Socialism works for Norway. It has for the last fifty years, and I don’t know a single person above the age of 25 who hasn’t been benefitted by it regularly and well. I tax 19% of my income, around $8K a year, and I sure as hell don’t mind. That pays for my visits to the doc, most of my public transport, my public schooling including college or university, bought me bread and salt when I was on unemployment for three months, pays for my pain meds for my smashed-up left wrist and so forth.
Norway is a Socialist state that works. Even our FRP and Right (Conservative) parties have never looked back since we hit the oil boom in the 70s. Even the FRP (FramSkrittsPartiet - Progressive Party, just to the left of the Nationalists . . .) is more left than your Democratic Party.
I never liked the “take my pie” analogy. It’s factually wrong on so many levels, particularly when it comes to Socialism. It’s a mockery of an argument used by those favoured by the status quo, and only serves to reflect badly upon them.
So yes, give me 20% of your pie this month. If you’re in a situation where you don’t get your pie next month, you can have one of ours. Or, in case you drop your pie and your pie breaks, we’ll give you 90% of a new one. Or, if your pie gets sick and is unable to make more pies for a few months, we’ll keep you with pie until you get better and can resupply yourself with pies once more. Or if your pie is permanently damaged, we’ll keep you with as comfortable a level of pie as we can manage.
[To be fair, Norway has a lot to get better at on the last one]
Gukumatz, haven’t you heard? We Americans are rugged individualists! We do not share pie. We earn our own pie, and if you have to live without pie, it’s obviously because you’re inferior and didn’t care enough to stockpile pie when you had the chance.
Americans–we no share the pie. And we let others just eat cake. And we’re The Greatest Country in the World! We say it enough, it’s got to be True… just read about my life:
We pay that and more in taxes and get bupkus–highways with crap asphalt and crumbling infrastructure, no national health insurance (our EDs are clogged with folks who can’t pay)-- my health insurance won’t pay for my varicose vein surgery, even though they are exacerbated by my job and the doctor deems it necessary: it’s considered cosmetic so that the insurance company doesn’t have to pay; my master’s degree set us back $13,000–and that was cheap(in state tuition). We used to not have to buy books etc for K-12 elementary education, but we do now. We’re lucky, our school districts still have physical education (a requirement in IL), art, music and recess-many, many schools do not. It’s the American way–don’t invest in people.
But it’s the Greatest Country in the World and never does anything worse than any other country; everything it does is Great! I believe that may be tattooed on newborn citizens now.
You’re a last ditcher, aren’t you?
No, I have not considered filing a workman’s comp claim. I was not injured on the job. Varicose veins have a genetic component and can be aggravated by crossing one’s legs at the knees, standing and sitting for long periods, poor circulation (I also have Raynaud’s phenomenom) and other factors.
The insurance company has a bar (oh, sorry, a requirement) that blood return should be comprised X much and that compromise must travel all the way to the groin in order for them to think about compensation. I’ve got the vv to the groin–I don’t have the lack of return they want to see. Never mind that the buggers hurt looooong before that. Never mind that this insurance company (actually, two insurance cos–we’ve changed ins and the new treats vv the same as the old!), does NOT cover the $120 dollar support hose (Rx) I have to buy in order to do my job (I need new ones about every 3 months).
It might actually be more helpful for the ins co to state what it does cover, since what it doesn’t cover is a longer list. But if I needed my leg amputated–I’m golden. Stupidest system on the planet. We don’t invest in or care about preventative health care in this country–we’d rather treat coke addicted babies than pregnant addicts. :rolleyes:
yeah-private health care is a great thing. It works so well for the middle class like me. :rolleyes:
Why don’t you try “not having varicose veins”? It is working for me.
You see, I am served quite well by the private health care system, because I am fairly young and healthy and rarely need medical attention. This is due mostly to my hard work and inteligence and behavior and doesn’t have much to do with my relative youth and robust genetic complement.
The rest of y’all seem to misunderstand the idea- the idea is that they take money from everyone, and then pay it out as little as possible, thereby making a profit. That’s what private means. And that’s why it works so well! Insurance is even better privatized than many other industries, because the people who need medical attention all die from neglect, and then the premiums are pure profit!
No… I’m a work comp defense paralegal By rights, I should probably be talking you out of filing a claim.
Obviously laws vary from state to state, but in most jurisdictions workers’ compensation covers occupational diseases as well as discrete on the job injuries, including cosmetic surgery where necessary. As a nurse, presumably you do a lot of standing, which IIRC is the primary, if not only, cause of varicose veins.
Depending on the laws of your state, you probably just need a physician to opine that your vv are at least 50% due to your job duties.
You too, huh? I also get to pay about 8% or so of my income (with my employer generously paying the other half) for my medical insurance. The one where I still get to pay $20 per doctor visit, minimum, and a price on prescriptions that ranges from $4 to $78 depending on the medication.
Of course, it’s debatable whether a vigorous welfare state like you have, but with a market economy and industry mostly in private hands, is socialism or not, even if it’s mostly the achievement of socialist parties; but whatever it is, it sounds pretty good.
First of all, I work in the health care industry. Second, you have no fucking clue what you are talking about.
About 30% of claims that are denied are because the doctor (or the member if filing the claim themselves) fucked up the paperwork. When that’s fixed, the claims are paid.
About another 30% are claims we deny because we have a shitty computer system. These too get fixed.
Maybe another 10% get denied for misc. reasons. The rest get denied because your plan simply does not cover the procedure, and the member should have checked their coverage in the first place or had a predetermination made before getting them.
Certainly there are plenty of screwups due to the complexity of medical claims, but we don’t knowingly just deny claims for no reason or because we got a wild hair up our ass.
Many are not “denied” they are not paid because they went to meet a deductible for example.
Now before you start whining about how the health companies setup plans with lousy benefits, know this: about 95% of the plans we have we basically only adminster. The EMPLOYER decides almost ALL aspects of the coverage, what services are covered and what is not, how much the copays and deductibles are, coinsurance, prescription copays etc. They choose this based on how much of the bill they want to pickup. Don’t like the fact that we don’t cover the service you want? Don’t come bitching to us because it was not our decision, it was your employers.
Next time please try getting a clue before commenting on things you know nothing about.
Unless your doctor accepts workers’ compensation referrals (most don’t) he’ll probably just refer you to one who does.
If your bone spur was caused by a work-related injury, then probably - unless it’s been there for more than 2 years. That’s the usual statute of limitations.
IANAL, laws vary by jurisdiction, may cause drowsiness, etc.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever to back up your assertion that we are denying claims for the sole reason of profit even if their policy covers it? And if the claimant dies that just means we pay the estate instead.
By rights, I should probably be talking you out of filing a claim.