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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
More than 45% of non-elderly adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) report financial hardship due to the associated medical bills, according to a Yale research team. Worse still, about one in five report being unable to pay those medical bills at all, said the researchers.
This study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
According to the study, which was scaled up from the data sample provided by the 2013-2017 National Health Interview Survey, the non-elderly American adults with ASCVD experiencing medical bill-related financial hardship represents an estimated 3.9 million individuals.
"It is remarkably disheartening to see how many people suffer severe financial adverse effects of having atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease," said Harlan Krumholz, M.D., Yale cardiologist and director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE). "We have much work to do to ensure that people are spared the financial toxicity of disease that is imposed by our current healthcare system."
Of the group who indicated financial hardship, more than one in three reported that they have also experienced significant financial distress, cut back on purchasing basic necessities like food, and/or skimped on taking essential but costly medications in response to the burden of their medical bills.
Materials provided by Yale University.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday February 16 2019, @05:21PM (12 children)
He says in the Headline, "oh, nearly half of U.S. adults" blah blah. But in the Summary it's the NON-ELDERLY adults. What is non-elderly? You have to pay $36 to find out. But, probably it's a lot. I'm 72, am I elderly? Crazy Bernie is 77, is he? What about Crooked H -- age 71? Rand Paul, 56 and elderly? He's old enough for the AARP. And we take care of our elderly, otherwise referred to as Senior Citizen, very well. We have the Universal, right? But "Senior Citizens VERY HEALTHY in America," that's a terrible headline. Doesn't bring in the "clicks" from all the folks that hate America. So they put the Fake Headline.
I don't want people dying on the streets. The Republican people, they don't want people dying on the streets, but sometimes they'll say "Donald Trump wants single payer." The new plan is good. It's going to be inexpensive. It's going to be much better for the people at the bottom, people that don't have any money. We're going to take care of them through maybe concepts of Medicare. Why can't Medicare simply cover everybody? Now, some people would say, "oh, that's not a very Republican thing to say." That's not single payer, by the way. That's called heart. We gotta take care of people that can't take care of themselves.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 16 2019, @05:46PM (11 children)
Single payer looks like "the best" from where I stand. You pay into it all your life, you benefit from it all your life. It isn't turned off and on, every time you change jobs. You aren't punished for having a condition, often referred to as "preexisting". You aren't punished if you lose your job, and remain unemployed for an extended period of time.
The latest scam from my insurance company - I need to provide a copy of our marriage certificate, or they'll drop my wife. WTF difference is it to the insurance company whether we are married, or not? We've been together for over thirty years, we share a home, we share the bills, we've raised three kids together, we've buried our parents together - how does a scrap of paper make any difference? I'm paying the premiums, they provide coverage - that should be the end of the story.
I have no idea whatsoever how many Americans might be denied insurance, because they aren't "properly" married. Common law wives and husbands are wives and husbands, no less than those married at the Vatican, by the pope himself.
Before anyone draws the wrong conclusions - I do have a marriage certificate. I'm just ranting that it's NONE OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUSINESS. I pay the premiums, I get the service contracted for - that is how business is supposed to work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @05:54PM (6 children)
submit the proof they want, I don't dislike you enough to wish you sickness, especially uncovered. Afterwards inform the ACLU and fill a complaint with the BBB.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @06:57PM (5 children)
You think that without insurance you will get sick?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @07:11PM
Yes, insurance is like the flu shot. Were you born yesterday?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @07:32PM (3 children)
no but if he or his wife get sick without coverage the hardship is compounded
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @07:42PM (2 children)
It is only compounded if you already gave your money away to an insurance company...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @11:22PM (1 child)
Hey, I suppose your rigth, please forgive my ignorance about for profit health care, I live in Canada...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @03:21AM
Same thing, you already gave your healthcare funds away to the state then. It'll just take longer for the Ponzi to play out for you.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday February 16 2019, @10:02PM
Yes.
This is how the marketing leaflet reads, yes. Until the next merger. That and your GP retiring.
Wash, rinse, repeat until the Runaway's account is squeaky clean.
ooops. sorry about that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by ChrisMaple on Sunday February 17 2019, @06:26AM (2 children)
Justice is getting what you pay for, and paying for what you get. If you have a defective body, you need a lot more care, yet you seem to expect that you not be charged more for that greater care. That's not justice.
People rightly expect to pay more for a Ferrari than a shoe; you want the price to be the same and you don't particularly care where the money comes from or how Ferrari will stay in business.
That said, insurance companies are scum. It comes from being in the business of preying on people's fears.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 17 2019, @07:03AM (1 child)
That borders on preposterous.
I'm somewhat of a cheapskate, and I understand that paying for a new car is anything other than cheap. It depreciates immediately after driving it off the new car lot. The shine doesn't make it ride any more comfortably, doesn't make it go any faster. If I want to maintain that new car warranty, I'm obliged to take it back to the dealer for routine, regular maintenance. I have a lot of money invested in that new car, so I pay for the best insurance. Unless I've financed the new car, in which case the bank demands that I pay for the best insurance. New cars and cheapskates don't go together.
In the case of health insurance and medical care, we in the US pay for the best - but we get second or third hand goods. That really offends the cheapskate in me.
Until Obama-care was passed, I payed exorbitant prices for health care. When Obama-care passed, I paid exorbitant +15% prices. In the years since Obama-care passed, it has gone up to exorbitant +25% prices. And, I've gained NOTHING in service. If anything, I've lost services. Doctors have refused my insurance card, so I must drive further to see doctors who do accept my insurance card. Copay has increased, and the annual max on copay has increased.
Overall, I've been raped by our existing system, and it only promises to get worse.
Canadians seem to be content, even happy with their system. Going back to the car analogy, they appear to pay for a second-hand car, and get a second-hand car. They don't pay for new, and get a third-hand car.
Of course, the insurance isn't the whole story. We have to take that dishonest insurance industry, factor in a crooked pharmaceuticals industry, multiply by less-than-honest hospital administrations, add the medical professionals, and last but not least, add some fudge factor for crooked politicians who profit off the whole damned thing.
We're being fucked, plain and simple. We pay higher prices than anyone in the WORLD, for mediocre care.
Oh, if you're a congress critter, or you're filthy rich, or you have connections, you can get the best care in the world, right here in the states. But, all the rest of us, who are paying new-car prices, are still riding ragged out jalopies.
You want to talk about justice? Really? Where's the justice in our present set-up?
Everyone on this site knows that I'm generally opposed to socialism. I'm most definitely opposed to communism. But, when the entire world has more equitable health care than we have, it's time to admit that our capitalism is just plain broken. (Note that I said "equitable", not "better" health care. Tribes in the rainforests may have shitty healthcare, but they aren't charged for Cadillac care.)
Another note on health care. Those poorest among us are the worst burden on health care. They don't pay anything for it, but when they are sick or injured, they go the Emergency Room. They can't be turned away, but they are utilizing the most expensive portion of our health care system. Given single payer, the poorest would pay nothing or close to nothing, but they would have access to *REAL* health care. Doctor's office visits are far, far, FAR cheaper than emergency room visits. Actual care and prevention is cheaper than crisis intervention by orders of magnitude.
It would save money for YOU, as well as me, and every other taxpayer and insurance buyer in this country. Think about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @06:26PM
Yea, the US health care system is capitalistic, not riddled with government intervention at all...