[Info-vax] Down Again

[VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG]

In article <f72a08d8-439a-419e-a703-b72c274d497e at r38g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>, Neil Rieck <n.rieck at sympatico.ca> writes:
>On Aug 10, 10:36=A0pm, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilber... at comcast.net>
>wrote:
>> JF Mezei wrote:
>> > On the subject of medical reform in the USA.
>>
>> > I am in Canada.
>>
>> > My now deceased aunt had lived in California most fo her life, and
>> > looked down on our medical system calling it "socialized medecine" etc
>> > etc. But when some of her friends saw their cancer treatments refused b=
>y
>> > insurance companies, she mellowed her stance a little bit...
>>
>> > Is there widespread feeling that there needs to be radical changes in
>> > how the USA medical system works, or is the majority happy with how it
>> > works and don't want it tampered with ?
>>
>> > From a financial point of view, the USA is the country with the highest
>> > (or one of the highest) per capita spending on health care, and this
>> > affect the competitivity of USA products and services against countries
>> > whose health care costs are lower.
>>
>> Our health care system is largely "for profit". =A0I understand that in
>> countries such as the U.K. and Canada, people sometimes have to wait
>> years for elective procedures. =A0Your gall bladder won't kill you so you
>> may have to wait two or three years to have it removed. =A0I understand
>> that Canadians who can afford it come to the U.S. for elective procedures=
>..
>>
>> In the U.S. you pay for service and you get it! =A0There is generally som=
>e
>> sort of charity care available for those who can't pay. =A0I have paid my
>> own bills and/or insurance since attaining adulthood.
>>
>> I prefer our system!
>
>In Canada you are only required to wait for certain preventative
>diagnostics tests like an MRI for colon cancer etc. (which are usually
>scheduled 5-10 years before the disease is expected to hit you).
>Whenever any disease is diagnosed, you go to hospital immediately.
>
>The US system is "for profit" which means that HMOs will do better by
>denying payments. They do this by requiring much more documentation
>from patients as well as doctors (some people have estimated that that
>these admin costs are as high as 28% where most social systems hold it
>below 4%). When doctors need to provide more documentation OR do their
>own billing, they incur more cost which are then passed on to the
>patient.
>
>I like to compare health insurance to car insurance. With car
>insurance, cars that are more costly to repair (or drivers that are
>involved in more accidents) incur higher premiums. Companies do this
>to convince people to drive responsibly while repairing AND replacing
>older hardware.
>
>But health insurance is different because old age and disease are
>inevitable (you can't trade in you body on a younger one). In this
>example you, or your employer, might pay into the system for 40 years
>with no payouts then, just as you need help OR have incurred on claim,
>you are bounced from the system or you loose your job.
>
>~~~
>
>Many people in the world have watched Micheal Moore's "Sicko" and
>would agree that it is 99% factual. Like "big tobacco" and "big oil",
>the "medical industrial complex" does not want socialized medicine in
>the US (even though that is exactly what medicare, medicade, and
>congressional employees already enjoy) so have discovered creative

What "congressional employees" receive in terms of healty coverage is
like comparing an "all expenses paid" trip around the world to walking
out of your front door and stepping in a pile of dogshit Madicare and
Medifacade.  My wife's Medifacade sucks.  In fact, it sucks and blows
at the same time because its that bad.

And stop blaming the insurance cos for the problems with the medical
system.  Two years ago, my wife was in the hospital for a test (video
EEG) for a week.  She sat in a bed with electrodes on her head whilst
a video camera recorded it.  $10K+ per day for that privilege -- in a
shared room.  They recorded the video and EEG tracings on a Weendoze
box.  4 of the 7 days that I visited her, the Weendoze system for her
test was BSoD when I arrived.  So, I ask you, what makes these elitist
doctors think that their non-science is worth more per-day than a stay
in one of the finest resorts in the world?  Save for verifying that
she has a seisure disorder, which we already knew, the money spent on
this test did nothing to change treatment or her, or my, quality of
life.  It made a group of elitists richer though, so I suppose that a
good thing.

I want to know why hospital centers have to look like the Taj Mahal.
Elitists!  I ask the same about schools being built today too, but
that's a rant for another day.  Cut the lavishness and you can cut
the costs... but then the doctors wouldn't feel as elitist if they
had to work in facilities mirroring workplaces of the bourgeoisie.

In 1995, after I left an employer who'd reneged on health insurance,
I was forced to seek charity care for my son who desperately needed
open-heart reconstructive surgery.  We wound up at the Deborah Heart
and Lung Institute here in proNJ.  Not only did the hospital and its
doctors do an amazing job for my son but the stay was like a resort;
not a prison cell with crap bed facilities like the $10K+ per room 
facility that my wife was in.  If hospitals like Deborah can do it,
so can the rest but they are too elitist to change their elitist ways.
This facility (Deborah) works on and survives on charitable donations.
They're going strong too even in these poor economic times when people
tend to tighten their purse strings on donations.

We need to stop putting doctors with their potions, pills, salves and
scalpels up on pedestals and worshiping their non-science.  Cut them
and their medical machine down to size and reality!  They also need
to treat conditions, not symptoms.  Of course, there's no money in 
the making of healthy people.  There's much more money to be had in
the prolonging of their misery.

The other thing I keep hearing is that hospitals charge so much due
to having to service all the people without coverage.  Well, those
numbers do not play out.  However, I haven't heard that that $10K+
per night say my wife had at the Waldorf Histeria Hotel and Doctor
Resort will be any cheaper once everyone is covered by "Obamacare."
In fact, reports are now that you could be denied medical treatment
under Obamacare whereas before, they law required hospitals to take
in and treat you regardless of ability to pay.  Hmm... that sounds 
sooooo much better to me... NOT!

BTW, I've heard that life is 100% fatal.  Face it, we'll all die!
I have.  This ploughing money into the medical prrofession hoping
they'll buy us nirvana on earth is like dropping money in a church
collection basket investment in your heaven.  The government, who
cannot successfuly run the existing programs they've shoved down
the hapless public's throats, is only concerned in creating another
bloated bureaucratic behemoth to employ more nitwits who couldn't
otherwise find gainful employment (how may street sweepers do we
really need anyway?).  Like the IRS, who could be done away with 
with a simple and fair flat tax on everyone, this new bureaucratic
mess will do nothing more than deforestrate the planet... and this
from a bunch touting the virtues of going green.  Fucking hypocrits!  

Enough.
-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

  http://www.quirkfactory.com/popart/asskey/eqn2.png
  
  "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"