[J_9]

Well, I just got hit with it last night at work.

Our coverage will go from 90/10 to 80/20. Our vision and dental will now be charged extra for both rather than being covered under one umbrella. Rates are going to increase, but we won't find out how much until the Open Enrollment Period from October 7 through November 15.

Not only will our rates increase, but our pay is decreasing. No longer will be get paid time and a half if we are on call and get called in after the beginning of our shift.

AND... I'm in the healthcare business!!

I think it might be time to go on Da Welfare! At least I know I'll make more money that way.

[tomder55]

The apologists are now going to blame your employer... just giving you a heads up.

[J_9]

Yes, I've already spoken to some.

We are a huge employer in the Mid-South. Thousands and thousands of employees.

I'm lucky in that this won't make me or break me. Not all are that lucky.

I've seen it coming for a couple of years now in the hospital. All sorts of measures that "cut costs," at the expense of patient safety.

I don't think people outside of the medical scope really understand how this is going to affect their safety, or the safety of their loved ones, when they are hospitalized. Many are looking at it from a different standpoint than I am. I am truly scared for you all if you ever have to be in a hospital. This is putting your health at great risk.

[tomder55]

My meeting is next week . But I've already seen the basic numbers .

But as I've already been scolded by Kentucky's Democrat Governor Beshear ,and Excon using the latest favorite Democrat talking point...
"The Affordable Care Act was approved by Congress and sanctioned by the Supreme Court. It is the law of the land. Get over it ... and get out of the way....
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/op...alUieHOpyEz2cw

[J_9]

The difference is, where all of you quote from, the people writing those articles in the NYSlimes, et al is that this is coming from politicians and the like. Not the medical personnel themselves.

There will be a mass exodus of medical professionals in the hospital/rehab/nursing home settings. Our employer has already let go of 36 staff members throughout the system, 6 at our facility. Nurses are leaving by the numbers. Nurse to patient ratio has decreased dramatically, and this has only begun. When one nurse was required to take only 4 patients, she is now required to take 7 (just an example). This places you and yours at risk of a multitude of safety issues. Medication errors, falls, bedsores, neglect, just to name a few.

One of our physicians, who also holds a Juris Doctor, has retired from medicine and has returned to practice med/mal law. Maybe I should go back to my former life as a med/mal researcher.

[speechlesstx]

No, surely not. We've been assured there will be no mass exodus and our options will be unlimited now. And obviously as tom noted it's your employer's fault for not shopping around for a better deal or they're just plain greedy.

[excon]

Hello J:

If I had my druthers, the insurance companies would NOT have been left in the loop to do these very things.

I've been prescribed a cream for rash. A month or so ago, my co-pay was about $6. A few weeks ago, my co-pay was $23. Last time I bought it, my co-pay was $46.

I'd LIKE to blame somebody, too. How about Ted Cruz?

excon

[tomder55]

NJ is already experiencing a shortage of doctors .The ones graduating in the state are making an exodus . What Obamacare does is nationalize the problems so there is no escape. Guess that's what they mean by 'shared sacrifice'. We all suffer .

[J_9]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/op...alUieHOpyEz2cw

This article fails to take into account the decrease in the nursing staff available at hospitals due to a decrease in staffing for cost saving (money making) purposes. While they may be seeking out medical treatment, it also fails to point out the increased risk of medication errors and the like.

If you want to see how this Act is really going to affect you, don't listen to the politicians, don't read the articles. Go to your local hospital and talk to the employees who would be treating you.

If your wife, or your daughter, were in labor for let's say 40 hours. Unable to eat or drink anything but ice chips, and finally delivered her baby at midnight... Are you following me? She's starving and asks for something to eat and a soda. She now gets, if she's lucky, two pieces of bread with a slice of meat in between. Oh, and no soda, only milk, water or apple juice.

If your wife has Alzheimer's and has sundowners syndrome (awake and agitated during the night), she is now strapped to what is called a gerry chair or placed in restraints because there aren't enough nurses or techs to adequately take care of her.

Your ER waiting time has gone from 4 hours to 8 hours unless you are having chest pain, then you get to chew an aspirin and have an EKG from the time of arrival, THEN your wait begins.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm truly concerned. On this board the members quote articles, quote politicians, etc. but I'm actually witnessing it from the ground floor.

[J_9]

We've been assured there will be no mass exodus and our options will be unlimited now

You can never be assured of a mass exodus in health care. It happens all the time. When there is a new Administrator, new nurse manager, policies change, etc. Has nothing to do with my facility, that's the nature of medicine in the hospital setting.

[speechlesstx]

I can appreciate you telling us about it from the actual field instead of all this blowing smoke we get from the true believers.

[J_9]

Hello J:

If I had my druthers, the insurance companies would NOT have been left in the loop to do these very things.

I've been prescribed a cream for rash. A month or so ago, my co-pay was about $6. A few weeks ago, my co-pay was $23. Last time I bought it, my co-pay was $46.

I'd LIKE to blame somebody, too. How about Ted Cruz?

Excon

I am so with you there, but I can't blame Ted Cruz and I'm not saying insurance companies aren't to blame.

While I am concerned about the rising costs of medical care, I am also concerned about the health and wellbeing of patients everywhere. Not just my facility, the entire national hospital system.

The actual point is that the people of this country are going to get substandard care as there will be a shortage of doctors and nurses.

We've been assured there will be no mass exodus and our options will be unlimited now

Oh, yes. Be sure to thank your nurses who will be working, the ones who stay with their facilities, for working 85-95 hours a week on crisis pay. Don't forget to ask them what medications they are giving you, and why. You are now responsible for keeping us on our toes due to sleep deprivation.

Sh!t... Did you say you were allergic to morphine? Hey Doc, what is the antidote for morphine in an allergic patient?

[J_9]

I can appreciate you telling us about it from the actual field instead of all this blowing smoke we get from the true believers.

Thank you. While I don't know all of the political jargon that you all do, and I tend to stay away from the Current Events board as I just don't understand it, I do feel that it is necessary to keep people informed from the field rather than from behind the podium.

[talaniman]

The actual point is that the people of this country are going to get substandard care as there will be a shortage of doctors and nurses.

It's the same thing with teachers, cops, EMT's, food inspectors, garbage collectors, actually all local services that are forced to cutback due to the high cost of doing business.

[J_9]

It's the same thing with teachers, cops, EMT's, food inspectors, garbage collectors, actually all local services that are forced to cutback due to the high cost of doing business.

Are you going to sue your teachers? Going to sue your garbage collectors? Or are you going to go for the big money and sue the doctors and nurses in a med/mal suit? Sorry Tal, it's not the same. Not only will health care decline, but the court system will be tied up more than it is now. There will be a higher number of med/mal cases awarded to the plaintiff's because there was an actual error in care. This will increase med/mal insurance premiums, yes I carry my own, thus discouraging people from entering the profession.

I don't know of teacher malpractice, or food inspector malpractice, but med/mal is one that can tie the courts up for many years.

[talaniman]

I understand you are just focusing on your own issues in areas of your concern, but there are many that are concerned about their issues as well, such as rising energy costs and where to educate their children, AS WELL AS affording a doctor. Private doctors ain't cheap. Neither are emergency rooms.

How about paying a higher water bill on a fixed income? Or paying a higher sanitation bill for flushing your toilet? Or rising food costs or gas? There are many issues that people are facing. There are big issues and health care is but one of them. Hell everything is just to damn high for my paycheck.

[speechlesstx]

And of course the way to help people with those rising costs is to make health-care more expensive and energy costs to "necessarily skyrocket."

[talaniman]

Rein in the cost, and give me more money, would be my idea of a fix. What's yours?

[cdad]

Rein in the cost, and give me more money, would be my idea of a fix. What's yours?

That is ALWAYS the typical answer from your side. Hey its broken lets throw more money at it and its solved. What a pantload. Look how come you find it so awkward that what you have been told is now coming to fruition ? You wanted canadian style healthcare and now your getting it. If you have complaints then pray to your god Obama. He is the one make sure you get further behind. He removed food and fuel from the inflationary index and wants to get fuel to $5.00 a gallon and figures your rich enough to absorb the costs. You are aren't you ?

[talaniman]

You speak in a vacuum like everything was hunky dory before. Like we haven't had a recession, and are slow to recover. Like problems fix themselves. The question was "What's your solution" Not what's your beeyatch.