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Humiliation and Shame: Part of Being Insured in America
Oh, the things we did not fix in the healthcare bill are shocking. Just as seniors falling into the Medicare drug benefit donut hole begin to get the $250 checks meant to calm their fears about our new healthcare legislation, the rest of us would do well to remember the abuses of the for-profit healthcare system that will continue and even accelerate in the coming years.
Health insurance is not health care. Health insurance is a financial product marketed and sold to protect health and wealth which may do neither thing very well. I view it as a defective product. Yet, very soon we will be buying more of it and helping more of our fellow Americans buy more of it with the subsidies that support the great health insurance bailout that is being called "patient protection."
Yesterday, I went to the doctor for an appointment I waited weeks to secure. I am insured. I have what some would say is fairly good insurance from one of the for-profit insurance giants. I waited patiently in the waiting room, and then was escorted to the exam room. There was a flurry of activity around me. A thorough history was taken. X-rays were taken. The nurse said, "Oh, honey, are you in pain? Those X-rays show some pretty awful deformity." I said I have been hurting for years but that I have waited until I could stand no more to seek treatment. Most of the time I take large amounts of OTC anti-inflammatory medication and muddle through. It's the American way. It's the insured American's way. It's the working, insured American's way.
The doctor buzzed in rather quickly and began discussing a treatment plan with me. Some immediate care to relieve some of the pain, and some longer term non-invasive care to see if we could avoid surgery. I was hopeful and thrilled though a bit worried about how it would feel to get shots in the joints of my feet to help the heel spurs and the bone pain. I've had shots in my knees, and it isn't fun.
Suddenly, as quickly as I had felt the anticipation of some relief, the flurry of activity ground to a halt. The doctor left the room. Another office person came in. She said, "I'm sorry Ms. Smith. Your insurance will not cover what the doctor wants to try." Matter of fact. She's said these words before - many times. I ask how much it would cost to pay for it myself. She answers. I cannot pay that much. The visit is ending. The hope is shriveling. I could feel the muscles in my face tense as the humiliation spread through my body. This body, just moments ago worthy of plans to relieve pain and head for some better health, now was deemed unworthy of care. Shame. All that old shame I used to feel before our medical bankruptcy was rising in my gut. It hurt so badly. But I was determined not to show my anger or my sadness.
The doctor wandered by the room and saw me. He stepped in and gave me some soft inserts for my shoes. He said they won't help much or for long, but that maybe it would be a little relief. He must have seen the look on my face and felt at least a little compassion. A little. I thanked him. But I could say little else, and I could not look him in the eye. I felt so ashamed, and I don't even really understand why I've been so conditioned as a patient to feel it is my failure when these things happen.
On the way home, I alternated between sadness and anger. Clearly someone wasn't being honest with me. Either the treatments this doctor was suggesting really aren't a good idea (as the insurance company's denial to pay would lead one to believe) and therefore are not approved for coverage or the insurance company just wants to push those costs onto patients who cannot usually afford them. Either way, I didn't get the care I needed. Either way, I left hurting. Either way, I lose. The doctor made some money on the office visit and my co-pay at least. The insurance company avoided paying for anything beyond that.
My husband sat beside me in the car, sad and angry for me. As a person covered under one of our nation's single-payer programs and a supplemental private policy, he has never heard the words I heard -- he has never been denied care. He felt helpless for me. As I cried tears of rage, he sat silently.
And, so, how will any of this change under the new healthcare bill? It won't. In fact, the pressure for insurance companies to deny more care will grow as they are compelled by law to take more people who have pre-existing conditions like having feet. Cherry picking the healthiest folks will require a bit more skillful contortions for the for-profit insurance companies, and doctors will leave more patients sitting on the edge of exam tables like naughty little children who do not deserve to be treated.
Healthcare is a basic human right in most of the rest of the modern world. Only in this nation do we believe that only the richest people deserve the best of care. It's a wild twist on the old Bible lesson about it being tougher for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. We've made it harder for a working person or a poor person to get healthcare in America than for a rich man to get to heaven. We are a sick society indeed. No Golden Rule values herein.
Only when we finally decide that we believe in a compassionate and just healthcare system for all will we ever have the courage to change it. Right now we just don't believe in that sort of system at all. As a patient, I am fodder. At least this morning I was able to turn my outrage back on the system that left me in that exam room alone and sucking back tears of anger. No one should go to a doctor to seek care and leave less well. That's cruel and unusual.
I was raised to have more compassion than this for my fellow human beings, and I think most Americans were raised with similar values. How in the world did we get to a place where we participate in doing this to one another? Is this the system we want to leave to our children? Do you want to leave your child lacking care when he or she needs it? Your grandchild? Then, for heaven's sake -- for heaven's sake -- stand up and let's get back to work to fix this mess. There is much to be done.
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Show AllAfter arresting single-payer advocates to prevent single-payer from being addressed during the year long health care charade, Obama repeatedly told us that "we need a public option to keep insurance companies honest". He often followed up that statement by saying he would, however, sign a bill without a public option, thereby assuring that the insurance industry's license to steal would have no expiration date.
While Obamacare includes no public option and prohibits states from establishing their own single-payer system, Obama has yet to tell us how he will keep insurance companies honest WITHOUT a public option.
Although Obamacare requires the IRS to fine Americans who do not purchase insurance from private insurance companies, Obamacare does not require any federal agency to assure that private insurance policies are equitable and providing the promised coverage. I guess the financially strapped states will each need to pony up the money to enforce insurance companies' policies.
This doublespeak is one of many examples of the credibility gap that gets wider every day Obama is in office.
But compassion and empathy, as any good Christian knows, are reserved only for those like us, who meet our standards of virtue and morality, who believe as we do and who put their faith in God. We must suffer as Jesus suffered. It's the natural state of things. That's what we believe in this God fearing, freedom loving, United States. God Bless America.
Forgive my skepticism about the decision of the insurance company, but I can't help wondering if the decision had anything to do with who Ms. Smith is and her public work in health reform.
More likely she is a number in their system and that number indicated they wouldn't pay.
Yes, the burden of proof is 100% on the insured to convince insurance companies that they are obligated to provide specific coverage or pay a claim. Its a heads they win, tails you lose shell game.
Rather than reforming health care, Obamacare further empowers the insurance and drug companies that created the health care crisis.
We aren't doing this to each other. They are doing it to us. The sooner we all realize and accept this, the sooner we can effectively do something about it. Even then the chances are slim because your democracy faded to almost nothing long ago.
We are allowing this to be done and from what I can see respectable church groups and business associations are complicit--they don't like paying high premiums but entertaining the idea that we all deserve health care as a right as single payer advocates is even more odious. Try to get an invite to speak to them.
This will be Obama's legacy....the maintenance of the status quo.
I wonder if you get a statue for that?
Obama has not just maintained the status quo, he has further empowered it and is accelerating the dismantling of the US middle class.
Long after they lose everything ,many Obamabots will continue to blame Dubya and others for Obama's misdeeds...they are afflicted with terminal denial and will donate their last nickle to the Obama statue fund.
this is the doing of the landlord and the financier...
we view violence as bad...
therefore, our problems requiring violent solutions go unresolved...
'healthcare' is a subset of the living planet...
as industry kills the planet, and individuals and societies die, healthcare will die, too...
ass-backwards, we are living...dying, rather...
You were raised in a state of delusion and denial. The country in which you believe that you live . . . is mythical.
From article:
[...Healthcare is a basic human right in most of the rest of the modern world. Only in this nation do we believe that only the richest people deserve the best of car...]
You want affordable quality health care? Move to Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, Costa Rica, UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Cuba, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Spain etc.
You will never get it in the USA, not in our lifetimes at least. The USA has the highest number of prisoners and prisons in the world, declining life expectancies, an overseas military empire, the most un-equal distribution of income and wealth by far of any developed country and even some developing countries.
The USA is basically living a lie every single day. The Empire is slowly crumbling due to instituionalized corruption, mismanagement, imperial overstretch and massive debts due largely to Empire Inc.
We are slowly entering a neo-Feudal society where only wealthy folks will have security, insurance and property. The rest of us serfs will be left with very little.
Sorry - - we ARE doing this to EACH OTHER. It was clear in 2009 that, so far as healthcare is concerned, there are TWO DISTINCT AMERICAS.
Fifty percent of the USA adult population want a "single payer" system. The other fifty percent have not simply disagreed. You have read their words in many public forums. What they have said - with apoplexy, clenched fists, bulging neck veins, with Himalayan hatred and loathing - is: OVER -- OUR -- DEAD -- BODIES! The degree of vitriol over healthcare has surpassed that of even the Abortion debate.
To quote myself: "The method by which a society distributes health care to its members is that society's answer to the question: "Why have a society in the first place?"
Single payers have an egalitarian premise, and we see a societal gene pool in the basic shape of a circle. Our goal is for the transmission of ALL our genes to the future, in good health, on a level field of opportunity.
Medical capitalists and other whores determined to gouge profit from the life-saving needs of neighbors, see a societal gene pool in the basic shape of a pyramid. At the top are the Brahman class breeders, whose spermatazoa we worship and treasure, in hopes of our children someday getting a kind word and pat on the head from THEIR children - o lucky day!
The bastard healthcare bill that President Obama signed into law, and the grief and compromises needed to achieve that farce, prove 1) the existence of two Americas and 2) the case that Social Contract between the two divisions has reached the point of impossibility.
In the past 18 months I have gone eyeball to unblinking eyeball with the whores of capitalist healthcare and told them to pick 50 percent of the American Land Mass for their nation of residence. I don't want them as neighbors. To dwell among "single payer" repeat child molesters would be a less offensive way to live.
Trylon, not mincing words.
Yes, the American economic model becomes a steeper pyramid every day, yet the majority of Americans are still in denial.
I hope you did not tell them to pick anywhere in the land mass... I think they should be relegated to the part that has the Gulf (so they can enjoy the fruits of their greed), including especially Texas, and of course, KKKZona.
Oh please oh please don't send them to Austin...we actually have a City Council that passed a resolution in support of Single Payer in 2008! And throughout the (very large) state, we have single payer activists who have been working overtime! In case you haven't noticed, we're fighting an extremely steep uphill battle. Yes we have been the home of George W., Tom Delay...etc. But we've also been home to Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins....pleeeez oh pleeez don't send us any more corporatists...we're way over quota. : <
Oh yes, and how COULD I forget...BILL MOYERS, CHAMPION OF SINGLE PAYER! WE GET EXTRA CREDIT FOR BILL MOYERS!!!!
-"Healthcare is a basic human right in most of the rest of the modern world. Only in this nation do we believe that only the richest people deserve the best of care."
I feel for you guys. But as I posted many times, anyone with half a brain, well before he was elected president, could see that Obama was more of the same corporate elite. Do you have access to the internet? Check out the US Greens or one of the political parties that wants to help you.
Obama promised to end torture, he didn't. Obama promised to end the Iraq occupation, he didn't. Obama promised to restore the rule of law, he didn't. Obama promised to improve relations with the Muslim world, he didn't. Obama promised to put in place more environmental oversight, he didn't. Obama promised to enact universal healthcare, he didn't. See the pattern?
We all recall the way the media chose the top three contenders for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008 -- Clinton, Obama and Edwards had raised the most money during the first four weeks of the campaign and therefore were ahead of everyone else in, I guess, "electability."
Of the three, only Edwards fully supported single payer, but unfortunately shot himself in the foot and was eliminated.
Meanwhile, Kucinich for sure would have pressed for single-payer and some of the others for almost-sure ( including Dodd and Biden). None of these would have pandered to the right in order to pass a-bill-any-bill-no-matter-how bad and call it "reform." The bill as passed does offer some improvements and could be considered a partial reform but no more than that.
The right wants to repeal the Obama health care act, saying it's unconstitutional. I'd like to repeal it because it is fiscally irresponsible to spend trillions of dollars MORE (without achieving universality and with leaving the insurance companies in charge) instead of saving $400 billion per year and assuring care to every person.
The majority of Americans vote for this shit - "shit" being the Republicans and the Democrats. They, along with us who have finally had enough of the "shit", have to take it in the neck every day.
I am a Social Worker who works for the Poor.
I get really angry when online comments are made about people getting Medicaid "for free". They have visions of "welfare momma's" having coverage. They don't think about the Elderly, Children and the Disabled. In Indiana, if you are single and not disabled, you can't get coverage.
Agreed, pooka. I too am a social worker and I've worked in both the US and Canada (now in the sub-arctic) and I love the attitude here that everybody deserves the dignity of a chance and if live has not dealt you all the right cards, that should not be held against you. Try telling that to people (non-social worker types, anyway) in the U.S.
You often hear in Canada a comment I never heard in the U.S.: "Why doesn't the government do more?". Maybe that's the fruit of having a responsive and (relatively) responsible government - people don't hate it so much. It's refreshing.
No more Harvard graduates please. Or Yale or Princeton. These so called "elite" Ivy League institutions exist only to produce more souless leaders of the pigocracy. I'm not against education, only indoctrination.
~ Whatever you have it in your heads that you think that you are defending is simply just not the case of what you think it is all about. ~
I like this...if it says what I think it says, I think I may agree with it...
I find myself asking people why we continue to expect each other to go to school, get a job, and pay for housing and necessities, just like always...
as if nothing that is going on has any affect on anything...
we are destroying our world with our jobs to pay our endless land, housing and necessity costs, but unable to think of any other way to live...
we let others dictate every facet of our lives, quite possibly including our form and time of death, but think it wrong to counter them with force...
the best examples we have of how to live harmoniously with this world, the animals and the indigenous peoples, are ridiculed and slaughtered, leaving us not only culpable, but ignorant, as well...
even as the oil gushes into the oceans, oil that may do so for months, if not years, people discuss their lives as if the core expectations are not only unchanged, but sound...
those core expectations are responsible...how do we change our social requirements?
what are they defending? a dream that feels real, but never was...
better to awaken, and defend yourself and your world...September 22, 2012...
Sometimes I think there is a careless use of the terms "quality health care" and "Canadian single-payer". At least in rural northern Canada, quality is a very relative thing. The doctors, when available, are not always very good. Procedures - especially expensive ones - can take a very long time to happen.
I have to admit, I think the private carrier health care I got when I lived in the U.S. was better. However, I never required high-end care; it was all routine check-up stuff.
Why I will always defend single-payer health care - even when it comes up short - is because if I'm going to be denied a service I would much much rather it be because it just isn't available to anyone than because some privateer has decided it just isn't available to me.
It is fairer and more just to wait in line with everyone than have to watch some priviledged folks get fast-tracked to the very best because they have some resources denied to others. But then, THAT'S the American Way, isn't it?
I see your point.
There are also other alternatives that seem to work much better than the laissez-faire private system here in the US. For example, in the Netherlands they have private insurance companies that are striclty regulated as well as pharma is strictly regulated. All medicinces, and medical (even veterinary care) is strictly regulated. Everyone is covered, whether you have a job or not.
And the system in France is rated as the #1 in the world across the board. The US has a lot to learn.
However, like in the US, pressures from neo-lib economic and ECB policies are putting the strain on all EU countries to de-regulate and privatize the public sector.
I agree with you.
it all boils down to something I like to say to americans that claim allegiance to the US "health care" system:
WHAT GOOD is the best medicine in the world if you can't afford it ....or it KILLS YOU to GET it? it is better to have NO medicine at all and just die as nature dictates rather than have an "industry" make profit out of human beings' MISERY. there is nothing more barbaric than THAT.
I work with people across the country needing human organ transplants. Donna Smith's story is not the exception rather it is the rule for middle income people. Yesterday I met with lady needing a kidney transplant. She can't get one although medically qualified. Why? Because Medicare covers post-transplant immunisuppressants and anti-rejection meds for only 3 years. If you can't prove financial ability to pay for the meds at the end of 3 years; no transplant! The average monthly cost; $2,000.00.
The so-called health care reform bill had originally expanded the coverage for life.However, DaVita and Fresenius, the largest dialysis center operators in the country along with the Congressional Black Caucus formed an alliance to kill that provision of the bill. BTW, Davita revenues for 2008 were $6 billion. Kent Thiry, DaVita, CEO 2007 income from salary, bonuses, and stock options: $280 million.
People who can't afford health care certainly are shamed. Additionally, they feel scared, marginalized, despair!
www.innovativestrategies.us
Well-written, Donna, but the message is oh-so-sad. How did it happen that we Americans think it's OK to see our neighbors humiliated and denied needed treatment--treatment that is available right down the hall--Oops, but not for you, Mrs. Smith. Imagine the parent turned away with a sick child, or the despair of families sleeping in their cars, lining up to be seen at a Remote Area Medical clinic.
Will the new bill help? Not much, I'm afraid. The insurers and the well-off will still get theirs. Subsidies intended to make care affordable for middle- and low-income patients will end up in shareholder coffers and exec salaries. Told that patients must have "skin in the game," we'll be required to absorb more and more of the costs of our own care.
Want to turn your anger into positive action? I suggest CD readers go to Healthcare-NOW.org to learn more about the single-payer movement. Join the Medicare for All group in your community. As our pals in Indiana say, "Health Reform--We're still for it--and we're not done yet."
Having been laid off on June 7, I was offered my BCBS health plan extension through the so-called COBRA program. Sounded good but after I did my calculation I'm not very enthusiastic about it. Here's why.
My unemployment insurance compensation is 1,200 a month, but I have to pay:
- $120 for 10% taxes (!)
- $486 for COBRA (with $500 deductible, 70% coverage)
- $315 apartment rent (with covered utilities)
- $130 for medications (had a heart-attack and removed bladder cancer)
- $63 phone and DSL Internet connection fees (w/o long-distance calls)
- $35 car insurance (10-year old car)
Total of $1,029 monthly expenses leaves me with appx 70 dollars for groceries and all other necessities. Yet I can say I'm a "lucky" one since my rent and car insurance are extremely low, and my unemployment insurance is at the top.
Four times a year I'm supposed to have periodontal maintenance; once a year regular physical exam; once a year cystoscopy check for bladder cancer - which all cost additional money, even with my COBRA extension.
OK, what boggles my mind is that there's literally millions of Americans in a similar position out there, yet they don't vote at best, or vote Republican/Democrat at worst. THAT'S what a shame is, and we deserve every humiliation coming our way.
That is so HORRIBLE, WE JUNE.
I don't have health insurance myself...and try to just not "think" about it. but I can't even imagine what it must be like for you and so many millions more who simply have tried to live as decently as they could -- and STILL it's not enough in this
"greatest, richest, best country in the world".
i knew a few years ago of a veteran nurse whose own daughter and the daughter's husband were working full-time, but had no health insurance...work places didnt' cover or they couldn't afford on their own...and the daughter was stricken with leukemia....the nurse couldn't cover them either and they were reduced to putting up handwritten letters on bulletin boards in the workplace begging for contributions...
it is just so heartbreaking ...
and yet -- soon after that i had a brief discussion with an administrator at work who expressed "HORROR" when I stated that "scandinavian countries have a much better health care system than the USA...single payer, etc."...
and she said:
"but they have waiting lists...and that's socialism and they RATION health care...we have the best health care in the world"......
I responded:
"really? you have the best health care IF YOU can AFFORD IT...what good is it if tens of millions that work very hard can't afford it? what good is the *best health care and medicine* if people can only LOOK but not touch? that's not a health care system -- that's profiteering based on people's MISERY -- and INHUMANE and for a country that calls itself Christian -- UNCHRISTLIKE."
and she shut up.
Leo Tolstoy said: "All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
My neighbour had an epiphany when I gave him Jack London's "Iron Heel" to read - which is good. But what's disapointing is that he is in his mid-forties, well-educated, and *unemployed w/o health insurance*, yet he didn't think this nation needed social programs whatsoever. I blame him and millions of others of the same mindset for the current disaster, I don't blame your administrator and her well-off selfish ilk.
I wonder what amount of misery it takes for this nation to wake up.
I have health insurance-- (which soon I will be dumping in protest).
After they suck you dry, they leave you sick to suffer.
Chelsea
coming from the philippines, about whose "health care" system I do not really know much about , or have for decades now....I find it instructive and quite amusing at the least,
to see a comparison -- between just ONE POOR COUNTRY - and the "greatest, richest, most powerful, most advanced nation on earth".......
in what plans there are for their own citizens and residents.
imo, while of course none are "perfect" systems...they are however mainly differences in "advancement"..
having said that - what is more shameful:
a Country that is POOR (for various reasons) - but AIMS very hard for a national health CARE system...AND has existing programs for it...barred only by its own poverty....
or a country that is the RICHEST but REFUSES to provide even basic , decent, humane care for its citizens?
==============================
below are general descriptions of the philippines "system" - much less advanced and far from complete as it is:
---------------
Corporate Profile
Vision
A premier government corporation that ensures sustainable, affordable and progressive social health insurance which endeavors to influence the delivery of accessible quality health care for all Filipinos.
Mission
As a financial intermediary, PhilHealth shall continuously evolve a sustainable National Health Insurance Program that shall:
* Lead towards universal coverage
* Ensure better benefits for its members at affordable premiums;
* Establish close coordination with its clients through a strong partnership with all stakeholders; and,
* Provide effective internal information and management systems to influence the delivery of quality health care services.
Core Values
People and Partnership
The alliance we have made are the wheels of our program. Our members are at the core of our operations and it is our duty to serve the public.
Harmony
Team PhilHealth moves as one, otherwise, we could not have reached nor surpassed our goals.
Innovation
We support new and bright ideas to improve our operations, and apply the Balanced Scorecards into how we carry out our tasks.
Leadership
The entire PhilHealth organization leads and drives the health system reforms in the country.
Honor, Accountability and Transparency
We are the custodians of public coffers and we owe it to the people to keep the program afloat for future generations.
Excellence and Lifetime Learning
We do not just meet targets; we surpass them because we are movers and shapers. We are the few who make things happen but we continue to learn new things.
Health for All
We aim for universal coverage. Right now, we cover eight out of every ten Filipinos, and we aspire to sustain this coverage in the long-term.
Business Profile
Nature of Organization: Government Owned and Controlled Corporation
Industry: Health Care Financing
Industry Affiliation: Member of the International Social Security Association, ASEAN Social Security Association, and Philippine Social Security Association.
Funding sources:
* National and Local Government Units for the annual premium of enrolled Sponsored Members
* Contribution of members into the Program
Key Program Partners:
* Institutional and Professional Health Care Providers
* National Government Agencies
* Local Government Units
* Collecting Banks and Agents
* Legislators
* Private Organizations
Board Composition
Chair: Secretary of Health
Vice Chair: President and CEO of PhilHealth
Members:
* Secretary of Labor and Employment
* Secretary of Interior and Local Government
* Secretary of Social Welfare and Development
* Representative of Labor Sector
* Representative of Employers Sector
* President and CEO of SSS
* President and General Manager of GSIS
* Representative of National Anti-Poverty Commission
* Representative of Overseas Filipino Workers Sector
* Representative of Self-Employed Sector
* Representative of Health Care Providers Sector
ALLIANZ WORLDWIDE CARE. 2010 report that looks at worldwide , national health care systems.
---------------
Healthcare in the Philippines
Introduction
Officially called the Republic of the Philippines, this island nation is situated in Southeast Asia. Its capital is Manila and it has more than seven thousand islands, making it the world’s twelfth most populous country.
Overview of Healthcare
Although there have been recorded cases of drug dependency and malnutrition in the Philippines, the healthcare system can still be considered to be of a good standard. This is despite the fact that the facilities may not be as impressive as those found in high-end US or European hospitals. The top Philippine hospitals include the Medical Centre in Alabang, the Asian Hospital, the Makati Medical Centre, the Medical City in Ortigas, and St. Lukes Medical Centre in Quezon City.
Medical practitioners in the Philippines are graduates from the top universities in the country and most of them have studied in US medical schools. Additionally, there are doctors that have practiced medicine in the US before sharing their expertise in the Philippines. Filipino nurses are also trained by nursing schools that have excellent standards. In fact, a large percentage of Filipino nurses go on to work in the US.
If you are looking for a dentist or a doctor, it is advisable to seek the opinions of other expatriates that have been in the Philippines for a number of years.
Hospitals
Finding the right hospital in the Philippines is not considered too difficult as there are a number of options to choose from. The Philippines has both private and public healthcare institutions. Most of the government hospitals provide quality healthcare in the same way private hospitals do.
Although some people may have misconceptions, most of them are unfounded. The main difference between public and private hospitals are the facilities and technologies offered. Most of the public hospitals would not be equipped to the same standard as the private ones. However, some of the best doctors are serving in the government hospitals. Also, most Filipinos would seek advice from these government hospitals because fees are not charged. Private hospitals are located in key cities throughout the nation and there are also tertiary hospitals that have the latest in medical technologies. However, as you would expect, private hospitals are more expensive.
Emergency in the Philippines
The Philippines have stand-by ambulances for any emergency situation. They also have a hotline number which is available in times of emergencies.
Pharmacies
There are numerous pharmacies in the Philippines that provide medicines which have been approved by the Bureau of Food and Drugs. Most of the standard pharmacies are manned by professional pharmacists that have studied and trained in top medical schools in the country. There are strict guidelines in relation to prescription drugs; while some countries allow their patients to obtain certain drugs without a prescription, the Filipino pharmacists have stringent directives in relation to the sale of such drugs.
Cost of medicines and hospitalisations
Generally speaking, hospitals are not that expensive in the Philippines. Medicines are also affordable; both locals and expatriates will attest to this fact. Additionally, in the Philippines, almost ninety percent of the population can speak and understand English. Communication is never a problem when you are in the Philippines. The people are very hospitable and accommodating, the doctors and medical practitioners are friendly and the place is very inviting.
Overall, the healthcare system in the Philippines is affordable, the doctors are well-trained and the nurses are of a high standard.
Health issues in the Philippines
The Philippines have been struggling with some healthcare issues, one of the most noticeable being illegal drug use. There are a number of Filipinos who are said to be addicted to prohibited drugs. However, the Philippine government has concentrated on this issue and although there are still some recorded incidents of drug abuse, the number of drug dependents has gradually decreased.
Another serious health issue is malnutrition. Unsurprisingly, the poorer citizens are the ones who suffer from this condition. The Philippine government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and in conjunction with the Department of Health, has initiated projects to help its poorer citizens who suffer from starvation.
Cases of dengue are also notable. However, most of these cases are properly attended to by the Philippine government.
Hands down--I like the Philippine health care system over that of the USA.
I hope my posts and information gathered don't give misconceptions about things there being "superior" - medically or systemwise - in terms of being across-the-board "high-quality" .
my main point was to show the comparison between the world's RICHEST and most "advanced" nation - even the Global Empire - imagine that, with a THIRD WORLD or just "developing" nation that has its own internal problems, both economic and social, while also having to try to emerge as a people from generations of being under the boot of foreign imperialists.
NOT everything that foreign influences bring are necessary BAD...that is the nature also of evolution and cross-fertilizations. we always hope that the exchanges come to good things.
but it is another thing when a less advanced nation is overwhelmed and even INTENTIONALLY rendered subjugated such as that with a country like the philippines (among so many).
as far as the actual "medical care" goes - from what I remember - which is of a long time ago , and recently only from reports from expatriates or filipino tourists on "how things are lately back home" - it is true that , though of course not anywhere near as extensive and common as in a first world country like the USA or europeans, or those in japan or hongkong and taiwan, singapore, there are quite advanced facilities - with the most prominent and seriously funded as government owned. naturally that is barely a dent in a country of 80 million.
but at least - in terms of BASIC care, or some preventative care, they have "somewhere" to run to without having to go through loops and circles in the air just to get them.
I recall going home many years ago - i think it was 1999 to see my dying mother for the last time ...and a few days after I was home - i somehow developed a severe tooth infection. I am quite sure it was already "on the way" while in the USA all these years , from occasional pain as warning.
but on that visit it really flared out . so my sister commanded me to go to the dentist nearby ...i paid the equivalent of a FEW dollars - probably no more than 10 dollars...and this was a PRIVATE dentist. she extracted it, it was SEVERELY infected ..and then proceeded to fix all the other teeth, cleaned them thoroughly, drilled some cavities that had developed over the years - filled them. and until TODAY they are still fine, except one tooth that even when she fixed it years ago she told me that was going to have to be watched over the years - and it did eventually succumbe to decay ..and I had it extracted last year HERE in the USA -
where I , according to the dentist , might have died if one more night had gone without extraction. THIS cost me 400 hundred dollars which meant another month of tightening my food and walking instead of taking the bus and borrowing money to fill the gap for rent.
of course to a filipino IN the philippines - EVEN 10 dollars would be a LOT of money because of the poverty and the country unable to fight back the global capitalist "wage arbitration" of cheapening labor and resources and national revenues of countries like the philippines : the all-important "DOLLAR Hegemony imperialism" - so to say.
but i think the POINT is made to readers that - from the standpoint of american COSTS - even with american-earned DOLLARS by an american resident in the USA - americans pay BIG BUCKS for very little BANG....
and not least - for such a rich nation that brags about its "civilization" - at the price of a dehumanizing, shaming kind of "health delivery" even if americans work their butts off to have "insurance".
i mean - what kind of society is that?.
EVERY single filipino nurse that I have known HERE in the USA tells me , privately of course, that , naturally, the reason they are here is to earn more -- brain drain from the philippines' very-well trained medical professionals - as a way to help their families back home: a CONSEQUENCE once again of Western , primarily US imperialism for generations that impoverished the philippines.
and they tell me :
"teddy -- it's really so DIFFERENT HERE....it's as if the patients have to be treated like numbers only, unlike back home , even if we have limited resources, where we try to treat them like our own family and like real people...and refering to the patients, say in filipino: 'nakaka-awa naman'......which is : "they are so pitiful".
so pitiful that for such money people have to pay , with their so-called "insurance" - "respect" is only given because it's MANDATORY as part of the "profession" and because "you are paid"....
rather than because it is HUMANE to respect a patient or weak person in your treatment, regardless of cost or ability to pay.
MANY Americans say that "Socialist countries" or systems "RATION health care".......
welll.....
the USA PRIVATIZED SYSTEM RATIONS it even more...through "denial of coverage"...blah, blah, blah, makes yoU WAIT as they "decide" before they DENY....
in fact - it is a TORTURE SYSTEM posing as "health care"........
making the SLAVES work for the privilege to be DENIED or WAIT until DENIED...while paying through the nose for that privilege...
NAZI Dr MENGELE would be Soooooooooooooo delirious to have concocted such an EFFICIENT system of enslavement and slow genocide -- with PROFITS to boot.
A couple of months ago I had my first, MANDATED, annual Medicare medical checkup.
The checkup was essentially the same as it was that last time I had a medical check-up, some 40 years ago. Eye, ear, nose, throat, with a light and a magnifier. Mallet to check the knee reaction. Cough to check for hernia, stethoscope for gurgling in the lungs, middle finger up the rectum to check for enlarged prostate, hand squeeze test (done incorrectly). Three vials of blood sent elsewhere for testing.
Sent to local hospital for lung x-ray. X-ray comes back inconclusive, need a second x-ray with different angle and resolution. Report comes back, false alarm!
FEE FOR SERVICE!
Can I see the x-rays? Show me the lung anomaly. Can I have a copy of my own "baseline report"?
Bills arrive from 3 entities, two seeming to be duplicates. Any questions, Call India! The bill from the hospital explains nothing.
I tell the doctor, who is known to me only by reputation, that my ongoing Depression is exogenous and that in the past amphetamines worked quite well. He recommends SSRIs or SNRIs. I point out that these drugs have potential severe "side affects" far greater than those of amphetamines. He replies that the latter tend toward "abuse" and that doctors are being watched by the DEA. We settle for a generic scrip for diazepam (Valium).
I entered the medical system feeling like shit, in constant pain despite constant attempts at exercise. I leave the medical system feeling like shit.
I am told that the blood tests reveal that I have a very high level of "good" fat. That's about it for a diagnosis. So why do the carotid arteries in my neck feel clogged up?
Diazepam is okay if you take about a fourth of the pill on any given day. That can take the edge off waking up to this nightmare every day. Meanwhile, I'll take the "street drugs" over the Pharmaceuticals ANY DAY.
Doctoring is becoming criminalized. Unless you're rich.
Look at the evidence. The medical profession is promoting chemical Selective Seritonin Reuptake Inhibitors and now Norepinephrine inhibitors.
Block the brain!
I prefer to live with the pain. And to try to work through it. Old age is a bitch, and there is no getting around it. Unless you prefer death. OTOH, maybe the afghans have it right. Who was that French author?
-30-
Hi , OleManRiver.
it's just disturbing that you and so many others have to go through that. i hope you'll give a look at trying or joining some community groups that have exercise sessions on
Tai-chi or Yoga.
i;m just linking samples googled.
i think gi-gong is particularly adaptable to any of us aging folks.
i just imitated a few of its "moves" and tried teaching it to some senior citizens and they all seemed to like it very much. one particularly , a gentleman told me that he traced his recent years' "sprightliness" TO the moves I showed him. he said just yesterday to me:
"do you remember that 3 years ago - i couldn't even bend down to tie my shoelaces?. i felt weakness so often? since i started and continued these movements, they disappeared, and It's not because of any medications...and i'm in my NINETIES".
he keeps telling others proudly about it actually. i explained to him that those few movements i learned for us were just adaptations of a much more complex and formal system of health of ancient chinese "medicine".
imagine if you really embarked on this project for yourself! in most cities or communities there are usually, where there are chinese, groups, some very large, that do QI-GONG (tai-chi) in the parks. usually led by a volunteer expert..and you can just go right there and join right in from any point and ask questions and they'll explain things to you until you get the "flow" of it....they are usually free of charge or if you want you can always give a little donation. usually they do it in the early morning so senior citizens (mostly chinese) - can keep active.
PLEASE try to do that. ...also -- it will be good to make friends.
and i'm not even an expert by any stretch of the imagination. i just imitated some movements (mostly circular , continuous, flowing , slow and gentle , movements and concentratings on good , controlled breathing)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&&sa=X&ei=ZCwaTOPpOIa8lQfNzMXKCg&ved=0CBAQBSgA&q=elie+poy+yew+chow&spell=1
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&&sa=X&ei=ZCwaTOPpOIa8lQfNzMXKCg&ved=0CBAQBSgA&q=elie+poy+yew+chow&spell=1
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=yoga+for+seniors&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
I hope you don't mind my suggesting to look into these....because I care.
:-)
I'm sure you've had the opportunity to try pot, but I find marijuana very helpful in dealing with the daily nightmare that is life here...
I just read teddy's reply to you...
I agree with him...I do some regular exercises every morning, and karate a couple of nights a week, and find this physical activity very centering, as well...
best to you, olemanriver!
OleManRiver,
Sorry you're going through this.
Exercise will help--it helps my pain.
I have Lyme arthritis.
Chelsea
WAKE UP!!! The system is rotten to the core and is designed to enrich the medical monopoly. Note Donna Smith's comment about being denied coverage for a treatment her doctor wants to "try". They want their guinea pigs and expect us to pay for the privilege.
For cancer, Donna, if you have to pay your own way, I would suggest www.dr-gonzalez.com and read all the info. Do a search for trophoblast theory of cancer or read "The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer" by Dr Nicholas Gonzalez and Dr linda Isaacs. (Gonzalez, by the way, has nothing to do with Mexican clinics. He's in Manhattan and did a residency in immunology at Sloan Kettering. I've recently read a short essay on how the NIH and NCI published research that was corrupted (bsically phony) in order to deny the effectiveness of enzyme therapy in favor of chemo.
Cut, burn, poison...what a waste.
This is bad, but I know of someone who had to go to Canada to get a life saving operation, an operation which would have cost ten of thousands of dollars in the USA which this person didn't have and had no health insurance. As this person had a friend from Canada who could line up the surgery in Canada, it didn't cost this person anything at all, and that person's life is saved. In the USA that individual would have died for lack of M O N A Y and rip off health insurance.
AD
Donna and Calif Nurses Assoc.,
Break from the Democratic Party.
They have clearly demonstrated what health care "reform"
means to them.
They're as worthless as the Republicans--actually worse as they want to force the American people to purchase a defective private product.
Shame on them!
Now is the time to go Indy and/or Green.
Labor/citizens need to revive the Green Party or form a new Third Party.
The Democratic Party is a worthless pile of corporate dung.
Chelsea
I read through a number of comments and a handful of things strike me:
#1, Yes, our healthcare system sucks. It is neither about health, nor care.
#2, And on the other hand - boy are there some lovely, caring people out there who stand ready to help those in the kinds of pain with which the mainstream "healthcare" system refuses to deal. A big hug to all of you ...
Yes, a body of research shows that exercise helps with mild to moderate depression far more consistently, effectively, and SAFELY than any SSRI. And research also shows that SSRIs don't do anything for serious depression. So why would we even think about taking one to "manage" depression? Instead, take your health into your own hands, and tell Big Pharma to shove it.
And Tai Chi and other Chinese body work is exceptionally powerful - gently powerful - in resolving a host of issues which our mainstream system claims must be "managed" and can't be "cured." Bull pucky. Go explore a system of healing ... in fact the only system of healing ... with more than 1600 years of written documentation in a single, consistent language. Oh, and it's a system that also explicitly acknowledges the fact that we are both physical and energetic beings. It is pretty much useless, or at least only temporary, to treat one without treating the other.
#3, Donna ... Amen Sister. Single Payer is the only system - albeit implemented in different flavors in Germany, Japan, Taiwan, etc. that puts clinical outcomes ahead of profits, and/or insists that that clinical outcomes and good medicine be at least aligned with financial decision making. And our WHO standing reflects our failure to implement a single payer system. The "Best Healthcare System" in the World ... right ... ranked just above Slovenia and just behind Costa Rica. France wins - going away. Granted the last time these rankings were done was in 2000. Apparently updating these rankings would be "too complex" - read, too politically charged. But I promise you - very little has changed.
The United States stands virtually alone in its willingness to hand over the health of the public to for-profit companies ... but then, come on guys, you were watching the Wall Street Bailout weren't you? And you're watching the enthusiasm for beginning to drill again in the Gulf while the oil is still gushing from the BP "accident?"
We are visibly at war abroad - where we don't belong, and invisibly at home - where we aren't paying enough attention. Just look at the recent G8 and G20 summits in Toronto. The Canadian government spent $1B+ to protect our "leaders" from those they purport to represent. If that doesn't capture the caliber of "leadership" we currently have - nothing will.
It is time, PEACEFULLY, to take our government back from its corporate constituents, and turn the United States into a real republic - one in which the "leadership" actually believes it has a responsibility to serve its human constituents. And do we really need to wait until the level of pain permitted in our "healthcare" system gets any higher?
Thank you _again_, Donna, for speaking truth to power. The health INSURANCE bill is the main reason that I've decided to throw my support behind a Progressive physician to help him defeat Ron Wyden and give Oregonians a REAL voice in the Senate, instead of a slick corporatist.