Our Elected Officials......The System needs to change

[k-troop]

Interesting op-ed from yesterday's WP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-end-partisan-politics-heres-what-wont-work--and-what-will/2012/05/17/gIQA5jqcWU_story.html

[Kapanda]

Originally Posted by uttexas

This has wandered OT a bit, but here's a few thoughts on healthcare costs in America

Health care in the USA will be more expensive relative to the rest of the world until American's start eating healthier and exercising more. Other issues include the cost of medications, medical equipment, and defensive medicine.

Obesity prevalence

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Diabetes prevalence

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Kind of explains Japan's obsession with Sumo.

"Let's see what happens when you get two freak shows to wrestle each other!"

[brocks]

Note: I've not personally looked into the other claim made in another post that non-emergency care is not guaranteed. I'm assuming it is.

I'm kind of surprised that someone who sounds so reasonable and informed doesn't know that it's just a Fox News talking point, but here you go: "If you're not experiencing an emergency, and you don't have medical insurance or the ability to pay, the hospital emergency room is not legally required to treat you. The hospital will most likely direct you to your own doctor or a community health clinic." http://www.insure.com/articles/healthinsurance/emergency-rights.html And here are a couple of articles about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which is the federal regulation that requires emergency rooms to treat patients with health emergencies. Note that this has been the basic law since [b][i]1986[/b][/i] (signed into law by Ronald Reagan), so it's not like it's breaking news. And note that it was passed to correct the problem of people who actually did have serious medical emergencies being turned away to die, so there is really no reason for anyone to have ever believed that deadbeats got free routine medical care, other than hysterical right-wing propaganda. http://www.emtala.com/faq.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act By the way, in case Meenman, who just called me a commie in another thread, is getting anxious, the "Active Labor" in the law's title has nothing to do with workers uniting to overthrow the government; it's about a woman having a baby. Basically the law applies to hospitals that take money from Medicare, which is pretty much all but the ritziest private clinics (or exceptions like the VA or Shriners hospitals), and it says that anyone who walks (or crawls) into an emergency room must be seen --- but only for screening. If their initial screening determines that you do not have a legitimate medical emergency, or you are not in active labor and about to dump a baby on the floor, the hospital has no further obligation to treat you. Only people with serious medical emergencies are required to be given any more treatment. In other words, if you don't have money or medical insurance, and you go to an emergency room for a non-emergency reason, you are likely to sit there between a couple of people hacking and coughing for however long it takes for them to deal with the more obvious emergencies, and when they do get around to you, you can be told to go somewhere else as soon as they determine that you probably won't pay them. And also note that if they do treat you, it's not for free. Whether you have the money or not, whether you have insurance or not, they will bill you, and the cost will be much, much higher than for someone with insurance, or even someone who pays cash at a regular (non-emergency) doctor's office. People who don't pay their bill will suffer the same consequences to their credit rating or whatever as anyone would, and will have to pay the inflated bill, plus interest, before the hospital will ever treat them for a non-emergency. There are all kinds of horror stories of hospitals turning bills over to collection agencies that make the lives of people, who may have been laid off and simply can't pay, a living hell.

[ghalfaire]

Originally Posted by k-troop

This is a solution in theory only.  Individual voters will never assume personal responsibility for making "informed choice" at the polls in large enough numbers to make a difference.

I don't see how anything you said changed or challenged anything I said.  It is our fault, we have the government we deserve because we as voters COULD change it.  We're the ones that let the politicians divide us with their rhetoric.  We are the one that believe them without verifying that their action match their words.  We are the ones that don't take the time to vote or make informed votes.  It isn't just a theory that the voters are the final say, so far anyway (but that is changing because half of us see the other half as an enemy instead of a fellow citizens with a different idea).  But if we keep electing these career politicians that just care about getting re-elected and not us or the country, then the day will come when there will be no vote or there will just be one party.  If you don't think it can happen here read some history books.