22-year old dies of swine flu because she didn't have insurance

[rebeccajo 14]

Bertie Mae is the USC.. and she stayed in the US because she has a daughter...

I can honestly say I didn't even think about healthcare when I moved to the US.. it was not a deciding factor at all.. I moved here because the hubby had a stable dependable job in the US...

Well, pardon a moi. Be that as it Mae. I agree, Canada is no place for kids.

OMG.

You know I bet you are right. There are reasons Canadians flee their borders to come to the US for treatment.

And there are reasons obtuse US windbags flee their borders to find a Ukranian bride.

Quality.

Oh.

I thought (in both cases) it's because money talks.

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

What you are doing wrong is confusing healthCARE with payment for health care.

1. They cannot require medical insurance for treatment. They cannot refuse to treat you in ALL states.

2. Yes, they send a bill. Most people pay it, or make an arrangement to pay for it over time, usually interest free. But if you do not then they will eventually turn it over to a fund for indigent health care which is administered (usually) by your county, sometimes the state.

So you are in the right place. Try not to confuse healthCARE with health insurance. You, and everyone, has healthCARE if you need it, it is the law throughout the USA, you do not necessarily have a way to pay for it, but that is another matter entirely.

Please educate me.

I'd like to be able to go to emergency rooms for free health care.

But somehow they ask for my name, SSN, address, proof of insurance and then! send me the bills.

Now, am I living in a wrong state or something?

Or am I supposed to assume a false identity?

What am I doing wrong????

It seems that the point goes over the heads of everyone that supports government health care (big surprise)

Healthcare cannot possibly be the issue here. This girl had access to health care without insurance, at her local emergency room. It would not have cost her a dime and the good people of this country would have picked up the tab. But she chose NOT to go to the free health care she already had. Would anyone suggest that WHO the health care was provided by would make a difference in her decision? daft.

The girl made a bad call in estimating her symptoms and died. Too bad, but no one's fault but her own.

[rebeccajo 14]

What you are doing wrong is confusing healthCARE with payment for health care.

1. They cannot require medical insurance for treatment. They cannot refuse to treat you in ALL states.

2. Yes, they send a bill. Most people pay it, or make an arrangement to pay for it over time, usually interest free. But if you do not then they will eventually turn it over to a fund for indigent health care which is administered (usually) by your county, sometimes the state.

So you are in the right place. Try not to confuse healthCARE with health insurance. You, and everyone, has healthCARE if you need it, it is the law throughout the USA, you do not necessarily have a way to pay for it, but that is another matter entirely.

But before they do that......

They turn it over to collections. They've got your Social Security number, remember? Pretty soon it's showing up on your credit report as a delinquency and pretty soon your credit rating is shot to hell.

And then you can't get credit to buy a car to get to a job that has health insurance.

It's so easy to just blow off the real-world scenario when you can pontificate behind the keyboard, isn't it?

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

Bertie Mae is the USC.. and she stayed in the US because she has a daughter...

I can honestly say I didn't even think about healthcare when I moved to the US.. it was not a deciding factor at all.. I moved here because the hubby had a stable dependable job in the US...

Well, pardon a moi. Be that as it Mae. I agree, Canada is no place for kids.

OMG.

You know I bet you are right. There are reasons Canadians flee their borders to come to the US for treatment.

And there are reasons obtuse US windbags flee their borders to find a Ukranian bride.

Quality.

Oh.

I thought (in both cases) it's because money talks.

Nope. Wrong again, but we are used to that. I went to the Ukraine Bride Catalog for Quality, not many of them are rich, so no money talking their. They had a special on Alla that month, slightly used, a couple of dings but low mileage for her age, great bumpers and fenders, small headlights but I prefer driving in the dark myself. I chewed them down on the sticker price and got a great deal...so far anyway.

So what's the going price for a used Brit nowadays?

[rebeccajo 14]

Nope. Wrong again, but we are used to that. I went to the Ukraine Bride Catalog for Quality, not many of them are rich, so no money talking their. They had a special on Alla that month, slightly used, a couple of dings but low mileage for her age, great bumpers and fenders, small headlights but I prefer driving in the dark myself. I chewed them down on the sticker price and got a great deal...so far anyway.

So what's the going price for a used Brit nowadays?

About the same as you paid. Doesn't depreciate quite as much as your model, though. There's a nice healthcare return on the investment if you drive it back to its country of origin.

Plus it doesn't arrive in the US looking for flashy bumpers and fenders. It can get those over there nicely on it's own - thriving economy and all that you know.

[rika60607 215]

Ouch! :lol:

Nope. Wrong again, but we are used to that. I went to the Ukraine Bride Catalog for Quality, not many of them are rich, so no money talking their. They had a special on Alla that month, slightly used, a couple of dings but low mileage for her age, great bumpers and fenders, small headlights but I prefer driving in the dark myself. I chewed them down on the sticker price and got a great deal...so far anyway.

So what's the going price for a used Brit nowadays?

About the same as you paid. Doesn't depreciate quite as much as your model, though. There's a nice healthcare return on the investment if you drive it back to its country of origin.

Plus it doesn't arrive in the US looking for flashy bumpers and fenders. It can get those over there nicely on it's own - thriving economy and all that you know.

[rika60607 215]

All right then.

Let's face it poor people got nothing to lose, so nothing can be taken away from them as payment for the emergency service, rich people can pay and surely have excellent health insurance.

It is only working and middle class who's finances can be completely wiped out by one emergency visit if uninsured and who occasionally have to go without health insurance. Middle+working class represent majority of the US population. No wonder that health reform would be beneficial to majority of the people

[dalegg 143]

Further proof that forcing the "invincibles" to buy health insurance is the way to go.

[mawilson 2,133]

Plus it doesn't arrive in the US looking for flashy bumpers and fenders. It can get those over there nicely on it's own - thriving economy and all that you know.

[zqt3344 21]

To Imply that because she did not health insurance would mean that she would not have this H1N1 Flu is ridiculous! No correlation at all.

Kimberly "Kimi" Young, 22, died Tuesday night Sept. 22, 2009 at University Hospital.

OXFORD — Friends say the Miami University graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.

News of Kimberly Young’s death Wednesday, Sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008.

Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.

Mowery said Young eventually went to an urgent care facility in Hamilton where she was given pain medication and then sent home.

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Young’s condition suddenly worsened and her roommate drove her to McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where she was flown in critical condition to University Hospital in Cincinnati.

“That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor,” Mowery said.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton...ion-315472.html

[NickD 203]

From http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/sick.htm which is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

"Are there medicines to treat 2009 H1N1?

Yes. There are drugs your doctor may prescribe for treating both seasonal and 2009 H1N1 called “antiviral drugs.” These drugs can make you better faster and may also prevent serious complications. This flu season, antiviral drugs are being used mainly to treat people who are very sick, such as people who need to be hospitalized, and to treat sick people who are more likely to get serious flu complications. Your health care provider will decide whether antiviral drugs are needed to treat your illness. Remember, most people with 2009 H1N1 have had mild illness and have not needed medical care or antiviral drugs and the same is true of seasonal flu."

They don't take swine flu very seriously, State of Wisconsin that seems to be the only state that keeps track of swine flu cases reported something like 8,000 cases so far, most mild, reported about 8 deaths, but never gave a hint to the medical history of these people. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists I have talked to aren't going to be the first in line for the H1N1 vaccination, prefer to wait year to get a history on it, wife and I agreed to wait a year too. This 22 year old girl was an exception, but again, no history on her medical condition. Maybe she had diabetes or something. People commenting without all the facts are blowing hot air.

[Nessa 23]

bottom line, if she was an illegal she wouldn't have died

[Chica Yeyé 41]

1. ERs charge. Like pedro said, tell me which ones do not so I can also go there. So thois bullsh1t about go to the ER cuz it's free is #######. Last January, the ER billed me 800 dollars for "apparently passing a kidney stone". Joke. Insult.

2. I have the best insurance in the state of WA. And even so, I hate being robbed by the prices of US health "care". Indeed, it took me 10 days sick to actually make an appointment. Was seen by a stupid intern, who actually wanted to VIDEOTAPE my consult while I was coughing my lungs out and wheezing like nobody's biz (bad idea, the b1tch will have a copy lovely letter in her mailbox this Monday, original to the Dean of Medicine, cc the Ethics Committee), got sent home with TYLENOL for prescription for pneumonia. JOKE. That joke will cost me about 70 USD, AFTER deductible bla bla. Again, with the best insurance in the state.

3. The Canadian system works. Whether the US likes it or not -- this arrogant illusion of we are oh so much better neener neener is being laughed at world wide. In Canada I would have not even thought twice about going to get my cough checked out, and I would most certainly have not been sent home with an over the counter idea of fun. And I don't speak out of air like some posters, I lived in the place for 6 years, in 2 differnt provinces, and used health services extensively; both routine, prevention, emergency, surgery. Tally: ZERO.

4. That the richest country in the world allows its citizens and legal residents to DIE before giving them health care is not only preposterous, it is obscene. For FSake, my own country has free healthcare. and you call us teh third world. Think twice.

Off soapbox and off to butrhday dinner. Peace Out.

[KarenCee 3]

Obviously it is not enough to keep you out and not enough to lure your husband to be with YOU in Canada. CERTAINLY it MUST have been part of your decision, yes? You make it sound important and all, but not enough to be the deal breaker on where you (and your husband choose to live) Better job maybe here? Why? Why isn't that job in Canada? I mean it is clear your decision was based on any number of things and you and your husband chose the way you did for your own reasons. Healthcare isn't one of them.

I mean we still own a really nice flat in downtown Donetsk Ukraine and choose to live here, even though I could (and have) lived there (and Canada) and choose to pay a mortgage here when our place in Donetsk is owned free and clear, and THEY have free health insurance..oops, not free, government run.

It just strikes me as funny that the supposed importance of this (life and death important as this thread implies...by the way. glad to see you have recovered from your mourning of the 22 year gilr that died, that didn't take long) so strong and our country so relies on it, yet we are told this by people that left a similar system. Such things are not necessarily important except in some politically expedient way. They never are the deal breakers in life (my wife is not here for the health care either) yet the proponents of which will tell us they are.

As you have already been told, I AM THE USC. Methinks before you start mouthing off again at me you better check my profile to make sure before you type. Your comment that Canada is no place for kids was rather stupid and out of line. My daughter would rather be there because of the loving family she has there. Anymore insults you wish to trade?

I wanted to emigrate...but I couldn't because of my daughter so my husband came here. I firmly believe she would get better care for her health issues up there than down here. Anything else you want to know?

I have felt a great deal of sympathy for that poor girl...yet you presume to say whether I have or not, or the amount of mourning? You just can't stand that someone actually dares to disagree with you and you've already proven that you don't know half of what you say. YOU haven't provided links or facts to back up a darn thing you've spouted on here all day.

I'm done with this. You believe how you wish. I will do the same.

[zqt3344 21]

Gary:

RJ is very jealous of your wife and well, RJ knows she envious of your wife so thus she attacks you will such silly rude remarks, any man from the USA that has been to Ukraine knows what you are talking about and well RJ is the very reason she probably had to go to the UK for hers because no USA man is interested in they typical USA attitude for a woman that she displays, fact not fiction. Comparing Alla to RJ is like comparing a Mercedes to a Lada!

Nope. Wrong again, but we are used to that. I went to the Ukraine Bride Catalog for Quality, not many of them are rich, so no money talking their. They had a special on Alla that month, slightly used, a couple of dings but low mileage for her age, great bumpers and fenders, small headlights but I prefer driving in the dark myself. I chewed them down on the sticker price and got a great deal...so far anyway.

So what's the going price for a used Brit nowadays?

About the same as you paid. Doesn't depreciate quite as much as your model, though. There's a nice healthcare return on the investment if you drive it back to its country of origin.

Plus it doesn't arrive in the US looking for flashy bumpers and fenders. It can get those over there nicely on it's own - thriving economy and all that you know.