GainesvilleMoms.com

According to a recent analysis, one in eight people with advanced cancer turn down recommended care because of the cost.

And nearly 20 percent of Americans have problems paying their medical bills. To read the full article, click here.

I think this is so sad. But what's the answer? Is there any way to fix this problem?

I was just talking about this with someone last night. I don't know what the answer is, but I think it is terribly sad that there are very sick people, even dying, who can't get proper medical care because they can't afford it. I don't think that socialized medical care is the answer, but I don't know what is.

I think unfortunately we would have to take it up with the politicians and right now, the hopes of getting anything accomplished is slim until the next election goes thru and the dust settles. Doesn't mean you can't contact your state reps and ask them these questions - ours down here is on Facebook! I am terrified to go back to the dermatologist now because the new insurance thru hubby's work is low on coverage, more like a coupon than insurance. At least we have coverage and there are so many who don't so I am not honestly complaining, but the cost is prohibitive and cuts his paycheck by almost $225 a week!! Now if they say that the big "C" is back and since I had it diagnosed before they won't cover the treatment, what are we to do? Sure can't pay it out of pocket!!

I really think for the major illnesses there ought to be a way for everyone to get treated regardless of insurance or not, but there are so many who would abuse that plan until it just wouldn't work.

I think it is terrible. We have our health insurance through hubbys work too. It is right at about $550 per month. I have asthma and my meds run at $80.00 per month, (without coverage they would be about $440). It is sad because in case of severe accident,illness or injury you cannot afford to not have coverage but ironic that we pay more for our coverage than I would for my meds if we had no coverage. I am the only one in our household that takes meds on regular basis. If we had not been covered in 2007 when my 3 year old was hospitalized at Shands for 8 days our total bill came out to over $147,000.00 and we would be paying that off for years and years...instead our out of pocket was only around $400.00. The coverage hurts our pocket but the unexpected would ruin our finances completely if we didn't have coverage...

Like Michelle said, everyone should be provided life saving treatments regardles of whether they are covered or not...and if you are covered I think the insurance companies should be forced to pay more of the tab so that you can afford your meds....they are making money hand over fist from all the healthy covered folks out there!! But again as Michelle pointed out it wouldn't take long for all the scammers to start taking advantage of any assistance offered.

I'm getting aggravated just thinking about it all

My Mom works in the ER at Shands and the stories I hear from her about people coming in for a friggin headache and demanding to be seen ahead of the guy who was just brought in with blood pouring from a wound just make me want to smack those people. It only takes a few bad apples but they sure seem to know how to work the system - too bad they can't put as much effort into getting gainfully employed and maintaining healthy lifestyles for their families.

Sorry, my soapbox just popped up outta nowhere!

A lot of people are not aware of this, so I'm making this suggestion now because this is now the time people are changing plans at work or enrolling into new plans.

YOU NEED TO HAVE A PRE-EXISTING WAIVER FORM from your "previous" insurance to give to your new insurance company. You need one for each family member who is covered.

This waiver will waive all pre-existence conditions that you are currently being treated for. Your new insurance plan/policy has to accept this and continue treating you or a family member.

You can request this from the "current' insurance as you exit out of their plan and enter into the new plan. However, you must present this form to the new insurance as you enroll into it.

I can not emphasize how important it is to have this form with you and to keep a copy in your files.

As I told my brother, as you enroll into the new insurance plan- make sure you give them a copy in hand, by mail and by fax. Yes 3x's so that they can not use the excuse they never recieved it.

Insurance companies (including Medicaid and Medicare) loves to play God with your lives for the sake of how much money they can make and put in their pockets.

Remember the movie-John Q. If you have not seen it, you need to. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it again. And encourage your state representatives and senators to watch it too. It is a WAKE UP CALL to all how so important it is to pick a plan that will cover and what is the max it will pay out. If you buy a "cheap" HMO plan then you will get cheap care by your insurance.

I know this cuz what I had to fight for Tim and since I use to do medical billing. I've seen what alot of people especially those with life-threatening illnesses have to go through. It is a living nightmare.

Its ashame our so call "riches" country treats the citizens medically. it is sickening!

I'll be paying over $2000 to have baby #3 and that's with health insurance! How do people without insurance pay for it cause that is insane!

I feel your pain Kristin. The year I had H I met my maximum out of pocket! It was something like $3000 since I had my gall bladder out 6 weeks after her birth. Thankfully, with E, we were covered under my DH'd Avmed policy and she only cost me about $300. It amazed me the difference in the cost when we went from insurance with the City of G to the State of Fla.

I thought wouldn't it be nice if instead of state medicine, can't the state contract with insurance companies to offer everyone the same insurance as we (as employees of the state) get. Who knows. Maybe I should run for office

WOW...$2000.00....I have Avmed now and had Blue Cross Blue Shield when I had my daughter. Both are through my hubbys job with the state. Our out of pocket for the birth and all dr appointments was only $330.00! My doctor only charged me one copay of $30.00 for all of the prenatal dr visits because she billed the entire cost in one lump sum. The only other expense was vitamins and any meds I took.

When I was an apartment manager in G'ville, I worked for a huge company and the running joke when anyone got pregnant was to gather 20 $1 bills because that was all it would cost for all prenatal visits (under normal circumstances) and the prescriptions were under $10 for any meds - it was amazing. Mind you when I got PG, I was working for them but left shortly after and it cost us considerably more thru hubby's work for Macy. Then I had to have the gallbladder out (a common side effect of pregnancy no one tells you about!) and that only cost us like $250. Then along comes Zane and the co-pay for the hospital was $300 PER DAY but the prenatal stuff was only $25 per visit. Good thing I had the plumbing disconnected, lord knows how much another one would cost now!

i can remember when an emergency room visit was only about $7. In the last 30 years, the medical cost has gone way over.

Medical costs are so high in part because malpractice lawsuits pay out much more than the cost of the injured party's medical costs. It also pays "pain and suffering" . And the insurance that covers those lawsuits (so that health care professionals don't tank) is terribly expensive. Especially with OBGYN docs. That's why VBAC is frowned upon. And they won't even consider laboring a breech baby in most cases. It's ridiculous.

Google information about the legal system in Australia. There, malpractice has a different definition. In order to win the lawsuit, you have to prove that there was intent. Of course, I'm not sure all the ins and outs, but that seems more fair to me. Maybe we should model our system similarly and put a cap on payouts. Socialized medicine is certainly not the answer...Even Canada and Great Britain are trying to move away from it.

I don't know Caryn. In some ways I'm with you as far as having to prove intent prior to winning a malpractice case. Sometimes mistakes happen and I don't believe they warrant huge payouts. But, what about the stories of people having wrong limbs amputated. How about the people who go in to the hospital for one procedure and are mistakenly given another. These are all mistakes with monumental consequences for the patient.

Personally, I think as far as malpractice suites go, the plaintiffs should be given estimated medical expenses (or possibly have medical expenses paid as they are incurred). As far as pain and suffering go, I think that this should either be capped or eliminated. If the plaintiff is getting proper care, there should be minimal pain and suffering, at least physically.

One pet peeve of mine are drug companies getting sued left and right. Uncle Bob has a heart attack at age 80 after having never eaten a healthy meal in his life, but it must be the drugs fault! I think every drug I've ever taken has had a law suit thrown at it. In one case the lawyers were trying to sue the company for blood clots caused by the medication...even though it names this side effect right on the side of the package. I'm all for legitimate law suits, I just feel that all of these baseless ones make it difficult for those who have a real issue.