15 bucks an hour

[dogman_1234]

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/seattle_begins_push_for_15_min.html

Let us see how this will turn out.

 

[Saga Lout]

I think one of the advantages of our free system is it allows folks to come forward for preventative tests. Although they waste a certain amount on calling in too wide an age group, they have cut down on many instances of some forms of cancer developing into major illnesses by early diagnosis. I doubt a paid-for health system is geared up to do that.

May I also add this is the most civilised political debate I've had in seventeen years of being online.

 

[gropouce]

In a way I agree with you. The concern is a death panel in the US in which they decide who lives/dies based on the cost.. and of course the inside connections someone has into the system.

It is much easier to expect people to work to receive the service of health care.

This is where the divide is in the US. Is healthcare a Right, or a Service?

I will argue that anything you can do on your own without requiring someone else to perform it could be argued as a Right.
Anything that requires someone else to use their expertise for your benefit would be a Service.

I take my dog to the vet. I pay the vet to perform necessary services on my pet. This is not my right. I cannot for someone else to do something that benefits me, even if I compensate them.

That's where I draw the line between a service and a right.

Healthcare is a service. If we somehow screw that concept up, we will ruin our system.

I must admit to not being completely objective on the issue ... even utopian.

This is because, firstly, health is my job. And it seems impossible for me not to admit someone to the hospital under the pretext that he has money problems.

And secondly, I do not know the operation mode of Obamacare ... Perhaps it is bad, maybe not. I do not have the knowledge to debate this issue.


Whether health coverage is a right or a service is a good question. I've never asked me.
But I guess I agree with you on the fact that it is a service.
Moreover, in France, some people used to say that "for free" when they come in hospital... and I fight every day to make it clear that NO, it's not.

For cons, I do not take into account the dog / vet stuff...
You can not compare the health of animals to that of humans.
And if we approach the subject, I will end by saying that I find it outrageous that even today, some people have less access to quality care than pets.
Someone who pay a fortune for varnishing her cat claws is an acceptable thing until a homeless guy die of cold* in the gutter after a diabetic coma.

*mort de froid?? die of cold??

 

[riser]

It is not that people do not have access to quality healthcare. On the contrary, they do not seek it. We have a lack of doctors and nurses in this country and many are not accepting new patients because of their workload. Often, they work a day job at a clinic or their own practice and spend their evenings at a hospital doing additional work.

I know people who have serious diseases that are extremely expensive to treat. They can't afford the treatment and in one case, the doctor who knows the illness lives in a different state. Someone has to pay the doc's expenses to travel, etc. We can't expect the doctor to foot the patient's expenses. Would you travel somewhere to perform a service knowing it will cost you hundreds, if not thousands of your own money? Probably not.

Two years ago a guy died in Michigan from cold. He was retired military officer with another retirement from a job. He froze to death during a cold spell.. not because he didn't have money. No, because he didn't want to run his bill up. In the end the guy had something like $700,000 in the bank.. didn't even count his pension or other retirement funds. He was just cheap and he died from it.

Anyone in the US can go into the ER and seek treatment without needing to pay. To say people do not have access to quality healthcare in the US is a lie. What you may be thinking of is the person who abuses the ER and goes constantly, never paying their bill, to the point that the staff know them as a regular.

I recently made 2 trips to the ER over the last year. One for myself, one for another person. During the day, the ER is empty and slow. At night though, it gets packed with people. They're lonely, bored, or don't have a place to sleep/stay, so they go to the ER. It is clear that the ER is extremely abused because it generally takes 4-6 months to even receive your bills after receiving the service.

I had a health checkup 2 months ago from a private practice. To this day I am still waiting for the billing to come in.

 

[Beachnative]

The HITECH act is supposed to standardize it. When I was in healthcare and we implemented electronic health records, our billing was something like 300% more effective. It actually allowed us to bill more because we had better records of what we were doing along with using the standard pricing. Often, things would be overlooked. If it said a process took 30 minutes, the staff would often do 2 things in that 30 minutes and only bill for one resulting in a loss of revenue. By making the electronic transition, we were able to bill everything easily and made more money.

I'm not against basic services being available. Standard physicals, health checks, etc. Some degree of copays for other things like stitches and broken bones. Other things were people will get over it but medical aid will help it quicker, you gotta pay for it. Common cold for example, the average person will get over it in time. You don't need to go to the ER or anything for treatment on the people's dime.

A high school friend has been a DBM for years and made great money but where he really made the big bucks ( obscene is more like it) was getting into software/DB developement for homecare.....There are no standards

 

[riser]

Everyone is making their own in-house applications. I'm working with a client now who has their own homegrown solution but it's shaky, but it's the best thing out there for their business. I'm really surprised a small start up company hasn't jumped into this as it seems like building a base system wouldn't be to difficult.. and then push it on the government to build standards. Instant millionaire.

 

[dogman_1234]

Everyone is making their own in-house applications. I'm working with a client now who has their own homegrown solution but it's shaky, but it's the best thing out there for their business. I'm really surprised a small start up company hasn't jumped into this as it seems like building a base system wouldn't be to difficult.. and then push it on the government to build standards. Instant Billionaire.

Fixed last word.

 

[Beachnative]

Everyone is making their own in-house applications. I'm working with a client now who has their own homegrown solution but it's shaky, but it's the best thing out there for their business. I'm really surprised a small start up company hasn't jumped into this as it seems like building a base system wouldn't be to difficult.. and then push it on the government to build standards. Instant millionaire.

Riversoft

 

[dogman_1234]

Everyone is making their own in-house applications. I'm working with a client now who has their own homegrown solution but it's shaky, but it's the best thing out there for their business. I'm really surprised a small start up company hasn't jumped into this as it seems like building a base system wouldn't be to difficult.. and then push it on the government to build standards. Instant millionaire.

Riversoft

Macrohard?

 

[riser]

No name in-house.. 2 healthcare places I know have designed their own internal use software because nothing on the market does what they need.

 

[Saga Lout]

You guys may not believe this but in the UK a remaining few of our wonderful National Health Service Hospitals software of choice is still Windows '95. Apparently it's still quite capable of hosting the other DOS based software they need.

 

[riser]

That's sad, because that's a major issue waiting to happen in the system. The burden in the US is that in order to meet HITECH requirements, it pretty much means software that doesn't exist needs to be created along with everyone making sure they're constantly updated. It's a PITA to keep up with upgrades in medium to large environments.. let alone consider the cost to do it.