This morning I watched C-Span's Washington Journal where they interviewed Vincent Keane who runs the non-profit Unity Healthcare, a community healthcare clinic funded by the city of Washington DC, partially by Medicare patients, and from contributions. He has about 30 of these centers which help prevent an overload of Emergency Rooms, a problem for many hospitals. Governor Howard Dean started such centers in Vermont and they have been very popular and successful.
Health Insurance companies already ration care. Three smaller insurance companies rejected emergency procedures for 20,000 people for expensive care such as cancer and surgery. As I said before Medicare does not require permission for doctors to operate or give medication while doctors have to call the insurance companies for just about every procedure and medication. Yes, insurance companies know best how to treat patients! Who practices the real Death Panels?
I had a neighbor in Los Angeles who was a graduate student writing his thesis on the Holocaust. He said he stopped his thesis work because he had a extremely serious nerve problem. He and his parents could not afford the high cost of treatment here so he went to France, a much more humane people and country, and got his treatment. Many times France does not charge Americans visiting France. But I wondered why so many Americans move to Mexico for retirement? They go there for very cheap and excellent healthcare!
Where does our money go that we pay for our healthcare? Well lets look at the numbers of United Health Group who is the principle firm trying to stop the Obama healthcare plan by sending huge amounts of money to conservative Blue Dog Democrats and is responsible for having Front Groups disrupt congresspersons and Senators from having meetings to explain the healthcare plan. The Lewin Group so often mentioned by the scripted Republicans is owned by United Health Group!
After spending so much money bribing congress, United Health Group had a profit of $5 Billion dollars or about 15 percent of income after excluding the high salaries and bonuses given to executives, money spent for lobbying and TV distorted propaganda ads, and other expenses. The top executive made $780 million dollars, about one fifth of all the profits and Wall Street firms and investors plenty to smile about profits made from denying death saving healthcare for Americans.
What does the highly profitable Health Insurance company mean for the rest of us?
Whenever conservatives start telling me what a great healthcare system we have, I say, "Yes, and we make very nice yachts, too. What's your point?" Because what earthly difference does it make to you when you're priced out of that system?
I've known Americans who've gone to Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Austria for medical and dental treatment they couldn't afford here. (In fact, Logan wrote about this a few weeks ago.) If people are getting on a plane to go somewhere to get treatment, that's got to tell you something:
MEXICO CITY — It sounds almost too good to be true: a health care plan with no limits, no deductibles, free medicines, tests, X-rays, eyeglasses, even dental work — all for a flat fee of $250 or less a year.
To get it, you just have to move to Mexico.
As the United States debates an overhaul of its health care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute.
The system has flaws, the facilities aren't cutting-edge, and the deal may not last long because the Mexican government said in a recent report that it is "notorious" for losing money. But for now, retirees say they're getting a bargain.
"It was one of the primary reasons I moved here," said Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora. "I couldn't afford health care in the United States. … To me, this is the best system that there is." ...
"They take very good care of us," said Jessica Moyal, 59, of Hollywood, Fla., who now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a popular retirement enclave for Americans. ...
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/if-american-health-care-so-great-why
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