| |
Bleeding-Edge Benefits
Jay Himmelstein
PREFACE: The sentiment "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" has a strong foothold in the United States, as does the thought that it takes a whole lot to prove that something’s "broke." Nonetheless, Americans are increasingly declaring that health insurance in this country is very badly broken. The reality, many say, is that insurance coverage often is nonexistent for preventive care, is slight for regular office visits, and peters out during catastrophic situations and hospitalizations. Additionally, because there is no organized health care system in the United States, there are always complicated questions about the specifics of insurance benefits. Jay Himmelstein, a professor and a director of a health policy center at a medical school, discovers this first-hand when his graduate student niece, Emily, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Worried about her health, her mounting treatment bills, and the limitations of her school insurance policy, Emily wonders whether declaring bankruptcy might be the only solution. Next, health economist Phil Musgrove gets an up-close-and-personal view of American health care and its emphasis on insurance when he rushes a stranger to an emergency room and gets a "paper first, people second" reception.
| The first 100 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
HIKING IN THE FOOTHILLS of the Rockies in late summer 2004, I found it a challenge to keep up with my two fit and energetic twenty-four-year-old companions—my son Jesse and niece Emily—on a warm, cloudless Colorado afternoon. At one point, we stopped on a cliff top to rest, snack, and watch kayakers paddle the rapids below and rock climbers scale the canyon walls across from us.
"Uncle Jay, what do you think of this bump on my thigh?" Emily asked while we were sitting there. "The doctor at student health services thinks it’s probably just a fatty tumor, but . . . [Full Text of this Article]
|
Getting Treatment And Getting Billed
|
|---|
|
Insurance For Graduate Students
|
|---|
       What's this?
Related Blog Posts:
- Related Blog Post
|
