The Politics and Economics of Orthopedic Medicine

[theBadCormorant]

Originally Posted by ADR seeker

Medicine should be run by the states and the federal government now that medicine is no longer a profession. The rate of health care inflation and extreme profiteering is beyond obscene it is criminal.

Disease is something to be eliminated and not exploited for profit. People are not commodities or cash vending machines.

Coming from Scotland, the USA does seem very odd in the money grabbing attitude it has to looking after their own citizens. Is it really true that if you don't have money you don't get treated (other than real basic stuff)

Our NHS is certainly not problem free, but if you get ill and that illness causes you to get poor, at least you have no worries in gaining access to some of the best medical care available. Just seems a little more civilised.

[Maria]

One needs to see if the surgeon involved does charity work if not able to afford surgery or look to a county facility for treatment which will still involve some degree of services/cost.

There may not be a "free service" but there may be quite a reduction if a person should qualify. We just underwent I believe a 2nd annual HealthCare Event in Los Angeles where all services were free. People stood in line for a great deal of time to get some kind of admittance for this event and then were allowed in on one of three days. I wish this was something that were a far more common occurrence because so many people need services. Of course something like orthopedic surgery wouldn't be performed there but at least one could get an evaluation and possibly some form of treatment that day or some kind of assistance.

Even with insurance co pays and uncovered services can really either put a serious dent into one's pocketbook or almost be a deterrent to using the insurance plus there are so many rules that one practically needs a JD to get thru all the babble about when what can be done...