My stepfather has cancer and when his blood count gets low they have to give him this injection that I'm told costs $3k. I don't know the name of it, I'm not a medical professional. It has to get approved by the insurance company every time. So what if they decide they don't want to cover it anymore? I mean if he needs it why the need for the phone call? Are they going to say no?
It's wrong to say that Bob Iritano is fighting for his life; he knows he's lost that battle. What he's fighting for is time.
You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Iritano, 50, has terminal cancer. It's not a question of whether he's going to die. The only question is when, and how much longer he'll be with his family.
Iritano, understandably, wants all the time he can get -- many years, if possible. His health insurer, he believes, has a different time frame in mind.
"My best guess is that they want me dead as soon as possible," he said matter-of-factly as we spoke at the dining room table of his Westlake Village home. "They know that the premiums I pay will never cover how much they'll spend on me."
Iritano glanced at his wife, Karen, 52, who nodded her agreement.
The Iritanos aren't strangers to this cratered landscape. He's an insurance broker, dealing in commercial policies for businesses. She's a registered nurse with a background in oncology.
As we chatted, one of their kids approached the table to complain that his big brother was hogging the Xbox game machine. "Give us a few minutes," Karen replied softly. The 7-year-old frowned at the unfairness of it all and left the room.
The Iritanos contacted me after their insurer, Health Net, refused to pay for a procedure this month that it had willingly covered only six months earlier. The company had changed its medical guidelines, a rep told them. The procedure was now deemed experimental.
"How can they do that?" Iritano wanted to know. "How can they change the rules just like that?"
Not surprisingly, a little media attention would get Health Net to change its mind yet again, but only on a temporary basis. Longer term, Iritano still has a fight on his hands.
He arrived at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks on Feb. 10 to once again bombard malignant tumors on his liver with microwaves.
But Iritano said that as he stood in the hospital room in his surgical gown, surrounded by doctors, nurses and an anesthesiologist, a Health Net rep informed him by phone that the insurer had changed its mind about the treatment.
If Iritano went ahead with the procedure, the rep said, he'd be on the hook for the full $20,000 cost.
"I was pretty crushed," Iritano recalled. "You have to mentally get prepared for these kinds of procedures. To have it pulled out from under you. . . ."
Iritano's doctor rescheduled the procedure several times, and each time Iritano's appeal of Health Net's decision was denied.
"It's getting worse every day," he said of his condition. "The pain keeps growing."
As it happened, the day we got together last week was Iritano's birthday. He'd just received word from Health Net that because he'd reached the half-century mark, his insurance premium would rise from almost $1,800 a month to more than $2,500 -- a roughly 40% increase.
What price do you put on a life, or even just a few extra years of life?
There's death panel if there ever was one and how the health insurance business is so in charge in America. They are in business to MAKE A PROFIT and a profit they do very well. I haven't seen them getting ANY government bailouts why because they make money at the expense of the people they are supposed to insure.
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
It would have been far more simplier to quote those remarks than try to past them of as his own. Now who is the real fraud, can anything he says going forward be believed? I gather from whatever he was trying to say we should now run this country like how our American Founding Fathers did year ago and I supposed that is going to be the best system for ALL of our citizens today. Yeah right
Nice late...early morning catch gimmie.
Peace
yes, i might be a "radical progressive" but that does not stop me from reading things from all sides...a friend emailed me that link a few weeks ago and as soon as i began to read his post i immediately recognized it...
:roll: :roll: Yeah dude GREAT FIND !!! You act like he found Jimmy freakin Hoffa. Um if you look at the bottom of my post you will see where I posted MVS. Which means the MOUNT VERNON STATEMENT. What ?? You don't think I know that all you have to do is google a sentance or a paragraph and you will get the link where it came from ? All I posted is some of the the core principals that Conservatives and the Tea party stand for. I wasn't trying to pass them off as my own. I could care less what you think about me,and for that matter anyone else on this board . Most of you are nothing but abunch of DRONES and lap dogs for Obama and Pelosi and who IMO want and are ruining this country.
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g under p
Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
It would have been far more simplier to quote those remarks than try to past them of as his own. Now who is the real fraud, can anything he says going forward be believed? I gather from whatever he was trying to say we should now run this country like how our American Founding Fathers did year ago and I supposed that is going to be the best system for ALL of our citizens today. Yeah right
Nice late...early morning catch gimmie.
Peace
yes, i might be a "radical progressive" but that does not stop me from reading things from all sides...a friend emailed me that link a few weeks ago and as soon as i began to read his post i immediately recognized it...
:roll: :roll: Yeah dude GREAT FIND !!! You act like he found Jimmy freakin Hoffa. Um if you look at the bottom of my post you will see where I posted MVS. Which means the MOUNT VERNON STATEMENT. What ?? You don't think I know that all you have to do is google a sentance or a paragraph and you will get the link where it came from ? All I posted is some of the the core principals that Conservatives and the Tea party stand for. I wasn't trying to pass them off as my own. I could care less what you think about me,and for that matter anyone else on this board . Most of you are nothing but abunch of DRONES and lap dogs for Obama and Pelosi and who IMO want and are ruining this country.
Either way I figured you wouldn't care less, there has to be a check on you every now and then. This administration isn't ruining this country any more than Bush did over the last 8 years. However, I'm sure you believe McCain and Palin would be doing 10x better job never ever could ruin this country. I'm sure you would be on here praising their accomplishments. Rock on.
peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
It would have been far more simplier to quote those remarks than try to past them of as his own. Now who is the real fraud, can anything he says going forward be believed? I gather from whatever he was trying to say we should now run this country like how our American Founding Fathers did year ago and I supposed that is going to be the best system for ALL of our citizens today. Yeah right
Nice late...early morning catch gimmie.
Peace
yes, i might be a "radical progressive" but that does not stop me from reading things from all sides...a friend emailed me that link a few weeks ago and as soon as i began to read his post i immediately recognized it...
:roll: :roll: Yeah dude GREAT FIND !!! You act like he found Jimmy freakin Hoffa. Um if you look at the bottom of my post you will see where I posted MVS. Which means the MOUNT VERNON STATEMENT. What ?? You don't think I know that all you have to do is google a sentance or a paragraph and you will get the link where it came from ? All I posted is some of the the core principals that Conservatives and the Tea party stand for. I wasn't trying to pass them off as my own. I could care less what you think about me,and for that matter anyone else on this board . Most of you are nothing but abunch of DRONES and lap dogs for Obama and Pelosi and who IMO want and are ruining this country.
i told you i did not google your post, i received it in an email a few weeks ago. its still pretty lame to put that in your post with no link or no quotation marks. since i have caught you doing this on numerous occasions with other people's blogs i do not belive you when you say you were not passing them off as your own.
also if you would spend any time on this board you would know that i am not a DRONE or a lap dog for obama or pelosi. i have criticized them plenty, and very harshly at times. if you don't believe me then search my posts...
exactly how am I ruining this country? please explain it for everyone to see. either that or pm me and tell me that way...
now, do you want to debate this topic or keep deflecting??
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
I was looking into renewing my travel insurance and got me thinking of another problem as when renewing travel insurance for a year I have to think about whether I'm likely to travel to the US or not in the coming year as travel insurance is sold here as Worldwide (excl. US) - cheaper OR Worldwide (incl. US) more expensive - and the US is the only country that is listed like this. The only reason I can think of for this premium on travelling to the US is the cost of healthcare. The US system is designed to make money and obviously UHC is not and getting that many professionals out of that mindset and into one of cost reduction will be a challenge. Will doctors etc accept that they are not going to make as much money.
Here doctors are considered well paid but compared to some of their American counter-parts it's nothing.
I know a few people who have gone to the US with insurance and luckily didn't have to pay... one of their bills would have been $15,000... and that's low according to other bills i've heard of :shock:
We as a society have pretty much decided we will not let people die in the streets and already have universal, emergency health care in the United States. It's just a super shitty system where those that buy insurance pay exoribitant prices and insurance premiums so the ones that do not pay for insurance get inefficient, high cost care. We already have almost all the other problems with UHC in the system we have now, like "death panels" (someone else deciding if you get care or not), etc. so let's just call it what it is and get more people paying into the system somehow, and get preventative care in the process for everybody and make it less costly for the current payers if we can.
Post edited by markin ball on
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."
"With our thoughts we make the world"
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unsung
I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
Some people claim "it's only one hospital", I guess that negates 400-1200 deaths. Good thing it wasn't TWO hospitals!
Some people claim "it's only one hospital", I guess that negates 400-1200 deaths. Good thing it wasn't TWO hospitals!
One article about one hospital doesn't give an overall picture of the NHS is all we are saying. Yes that number of extra deaths over 3 years is terrible.
Unfortunately it's not the only place in the world where these things happen though this article is from 2004 but:
"An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study of 37 million patient records that was released today by HealthGrades, the healthcare quality company.
The HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study is the first to look at the mortality and economic impact of medical errors and injuries that occurred during Medicare hospital admissions nationwide from 2000 to 2002."
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
Some people claim "it's only one hospital", I guess that negates 400-1200 deaths. Good thing it wasn't TWO hospitals!
thats the fucking point... it wasnt TWO hospitals.. thats how rare an occurrence this is!!!
jeez... how yawn inducingly boring it is to repeatedly keep pointing out that this case is the exception and not the norm over here.
Post edited by dunkman on
oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
All I know is that where I work, the "unfortunate" people on Medicaid (absolutely socialized insurance) are the FIRST people to get services and medicine. The ones that have jobs and work for their insurance are put on waiting lists or charged extra or sent somewhere covered by their "provider", which is usually a place with far worse services...The poor aren't the only people getting screwed here.
...but if one of our children had a serious problem then we could get specialist treatment in any of the hospitals specialising in this... but local hospitals normally deal with the local people... and as you are well aware.. one locality is much different to another.. i.e. a hospital in Detroit wont be as 'decent' as one from Cape Cod or somewhere salubrious.[/quote]
Detroit hospitals are some of the greatest in the world. We have some great University hospitals, U of M. Also Beaumont Hospital has 2 in Oakland County, which is one of the richest counties in america, its just outside the Detroit border, and employs more people than anywhere else in the county, that includes the Big 3.
Geez, I go to Wayne State University doctors for my seizure disorder and its great to have them so close to me.
Comments
Yep, did it make an appearance already? I hate that stupid thing.
I missed this but From the article...
There's death panel if there ever was one and how the health insurance business is so in charge in America. They are in business to MAKE A PROFIT and a profit they do very well. I haven't seen them getting ANY government bailouts why because they make money at the expense of the people they are supposed to insure.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
That is a very good point.
Either way I figured you wouldn't care less, there has to be a check on you every now and then. This administration isn't ruining this country any more than Bush did over the last 8 years. However, I'm sure you believe McCain and Palin would be doing 10x better job never ever could ruin this country. I'm sure you would be on here praising their accomplishments. Rock on.
peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
also if you would spend any time on this board you would know that i am not a DRONE or a lap dog for obama or pelosi. i have criticized them plenty, and very harshly at times. if you don't believe me then search my posts...
exactly how am I ruining this country? please explain it for everyone to see. either that or pm me and tell me that way...
now, do you want to debate this topic or keep deflecting??
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"With our thoughts we make the world"
One article about one hospital doesn't give an overall picture of the NHS is all we are saying. Yes that number of extra deaths over 3 years is terrible.
Unfortunately it's not the only place in the world where these things happen though this article is from 2004 but:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/11856.php
"An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study of 37 million patient records that was released today by HealthGrades, the healthcare quality company.
The HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study is the first to look at the mortality and economic impact of medical errors and injuries that occurred during Medicare hospital admissions nationwide from 2000 to 2002."
thats the fucking point... it wasnt TWO hospitals.. thats how rare an occurrence this is!!!
jeez... how yawn inducingly boring it is to repeatedly keep pointing out that this case is the exception and not the norm over here.
Detroit hospitals are some of the greatest in the world. We have some great University hospitals, U of M. Also Beaumont Hospital has 2 in Oakland County, which is one of the richest counties in america, its just outside the Detroit border, and employs more people than anywhere else in the county, that includes the Big 3.
Geez, I go to Wayne State University doctors for my seizure disorder and its great to have them so close to me.