If healthcare isn't a right....
By Koriana
@Koriana (302)
United States
September 4, 2009 5:21am CST
Then do employers have the right to insist you have a doctor's note when you are sick??
I'm serious, recently I heard a story about school bus drivers.
There were too many sick people laying out of work, so, well, the policy changed. They would now have to be home, on call, and the company would be occasionally calling home to make sure they were there...
but, on the other hand, when they came back, they were to have a doctor's note.
How one can be home, while at the same time at the doctor's office getting their stupid note is beyond me.
But, well, have to ask this, aren't the employers being a little off base demanding that their employees excercise a right that they don't have?
2 people like this
5 responses
@bdugas (3578)
• United States
4 Sep 09
I see no problem with employers asking for a note from an employee if they are sick. I do know that there are days when we just couldn't drag our selves into work, but then later on someone ask us to go shopping and we are fine to do that. As long as you have the note when you get back I guess would be your excuse for not being there when they called. I think would take up a lot of the employers time, or him hiring someone to call all day to make sure you are home. I think things have changed to a point now where if you have a job, you will be there to do it even when you don't feel good, as like my son said, there are now a lot of people out of work, that are willing to work a lot cheaper just to have a job. So if you got one you best be in there and doing it, or you might not have it after you get well from your so called illness. At least a note from the doc will protect your job.
1 person likes this
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
4 Sep 09
I don't feel healthcare is a right, especially if you are making someone else pay for your healthcare for you. Just because a company makes a rule that they want a doctors note does mean the GOVERNMENT has to make laws to accomidate it. Who makes the rules and laws here? Companies or the government? Who is really in charge? Corporate America or the Federal Government?
Wait....don't answer that....I already know the answer. Corporate American because they hire lobbyists and have special interest groups that can get the government to do what is in THEIR best interest, forget the rest of us.
That is called corportism. Not capitalism.
Want my opinion...make it illegal for a company to demand a doctors note.
That will cost a lot less to the american public than having a "right" to healthcare.
Sorry if I seem cold hearted. But I don't see why I should have to pay for other people's lives. I pay for my own bills. Including health insurance. Everyone needs to start pulling their own weight and start taking care of themselves instead of DEMANDING other people take care of them.
@johnsangel2003 (5)
• United States
5 Sep 09
I completely understand where you're coming from and get what you're saying but I guess that leaves me to wonder what happens to the families whose jobs don't offer health insurance? I've looked for health insurance online before since my job doesn't offer it and theres no way I could afford it working only partime and going to college fulltime.(My job only offers insurance to the fulltimers) So where does that leave me? I'm not allowed to get sick? I'm human...sometimes I do. What if i get into a car accident with someone who has no car insurance for damage to myself or my vehicle? (its not required in the state i live in.:-( ) What about my womanly check ups once a year? I understand that taxes being taken out of your check weekly for a government plan for people without health care probably irritates you but not everybody is just searching for a free ride. Let alone the fact that I'll be up to my neck in student loans when I'm done with graduate school, I'm suppose to be bulldosed to the ground with medical bills along the way? I understand some people cheat the system and LIVE off of it and thats the governments fault for not having more strict policy but please remember there are some people like me who are trying to make an advancement in life who really do need the help.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
5 Sep 09
What they need to do is open healthcare up to the free market. I agree it is ungodly exspensive if you have to buy it on your own. But if they opened it up across teh country it would cause competition between teh health insurance companies and they would have to get more competitive in prices.
If you buy your own plan you are buying only what is offered on the free market in YOUR state. But if htey opened it up where you could buy from any company in the country that would cause more competition.
We moved from one state to another not long ago. Well the healthcare plan our employer offered in that state we lived in was different than the one in the state we moved to. SO it meant resigning up and new cards and all that. Just over a re-location with the company. It is more exspensive for the companies too. They have to buy plans for each state they have employees in. It would be cheaper if the could just have one PPO and one HMO for their employees to choose from for the whole company.
There are ways to make healthcare more affordable so that people who do not have a job that offers it could buy it. They could do it WITHOUT a government run healthcare option. WHy they won't I have no idea. I don't trust the gov. with much and definately not with my healthcare.
@smileonstar (4007)
• United States
5 Sep 09
Hello,
I dont know what kind of employer you have there but seem like so tricky huh? In the US, most of company will not asking like that... if you said you are sick then you are sick. However, if you claim that you are injure at work then the employer will need to see the doctor note for sure. If you don't feel good then, you can just stay home or take a day or two off without a note.
Most of company will have sick days for employee, it could be up to 1 week of sick day or something like that.
@Koriana (302)
• United States
5 Sep 09
the company that I worked for before this had the policy, miss more than a day, bring in a doctor's note, they enforce it too...we didnt' have unlimited sick days, but we had unlimited work!! They just wanted us there to do the work and thought this was a good way to get it.
The company I am at now, I think a similar policy, but they just don't enforce the same rules on everyone, so who knows. They ain't really ever demanded one from me...of course, my boss and me have had a few political discussions, he probably knows what' would happen next.
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
6 Sep 09
Why not? I am Australian. Every employee agree has rules about sick leave. My last employer the rule was that if you were sick for more than 2 days then you had to have a doctor's certificate to state why you were sick. I have no problem with that. If you are sick then you should go to the doctor. If you consult the doctor for an exam then it is easy to get a certificate.
If you were regularly sick for lots of little periods then you would be investigated. I know some workers will take a day off to go shopping and still expect to be paid. The problem for them is being seen and reported. I had a problem with someone at work many years ago who suggested that my certificates were invalid because she thought the doctor was dodgy. Very foolish girl who thought too much of herself. Some people are just plain nasty. I believed in getting certificates so I could not be accused of what the Australian's call "taking a sickie".
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
6 Sep 09
Oh I should add that employers here do not give health insurance. Our system is quite different. We have private insurance and a government organisation that covers the basic cost of doctor's visits. The government sets a schedule fee and they will reimburse people for that fee. If the doctor charges more than that fee then the patient pays the gap or takes out private health insurance to cover it.
The system works here. If a person earns more than 50,000 a year then they must take out private health insurance or pay a hefty tax penalty. If the person is a pensioner or on any form of government benefits then they have a special card. Some doctors will bill the government directly for these people. It means that the doctor only gets the schedule fee and the patient is not out of pocket. Not all doctors do it but quite a lot do.
