Busy, busy week so far and the last couple of days are looking to be somewhat hellish so I'm going to be really quick today.
I've got a few comments about the president's speech last night.
While I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get more details, I was encouraged to hear that the public option wasn't taken off the table. I'm Canadian. My husband is a Kiwi. We come from countries where there is socialized medicine. We've experienced both sides of the proverbial fence and I can tell you that nonsense like Sarah Palin's death panels is nothing more than propaganda. Canadian health care isn't perfect but it's good. As a nation, we need to understand that the insurance business is FOR PROFIT, which simply boils down to the fact that every single day, a medical decision is made in favour of the shareholder and at the expense of the patient. EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's a blatant, head-shaking, clear, conflict of interest. Seems to me that we should be talking about those thinly disguised "death panels".
And really, how can anyone in this country possibly look to the Republicans to provide us with a reasonable alternative to the health care plan currently on the table? These are the people that gave us Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act(MMA). Besides the provision that prohibits the Federal government from negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies (WTF?), the cost of this legislation was deliberately concealed. In December 2003, as Dubya inked the deal, the 10 year cost was estimated at $400B. That's how it was sold to the more fiscally conservative members of his party. In January 2004, the Whitehouse adjusted that figure up by nearly $150B. By 2005, estimates showed the 10 year cost to be over $1.2 trillon. Former US Comptroller, General David Walker referred to the MMA as "......probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s".
I'm pretty comfortable rolling the dice with the Democrats.
Congressman Joe Wilson was a disrespectful tool for yelling out, "You lie!", in the middle of the president's speech. Idiot, for sure. But he quickly apologized so let's get over it and move on. Bush was booed at a State of the Union address and while I despised him as a president, the office deserved more respect than that. Also, it wasn't that long ago that Senator Harry Reid referred to George Bush as a "loser", which was equally inappropriate so let's not get our collective liberal panties in a bunch and turn Wilson's remarks into a freaking rally cry because we will look like hypocrites.
Bottom line, we need health care reform and we probably don't need to reinvent the wheel. My opinion is that we need to focus on affordable insurance so that people will get in front of their primary care physicians. Those doctors are first in the line of defense against skyrocketing health care costs and they need to be compensated accordingly. They are the ones that see people before the heart attack, before the stroke, before the type II diabetes. They are the providers of preventative care and if everyone had affordable access to them, we'd save money. Lots of it.
And something needs to be done about malpractice lawsuits. We must institute reasonable limits that don't exist today. The cost of malpractice insurance is staggering and when you combine it with the reduced compensation that a PCP gets for seeing a patient, many doctors simply can't afford to be private practitioners. My son is hearing impaired because of hospital error and we flirted with the idea of suing but the fact is, money wouldn't have changed a thing for Dylan and the hospital did 99.9% of everything right. His lab results slipped through the cracks, which is unfortunate but mistakes happen. He's impaired, not deaf. While it would have been nice to have had a chunk of change to pay for the hearing aids that he will wear for the rest of his life, I couldn't get my head around all of the attorney fees, court costs, time and effort that it would have taken to accomplish this.
Okay, that's it for my soapbox today.
5 comments:
There are always two sides to everything, and usually the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Being in the medical field ourselves, owning our own business, we know the devastation socialized medicine will cause us. As if the 33%+ taxes we pay as self-employed aren't enough. I guess the up side is that if less is coming in, less will go to the government. Oh, wait, so where will the $ come for socialized medicine?
As for PCPs being the first line of defense, it is far, far from the truth. A good 80% of our patients have NEVER seen their PCP. Some say they wouldn't even know them if they bumped into them in the hallway of their medical facility. A huge portion of patients see a nurse only, yet the medical facilities bill insurance companies for a Drs visit. Which is paid by the insurance companies at a higher rate than a nurse visit. Perhaps the insurance companies underpay providers because the providers themselves are busy gouging them. What a scam - keep 1 or 2 Drs on staff, yet have 7-8 nurses covering 25-30 patient visit a day - each. All being billed at the Drs rate.
Then you have the regulations some insurance companies set forth not even being enforced by those very same insurance companies - such as PT offices not allowed to be physically connected to a Drs office. The only other two PT clinics in our town are BOTH physically part of a Drs office. One is owned by the same person (all under a non-profit tax id – one in maiden name, one in married name), and the other is owned by a separate person than the Dr, but the Dr writes PT referrals to that PT exclusively - oh, because the Dr owns the building, charges the PT clinic a higher rent for space, in return for all the patient referrals the PT clinic can handle. Both situations are very illegal, both have been reported to insurance companies, and nothing is done. So while the insurance companies are getting gouged, it's their own damn fault for not pulling provider status to offices that clearly violate their provider contract, and are clearly abusing their provider status. If this is going on here in our little town on this small scale, you can guaran-damn-tee it is going on everywhere else on a much larger scale.
As for Wilson’ outburst, there are plenty of idiots to go around in BOTH parties, and I think the intelligence people of BOTH parties realize that and ignore the childish crap that goes on. I would hope.
Alrighty then - guess I grabbed that soapbox from you, didn't I! Sorry about that. You can have it back now. :-)
As a Canadian I don't even understand most of the lingo in these conversations. I am very happy with my healthcare options and care.
Yesterday I met a man who had a complex disk operation with a ... 2 week wait. He saw a neurosurgeon immediately. He had no complaints.
If the US already pays the most in the "first world" for the worst care, why would anyone in the US not be interested in better healthcare without incurring bankruptcy?
Is it just that people don't want to pay for anyone other than themselves? I guess they don't understand that if everyone pays a little all along, no one EVER has to pay a lot all at once.
Lisa in Toronto
Pretty much yes to pretty much all of it. When even the hardworking people with jobs and insurance can lose their house because their health failed them, it`s a problem. The division over this issue boggles my head, and I just hope that if I have any getting sick to do, that I do it while I`m in a place where I can afford medical care. Why do we have to be so goddamn divided in the supposed United States? Don`t we all really just want the same things in the end when we strip away what the loudmouth extremists say to divide us? If so, we should be working together to get there. It`s heartbreaking that we aren`t.
OK, I have to join in here. While some Canadians are happy with their health care, I guess the best word that was used to describe that health care was 'isn't perfect but good'. Everyone on the face of the planet knows that the USA healthcare system is the best, most inavative and industry leading in the world! Hard working Americans don't just want 'good' in 'most places'. Teddy Kennedy didn't receive good health care. He received the best (Duke Hospital) and lived almost a year longer than what was expected. Government can fix our health care system without running any portion of it. At least any more than they already do and by the way, horribly! They make the laws. They already provide failsafes for millions of Americans, one of whom was my disabled brother. Every government program we can currrently look at is bankrupt, going bankrupt, mismanaged and full of theft and waste.
Almost all politicians are crooks and theives. Government is intrusive enough. They can't handle the responsibilities we currently ask them to. They deserve no role in the market place when it comes to health care although they already have it. They are slowly taking it over piece by piece. Medicare, medicade, VA and now just another little piece. Enough is enough. Fix the problems but stay out of the market place. No public option.
Someone else can have the soapbox now. :)
Hey there sista!!! you've created quite a stir this mornin'!! Just getting caught up with you and thinking of 9/11.....thinking about our trip to ground zero..... My heart goes out to all Americans today....it is a day to give that extra hug for sure!
Love reading this...feel like your sitting right here lettin' me have it!! LOL
Luv ya and miss ya
xoxoxo to all
jennie
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