"As I was being eaten, I was thinking about my insurance"

[Cimorene]

Woman who lost her face in bear attack on why she’s voting for Bernie Sanders

A woman still experiencing the aftermath of her injuries nearly 12 years after she was mauled by a bear has put her support behind presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, largely because of his position on health insurance in the US.

Allena Hansen, now 68, was on her secluded ranch in the southern part of California's Sequoia Mountains in 2008 when she was mauled by a black bear.

The attack, which left her with extensive facial injuries and pain, was not the hardest moment for Ms Hansen. Instead, she said dealing with her private insurance company, Blue Cross, to cover medical bills was the most debilitating. Blue Cross did not respond to a request for a comment.


"Literally, as I was being eaten by a wild beast, I wasn't thinking about Jesus or my family or my son. I was thinking my insurance was not going to pay for this," she told The Independent. "I had to make this calculus as I was being eaten, 'Do I want to survive this?' Not, 'Can I survive this?' Not, 'What am I going to look like?'"

She added: "I think that speaks volumes to the American healthcare system."

She comes from a family of drs and knows about the severe financial hardships & the intense stress caused by medical bills and prolonged fights with insurance companies to get coverage. So she knew that the attack would be extremely expensive & a major toll on her life.

I know @Stanfordella 's family is also made up of drs, & that she's said the same.

My family is American & moved to Canada for 2 main reasons 1) less school shootings and 2) excellent healthcare w/o a huge financial burden. My sister was extremely traumatized after a shooting at her school that killed kids. She has Asperger's & it caused this massive delay in all the progress she'd made. She needed a ton of help. She took comfort in Canada being safer. She was really the one behind our move but our whole family is a million times happier here.
She's in med school now & doing GREAT.

I wanted to talk about this with other zoomers. Am interested in learning more about Australia's healthcare if @Zoii knows about it, wants to share. Please don't post here if you're not a Zoomer, ok???? Thx.

 

[Zoii]

Australia has adopted a dual system of public and private health provisions.
The public system covers all Australians and permanent residents. Essentially if you need to present to your doctor or emergency department, then proceed to surgery with a resultant hospital stay, and then a follow-up with your surgeon in clinics plus some physiotherapy for a few months..... You will pay ZERO.

The system is funded through a levy on all taxpayers and is 2 per cent of your taxable income. If you earn less than $22 000, then you will pay nothing.

For urgent or emergency requirements this works efficiently and effectively. The standard of care is high. This system favours prevention. As a taxpayer the health dollar goes a lot further if you prevent disease in the first place. So anti-smoking and anti-obesity and immunisation are examples of primary health care that receive significant attention and funding.

For elective health, the process works on a triage process. Eg an elective orthopaedic surgery. The patient is reviewed and priority is given depending on the urgency of the case. An urgent elective case MUST be completed within 30 days. Non-urgent up to 365. So if you have a tear in a tendon, that will be an urgent case. If you have an arthritic hip, thats non-urgent.

Emergencies are different - You fall and have a fracture - thats done immediately.

So waiting for service gives rise to a niche for private insurance. You can privately insure and see a doctor to do your elective case immediately in a private hospital and avoid any waiting period.

So the two systems work in tandem. 44% of people will take out private insurance.

 

[St. Helens]

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