Introducing Digg Dialogg!
Check out the first Digg Dialogg with Nancy Pelosi. More guests to be announced soon!
Hospitals Require Upfront Payments to Cover Treatment Costs
affordablehealth-insurance.org — The new policy requires patients with inadequate health insurance to pay the up front costs for their cancer treatments. The hospital requested that Kelly pay over $100,000 before they would begin any form of treatment or testing.
JoeyGallo667- 167 diggs
- digg it
- louiebaur, on 04/29/2008, -1/+15Good topic keep the information coming
- pentupentropy, on 04/29/2008, -1/+14Commented, fav'd, shouted and dugg. This better make it to the top. This is the problem with the US healthcare system... if it wasn't as profit driven as it is, we'd have a more moral concept of the responsibility of healthcare providers.
- ssn697, on 05/01/2008, -3/+7And under the stock market, public company laws, they are REQUIRED to do everything they can to make the most profit.
- truthmatters, on 04/29/2008, -4/+14It's immoral and inhumane for a civilized society to put a price tag on life. The U.S. is the only industrialized country to not provide healthcare to it's citizens! We must get the for-profit insurance industry out of healthcare!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/
http://www.pnhp.org/- JoeyGallo667, on 04/29/2008, -3/+6how do you blame the insurance companies when the non-profit hospitals are creating these huge profits? Why does the President of a Non-Profit hospital need to make over $1 million dollars in one year?
- MurphyMac, on 05/01/2008, -2/+4I don't think that's the problem. A non-profit hospital can't attract talented people to run it well without paying competitive salaries. And a million dollars is a drop in a BIG bucket for a large hospital system. Compare that million to what insurance executives make.
- JoeyGallo667, on 04/29/2008, -3/+6how do you blame the insurance companies when the non-profit hospitals are creating these huge profits? Why does the President of a Non-Profit hospital need to make over $1 million dollars in one year?
- nahsrocketeer75, on 04/30/2008, -1/+9That's so wrong in so many different ways I don't even know where to start.
- AussieCynic, on 05/01/2008, -1/+8Totally shamefull...
just shame...
How can a country claim to be so wonderful when they treat their own like this...
hmmmmm - MurphyMac, on 05/01/2008, -1/+11Emergency rooms are the easiest path to bankruptcy for Americans. This country loves to hide the predicament of its working poor.
- ssn697, on 05/01/2008, -2/+9It is shameful the way we treat our poor, sick, and elderly in this country. It is especially shameful, considering how often you hear people screaming as loud as they can that we are a "CHRISTIAN NATION!".
This problem continues to be ignored, via labels and rhetoric. Meanwhile, it gets worse and worse for more and more people in this "richest nation on earth"... - SaveJake, on 05/01/2008, -1/+7Is everyone voting this election???!!!
- kricka, on 05/01/2008, -1/+4Truly awful. The greedy money-grubbers running our country should ashamed of themselves for not insisting that we take care of our citizens. This is a moral issue, plain and simple.
- Qong, on 05/01/2008, -0/+5That's ridiculous. But we can't jumble all hospitals together like some of you commentators are doing:
Many hospitals aren't abusing the system, they are actually operated as true non-profit organization, and as such they don't have the money to take care of absolutely everyone they needs their help. I am absolutely certain that they try to do just that though. We just have to realize that they have restrictions and that most of them are doing as much as they possibly can.
It isn't right to negatively categorize the entire system because a small group of individuals are abusing it. The law should take care of any hospital that is actually abusing their non-profit status.- JoeyGallo667, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1Why not lump them together when we've watched the cost of healthcare rise every single year? Apparently, the majority is doing wrong. Especially when we keep hearing how they over charge for basically every item they use.
- Qong, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4We can't say for sure what the majority are doing, really.
What I can say for sure is that many people running and working in hospitals are following the rules, doing their jobs to the absolute best of their ability, and helping people in every way that they possibly can.
I'm not saying that the system couldn't use some work, clearly it needs help. I'm saying that plenty of non-profit hospitals actually doing a very good job and are helping thousands of people who would not have otherwise received that help. We can't judge an entire group of people based on the actions of the very few.- JoeyGallo667, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2I completely agree with you. I believe the US has great hospitals and great people working in them. But those people who make the hospitals great, are not the ones deciding how much to charge for the use of a pair of latex gloves. We have a great healthcare system! Our hospitals and facilities are always improving! BUT the financials of our healthcare system are TERRIBLE!
- Qong, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2Agreed.
- JoeyGallo667, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2I completely agree with you. I believe the US has great hospitals and great people working in them. But those people who make the hospitals great, are not the ones deciding how much to charge for the use of a pair of latex gloves. We have a great healthcare system! Our hospitals and facilities are always improving! BUT the financials of our healthcare system are TERRIBLE!
- Qong, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4We can't say for sure what the majority are doing, really.
- JoeyGallo667, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1Why not lump them together when we've watched the cost of healthcare rise every single year? Apparently, the majority is doing wrong. Especially when we keep hearing how they over charge for basically every item they use.
- cashman57, on 05/05/2008, -1/+2As sad as this story is, putting the government in charge of health care decisions is even worse. The problem is government, not a lack of it. In the 1950's 80% of Americans paid for their health care and could afford it. After the government started running health care the prices spiked and with each measure of control increase there is a price increase. There is a solution, and Dr. Paul has been telling us about it but some people would rather pretend Dr. Paul is not the only candidate with a workable solution to this crisis. Back in the late 1980's I was severely injured and sought treatment for my condition and found a doctor with an innovative procedure to fix the problem. The government health care and insurance companies would not cover this procedure so it was a good thing I stopped paying for sickness insurance and used that money to buy gold coins. I have a far better quality of life because of it. BTW many hospitals are run by charities and they have done a far better job of providing health care than the big corporate hospitals
- rewinn, on 05/05/2008, -1/+3Finland. Sweden. Norway.
If they can do it, why can't we?
I have faith that America can do what anyone else can do, only better.- cashman57, on 05/05/2008, -2/+2When Medicare was first offered up for a vote the proponents said it would never cost more that five billion dollars a year and now we have waste fraud and abuse of meciare that is over that figure. Put those three countries on the map of the united States and ask yourself the question. You have faith in a system that has already proved to be broken?
This is not what the federal government was designed to do and we have ample proof it sucks at providing medical care.
We already have multi-trillion dollar budgets and debt and you want to add more?
Where will the money come from?
When medicare was first implemented the cost of patient care rose across the board, and that included people who had previously been able to afford their own health care.
The universal care won't work, can't work, and will take away our right to make decisions about our own health care and that of our children
I think Americans are smart enough to make their own health care decisions.
Government is the problem, not the solution. History proves it.- JoeyGallo667, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Well said!
- rewinn, on 05/07/2008, -1/+3You still haven't addressed the question why OTHER COUNTRIES can do it, but you think AMERICA Can't.
Personally, I think America can do anything any other country can do. The problem is that our health care system has been taken over by people who see sick people as just an opportunity to make money. Sick people will pay ANYTHING to get well ... that 's just human nature. The question is whether ... as you propose ... we let private parties continue to withhold treatment until they are paid what-ever the sick person has, or whether we follow the solutions proven effective in Norway, Finland et cetera.
- cashman57, on 05/05/2008, -2/+2When Medicare was first offered up for a vote the proponents said it would never cost more that five billion dollars a year and now we have waste fraud and abuse of meciare that is over that figure. Put those three countries on the map of the united States and ask yourself the question. You have faith in a system that has already proved to be broken?
- cashman57, on 06/03/2008, -0/+1I have completely covered why it cannot happen here. We would lose the innovation and lose the cutting edge health care we now have.
I guess some people would rather gloss over the fact that all of those countries named would fit into less than two American states.
Add to that the fact the Constitution does not give Congress the authority to wipe every snotty nose and you will understand what that type of health care will be worse than what we have now.
- rewinn, on 05/05/2008, -1/+3Finland. Sweden. Norway.
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2008 —
Content posted by