Sicko

[metta]

Paying More, Getting Less

How much is the sick U.S. health care system costing you?

By Joel A. Harrison
[URL="http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0508harrison.html"][/URL]

forgot the link...here it is...

[URL="http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0508harrison.html"]http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0508harrison.html[/URL]

 

[metta]

Coalition to lobby for health-care reform

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080708/pl_nm/healthcare_usa_dc;_ylt=Ant8wtqSF33ifNf4KocQ7o1Z.3QA

A coalition of unions, think tanks and other groups launched an advertising campaign on Tuesday saying they want to ensure that health-care reform tops the U.S. political agenda after the November elections.

The new group says it wants to keep the best of what already exists, without moving to a fully nationalized system.

"Americans can keep the private insurance they have, join a new private insurance plan, or choose a public health insurance plan," the group said in a statement.

"The campaign also calls for a government role in setting and enforcing rules on the insurance industry which consistently charges whatever it wants, sets high deductibles, denies coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and drops coverage when people get sick."

 

[metta]

U.S. still flunks healthcare test, group says


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080717/ts_nm/healthcare_usa_dc;_ylt=AiL2XFRAVLP7eTnyo_Ygt6lZ.3QA

The United States fails on most measures of health care quality, with Americans waiting longer to see doctors and more likely to die of preventable or treatable illnesses than people in other industrialized countries, a report released on Thursday said.
Americans squander money on wasteful administrative costs, illnesses caused by medical error and inefficient use of time, the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund concluded.
"We lead the world in spending. We should be expecting much more in return," Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen told reporters.

Some 47 million Americans have no health insurance and another 28 million are underinsured.

 

[metta]

79 Million Americans Struggle to Pay Medical Bills

In 2007, 41 percent of working-age Americans -- 72 million people -- reported having medical bill problems or trouble paying off medical debts, up from 34 percent in 2005.

Another 7 million adults over 65 had similar problems, bringing the total to 79 million adults struggling to pay health-care bills, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund, Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance Is Burdening Working Families.

• In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults under 65 (116 million people) reported having problems with medical bills or debt, having put off needed care due to cost, or being uninsured or underinsured and consequently having high out-of-pocket medical costs relative to their income.
• Although such problems were seen across the board, they were particularly pronounced among low- and moderate-income families. More than half of adults earning less than $40,000 annually reported problems paying medical bills or being in debt as a result of health care expenses.
• Thirty-nine percent of people with mounting bills or debts said they had depleted their savings to pay off bills; 29 percent were having problems paying for food, heat, rent and other basic necessities; and 30 percent had accumulated credit card debt.
• Many are also foregoing medical care, including medications: 45 percent of adults reported problems getting care because of rising costs (up from 29 percent in 2001).
• One-third of respondents reported spending 10 percent or more of their income on medical costs, including premiums, in 2007, up from 21 percent in 2001.
• About one-quarter of working-age adults with medical debt owe $4,000 or more while 12 percent owe $8,000 or more in medical expenses.
• Twenty-eight percent of working-age U.S. adults (about 50 million people) were uninsured for at least part of 2007, up from 24 percent in 2001.
• Fourteen percent of working-age adults (25 million people) were underinsured, up from 9 percent in 2003.
• Sixty-one percent of those with medical bill problems or accumulated medical debt were insured at the time care was provided. "Even adults with insurance reported problems in getting needed care," Collins noted.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/79milli...edicalbills;_ylt=AmmVXo7DK34OpovVa47xASIDW7oF

 

[metta]

Study: Workers to pay more for health care

59 percent of companies intend to keep down rising health care costs in 2009 by raising workers' deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket spending limits.

Between 2003 and 2007, the average deductible for an individual grew from $250 to $400. For a family, it rose from $1,000 to $1,500, according to Mercer.

47 percent of companies are encouraging enrollment in plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904...health_care;_ylt=Ah53xyaW7202eNzMu3bfucda24cA

 

[metta]

Fewer US med students choosing primary care

Only 2 percent of graduating medical students say they plan to work in primary care internal medicine, raising worries about a looming shortage of the first-stop doctors who used to be the backbone of the American medical system.

Paperwork, the demands of the chronically sick and the need to bring work home are among the factors pushing young doctors away from careers in primary care, the survey found.
"I didn't want to fight the insurance companies," said Dr. Jason Shipman, 36, a radiology resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., who is carrying $150,000 in student debt.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_he_me/med_fewer_docs;_ylt=AkyEVc7TvnlmgodKzDv2W74DW7oF

 

[metta]

U.S. trails other nations in chronic illness care

Chronically ill Americans are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs or experience medical errors than patients in other affluent countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

In addition, 41 percent of the U.S. patients said they spent more than $1,000 over the past year on out-of-pocket medical costs. That compared to lows of 4 percent in Britain and 5 percent in France.
A third of U.S. patients said they were given the wrong medication or dosage, experienced a medical error, received incorrect test results or faced delays in hearing about test results, more than any of the other countries.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081113/us_nm/us_healthcare_comparison_3

 

[metta]

Many doctors plan to quit or cut back: survey

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081118/ts_nm/us_doctors_usa_survey;_ylt=AuPI5YVRLrSAIxVWDqVd_IdZ.3QA

Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

And 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career.

"The whole thing has spun out of control. I plan to retire early even though I still love seeing patients. The process has just become too burdensome," the Physicians' Foundation

Seventy six percent of physicians said they are working at "full capacity" or "overextended and overworked".

 

[metta]

How one family's mortgage is linked to meltdown

Cynthia Goldrick's daughter is in and out of the hospital for brain surgery, her mother has Stage 4 lung cancer and her father has moved into a home for the elderly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081229/bs_nm/us_financial_family;_ylt=Aqhe_52FbhPD2kb2G5HLy.RZ.3QA

 

[Ninja108]

I'll simply say this, more people go bankrupt over the cost of health care than any other reason. That alone should tell you something

 

[metta]

Health spending takes rising share of U.S. economy

Health spending will hit $2.5 trillion this year, devouring 17.6 percent of the economy, as the White House and Congress consider major changes to the healthcare system, U.S. government economists said on Tuesday.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS, forecast that the share of the economy devoted to health spending will jump a full percentage point from 2008. That would mark the biggest one-year increase recorded since the government began tracking the data in 1960.


Thanks to the recession, public health spending in programs such as the Medicaid program for the poor is ballooning, while private health insurance spending is slowing as more people lose employer-provided coverage, CMS reported.


"We project that the health share of the economy will increase steadily through 2018

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090224/ts_nm/us_usa_health_spending;_ylt=AgwA.8vsLno_djkmh9feZxlZ.3QA

 

[metta]

FRONTLINE investigates the failures of America's health care system in "Sick Around America," airing Tues, March 31 at 9 pm on PBS. (check local listings)




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A link to a movie: Our Ailing Healthcare:

http://www.ourailinghealthcare.com/

 

[metta]

^

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/

 

[metta]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhpUG4apgrE&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13899647

 

[chillyboi]

have yet to see it

 

[metta]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv1FwOCNoZ8&feature=player_embedded[/ame]