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Post by DADDY O on May 5, 2017 9:34:22 GMT
That Pre-Existing Health Problems extended to new born babies with health problems.
Jimmy Kimmel is a late night talk show host and comedian on NBC TV. Johnny Carson used to host this spot. Watch this video to the end and you will understand the Health Care Crisis in America.....the supposedly richest nation in the world.
I will warn you...........this is an emotional video.
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Post by sherri on May 6, 2017 1:18:30 GMT
Until you go through it, you don't realise how gruelling it is and in a way, when it happens to someone in the spotlight, it might do some good, bring a bit of publicity to how things happen in the health system.
I've mentioned before that our second child was born with problems. She was born in a private hospital as we had health cover. But private hospitals didn't operate on the sort of condition she had, they just weren't equipped for it. At that time there were only 2 specialists in Melbourne who did that type of op, so she was taken by NICU ambulance into the city, to Queen Victoria hospital.
Now her condition-no one knows exactly what causes it but it forms in the 5th week of pregnancy so it is not genetic as such. But my daughter was admitted as a private patient into a public hospital. They promised us we would not see any bills but by doing it this way, they were able to claim from the health fund and this paid them more than if they only claimed the govt subsidy.
We did in fact see some bills but took them into the health fund, got the refunds, paid the hospital the refund amount.
My daughter went home (prematurely I believe) at 6 weeks but had to go back in within days, not breathing (choking). This time, I just had her admitted as a public patient and it was better. Never saw a bill and she was in hospital just over 5 months. In that time she had some serious ops.
The man who did the ops was called Prof McMahon and I don't think I could have chosen a better man, he was highly respected and as I said, one of the few doing that surgery at the time. The first surgery like it had been performed in the late 1940s so I believe. Up till then anyone born with it just died. Linda was born in 1983 so she was lucky, the survival rate was a lot better by then.
But pre existing condition or not, the comforting thing is that there are public hospitals that will do this on need, not income.
In fact over here, for really, really serious surgery, the public hospitals are more cutting edge & have many of the top surgeons & equipment.
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Post by sherri on May 6, 2017 1:30:53 GMT
I will tell you one condition I did find ridiculous here. When Linda had her first child 3 years ago, she was in a private hospital. Now the health care fund covers mother and baby but with most funds, there is an excess you pay on admission, right? In Linda's case, she had to pay $500 on admission. This is usually a one up payment per person, per year. So if Linda had had to go into hospital again for any reason that year, she would not be charged again. Mother and baby are considered as the one admission. But little Maya was a bit unsettled one night and Linda wasn't too well, so the nurse suggested they take Maya into the nursery for an hour and they would give the baby a bit of formula while Linda rested. Linda agreed.
Now, imagine her surprise when she found out the baby was then registered as a separate patient because she had been 'admitted' to the nursery and they had to pay the $500 excess on her too. In fact the bill for Maya was $2000 and at first the health fund didn't want to cover it at all as they considered she was not in their couples cover but in the end they did and so Linda & Matt were only out $500 in excess.
But as Linda now says, if she had known they would be charged that much for an hour out of the room for formula, she would have asked them to bring the bottle into her!!
Now, that's a private hospital. Wouldn't happen in the public system and if the health fund had charged the $2000, I told her it was worth going to the media about, kicking up a fuss. I don't think she would have so I am glad the health fund backed down.
They are basically insurers and insurers are crooks.
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