Text 12353, 95 rader
Skriven 2008-03-11 13:16:10 av Jeff Bowman (1:229/500)
  Kommentar till text 12296 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Re: Bush Vetoes Waterboarding Bill
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> JB> Speaking of which, Nixon is also mostly responsible for the modern
> HMO,
 
> HMO ??
 
An HMO is a "health maintenance organization".  To my knowledge, it's basically
a company with contracts to certain hospitals and doctors in effort to get them
more patients, and in return, they supposedly provide healthcare to the HMO
members at "discounted" rates.
 
It's on audio tape where a fellow by the name of Paul Ellwood was discussing
healthcare with Nixon long ago. As soon as the subject came up, Nixon was ready
to wave him away, that he wasn't interested in discussing government
healthcare.  But Paul was like, no, you've got it all wrong. The idea is
private subsidized healthcare firms, the government doesn't have to pay for all
of it. Nixon was suddenly all ears. Paul convinced Nixon to support the HMO Act
of 1973, which lead to the creation of the modern "healthcare system" we have
here in America.  Paul is credited as the father of the HMO, although he
doesn't really want the credit for such.
 
It's funny though, because Paul himself now says we need a new model for
healthcare. But these companies he helped put into power are making so much
money that they're not about to let that happen without a fight.
 
 
> Nixon is also responsible for getting China out of its isolation. In my
> eyes that makes him an altime great at world level.
 
I wouldn't really consider China as being open though.  Especially considering
some of the acts its government has committed even after Nixon's time, like
Tiananmen Square, to silence people.  Not to mention their current filtering of
all internet traffic, and forcing big companies like Yahoo and Google to filter
search results in the country, etc.
 
 
> JB> And it's now a big part of our economic
> JB> failing, since the number one reason for bankruptcies in America is
> JB> over medical bills, last I read.
 
> I'm not sure I understand that.
 
Basically, the healthcare in this country is so expensive that many people
simply can't afford it.  Or even when they do have healthcare, they get stiffed
on the bills.  No healthcare provider is going to pay your bill if they can
find some loophole to get out of it.  That, or they'll at least find some way
to make you pay part of it.  Despite already paying huge fees to the company
every month, you still end up paying a chunk of the bill in many cases.
 
So most people either have a crappy insurance company that makes them pay part
on something, or they have no insurance at all, and then when they get hurt or
need some sort of medical care, they get really huge doctor bills to worry
about.  People try to take loans or pay them off on credit cards or whatever,
but eventually that comes to bite them in the butt. Then people file for
bankruptcy because they just can't pay it.  Meanwhile, the doctor or hospital
loses out on the money they wanted, but the healthcare company has so much
income that it makes no difference to them.  The losers here are the actual
important people of the situation, the doctor and the patient.
 
I can speak first hand at how dirty some of these companies can do, because
they pulled it on a hospital bill my brother got when we were young.  My mom
called them ahead of time and they said they would pay for his stay.  Then
afterwards, they said they weren't going to pay for any of it.  After we
threatened them, they decided to pay part of it.  But it still left us with
thousands of dollars of debt.  And there was no way we could have actually
afforded to take them to court.  So naturally my family had to take a home loan
to pay for it, which they haven't paid off to this day.
 
 
> But, a friend's daughter was with AFS for a year in the Houston-area and
> she needed some urgent dental-work done. It was cheaper to fly her to
> Belgium for 3 days and ship her back, than to go to the dentist
> overthere.
 
That is both pathetic and not surprising at the same time.  Nobody should have
to leave the country just to see the dentist, but it's not the first time I've
heard of such incidents of seeking medical help outside the US.
 
 
> I really don't understand how such a situation is possible. Proper health
> care should be a basic right.
 
Agreed 100%.
 
 
> JB> I don't believe that
> JB> every politician has to be corrupt to succeed.  Being corrupt just
> JB> makes it easier.
 
> Is that a quote or genuine "Jeff Bowman (tm)" work? ;-)
 
Unless I subconsciously borrowed it from somewhere, I'd like to think I'm
capable of saying something original once in a while!

--- D'Bridge 2.99
 * Origin: FyBBS (1:229/500)