Ladies and gentlemen, “the best health care system on Earth!”
Stephen Hawking
It’s a good thing that physicist Stephen Hawking was born in Great Britain, with its nationalized health care system. Because if he lived here in the United States, with its gaping holes in health-care coverage, he’d probably be dead or shuttered away in a human warehouse by now.
Just ask Kenny Whitey. He’d tell you all about it.
If he could.
Whitey is a trucker who was seriously injured on the job. Now his workman’s comp company has gone out of business, leaving him and his family out of luck and out of options. As the Gainesville Times reports:
“Overall, Whitey’s medical bills total around $47,000 per month.
“He just started physical therapy three weeks ago. The doctors said that they saw a 2 percent improvement. When you have a brain injury, 2 percent is a lot of improvement and now we don’t have any way to pay for that,” Pat Whitey said.
“The van company that has been transporting him to his appointments isn’t being paid now, and we can’t expect them to keep working for free. And the nurse agency told us last week that we have 14 days to figure out what we’re going to do. Everyone has been holding on, but we just don’t know how we are going to pay for everything.”
(H/T to Hillbilly Deluxe)
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323 comments Add your comment
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
7:13 am
In news from the world of universal health care, Mark Wattson, 35, collapsed in pain in the street in Swindon, England, a month after he had his appendix removed.
He was rushed by ambulance to Great Western Hospital, the place where his appendectomy was done and where doctors had released him after assurances that all went well.
This time, Mr. Wattson was told by the same team of doctors that his supposedly removed appendix had burst and that he needed to be readmitted for an emergency appendectomy.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” said Wattson. “I told these people I had my appendix out just four weeks earlier but there it was on the screen for all to see. I thought: ‘What the hell did they slice me open for in the first place’?” -AmSpec
I report/ you decide.
The government hacks cut you open for no reason or your health insurance fails and you have to apply for medicaid.
Jay
November 18th, 2009
7:25 am
Because that kind of thing NEVER happens here in the US under private care, right Reporter?
Right?
But then there’s this, from New Milford, Conn., to cite just one of way too many examples:
During the 6 1/2 -hour procedure, Dr. Mabasa nicked an iliac artery supplying blood to Kelleher’s legs, and later misdiagnosed the problem when recovery room nurses found her left leg to be pale, numb and pulseless.
Hours passed without medical intervention. And days later, the 59-year-old who loved to garden, roll around on the floor with her dog, Tabitha, and take long walks, was given the grim news: Her leg had been starved for blood too long, and would have to be amputated above the knee.
Although New Milford Hospital recently paid Kelleher $5.25 million for the June 2005 mishap, the hospital did not report the case to the state Department of Public Health as an adverse event. And the state did not investigate Kelleher’s surgery until more than two years later, after the hospital took action on its own to keep Mabasa out of its operating rooms.
During that time, Mabasa botched at least three more operations, state investigators later concluded, including a failed colostomy that ultimately required the surgical removal of a patient’s vagina, according to health department documents.
The truth is that medical mistakes, which are tragic and happen in all kinds of systems, have nothing to do with how we insure, or do not insure, the cost of medical treatment.
Rightwing Troll
November 18th, 2009
7:27 am
They obviously were just harvesting a kidney for resale…
BWAhahahaha…. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Jay should know better by now… Andy has RSS feeds of nutsack sites to cut and paste from instantaneously when needed… and he avails himself of them regularly…
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Normal
November 18th, 2009
7:29 am
MR. PRESIDENT, BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW. THEN WE CAN TALK ABOUT HEALTHCARE.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
7:30 am
“I would start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they are earning, more of what they are producing, more of what they own and earn so that they could start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people,” she told Walters. “Not punishing them by forcing health care reform down their throats; by forcing an energy policy down their throats that ultimately will tax them more and cost them more to stay in business. Those are backassward ways of trying to fix the economy.”-Sarah Palin
She shoots, she scores!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
7:33 am
bookman- Then why doesn’t the democrat health care proposal address those issues?
And are you saying that Kenny Whitey has no other options, that he will just die in the street?
Really?
Rightwing Troll
November 18th, 2009
7:35 am
I’ve owned a small business for 7 years now. My taxes haven’t gone up at all, and the healthcare debate doesn’t affect me.
How’s your small business doing?
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ewwwwwwwwwwwwww
Rightwing Troll
November 18th, 2009
7:36 am
There’s definately some “scoring” going on over at the Palin’s house…
Rightwing Troll
November 18th, 2009
7:38 am
The fact that I own a small business is why I only get on here in the mornings (before work), unlike the nutsack trolls who can somehow stay camped out here all day long every day… Plus I have a life…
Normal
November 18th, 2009
7:41 am
Andy is a special case. His glass isn’t half empty, and his glass isn’t half full. His glass is broken.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
7:43 am
bookman- Something in the spam can?
Vinny
November 18th, 2009
7:43 am
The heart bleeds, Jay. It’s a typical liberal ploy – bring out one or two instances of mismanagement and cry out that the system as a whole needs to be demolished and rebuilt. Using that logic, the insurance company should have built me a new house instead of just having the roof replaced during that bad hail storm.
Meanwhile, the government health agency is trying to tell women that they don’t need to have mammograms before they reach age 50. They are just trying to prepare these folks for the rationing that is sure to come under the Dems heath plan.
Americans have overwhemingly stated that they don’t want what Obama and the libs in his administration are trying to jam down our throats.
Note to AJC editor – This is the type of writing that is keeping people from subscribing to your newspaper.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
7:43 am
Lord Help Us- Notice how I pay no attention to you whatsoever.
Last look!
N-GA
November 18th, 2009
7:44 am
Kim owns a Real Estate Agency. Her taxes are cut by the government and she decides to go out and hire some more agents. But wait! They work on commission and houses aren’t selling right now. Oh well…Kim will just laugh all the way to the bank.
Etc, etc., etc…………Oh! Let’s just cut taxes to ZERO! Darn, then we can’t pay our soldiers and government employees. What will we do?
Palin went to the George W. Bush School of (Inept) Business
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2009
7:44 am
“He has always been a hard worker and a really good guy. I just don’t know what to do or who to call for help — I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, not even someone that I didn’t like,” said Pat Whitey.
Yeah, well, suck it up–you sink or swim in this here country, and there’s plenty of room at the bottom of the lake for those who can’t cut it. Nothing is free.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
7:47 am
More extreme cases from the extreme liberal left. Im sure Mr Hawking wouldnt have been shuttered away in the “human whse”.
However, with OboboCare the silly govt bureaucracy, here in the U.S., may well have deemed it necessary to pull the plug on Mr Hawking.
Move along…nothing to see here.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
7:48 am
Perhaps by trotting muhammed ali the sports fans might jump on the OboboCare bandwagon.
Obobos new name…ObaMao!!
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 18th, 2009
7:49 am
Well, this Whitey guy must of made some Bad Choices. Now he has to take Personal Responsibility. Just because he got hisself into a bad fix is no reason to spend trillions of bucks to make sure everybody in the U.S. of A. has health insurance.
Sure, it’s bad news for him. But if it takes a year to get a 2% improvement he’s still got 50 years to go to get healed. The American taxpayer ain’t going to set still for being taxed to death just so somebody can get took care of on somebody else’s dime for 50 years. If he’s got mental problems then turn him loose and let somebody like @@ teach him how to tie his shoes and such. That woman can do it. She’s downright mean on here and I figure if he don’t learn quick she’ll kick his A and straighten him up right fast.
Anyway, I got my health insurance and Medicare to boot. That’s because I made Good Choices and took Personal Responsibility.
Have a good day everybody.
Don
November 18th, 2009
7:49 am
Single payer guaranteed health care for everyone. Now.
N-GA
November 18th, 2009
7:51 am
Vinny…that type of change in opinion generally originates in the Healthcare Industry. Look at the number of prescription drugs that were changed to over-the-counter drugs. Pepcid was one of the top selling prescription drugs when the Health Insurance industry suggested that it be sold over-the-counter. When the FDA approved that action, the expenses for the insurance companies went down. Did our insurance premiums go down? NO! They’ve NEVER gone down.
This little scenario has repeated itself far too many times. BTW, the side effects for these drugs haven’t changed. Nor have the drug interactions (”Don’t take this drug if you are taking……”). And pharmacy software can’t track non-prescription drugs to help prevent problems from drug interaction.
It’s all about profit for Health Insurance companies.
Peadawg
November 18th, 2009
7:54 am
“Single payer guaranteed health care for everyone. Now.”
Are you willing to have your taxes raised to pay for everyone’s healthcare? Honest yes or no answer please, Don.
Gale
November 18th, 2009
7:56 am
As long as the health care industry is run by profit-based companies –private insurance–, the costs will not go down for us, the consumers. Costs may go down for the insurance companies so they can book more profit. But that is not the same thing, is it?
N-GA
November 18th, 2009
7:58 am
Jay,
I tried a quick Google and didn’t get any good results. Do you have access to information about what happens to our health insurance premiums now? It would be interesting to see. For example, my premium (BC/BS) is $2100/month (true), but excludes dental & eyewear. What does BC/BS do with that money? How much goes to advertising, operating expenses, payments to healthcare providers, payments to labs, payments to pharmacies, payments to lobbyists, etc. I want to know exactly what percentage is actually used to pay for my healthcare! Then how many $billions are spent in the USA on non-healthcare related costs? Relate that to taxes, the cost of healthcare reform, etc.
jt
November 18th, 2009
7:59 am
“Overall, Whitey’s medical bills total around $47,000 per month.”
It IS tragic, but Government is NEVER the solution to problems that Government itself caused.
Sorry.
richard
November 18th, 2009
8:00 am
Another article on healthcare reform. First, a true story. My girlfriend has traveled to Toronto three times for her mother’s surgery. The first two times the hospital, doctors, and staff and performed their allotment, and it was therefore necessary to re-schedule. I am sure this has happened in the US, so let’s stop the useless “one off” stories. Second, let’s stop the silly discussions that the government needs to enter yet another line of business. The government exists to govern, regulate, and defend. We need to stop griping and force ourselves to take responsibility. Turn off the tv and computer and go for a walk. Stop letting the tv and your doc convince you that yet another pill will improve your life. Look at Fortune 500 companies that are truly reducing their healthcare costs with great programs. Government and “big business” will continually fail you. Note that Pfizer was fined in excess of $1 billion for promoting drugs for non intended uses. Do we really believe the goverment has $500b of savings- go ahead and save the $, you don’t need a new bill. All of us would be shocked if we heard the dems and republicans discuss these issue on a daily basis. If we all challenge ourselves, our doctors, and our goverment, we will get a better system that then can provide for the Americans who truly need financial support.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 18th, 2009
8:01 am
Gee, what’s the first thing the government always cuts?-
WASHINGTON – The House passed a bill Tuesday to let the struggling U.S. Postal Service cover a budget shortfall by reducing its annual payment to a health care fund for retirees by $4 billion.
So if they run all of the health care in the United States, they could just stop paying for it and we’d be in the black!
Oh, happy day!
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
8:02 am
N-GA
November 18th, 2009
7:51 am
Yes…the price of MOST things continue to increase. Dont your wages continue to increase? If not then too bad for you.
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2009
8:02 am
Are you willing to have your taxes raised to pay for everyone’s healthcare?
Not that you asked me, but–yes.
Are you willing to have your own insurance premiums outpace inflation indefinitely so that the private insurance companies and their investors can continue to profit from suffering, in a manner unseen anywhere in the civilized world?
Mrs. Godzilla
November 18th, 2009
8:02 am
United States Of America
We’re # 37!
Rah Rah Rah
State of Georgia
We’re # 40!!
Siss Boom Bah
http://os.cqpress.com/rankings/HealthRankings_2009.pdf
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
8:05 am
“Everyone has been holding on, but we just don’t know how we are going to pay for everything.”
Dont pay for any of it. File bankruptcy. I certainly think this situation qualifies.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
8:07 am
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2009
8:02 am
IM fine with paying the increase in insurance premiums and collecting my stock dividends also.
Did you buy any stock yesterday or spend the entire day whining? The latter Im sure.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
8:08 am
Not to worry Comrades. ObaMao will take care…lol.
Gale
November 18th, 2009
8:08 am
I see the problem this way. The only reason I have health insurance is catastrophic care. I can handle normal expenses just fine. So can the majority of citizens. However, if people could buy health insurance for only catastophy (I just know that is spelled wrong.) and if only chronically sick people bought regular insurance, the cost of that insurance would be very high. The answer, IMO, is to tax everyone and have single payer health care. Let insurance companies stay on the fringes. Some people will get free care because they do not work and do not pay taxes. So what? They get free care now anyway.
mike
November 18th, 2009
8:08 am
This is clearly a tragic story, but let’s not confuse the desire to offer the best treatment for everyone with our ability to do so. Where is the $564k per year to pay for this man’s treatment supposed to come from? That is eleven times the median US income.
This is the crux of the problem. Fifty years ago, all of these expensive therapies did not exist. Since that time, we have made tremendous advances in treatment, but many of these treatments are very expensive. As tragic as it is, our economy just does not produce enough wealth to offer all of these treatments to everyone, and holding that up as the goal is just denying reality.
N-GA
November 18th, 2009
8:11 am
Boogers…..Using your logic, taxes should always go UP!
Gale
November 18th, 2009
8:12 am
mike: sad, but true.
mike
November 18th, 2009
8:13 am
sfb –
“Are you willing to have your own insurance premiums outpace inflation indefinitely so that the private insurance companies and their investors can continue to profit from suffering, in a manner unseen anywhere in the civilized world?”
Insurance companies run on one of the thinnest profit margins of any business sector.
As the AP reported:
“In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making “immoral” and “obscene” returns while “the bodies pile up.”
Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.
Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure. This partly explains why the credit ratings of some of the largest insurers were downgraded to negative from stable heading into this year, as investors were warned of a stagnant if not shrinking market for private plans.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091025/ap_on_go_co/us_fact_check_health_insurance;_ylt=AhELGg9Me3bxurhZrQ2JCsqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJycGd0OWNxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDI1L3VzX2ZhY3RfY2hlY2tfaGVhbHRoX2luc3VyYW5jZQRwb3MDNARzZWMDeW5fbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHNsawNmYWN0Y2hlY2toZWE-
This notion that the insurance companies and their evil investors are making a big profit is ignorant.
Paul
November 18th, 2009
8:15 am
Jay
“Best” is the operative word. People will quibble over that all day long, but if the idea is the most care for the most people with shared responsibility, the title makes a strong point. Remember, the Brit system allows private care and insurance for those who have the ability and desire to take it further.
A key difference between the Brit system and anything proposed here: nothing proposed here comes close to the Brit system. Not even. A lot of the propaganda makes it seem so, but it just isn’t so.
And yes, Report/Whine, the example in today’s subject will likely die. Happens every day. Other options? Applicable to the population as a whole? There aren’t any. Emergency room care just doesn’t cut it.
Thank heavens Hawking was born a Brit and not to an American family where the parents didn’t have a government or strong union job with good taxpayer-subsidized health care options. The knowledge he’s uncovered has been astounding.
Peadawg
November 18th, 2009
8:16 am
sfd,
Don’t you think our taxes are high enough right now? I work for my money and I am entitled to MY money. I don’t try to take your money. Why try to take mine?
mike
November 18th, 2009
8:18 am
Gale:
“mike: sad, but true.”
It is sad, but let’s keep some perspective. People are living almost 10 years longer than they did in 1960. People are living healthier, longer lives, despite our inability to offer the most expensive care to everyone in the country.
I think this is a major difference between liberals and conservatives. It seems to me that liberals think that pretty much any tragedy can be averted with the right government plan, whether it is mitigating this unfortunate man’s suffering or preventing chaos when a hurricane destroys a major US city. Liberals seem to think that the government can government can shield us from all tragedy. It can’t.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 18th, 2009
8:19 am
sfd probably has not much of anything, hence, his desire to commit thefts and/or have the govt and ObaMao do it for him.
Paul
November 18th, 2009
8:19 am
G’morning, Peadawg
[[Are you willing to have your taxes raised to pay for everyone’s healthcare?]]
As the topic kicked off with the British model, that’s an appropriate question. I’d offer the opinion of the electorate, as illustrated by the stands taken by our representatives, is a resounding ‘no.’ The Brit model taxes nearly everyone, heavily. Very few exemptions, sliding scales, subsidies, as Americans are fond of. The US model is illustrated by the Democratic alternative – let the millionaires pay.
jt
November 18th, 2009
8:19 am
Jay Bookman can pick tragedies. How about this. The following is in the normal budget(no stimulas, bail-out, nada.) Just normal spending by our compassionate federal government.
41 million equates to roughly 80 years to keep Mr. Whitey going. I guess presedential libraries are more important.
$41,500,000 for three projects funding presidential libraries: $22,000,000 by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts; $17,500,000 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York; and $2,000,000 by Senate appropriator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) for the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in
Austin, Texas. All three of these libraries received funding last year, bringing their combined two-year earmark total to $54,010,000. In addition, each library receives an annual operating subsidy from the National Archives and Records Administration; the JFK Library receives $3,883,000 annually, the LBJ Library receives $2,935,000 annually (and is the only presidential library that does not charge admission), and the FDR Library receives $1,640,000 annually.
sickening.
Jimmy Carter
November 18th, 2009
8:20 am
Nothing like pointing out ont of the most extreme cases to belittle the US healthcare system.
Jay, do you have an equally compelling story about the 4 pack a day cigarette smoking, beer guzzling, food gorging 550 pound person who sits on their butt all day long in front of a TV, draws disability, Social Security, food stamps and welfare, yet complains about how they are a “victim” of our cruel society?
Mrs. Godzilla
November 18th, 2009
8:21 am
Borrowed from a rightwing poster last night @ 5:17…..changed from education to health care…..kinda interesting…..
***Because quality affordable healthcare for Americans has been in decline for decades. It’s the children’s health that should be foremost in your mind. Not the wasting of your tax dollars and the children’s health.
Think of it as an experiment. Enough people take their money and walk, looking for something better, the Medical Indutrial Complex will be forced to get their act together.****
Nothing Is Free
November 18th, 2009
8:22 am
On FOX tis morning, I saw a clip of an interview that he gave that network yesterday.
He said that they are looking at some strategies for driving small businesses to start hiring again. One of the ideas was TAX BREAKS.
How long have I been asleep?
bob
November 18th, 2009
8:22 am
Jay, Why did the dems vote down repub amendments that would have forced congress to join the gov option from day one ? You want to get myself and others to jump on the reform bandwagon, but the one driving wagon says, NOT ME ! It’s just like taxes, I should pay but those the write tax law don’t seem to like the idea themselves, Rangle, daschale, geitner. What good is a plan if it’s authors won’t use it. If private care is a ripoff, Pelosi should be first in line for enrollment. It now makes me wonder why so many government employees do not get stuck in the great and wonderful democrat retirement plan, Social Security. Jay, is exempting themselves from their own programs just a way to punish themselves or reward themselves ?
Nothing Is Free
November 18th, 2009
8:22 am
“He” is of course, Obama.
German Shepherd Dawg
November 18th, 2009
8:23 am
Mike,
Don’t expect lucid thought to be well received here by the usual suspects.
Mr Right
November 18th, 2009
8:24 am
Gov run health care? They can’t run anything else, why could they run health care?