I hear a figure of 18,000. What am I talking about? Not some mass bombing. Not some invasion of a country. Not even the number of annual traffic fatalities. I'm talking about the people of this nation who will die because they have no health care coverage and the ones who do have coverage yet get denied what they were promised. These people who did nothing wrong other than be a living creature born and working in the U.S. People who have paid their taxes and paid their bills who now face a medical emergency. But it isn't really a medical emergency as much as it's a financial emergency. Most of us could easily face an operation, proceedure or treatment but it's the bill that does the most damage. Just one trip to the ICU and an overnight stay can wipe out any savings, cause the loss of a home and tear a family apart.
Rather than fixing the system and niping medical problems in the bud before they become expensive burdens on not just the poeple involved but to the taxpayers as well,some would leave the system as is. What they fail to realize is that the system can not stay the same. With the boomers set to retire even Medicare as it is right now can not continue. When a patient can't pay there's bankruptcy and the price must be covered but with no assets the burden falls ultimately on the taxpayer and to the nation as a whole.
As I see it the health care system will go the way of the auto industry with the costs and prices going beyond what anyone except the very wealthy could afford. At that time the burden will fall on the entire nation in terms of more money going to pay for the mess and a loss of GDP. We've waited so long that we can not afford to kick the can down the road any longer. The tipping point is now upon us.
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Well said. If there is a major H1N1 outbreak this coming flu season and tens of millions of Americans are affected. A percentage of those infected will need hospital care, because it attacks to respiratory system. My wife teaches pediatrics, and she is telling me the high risk groups are kids and healthy young people, because us old farts immune systems are up and working and have been for years, but the young and healthy are easily laid low because of an immature immune system in comparison. So we could be seeing a real test for hospitals this winter.
I have no intention of asking much of the system at my age. I'm getting old and I don't give a crap if I die or not, or any interest in making doctors richer, so it's going to save the taxpayers some money.
There's way to many monkeys on this rock doing stupid things anyway so a good purging is in order. Young, old, it matters not to nature.
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