So glad to have this organization represented on our basketball court.
UVa Health System
The only thing more broken than our basketball court (current or future) is America's healthcare system. To quote a band from Ireland, "The rich stay healthy and the sick stay poor."
If only there was a way to fix the broken system... oh well. Let’s just keep doing the same thing over and over and wonder why it never changes.
Funny, I thought we fixed all this in 2009-10?
Too bad no one spoke up and said “this can’t, and won’t, work”.
Too bad.
(09-10-2019 11:52 AM)JMUDunk Wrote: [ -> ]Funny, I thought we fixed all this in 2009-10?
Too bad no one spoke up and said “this can’t, and won’t, work”.
Too bad.
I can't tell if this is meant to be an indictment on the Affordable Care Act, or Obama, or the clear, systematic series of actions that have been taken in the interim to dismantle and neuter the ACA in the years since.
I'm not sure I want the answer.
Mother nature will care of the problem in due time
(09-10-2019 11:00 AM)bigdog3030 Wrote: [ -> ]So glad to have this organization represented on our basketball court.
UVa Health System
They had to pay for that advertising somehow!
(09-10-2019 02:15 PM)bjk3047 Wrote: [ -> ] (09-10-2019 11:52 AM)JMUDunk Wrote: [ -> ]Funny, I thought we fixed all this in 2009-10?
Too bad no one spoke up and said “this can’t, and won’t, work”.
Too bad.
I can't tell if this is meant to be an indictment on the Affordable Care Act, or Obama, or the clear, systematic series of actions that have been taken in the interim to dismantle and neuter the ACA in the years since.
I'm not sure I want the answer.
Not sure if this is a question or not, but I'll offer an opinion and my/our experience.
Since it's proposal, the dead of night backroom dealings and shenanigans, I have said from the git that the laughably named "Affordable" care act was/is and well on it's way to being designed to fail.
It's math, not magic. You cannot simultaneously expand massive bloated programs to a bunch of people, give them "free" stuff and expect to somehow "bend the cost curve down". Things simply don't work that way, never have, never will.
The lies continued:
Keep my Doctor? Nope. Brother and Mother and I all saw the same GP, guy about my age, I was likely one of his first handful of patients out of Med School when I moved here. He simply quit his practice that he help found. My Wife and two kids also had Dr's not in our "eligibility pool" including the Dr that delivered both our kids.
Keep your plan? Even more laughable. We have moved from one Co.(Cigna, BC BS, Anthem, Optima, Healthkeepers (likely another one or two I'm forgetting) and/or plan no less than 10 times since this catastrophe was foisted upon us. Several times we had to find another plan cause the prior one was either no longer "offered", or the premiums were going up 40% or more. Overnight.
The last time I had to "shop" for a plan, there was ONE company offering a plan, any plan. So much for competition driving efficiencies and value.
For all this we have the unique privilege of spending basically the same amount in monthly premiums that we spend on the mortgage. If someone ever gets sick enough that we have to use the plan? Yea, it doesn't help til the 5400 deductible is met, or family Ded of 12,500.
Yes, our home mortgage. Thing of beauty.
(09-10-2019 11:52 AM)JMUDunk Wrote: [ -> ]Funny, I thought we fixed all this in 2009-10?
Too bad no one spoke up and said “this can’t, and won’t, work”.
Too bad.
Lot's of people much smarter than many if not all politicians did speak up. The problem lies in they didn't want to listen when they were presented with real numbers.
https://www.roanoke.com/business/virgini...ed90a.html
A real indictment of the UVA Health System's business practices. I'll add my $.02 to it. Several years ago due to a hand injury I had some dealings with them. I paid my bill....twice, apparently. Yep, they double-billed me. On Medicare. Then they sent my account to a collection agency (it wasn't all that much, either). I had to send both them and the collection agency printouts of the e-checks to prove I'd paid them. I hope I never have to deal with them again.
Healthcare will never get fixed. The system gets abused and milked by everyone- insurers, providers, patients, attorneys, etc. Insurance may be the only other industry that has such high levels of fraud by all sides.
There is so much money behind the lobbyists that politicians will never do what must be done. Corruption and greed at the highest levels of American business and government won't change because they make the rules. The alternatives (socialism/communism) are even worse.
My retirement plan is to sniff industrial solvents until dementia sets in.
If they eliminated the fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, the elderly and indigent could be covered and the rest of us could get competitive rates. Example: I have $6000 worth of orthopedic braces that were shipped to my mother (who has dementia) and billed to Medicare. None have ever been needed or used. I filed a Fraud Claim with Medicare but have heard nothing. Saw a published article that has the FBI looking into a 1.2 billion dollar fraud regarding ortho braces alone. Once these vultures find out a person that has diminished capacity they hound them night and day. Must be a hot list that gets passed around. I don't want government in health care for this reason alone, while there are many more reasons.
If anything is going to be done about health care, they must address the cost of delivering health care rather than simply how to pay for it with everyone else's money.
$ Benefits given away minus $ contributed by the paying citizens = a $$ deficit that keeps growing (bankruptcy)
(09-11-2019 11:48 AM)AllForDukes Wrote: [ -> ]If they eliminated the fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, the elderly and indigent could be covered and the rest of us could get competitive rates. Example: I have $6000 worth of orthopedic braces that were shipped to my mother (who has dementia) and billed to Medicare. None have ever been needed or used. I filed a Fraud Claim with Medicare but have heard nothing. Saw a published article that has the FBI looking into a 1.2 billion dollar fraud regarding ortho braces alone. Once these vultures find out a person that has diminished capacity they hound them night and day. Must be a hot list that gets passed around. I don't want government in health care for this reason alone, while there are many more reasons.
If anything is going to be done about health care, they must address the cost of delivering health care rather than simply how to pay for it with everyone else's money.
$ Benefits given away minus $ contributed by the paying citizens = a $$ deficit that keeps growing (bankruptcy)
Could not have stated it better myself. To back up your point, 10 years ago the Charlotte Observer did a huge investigation/story showing that the Carolina's Medical System had 19 executives enjoying over a $1M per year income. Most were well beyond that threshold. That simply told me that when Obamacare was only conversation, that it would be going after the wrong pile of cash.
I work for a rather large healthcare group in SW VA. There are a lot of practices that are trying to do things the right way.
Here's one big problem with healthcare: not enough is being done to prevent. People wait until they are hurt/sick before getting treated. If people would take better care of themselves and actually do more preventative care, then health care costs would go down. Insurance companies need to do more to encourage preventative care as well.
Our society gets more and more unhealthy. People would rather wait until they get sick than actually taking actions to make sure they don't get sick.
Imagine your body is a car. You regularly get your oil changed. What happens if you don't? Well oil goes bad or low and can severely damage the engine. How much is an oil change? How much does it cost to fix an engine? The truth is people tend to maintain their vehicles more than they maintain their body. If your body goes bad, you're going to spend way more than the costs of just taking better care of it.
Does this solve the issue? Of course not, but it certainly helps a LOT. When more and more people are doing more expensive procedures, insurance costs go up. When insurance costs go up, insurance companies will lower the amounts that they are paying back to hospitals and doctors, especially for expensive procedures. Hospitals and doctors then have to raise their costs to counter the insurance. Who does this ultimately hurt? Everyone.
There are plenty of bad groups out there- hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and insurances. What I am saying is that we are somewhat responsible and it's easy to point the finger and think we are blameless, but we are not. People take advantage of medications and overuse emergency visits (which are incredibly expensive). There is plenty of blame to go around everywhere. At the same time, there are plenty of good people and doctors that are truly trying to fix the system.
All I am saying is that we can each personally play a factor in improving the system. Take care of yourselves and make healthier decisions. Don't wait to get yourself checked out. Preventative care is incredibly cheaper than emergency care and if you rely on the latter, you don't just hurt yourself but the others also stuck in this broken system.
As long as Hospital billing takes it's cues from defense contractors' charges, it'll remain out of control. Which is worse, the single $15 Tylenol tablet or the $640 toilet seat ?
(09-11-2019 04:16 PM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ]Which is worse, the single $15 Tylenol tablet or the $640 toilet seat ?
I know the answer to that question. Clearly, the $15 Tylenol tablet is worse for the following reasons....
1. Tylenol processes through the liver and I reserve that abuse for alcohol.
2. There is something very comforting in the knowledge that I am sitting on a $640 toilet seat.
(09-11-2019 06:54 PM)Purple Wrote: [ -> ] (09-11-2019 04:16 PM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ]Which is worse, the single $15 Tylenol tablet or the $640 toilet seat ?
I know the answer to that question. Clearly, the $15 Tylenol tablet is worse for the following reasons....
1. Tylenol processes through the liver and I reserve that abuse for alcohol.
2. There is something very comforting in the knowledge that I am sitting on a $640 toilet seat.
(09-11-2019 06:54 PM)Purple Wrote: [ -> ] (09-11-2019 04:16 PM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ]Which is worse, the single $15 Tylenol tablet or the $640 toilet seat ?
I know the answer to that question. Clearly, the $15 Tylenol tablet is worse for the following reasons....
1. Tylenol processes through the liver and I reserve that abuse for alcohol.
2. There is something very comforting in the knowledge that I am sitting on a $640 toilet seat.
K. Might be the funniest thing in, maybe forever.
Bulldog, tell me when you're going local, we've got a ticket, a spread and a bed as much as you need it, just bring that terlitt seat! May need that!
UVA Health System's CEO has announced they're doing a review of their billing practices.
(09-11-2019 01:55 PM)JMad03 Wrote: [ -> ]I work for a rather large healthcare group in SW VA. There are a lot of practices that are trying to do things the right way.
Here's one big problem with healthcare: not enough is being done to prevent. People wait until they are hurt/sick before getting treated. If people would take better care of themselves and actually do more preventative care, then health care costs would go down. Insurance companies need to do more to encourage preventative care as well.
Our society gets more and more unhealthy. People would rather wait until they get sick than actually taking actions to make sure they don't get sick.
Imagine your body is a car. You regularly get your oil changed. What happens if you don't? Well oil goes bad or low and can severely damage the engine. How much is an oil change? How much does it cost to fix an engine? The truth is people tend to maintain their vehicles more than they maintain their body. If your body goes bad, you're going to spend way more than the costs of just taking better care of it.
Does this solve the issue? Of course not, but it certainly helps a LOT. When more and more people are doing more expensive procedures, insurance costs go up. When insurance costs go up, insurance companies will lower the amounts that they are paying back to hospitals and doctors, especially for expensive procedures. Hospitals and doctors then have to raise their costs to counter the insurance. Who does this ultimately hurt? Everyone.
There are plenty of bad groups out there- hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and insurances. What I am saying is that we are somewhat responsible and it's easy to point the finger and think we are blameless, but we are not. People take advantage of medications and overuse emergency visits (which are incredibly expensive). There is plenty of blame to go around everywhere. At the same time, there are plenty of good people and doctors that are truly trying to fix the system.
All I am saying is that we can each personally play a factor in improving the system. Take care of yourselves and make healthier decisions. Don't wait to get yourself checked out. Preventative care is incredibly cheaper than emergency care and if you rely on the latter, you don't just hurt yourself but the others also stuck in this broken system.
Someone close to me works on the other side of the tracks; the big, bad insurance companies. In addition to the big, bad health providers, not much is mentioned about:
The premium costs providers pay for liability insurance (malpractice) Small doctors/hospitals don't exist anymore because they can't afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars for insurance to protect them from lawyers.
Here in the USA, we have the finest medical services in the world. (Just ask the Canadians) That requires a whole lot of money for research and development. That robot that does brain surgery may cost a hospital $2m that somehow needs to get paid for but the $500M it cost to develop that machine also needs to be paid for.
The arthritis pill the insurance company is paying $100 each for doesn't cost $100 to make but may have cost $20M to develop it.
We want the finest health system money can buy but we're not receptive to actually paying the high price for it (Myself included) We can always get the government to pay for it but at the end of the day, someone still has to pay for it. Since money doesn't grow on trees, that would be us Taxpayers.