Comments on: Question of the Week http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/10/question-of-the-week/ CommonHealth Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:13:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Kohlsuppe http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/10/question-of-the-week/comment-page-1/#comment-7914 Kohlsuppe Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:30:58 +0000 http://commonhealth.wbur.org/?p=850#comment-7914 A nice post with lots of information, it's fun to read here, only more so. Greetings! Jens A nice post with lots of information, it’s fun to read here, only more so.

Greetings!

Jens

]]> By: rickevans1950 http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/10/question-of-the-week/comment-page-1/#comment-7866 rickevans1950 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:03:16 +0000 http://commonhealth.wbur.org/?p=850#comment-7866 Funny a week after the election and I'm only the second to respond to this. I guess the strategy of frequently bombarding readers with key decision maker advocacy essays has beating any real discussion into submission. But I digress. 1. Cross country health plan shopping makes no sense unless we agree on national minimum common standards for health plans. And why should low cost areas Mississippi subsidize high cost bloated medical systems in Massachusetts. 2. I'm worried that employers will continue dropping coverage because states like Massachusetts keep piling more and more forms of routine, expensive and often unneeded care on insurance. With the recent hype about the heart benefits of Crestor how soon will it be before insurers are spending on Crestor for all. 3. No and no. 4. Employers should not be fined for not offering health insurance. If we want national insurance lets reign in the profligate trough feeding medical industrial complex first. Funny a week after the election and I’m only the second to respond to this. I guess the strategy of frequently bombarding readers with key decision maker advocacy essays has beating any real discussion into submission. But I digress.

1. Cross country health plan shopping makes no sense unless we agree on national minimum common standards for health plans. And why should low cost areas Mississippi subsidize high cost bloated medical systems in Massachusetts.

2. I’m worried that employers will continue dropping coverage because states like Massachusetts keep piling more and more forms of routine, expensive and often unneeded care on insurance. With the recent hype about the heart benefits of Crestor how soon will it be before insurers are spending on Crestor for all.

3. No and no.

4. Employers should not be fined for not offering health insurance. If we want national insurance lets reign in the profligate trough feeding medical industrial complex first.

]]> By: sven http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/10/question-of-the-week/comment-page-1/#comment-7855 sven Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:04:39 +0000 http://commonhealth.wbur.org/?p=850#comment-7855 As a single man, born December 1964, with no dependents, I like the Massachusetts health system the way it is. I worry that a national plan could screw up what is now working well in this state. I can deal with waiting a long time between when I make an appointment for a routine physical and when I actually get the physical. I am a little concerned about the shortage of doctors taking new patients which affects my ability to find a new doctor near where I live if my current doctor moves on. But, when my previous doctor left his practice I was able to find a new doctor in the next town away so this has not been a problem for me so far. I get great coverage, with no hardship in personal cost, and the MassHealth Connector made the process of becoming part of the system very simple. I had a mountain bike accident in August of 2007 that left me on the side of a road unconscious with an open head wound on my forehead, a fractured left shoulder glenoid, a fractured clavical, and the main clavical ligaments torn apart, along with many other scrapes and bruises. Someone driving by that night noticed me all wiped out on the roadside and called emergency services. Insurance has covered basically all my expenses. I would be bankrupt if I had to pay the emergency services, x-rays, MRI's, doctor visits, prescriptions, reconstructive shoulder surgery (20,000 dollars just for surgery), and physical therapy. It is hardship enough being put out of work and no longer physically capable of working on a home building framing crew where I had been earning good money for the past seven or so years. I have no benefits and had recently put most of my savings into a new 4Runner which I luckily paid off within two years of purchase. That wiped out what savings I had, but at least I expect to have reliable transportation for some time to come. Now I am broke and only getting some food stamp assistance while I look for new employment and a new future plan. If it wasn't for the charity of my own family members I'm not sure how I would have afforded the basics of home life never mind the health care costs. So for me, Massachusetts health care has been a great blessing. Now, how do I afford college or a vocational program for a new gainfully employable profession while no longer being physically capable of the kind of physical labor I used to do for a healthy paycheck? As a single man, born December 1964, with no dependents, I like the Massachusetts health system the way it is. I worry that a national plan could screw up what is now working well in this state. I can deal with waiting a long time between when I make an appointment for a routine physical and when I actually get the physical. I am a little concerned about the shortage of doctors taking new patients which affects my ability to find a new doctor near where I live if my current doctor moves on. But, when my previous doctor left his practice I was able to find a new doctor in the next town away so this has not been a problem for me so far. I get great coverage, with no hardship in personal cost, and the MassHealth Connector made the process of becoming part of the system very simple.
I had a mountain bike accident in August of 2007 that left me on the side of a road unconscious with an open head wound on my forehead, a fractured left shoulder glenoid, a fractured clavical, and the main clavical ligaments torn apart, along with many other scrapes and bruises. Someone driving by that night noticed me all wiped out on the roadside and called emergency services. Insurance has covered basically all my expenses. I would be bankrupt if I had to pay the emergency services, x-rays, MRI’s, doctor visits, prescriptions, reconstructive shoulder surgery (20,000 dollars just for surgery), and physical therapy.
It is hardship enough being put out of work and no longer physically capable of working on a home building framing crew where I had been earning good money for the past seven or so years. I have no benefits and had recently put most of my savings into a new 4Runner which I luckily paid off within two years of purchase. That wiped out what savings I had, but at least I expect to have reliable transportation for some time to come. Now I am broke and only getting some food stamp assistance while I look for new employment and a new future plan. If it wasn’t for the charity of my own family members I’m not sure how I would have afforded the basics of home life never mind the health care costs. So for me, Massachusetts health care has been a great blessing. Now, how do I afford college or a vocational program for a new gainfully employable profession while no longer being physically capable of the kind of physical labor I used to do for a healthy paycheck?

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