Hazards of U.S. Medical Care

BEING A PATIENT
Treated for Illness, Then Lost in Labyrinth of Bills
By KATIE HAFNER
Millions of Americans find themselves devoting enormous
amounts of time and energy to sorting out their medical
bills.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/health/13paper.html?th&emc=th

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The U.S. is the only developed nation that does not have a national health system, i.e. medical costs paid out of taxes as are Medicare and Medicaid currently. The upshot is that ours is the most expensive per capita medical system in the world, which still does not provide coverage for many millions who do not qualify for either Medicare or Medicaid and yet cannot afford private medical insurance. The upshot is that medical bills are now one of the major causes of personal bankruptcies which leave families already devastated by disasters such as the loss of employment or serious medical emergencies swimming somewhere in the waters of New Orleans (where the survivors are now apparently to be denied even medical coverage, let alone the federal recovery monies promised at first by Bush).

In our family my very busy wife handles our medical insurance matters, must battle with resistant personnel who would deny payment for any variety of nonsense reasons that bedevil us as well as our medical suppliers.

Today many people die needlessly in the U.S. each day thanks to the A.M.A. of Truman's days which fought single payer medical coverage (which was then being adopted by all the Western European countries) as "socialism." Using such catch phrases, our drug companies, some doctors, some for profit medical insurance operations, have been making out like bandits ever since. I will never forget the experience of sitting in the examining chair of the leading eye doctor at Columbia Presbyterian some years ago while he debated for about 15 minutes in my presence with his broker his stock purchases for the day -- I was trying to get on to classes that I had to teach. I left him for another doctor thereafter. Greed is the name of this game and it is costing all of us far too much in needless losses of life as well as monies -- approximately 100,000 of us are killed in hospitals by obvious medical errors each year. I have been there and seen at least one near miss -- my roommate at the time whose life I saved by yelling for help when understaffed nurses were too busy to respond to call buttons.

I guess in the end I have to hold the medical profession responsible for this mess. They know what is going on and should be shouting from the roof tops for reform. Ed Kent
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
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