That is terrible, but how can this be representative of American healthcare in general when they’re being prosecuted by the Minn. AG for violating the law?
Yes, they got caught. And they are being prosecuted. Of course, the small fine they receive may end up just being the cost of business.
The point is not whether or not this company is representative. The point is that for-profit healthcare business in the US is incentivized to minimize what they pay out, and maximize the amount of money they take in. That is the prime purpose of a company.
Have you heard of rescission? Terminating coverage for people who are sick when it is found out that they made a minor error when applying for insurance? Like they are denied treatment for a heart attack because they forgot to say they took acne medication years ago. Perfectly legal.
The point is that US style for-profit healthcare will lead to companies trying to maximize profit. They will do this by any means possible. Most will stay just this side of the law, but others will try to get around it if they feel that they can get away with it, or that the risks that they take will outweigh any possible consequence.
Contrast this with single-payer government funded health insurance. There is no incentive to maximize profit. The case cited in the OP will not occur.
I know that the expression “this makes the baby Jesus cry / puke / shit Twinkies” is vastly overused, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment. I can’t help wondering what a benevolent deity (if indeed there is such) must think of us when I read something like this.
Every once in a while someone who knew that my father (on whom be peace) was a doctor would wonder why I didn’t follow in his footsteps. I used to use an article from the local Medical Society titled Medicine is a Harsh Mistress* as an explanation; guess I now have something else if need be.
(The fact that my father retired years before he really wanted to because the strain of standing between his patients and the insurance industry was ruining his health doesn’t fill me with warm fuzzies toward the industry, either.)
*Among other things, the author describes trying to talk to the husband of a young woman who had just died of septicemia following a miscarriage, and quotes the clerk who checked him and his fellow students into medical school on the first day: “you won’t be a real doctor until you’ve filled a cemetery.”
I called up the NHS helpline in the wee small hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning and got an GP appointment for my daughter that day. On a Sunday. Easter Sunday.
And then we went to a pharmacy to get her medicine. Which is free for under-18s.
Won’t someone please save us from this oppression?
Don’t worry, Saint Osborne has heard your pleas and is working night and day to release you from this horrible government intrusion into your right to die at the whim of insurance companies!
I’m organising a Novena calling on intercession from the Most Pious Lansley, that we may more effectively reject the Marxist notion that taxes may be appropriated for reasons other than maintaining the police and the army.
Our Leader, who art in Cabinet, Cameron be thy name. Thy will be written, in the Spectator, as it is in the Telegraph. Do not give us this day any concessions, for Richard Titmuss believed in the nanny state and he’s dead now. Kick out the trespassers, so that we may better support our troops. Lead us not into devolution, but deliver this to Murdoch. For his is the executive of the millionaires, at least until the investigation concludes. Amen.
If you can find me a single documented case of a person being denied treatment for a heart attack because they forgot to say they took acne medication years ago, I will never again attack government-sponsored health care in any way, shape, or manner on these boards.
And if you can’t, you agree to stop attacking the opponents of the issue with made-up stories.
I’m going to guess that EP meant “insurance coverage for treatment for a heart attack” rather than actual emergency treatment. Of course, the old joke about having another heart attack when one gets the bill may apply here.
Fair point. Same offer: find me a single documented case of a person being denied insurance coverage for treatment for a heart attack because they forgot to say they took acne medication years ago, I’ll forever after refraining from saying what a poor idea I believe government-paid or mandated health care is, and if not, EP promises to never again attack the reverse of the issue with made up stories.
It’s a good bet. I have to shut up completely if I lose; EP just has to stick to truthful claims and eschew hyperbole.
Our usual tool for spreading freedom around the world is a bombing campaign. Please provide your coordinates, and we will have a predator drone sent your way immediately. This service is provided 24/7, no waiting. Thanks for your business and we hope you’ll consider using the US Military Industrial Complex for all your liberation needs in the future.
My WAG is that it may have come from a woman who had a previous (not current) history of acne and rapid heartbeat, whose insurance company dropped her when she needed an immediate double mastectomy. I suspect the mentions of acne and heart issues were muddled in memory.
Sorry - in this case, she was denied treatment for breast cancer, rather than for treatment for a heart attack. Mea culpa, you were right and I was wrong. People are cut off their insurance for failing to disclose minor ailments in their past. They are then denied treatment for serious illness. I’m so very fucking sorry for turning a general tragedy into a specific “story”
How about some more general facts about rescission? Would that be acceptable to your nit-picking style?
This is the CIA Helpline. If your school or hospital was accidentally bombed, press 1. If a wedding or funeral was bombed, press 2. For cases of unexploded ordinance near a wildlife habitat, press 3. If a drone landed by accident in your country and you now have possession of it, press 4. For all other issues press 5.
That took all of two minutes. Of course, neither example is specifically about acne medication and a heart attack, so I doubt Bricker sees them as sufficient evidence.
