medical care

[MAKG]

Canada's Health care used to be the envy of many countries...but it was also the envy of everyone who knew how to take advantage of it...between that and greedy docs it has been turned into the 'dont do what Canada did" story...

Shame...and earlier this year I had an incident that left me wondering...I was sick and wanted to see a doctor...went to a walk-in clinic because my former doctor was an hours drive away...they wouldn't see me without either charging me $50 or producing my health card...so I went home and looked for it...I thought I had it...went to the Ministry to get another health card...they wanted proof that I was a Canadian citizen...couldn't find my birth certificate now...(I'm really good at hiding things from me these days)...had to pay $35 to get a replacement...that only took four months to complete...

Anyways, I finally get my new health card...but I cannot find a doctor in my area because they are not taking patients...usually I end up going to the hospital (who have my records and don't require a health card....WTF).

The Ministry of Health informed me that I could always go to the hospital for medical care...but if you've ever been in a hospital in Canada where you walk in, you can expect to wait at least two hours for someone to look at you...and that is only if there are no emergencies that are more urgent than your symptoms...

It is now actually better that they put the health card restriction in place...in the sense that they are not experiencing the high rates of patients that are not entitled to Canadian health benefits...but it took them long enough to implement this system...and I just happened to have been on the receiving end of their reforms...

You know, that's a very interesting read.

'Cause the only thing that's different in the US is that they would charge you the $50 regardless, and if you didn't have insurance, add 2-3 (maybe 4) zeroes onto it (depending on what was wrong).

An emergency room visit almost always means overnight, unless you're bleeding. And trust me, that's not much fun with a "hot" appendix.

It's hard to find a new PCP. It's next to impossible to see a specialist in less than a few months. WITH insurance.

 

[Ozwynn]

dude you need to move then. when I shattered my foot it took 4 days for my occupational insurance company (Liberty Mutual) had me in the office of one of the top 10 foot and ankle guys in the US that just happens to practice in ElkHart IN ad took care of everything. I paid not 1 dime out of my pocket, not even for prescriptions,they provided me with a card to get anything I needed for my foot at wall greens. most of the top doctors practice in scottsdale AZ because thats where all the old people live.

I have never had a problem seeing a specialist for anything wether I had insurance or not so you guys that complain that you can't get in to see a specialist or can't afford health insurance ever think that maybe its where you live? I have access to 35 pediatricians within 25 miles of me that are all taking patients and all accept my insurance. Now its time for me to sound hartless ........ I pay $8000 for medical insurance for my family and 18 employees and their families. You want me to pay for your medical insurance then guess what ...... I am hiring other than that ....... I am not paying one more dime in taxes for people that either don't want to work, think they are entitled to something, would rather have a big screen TV than pay $150 a month medical insurance. Now as far as the 45 million that slip through the cracks .....guess what ...... I give myself a paycheck of $750 a week and I still afford to buy all the things that the Democrats say I can't afford with out Government help. According Governor Granny Granholm I make about $20,000 less that the poverty line for a family of 5 in Michigan and yet I don't take government assistance and we do just fine. I don't understand why since I have the ability to pave my own way why I pave to pave the way for others...............

 

[Dishtowel]

A hospital hired me to design them a custom accounting software package. They wanted all the normal standard things, but their #1 most IMPORTANT priority was:

The amount of money they can collect from insurance is determined by the admitting diagnosis. The software has to track, real time, patient charges and estimate at the current rate, when the patient will exceed the allowable charges - then issue warning alerts so the patient can be discharged before the maximum charges are reached. Then they can readmit the patient with a different diagnosis to resume charging!

= GREED

On the hospitals part, not yours.

 

[MAKG]

BDAB, something is really not adding up.

You claim to pay $70,000 in taxes, yet live near the poverty line?

To pay that much in taxes, you would need to be pulling in over $200,000 per year. That's a little shy of ten times the Federal poverty level for a family of five.

Or are you claiming business expenses as personal? That's misleading, to say the least. YOU are not paying those taxes; your business is. Either you count your business or you don't; if you are going to count the taxes, count the income as well.

And $20,000 less than the poverty level for a family of five is a few thousand dollars per year. That doesn't add up either. At $750/week, that should be a bit shy of $40,000. Do you REALLY claim the poverty level is $60,000? BS.

 

[canyoncritter]

39g's gross is not much money really for a family of 5. after taxes on his paycheck I bet he ruffly nets 27-30 of it. that breaks down to 125 per person a week.
looking at this, it dont look like he's to far ahead of the poverity line....granted its for 2007
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/07poverty.shtml

200g's a year is easy to "gross" on a small bussines a year.and end up paying more in taxes than in net profit.

but I bet you MAkg are one of those people that think since he own's the bussines he should not profit from the bussines?

anouther thing to think, maybe just maybe part of his "bussines" profit get put back in to the bussines to make a bigger beter bussines....

 

[crbnunit]

It costs so much for health care for three reasons. Indigent patients that can't pay or won't pay and litigation. Health care is denied to no one in this country. Illegal immigrants flood our clinics and emergency rooms only to disappear when the bills come due. I'm not singling them out as many of our "citizens" do the same thing. If they have a cold, they get sent on their way but if they need a quadruple bypass or cancer treatment, they are taken care of... at our expense. So, no one is turned away. Even those that can't pay. All the rest of us get to pick up the bill in the form of higher prices for health care, higher insurance rates and higher taxes. Isn't this fun?

Then we have litigation. Health care professionals spend big bucks on malpractice insurance. Millions if not billions are pumped out by insurance companies every year to pay for frivolous lawsuits against health care. Some are justified. Many are not.

Then we can throw in fraud. Both Medicare and Medicaid have issues.

You want to fix health care? Fix those things and prices will go down for everyone.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

BDAB, something is really not adding up.

You claim to pay $70,000 in taxes, yet live near the poverty line?

To pay that much in taxes, you would need to be pulling in over $200,000 per year. That's a little shy of ten times the Federal poverty level for a family of five.

Or are you claiming business expenses as personal? That's misleading, to say the least. YOU are not paying those taxes; your business is. Either you count your business or you don't; if you are going to count the taxes, count the income as well.

And $20,000 less than the poverty level for a family of five is a few thousand dollars per year. That doesn't add up either. At $750/week, that should be a bit shy of $40,000. Do you REALLY claim the poverty level is $60,000? BS.

I thought something didn't add up either. Thanks for doing the math though, I suck at that.

My dad runs, yes runs, a hospital outside of Boston. The biggest drain on his hospital (Children's Hospital) is people who come into the emergency room because they have no healthcare, and since by law they are required to treat people, the hospitals lose money. Boston's number of hospitals shrinks every year due rising costs of treatment as well as patients' inability to pay. This is also compouned by the fact that Medicaid, and to a lesser extent Medicare, severely cap what hospitals and physicians can charge for various procedures.

I'm not saying we should have healthcare either way, but something needs to be done about it, because in the end its the quality of healthcare that suffers.

 

[skippy]

It costs so much for health care for three reasons. Indigent patients that can't pay or won't pay and litigation. Health care is denied to no one in this country. Illegal immigrants flood our clinics and emergency rooms only to disappear when the bills come due. I'm not singling them out as many of our "citizens" do the same thing. If they have a cold, they get sent on their way but if they need a quadruple bypass or cancer treatment, they are taken care of... at our expense. So, no one is turned away. Even those that can't pay. All the rest of us get to pick up the bill in the form of higher prices for health care, higher insurance rates and higher taxes. Isn't this fun?

Then we have litigation. Health care professionals spend big bucks on malpractice insurance. Millions if not billions are pumped out by insurance companies every year to pay for frivolous lawsuits against health care. Some are justified. Many are not.

Then we can throw in fraud. Both Medicare and Medicaid have issues.

You want to fix health care? Fix those things and prices will go down for everyone.

Well said!Exactly what I saw when I worked in two Hospitals over 15 years.

 

[skippy]

can't suck it up my profit margin isn't big enough. I just pass it on to my customers who pass it on to you the consumers. Obama wins and I will probably have to lock my doors because higher taxes will put us in a depression that makes jimmy carter seem like a happy memory.

People seem to forget the Carter years.Thanks for reply,I suspected as much.

 

[Ozwynn]

BDAB, something is really not adding up.

You claim to pay $70,000 in taxes, yet live near the poverty line?

To pay that much in taxes, you would need to be pulling in over $200,000 per year. That's a little shy of ten times the Federal poverty level for a family of five.

Or are you claiming business expenses as personal? That's misleading, to say the least. YOU are not paying those taxes; your business is. Either you count your business or you don't; if you are going to count the taxes, count the income as well.

And $20,000 less than the poverty level for a family of five is a few thousand dollars per year. That doesn't add up either. At $750/week, that should be a bit shy of $40,000. Do you REALLY claim the poverty level is $60,000? BS.

dude have you missed the last 4 years where I have repeatedly said I was self employed. I have an LLC and draw a paycheck and put 100% of the net profit back into expanding. And I said I have already paid more that 70,000 in taxes this year. I don't know what that figure is exactly but last year I grossed 3.8 million dollars and took home $41,000 after expenses and taxes. this year I took on a partner and had to incorporate as an LLC so I draw a payheck. my partner draws the same paycheck so I will pay a little less percentage wise in taxes this year. and the poverty line for a family of 5 in Berrien county in the state of Michigan as of 2006 according to granny granholm is 51,000 and change. in 2006 I grossed 650,000 (only had 3 trucks and none of my own trailers and not operating under my own authority) and after taxes and expenses I took home 29,000 and change and that may not be the poverty line, I could have that wrong but I do know that is the point I no longer qualify for government services (the 51,000). you tell me where my statement doesn't add up.

you want me to clain the income from my buisness well then fine. I pay myself $750 a week. I have been running a consistent 5% profit margin all year. I have 1 customer that just stiffed me for $200,000 because they have 90 days to pay me so it took 90 to discover that they were not going to pay us and filed bankruptcy, I will never see that money and I feel bad for the 600 or so people that they had to lay off but i had to take on a partner to keep operating untill the end of the year........ so how do I claim that...... you look at my books and I am running $250,000 in the red and still paid $34,000 in road use tax. My Federal income tax is miniscule compared to what I pay in F.E.T., Social Security, fuel, road, and lets beat up on john because he was dumb and incorporated in Michigan tax. This doesn't begin to mention the 23.5% tax built into the price of everything that my buisness buys. so figure that 23.5% of my expenses also go into Federal treasurey and at this point I am too high on Vicoden to figure out my actual tax figure but I bet it run a million plus. so again i ask how does my statement not add up? I pay myself $750 a week.

 

[skippy]

You know, that's a very interesting read.

'Cause the only thing that's different in the US is that they would charge you the $50 regardless, and if you didn't have insurance, add 2-3 (maybe 4) zeroes onto it (depending on what was wrong).

An emergency room visit almost always means overnight, unless you're bleeding. And trust me, that's not much fun with a "hot" appendix.

It's hard to find a new PCP. It's next to impossible to see a specialist in less than a few months. WITH insurance.

Mike,you and I have locked horns on this issue in the past as you know.I read your post here and sense it is a hot issue still.I'm wondering if there isn't something wrong with healthcare in your area,your state that doesn't exist here.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

Mike,you and I have locked horns on this issue in the past as you know.I read your post here and sense it is a hot issue still.I'm wondering if there isn't something wrong with healthcare in your area,your state that doesn't exist here.

His area might see the same problems that even medical centers like Boston, New York, etc. can come across. There are just too many people needing to see specialists today that it can take a month or more to get an appointment.

I personally worked for a cardiologist practice that worked mostly through referrals from PCPs. I remember a couple summers ago I had to offer an appointment to an elderly woman almost a month after the date she called, due to the fact that we were backed up so much. It just gets crazy sometimes.

My copay for an ER visit is $50. For someone uninsured, even if it's just an ACE bandage can be upwards of $400-$500 in the Boston area and north. Mostly because the hospitals have to recover some loss from all the people they treat that don't have insurance and/or can't/won't pay.

Again, it's the quality of healthcare that declines from what I've seen in all this.

 

[Ozwynn]

get a cut and put a band-aid on it
sprain an ankle take two asprin and wrap it tight with a sock if you don't have an ace bandage and stay off it for 1 day then start using it
get gasoline in your eyes then flush with the garden hose for 15 min.

if people would use some common sense before going to the ER then they wouldn't be so clogged up. but then again I purposely chose an ER that does not have a trauma ward so i was seen with in 5 min of arriving ........ ofcourse they thought i was having a heart attack

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

get a cut and put a band-aid on it
sprain an ankle take two asprin and wrap it tight with a sock if you don't have an ace bandage and stay off it for 1 day then start using it
get gasoline in your eyes then flush with the garden hose for 15 min.

if people would use some common sense before going to the ER then they wouldn't be so clogged up. but then again I purposely chose an ER that does not have a trauma ward so i was seen with in 5 min of arriving ........ ofcourse they thought i was having a heart attack

I agree with you. But people aren't going to do that because there's nothing common about common sense.

 

[Ozwynn]

true but everybody knows somebody with common sense