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Welcome to the AARP Discussion Board. Here you can talk with peers about current events ranging from Social Security to caring for your parents to the latest on health care reform. It is also the perfect place to exchange healthy eating recipes and job hunting tips.
These forums are for you to engage and have fun meeting new people. Just remember the community code: Be nice!
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Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at March 29, 2012 8:02 AM EDT
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Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at March 29, 2012 10:17 AM EDT
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Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at April 1, 2012 12:26 AM EDT
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Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at April 1, 2012 11:03 AM EDT
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Posts: 1923
First: November 27, 2011 Last: May 18, 2013 |
In Response to Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!: Gail, I don't think i completely understand your post. Are you saying that Govt. best practices boards don't allow ppl to get needed medical care? If so this is specifically not true in the healthcare reform bill. The Board cannot make any judgement on any specific person or doctor. They can only make recommendations broadly of the latest tools, tech, medicine, tests, ect. They are not about voting yay or nay to any specific case of more broadly what the treatment will be for a any classificaton of illness. the doctor patient relationship is specifically protected by statue and law. Posted by byoungusa If you are under any sort of health insurance plan with an outside payer - public or private - there are already certain procedures that are covered and some that are not depending upon the diagnosis and what is the most helpful. So I am not talking about the IPAB; I am talking about now. The NIH is charged with conducting & documenting what is the best treatment for specific diagnosis; they also set protocol in treatment. The same is true of medicine-type treatment & the FDA. When a specific treatment goes outside this realm or has not been substantiated as to it's helpfulness or connection to a specific condition - it may not be monetarily covered in the normal course of coverage. There are also rules (measurements) as to the patient's condition rating and stamina for some type treatment such as transplants. Same is true of experimental treatments offered by the scientific tester - patient's condition and protocol. Many claims in Medicare are sometimes rejected or denied because the specific treatment coding does not match the diagnosis. I think there are always ways to get "needed" treatment - but that needed treatment has to fall within the protocol guidelines. I do think that if the IPAB stands within the health care reform legislation (if the legislation stands), there could be some consideration of using lower cost proven methods of testing and treatment, at least initially in the care of a person. In other words, cost could be added into the consideration of protocol. The simplest example that I can think of would be something like using an XRay in place of a MRI under some situations. We pay for advanced medical technology when sometimes the older method is not completely obsolete but have gotten cheaper because of the new wave of technology. Everybody does not have an HDTV or Plasma TV; some of us are still using analog and with a little manipulation, it works fine. |
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Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at April 1, 2012 1:14 PM EDT
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Posts: 153
First: February 12, 2012 Last: April 26, 2013 |
In Response to Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!: Everybody I know has access to NEEDED health care through some manner or method - private or public, self-pay or charity. What you might think as needed may not always be covered; remember we have government bureaucracies that define specifically what has been approved as "best practices" this is then carried over to private insurers. Give some specifics about your complaint. What do they need and why can't they get it? Posted by GailL1 I have a friend who walks every day in severe pain, because she can not get her knees operated on until she is old enough for Medicare. This is wrong. Does she need it to live? NO, but, to have a quality life, Yes! If she lived in another country it would not be a problem. Here, it is all about politics. If she were a politician, she would already have the operation. |
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Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!
posted at April 1, 2012 10:51 PM EDT
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Posts: 1923
First: November 27, 2011 Last: May 18, 2013 |
In Response to Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying!: In Response to Re: Healthcare Reform is Dying! : I have a friend who walks every day in severe pain, because she can not get her knees operated on until she is old enough for Medicare. This is wrong. Does she need it to live? NO, but, to have a quality life, Yes! If she lived in another country it would not be a problem. Here, it is all about politics. If she were a politician, she would already have the operation. Posted by louisie If she had health insurance coverage she could probably get the operation if that is what her doctor thought would help her. Why does she not have any health insurance coverage. If she lived in another country where she could get the knee operation if it was approved by the doctor AND the government, she might be paying 20%+ in a sales tax or value added tax and maybe even income tax. Just because you hear the word FREE in those universal health care coverage countries, doesn't really mean that you don't pay for it in some other way. Federal politicians and federal government workers have private health insurance which they buy by paying a monthly premium. They have many different plans from which to pick what is best for them and their family. Why does she not have any health insurance coverage now? Even when she gets on Medicare, she needs to be in the best possible shape for a successful outcome if she gets the knee operation. So if she is too much overweight, she should start now to get it under control. When she gets her initial "Wellness Exam" under Medicare, the Doc will tell her where she stands in overall condition and then he will give her ways to help anything that he finds - this makes her healthier for better outcome to the operation once it has been done. |