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Paying the healthcare costs of obesity
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Will someone settle the damned tab already, or do we need to play "pick a card" with the waiter again?0
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sunnybeaches105 wrote: »Will someone settle the damned tab already, or do we need to play "pick a card" with the waiter again?
I am tired of paying the tab for 60% of the restaurant....0 -
sunnybeaches105 wrote: »Will someone settle the damned tab already, or do we need to play "pick a card" with the waiter again?
I am tired of paying the tab for 60% of the restaurant....
Dine 'n Dash. They can't catch all of us1 -
sunnybeaches105 wrote: »sunnybeaches105 wrote: »Will someone settle the damned tab already, or do we need to play "pick a card" with the waiter again?
I am tired of paying the tab for 60% of the restaurant....
Dine 'n Dash. They can't catch all of us
HA! Yea but you dont want to be the one that IRS does catch ...AKA Wesley Snipes....0 -
nytimes.com/2016/07/26/health/skinny-fat.html?_r=0
This article gets into the hormone factors at the end of true obesity.1 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »nytimes.com/2016/07/26/health/skinny-fat.html?_r=0
This article gets into the hormone factors at the end of true obesity.
This part bothers me, immensely.
"One sure way to get rid of it in liver and muscle cells is to lose weight — to stop providing the body with more calories than its fat tissue can handle, he notes.
That is not so easy. “Every patient I see, I say, ‘Let’s lose some weight and increase activity.’ They all nod their heads. ‘That’s a great idea.’ Maybe one in 100 does it, and even when they are successful, we know how easy it is to gain the weight back.”
Dr. Shulman is exploring another route, developing benign new variants of a toxic drug that he hopes will be safe and will reduce levels of fat and inflammation in the liver. The drug, dinitrophenol, was once widely used as an over-the counter medication for weight loss, but the Food and Drug Administration took it off the market in 1938 after a few people taking it dropped dead from severely high body temperatures.
He and his colleagues have modified dinitrophenol so, at least in rats, it does not raise body temperature or cause weight loss. But it lowers diacylglycerol levels in the liver and cures Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and other metabolic problems associated with obesity."
So, it's his goal to eventually make it okay to be a heaving mass of foul, because the organs can be saved by drugs. /facedesk2 -
enterdanger wrote: »We would also need to start regulating fee ranges for medical services. I'm all for open markets, but the amount that can be charged for some services is simply ridiculous.
Last year I took my 5 year to the ER because he whacked his head on a table. (his head is in the 95th percentile at 5, freakin huge). It looked like it needed stitches. 2 hours later I walked out with a kid that just had his skin glued shut, no stitches, and a bill for $600 after my insurance. They basically did the equivalent of sticking a fancy band aid on this kid's head. The fee without insurance was like $4,000. Ridiculous.
I went to the ER 2 years ago for a stomach infection. I was unemployed with no insurance. I sat there 4 hours, with a doctor seeing me for approximately 15 minutes. Then he wrote me out an antibiotic script and sent me off. 5,000 bill. For 15 minutes of care. They basically charged me over 1,000$ an hour to sit there waiting. Which is insane and in no way justifiable.
If medical providers weren't seriously gouging people in a lot of cases, health care insurance and it's cost wouldn't even be an issue.
and you think the government is somehow going to make this better?
Not even a little bit. I'm not one of the people pushing that argument.0 -
Pills over prevention appeals to the masses.2
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GaleHawkins wrote: »Pills over prevention appeals to the masses.
Yep, moving one's *kitten* and eating less is much harder than taking a pill. I grieve for our society.2 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »Pills over prevention appeals to the masses.
So do fad diets and woo, vs. an understanding of nutrition and calories and the benefits of exercise and daily activity.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »Pills over prevention appeals to the masses.
So do fad diets and woo, vs. an understanding of nutrition and calories and the benefits of exercise and daily activity.
So true even with great resources like MFP to help gain these much needed understandings. Dr. Oz viewers I expect are looking for a pill vs. understanding. There is also the willingness factor to apply the understanding.2 -
For what it's worth, I've lived in both Singapore and in the US. I've never had to wait a week+ for basic health care. It's MUCH easier to go into the doctor here and see them and much quicker. Same day and same hour, if I want to. Just ... for the record.0
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Are you also going to tax smokers? Alcoholics? Motorcycle riders? Race car driver? Equestrians?
People engage in all kinds of activities that increase risk of injury or illness. Choosing one group to tax is called discrimination.
Have been obese for a large portion of my adult life, and I haven't had a single illness or medical expense related to my weight. However, I have had many bills related to my physical activities (all sustained when I was not obese). Obesity is a potential indicator or contributing factor to other health issues, in very few cases does it have medical complications alone.
I know the above is an older comment but these things are taxed in some countries. In addition to GST there are specific taxes in New Zealand on cigarettes, alcohol and ACC (healthcare) levies are included in vehicle registrations and everyone pays ACC levies on salaries
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1. Remove insurance from the process.
2. Remove government from the process.
3. Implement tort reform.
Medical costs will return to normal inflationary index - all will be fine. Increasing medical costs are a government manufactured problem.3 -
1. Remove insurance from the process.
2. Remove government from the process.
3. Implement tort reform.
Medical costs will return to normal inflationary index - all will be fine. Increasing medical costs are a government manufactured problem.
By implementing tort reform, you limit people's access to the courts...if a doctor is negligent and kills my husband, why should he/she not be held responsible?1 -
eveandqsmom wrote: »1. Remove insurance from the process.
2. Remove government from the process.
3. Implement tort reform.
Medical costs will return to normal inflationary index - all will be fine. Increasing medical costs are a government manufactured problem.
By implementing tort reform, you limit people's access to the courts...if a doctor is negligent and kills my husband, why should he/she not be held responsible?
The primary focus of much of tort reform is capping non-economic damages, not necessarily limiting access to courts or preventing redress for serious injuries. Of course, the comment you're responding to is also incredibly simplistic and this isn't an area that is easily simplified. We do have a problem in the US with the cost of medical care, and it is, in part, related to defensive medicine and the cost of medical malpratice insurance. I'm also not convinced that the layers of administration that have taken over hospitals and insurance companies have improved the level of care. Keep in mind that in all of this, doctor's incomes have experienced a steep drops at times, and with amount of education they go through to get to where they are, they're not exactly overcompensated.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/could-malpractice-reform-save-the-us-health-care-system/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/05/28/are-u-s-doctors-paid-too-much/#5c05f26c3e5c
http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2016/public/overview
http://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/salary-of-doctors/
http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/544/
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/01/seriously-doctors-say-theyre-underpaid/comment-page-14/2 -
sunnybeaches105 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »sunnybeaches105 wrote: »The riparian rights discussion is fascinating
You just wanted to write riparian rights, didn't you?
I just wanted to point out that there is such a thing. Rather specialized area of practice even. With actual laws and stuff.
So for property discussions do you prefer the bundle of sticks or Swiss cheese analogy? I personally love Swiss cheese on hamburgers.
It would seem not everyone in this thread agrees there ::should:: be rights to something like that. it isn't 'Murican enough and infringes on their freedom. Or something.
there is a difference between the fundamental right to have ones property and some pie in the sky dreamed up right that everyone somehow has a natural human right to access free healthcare...
Obviously the people in these countries would disagree that it's something "dreamed up":
Norway
New Zealand
Japan
Germany
Belgium
United Kingdom
Kuwait
Sweden
Bahrain
Brunei
Canada
Netherlands
Austria
United Arab Emirates
Finland
Slovenia
Denmark
Luxembourg
France
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Portugal
Cyprus
Greece
Spain
South Korea
Iceland
Hong Kong
Singapore
Switzerland
Israel
not sure what any of those countries have to do with the US....
In most of those countries you have to wait one year plus for basic care, so not so sure that there "right" is being realized...
As someone who lived in one of those countries, I've never had to wait that long for care I needed...
When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (the most severe health issue I've had other than an emergent situation that occured when I was already in the hospital), I was at the diabetes educator and given a (free) glucometer plus a small starting supply of lancets and test strips within 1 business day.
I have a family doctor and while I can't always get in same day to see him, he works out of a shared practice clinic and I've always been seen by someone within 45 minutes. The few times I've been to emergency I've been seen within 2 hours. When I took my son to emergency because his testicle tripled in size and changed colour we were assessed within 30 minutes and he had an ultrasound to rule out torsion within an hour.
The only time I've had to wait to see a specialist was when my doctor referred my son to rule out any further issues. But it was listed as non urgent on the referral form, and had it been more urgent we would have been seen same day.
Also, none of the above cost me a dime directly. I have no issue with my tax rate--I feel it is fair given that I utilize what my taxes pay for.
In my country, the right to universal healthcare is enshrined in our charter of rights & freedoms, which is part of our constitution.
my cousin lives in Italy and he waited a year to have a basic hernia operation and still could not go in, and then had to go and pay a private doctor about 10K for the procedure....
If you don't believe what I am saying go read some of the horror stories coming out of the UK about wait times and hospital conditions...
I live in the UK and actually had a hernia repair done yesterday. I only waited 3 months from initial referral to the op, which is pretty reasonable considering it wasn't an emergency. If it had strangulated (or whatever it's called) then I would have been operated on immediately as an emergency. Yes we do pay national insurance (well my partner does), but even had neither of us have working I would still have been treated, because free at the point of use medical care is a right for us here and I couldn't imagine ever having to decide whether I can afford to be treated before something turns in to an emergency (which could happen with a hernia) simply because my partner has a minimum wage job and I stay at home to look after my toddler and disabled son.
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