Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on December 23, 2007, 07:17:45 pm
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2231379,00.html
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Someone needs to get a dagger up the asscrack for this.
Stuff like this makes me want to say stuff like that. Sorry.
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Someone needs to get a dagger up the asscrack for this.
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Someone needs to understand that those who are more likely to survive with treatment get treatment before those who have little to no chance.
The article says she had leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant that incurred complications, and her liver failed. Even with the liver, I don't think the girl would've made it. Combine that with the general lack of transplant organs, and you see how the decision to deny her transplant works out. Someone else could've put it to much more use, sad as it is.
Just an alternative view.
Of course I'm basing this on what I can gather from the article. I doubt the story is as simple as it plays it out to be.
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Article I read said people with her condition have a 67% chance of surviving at least 6 months if they get the transplant.
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Article I read said people with her condition have a 67% chance of surviving at least 6 months if they get the transplant.
Does that take the "complications" into effect?
Also, can you provide a link?
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From the sound of it, the liver failure was the complications.
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The sad thing is, this happens a lot more often than people think. I can come up with at least two other examples:
I knew a guy who was over 80 years old. He ran a woodshop class at the local community center and mentored troubled teens in the city. He was diagnosed with cancer, but the doctors caught it early. Every indication from the tests said that the guy had a +70% chance of recovery. But his insurance refused to pay for it. (The treatment was to be somewhat expensive.) The chemotherapy and radiation was even explicitly stated as covered care in his contract. However, the insurance company claimed that the treatment was "experimental," and as a result, refused to pay for it. Because of this, the guy died. In my book, that's breach of contract and manslaughter at the least.
The second story of mine: Me. I should be dead, but my parents managed to force the insurance company to pay for my care. (My care was also explicitly covered in my contract.) It worked. Much to the consternation of the insurance company, I'm still alive and very much a thorn in their side. Recently, we received a phone call from the company. They told my parents the following:
We know you're right about the contract, but we're not going to pay. If you have a problem with it, you can come and sue us.
I believe that came right from the VP of the company. Great customer service, eh?
EDIT: For those who aren't from America, it's actually illegal to sue your insurance company, unless you're a government employee. As a result, the average government worker can't afford to do that. This is just "insurance" for high ranking politicians, in case their medical care gets messed up.
On the topic of forcing insurance on the remainder of Americans, I think what's above pretty clearly states my opinions.
Great system, huh?
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i dont even bother to waste money on insurance. i pay all my medical and dental bills in cash up front. this also gives me the power to control what gets done. like if they say "we want an xray and an mri to make sure were not morons". you can save alot of money by avoiding the er like the plague. reason being, is that an er is really not a very good buisness model. first off they treat everyone, including those who cannot pay. so those who can pay get taken to the cleaners. an example of this is when they give you meds, like an asprin, they usually charge you for the whole bottle, the industrial size bottle. but then it doesnt end there. if another patient needs the same meds, they pay the same charge, but the pills come out of the same bottle. that said most people go to the hospital usually get a pill a glass of water a huge bill and get sent home, having lost a whole 8 hours of their time. you can easily self medicate on over the counter pills, its cheaper.
alot of er doctors are interns fresh out of med school, and are probably being worked to death, sometimes working 24 hour shifts. they dont mind cause this makes their med school bills go away, and they gain valuable experience as well. being young doctors, they seldom consider things like what it costs to operate the mri machine. they do not streamline the costs. they do what alot of computer geeks do, rely on the diagnostics and not use their intuition and experience. but unlike with computer tech, medical diagnostics are not cheap and can easily add a few grand to your bill.
people need to realize that medical care is ****ing expensive. if you want treatment you need to pay money. people read "health care" as "free health care" or "cheap health care" because they think that if they pay a small tax or a small fee to a company, they expect that to be enough to cover all their medical expenses. but like i said health care is expensive. just because a ceo with a 250,000 a year salary might be able to afford a complicated heart or brain operation, doesnt mean your average 10,000 a year laborer can. everyone wants the steal from the rich and give to the poor system. i view such a system as america incompatible. so if insurance cannot generate the funds to perform expensive procedures. youre up **** creek. that doesnt mean theres not ways to reduce the cost of healthcare. to accomplish that you can do theese things.
*get rid of all the kickbacks, some of those in the health care industry make too much money as it is
*stop filing malpractice suits against doctors or hospitals, if someone dies because they were sick or injured, blame the illness/injury
*force insurance to follow its contracts
*stop freaking out over minor conditions, take an asprin and some booze and deal with it
*stop protesting and get a job, you filth hippy
*if insurance doesn't work, dont use it
*finally, pay your ****ing bills, if you cant pay them, dont go to the doctor
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My bad it was only 65% survival.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/12/21/teen.liver.transplant.ap/index.html
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2231379,00.html
You think this doesn't happen everywhere, particularly in transplant cases, Kosh? The insurance company handed out a verdict that could have come from any healthcare system, and probably would have with the preexisting conditions she had.
Also I call BS on Tyrian's "suing is illegal", since plenty of people do it every day, including this bunch. Also I should note that federal employees and their dependants get much better healthcare overall then most, so they rarely have cause to complain. Having been such a dependant I know the difference can sometimes be quite amazing.
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This situation is the kind where I simply wish people weren't such ****ing sheep. Cigna made a bad choice, fine. Everyone with private health care with them pulls it and goes to someone else. Cigna goes bust. Other health insurance companies stop ****ing people around.
Won't happen of course.
What I've never understood if you have to have health insurance why that business can't be run as a non-profit mutual with what would be profits plowed back into better healthcare for the members?. Or is that a socialist idea? :p
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people on welfare get better health care than most who are on insurance, people who actually work for a living. my sister was in the hospital at least every month when she was a baby, probably consuming thousands in hospital expenses. the most my mom had to pay was a few bucks, $3 hospital visits and $1 prescriptions. everyone on welfare, people with federal jobs, war veterans, military families, ect are all on state run health care programs. my nam vet buddy says he would rather be on insurance because it takes forever for him to get anything done on the state run system. only reason he uses it because its free because of his vet status. he thinks health care reform is a total joke and i tend to agree. people want to go to the doctor whenever they want and pay their insurance what amounts to peanuts, and thats just not realistic.
This situation is the kind where I simply wish people weren't such ****ing sheep. Cigna made a bad choice, fine. Everyone with private health care with them pulls it and goes to someone else. Cigna goes bust. Other health insurance companies stop ****ing people around.
Won't happen of course.
What I've never understood if you have to have health insurance why that business can't be run as a non-profit mutual with what would be profits plowed back into better healthcare for the members?. Or is that a socialist idea? :p
its really up to the insurance company how they want to run things. it might prove beneficial to run an insurance like a credit union instead of a like a bank. is anyone using such a business model for an insurance company?
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people on welfare get better health care than most who are on insurance, people who actually work for a living.
And yet many of the same people who complain about that are also the first to complain that the government shouldn't run healthcare cause they'd cock it up and do a worse job than the health insurance companies.
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people on welfare get better health care than most who are on insurance, people who actually work for a living.
And yet many of the same people who complain about that are also the first to complain that the government shouldn't run healthcare cause they'd cock it up and do a worse job than the health insurance companies.
They would. I could tell you some stoooorieeees... But its Christmas and I'm lazy. So... for another time.
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I've never heard a good argument for the US healthcare model.
And no, 'my money my money miiiiiiine!' doesn't count. Take that nonsensical Libertarian-market-idealist crap elsewhere. The Free Market does not work for healthcare.
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I'd pay up the ass for taxes if it can save me from this...