#healthcare in america

[tatersgonnatate]

This is Healthcare in America, Tumblr. And this? This needs to have changed YESTERDAY

[isawthismeme]

[marvinetta]

This week's apparently spicy take

Any pharmaceutical that uses tax payer funding for research and development should have pricing set by a regulatory body. This is not a radical notion, other countries do this, and it was discussed in the Senate recently when they grilled some of the pharma dudes about high prices. If tax payers are helping to fund it, we should be able to immediately benefit from the drugs when they come out.

A drug should not be cost prohibitive for the first 10 years before going "over the counter" as we've seen so many other drugs do. Medicine is meant to heal people, make them live longer, and improve quality of life. No where in that does it include "make as much money off their suffering as possible in the process". Almost all medical fields have "do no harm" as their motto, yet the very existence of "for-profit" healthcare as it exists in America does harm every minute of every day.

Also, it's not just the pharmaceutical companies that make the drugs who are responsible for the high prices - PBMs. No middleman should be second guessing a doctor's plan of care based purely on expected profit margins of the companies involved. That is the very definition of harm.

[chaosandorder46]

Wow.

Just witnessed a new executive log on to a call and completely demoralize a team of about 100 hospital leaders in about 5 minutes. How not to do leadership 101...a masterclass.

Read the room you over-starched cunt.

[annihilate-this-week]

“She’d originally called Planned Parenthood. They wouldn’t do an ultrasound to confirm pregnancy until you were eight weeks along, though. Pregnancy math was cruel. The moment you found out you were pregnant, you were already at four weeks. Waiting four more weeks to see if she was pregnant or not seemed absurd, so she called around until she found an ob-gyn who was willing to see her at six weeks.”

— From “Margo's Got Money Troubles” by Rufi Thorpe

Think about this next time you hear about six-week abortion bans. Yes, this is fiction, but it describes the very real situation a typical American woman finds herself in if she gets pregnant. Six-week abortion bans are pretty much just outright bans on abortion. Don’t be fooled.

[fungi-funguy]

Caring For The Elderly

Reading an article by Vox about the crisis regarding care for older adults, and while I knew a lot of this, there's information I think more people should know.

(Article: "Baby boomers are aging. Their kids aren’t ready.")

A lot of Millennials, Gen X, and Gen Z are having to care for their parents. Our country isn't set up in the same way that it was when the Baby Boomers were born, and it's affecting their care as well as the entire family structure.

"By 2030, the US will for the first time have more residents over 65 than children. Someone turning 65 today has a 70 percent chance of needing long-term care at some point, and 20 percent will need it for more than five years."

"Medicare doesn’t cover most long-term care, and seniors only become eligible for care through Medicaid when they have almost no assets left. [...] the median annual cost of a full-time home health aide was nearly $60,000 in 2021, while a semi-private room in a nursing home ran $94,000 per year or more."

"To remedy the financial, mental, and physical health crisis facing boomers and their children, experts say improved paid leave is crucial. Caregivers can take unpaid time off under the Family Medical Leave Act, but without a salary, many can’t afford to."

The article also talks about the substantial gaps in Medicaid coverage, especially in regards to long-term care.

There are a lot of stories shared from the perspective of caregivers who are completely at a loss due to how little help the world offers. Mental and emotional strains due to working full-time jobs, combined with caring for one or more elderly parent, is increasing the stress levels in the younger populations. It's leading to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and heart disease.

If you're caring for an older family member, please remember that there is support out there in your community. If you aren't, please fight for better care for the elderly in these situations.

If you know someone who is a caregiver, please offer them whatever support you can.

And also, please remember to treat the elderly as the people they are. They're humans too, and they aren't some sort of monolith of pure evil rhetoric or something. They're people. And the forgetting of that information is half of why we have this crisis today.

[hezigler]

This One Company Controls America’s Entire Health Care System

"We have the best government money can buy." Mark Twain

[dissociatedbi]

After a year of trialing other injectable migraine treatments that barely worked because our insurance company changed the formulary- my appeal was FINALLY approved & I get to go back on the medication that actually helped!!! Never in my life have I been more excited to stab myself in the stomach, lol.

[linesonpages]

I’ve birthed 2 children and only paid $1850 for both births combined thanks to the same process OP described. Federally funded hospitals are required to have this financial aid program and in most states it’s based on assets as well as income/existing debt.

I took a birthing class from the hospital and when we discussed average costs and the process to make sure your insurance is billed properly I asked if the hospital offered payment plans or financial aid. The teacher didn’t know but said she’d investigate.

A week later she told the class that the hospital has an asset based financial aid program and gave us each a one page form to apply if we wanted to. The billing department employees I brought it to told me “we aren’t supposed to advertise this program bc the insurance companies don’t like it, so you should tell literally everyone you can about this. Every hospital has this if they get federal funding.”

My oldest was an unplanned c section, she was in the NICU for 8 hours, and we were at the hospital for 3 days total. All I paid was $1850 for my anesthesiologist bc they were a contractor and not a hospital employee. My son was delivered vaginally and we only stayed for 24 hours after he was born, and I didn’t pay a penny.

Both times they said the program would cover any hospital costs for our household for 1 year before we would have to reapply. And we were encouraged to reapply if we had need for care.

Ask about financial aid. And keep asking until you get an answer. If your bill is within the last year or two ask anyway, I’ve heard of hospitals being able to forgive parts of an old bill or even the interest with this program too.

Always ask for help.

I feel like I should make a post about this because it’s not something that’s very well-known, and that Americans in particular may need to know about given the uncertain state of our healthcare system at the moment. I’ve wanted to write this out for a while, It’s kind of a long post, so sorry about that!

If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)

You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)

You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)

You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)

You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)

Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.

I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.

The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.

I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.

I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.

The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.

Medical debt is scary because it’s something that can come from stuff that’s already really scary. I didn’t need the burden of $24,000 in debt on top of trying to get around on a crutch with a broken arm (it’s not easy, believe me!).. but I can’t imagine what it would be like with a bigger debt or a more severe medical emergency. I see lots of people in even worse trouble than I was in, both financially and medically. Please know that there are options for you when that GoFundMe doesn’t do enough. Even if your income is higher than mine, it’s worth a shot even for partial debt forgiveness.

[victusinveritas]

[madeofvoid]

[ed-nygma]

Jury Nullification: Your Power To Choose

[justsomeantifas]

Lavish CEO’s Wife, sobbing hysterically after CEO assassination: I don’t know I don’t know I guess he killed millions of people for our money??? I don’t know I don’t know!!!

[nando161mando]

Interesting 🤔

[pouryourselfacupoffuckrightoff]

This tactic has worked for me many times. Paper trail. Ask in front of a nurse or other medical aide if your doctor is really a dick.

This is why fat shaming can have tragic consequences.

[gyaanpedia]

स्वास्थ्य सेवाएं (Healthcare): भारत में वर्तमान स्थिति, चुनौतियां और समाधान ( Healthcare: Current Status, Challenges and Solutions in India )

स्वास्थ्य सेवा (Healthcare) किसी भी देश की आर्थिक और सामाजिक प्रगति का एक महत्वपूर्ण मापदंड है। भारत जैसे विशाल और विविधता-युक्त देश में स्वास्थ्य सेवाओं का क्षेत्र लगातार सुधार और विस्तार का केंद्र रहा है। हालांकि, अभी भी हमें कई चुनौतियों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है, लेकिन इन चुनौतियों के समाधान के लिए सरकार और निजी क्षेत्र मिलकर काम कर रहे हैं। इस ब्लॉग में हम भारत में स्वास्थ्य सेवाओं (Healthcare) के विभिन्न पहलुओं को समझने की कोशिश करेंगे।. read more