posted on July 7, 2007 07:40:23 PM new
etexbill--May I add that Texas can also claim Baylor and the pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Michael De Bakey. He will be 100 years old in September. He doesn't practice anymore, but what a legacy he will leave.
posted on July 7, 2007 08:13:15 PM new
you guys are missing the point.I am not reviewing the blueprint or reading the sales brochure on how grand these facilities are,I am talking close up combat -
When you are sick ,how much energy do you have to fight the different billing depts (or should I just exceed my deductible and wishfully hope my insurer will pick up the tab 100%??)
I can understand that they farm out the pathology lab and the radiologists and god knows what else do they farm out,probably management,but for christ sake,dont send the patients all over the map looking for quotes,giving her half of the xray results and then keep making mistakes on delivering the films and quoting different numbers and not answering the phone.
and then the day before the appointment ,call the patient and ask to charge her credit card for the hospital part of the bill??
What if I am seriously ill,and have no one to pick up the xray results,no one to call different billing depts and be disconnected many times and if connected,given the same answer-I DONT KNOW,THEY ARE SEPARATE.
This is how a patient eventually lose control over her finance as she succumb to hospital I dont know procedure,I dont know and I dont know and the bills are like a cookie monster keep eating away a person's savings.
Even if I do have someone who can call ,she or he will soon be lost in the maze and give up to 'just get the treatment and hope for the best 'attitude////////
I dont know where Tyler is,I assume it is smaller ,much smaller than Houston and what you describe all sound good,but have you actually tried the service like the helicopter and the treat all irregardless of insurance philosophy?
Everything sounds good on paper,read the brochure,take a tour ,meet the nice staff etc,but execution is a different matter.
For one person who is graciously accepted by MD anderson,many are turned away for various reasons.Dont take me wrong,it is world renown cancer treatment center,it is like going to MECCA.
Come to think of it,I am in Richmond,may be I should try Richmond hospital instead of one in Houston?
by the way,my friend was referred by a physician to MD Anderson which asked for 20k in advance when her insurer is still reviewing her case,she and her husband are not rich,they are working middle class .They eventually ended up with Memorial Herman.
*
Lets all stop whining !
*
posted on July 7, 2007 08:26:56 PM new
Quote: "I dont know where Tyler is,I assume it is smaller ,much smaller than Houston and what you describe all sound good,but have you actually tried the service like the helicopter and the treat all irregardless of insurance philosophy?"
Well, of course. The $3.00 per month on the water bill for ambulance and helicopter service is a normal thing around these parts, for years. Surprised you don't have it. You don't know where Tyler is?? You're not originally from Texas are you? We are a metropolitan area of 180,000 the largest city in East Texas with two universities, including the U of Texas at Tyler, one of the largest Jr. Colleges in the nation and "the rose capital of the nation"..Yes, I know Richmond and the area. Of course, we're not as large as Houston, which is now the 4th largest city in the nation. Regarding the treatment at M.D. Anderson. there is a special referal program for non-insurance people. Maybe dependent on how well you know your local physicians and hospital personell.
My great-grandson, who lives in the Woodlands, was treated at Memorial Hermann after a four-wheeler accident. Nice hospital.
[ edited by etexbill on Jul 7, 2007 08:29 PM ]
posted on July 7, 2007 08:43:33 PM new
Quote: "I'm merely pointing out the tragedy of someone thinking that UHC and UHS contain the same letters. "
Just saw this one, prof. That is hilarious. "A tragedy"
No, a tragedy is when when someone is driving along the highway and the road collapses under their car due to heavy rainfall and sweeps them down a creek. Or the 15 deaths we have received due to the floods. That's a tragedy.
posted on July 7, 2007 08:57:27 PM new
I'm glad you found it funny, that's the way I meant it. I even put in one of those horrible smilies, which I normally don't like to use since they've become sneers rather than smiles on this board.
Your floods are indeed a tradgedy. Natural disasters are always the hardest because it's tough to find somebody to blame.
The American Medical Student Association is committed to improving health care and healthcare delivery to all people; promoting active improvement in medical education; involving its members in the social, moral and ethical obligations of the profession of medicine; assisting in the improvement and understanding of world health problems; contributing to the welfare of medical students, interns, residents and post-MD/DO trainees; and advancing the profession of medicine.
posted on July 8, 2007 07:10:12 AM new
No,I am not from Texas,many of the Houstonians are not from Texas,in fact some are not from USA.
Thats why they said Houston is a tough market for the supermarket business-HEB is the only one I know where the individual store manager gets to order whatever he thinks will sell in his neighborhood.The HEB store in ethnic community stock more ethnic goods and run sales in hispanic,Chinese and Vietnamese newspaper,as opposed to Kroger.
We have a super Kroger in our neighborhood ,it has been open for 3 years now and still losing money.
I have heard of Tyler,but I have not heard of 3 dollars of the water bill going towards helicopter service,I dont know if helicopter can serve the community better than say just plain old ambulance vehicle here in metro area?
Houston is no different than the other 3 metropolitan cities -Chicago,New York and LA,diverse ethnic groups and crime and poverty,some claim we are faring worse since we absorb the Katrina refugees from New Orleans.
you can lift the entire city of Houston and drop it elsewhere say next to LA and it would be business as usual,we have many oil and oil related businesses here but we are not exactly digging for that black gold in our backyard.
As for the MD Anderson service for non insurance group,like some one points out,we are not talking about the non insured,we are talking about the insured middle class who would not income qualify for such service.
They are the ones being squeezed.
I vaguely remember Tyler is oil country,dont you guys have processing plants and pipelines ,if so,does any of the oil revenue account for the good service??
*
Lets all stop whining !
*
posted on July 8, 2007 11:20:12 AM new
Hello hwahwa. The $3 also covers ambulance service, helicopter only in the case of extreme emergency. It works fine. Yep Tyler is the city that received all of the oil rich former farmers from the East Texas Oil Field (the Saudi Arabia of the nation). But that was in the 20's,30's and 40's. Oil field is almost gone but still pumping. We have one refinery but no pipelines. Tyler is still very wealthy from old money but that has nothing to do with the hospital service. I just googled free health service for people in Houston and there are several on a sliding scale of income
I am fully familiar with Houston as I spent every 3rd week there in my work before retiring.
posted on July 8, 2007 11:25:11 AM new
"We have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and we have the La-Dee-Dah Hamptons, where the Britneys, Lindsays, Parises and Nicoles hang out throwing their not hardley earned money around! Ya'll come on up and see us, y'hear!"
Yea I used to go to Jones beach back in my high school days-went to the Nassau Coliseum in 1972 to see Chicago, with all the traffic it was never a pleasant experience. With Britney,Lindsy,Nichole hanging out there,they should saw off long island from the rest of new york and let it float out to sea into oblivion........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you dont want to hear the truth....dont ask the question.
posted on July 8, 2007 11:49:11 AM new
"With Britney,Lindsy,Nichole hanging out there,they should saw off long island from the rest of new york and let it float out to sea into oblivion........"
What a plan! Sign me up....we will become national heroes.
The dreaded traffic on Long Island ruins the events at the Coliseum, Jones Beach Theatre, etc. Jones Beach is vast and beautiful, but most parking lots are filled by 10 AM on a hot weekend. I go to smaller, not-as-well known beaches that are inexpensive for county residents. They are great and not over-crowded. If you are crazy enough to want to go to the Hamptons, plan on spending hours in traffic on Montauk Highway-----unless you are rich enough to go by helicopter like the upper crust.
posted on July 8, 2007 03:09:11 PM new
Three (3) more inches of rain in 90 minutes!! More flooding. All this was with only 20% chance of rain in the forecast.
[ edited by etexbill on Jul 8, 2007 03:09 PM ]
posted on July 16, 2007 11:05:24 AM new
A great, informative site where anyone who's still on the fence about socialized health care, like canada, the uk, france, germany have.....this might be an eye-opener for you.
Can't hurt to read it....you only will then see the down side to systems and why they're failing to meet the health needs of their citizens.
posted on July 16, 2007 12:21:02 PM new
Linda, Interesting. I retired from one of the large hospitals in our city. In our relatively small city, we have 5 doctors from Canada, who fled because of the Canadian Health System.
posted on July 16, 2007 01:49:30 PM new
etexbill - I also worked in a healthcare facility for approx. 7 years in CA. BIG eye opener for me - especially in the area of what is often called 'family planning'.
The canadian doctors who chose to come here to practice were interesting 'reads' on why they made that decision. Most for better pay, less heavy work schedule and more diagnostic equipment so they could better care for their patients. Without gov. limiting their choices by limiting the number of MRI's/etc they could use....or equipment they had available to help them diagnose their patients problems.
I feel we're so lucky we haven't decided to take that route....and I hope we NEVER do. My very real concern is that too many Americans have no clue as to what it will mean for their healthcare. I hope they wake up before it's too late.
posted on July 16, 2007 02:40:43 PM new
Is there some major group advocating that the US copy Canada's health system? We were discussing this the other night because the only ones that we ever see are the same talking heads that bash Canada's system and they all seem uninformed about how unique the system truly is, the land size of Canada and the difference between each province plus the sparse population in comparison to the US. I doubt a single one of them has ever studied the Health Canada website.
The system is still relatively new and evolving in Canada as the population grows and would never be a model for the US because of all the differences. Even Michael Moore said France had a better system. Each country has to develop their own system to find out what works best for them and then change it as their country changes over time - just as Canada continues to do.
posted on July 16, 2007 03:11:51 PM newThe system is still relatively new and evolving in Canada.....
on canada:
Evolution of Federal Health Care Transfers
Grants to help establish programs
Federal support for provincial health care goes back to the late 1940s when the National Health Grants were created. These grants were considered to be essential building blocks of a national health care system.
============
Yep, as I said....60 years later and they're STILL failing to give adequate health care to those who need it most.
That's a lifetime for many. And it's STILL in crisis. And it's mostly, imo, because GOVERNMENT can't do anything well. All one needs to do is look how our medicare, medicaid and SS isn't working.
Let the gov. run it...they'll screw it up quicker than any private industry EVER could.
Just like the governments of canada, the uk, the french and german gov. have done.
posted on July 16, 2007 03:48:37 PM new
I may be wrong but I don't think Medicare was nationwide in Canada until about 1966 and has evolved since depending on the provincial and federal governments in power and the increasing population. It's a huge land mass.
And I still would like to know which major group is advocating that the US copy Canada's system that makes some here so upset. Were any of you wrongly diagnosed or treated badly under Canada's system and what suffering did it cause you to now hate Canada's system so much?
