General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders talks universal Medicare, and 1.1 million people click to watch him [View all]Sophia4
(3,515 posts)I have Kaiser which is as close to single payer in terms of its internal organization as I can get.
I hate the whole race to find a provider on my plan thing.
And it is terrible that if you go to another state, the hospital or care provider has to check to see if your insurance will cover your care.
I went to visit a daughter in another state and thought I needed to go to urgent care. We called to arrange to go, and the hospital immediately asked me about my insurance and said they had to check to make sure I was insured before I went. I'm well above 65 and on Medicare. How ridiculous. But understandable. Because they wanted to make sure they would be paid for their work. But our system is truly deplorable. And most Americans don't even know that it is odd that the first thing they have to do when they go to a doctor is to make sure their insurance will cover the cost. And co-pays get higher every year.
I figure the co-pay probably just about pays for all the paperwork required for the medical profession to navigate our insane insurance system.
We waste so much money on paperwork when we go to hospitals and doctors.
Let's get smart and go for some form of single-payer. The single refers to the fact that there is one payer, the government which takes a small percentage of the paycheck of every working American to cover everyone. And if you lose your job or can't work because you are too sick, you remain insured until you get another job or can work again.
I hope everyone watches Bernie's internet show on health care insurance. It was excellent.