bought from scumbag elected officials.
Wizard_Of_Oz on August 21 at 11:28 a.m.
Supposedly God has pre-determined all of these events. So why fight them. Remember He has a plan so why fight it?
Now if we taxed all the stupid money people spend on their pets to pay for human health care we might be onto something.
Funny how I often watch slovenly smokers park their SUV’s in the handicapped parking spots. Its way past time we rein in the process for issuing these. Seems that there is only a few non-handicapped people in the word today.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 21 at 11:51 a.m.
Notice a few things?
1.Each case cited is an extreme case. Moribund people with badluck. Insurance does not save their lives. It doesn’t even get them off the hook with the present medicare/madicaid guildlines. If you think Obamacare of single pay will, dream on. It’s the leftwing’s fantasy. Having in surance doesn’t save lives.
As far as bakruptcy goes, in these extreme cases, it’s warranted and is there for folks like those cited in the cases.
2. The author who cites the Am J Med isn’t telling you that there were very few in that article. With this economy the number has skyrocketed. ALso, those who went banko, also had huge other bills as well. It wasn’t simply medical bills that sank these poor souls.
3. Sorry for your friend Maria. Sounds like he should qualify in some plan. Have him go to SHMC, they have plans for these cases.
4. Giving everyone insurance won’t work. What might work in these extreme cases is catastrophic insurance support. Even the person with extensive scleroderma ( the crest case) is disabled and there is disability ins for that. Few people with the crest syndrom are. Lung transplants and some other big things are indeed catastrophic. There are some people who can simply write check for new hearts or kindneys or lungs. If they can, they should. I think there should be catatrophic insurance available.
Part of the new insurances will provide for catastrophic support though. Government should be long gone from insurances unless it’s extreme need. These are few but the author and Obama ( 2008) always uses the extreme cases to tug at your heartstrings. When only 8 % of the country isn’t insured, it’s tough to make a case for replacing a system that works well for 90% of the nation. Lies, misquotes and use of extreme examples convinces the weak minded that their lives will be prolonged with Obamacare.. Obama’s good at that. It’s the biology of the disease that defines health and longevity….not money or insurance.
spokanecougar on August 21 at 12:13 p.m.
^^^What is she saying?^^^
Has Dazzeetrader11 ever heard of spellcheck or maybe proofreading what she types before she posts?
I am sorry, but that is just such childish gibberish that whatever point she is trying to make is negated by her lack of grammar and spelling skills which makes reading what she posts impossible to follow.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 21 at 12:21 p.m.
I see you don’t take issue with the post though. Ok, I’ll bite though…how does one spellcheck an SR blog?
But after you answer that couglet, what part of my post is gibberish? Speak up . Nice football coach by the way. Cellar bound again? Basketball much better? Not.
SO fire away couglet.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on August 21 at 12:37 p.m.
I don’t know about y’all, but my browser-based (Firefox) spell checker checks my spelling no matter where I’m typing.
I didn’t see any misspellings in Dazzee’s post, aside from a few cute abbreviations like “banko” and “badluck,” and a couple of possible usage errors like “insurances” or “in surance.”
Also I personally feel that Dazzee’s writing could benefit from a few more commas.
Orphan’s spelling, on the other hand…
meadman on August 21 at 12:39 p.m.
For fun and giggles, check out the percent of total expenditures spent on overhead costs for Medicare vs. the private health insurance industry as a whole……. go ahead and google this –- as I recall Medicare spends less than 2% on overhead, while insurance companies spend 15 - 25%.
Perhaps “the evil gubmint” is not quite as ineffecient as some of you would want us to believe. The examples “bad government operations” of the Post Office (NOT funded with tax dollars) SS and Medicare are NOT because of the fact that they are “run” by the government — but rather because our fine elected officials (Congress) fail to properly design and properly fund them. The actual people administering the programs are doing as well as they can considering the bag of crap Congress has given them to work with…..
misjustice on August 21 at 12:43 p.m.
Google also has a spell check program that you can insert into your tool bar; when you engage the feature it will spell check anything that you type.
@ thatoneguy, I agree. I’ve read/seen worse, much worse.
misjustice on August 21 at 12:46 p.m.
@ meadman, thanks for pointing out that the USPS is self-funded, not by tax dollars but by the sales of postage and other services.
Too bad the Congress Critters, in their (unfunded) Medicare Part D program would not allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs (like the VA does).
Dazzeetrader11 on August 21 at 12:47 p.m.
Ok thanks. Let me try that. Couglet is just being “anti” . He doesn’t like the message.
Meadmeister…do you have a link. Hillary’s data showed much much more in overhead. Like 40%!
Orphan on August 21 at 1:08 p.m.
Thatoneguy you are correct my spelling is not the best, I will try to do better in future posts, my apologies to every one.
nslopeofw on August 21 at 1:42 p.m.
First off, I believe we should all pay for health care. I also think it needs to be reformed, and everyone (regardless of how much you make) should have “skin” in the game. That said, there are a few things that are just plain wrong.
When you purchase insurance, you are allegedly paying for a guarantee against your loss. We pay whether we need it or not, and as far as i’m concerned, that means the company pays when you have a loss, just like we do each month even when we dont need it. It pizzes me off big time when the insurance company takes the settlement that the other persons insurance pays out. They should not be allowed to do this. They should have to eat the payout. We eat the payments when we are healthy. That is my rant, sorry.
Daisy (and anyone else who needs it) Tinyspell is an awesome freeware that I’ve been using for about 4 years. (i paid for the + version, as i believe in paying for something i continue to use). Once installed, it works in any program you are running. Plus it has a spell window on your quick launch if you like. Its a very small program, and takes up about 2K of space,. Give it a try (bad luck for you appledorks, i think its windows only)
http://tinyspell.numerit.com/
Dazzeetrader11 on August 21 at 1:51 p.m.
Thanks Slopester. I cee thet eit wurks, welllls? ;)
greenlibertarian on August 21 at 1:55 p.m.
WTF is wrong with you people, the troll is here to distort and distract, and you’re arguing about spelling checkers? Shut it.
–––––––––––––––––—
2007:
http://www.demconwatchblog.com/diary/2224/insurance-companies-exempt-from-government-price-fixing-oversight
:
:
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=637e3817-0718-4b34-ba70-0157e981543d
:
Even these CONSERVATIVE Republicans know what some you ignoramuses don’t. And BTW, by COLLUSION, in many areas there are no more than 2 competing insurance companies.
nslopeofw on August 21 at 2:21 p.m.
Green-
Nice info….Oddly, we agree here (at least partially). We definitely need some reforms. This sounds like a good start. How can ANY industry be “exempt” from anti-trust laws? Blows my mind. Kind of like exemptions from Obamacare. Make a law for everyone, but then start exempting all your buddies. Blows my mind even more.
BTW, if i want to link a spellchecker, i will. Telling me to “shut it” is a bit out there for someone claiming to be a libertarian. You dont own this site. (at least as far as i’m aware) Blows my mind the most……..8-)
Diana on August 21 at 2:51 p.m.
Greenlibertarian for the win.
greenlibertarian on August 21 at 3:01 p.m.
BTW, if i want to link a spellchecker, i will. Telling me to “shut it” is a bit out there for someone claiming to be a libertarian. You dont own this site. (at least as far as i’m aware) Blows my mind the most……..8-)
Just to be clear, nslope, I wasn’t addressing you when I wrote what I did, and had not seen your tip.
BTW my spellchecker counts two errors in your short paragraph excerpted above. :)
The_Seer on August 21 at 3:57 p.m.
nslope: Don’t worry about us “Apple folks,” our operating system has a spellchecker that works brilliantly across all software platforms. Right now it’s telling me your name is misspelled.
detroitdude on August 21 at 3:59 p.m.
The funny thing is, we could pass a law which at a generous estimate, the government might take $20 a week from your paycheck. The result, EVERY AMERICAN has health care, every American doesn’t have to worry about the medical debt this article reports on.
Call me a socialist, I don’t care if that means many out there are getting a “free lunch” in order to see a doctor. I don’t equate seeking medical help with someone stealing my money or screwing me.
Its not fair if a doctor saves your life through a necessary surgery or treatment program that one must have to live that down monetarily, forever. Involving for profit insurance companies is what contributes to the problem. Don’t know how many times I can stress to people out there…insurance IS NOT on your side.
Geturfaxstr8 on August 21 at 4:13 p.m.
Legalize marijuana. Then the Gov’s get their tax piece of the green pie. It’s much cheaper and more effective than most synthesized medications used for many illnesses, mood disorders and side effects of chemo. Alcohol used to be prohibited until the Gov’s realized how much $$$ can be made through addiction!
The downside, those good-doer drug companies, can’t addict you with their man made money making poison. The drug and insurance companies are sure waving a big Capitalist flag, while they watch sick kids and elderly suffer. Meanwhile communities and non profits hold bake sales and benefits to raise the cash. Everyone who pays taxes should have affordable access to healthcare, especially those of us who pay into Medicare, but will never see it, (I want a refund!). Get rid of Medicaid, (except for those with existing MAJOR MEDICAL ISSUES who have been termed off of their insurance). There is a place for it, just not for the people who wont work.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 21 at 4:58 p.m.
Detroit…indeed you are a socialist. Quite the badge.
It’s not fair if a doctor saves your life through a necessary surgery or treatment program that one must have to live that down monetarily.
You fix your car don’t you?
You fill it with gas don’t you?
You buy clothing ( well in your case maybe not) don’t you?
You buy food don’t you?
All of this for free?
Get off it. You just don’t want to pay for the most important thing in your life. Insurance will not make you live longer. It’s your health and it’s yours. YOU protect it . Don’t expect that the government will.
When you have surgery , you should buy it. I don’t mind paying for mine. My husband doesn’t either. We work for it and we pay for it. We don’t want to pay for yours. Get a job and buy insurance.
Lots of free clinics around too. Go visit one. No whining. Healthcare is available. $175 million written off in free care last year by the local hospitals. Somebody paid for that.
gmorton on August 21 at 5:54 p.m.
Article:
“The new federal law calls for annual caps on out-of-pocket costs faced by individuals or families, which could bring relief to patients facing serious illness in coming years.”
Sure. Instead the costs will come out of someone else’s pocket – taken by force, of course.
“But as that debate rages, patients and their families are left to basically beg for money. They hold bake sales and car washes, golf tournaments and auctions, concerts and raffles.”
That is exactly what they should be doing. Along with purchasing adequate insurance. What they should *not* be doing is mugging their fellow citizens at gunpoint to pay their medical bills.
“‘People didn’t ask for these problems,’ said Teresa Pelus-Antosyn, a glass artist who runs the Millwood Gallery.”
No, they didn’t. Neither did the people you plan to mug to pay for them.
Notice to all the lefties: other people are not responsible for your life, your health, or any of your problems, unless they caused them. They’re not obliged to provide you with food, shelter, a job, a mate, medical care, or anything else you think you need. They are not your parents, not your slaves, not your rich uncles, and not your meal tickets.
nslopeofw on August 21 at 6:00 p.m.
Green-
I’m about 2000 miles from my home ‘puter, and dont have my checker. Thanks for the check, tho!<––wrong…8-)
nslopeofw on August 21 at 6:03 p.m.
Seer-
I have to worry about you AppleFolk, as Apple is against open source and software/hardware/app freedom of choice. I always care for those who have no choices.
nslopeofw on August 21 at 6:05 p.m.
Seer-
One must always remember that MS was sued globally for what Apple does every day to its customers.
misjustice on August 21 at 6:17 p.m.
g stammers, “Notice to all the lefties…” blah, blah, blah, blah
Yeah, cause it’s only lefties that do all the stuff that g stammers, yammers, on about. Like all those lefty tea baggers at the rallies yelling “keep your gubmint hands off my medicare” … lefties, every last one of ‘em. Yup…bunch of malcontents. Those lefties that want to take their gubmint back…
You crack me up g.
; )
detroitdude on August 21 at 7:58 p.m.
Dazzee said: “Get off it. You just don’t want to pay for the most important thing in your life. Insurance will not make you live longer. It’s your health and it’s yours. YOU protect it . Don’t expect that the government will.”
You get off it, Sally. You think people who spontaneously just get cancer asked for it, or did something to make it happen? I realize some people make bad choices, which lead to negative effects later in life (smoking, excessive drinking, overeating etc). Don’t make the mistake of taking MY opinion as being one of those disaffected and “looking for a freebie”. I have health care, I’ve had it for several years. Just because I have it doesn’t mean I’m jumping into your boat of “screw you I got mine”. I really don’t care whether you and your husband have saved your money for surgeries, you’d have been better off spending some money on basic grammar and spelling, you are the queen of broken and run-on sentences.
Again though, you really have no credibility whatsoever. You called someone a “Dempseys type” last evening when they disagreed with you. Nothing more really needs to be said, when you cannot justify your own greed you resort to petty name calling, that’s not nice, Sally.
misjustice on August 21 at 8:31 p.m.
When I call for Medicare E I intend it as a call for a universal INSURANCE plan; not a handout. Folks on Medicare pay a premium, co-pays and other associated costs for their health insurance policy; it’s not “free”.
If folks like myself, which are too young to be on Medicare, were able to join (if they’d like) we would help to shore up the program. I am healthy, very healthy. I would be paying my premiums without costing the program hardly anything in payouts; if enough of us younger healthy folks were able to join the program we could help to make Medicare more sustainable.
And we would be participating in a program with about a 3% over head, as opposed to the insurance program that I am currently covered by that has about a 16% (or higher) overhead cost…
All those golden parachutes gotta be paid for somehow…
greenlibertarian on August 21 at 9:05 p.m.
Having examined Medicare overhead in depth, it’s in the 4-6% range as near as we can tell, less than HALF that of private insurers, profit or non, which are in the 10-14% range.
Doc satisfaction with Medicare is as least as high or (typically) higher than Doc satisfaction with private insurers.
Patient satisfaction with Medicare is similar, at least as high or (typically) higher than patient satisfaction with private insurers.
gmorton on August 22 at 8:51 a.m.
misjustice wrote,
“When I call for Medicare E I intend it as a call for a universal INSURANCE plan; not a handout.”
Any universal “insurance” plan *is* a handout, whether you wish to call it that or not. Being universal, it lumps high-risk customers with low-risk ones, forcing the latter to subsidize the former.