S/O Any self-made (no college) making $250,000 plus?

mig100

Fri, May 31 2019, 1:24 pm

amother [ Papaya ] wrote:

Imagine the following:

At birth, you receive a card in the mail.
You have a sniffle? Walk into any clinic or visit any doctor and hand the receptionist your card.
An emergency? Go to any hospital and hand them your card.
A serious illness? Be seen promptly by top specialists of your choosing. Hand them your card.
Are you pregnant? Pick any ob you like, schedule an appointment and hand them your magic card.

Never see a medical bill your entire life.
Never have to chose a doctor based on the whims of your insurance provider.
No co-pays.
No premiums.
No need to travel abroad for affordable care.
No need to order life-saving drugs from abroad because you cannot afford the prices at your local pharmacy.
No need to declare medical bankruptcy due to illness.
No need to stay poor so that you can stay on Medicaid.
No need to post on Imamother about being sick and uninsured.

This is what life is like in the rest of the developed world. And they all have higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than the US.

I've said this before: You guys put a man on the moon!! You are at the forefront of innovation in so many areas! I don't understand the denial, the excuses and the helplessness when it comes to healthcare.

You put a man on the moon!

this is all wonderful.

except if there are no good doctors who want to work - your insurance card is worthless.

any imas here living in canada who needed a specailist? how available was medical care when you needed it?

I once spoke to a women who neeeded a specialist for some rather unserious medical condition that needed to be monitored. she was taking a bus from canada to the us once a month to see a specailist. she could not find a half way decent doctor who knew anything about her rahter routing medical condition.

wow- 10 hour trip to see a doctor. sound fun

it really helps to have an insrucane card that all doctors take- when there are hardly any good doctors.

nchr

Fri, May 31 2019, 1:28 pm

mig100 wrote:

Canada is a horrible representation of medical care. Look at Japan.Regardless, the developed world has a higher life expectancy than the US.

amother

Papaya

Fri, May 31 2019, 1:46 pm

mig100 wrote:

I live in Canada.

My mother went for a routine mammogram last year and they found a growth.
She had surgery two weeks later.
Radiation therapy under the care of a world class specialist.
Follow up care at home by a nurse.
0$

I know many people who have gotten sick and all have received prompt, high-quality care.
I posted a link in an earlier post about the nearly 2 million Americans who traveled abroad for medical care last year.

Canada has 1/10 the population of the US, hence 1/10 the medical facilities. There are therefore very specialized care options that might not be available in Canada. The government then pays for the necessary care at foreign hospitals.

Contrary to what the insurance lobby wants you to believe, people in Europe, Canada and Australia are healthier on every measure. You are being ripped off by insurance executives and drug manufacturers lining their pockets with the hard-earned cash of sick and desperate Americans. Stop the denial and the excuses, you are the most innovative country in the world. Fix this problem!

amother

Slateblue

Fri, May 31 2019, 7:01 pm

mig100 wrote:

Yup! I'm in Canada! I see three specialists - my medical care is absolutely fantastic! Thank you for asking!

10 hour trip to see a doctor? Nope, not fun! My friend travels 10 hours by car every 21 days in the US to receive treatment in a diff state because of her insurance issues. Definitely not fun!

Hardly good doctors? Are you for real?? What do you think Canada is?? A wasteland?

amother

Slateblue

Fri, May 31 2019, 7:05 pm

amother [ Papaya ] wrote:

YEEEEESSSS!!! Exactly this!!

amother

cornflower

Sat, Jun 01 2019, 10:13 pm

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

All I know is do not talk to me about for-profit nursing homes, because ALL I think is dishonesty. (I'm not saying everyone, just my experience). The pay for the rest of the staff is an embarrassment, the quality of food for the residents is terrible, they are understaffed which is unfair to the employees and the residents. Services are less than optimal, often not actually meeting Medicare guidelines- but do on paper if we round and stretch. Everything is to save a dollar which then goes into the owner/administrator who proudly states how successful he is.
Why is someone making >300k, when they can't provide nutritional supplements to the patients because of the cost??? Aides barely making minimum wage and trust me when I say that they work hard-physical labor, lifting and washing and cleaning patients, yet feeding them with kindness, taking care of more that is recommend yet is still legal, being yelled at when they are not there fast enough because they were tending to someone else. Sometimes being given fewer hours than they'd like, so the owner can avoid paying for benefits. Or G-d forbid, the aide or RN finishing what needs to be done and then going into overtime .
Where is the honesty and integrity in that? Health care should be about care and helping people, not making the biggest buck.
That is why I will never make good money or be rich.

This is happening at agencies that cater to people who have disabilities as well like Hasc. They pay staff minimum wage but deduct a nights worth of wages for Shabbos counselors who are forced to sleep at the residence so the pay for Shabbos counselors doesn't even come out to be minimum wage which is against the law. Oh, and in most residences they don't even have separate staff rooms the counselors can sleep in so they are usually sleeping in the kitchen and dining room and are expected to provide services if needed without pay).
Then they have the counselors who double as cooks so they don't have to hire professional chefs who can make good food. Whether the food is good or not depends on the counselor who does the cooking (who is not a trained chef at all) and the individuals do not have a say in the food they eat. There is also no money for a nutritionist for them if they struggle with weight or need specialized diet for dementia or something. And then they have the counselors doing amap for about $1.00 more than minimum wage despite the hard work that goes into giving medication. I have seen one counselor doing amap for 6 individuals the entire Shabbos and she only got paid a dollar more than minimum wage but then her wages got deducted for sleeping so she didn't even get the minimum wage.

So the staff that actually works with the individuals doing all the dirty work get paid horribly while the president and ceo of the company make over $300k (and this is just one of the non-profits they have so if the company has two or three non-profits then the ceo and president could be making a million or more while the residence staff may not even make minimum wage). There is a lot of fraud and corruption going on there but there is no one to turn to as the agency turns a blind eye and the govt doesn't really know how to investigate these matters (especially since the individuals living there are not capable of advocating for themselves and anyone who speaks up gets fired so its not worth the effort).

The worst part is that the ceo and president are actually seen as Bal Chesed who do a lot for people with disabilities and there are fundraisers and other events to help raise money for these poor disabled people but its going to the upper management instead of it going to professional chefs, the counselors who work hard, and the people with disabilities who need it most.

These agencies are govt funded so there is no chesed involved especially since the top people are making huge profits (despite being a non-profit) and are living large while the counselors and individuals are suffering.
But these agencies usually don't have unions so its easy to take advantage of the workers. I would think that the nurses and aids working at nursing homes are in unions? Is that not the case? Do they have the option of being in a union and does that help them get better wages, hours, benefits, etc?