Deaf man asks at townhall if he will get shut out of Obamacare

C.C.Sinned said:
i have no idea how it would play out. i was just posted a link to a debate thread where is was sorta being discussed.

I'm curious to know was is written in the plan. there is probably lots of hidden meanings, double talk and confusing legal babble that blows a lot of smoke to hide everything
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you may be right.
 
You people really HAVE to understand the costs of having national medical care. We cannot just give out free treatments for those who want them. We have to have guidelines to protect our investments.

Also, I am perfectly ok with not covering patients who have illnesses that are caused by their OWN choices such as smoking, inactivity, overeating, and other irresponsible behavior. Why should we keep them alive if they're not going to change their behaviors? We want people who take their health seriously. If they don't take it seriously, then they don't deserve it. They're BAD investments, period.

For example, obesity is known to cause diabetes. First thing they should do is require that person to lose weight. If it's still persistent, then treat that patient with proper treatment. If he chooses to keep eating and refuses to lose weight, then please ask me WHY we should pay for his coverage?
 
netrox said:
You people really HAVE to understand the costs of having national medical care. We cannot just give out free treatments for those who want them. We have to have guidelines to protect our investments.

Also, I am perfectly ok with not covering patients who have illnesses that are caused by their OWN choices such as smoking, inactivity, overeating, and other irresponsible behavior. Why should we keep them alive if they're not going to change their behaviors? We want people who take their health seriously. If they don't take it seriously, then they don't deserve it. They're BAD investments, period.

For example, obesity is known to cause diabetes. First thing they should do is require that person to lose weight. If it's still persistent, then treat that patient with proper treatment. If he chooses to keep eating and refuses to lose weight, then please ask me WHY we should pay for his coverage?
Click to expand...

That still does not give us the right to kill them or throw them out and let them die.

Yiz
 
netrox said:
You people really HAVE to understand the costs of having national medical care. We cannot just give out free treatments for those who want them. We have to have guidelines to protect our investments.

Also, I am perfectly ok with not covering patients who have illnesses that are caused by their OWN choices such as smoking, inactivity, overeating, and other irresponsible behavior. Why should we keep them alive if they're not going to change their behaviors? We want people who take their health seriously. If they don't take it seriously, then they don't deserve it. They're BAD investments, period.

For example, obesity is known to cause diabetes. First thing they should do is require that person to lose weight. If it's still persistent, then treat that patient with proper treatment. If he chooses to keep eating and refuses to lose weight, then please ask me WHY we should pay for his coverage?
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm aware of the costs, and they are steep. My question is where are the benefits?
 
"Where are the benefits?" You mean like where do we get the money or what are the benefits of keeping them alive?
 
netrox said:
"Where are the benefits?" You mean like where do we get the money or what are the benefits of keeping them alive?
Click to expand...
You're talking about the costs of national health care, so it's natural to ask about the benefits over our current system. I see very high costs with very little benefit. There are things that can be done, but taking an already inefficient system and adding inefficient government bureaucracies on top isn't one.
 
The U.S. ranks first in the world in cancer survivor rates. The ironic thing is that breast cancer survivors in Canada have filed a class action suit against several hospitals that forced them to wait 12 weeks for radiation therapy. That what happens when you have rationed health care.

Cancer lawsuit
Class action lawsuit involving waiting periods for radiotherapy treatment of breast cancer: a settlement is reached | Markets | CNW GROUP | Canadian Business Online

U.S. number one on cancer survivor rate. Britain is worse. Canada is well behind the United States.
U.S. Cancer Care Is Number One - Brief Analysis #596

Waiting time in Canada for medical care
http://www.amsa.org/studytours/WaitingTimes_primer.pdf
 
kokonut said:
The U.S. ranks first in the world in cancer survivor rates. The ironic thing is that breast cancer survivors in Canada have filed a class action suit against several hospitals that forced them to wait 12 weeks for radiation therapy. That what happens when you have rationed health care.

Cancer lawsuit
Class action lawsuit involving waiting periods for radiotherapy treatment of breast cancer: a settlement is reached | Markets | CNW GROUP | Canadian Business Online

U.S. number one on cancer survivor rate. Britain is worse. Canada is well behind the United States.
U.S. Cancer Care Is Number*One - Brief Analysis #596

Waiting time in Canada for medical care
http://www.amsa.org/studytours/WaitingTimes_primer.pdf
Click to expand...

You haven't hear about medical care in Germany and Japan, they are better than UK and Canada, at least for government run health care.
 
I have a friend in UK that is having to wait 6 weeks for a diagnosis whether her cancer has come back or not. I had the same cancer years ago and was diagnosed in a week. The rural areas is where socialized medicine really staggers - often they have no care except for physicians assistants from Egypt or India and those are just on a visitor basis. This where we would have a whole small system of referring physicians, clinics, and small hospitals that working at their best move people quickly to the care they need. We need to focus on fixing problems rather than making a whole big new one.
 
Foxrac said:
You haven't hear about medical care in Germany and Japan, they are better than UK and Canada, at least for government run health care.
Click to expand...


Link(s) please. :wave:
Since you're making that claim. The onus is on you to show how that is the case.
 
In Germany, doctors are leaving and heading off to England because the government underpays them. The same thing would happen here. It's already hard enough to become a doctor here. Forcing their wages down is an excellent way to steer smart ambitious kids to another field. We can't solve our problems with medicine by discouraging people out of the medical profession.

As for Japan, check out this sentence: "In fact, Japan has been so successful at keeping costs down that Japan now spends too little on health care; half of the hospitals in Japan are operating in the red." That's not good. That leads to shortages and that's what would happen here. The government isn't actually reducing the costs- they're just refusing to pay the costs.
 
What Health Care Reform Means For The Deaf

Noelle Cigarroa Perese: What Health Care Reform Means For The Deaf

I'm deaf with a cochlear implant. I was implanted back in 1989 when I was seven years old, and I've had the same implant for over 20 years now. That's 20 years of listening, talking, and relying on the cochlear implant, and I don't know what I would do if my implant failed after all these years.

In that scenario, I'd have to fight for pre-authorization of the cochlear implant surgery, face potential denials of that pre-authorization request, get an attorney or work with an advocacy organization in order to get them to authorize the request for coverage. And I could be denied right off the bat for having a "pre-existing condition" due to my deafness.

Imagine that, being told that my deafness, which makes up a huge part of my identity, is a "pre-existing condition" which I could be denied access to care for. Many deaf and hard of hearing Americans face that same situation. They go to advocacy organizations, and rely on their cochlear implant provider to fight the insurance companies, and that takes time before they finally can get insurance approval for the cochlear implant surgery.

It's not just deaf people with cochlear implants that this happens to. It happens to deaf and hard of hearing Americans who fight to get hearing aid coverage granted by their private insurers along with reimbursement for the costs of additional services such as speech therapy, audiology, and skills development in American Sign Language (ASL). These should be an essential part of health care reform for deaf and hard of hearing Americans. For too long, deaf and hard of hearing Americans and their families have had to bear the whole cost of hearing aids, speech therapy, and development of skills in ASL.

Most insurance companies don't offer comprehensive coverage specifically for deaf people as a part of their health benefit packages. They have a limit on how often you can see your audiologist, therapist, and specify which type of hearing aid you can qualify for. So you are limited by what kind of hearing aid device is deemed to be "medically necessary" by your private insurer, not by your doctor. They are also not mandated legally to offer this sort of benefit and coverage to deaf and hard of hearing Americans, so what they are offering in terms of services is optional.

Families of deaf and hard of hearing Americans need to have continued access to family-to-family support services, ASL services and resources, speech therapy, and other related support services for their deaf and hard of hearing infants, toddlers, and children. It's why the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act should be reauthorized so deaf and hard of hearing children can benefit tremendously from having access to needed resources. This helps make the transition for hearing families easier in having a deaf child once they have the support and services they need in order to see a bright future ahead of their deaf child.

Also, deaf and hard of hearing Americans need open access to health care as patients at hospitals, doctors' clinics, and other areas. They shouldn't be ignored, or have their relatives sub as "interpreters" when the hospital or doctor refuses to pay for interpreter services as a part of reasonable accommodations. We should contact the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase enforcement actions to ensure access to routine and emergency care in person and by telephone, which supports a deaf or hard of hearing American's choice of effective language and communication mode. As a member of the National Association for the Deaf, I am proud of the work that NAD is doing in working to ensure open access to health care for deaf patients at hospitals, doctors' clinics, and other areas.

Tired of having to fight private insurers in order to get coverage? Here's how you can start to change the system for deaf and hard of hearing Americans and their families by helping to fight for comprehensive health reform:

1. Call the White House at 202-456-1111, or their TTY line at 202-456-6213. You can e-mail the White House as well. 2. Find your Representative and your Senators to e-mail, call, and fax in support of health care reform.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Noelle Cigarroa Perese: What Health Care Reform Means For The Deaf

I'm deaf with a cochlear implant. I was implanted back in 1989 when I was seven years old, and I've had the same implant for over 20 years now. That's 20 years of listening, talking, and relying on the cochlear implant, and I don't know what I would do if my implant failed after all these years.

In that scenario, I'd have to fight for pre-authorization of the cochlear implant surgery, face potential denials of that pre-authorization request, get an attorney or work with an advocacy organization in order to get them to authorize the request for coverage. And I could be denied right off the bat for having a "pre-existing condition" due to my deafness.

Imagine that, being told that my deafness, which makes up a huge part of my identity, is a "pre-existing condition" which I could be denied access to care for. Many deaf and hard of hearing Americans face that same situation. They go to advocacy organizations, and rely on their cochlear implant provider to fight the insurance companies, and that takes time before they finally can get insurance approval for the cochlear implant surgery.

It's not just deaf people with cochlear implants that this happens to. It happens to deaf and hard of hearing Americans who fight to get hearing aid coverage granted by their private insurers along with reimbursement for the costs of additional services such as speech therapy, audiology, and skills development in American Sign Language (ASL). These should be an essential part of health care reform for deaf and hard of hearing Americans. For too long, deaf and hard of hearing Americans and their families have had to bear the whole cost of hearing aids, speech therapy, and development of skills in ASL.

Most insurance companies don't offer comprehensive coverage specifically for deaf people as a part of their health benefit packages. They have a limit on how often you can see your audiologist, therapist, and specify which type of hearing aid you can qualify for. So you are limited by what kind of hearing aid device is deemed to be "medically necessary" by your private insurer, not by your doctor. They are also not mandated legally to offer this sort of benefit and coverage to deaf and hard of hearing Americans, so what they are offering in terms of services is optional.

Families of deaf and hard of hearing Americans need to have continued access to family-to-family support services, ASL services and resources, speech therapy, and other related support services for their deaf and hard of hearing infants, toddlers, and children. It's why the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act should be reauthorized so deaf and hard of hearing children can benefit tremendously from having access to needed resources. This helps make the transition for hearing families easier in having a deaf child once they have the support and services they need in order to see a bright future ahead of their deaf child.

Also, deaf and hard of hearing Americans need open access to health care as patients at hospitals, doctors' clinics, and other areas. They shouldn't be ignored, or have their relatives sub as "interpreters" when the hospital or doctor refuses to pay for interpreter services as a part of reasonable accommodations. We should contact the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase enforcement actions to ensure access to routine and emergency care in person and by telephone, which supports a deaf or hard of hearing American's choice of effective language and communication mode. As a member of the National Association for the Deaf, I am proud of the work that NAD is doing in working to ensure open access to health care for deaf patients at hospitals, doctors' clinics, and other areas.

Tired of having to fight private insurers in order to get coverage? Here's how you can start to change the system for deaf and hard of hearing Americans and their families by helping to fight for comprehensive health reform:

1. Call the White House at 202-456-1111, or their TTY line at 202-456-6213. You can e-mail the White House as well. 2. Find your Representative and your Senators to e-mail, call, and fax in support of health care reform.
Click to expand...

I am in total agreement with this person!
 
I might suggest you read the Obama health reform bill...It has no coverage for people who are deaf, blind or disabled. You might want to research what key player's are saying like Rohm Emmanuel's brother, and john Holdren...Scary!




Steel X said:
Um, ever heard of SSI?

Some of us get SSI as mediaid with that so...we are covered.

However, it is true that it is more expensive to educate a child who is deaf than it is with a hearing person so in other terms it is pretty much unfair to the deaf community who don't get as much respect as other communities do but I guess that's gonna take a long time to get all the respect it deserves.

Hearing aid batteries are expensive, hearing aids and cochlear implants are expensive, interceptors are expensive, and so on...and it always been that way for a long time even before when President Bush was in office, forcing us to increas taxes on hearing aid batteries so...*shrugs*

Life is cruel, I guess.

But of course...the government wouldn't be THAT cruel to leave people with disabilities out of this...there will be a way to fix this.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top