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Thank God. Our medical system has become progressively more expensive, fat, bloated, and unaccountable for over 50 years now.
A lot of that has to do with how many hands have thrust themselves into the till IMHO. The more "other" jobs we outsource, the more competition we have to develop new jobs. What will we always need? Health care.
One good example of where our medical system has bloated are HMO's, who hire the Case Managers out of the hospitals where we would only need them IF we were an inpatient, and pay them money to call me and nag me about my health because I'm too dumb to comprehend that certain things are good or not good for me.
Enter those who scream "But it's for the good of the children!" "It costs society so much money!" blah, blah, blah, but pay no attention to the man behind the curtain who's prodding us to run to our doctor for every hang nail remedy with the unfortunate ("rare but sometimes reported") side effect of death.
Health care should never be for profit and most especially now that the baby boomer generation is requiring more of it. The pool of healthy young people who help pay for those costs is not only shrinking but are losing their health care benefits from their jobs - if not the jobs themselves.
if I was in a position where I couldn't afford it, I would just wait until I could.
That's pretty cynical and self-entitled. A lot of people are sick now or their child is dieing now. They can't wait till they can afford it and there may be no future for them.
We see physicians living in million dollar houses, driving a Mercedes, belonging to the best country clubs and we all know of someone who has no medical insurance and can't get treatment. Doctors don't heal the sick, and certainly not on evenings or weekends, they're corporations processing units for insurance company dollars.
We dont give the responsibility and authority to those in the private sector. They take it through hard work and intelligence.
Have a license for your trade? A state board? Turns out you (and most of US) may not be as independent as you/we may think. Nor apparently as clever.
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If I need spine surgery, I'll take the Harvard trained neurosurgeon who is an ass hole over the foreign trained neurosurgeon who is a nice guy, any day of the week. I dont ask anyone to like me, as long as I am the best at my job.
Good thing you are not in a people business . . . . (that is pretty rich coming from an engineer).
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Oh, and as to your "used car" salesman crack, does it make you feel better to think that? Grow up.
You'll get over it, princess.
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That is not how the real world works. I have already been offered consulting jobs that pay more than my current one. I haven't accepted any yet. Why do you think that is?
Dunno enough of your values -- other than what you present.
How do you think you look, so far?
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But since this is your first indication of decent behavior, let's be friendly a moment. If of interest, I can tell you how I sort mine --
I typically have to choose between at least several projects per year. So this is the fast sort:
1. Who. Most Important. Can't do Good Business with Bad People.
2. What. What they do and what they want me to do. I do not do nukes, and have stopped doing weapons.
3. Where. I do not do Iraq, the 'stans, nor major portions of Africa. But I give bonus points if it somewhere Mrs. Phil and the kids want to visit.
4. When. The schedule. Folks that cannot schedule can't do.
And Then Last -- Actually Least Important --
5. How Much.
I score those areas by A to F, and use grad school standards -- B average or better and no F's -- usually makes it a go.
I'm thinking Walmart will introduce Walcare a low cost medical service center, day surgery and then grab a gallon of milk.
eeewwww! WalCare.
Some real competition for not just my off-shore outsource Medical Cruise Ships (figured I would "own" the Coasts), but WalCare could even take down Sterlingirl's Reservation Casino Hospitals.
THIS could get ugly ahead on the Race to the Bottom.
Yunno, if An-MD were a Wall Street trader, he could just *short* the entire Medical / Pharmco / Insurance Industry and make some real bank.
That's pretty cynical and self-entitled. A lot of people are sick now or their child is dieing now. They can't wait till they can afford it and there may be no future for them.
We see physicians living in million dollar houses, driving a Mercedes, belonging to the best country clubs and we all know of someone who has no medical insurance and can't get treatment. Doctors don't heal the sick, and certainly not on evenings or weekends, they're corporations processing units for insurance company dollars.
There are many state programs and hospital benevolence programs for anyone who is sick, and most especially for anyone who is dying. While they may not qualify for the state programs, most medical facilities will in fact work with them as long as they are making the effort.
The thing is though, that people need to understand that those programs are part of the welfare system and when society spends a great deal of time complaining about the costs of those types of programs, people won't seek them out. Sure, there are those who abuse the system and should be booted off, but there is also a core group of people who don't want to accept any charity care either. These are usually self-employed or sub-contractors who can't afford or find reasonably priced health insurance. Sales positions, retail and construction jobs are a good example of that. There is a myriad of reasons why health insurance costs have soared, including insurance company/pharmaceutical company/medical equipment & testing company/malpractice insurance and legal representation profit margin increases with a dash of "too big to fail" thrown in.
Of course there are docs that "live the life," but let's not forget that many docs have been more or less forced into the "corporate model" of doing business because they need the protection of the foundation umbrella now that it has become so ridiculously complicated to practice medicine. This is particularly true of those practicing in rural areas. I think people would be some hard-pressed to find a doc that runs his or her own office now - most are part of a foundation. Lawsuits and regulations can also be thanked for that IMHO.
I also think that people need to come to the realization that the human body is a complicated thing, and in this society of "pop a pill for every ill" no doctor is all-knowing. Everyone reacts differently, and sometimes Mother Nature can stump even the best of them.
That's pretty cynical and self-entitled. A lot of people are sick now or their child is dieing now. They can't wait till they can afford it and there may be no future for them.
We see physicians living in million dollar houses, driving a Mercedes, belonging to the best country clubs and we all know of someone who has no medical insurance and can't get treatment. Doctors don't heal the sick, and certainly not on evenings or weekends, they're corporations processing units for insurance company dollars.
I really wasn't going to respond to this, because it is so far from reality and bizarre, I figured it would stand on it's own merits. But for anyone who hasn't been following closely, the top statement was taken out of context. We were talking about ELECTIVE cases done overseas. We were not talking about anything resembling children who's lives were in danger. I'm not sure whether this was brought up deceptively or if teachertype didn't have an understanding of what I had written earlier.
As to the second paragraph, this is exactly what I was talking about. Does anyone really believe what he/she is saying in his/her second paragraph. I dont know many doctors who are working 40 hour weeks. Most of us work 70 or 80 hours a week. I work many nights and weekends. I spent 24 hours in the hospital yesterday (Sunday) and I do that 5 times a month, with one of those times on the weekend. Also, she claims we "dont heal the sick"??? OK, next time you or a loved one break an appendage, or have a heart attack, where do you plan on going? You cant come to us because we "dont heal the sick." We are "processing units for insurance company dollars" so we will be no good to you when you or a loved one needs to be healed. This is so absurd, I feel like I am just explaining the obvious to any rational minded person.
Have a license for your trade? A state board? Turns out you (and most of US) may not be as independent as you/we may think. Nor apparently as clever.
There is no objective test for the type of person one is. A license is granted solely on ones level of skill and knowledge. No state board is going to take the license away from someone who has done nothing negligent. Being an ass hole is not a criteria for suspension. So in that respect we ARE as independent as I think.
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Originally Posted by Philip T
Dunno enough of your values -- other than what you present.
How do you think you look, so far?
I guess pretty good if I judge by the rep points I have already gotten in the short time this has been posted.
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Originally Posted by Philip T
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But since this is your first indication of decent behavior, let's be friendly a moment. If of interest, I can tell you how I sort mine --
I typically have to choose between at least several projects per year. So this is the fast sort:
1. Who. Most Important. Can't do Good Business with Bad People.
2. What. What they do and what they want me to do. I do not do nukes, and have stopped doing weapons.
3. Where. I do not do Iraq, the 'stans, nor major portions of Africa. But I give bonus points if it somewhere Mrs. Phil and the kids want to visit.
4. When. The schedule. Folks that cannot schedule can't do.
And Then Last -- Actually Least Important --
5. How Much.
I score those areas by A to F, and use grad school standards -- B average or better and no F's -- usually makes it a go.
I dont understand how we can compare. I dont choose who I treat, or when. They bring in someone with a ruptured appendix, and I take care of him/her. Gun shot wound? Same thing. If someone cant breath, I put in a breathing tube. If someones heart stops during surgery, I do CPR. I dont have the luxury of picking and choosing. Every life is sacred. Every patient is a daughter or a son or a brother.
I will say that I like doing emergency work, which is why I never took a cushy outpatient surgery center job. Even though it is less work and more money. I also have not accepted the two biotech consulting jobs I spoke of earlier, because I would miss helping people directly. But I'll tell you, between decreasing reimbursements and the attitude of many people like teachertype, I feel I am really being tested. And I am not the only one. So as I have said, be careful what you wish for. Pure altruism is not enough. Someone with the altruism of Mother Theresa and the aptitude of a janitor might make a great social worker, but would you really want him as your doctor? We already lose many of the best and brightest to business schools. That is only going to get worse in the future.
The reality is that health care is a basic human need. We can argue whether it's a human right but it's still a basic need, like food and shelter.
As long as the USA is stuck in a regressive for-profit modality people will need to look for other options. The US for-profit system is not the best in the world (even the infant mortality rate is shameful); it's pretty mediocre and full of greed driven inequities and self-serving mythologies about being number 1 in the world when other countries are as good or better.
So the bit in the Constitution to "promote the general Welfare" does not include health?
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