Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?

jasmineh7777

Amrs- I have a 7 year old brother. I took him to the doctor a few weeks ago. The doctor thought he might have strep, or pneumonia. She was going to do a chest x-ray. When she found out he didn't have insurance, she left the room and never came back. They didn't do any tests, and wrote him a prescription for antibiotics. My mother paid in full for that visit, just to be treated badly. I'd say the present system isn't working either.

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:c8a8109b-cf1d-48f1-900d-6610df67e293">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : Thats part of the problem imo, no one seems to really know what all it entails.
Posted by nda_roxybabe[/QUOTE]

That's not just part of the problem, Roxy. That <strong><em>is </em></strong>the problem.

We can all pass judgement. We can pass it all we want. But I'd put a large sum of money on the fact that not a single person here has read the bill. We pick up highlights from the news, or the internet---and run with it. We then making sweeping generalities, and run with it. But, at the end of the day, I can't say shiit--because, I'll be the first to admit it, I'm uneducated when it comes to this bill. Reading cliff-notes on CNN does not make me any better equipped to understand.

btrflykate1230

My BIG gripe about the current system is that health insurance is pretty much tied in with employment. Most families cannot afford insurance if they don't get it through their employer and are middle/low class families. They make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to buy it themselves. THESE are the people that I am worried about, and I think this bill will help them.

The same goes for people with pre-existing conditions. If they can't get health insurance through their employer, then they're screwed.

ZoeTheDog

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:9758610d-b8eb-4d5e-bc58-78047e7ac828">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]I do agree that insurance needs SERIOUS reform. That's where most of the problem lies for me: the shitty, money grubbing practices of insurance companies. But I don't know the specifics of the government subsidized health insurance policies, so I can't say for sure whether government insurance would be better than private. Given the federal government's propensity for screwing things up and red tape, I don't have a lot of faith that government insurance will be any better than private. Which is why I think it's a bad idea to force it down the public's throat. And as PP mentioned,<strong> this could very seriously affect the middle class. And small business owners.
</strong>Posted by laurenclaire1386[/QUOTE]

This.  Small businesses run America. 

nda_roxybabe

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:b399df5f-29d7-44b9-bf6f-06379bdf8829">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]Amrs- I have a 7 year old brother. I took him to the doctor a few weeks ago. The doctor thought he might have strep, or pneumonia. She was going to do a chest x-ray. When she found out he didn't have insurance, she left the room and never came back. They didn't do any tests, and wrote him a prescription for antibiotics. My mother paid in full for that visit, just to be treated badly. I'd say the present system isn't working either.
Posted by jasmineh7777[/QUOTE]

Honestly, that sounds like Dr. to me. Like I said, changes need to be made. I haven't had insurance in years, I've never been treated like that. I'm always given the medical care I need.

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:a460b3fc-a81f-4e75-a907-269820f69503">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]I am 100% against skinless baby cow heads! Oh wait. Wrong thread. Sorry.
Posted by cew515[/QUOTE]

Winner!

MissMandey

I can sum up my objections in two sentences.

My husband is a doctor. We want money for all his ridiculously hard work and to cover his debt.

and if i could have two more sentences....

I have worked since I was 15 and paid for my own health coverage since I was 20. I  think if a 20 year old can swing it, so can everyone else.

It's just BS. If America keeps taking a poop on everyone who works and pays for their own life to help out everyone who does not...then we're going to have a little problem.

nda_roxybabe

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:75a4fd4d-6035-4eda-bc93-595889144173">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]My BIG gripe about the current system is that health insurance is pretty much tied in with employment. <strong>Most families cannot afford insurance if they don't get it through their employer and are middle/low class families. They make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to buy it themselves</strong>. THESE are the people that I am worried about, and I think this bill will help them. The same goes for people with pre-existing conditions. If they can't get health insurance through their employer, then they're screwed.
Posted by btrflykate1230[/QUOTE]

I am this person. My job doesn't offer insurance (shitty on their part) and I can't really afford private insurance and I make just too much to qualify for medicaid. It doesn't matter, I don't think this is the solution.

Rach- exactly. I am also not an expert on the matter but I'm entitled to my opinion on it. (That came off rude, I don't mean it like that)

jasmineh7777

Maybe it is just my community. But that's how I was treated when I was in the hospital as well. It's not about people, it's about the money that can be made off of people. That's just a disparaging truth, imo.

Anyway, I am off to work. Thanks for all the viewpoints ladies. Even if we don't agree, it does give me other ideas to consider.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:54169095-c29d-4f55-8a00-e7b025ad5820">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]The problem is that the system as it stands is broken. The status quo is that health care costs will continue to rise along with insurance premiums and medicare/medicaid goes broke in my lifetime, *without* adding coverage to any of the folks in this country currently not receiving health care. I've been at the same job for 9 years and my premiums are about 5 times what they were when I started in 2001.<strong> I can handle the rise in costs, but a lot of folks can't...more than half of all bankruptcy cases in the US are caused by medical bills. So something's gotta give. And I respect laurenclaire's philosophical position on health insurance and health care needing to stay private and not be mandated by the government, but I disagree. The government's already taking care of the weakest, oldest, and sickest among us. I don't think this is optional; from a purely selfish perspective we need to control infectious disease at least. And the only way the health care system can afford to pony up the cash for those folks is if everyone buys in to the system. So, I don't think the new bill does everything it needs to, but I appreciate that an effort's being made.</strong> Personally I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on controlling costs to the gov't rather than keeping the masses happy, but our system as it works right now doesn't allow for that.
Posted by ac_in_dc[/QUOTE]

I think you said this perfectly. Agree 100%.

AlexiaANDRobert

I also think that if more people took private health insurance as seriously as their car payment or cell phone, then yes, you probably can afford it.  Or figure out a way to fit it in your budget.

ac_in_dc

Small businesses get screwed on insurance premiums b/c they don't have a big enough "pool" to draw from. My company only has 120 folks, and we all experienced a significant rise in insurance premiums last year b/c our receptionist who made about $20k a year gave birth at 25 weeks. It costs about a million dollars to keep a premature baby alive. She had been with the company about a year and quit working a few months after the kid came.

I'm not arguing a moral position here, because the ethics are too murky, but seriously?? What's the right thing to do? Let the baby die? Sometimes I think we do too much in terms of medical interventions in this country. But I feel like a murderer for even thinking that. My company could absorb this hit, but a small business owner couldn't have, and could have been bankrupted by the rise in insurance premiums.

laurenclaire1386

And Rach, you're exactly right. I haven't read the bill. I've only gotten highlights and formed opinions based on biased information. Let's face it, there is no unbiased news, it just depends on what slant you prefer. But on the principle of a small federal government and more states' rights, I can't stand by this bill.

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:994549cf-7cb1-45c8-9b56-aba8eb0ed036">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]I can sum up my objections in two sentences.<strong> My husband is a doctor. We want money for all his ridiculously hard work and to cover his debt.</strong> and if i could have two more sentences.... I have worked since I was 15 and paid for my own health coverage since I was 20. I  think if a 20 year old can swing it, so can everyone else. It's just BS. If America keeps taking a poop on everyone who works and pays for their own life to help out everyone who does not...then we're going to have a little problem.
Posted by MissMandey[/QUOTE]

This statement makes me sick. No one told your husband he had to be a doctor, nor did they push him into debt to become one. That was his choice. Sick people shouldn't have to bend over and take it just to pay off your husbands "choice."

The amount of money doctors/hospitals charge for things is out of this world. I'd gladly scan some of my insurance claims just for you all to see---arbitrary amounts. Random amounts of money for tests. When health care is private---it turns into a monopoly, where they can charge what they want.

Seriously---$20,000 to stay 5 nights in a hospital? It doesn't even begin to make sense.

btrflykate1230

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:3a688415-95d6-46f0-b37d-fe95b7dbe1a4">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]<em>The fact that I have something and you don't doesn't mean that I should suffer to ensure that you have what I have. </em>

That sums up every issue I have with the government and just about everyone else.
Posted by lovethebeach16[/QUOTE]


Huh. Funny. I have an issue with people DYING because they cannot pay for health insurance on their own. Where I work, it's $1500 a MONTH for health care, for a family of 4 (My company pays for about $1k of that, so the employee contribution is much much lower). The average family of 4 makes $67k a year, meaning, this family will be paying 26% of their monthly income towards health insurance. That's a LOT.

andyandhillary

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:75a4fd4d-6035-4eda-bc93-595889144173">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]My BIG gripe about the current system is that health insurance is pretty much tied in with employment. Most families cannot afford insurance if they don't get it through their employer and are middle/low class families. They make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to buy it themselves. THESE are the people that I am worried about, and I think this bill will help them. The same goes for people with pre-existing conditions. If they can't get health insurance through their employer, then they're screwed.
Posted by btrflykate1230[/QUOTE]


It's the government that caused this in the 40s.  If they hadn't interfered, like now, we wouldn't have this particular problem

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:3f2aac9d-1623-420f-b8e4-2784a24f6561">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : I am this person. My job doesn't offer insurance (shitty on their part) and I can't really afford private insurance and I make just too much to qualify for medicaid. It doesn't matter, I don't think this is the solution. <strong>Rach- exactly. I am also not an expert on the matter but I'm entitled to my opinion on it. (That came off rude, I don't mean it like that)</strong>
Posted by nda_roxybabe[/QUOTE]

Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion--and trust me, I have my opinions about health care (my opinions are related more towards the subject of health care, than to this specific bill)---but, everyone here that has an "opinion" about this bill must also be willing to own up to the fact that they cannot, in anyway, shape, or form, put forth an educated opinion, until they step away from the TV/Internet, and sit down with all 1,600 pages and get to reading.

andyandhillary

Doesn't anyone have a problem that we even have bills that are this long?  That no one, including the people voting on it, is reading them?  That's a huge problem. 

nda_roxybabe

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:0fc75460-5b5a-4336-bb63-7a0a81a3248d">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : This statement makes me sick. No one told your husband he had to be a doctor, nor did they push him into debt to become one. That was his choice. Sick people shouldn't have to bend over and take it just to pay off your husbands "choice." The amount of money doctors/hospitals charge for things is out of this world. I'd gladly scan some of my insurance claims just for you all to see---arbitrary amounts. Random amounts of money for tests. When health care is private---it turns into a monopoly, where they can charge what they want. Seriously---$20,000 to stay 5 nights in a hospital? It doesn't even begin to make sense.
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]
I agree with this. Its insane the amount of money hospitals and Dr's charge. My mom has insane medical bills from her knee surgery and from her mandatory hysterectomy. It makes me sick to see how much these places can charge and the way that insurance handles it. Thats the problem right there.

btrflykate1230

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:87425d79-7ab8-4ea4-9e18-48edf77aab1a">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : It's the government that caused this in the 40s.  If they hadn't interfered, like now, we wouldn't have this particular problem
Posted by andyandhillary[/QUOTE]

WTH happened in the 40's?

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:3d74c8d4-3d98-43bb-badd-c391a946f69a">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : Huh. Funny. I have an issue with people DYING because they cannot pay for health insurance on their own. Where I work, it's $1500 a MONTH for health care, for a family of 4 (My company pays for about $1k of that, so the employee contribution is much much lower). <strong>The average family of 4 makes $67k a year, meaning, this family will be paying 26% of their monthly income towards health insurance. That's a LOT.</strong>
Posted by btrflykate1230[/QUOTE]

Sure. That's a lot. Thats a whole damn lot.

But, ya know what? It's a hellava lot cheaper than paying out of pocket when your kid gets breaks his leg in five places when he falls out of a tree, and winds up in the hospital for a week, and requires seven surgeries thereafter to ultimately repair the broken leg.

MissMandey

I seriously doubt anyone would go through what I have seen Andrew go through if they weren't going to get paid well for it.

I sure as hell wouldn't. And it costs so much to put doctors through school, why should they be the ones who get screwed over because people can't pay their medical bills?

also the tremendous amount of liability he assumes every time he puts someone under. Why should he not rewarded for the huge responsibility he takes? Cause they'll sure as hell make him pay out big if something goes wrong. why shouldn't he get paid big if it goes well? 

i don't know what the right answer is. I really don't. but I don't think the right answer is to cut doctor's pay. and that has nothing to do with Andrew.

kkchisholm

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:0fc75460-5b5a-4336-bb63-7a0a81a3248d">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : <strong>This statement makes me sick. </strong>No one told your husband he had to be a doctor, nor did they push him into debt to become one. That was his choice. Sick people shouldn't have to bend over and take it just to pay off your husbands "choice." The amount of money doctors/hospitals charge for things is out of this world. I'd gladly scan some of my insurance claims just for you all to see---arbitrary amounts. Random amounts of money for tests. When health care is private---it turns into a monopoly, where they can charge what they want. Seriously---$20,000 to stay 5 nights in a hospital? It doesn't even begin to make sense.
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]

I completely agree. Actually everything she said makes me sick.

btrflykate1230

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:14e7629e-fd0f-4847-9a7f-6410833a30cb">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : Sure. That's a lot. Thats a whole damn lot. But, ya know what? It's a hellava lot cheaper than paying out of pocket when your kid gets breaks his leg in five places when he falls out of a tree, and winds up in the hospital for a week, and requires seven surgeries thereafter to ultimately repair the broken leg.
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]

Which is exactly my point. Either way, this family is totally screwed whether they pay for insurance or not. What would you suggest this family do? Pay the $1500 a month for insurance (which they can't really afford), or pay the $50k bill when their son breaks his leg?

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:dfcfd722-90b8-4eeb-9269-bfa2737a4372">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]Doesn't anyone have a problem that we even have bills that are this long?  That no one, including the people voting on it, is reading them?  That's a huge problem. 
Posted by andyandhillary[/QUOTE]

Of course people have a problem with it---it's ridiculous how long bills are, and how much random crap is snuck into them. But, if it weren't the healthcare bill that was this long, it would be some other bill, which would be equally as stupid. I'm not going to complain about how long a bill is as long as they are doing something. If we waited around for the government to get their shiit together enough to right a short and sweet nonsense bill (all contained to 5 pages), well...we'd be waiting forever.

ZoeTheDog

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:0fc75460-5b5a-4336-bb63-7a0a81a3248d">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : <strong>This statement makes me sick. No one told your husband he had to be a doctor, nor did they push him into debt to become one. That was his choice. Sick people shouldn't have to bend over and take it just to pay off your husbands "choice." </strong>The amount of money doctors/hospitals charge for things is out of this world. I'd gladly scan some of my insurance claims just for you all to see---arbitrary amounts. Random amounts of money for tests. When health care is private---it turns into a monopoly, where they can charge what they want. Seriously---$20,000 to stay 5 nights in a hospital? It doesn't even begin to make sense.
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]

We are not going to have many doctors if we all start thinking this way...

I agree Rach that $20k for 5 nights is insane - positively insane.  But just the other day I read an article about a doctor in some mid-west state who charges between $5 and $20 a visit for his services.  That's all his business makes, up to $20 a patient.  So he sees 20 people a day, that's $400 in his pocket?  Not exactly, he has to pay for the secretary, the nurses, the electricity, etc. etc. 

I realize not all doctors are like this, but we shouldn't generalize so badly.  Stereotypes aren't always true across the board. 

ac_in_dc

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:1265a89a-d68a-41c6-910e-bccd54f5a4f7">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]I seriously doubt anyone would go through what I have seen Andrew go through if they weren't going to get paid well for it. I sure as hell wouldn't. And it costs so much to put doctors through school, why should they be the ones who get screwed over because people can't pay their medical bills? also the tremendous amount of liability he assumes every time he puts someone under. Why should he not rewarded for the huge responsibility he takes? Cause they'll sure as hell make him pay out big if something goes wrong. why shouldn't he get paid big if it goes well?  i don't know what the right answer is. I really don't. but I don't think the right answer is to cut doctor's pay. and that has nothing to do with Andrew.
Posted by MissMandey[/QUOTE]

You make me sick. I hope your husband/FI has a more ethical attitude towards his profession than you do.

I know a ton of doctors, some of my best friends included (I went to Duke, for chrissake, half the people there land in med school, seriously). And none of them talk like this.

baystateapple

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:0fc75460-5b5a-4336-bb63-7a0a81a3248d">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : This statement makes me sick. No one told your husband he had to be a doctor, nor did they push him into debt to become one. That was his choice. Sick people shouldn't have to bend over and take it just to pay off your husbands "choice." The amount of money doctors/hospitals charge for things is out of this world. I'd gladly scan some of my insurance claims just for you all to see---arbitrary amounts. Random amounts of money for tests. When health care is private---it turns into a monopoly, where they can charge what they want. Seriously---$20,000 to stay 5 nights in a hospital? It doesn't even begin to make sense.
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]

I agree with this 100%. 

My sister had to spend a week at Yale New Haven because she was having multiple seizures every single day.  She's still covered by my parents' insurance, until this fall, but I don't want to know what the bill would have been if she hadn't had insurance.

I was in a car accident in 2005.  Being taken by Life Star to the hospital, the week-long stay, the painkillers to treat me, and the rehabilitation I had to undergo so I could walk again cost $250,000, all said and done, before insurance.  Are people who get injured just supposed to eat that so that your husband can get out of debt?

andyandhillary

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:79297fdf-f241-45e3-a9be-99be343b4548">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony? : WTH happened in the 40's?
Posted by btrflykate1230[/QUOTE]

The government mandated wage caps in the 40s.  To stay competitive, companies started to offer insurance tied with employment.  So then other companies started.  So then everyone did it.  If the government had never placed wage caps (which were obviously ineffective anyway) then this wouldn't have happened.

RachNRich

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_anyone-else-watching-signing-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d50fa7cd-f133-4de1-a0c2-ad26cd70957cPost:1265a89a-d68a-41c6-910e-bccd54f5a4f7">Re: Anyone else watching the Signing Ceremony?</a>:
[QUOTE]I seriously doubt anyone would go through what I have seen Andrew go through if they weren't going to get paid well for it. I sure as hell wouldn't. And it costs so much to put doctors through school, why should they be the ones who get screwed over because people can't pay their medical bills? also the tremendous amount of liability he assumes every time he puts someone under. Why should he not rewarded for the huge responsibility he takes? Cause they'll sure as hell make him pay out big if something goes wrong. why shouldn't he get paid big if it goes well?  i don't know what the right answer is. I really don't. but I don't think the right answer is to cut doctor's pay. and that has nothing to do with Andrew.
Posted by MissMandey[/QUOTE]

Did you ever stop to think that people want to be doctors because of the end result: They get to save lives. ???? To put yourself into debt with the hopes that your overly priced job will then pull you back out of debt is obsurd. What ever happened to people doing a job because they <em>loved </em>their work?

And did you ever stop to think that if medical bills weren't so fucking high, that medical school might not be so fucking expensive?!

And if people in general weren't so money hungry, that they wouldn't sue over every damn last thing, and malpractice insurance wouldn't be so prohibitively expensive?