you health in the news
Aug. 16th, 2008 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanYour brother committed suicide? No insurance for you! | The Consumerist
This story is horrific. Basically, the man's brother killed himself when he was young, and he went to a few (sadly enough probably the number, usually six annually, allowed on his parents' insurance) psychiatric sessions afterward. Once he aged out of that coverage, however, he couldn't get his own policy because of those sessions, nor a job that offered coverage. Now he's $1.2 million in debt after an accident involving his truck. When I moved away to college, my mother warned me that if I ever need to see a psychiatrist to pay out of pocket because I'll have trouble getting insurance again. I thought she was just being paranoid.
This reminds me to mention the healthcare system here. We at The National are technically government employees, since Sheikh Mohammed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, commissioned the whole project. I have a minor recurring health condition that requires the same tests and medication, so the treatments at home and here have been the same.
We've had two different health insurers since arriving here - the first time I needed to see a doctor was back in February (by the way, our health coverage started when we walked off the plane, none of this 90-day wait period after being hired that I had to delay treatment for back in the States). Our health insurance used to be with a private company, and on that occasion I walked into a hospital (there are no private practices here other than dentistry, everyone works out of a hospital) without an appointment and was seen by a doctor within 30 minutes. She (the doctor, not her staff or nurses) spent close to half an hour with me discussing the condition and outlining why I need to be careful with it here, then sent me for tests. Including the visit, tests and medication, the whole session was Dh55 (about $18).
This week I went back for the same reason, though on a new health plan from the same company that Emiratis get their coverage from. Again seen by a doctor in about an hour on the same day without an appointment, same tests, same prescriptions - the same confused smile and head shake when I asked how much. Start to finish, the visit and pills cost me nothing.
All of this back in Florida? Make an appointment, wait a painful week, sit in a waiting room for an hour, deal with staff and nurses for another half an hour, sit in a hospital gown in the freezing exam room for another 20 minutes, see a doctor for 5 minutes who rushes through questions and doesn't give any sort of suggestions for managing the condition, just a prescription (a single one, not the other two that the doctors here gave me for managing the symptoms while clearing up the problem) for dealing with it right now. The medication I received was generic and if I remember correctly the entire process cost me in the neighborhood of $300. This was of course on top of monthly payroll deductions of about $90 - here, you must have insurance to work legally, which employers being the visa sponsors are expected to provide. This is what happens when companies feel like they need skilled workers more than the workers feel like they need just any job, and give incentives for them to come and to stay.
Meanwhile, Americans are getting married and divorcing for insurance coverage.
Slate makes the suggestion that more people would keep doctor's appointments, not to mention be healthier, if they could be seen on the day they call. You mean people asking to see their physician on a day they have the time and transportation to make it to their office, with no foreseeable emergencies or hideous weather (yes, it gets that bad in Florida even when a hurricane isn't overhead) would be more likely to get there, perhaps even on time? Not exactly a revolutionary idea, but I'm glad someone put it out there.
Heart patients in Sacramento log fewer emergency room visits because of home monitoring systems. Some smart cookie finally recognized how piss-poor people are at assessing their own health, especially with chronic conditions.
On a more specific health care note, but one I heard complaints about again and again as a cops reporter: The story of Hiu Lui Ng is the latest in a heartbreaking New York Times series about immigrants dying while in US custody. Feel whatever you want about the immigration situation in the US, but denying inmates medication for chronic conditions, confiscating wheelchairs, ignoring symptoms is wrong. The government provides cable television, three meals a day, showers, libraries and computers, but ironically, the one thing inmates could get more easily on the outside is often denied because of bad rules and uncaring staff.
This story is horrific. Basically, the man's brother killed himself when he was young, and he went to a few (sadly enough probably the number, usually six annually, allowed on his parents' insurance) psychiatric sessions afterward. Once he aged out of that coverage, however, he couldn't get his own policy because of those sessions, nor a job that offered coverage. Now he's $1.2 million in debt after an accident involving his truck. When I moved away to college, my mother warned me that if I ever need to see a psychiatrist to pay out of pocket because I'll have trouble getting insurance again. I thought she was just being paranoid.
This reminds me to mention the healthcare system here. We at The National are technically government employees, since Sheikh Mohammed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, commissioned the whole project. I have a minor recurring health condition that requires the same tests and medication, so the treatments at home and here have been the same.
We've had two different health insurers since arriving here - the first time I needed to see a doctor was back in February (by the way, our health coverage started when we walked off the plane, none of this 90-day wait period after being hired that I had to delay treatment for back in the States). Our health insurance used to be with a private company, and on that occasion I walked into a hospital (there are no private practices here other than dentistry, everyone works out of a hospital) without an appointment and was seen by a doctor within 30 minutes. She (the doctor, not her staff or nurses) spent close to half an hour with me discussing the condition and outlining why I need to be careful with it here, then sent me for tests. Including the visit, tests and medication, the whole session was Dh55 (about $18).
This week I went back for the same reason, though on a new health plan from the same company that Emiratis get their coverage from. Again seen by a doctor in about an hour on the same day without an appointment, same tests, same prescriptions - the same confused smile and head shake when I asked how much. Start to finish, the visit and pills cost me nothing.
All of this back in Florida? Make an appointment, wait a painful week, sit in a waiting room for an hour, deal with staff and nurses for another half an hour, sit in a hospital gown in the freezing exam room for another 20 minutes, see a doctor for 5 minutes who rushes through questions and doesn't give any sort of suggestions for managing the condition, just a prescription (a single one, not the other two that the doctors here gave me for managing the symptoms while clearing up the problem) for dealing with it right now. The medication I received was generic and if I remember correctly the entire process cost me in the neighborhood of $300. This was of course on top of monthly payroll deductions of about $90 - here, you must have insurance to work legally, which employers being the visa sponsors are expected to provide. This is what happens when companies feel like they need skilled workers more than the workers feel like they need just any job, and give incentives for them to come and to stay.
Meanwhile, Americans are getting married and divorcing for insurance coverage.
Slate makes the suggestion that more people would keep doctor's appointments, not to mention be healthier, if they could be seen on the day they call. You mean people asking to see their physician on a day they have the time and transportation to make it to their office, with no foreseeable emergencies or hideous weather (yes, it gets that bad in Florida even when a hurricane isn't overhead) would be more likely to get there, perhaps even on time? Not exactly a revolutionary idea, but I'm glad someone put it out there.
Heart patients in Sacramento log fewer emergency room visits because of home monitoring systems. Some smart cookie finally recognized how piss-poor people are at assessing their own health, especially with chronic conditions.
On a more specific health care note, but one I heard complaints about again and again as a cops reporter: The story of Hiu Lui Ng is the latest in a heartbreaking New York Times series about immigrants dying while in US custody. Feel whatever you want about the immigration situation in the US, but denying inmates medication for chronic conditions, confiscating wheelchairs, ignoring symptoms is wrong. The government provides cable television, three meals a day, showers, libraries and computers, but ironically, the one thing inmates could get more easily on the outside is often denied because of bad rules and uncaring staff.
