Hacker News Folks Get Long Overdue Thanks

Post by foobarbazqux » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 4:51 PM UTC

jaggederest wrote: post #30

dfc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" people without insurance are going to bring some losses, but you don't just let them die." Are you aware of the health insurance debate/disaster in the US? How long can doctors operate at a loss? I must say that you are very fortunate if you do not know someone who has died of cancer and was unable to see/pay every specialist they could fit in to their final months days. People die of cancer all the time wishing th…

I've actually worked with health insurance billing. The way it works is that they bill ridiculously large amounts, which nobody without insurance can pay. They know this. The insurance companies negotiate it, other people pay what they can, and it all more or less works out in the end. I'd much, much prefer to see a single payer system. Seeing every specialist is different than being in treatment with a doctor and ha…

Post by twstws » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 4:54 PM UTC

Klinky wrote: post #28

twstws wrote: post #18

This is truly a wonderful story. But it makes you wonder how many others in a similar situation weren't so fortunate. I lived in the US for two years, and I never understood the aversion to government healthcare. The Canadian system is far from perfect, and I know there are failures. But it's still a lot better than soliciting for online charity on a case by case basis. I'm impressed and humbled that it worked in thi…

I am not sure this story is really about the need for socialized medicine. This is more about the need of specialist care and second opinions. If most doctors he saw determined that he most likely would not survive treatment, a socialized medical program may have very well denied payment for such treatments, and he would have had to resort to fundraising anyways. Maybe if the system was flexible, nimble and could mak…

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 5:09 PM UTC

jaggederest wrote: post #16

dfc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wholeheartedly agree that the oncologists deserve a lot of praise/gratitude for their work. That gratitude is precisely the reason why I disagree with the latter half of your statement. I think it is unfair to to suggest that they would have accepted a monetary loss. Nobody visits an oncology specialist because life is wonderful. Every patient is somebody's mother, brother or spouse and every patient is facing an u…

Of course they do. But if he'd only raised $30k, they'd have gone "Welp, not enough, guess you're just going to have to die"? I seriously doubt it. You're going to serve the patients you can serve and get the recompense you can - people without insurance are going to bring some losses, but you don't just let them die.

Post by meowface » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 5:14 PM UTC

SeanDav wrote: post #17

nwenzel wrote: post #11

Great story of compassion and triumph. So... How do we make it scale? Is it mandatory insurance? Insurance doesn't make everything affordable, but it probably wild have been helpful. Though maybe the co-pay would have been $50k. Universal tax-payer funded insurance? The term "tax payer" is interesting because politicians and pundits forget that we're all tax payers in one form or another. Granted some pay more, some…

I don't begin to understand the US health system (I live in the UK with its National Health), but didn't Obama try bring in compulsory health insurance to counteract just this sort of thing and it was defeated?

Post by refurb » Sat, Jul 20, 2013, 5:32 PM UTC

foobarbazqux wrote: post #31

jaggederest wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually worked with health insurance billing. The way it works is that they bill ridiculously large amounts, which nobody without insurance can pay. They know this. The insurance companies negotiate it, other people pay what they can, and it all more or less works out in the end. I'd much, much prefer to see a single payer system. Seeing every specialist is different than being in treatment with a doctor and ha…

Do doctors make individual decisions about working pro bono, and does it come directly out of their paycheque, or does the hospital cover it for them?