“The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health- care bill out here.”
This can’t be true.
Democrats= Death Party
>> “The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health- care bill out here.”
> This can’t be true.
Sure it can. Think about the definitions.
“Chronically ill” = sick all the time, long-term sickness. As opposed to “Acutely ill” = suddenly ill, accidentally ill.
The chronically ill will require constant medical treatment for a very long time, by definition. Acute patients are the ones who break their legs or have car accidents &tc. Far more likely to be a catch-and-release in the medical system.
“Those toward the end of their lives” = the elderly. After a full life, their bodies start to wear out requiring joint replacements, organ replacements &tc. They’re also likely to become chronic patients. By definition, those who are toward the end of their lives are most likely to spend the last part of their lives either in hospice or in hospital.
Is 80% a fair figure for all that? Yes, of course it is. Obama is complaining about a perfectly normal set of circumstances. This breakdown is not going to change no matter how he rations healthcare. 80% of your healthcare budget will be spent treating chronic and elderly patients. It is a fact of life, just like gravity.
This can’t be true.
Tricky, tricky numbers. Mixing the chronically ill and those at the end of their lives. If you are 40 and are on blood pressure medication you are chronically ill. You might have a good 40 or 50 years left, but Obama is mixing that with someone on death's door. I have friends who have been on asthma medication since they were children. That's potentially a good 80 years of chronically (but very treatably) ill. Tricky.
I saw a few days ago that Medicare was approximately 45% of the total national health care bill, private insurance about 40% and self pay about 15%. Although some of the private insurance and self payers will be for end stage terminal cases (accidents, early onset diseases, union insurance that supercedes Medicare in old age), most of the end stage spending will likely be Medicare thus only a part of Medicare's 45%.
Yes... there are a lot of people who would be *at* the end of their lives were it not for life-saving treatments. Preemies with under-developed lungs, accident victims, kids with cancer...
If those in the third world can't expect care why should everyone else? Besides, the Obamas need unlimited funding for important vacations. Priorities.
“The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health- care bill out here.”
He is misquoting a statement concerning the expenses of the MediCare program. The statement should be that approximately 80% of the cost of all medical care received by an individual is spent in the last 6 months of their life.
It’s not.
But when patients have Medicare, the hospitals actually have a paying customer who can pay for all of the free care they are required to provide to others.
How do you define chronically ill?
I guarantee that if it is defined as someone with heart disease, diabetes, and such things, that they “potentially account” for 80% of the total health care bill.
All that Dear Leader has to do is to have the death boards define such disease as not worth paying for, and he can drastically drop health care costs.