Healthcare costs

[cassiesmom]

Somewhere I read that 45 cents out of every dollar spent on health care goes to administrative costs. Two teaching hospitals in Chicago have laid off nurses because patients are unable to pay their bills, resulting in decreased cash flow. I think that as long as there are insurance lobbyists and attorneys going for huge malpractice verdicts, there will be no easy answers to the question of what to do about health care.

[Medusa]

Something needs to be done but I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what that something is. I can barely afford my health insurance and I received notice that my premium is going up again by $150 a year! C'mon! At my age, if I cancel, I'll never get insured again, so I have to cut back somewhere else. The thought of the govt. taking control, though, scares me. My health care system is bad but I know that it can get much worse if the govt. gets ahold of it. I'm not litigious, I'm not a complainer, I don't go to the dr. w/a hangnail but when I do go, I expect to be seen w/in a reasonable amount of time and I insist that the dr. really listen to me. If I'm going to wait for weeks to get an appt., then be shuffled in and out quickly, then keep your "free" health care. I'll find the money somewhere somehow.