@jeanne-mayell@jeanne-mayell - when there is a profit motive in conflict with the Healthcare motive, profit will always triumph. There was a time in this country when hospitals were non-profit and the only motive was healthcare. We are overdue for a health system reform.
@barbarmar22. I hear you that healthcare reform is in order and has been for decades. As for the non profit status, much of the health care is non profit, so that's not the problem. For example, 62%* of the hospitals are non profit in the U.S. and it doesn't reduce the absurd salaries. Only 18 percent are for profit. In fact, it's worse because they don't have to pay property taxes because they are non profit. The Administrators make millions in salary and surgeons too.
We are going to have to move to a more socialist democracy (like many European countries) to reign in the costs, not just healthcare, but education too. But healthcare is the most severe problem.
Dawn Wells,Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. has died from Covid at 82.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/30/entertainment/dawn-wells-obit/index.html
@jeanne-mayell Insurance companies are a huge part of the problem.
Absolutely. And they lobbied heavily to prevent National Health Insurance.
Regarding health care, Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles is a well renowned hospital. They just sent out a "Crisis Alert" to many former patients about Covid. It is worth a read.
It is such a shame that hospitals need to send send this out due to failed leadership from our top Government leaders.
Dear Patient:
The COVID-19 pandemic is reaching crisis levels at hospitals across California, and things are no different at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital. We are seeing the rapidly growing numbers of COVID-19 patients, along with record-breaking numbers of hospitalizations. Our physicians, nurses and other essential workers remain focused on providing the very best care. But the pandemic is testing us in ways we never imagine and is creating a dramatic strain on our resources.
We need your help: Please do not go out this New Year's Eve and do not congregate with anyone outside your household.
We know these recommendations are challenging, but it's important to remember the actions you take in the next few days can help protect you, your family and your loved ones-and those fighting for their lives in our hospital beds right now. Compliance is crucial if we want to prevent what is already a public health emergency from becoming even worse.
The following guidelines are essential-we ask you to please follow them:
- Do not travel or gather with others who live outside your household. The crisis we are currently experiencing is a result of Thanksgiving gatherings and travel. Holiday travel and family get-togethers will likely create a new wave of infections. More travel or gatherings this New Year's Eve would cause our hospitals and our medical staff to reach a breaking point.
- Get tested if you have been exposed to COVID-19, but NOT as a way to attend gatherings or parties. If you know or suspect that you have been exposed to COVID-19, do get tested as soon as possible. You can read the full considerations and information on COVID-19 testing from the CDC here.
- Continue to wear a mask, practice physical distancing and wash your hands. It's more important than ever to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, avoiding close contact (less than 6 feet) with others who are not a part of your household and washing or sanitizing your hands often.
COVID-19 TESTING UPDATE
Per CDC guidelines, repeat testing is not necessary for patients with COVID-19 within 90 days of their diagnosis, unless reinfection is suspected. Our Cedars-Sinai urgent care locations are reaching scheduling capacity. Please only visit our urgent care locations for testing if you know or suspect that you have been exposed to COVID-19. We cannot accommodate repeat COVID-19 testing for patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 within 90 days or testing outside of the CDC guidelines.We are grateful to serve our community during this crisis. Thank you for keeping you and your community safe and for trusting us to always provide you with exceptional care. And above all, thank you for your support of our frontline healthcare heroes.
Wishing you a healthy and safe new year,
Jeffrey A. Smith, MD, JD, MMM
Executive Vice President of Hospital Operations and Chief Operating Officer
Cedars-Sinai Medical CenterJohn E. Jenrette, MD
Executive Vice President
@jeannemayell - Doctors and nurses across the country support a national health care program. It is the administrators at top level who are making the enormous salaries; millions. With a national healthcare system a pandemic would be addressed more efficiently because everyone could "afford" healthcare.
@barbarmar22. U.S. doctors as a group have opposed single payor health care. The dominant physician trade organization, The American Medical Association (AMA), voted against single payor in 2019. The membership (i.e., the doctors) were divided, but the majority were opposed.
The reason is kind of obvious: American doctors make by far more money than their counterparts in countries that provide free health care for all, and there is no cap in how much doctors can make in the U.S.
The only proposals physicians would support would be those that would not lower their incomes and the government has to cut physician incomes to afford free health care for all. So at the end of the day, American physicians have opposed single payor health care (aka national Health Insurance, aka Medicare for all.)
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders could not get traction with their Medicare for All proposals because they weren't going to cut physician salaries and thus the total tax bill was going to be too high. Even then, the physicians groups opposed the proposals. At the AMA it was mainly medical students that supported single payor.
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/physicians/ama-maintains-its-opposition-single-payer-systems
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.22.3.89
@jeanne-mayell- Maybe it will be the next generation to make it happen. I looked at these websites:
www.pnhp.org. Physicians for National Health Program.
We might also address the cost of a medical degree so that Healthcare professionals are not having to pay back loans for decades.
This thread was started in January, 2020.
My year ago self would be shocked to know we are still dealing with Covid 19 a year later. More shocked to learn of the how desperation hospitals face.
LA is asking for The Mercy Navy hospital ship to be redeployed to the Los Angeles Area. Hospitals are turning gift shops in to hospital rooms. In the City Of Angeles, someone is dying of Covid 19 every 10 minutes and in the county, ambulances are being told not to transport people who have little chance for survival.
My January, 2020 self is having a difficult time comprehending where we stand in January 2021.
My January, 2021 self understands how we got here, but is dismayed that it has come to this horrible point.
It did not need to happen.
I am hopeful my January, 2022 self will be able to look at the Covid pandemic as what once was and not what is.