Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

Unfortunately term limits has it's pitfalls to. There are enough crooks already but at least they all have to worry about re-election. I'm concerned that if they knew ahead of time that they were only in for one term that might give them even more incentive to be crooks. It would also be a shame that if we actually got a good one that they would be gone after one term.

I remember hearing something like that before on the abortion thing. Don't know if it might have any truth to it or not. I don't necessarily agree with it or not, although I would defintely have to see some proof before believing it. I have seen many instances where legislators really said some stupid things, both Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans win the prize over the last few months but Democrats have had their fare share of prizes themselves. Maybe it's good that they take turns. I came up with an idea before about Senators and Representatives. Instead of voting them in we should just pick average every day people for periods of time, like jurors. It's your civic duty to take your turn being a Senator or Representative and when your session is up it is someone else's turn. Probably a ludicrous idea but hey, couldn't be worse than what we have now.

Old hat said...
The budget deficit mainly owes to totally wasteful spending on military involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan, which enriched KBR & Halliburton at the expense of lower & middle-income Americans. Laissez-faire capitalism

The defense budget needs to be slashed by hundreds of billions of dollars. But it pales to the current Ss/Medicare/Medicaid debt and the unfunded liabilities of those programs soaring into the hundreds of trillions of dollars, unfathomable numbers. A decade from now Americans will curse this generation with cruelest invectives for our greed on their (my) shoulders.

I can only dream the US had a laissez fare capitalist economy/governing structure but it's a corporate-fascist social democracy.

Please don't call me a misogynist again it's gotten trite over the years.

My last comment.

Post Edited (Levi) : 3/2/2013 4:24:44 AM (GMT-7)

Many of the cuts from sequestration are hitting the military hard and Obama is complaining about this. Obama has repeatedly stated that entitlement programs are out of control and need to be addressed but the big liberals in his own party are against it. Entitlement programs are on a course for bankruptcy and we are adding more to the rolls every day. Just the entitlement programs and the interest on the national debt alone come close to the amount of tax revenues coming in, with no money left for anything else - which is why we are spending one trillion more dollars per year than we have coming in.

Our country owes over 16 trillion dollars in debt and we are adding another trillion to it every year. The democrats don't seem to care about the unsustainable course we are on. If this keeps up our children or our children's children will see somthing far worse than the great depression ever was. It's already happening in Europe due to their extremely liberal policies and refusal to get their debt problems under control. It's like looking into a crystal ball as to our future. Some countries have 25% unemployment. Someone somewhere has to do something and even the rich can't come up with a trillion dollars a year.

It seems like every time Obama talks he is wanting to "invest" in our future. Investing is just another word for spending even more money. When people in the country need jobs one of the stupidest things the government can do is to spend a bunch of money on infrastructure projects to put people to work because we not only have to pay the workers but we also have to pay for the materials, etc for the projects. In other words, for every one billion dollars we have to borrow for worker's wages we also have to borrow an additional nine billion dollars for those supplies, etc. The key to putting people to work is to grow the economy so that the private sector pays for the worker's wages and also pays for the supplies and materials, not the government. This also helps to bring in more tax revenues. The Republicans offered to pass a bill for this sequestration allowing the president to decide as he sees fit where the cuts are made but Obama and the Democrats refused because they have no interest in cutting any expenses anywhere. I say all of this as an idependant who has zero allegiance to either side but I do know that if we don't get a handle on our debt then the Mayan appocolypse is coming somewhere down the road.

Social Security is not a handout, nor does it contribute to the national debt. It is funded by the FICA tax. Those of you who oppose Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.-- maybe you can afford to support elderly relatives thru illness and/or disability, but not every family can. Even the well-off have difficulty dealing with Alzheimers, and that's just one of many serious disabling conditions that strike randomly. It's pretty disgusting to read on this forum how little compassion or understanding some UCers have for other people's economic or health problems. It is very mean-spirited, hostile, and undemocratic. Probably you resent Head Start and Meals-on-Wheels, too. This is NOT 1780, but maybe you would have been happier living back then. / Old Hat (32 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

I watched some newsmaker sunday roundtable I think with George S. George Will, the author of Bitter Pill well spoken older black lady and a young obvious republican woman who kept looking silly trying to spin everything politically and I was impressed with suprising facts and the flow of information as I made breakfast, no real plans to watch anything just fired up the 70 inch big screen to see what was on.

I would like to go back and watch the entire discussion again. We are more sensitive to price at walmart than the hospital and medicare with huge leverage was paying a fraction of health insurance companies.

Having just been hospitalized 5 days the only price I was concerned with was my max out of pocket at the end. It was all true.

Found the show, perhaps you have to login to get more than the intro but it would be worthwhile.

archive.org/details/KGO_20130224_160000_This_Week_With_George_Stephanopoulos#start/2330/end/2360

Post Edited (aguywithuc) : 3/3/2013 1:34:54 AM (GMT-7)

Old Hat: I really don't know where you make this stuff up from. You are an extreme victim of Democratic propoganda. Who on here or anywhere said they oppose Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid? Nobody here or the Republicans or anyone anywhere I have ever heard of says they oppose Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. That's just totally ridiculous. All anyone has ever said anywhere is that we need to make the system solvent and that we also need to tackle our nations debt problem. Who can disagree with that? They are all on course for going bankrupt. Obama has even said this repeatedly. Of course nobody here really knows each other but I'm willing to make a bet that at least 99% of us here aren't rich enough to take care of ourselves nor our relatives without those programs, but we are realistic about the real world. I really strongly disagree with your comment that "It's pretty disgusting to read on this forum how little compassion or understanding some UCers have for other people's economic or health problems". How on earth can you say that? You must be reading a different thread than I am.

C_G_K said...


Some of you have bought in to the emotion based, strawman arguments. I have never personally met a person who wants to do away with social security or medicare. I think they only exist in political rhetoric.

I wish there were "like" buttons.

A bite from the REALITY sandwhich.

I got a 64k bill in 2010 from ICU - Sagital sinus thrombosis or venous stroke.

Days later my daughter and I were astonished to watch my ex-wife enter the same facility and also get MRI/CT scan/Spinal Tap because she 'thought' she was having a stroke just like mine.

$10,000 later they sent her home that day with a valium saying she suffered an anxiety attack. She had no insurance so the hospital and all of us that have ability to pay cover it in the form of high rates. Half the beds in the hospital will never pay, we cover that in higher rates. Outfit stepped in and guided her to medicaid which picked up the tab and started paying for new medical bills like more valium.

So my republican friends always go into this rant and rave about obamacare making them pay for others. Total b.s. YOU ALREADY DO PAY and it is projected to CONTINUE climbing in OUT OF CONTROL COST. All people do is complain about obama care - it is an attempt to reign in this spiraling cost and if corrected over time it could actually help, something certainly needed to be done. Something more than nothing the status quo.

where in Canada does it take 2-3 years to get jpouch surgery? lol - you should be on an American tv ad at election time. that's ridiculous - there are unfortunately a disproportionate amount of Canadians with this disease - why don't you ask them how long they had to wait for surgery? no that you don't have to wait at times - in my experience the wait times are comparable to the US.

 

What I take particular issue with is calling Social Security and Medicare "Entitlement Programs" - they are NO such thing - as Old Hat pointed out - these are insurance programs we've paid for in the form of payroll deductions, etc...

These are insurance and benefit programs we've EACH PAID FOR whilst working.

killcolitis: Someone from Canada just posted here recently that they had to wait 6 months to get a colonoscopy. It is very common for Canadiens to post on here about long wait times for appointments and while in the office.

As far as SS and Medicare go, yes, they are funded by FICA taxes, but that doesn't change the fact that both programs are on a current path to go bankrupt, basically because all of the baby boomers coming into the system. Current benefits are not actually paid out of what you put into the system, they are funded by current FICA taxes collected today and it is projected that FICA taxes collected will run far far short of the benefits that are projected to be paid out, mostly due to these baby boomers and rising healthcare costs. These programs are facing bankruptcy unless something is done. Even Obama realizes that some type of reform needs to be done to make these programs solvent but anytime Republicas talk about it they are accused of being evil and wanting to do away with the programs altogether.

Medicaid is a seperate issue and actually is an "entitlement" program. I think if we cut out the waste and fraud that that would go a long way. Fraud by providers in both Medicare and Medicaid adds up into the billions of dollars. Fraud is also done by false claims from individuals. I have seen many cases where it is an absolute joke where all of these people are getting disability (which by the way I believe is funded by Social Securtiy but not funded by FICA taxes) who don't really deserve disability. They are just scamming the government. I see it all the time. I'm not talking about the ones who truly need it. I'm talking about all the tons of scammers who have bad backs and can't work but they can earn extra money working under the table on cars, construction, and they don't have any problem playing sports.

aguywithuc: you are giving credit to Obamacare before we actually see the results. So far all we have seen is a lot of rhetoric and generalities. The truth may wind up being far different that the hype. Nobody really knows yet which way it is going to go, one way or the other.

5) The term entitlement refers to a payment or service that you are entitled to by law. It has nothing to do with a "sense of entitlement".

6)I waited 3 months for a colonscopy in Arizona. It is very common for Americans to complain here about doctors appointments and wait times.

7) I haven't read the article yet but I will unlike I am sure the people that immediately attacked the author won't.

Post Edited (AZYooper) : 3/4/2013 8:36:32 AM (GMT-7)