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Every developed nation except the United States has universal health care. They do vary from one another, so there are various ways one can be set up. It would not be disruptive if the United States simply made everyone at any age eligible for Medicare. That would also make it easy to keep costs down.
Everyone who qualifies is already eligible for medicare. That's never been the problem. It's getting them to change the stall until the claimant dies policy.
The proposal is that everyone automatically would qualify for Medicare, including all young people. In addition, if everyone were on Medicare, that would put pressure on health care providers to be more honest.
There is something of a stall, but it is the health care businesses which do this, not the government.
I've seen this personally with the HMOs. They receive a flat fee of a number of thousands of dollars per year, and as long as there is nothing serious,they are very friendly and helpful. I have seen that change when someone develops an illness which will cost them a lot of money treat
One case involved a person my mother knew who was on Secure Horizons. She developed a hoarse voice that wouldn't go away and went to her Secure Horizons doctor, and he told her not to worry, that it was nothing. However, it didn't go away so she went back a couple of times more and he sent her away again. Finally, she developed a lump in her throat that was obvious. When she went to the doctor again, he told her that it was cancer and had now spread so far that treatment was impossible. Nevertheless, she went to the hospital for chemotherapy, and died after the first dose. That has happened to enough people I personally or indirectly have known that I wonder if people are sometimes given a fatal dose so the HMO won't have to pay the money to keep on treating them..
Then, it happened to my mother, and I saw it closely because I took care of my mother. There were difficulties time after time, but I will just describe the beginning; My mother developed severe itching so went to her Kaiser doctor. Kaiser is a cooperative, but it is a cooperative of doctors, not a cooperative of patients. Her doctor told her it was nothing and without doing any tests, just sent her away with some itch medicine. That didn't work so she went back again, and he sent her to psychiatry.
At that point, I decided to do some reading in medical books, and discovered that itching was a symptom in several serious diseases. I was seeing my own psychiatrist due to depression, and asked him. He told me that itching isn't a psychiatric symptom. The doctors at Kaiser had all gone to medical school, so at least some of them should have known that.
So she got worse and began to develop some jaundice. At that point, she was too embarrassed to go in again but I said I would go with her and got her to agree.
So we went into the urgent care clinic. I was a bit embarrassed to go into the examining room with her, but decided I had better.
So we went into the examining room, and a young Chinese resident said it looked like it might be a serious problem, and sent us to radiology. At radiology, we were told that they were too busy for her, but if we came back the next day, we could make an appointment then. I don't know why, but I asked if we could have the barium drink now so she could take it right away when we got an appointment. The nurse had probably never been asked that, and gave us the drink.
That evening, the young Chinese resident called us at home to ask about the appointment. We told him what had happened, and he said to come to urgent care first thing in the morning and he would arrange for the scan. When he heard that we had the barium drink in hand, he said my mother should drink it now.
So we went in, and the young Chinese resident tried to get an appointment for my mother, but radiology refused. He then said that he could admit her to the hospital, and then she could have the scan right away. However, the supervising doctor told him no and that she should go home. The young Chinese doctor was then taken off the case. Evidently, he didn't know that not to be caring about patients was Kaiser policy.
So I was really scared and forced myself to speak calmly, because I knew that if I raised my voice, they might call security. As calmly as I could, I explained that her first Kaiser doctor had sent her home without doing tests, and that in some medical books, I had read that itching can be a symptom of something serious, so we would just wait.
They then sent a nurse in to tell us that we would be more comfortable waiting in the waiting room, but I knew we wouldn't get back in if we left, so I said it was OK because we were comfortable here. Still trying to speak calmly.
They then sent a higher level doctor in to tell us to leave, and I went through my calm spiel about her not having been given tests before, and my having read the medical books, and that the young Chinese resident had said something was seriously wrong.
So we waited another hour or so in the examining room, and two doctors came in. I repeated my spiel. They said that radiology was too busy. I said that we would be willing to wait for a midnight appointment if necessary. I also added that she had already drunk the barium drink, and it would cause a waste of money if the scan wasn't done.
At that point, she was admitted to the hospital, given the scan, and the next day, she had emergency surgery to open a blocked bile duct. It turned out that she had cancer. Getting her treated afterwards involved some similat difficulties.
So I know about your stall, and it wasn't the government which did it. Also notice that it was a Chinese doctor who was honest and wanted to help. Although there are problems between the United States and China which need to be resolved, I think that shows that there is something good in Chinese culture that we could connect to.
Jim