a future with no more chemo

eihtak said:

LaCh.....

Sad isn't it? Between my husbands bone marrow transplant and my two primary cancers we could not stay afloat so to speak. My kids even had a benefit walk for us to help out. Two months ago we filed bankrupcy. It was a horrible feeling for me to be in that position but am also somewhat relieved to be starting over. Another unforseen possible side effect of cancer treatment !!!!!!!!!! 

Health Insurance
laCh and eihtak. I think it is outrageous that we have the health care system that we do. Looking over the Affordable Care Act, I am pretty horrifed at what they call affordable. It will be affordable to those on a Medicaid expansion, and more expenaive with less coverage for those of us who buy on the dirext market. It is not what most people think that it is. Outrageous. As a divorced mother, it was a huge percent of my annual income. I have gone without too many extras for years. Having 2 cancers back to back wiped put all of my savings....and that is with the very expensive health insurance that I pay for. Unreal. I have managed to maintain my home, but I will be working until the day I die. I really think that working day and night and trying to be both a mother and father to my child, made my body susceptible to all this cancer. Sometimes I think I would have been better off just to go on government benefits. Instead, I have worked myself to an early grave!

LaCh said:

health coverage

The problem with our system is basically that it's a for-profit system.  Most Americans freak out when they hear the words "socialized medicine," but if you ask them what that means, and why that's bad, they have no idea. Back in 2011 I was in Spain, explaining to four friends about our health care system. There were four people staring back at me with their mouths hanging open, saying, more or less, "are you f**ng kidding me?"  I'm not saying that Spain isn't without it's own problems, and I'm not even saying that their system of health care has no problems, but what we have here goes so far beyond "problems," that it begs another name. It's dysfunctional, it's beyond the financial means of most middle class people WITH health coverage, it's built on a for-profit business model no different than any other business and to cap it off, we're held captive by a lobby that puts more money into their lobbying than the tobacco and oil companies combined (see the recent article in Time magazine called Bitter Pill.)  We're the only industrialized country on the planet without socialized medicine. Mexico has it, Canada has it, the countries in the Eurozone have it, England has it....  we're so hung up on this for-profit system (or the people reaping the financial benefits or it are), so trapped by their lobby, so hung up on words like "socialized medicine," that freak people out without any understanding of what they mean, that this is what we're stuck with.  People working till they die just to pay off medical debts or stay eligible for medical coverage that doesn't even come close to providing accessible, affordable medical care.  People filing for bankruptcy. Obama did nothing but throw more people into the dysfunctional pot of people who still won't be able to afford medical care, it's just that now they'll have insurance to not cover it.  This will only end when we replace the for-profit system for a not-for-profit system, when hospitals can no longer inflate their prices with no oversight or accountability (again, see the Time article called Botter Pill) and when the lobby is reined in (which will happen when there's no longer profit to be made).  This topic is a real sore point for me; it was before the cancer and it is now.  But unlike Marynb, I knew that this would happen even before my first treatment. I anticipated this. I expected it. Our system is an embarassment. It's a travesty.  It's egregious.  It's shameful. And it's all ours.

Lach
Perhaps you misunderstood my post. I have been an advocate for a single payer universal health care system in this country for the past 30 years. I never liked the Obama plan at all. I abhor doctors who get rich at the expense of suffering people. I detest the for profit system. However, as a cancer patient I do accept that science has not yet found a cure for cancer. I do not mistrust all doctors. I do wish that there was a cure for cancer. When push came to shove, we all wanted evidence based treatment and we accepted it because we all want to live full lives.

LaCh said:

health coverage

The problem with our system is basically that it's a for-profit system.  Most Americans freak out when they hear the words "socialized medicine," but if you ask them what that means, and why that's bad, they have no idea. Back in 2011 I was in Spain, explaining to four friends about our health care system. There were four people staring back at me with their mouths hanging open, saying, more or less, "are you f**ng kidding me?"  I'm not saying that Spain isn't without it's own problems, and I'm not even saying that their system of health care has no problems, but what we have here goes so far beyond "problems," that it begs another name. It's dysfunctional, it's beyond the financial means of most middle class people WITH health coverage, it's built on a for-profit business model no different than any other business and to cap it off, we're held captive by a lobby that puts more money into their lobbying than the tobacco and oil companies combined (see the recent article in Time magazine called Bitter Pill.)  We're the only industrialized country on the planet without socialized medicine. Mexico has it, Canada has it, the countries in the Eurozone have it, England has it....  we're so hung up on this for-profit system (or the people reaping the financial benefits or it are), so trapped by their lobby, so hung up on words like "socialized medicine," that freak people out without any understanding of what they mean, that this is what we're stuck with.  People working till they die just to pay off medical debts or stay eligible for medical coverage that doesn't even come close to providing accessible, affordable medical care.  People filing for bankruptcy. Obama did nothing but throw more people into the dysfunctional pot of people who still won't be able to afford medical care, it's just that now they'll have insurance to not cover it.  This will only end when we replace the for-profit system for a not-for-profit system, when hospitals can no longer inflate their prices with no oversight or accountability (again, see the Time article called Botter Pill) and when the lobby is reined in (which will happen when there's no longer profit to be made).  This topic is a real sore point for me; it was before the cancer and it is now.  But unlike Marynb, I knew that this would happen even before my first treatment. I anticipated this. I expected it. Our system is an embarassment. It's a travesty.  It's egregious.  It's shameful. And it's all ours.

One year...
I shelled out 30k for health care in one year! That is with the best insurance I could buy as an individual. Unreal!

Phoebesnow said:

Lach

Regarding health care in our country, it's still the finest in the world. Our  county hospital is the cutting edge in technology.   You don't have to pay if you can't or you can pay as little as 25 month for the rest of your life.  We have many free clinics here in Los Angeles, that do everything including biopsies and minor surgeries.  The free clinic uses retired doctors from cedars, ucla and other tops notch facilities.  They offer free medication, birth control, classes, dental and attorney services. You Can make appointments or be a walk in.  Ucla will take anyone insurance or not.  

 

I have traveled the world since I was a little girl, there is no country that can compare to us in anyway,standard of living, healthcare, public facilities, parks, beaches, you name it and ours is better. 

 

When picking health insurance you should pick what you can afford.  My health insurance I did not pay for chemo or radiation or even parking.  When I go to the hospital, I pay a one time copay of 200.00.  There is no cap.  I pay 520.00 a month. It is worth every penny.

 

If you are dx wih cancer in a socialistic country, you may wait up to six months for tx.

Yes that's how the world goes round in a capilastic society, people want to make  money.  Whether they are a maid or a doctor everyone wants as much as they can get.

 

If you can find a better country that can offer a standard of living at least equal to the US I would like to know about it.

 

  

Phoebe...health insurance
Wow, good for you that California offers such a low price health insurance policy with such good coverage. That is great! Is that through work? That kind of plan is not going to be available through ObamaCare. Even in the best plan to the direct market under ObamaCare provides only 90% coverage plus premium and deducribles and copays That is the Platinum plan. The other plans provide that the patient pays 30% of total health care Plus premiums and copays and deductibles. This is NOT AFFORDABLE to most people. Those who fall below the poverty line benefit. The rest of us pay more!!!!!

I love my country too. However, I do not believe that health care hould be reserved for the rich or poor. I believe it has to change and that we will change it someday.

LaCh said:

phoebesnow et al...

Regarding health care in our country, it's still the finest in the world. Our county hospital is the cutting edge in technology. You don't have to pay if you can't or you can pay as little as 25 month for the rest of your life. We have many free clinics here in Los Angeles, that do everything including biopsies and minor surgeries. The free clinic uses retired doctors from cedars, ucla and other tops notch facilities. They offer free medication, birth control, classes, dental and attorney services. You Can make appointments or be a walk in. Ucla will take anyone insusance or not. Well, ok, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. I only know what I’ve experienced and what those around me have experienced. I don’t want to pay for anything  for the rest of my life. I pay down my credit card to a zero balance at the end of each month because I can’t tolerate debt and don’t feel that I should have to pay a medical debt for the rest of my life. I can’t go to a free clinic because I have insurance; when you’re on Social Security, it’s mandatory.  I don’t have access to free legal services, nor a dentist, and in fact, haven’t been to one in years because I can’t afford it.  As for technology, Spain, not exactly known to be an innovative country, has the same diagnostic and therapeutic technology that we do here. In any case, I’m not sure if technology is a good measure of good health care. It’s a part—but not a defining part (this is simply MY opinion). Part of good health care means not having to ask a surgeon if he accepts your insurance as you await an emergency appendectomy, lying on a gurney in the ER, or having to ask the anesthesiologist the same. It means not having an administrative employee with no medical training make medical decisions about what diagnostic tests and treatments you will and won’t be allowed based on economics.  It means having a doctor who spends more than 10 minutes with you because he doesn’t have a minimum number of patients to see in a given time in order to earn enough money from his low insurance payments.  It means not having to check yourself out of a hospital because of a co-pay that you can’t afford. It means not having to allow certain diagnostic procedures and treatments and rejecting others because your co-pay for those things is too high.  Technology is a small part of what constitutes good health care, and countries with socialized medicine, democratic, Western European countries have the technology that we have here.  That said, when a wealthy European or member of a royal family in one country or another gets sick, they may come here because of reputation, amenities, etc.  Finances aren’t their concern. They don’t pick and choose treatments, they don’t check themselves out of the hospital for economic reasons, so I’m not sure that people of means who come here for treatments sheds any light on health care for us.   

I have traveled the world since I was a little girl, there is no country that can compare to us in anyway,standard of living, healthcare, public facilities, parks, beaches, you name it and ours is better. To make a broad statement that says that the United States has the best of all those things might invite a few dissenters from other places around the world. Parks, beaches, many places, many countries have breathtaking beaches and parks, wildlife refuges and countryside. The United States simply can’t lay claim to have the best of those things because those things can be found all around the world. Some aren’t as nice as those found here and others surpass some of ours by far, in grandeur and accessibility. Generally speaking, sweeping comments that invoke words like “best” “most”  “all” “always” or “never” usually aren’t so. Standars of living in other industrialized countries is equal or better by some measures, than ours.

When picking health insurance you should pick what you can afford. My health insurance I did not pay for chemo or radiation or even parking. When I go to the hospital, I pay a one time copay of 200.00. There is no cap. I pay 520.00 a month. It is worth every penny. When you have Social Security about $100 is taken from your monthly check and paid to either Medicare or a Medical Advantage plan of your choosing (you choose among those offered in your geographical area.) A Medicare Advantage Plan is a sub-plan from an insurance company that pools all its Medicare patients together. Since reimbursement is low for Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, choices are limited, many physicians don't participate and co-pays are a given, as are restrictions and caps. There is no Medicare Advantage Plan that doesn’t have a cap, at least not in my area or anywhere that I’m aware.

If you are dx wih cancer in a socialistic country, you may wait up to six months for tx. I wasn’t talking about a country with a socialist government, I was talking about a socialized medical care system with a democratic one.  I have two friends in Spain who were recently diagnosed with cancer, one with colon cancer, and the other with lymphoma. Neither waited a long time (any longer than I waited) to be seen from onset of symptoms and both were in treatment quickly, within three and two weeks respectively. Maybe you’re thinking of electives or non-essential, non-life threatening issues. I have to wait a long time for those as well, sometimes weeks or in a few cases, months. I’m not saying that Spain has a perfect health care system; I don’t think any country does. I’m saying that the issue of waiting six months to be treated is something that doesn’t happen with a life-threatening illness or injury. In addition to the two that I mentioned, I know others  also diagnosed with cancer.  They didn’t wait any longer than I did, which was weeks, from date of diagnosis to start of treatment.  They also didn’t receive a bill, didn’t search for a participating provider who accepted their insurance, didn’t worry about in-hospital costs, diagnostic costs, treatment or follow-up costs. What they have is a large portion of their salaries held aside for those things, and after that, they have access to what they need, when they need it, and don’t see a bill. There is no perfect health care system that I’m aware of but some are worse than others, and I stand by my assertion that ours is one of the worst in the industrialized world. We have one of the highest newborn mortality rates and one of the shortest life expectancies, as well as people who routinely have to file for bankruptcy after a serious illness or injury.  Those are some of the measures of a good or a bad health care system. In my opinion. 

Yes that's how the world goes round in a capilastic society, people want to make money. Whether they are a maid or a doctor everyone wants as much as they can get. There’s nothing wrong with earning a living, with making money, but there’s a difference between earning a living and earning a salary of 7 digits when the facility that pays you that salary is turning away patients because their insurance reimburses $150 rather than $300 or something like that.  There’s a difference between earning a living and greed.  Again, I encourage you to read the article in Time Magazine entitled “Bitter Pill” by Steven Brill.

If you can find a better country that can offer a standard of living at least equal to the US I would like to know about it.   Better? I don't know, but iqual, sure and in some ways, yes, better. Britain,  Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany… I can name a few. The United States has some fine points, but we’re not superior to other places by the most common measures of quality of life within the industrialized western world. We have hunger and poverty here, we have desperate people and deep inequality. That said, withing the middle class, Western Europeans have a similar standard of living, or did before the global economy crashed and to a degree, maintain it now (certainly not all do but my friends have maintained their middle class standard of living). I respect your opinion and simply offer mine and the reasons why I have it.  I’ve grown accustomed to some strong criticism in this forum and hope that this doesn’t invite any more. It’s exhausting.  These are simply my opinions. There’s no need to go ballistic if you (the generic “you”) disagree.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LaCh
Nobody has ever "gone ballistic" here. It is fine to have discussions.