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candystripper -> RE: doing time to stay alive (11/14/2008 1:01:24 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl
The way the current US health care system is, criminals receive medical treatment paid for by US taxpayers while in prison. Law abiding citizens do not. My question is, how many people know someone with an expensive chronic or life threatening condition who has deliberately committed a crime so they could stay alive? Considering the way the system is set up in the US, the idea doesn't sound too far fetched.
Health care for prisioners in most states is positively horendous. And there have been instances of folks dying from serious illnesses, sometimes treatable, being 'paroled' to allieviate the cost of care to the state other other govermental body.
Similarly, seriously ill veterans have been forced out of the service and when they sought care at Veterans Hospitals -- which are immune from suit for malpractice -- they have been denied or deprived..
There really is a gap in the 'saftety net' and for many folks, preventive care is no longer possible. Sometimes emergency medical care is denied. When care is provided, often times it is driven by the coverage of the insured. There is discretion among medical practiioners as to what diagnostic tests to run, and hopitals have policies about providing expensive care to the uninsured and underinsured.
It is common to require an MD to sign an agreement when enrolling him as a primary care provider under an indemity plan or HMO. Most such contracts provide financial incentives to MDs who refrain from referring a patient to specialists, etc. A few contain abusive provisions which can deprive a MD of his livliehood if he violates these clauses. What makes them so vile is that they are not appied on a case by case basis. Even if an MD practices oncology, e.g. he will be told his entire patient load cannot be operated on or elsewise furnished care at a more expensive level as to his entire practice, leaving his patients to compete among themselves, though few realise that it is happening.
The root cause of all this is the struggle of insurance companies, hospitals and medical providers to reap a profit. If we had a NHS, and greed was no longer the motivating force, this problem would be solvable.
candystripper [sm=pole.gif]
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