Take a look at this clip from Discovery’s film “2057″. It shows what will happen to those who are insured and uninsured in the year 2057. The film was created with the advice of some of the best minds in science to predict what life will be like in 50 years.
The patient in this clip had premium insurance, which is estimated to take 1/3 of an average joe’s salary in 2057. One thing insurance companies will be able to do is raise your premium if you drink alcohol, by means of testing the urine that you flush down the toilet. This patient went out for a night of drinking, and the next morning, flushed an old and alcohol-free urine sample down the toilet he had stored in his medicine cabinet to avoid a premium raise. When he left his apartment, he tripped and fell out of a 4th story window in his apartment complex. Thanks to modern technology, he was saved, but when he gets to to hospital, he learns he needs a heart transplant along with physical therapy. He receives treatment, but the insurance company soon finds out his little secret. Take a look what happens next – watch the clip by clicking here.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Randy in Richmond // Nov 8, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Interesting Anthony. Apparently the writers consulted present day drug and alcohol abusers on re-hab because the ‘use somebody else’s or an old urine sample’ is tried all the time. A golfing buddy is a retired probation officer and once when the tees backed up he provided the entertainment telling of the ingenious methods used to beat the system. It’s also like in the future you’ll be treated as a criminal if you don’t have healthcare–oh wait, it’s already like that in the Pelosi Bill that was passed last night.
http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=153583
What I didn’t understand was why the doctor didn’t have Scotty beam the patient back to the private room.
2 Anthony // Nov 8, 2009 at 9:32 pm
That’s true. I don’t believe though that people will be treated like criminals if they don’t have health insurance – the public option will give them coverage.