Dear Joe Lieberman

[boulders and sticks]

Hi Joe
Could you please tell me what kind of health care plan you have? Also what kind of Patient discounts you get for standing up to the apparently dreadful idea of giving health care to Millions of unisured Americans?
Also why you feel we should not have a Goverment plan that gives a little competion to the insurance companys? After all this is the Greatest Nation the world has ever seen (I quote your buddy George Bush) Surely one of this Nations basic principles is fair competion, isn't it?
I recently spent 1 day in Hospital. I was suffering from some chest pains, I am able to pay for very basic health care myself which i know is beyond many people in this country. The bill for 1 day was $12,000 that is 24 hours. Oh lucky, lucky, me i only get to pay $3700 of that bill. Thank GOD I have health insurance. It turned out to be not a serious heart problem but just very severe indegestion.
Even though being in this privileged postion of having a bill for $3700 for 1 day in Hospital. I can't help but feel just a tinsy, tinsy bit concerned for some that have no insurance. Call me a bleeding heart Liberal, socialist, maybe even a Commy, I'm sure you see my point Joseph. Anyway i'd love to hear from you.
Give my best to your Family hope you all have a Merry Christmas.
Don't eat to much Turkey and pie you may end up in the emergency room. Insurance or no insurance it can happen to anyone you know.
Cheers John.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

These attitudes come as my wife and I encounter severe problems with our own health coverage. She has had corneal transplants and cataract surgery on both eyes, and I had a recent procedure. Now the insurance company we use, Humana One, is balking and trying to saddle us with tens of thousands of out-of-pocket expenses. Right around the holidays too, so I can personally attest that this experience, hardly unique, is typical of the horrible health care situation we have in the U.S.

We have the best care in the world -- if you can write the check without fear that it'll bounce.

 

[Siani]

We Brits are forever complaining about the state of our National Health Service. After reading this, most of us over here don't realize how lucky we are. Thank heavens for Aneurin Bevan.

 

[TClaeys]

I certainly don't know what the fix might be, but it's no wonder people can't afford it. We can't, but we still do. It's worth considering the risk versus not carrying it. I'd have to look to be sure, but we pay what is comparable to another mortgage payment for health care. And people think the health care system is good??? What!??

I don't know if what they are trying to pass is going to be good or not. I can't tell in the hundreds of pages of it. And I'm a bit skeptical that the people that are trying to pass it aren't even going to use it. How does that make sense?? "Well it's good enough for you guys, but I sure as hell ain't gonna use it!!" WTF?? Didn't Obama say during the campaign that we will have the same health care as they have?? What happened to that??

Either way, what we have now just plain SUCKS and something needs to be done.

 

[truthseeker]

How about we go after lawyers and Big Pharma lobbyists for starters, before fucking up the system that we already have. Sure we need a health-care reform, but let's take small concrete steps first that we know make sense. You think those clowns are going to do that? Has anybody actually read the bill? I for one applaud Lieberman for not going along with those assholes. I think he's one of the few politicians left in Washington with some kind of integrity. I do totally agree that we need to do something about health insurance reform. I'm in the same boat as everybody else and I hate to deal with those fucks, but I for one wanna know what's inside that bill and who's going to benefit from it before voting for it. Trust me, those clowns are not thinking about you or I and how to benefit us. The only thing that they're thinking about is lining up their pockets with cash, more control and power grab.

 

[David Biedny]

About 3 years ago or so, I had a wart removed from the bottom of my foot.

I spent a total of 4 hours in a hospital, they gave me general anesthesia to do the procedure, there were no less than 3 anesthesiologists (for removing a wart from my foot? WTF?). I was out on crutches a couple of hours later, and the total bill from the hospital was just shy of $12,000. I ended up paying almost $1500 out of pocket, and this is with health insurance. Insane bullshit, totally out of control prices.

Lieberman's wife, Hadassah Lieberman, is a lobbyist for the drug companies and insurance industries. This alone should be a smoking gun.

dB

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Technically she's a lawyer, who worked for a company that represented health care interests. And Sen. Lieberman represents a state where many of the major insurance companies have their home offices, and has received loads of contributions from them. So it comes out to be the same thing. He is a shill.

 

[dyingsun]

I only 'recently' (like the past two-three years) learned about the healthcare Dilemma in the US.I honestly don't get why public health care hasn't been implemented there yet, when I read on other forums that people are actually scared to go to the hospital because they were injured and have no private health insurance, that sure rings a bell for me.

 

[dyingsun]

About 3 years ago or so, I had a wart removed from the bottom of my foot.

I spent a total of 4 hours in a hospital, they gave me general anesthesia to do the procedure, there were no less than 3 anesthesiologists (for removing a wart from my foot? WTF?). I was out on crutches a couple of hours later, and the total bill from the hospital was just shy of $12,000. I ended up paying almost $1500 out of pocket, and this is with health insurance. Insane bullshit, totally out of control prices.

Lieberman's wife, Hadassah Lieberman, is a lobbyist for the drug companies and insurance industries. This alone should be a smoking gun.

dB

OK....something is very very very wrong with this.I mean, what the fuck, I didn't pay a dime except from my fathers taxes he pays yearly for ages, no big ups or downs, to get my twice broken leg fixed some years ago.
Talk about punishing the punished....

 

[EQ42]

 

[boulders and sticks]

How about we go after lawyers and Big Pharma lobbyists for starters, before fucking up the system that we already have. Sure we need a health-care reform, but let's take small concrete steps first that we know make sense. You think those clowns are going to do that? Has anybody actually read the bill? I for one applaud Lieberman for not going along with those assholes. I think he's one of the few politicians left in Washington with some kind of integrity. I do totally agree that we need to do something about health insurance reform. I'm in the same boat as everybody else and I hate to deal with those fucks, but I for one wanna know what's inside that bill and who's going to benefit from it before voting for it. Trust me, those clowns are not thinking about you or I and how to benefit us. The only thing that they're thinking about is lining up their pockets with cash, more control and power grab.

I agree Truthseeker that the big pharma lobbyists and lawyers need to be carefully looked at regarding their role in this mess.
I'm not sure that Joe is on the same page though.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/14/hadassah-lieberman-under-attack-over-industry-ties/

http://ishtarmuz.wordpress.com/2009...iff-schecter-alternet-posted-october-30-2006/

It kind of makes me feel like one of the Animals back in the barn convinced that the pigs are looking out for our best interests. Like them it just feels WRONG.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
(Animal Farm)
Cheers John.

 

[jkoci]

totally out of control prices.

That is the issue that needs to be addressed but the politicians will not touch it. It seems the new bill will not allow cheaper imported drugs.

Senate healthcare bill advances with rejection of imported drugs -- latimes.com

 

[CapnG]

About 3 years ago or so, I had a wart removed from the bottom of my foot.

I spent a total of 4 hours in a hospital, they gave me general anesthesia to do the procedure, there were no less than 3 anesthesiologists (for removing a wart from my foot? WTF?). I was out on crutches a couple of hours later, and the total bill from the hospital was just shy of $12,000. I ended up paying almost $1500 out of pocket, and this is with health insurance. Insane bullshit, totally out of control prices.

Every time I read about something like this, I feel guilty for having ever complained about the health care in my country. Not to rub salt in your wound, David but do you know what that would have cost you in most parts of Canada? $20-$30 for the crutches. That's it. Some clinics would even rent them to you for like $5-$10.

But then again we're all evil and socialist and stuff...

 

[Simonemendez]

At night, I listen to this one Far Right Etremist radio talk show host, ya know, the one who's constantly ragging on the "Islamofascists". And he is constantly comparing Obama and his health care innitiatives, to things like, Adolph Hitler, The Third Reich, the Soviet Union, and last night, Pol Pot and his mountain of skulls, in Cambodia. This dude constantly cries about how England doesn't want him on the air anymore, but I'm getting like, I don't want him on the planet, anymore. I wonder if we can FORCE people to be sent to the International Space Station. They MUST need some kind of help with their bathroom hygene stuff, right? Maybe he could be their janitor.

 

[Cailean]

We Brits are forever complaining about the state of our National Health Service. After reading this, most of us over here don't realize how lucky we are. Thank heavens for Aneurin Bevan.

The people who bitch about it are usually people who've never needed it. People who have are generally more positive. I suffer from an incurable blood disorder, and would have been dead years ago if it wasn't for the treatment I have received from the hands of the genuinely caring doctors and nurses who keep me alive. No complaints here. None at all. If I was an American, I would probably be dead.

 

[boulders and sticks]

The people who bitch about it are usually people who've never needed it. People who have are generally more positive. I suffer from an incurable blood disorder, and would have been dead years ago if it wasn't for the treatment I have received from the hands of the genuinely caring doctors and nurses who keep me alive. No complaints here. None at all. If I was an American, I would probably be dead.

No you would not be dead, but you sure would have a shit load of debt!

 

[Tommy Allison]

The day after Thanksgiving, I was admitted to the ER. I am a self-payer customer. Meaning, I am uninsured.

I had a kidney stone. I had an X-ray, a Cat Scan, a battery of tests, and of course they gave me stuff for the pain I was in.

I was in the hospital a little under 3 hours. My bill?

$4500.00

This was of course discounted since I was paying out of pocket from $8000.00.

Am I angry for having to pay out that much in costs? A little. Not so much at the hospital, because I know they are a for profit business whose expenditures are no less than 60% administrative. Meaning if you could get rid of most of the non-medical personnel, you'd have affordable health care coverage.

That would be the start. Then you have to have Tort reform to quit turning every malpractice suit into a lottery ticket for the lawyers and of course their clients. You then also get rid of all the perks that Big Medical, and Big Pharma have with the influence their lobbyists have over the folks in Congress and the Senate.

You do away with this idea of Socialism, and Socialized medicine because if you think it's expensive now when it's your money, and the insurance company's money, wait til it's the government. You think your taxes are high now, just wait.

That's the thing that most people don't understand. Taxes affect EVERYONE, and if you rob Peter to pay Paul, who then has to Rob Brian and Steve, and Mickey, you find out really fast that pretty soon Mickey, who probably employs the other 4 guys is now going belly up due to his overhead costs.

For those of you who don't make any money, or make enough money, don't expect those who make more than you to take care of you. That's what churches are for, and if Churches were about charity and helping people like they used to, instead of being corporations immune from taxation, Health Care wouldn't be a problem for ANYONE.

There would be plenty of charity to go around if we taxed every church the same way that all the socialists who want free health care at the expense of others want to tax them.

I'm going to pay my $4500.00 bill, and I'm not going to complain. I'm not rich either, but since I incurred the expense, I've got to be the one to pay it.

 

[Tommy Allison]

Every time I read about something like this, I feel guilty for having ever complained about the health care in my country. Not to rub salt in your wound, David but do you know what that would have cost you in most parts of Canada? $20-$30 for the crutches. That's it. Some clinics would even rent them to you for like $5-$10.

But then again we're all evil and socialist and stuff...

And how long would David have had to wait to be treated? For a wart on his foot, that was non-life threatening, how long would he have had to wait to get the treatment?

More importantly, how much money would David would be paying out of his wages in taxes, to cover it? I assure you that Socialism costs far more than it pays.

 

[CapnG]

And how long would David have had to wait to be treated? For a wart on his foot, that was non-life threatening, how long would he have had to wait to get the treatment?

On average? Maybe an hour or two. It would depend on whether or ot he would need a referral but for something that simple it would probably be done in less time than he spent waiting to get in.

More importantly, how much money would David would be paying out of his wages in taxes, to cover it? I assure you that Socialism costs far more than it pays.

Of the G8 countries, the USA has the highest per capita health care costs. Canada has second highest, roughly half that of America's, so realistically it would have cost him half of whatever he currently pays now in out-of-pocket private costs.

 

[boulders and sticks]

Speaking from personal experience of living here in the USA for 20 years and also before that living in the Uk for 23 years i have been able to sample both systems up close and personal.
In the UK i have used the medical system from time to time. From falling out of a tree house when i was 8 years old and cutting my eyelid badly, to an irritating ear infection that i had to have surgery for.
Also i was on Holiday there some years ago and My son was sick, it was at the time of one of those scares avien flu or something. Anyway the doctor made a house call to see him. From the time of the call to the knock on the door was around 2 to 3 hours.
Also my Father who passed away earlier this year suffered terribley from manic depression. He was in and out of Hospital from the mid 70's and on. Some of his visits lasted for weeks. Earler this year he had a car accident possibly caused by a mild heart attack or strock. He went into Hospital and was put under to Aid his breathing, he was having trouble with fluid on his lungs. He was under for 5 or more weeks in intensive care. He eventually came around but later took a turn for the worse and died.

Living in the US I i have been in Hospital twice, once for the problem i described earlier in this thread and the other time when i got into a altercation with a table saw. The Saw won and i put three fingers though a difficult time.
Luckily at the time i had very good coverage this was around 12 years ago and most of the cost was covered.
To be Honest i have yet to experience really bad service from either Country. My Father and the rest of my family and friends in the UK have always been completly happy with what they have there.
Never any hint of denied service from anybody I know.
I earn ok money and am a lot better off than a lot of people, but when it comes to Health care and the odd visit to the hospital i have to tell you one of the first things to go through my mind is, Oh Fuck how much is this going to cost, maybe i can put it off for a bit, even though i have coverage which turns out not to cover too much.
If there is a next time maybe i will jump on a plane, ( My saved deductible should cover my girlfriend and I for the Flight) i could get a Holiday out of the deal, get treated, pay my bills here and see my family.
I will even take the risk and use Foreign drugs!!

Cheers John.