An excellent segment on last night’s 60 Minutes which I believe should be part of the health care debate and is not. It’s a topic no one wants to talk about.
Last year, Medicare paid $50 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives – that’s more than the budget of the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Education.
And it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of these medical expenditures may have had no meaningful impact. Most of the bills are paid for by the federal government with few or no questions asked.
It should be a part of the debate, but I have the feeling that it won’t be…
This is a good point.
.-= Laoch´s last blog ..Never A Good Journey =-.
I also watched that 60 minutes program on Sunday and was shocked, for a country that will not give people health care to live while they are young and struggling to raise a family, that they will spend that kind of money $10.000.00 per day to keep who are terminal to die. what a rip off of your tax dollars these peoples family to have to go to the hospital everyday and see their loved ones being kept alive by machines……… Oh to be an animal you would get treated so much better
And those against better and more widespread health care rant on the fact that we’ll “just let grandma die.” They’ve no shame.
Brenda
.-= Brenda Kula´s last blog ..Sweet Inspiration =-.
Who says this country won’t give health-care to the young with families? I believe in all 50 states there is some type of state health-care for children available to those in middle to lower income brackets. That also includes the child’s parents…..
I’m not saying there are extreme cases where a person is being kept alive simply beyond their time, however I know that is not the norm. How is that any different than us supporting the person on life support whose family just can’t give the order to unplug. In most cases that person is as well supported by medicaid and social security.
It’s easy to sit back when it isn’t a member of your family and make the decision, to see objectively. Yet would you want someone else telling you that your loved one must be unplugged.
There are arguments on both sides.
Jennifer I’m not sure where you’re getting your facts regarding your statement about health care. True states have programs for children whose parents do not have or cannot afford health insurance. However there is no such program to offer affordable health care to middle income people. That’s simply false.
RE: your next statement, how do you know that to be true? Do you work in the medical profession? Evidently not or you wouldn’t make such a statement. As far as being well supported by medicaid and social security that is the point! It is paid for by our government and social security will go broke if it’s not fixed. But you’re missing the entire point of the blog post which is about how people die.
And I have made the decision for a family member, being objective and as a nurse knowing they would not want to die hooked up to a machine and bunch of tubes. I have worked in Intensive Care Units, pulmonary thoracic care, cardiac and telemetry and have yet had a patient tell me please let me die this way. It’s almost always the opposite, don’t do this to me but when no living will and durable health care power of attorney in place a family member often calls the shots. And usually they don’t know what the hell to do.