Comments on: Affordable health care and housing is within reach http://davidcarrier.org/blog/2008/09/14/affordable-health-care-and-housing-is-within-reach/ Discussion and feedback about economic issues, policies, and priorities Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:23:46 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Administrator http://davidcarrier.org/blog/2008/09/14/affordable-health-care-and-housing-is-within-reach/comment-page-1/#comment-46 Administrator Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:45:11 +0000 http://davidcarrier.org/blog/2008/10/01/affordable-health-care-and-housing-is-within-reach/#comment-46 by Austin Shotwell: If you are familiar with Kaiser HMO then you may also be familiar with the need for more than just affordable health care for all… but also health care that is not controlled HMO’s. I'm 75 and I recall good health care and good doctors. Doctors that you could call when you had a problem and knew you and your family Doctors that even came to your home or met you at ER in an emergency and did not work just a 40 hour week as they do at Kaiser. A friend of mine just about died last week because following a simple operation (that took months to set up and should have been a one day in and out). Luckily he was kept over night and his blood pressure dropped. Turned out he was bleeding internally. He was placed on a blood thinner by one doctor, has had by-pass surgery by another, and another did this simple operation. Having so many doctors that had no idea about his medical history nearly resulted in his death. I have been there also but thanks to having the same doc for 20 years I am still alive. With Kaiser I have two broken Achilles tendons that were not properly treated. My son in law had a tumor that was ignored for months and nearly cost him his life. It takes two weeks to see your primary doc who can’t even do a simple surgery removing a cist. Instead you’re sent to a specialist that takes month. Kaiser totally controls my Medicare funds…I have no say in how they are used but do get cost figures that Medicare is often over charged or charged for services that were not provided or were wrong. There a lot more needed to provide a good health care syste. My doctor is assigned 2000 patients. That alone should be a crime. There is no way she can provide good health care for that many people. It’s simply a money making scheme by Austin Shotwell:

If you are familiar with Kaiser HMO then you may also be familiar with the need for more than just affordable health care for all… but also health care that is not controlled HMO’s. I’m 75 and I recall good health care and good doctors. Doctors that you could call when you had a problem and knew you and your family Doctors that even came to your home or met you at ER in an emergency and did not work just a 40 hour week as they do at Kaiser.

A friend of mine just about died last week because following a simple operation (that took months to set up and should have been a one day in and out). Luckily he was kept over night and his blood pressure dropped. Turned out he was bleeding internally. He was placed on a blood thinner by one doctor, has had by-pass surgery by another, and another did this simple operation. Having so many doctors that had no idea about his medical history nearly resulted in his death.

I have been there also but thanks to having the same doc for 20 years I am still alive. With Kaiser I have two broken Achilles tendons that were not properly treated. My son in law had a tumor that was ignored for months and nearly cost him his life. It takes two weeks to see your primary doc who can’t even do a simple surgery removing a cist. Instead you’re sent to a specialist that takes month.

Kaiser totally controls my Medicare funds…I have no say in how they are used but do get cost figures that Medicare is often over charged or charged for services that were not provided or were wrong. There a lot more needed to provide a good health care syste. My doctor is assigned 2000 patients. That alone should be a crime. There is no way she can provide good health care for that many people. It’s simply a money making scheme

]]> By: Intrepid1 http://davidcarrier.org/blog/2008/09/14/affordable-health-care-and-housing-is-within-reach/comment-page-1/#comment-31 Intrepid1 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:29:29 +0000 http://davidcarrier.org/blog/2008/10/01/affordable-health-care-and-housing-is-within-reach/#comment-31 I'm curious why you used statistics for Regence BlueCross BlueShield in OREGON when you are addressing health insurance in Washington. Regence, as a company, exists four states, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah, each state operating as a unique entity. If you are going to cite Regence, try getting information about the right one. It would be nice to see the rate increases from some of the other health insurance companies in Washington as a comparison, otherwise it just looks like you are bashing Regence, and poorly at that. It's very easy to point at the insurance companies and say that they are at fault for our rising insurance rates, but that completely ignores the other parties that contribute to it, namely health care providers and (surprise!) the consumers that use it. I’m curious why you used statistics for Regence BlueCross BlueShield in OREGON when you are addressing health insurance in Washington. Regence, as a company, exists four states, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah, each state operating as a unique entity. If you are going to cite Regence, try getting information about the right one. It would be nice to see the rate increases from some of the other health insurance companies in Washington as a comparison, otherwise it just looks like you are bashing Regence, and poorly at that. It’s very easy to point at the insurance companies and say that they are at fault for our rising insurance rates, but that completely ignores the other parties that contribute to it, namely health care providers and (surprise!) the consumers that use it.

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