Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Il modello

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/business/04insure.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
The economic slowdown has swelled the ranks of people without health 
insurance. But now it is also threatening millions of people who have 
insurance but find that the coverage is too limited or that they cannot 
afford their own share of medical costs.
Karena Cawthon for The New York Times
Many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are 
struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used 
to be — often because of some combination of higher premiums, less 
extensive coverage, and bigger out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments.
With medical costs soaring, the coverage many people have may not 
adequately protect them from the financial shock of an emergency room 
visit or a major surgery. For some, even routine doctor visits might now 
take a back seat to basic expenses like food and gasoline.
“It just keeps eating into people’s income,” said James Corbin, a former 
union official who works for the local utility in Tucson.
Mr. Corbin said that under their employer’s health plan, he and his 
co-workers are now obliged to pay up to $4,000 of their families’ annual 
medical bills, on top of about $1,600 a year in premiums. Five years 
ago, they paid no premiums and were responsible for only about $2,000 of 
their families’ medical bills.
“That’s a big jump,” Mr. Corbin said. “You’ve just lost a month’s pay.”
Already, many doctors say, the soft economy is making some insured 
people hesitant to get care they need, reluctant to spend a $50 
co-payment for an office visit. Parents “are waiting longer to bring in 
their children,” said Dr. Richard Lander, a pediatrician in Livingston, 
N.J. “They say, ‘The kid isn’t that sick; her temperature is only 102.’ ”
The problem of affording health care is most acute for people with no 
insurance, a group expected to soon exceed 48 million, but those with 
insurance say they too are feeling the pain.
Since the recession of 2001, the employee’s average cost of an annual 
health care premium for family coverage has nearly doubled — to $3,300, 
up from $1,800 — while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. 
Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the 
average American household’s income that goes toward health care has 
risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm 
Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s 
spending.
In a recent survey by Deloitte’s health research center, only 7 percent 
of people said they felt financially prepared for their future health 
care needs.
Shirley Giarde of Walla Walla, Wash., was not prepared when her husband, 
Raymond, suddenly developed congestive heart failure last year and 
needed a pacemaker and defibrillator. Because his job did not provide 
health benefits, she has covered them both through a policy for the 
self-employed, which she obtained as the proprietor of a bridal and 
formal-wear store, the Purple Parasol.
But when Raymond had his medical problems, Ms. Giarde discovered that 
her insurance would cover only $22,000, leaving them with about $100,000 
in unpaid hospital bills.
Even though the hospital agreed to reduce that debt to about $50,000, 
Ms. Giarde is still struggling to pay it — in part because the poor 
economy has meant slumping sales at the Purple Parasol. Her husband, now 
disabled and unable to work, will not qualify for Medicare for another 
year, and she cannot afford the $758 a month it would cost to enroll him 
in a state-run insurance plan for individuals who cannot find private 
insurance.
She recently refinanced her car, a 2002 Toyota Highlander, to help pay 
for her husband’s heart medicines, which cost some $400 a month.
Experts say that too often for the underinsured, coverage can seem like 
health insurance in name only — adequate only as long as they have no 
medical problems.
“There’s a real shift in the burden of health care to people who happen 
to be sick,” said Paul B. Ginsburg, the president of the Center for 
Studying Health System Change, a research group in Washington.
Companies and policy makers have yet to focus on what the faltering 
economy means for employees’ medical care, said Helen Darling, president 
of the National Business Group on Health, a Washington association of 
about 200 large employers.
[...]

 allunghera' le file negli ospedali o meno.
Io invece mi preoccupo della privatizzazione strisciante della sanità, 
che ora il cdx potrebbe portare a termine. Con risultati "americani", 
mentre magari gli USA - se voteranno per la Clinton - passeranno 
all'universalismo...
Dan

 perche' non hanno IVA
Hanno imposte simili, ma sono statali e non federali.
HRCF
-- 
Tarpaulin: Amarcord Cold War
http://tarpaulin.blogspot.com/

 corruzione. 
Sprechi e corruzione ci sono, ma sono secondari. Il dramma in Italia e' 
che in meta' paese circa la sanita' pubblica e' tenuta scientemente 
inefficente ed insufficente a fornire prestazioni ai cittadini di modo 
che possa esistere una sanita' privata convenzionata che fornisce 
prestazioni di livello medio-basso a costi astronomici pr le ASL. 
Putacaso a questo ricco settore sono cointeressati dirigenti politici ed 
amministrativi delle regioni in questione e/o i loro familiari.


 molto.
Onestamente, non sono informato in materia. Ma mi stupirei del 
contrario. Nonostante quel che pensi tu, io non ho alcuna antipatia per 
la tradizione civica anglosassone (anzi!), ma credo che tale tradizione 
non costituisca un'eccezione "etnica" alla corruzione planetaria (forse 
conosciamo più la nostra che quella altrui).
Dan

 Hanno imposte simili, ma sono statali e non federali.
E' qualcosa di simile all'IVA, la "VAT" che vedo sugli scontrini USA?
Dan

 E' qualcosa di simile all'IVA, la "VAT" che vedo sugli scontrini USA?
La traduzione di VAT e' Value Added Tax, ovvero IVA, ma AFAIK negli USA 
la dizione non viene usata, e' britannica semmai. Le varie Sales Taxes 
che si pagano su di ogni acquisto negli USA e che variano tra stato e 
stato dovrebbero essere tecnicamente un po' diverse, anche se identiche 
per il cittadino.


 per il cittadino.
Interessante. Non è una materia nelle mie corde, ma merita un 
approfondimento. Thnx.
Dan

 tasse sulla benzina.
Non discutevo le aliquote, ma l'esistenza dello stesso concetto 
nell'ordinamento fiscale USA.


 allunghera' le file negli ospedali o meno.
Più lunghe di così è difficile (almeno qui a Firenze)..il problema
non è chi governa ma come governa
Ciao! 

il problema non è chi governa ma come governa
QUOTO 

 delle regioni in questione e/o i loro familiari.
OK, ma questo è appunto uno spreco e di fatto è corruzione, non credi? 

 QUOTO 
Le grandi menti si incontrano.
Dan


Cos'é...sei talmente a corto di argomentazioni che
ti dedichi con impegno al trollaggio?
Ciao!