No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States.
-- George Washington
Friday, July 24, 2009
Visual Representation of Lies, Damned Lies, and 46 Million Uninsured
My post about the dishonest uninsured statistic from a couple of months ago got a revealing response. I thought this political cartoon further explains the point:
I went back and read the original post and most of the comments. I came across this one.
"I would expect a fair and well-run government health care system to setup clear and easily understandable guidelines for physicians and patients in these situations."
Simply made my day. I haven't had a good laugh in a long time.
Seriously, this person needs to look at Medicare & Medicaid. "easily understandable guidelines" - I'm still laughing
Medicare and Medicaid are actually worse than private insurance companies when it comes to hassles and phone trees without ever speaking to a real person.
I've worked in a cancer treatment center, and with private insurance there is an appeal process if you want to use a treatment drug that isn't part of the "clear and easily understandable guidelines". I talked to nurses and doctors that insurance company employs to go over the cases and approve payment. With enough data I could persuade them to approve other treatments.
Medicare on the other hand had no such process. If your desired treatment was not on the list, too bad. There was no number to call, no doctor to speak with. I fear that is what we are headed for.
2 comments:
I went back and read the original post and most of the comments. I came across this one.
"I would expect a fair and well-run government health care system to setup clear and easily understandable guidelines for physicians and patients in these situations."
Simply made my day. I haven't had a good laugh in a long time.
Seriously, this person needs to look at Medicare & Medicaid. "easily understandable guidelines" - I'm still laughing
Medicare and Medicaid are actually worse than private insurance companies when it comes to hassles and phone trees without ever speaking to a real person.
I've worked in a cancer treatment center, and with private insurance there is an appeal process if you want to use a treatment drug that isn't part of the "clear and easily understandable guidelines". I talked to nurses and doctors that insurance company employs to go over the cases and approve payment. With enough data I could persuade them to approve other treatments.
Medicare on the other hand had no such process. If your desired treatment was not on the list, too bad. There was no number to call, no doctor to speak with. I fear that is what we are headed for.
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