Diagnosing Healthcare

- As us hospitals begin

to buckle under the weight of the new coronavirus,

doctors and nurses issued a grim plea for more supplies

to treat patients and to protect themselves.

This is a big,

big issue for the whole system.

- Healthcare payments are keeping

many local residents from getting the treatments they need.

- 37% of Americans go without recommended care.

- Your statement says please pay $220,850.

Right.

- The amount she owed,

more than $40,000.

I'm not human to them.

I'm a dollar sign.

- The average cost of treatment

for patients rose to $63,000.

- $17,000 for a lab test.

50,000 for a stay in the NICU.

From $18 a tablet,

jumping to $750 a tablet.

- About 34 million Americans know someone

who died because they couldn't pay for medical treatment.

You have surgery

and you get a medical bill six months later saying

you owe thousands of dollars.

- We have to do something about the price of healthcare.

It's a right in our country

and you should have a right to healthcare.

- Justice in healthcare. Justice in healthcare.

Our healthcare is in a crisis.

This bubble is going to burst.

[heartbeat monitor flatlining and relaxing piano music]

- Healthcare, is it a right or a privilege?

Do we want a system based on profit

or rather prevention?

Will we place our future in the hands of bureaucrats

or that of the people?

These are the questions to ponder.

Our healthcare system is broken.

Rising costs and growing inefficiencies

are putting a heavy burden on the economy.

It seems like everyone has a story to tell.

- My father was going to the doctor, he said,

but didn't see a man rear-ended my truck.

And I blew out my other shoulder

and tore the ligament out of it.

And my left elbow they had to reconstruct the nerves in it.

That particular brace they gave me

after my thumb surgery when I woke up paralyzed,

because the nerves in my leg aren't working right

and the muscles and I got a clubfoot now.

- Did you get any sort of therapy inpatient anywhere?

- Well, there was a problem at the hospital.

I was there a week and they wanted me to go to

a inpatient rehab.

And so we were waiting there to get the okay to go.

The lady came out and said I was a good candidate

and that they would take me.

And we were waiting and waiting to go for a couple

of days at the hospital and we never got a call

or anything and we kept asking the doctor when we're going?

And he said I don't know.

So finally, we waited another day and came home

and found out that the insurance company

didn't send all the approvals to the rehab center

and they wouldn't take me until they got them.

And so I've never gotten to go to the inpatient rehab yet.

And that happened actually three times.

The hematologist recommended for them

to massage out the edema in my leg three times a day.

But when the insurance company was told they said

they don't have enough funds for that to be done.

The one thing we have a problem with is

when the doctor orders something that,

because the insurance has to pay for it

and they don't always know,

I guess, or they have vendors that set those appointments up

or therapy places and it's a different person

that calls every time that don't even know what's going on.

And it takes four or five vendors just

to get one appointment.

And sometimes it's weeks and months even

before they get all that worked out

while you're just sitting there waiting for therapy

and things like that.

What really doesn't make sense to me is I needed a MRI

and so I called around and asked what they cost for

with my insurance?

And they gave me a price to $1,200 to about $800

with my insurance.

Then I called around to some,

I said what if I just pay you cash,

I don't want a receipt or anything for it

and it was 295 out the door.

And I didn't go towards my deductible

but I don't understand why I could pay 295 instead

of $800 gets billed my insurance.

That doesn't make sense to me.

- We got married in 1985 at the First Presbyterian Church.

So we're married 34 years this year.

Well, after he came home from the hospital they sent him

to different doctors trying to figure out

what all had gone wrong during his surgery?

And they were looking at parts and pieces of him

and finally, we got a referral approved

for the psychologist and we went there

for a full day evaluation.

We got a phone call from the therapist saying

that the 13th meeting was to be the last session

because they had received an email

from the insurance company saying

that they were cutting off the sessions.

They weren't gonna authorize any more and it had to end.

So that next day we went to his last session

and he was very upset the last day we met.

- They said they wanted me to keep coming

but the insurance wouldn't authorize any more.

- And he looked at the therapist and said,

oh, you're leaving.

And she said I'm not leaving,

I'll still be here but you've done really well.

And he started crying and was very upset

because she's impacting him so positively.

- It seems like all they do is one doctor refers you

to another doctor.

They're doctors, but they only wanna treat one thing

and you may have other things wrong with you

but they won't even look at you and all you can do is wait

to go see another doctor

to treat whatever other problems you have.

So you end up seeing multiple doctors--

Who don't talk

to each other. - Who don't talk to each other

and all they wanna look at is your big toe

if that's what kind of doctor they are.

What's aggravating is you can't even see the other doctor

until that doctor refers you to that doctor,

so that's two months later sometimes

just to get some kind of treatment.

My name is Angelica.

I am 24 years old and my first story

about healthcare is that when I was

around elementary school I was diagnosed

with type two diabetes.

Since then, when I found out I was heartbroken.

I was little.

I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what was good or bad.

I've seen people pass away and it's so hard

because my parents tell me, you know,

take care of yourself 'cause that could happen to you.

You can lose a leg.

You can lose a finger.

You can lose anything.

- For me, my surprise came at 45.

I noticed something,

I ignored it.

Then I went to see my doctor

because I'm sure it's nothing

but let's just get it out of the way.

Well, she couldn't find anything,

referred me to somebody else.

She couldn't find anything,

we need to do a colonoscopy.

Bingo,

there it was.

I had to then see a surgeon to figure out what it was,

probably wasn't good.

It ended up being stage three colon cancer.

I was 37 years old,

never been in the hospital other than being born.

Woke up, had chest pains,

went to the hospital.

That morning they gave me a quadruple bypass surgery.

Later on, 12 years later,

I guess, I had chest pains,

went back to the hospital.

I had bypass surgery again.

- I became sick with this mysterious illness.

One of the doctors,

I'm a nurse.

I was completing my bachelor's degree

and I could barely even think,

have any memory,

short term memory.

Went to an infectious disease doctor

that treats at the hospital where I worked

and he basically looked at me and told me I needed

to go see a psychiatrist,

that all my symptoms were in my head.

- You have to fight tooth and nail to prove

why you are actually sick or why you are actually this

and that and then you have to prove

that you did not do it to yourself.

- When I got diagnosed with cancer they fired me,

and that was from a health institution.

As time went on I got worse.

I would have to do injections and injections aren't cheap.

I'm not gonna lie to you guys that one injection