The best movie of the year... I still can't believe it...

One of the sickest things I've ever come across in health care:

After the birth of my son, I asked my wife if she wanted to stay a second night in the hospital since princecreole was born mid-evening. She said to me: "I'd like to, but you know how much an extra night will cost?"

I didn't. She wasn't released until after the second night. I'd have to go look at the statement from the hospital, but I believe the two nights in the hospital, the ROOM charge was well more than $300. The room charge only, mind you. Not any shots, actual birth, etc. that happened. Just the room charge. You can get get a bitchin' hotel room for that price, and a guarantee of no roommate.

 

I haven't been in the Army all my life, you know.

So ...

1.) Have you ever sat in a VA hospital waiting ALL FUCKING DAY to see a doctor for the flu?

2.) Name five things the U.S. government does well enough that would lead you to believe they could take advantage of economies of scale and provide btter health care than we get right now?

 

You couldn't have put that better.

We have to make a choice between greedy, amoral bastards and a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy.

Oh, joy.

 

And that $300 came out of your pocket? Not your insurance. Not your co-payment. Your pocket?

 

Yes. A load of crap. Clearly. Clearly he was wrong about our conduct of the war in Iraq, which has gone swimmingly - swimmingly - since the very day it began.

 

And you can honestly say you think the GOVERNMENT can do a better job? The government fucks up everything it touches -- no matter who's in charge.

 

Please itemize them.

 

The thing is, guys, you can see what government-run healthcare looks like, by looking just to your north (or just to your south, if you happen to live in Detroit).

Yes, your taxes will go up.

But you won't have to worry about insurance, and your prescriptions will be cheaper.

Yes, emergency rooms will be crowded -- but in my experience, not much more crowded than American ERs. (Not having to pay means that people will tend to go to the hospital "just in case"; probably safer, but it can lead to longer lines. About a four-hour wait is not uncommon, if you're not collapsed on the floor.)

If you have a situation that can wait a little while -- like, say, a hip replacement -- you will probably be asked to wait, as much as a year or two.

If you need an appointment with a specialist, you will need to be referred by your family doctor; you won't be allowed to just show up with your checkbook out.

If you need something done right away, it will be done right away, and it will be done well.

For instance, my dad waited around a year for knee replacement. The following Christmas, he fell down some stairs and blew out his patella in his other knee. Ambulance came, in the hospital, surgery that night (Christmas night, remember), all his follow-ups and a year of physio taken care of.

That's how it works. It's not perfect. People would like to wait less. There's probably too much bureaucracy.

But everyone is covered. Everyone, rich or poor, gets what they need, eventually.

That's the deal. You can have it, or you can have what you have now.

Which do you choose?

 

Then you're comparing apples and oranges. Compare health care in rural Mississippi to that in a similar area with socialized health care. I'm sure you'll find there's little or no difference.

 

That's your answer? There are entire web sites devoted to a lot of dumb shit, chief. Doesn't make them true.

 

Like I said, I'm going to have to check my statement from Blue Cross. Obviously, I didn't pay the thousands upon thousands of dollars that I would have sans insurance, but I know I paid more than $1,000 for his birth. I don't know if that's a commom figure or not, but it can take time to pay that off.

Our insurance plan is OK I guess, but for a family that has no insurance ... the birth of a child would be a debt that would likely never be paid off.

 

One thing I don't understand: Why wouldn't the birth of a child be expensive? Were you surprised? Would you have preferred a bargain-basement approach?

No, of course not. You want the best possible care, as is your right. It's just that advocates of centralized health care want me to pay for it.