ot: Fourth Amendment... gone forever?

[fouldragon at aol.com]

#yum install asbestos-knickers

There are really two different issues on health care.

There's the issue of "crisis care"-- the "my organ exploded, get me the 
greatest technology on the market".  The US system is very good at 
delivering there.  Expensive, though.

Then there's the issue of "access care".  See a doctor every six months 
to ensure you're keeping your diabetes and cholesterol under control.  
Use the prescription medicines you've been assigned.  Take care of a 
minor injury or mild illness before you have to be taken to the 
emergency room.  That sort of stuff doesn't necessarily require the 
best and brightest, and it's more important to make it affordable and 
accessible.  The US system has not been well designed to deliver this.

In particular, the co-pay/deductible system seems designed to encourage 
people to use as little health care as possible.  Most people don't 
actively SEEK OUT care with no good reason, so it is really just 
creating some sort of cruel fraternity-initiation-style torture scheme 
instead-- how long can you go without seeing a doctor?  We'll 
financially reward you to see!

Furthermore, one unarguably positive aspect of single-payer systems is 
the potential to keep everything in one basket, at least billing-wise.  
I'm sure there's billions of dollars per year in claims being 
incorrectly or multiply billed, just because there's no single 
clearing-house where all the billing information can be 
cross-referenced.  This cuts both ways-- it costs doctors more, as they 
have to fight with insurance houses and re-bill to get paid, and it 
makes it easy for fraud to prosper.




-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Hayes <jason at jasonhayes.org>
To: Main PLUG discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 9:12 pm
Subject: Re: ot: Fourth Amendment... gone forever?










On Tuesday 12 February 2008 7:14:33 pm Kristian Erik Hermansen wrote:
>
> +1.  For Michale Moore, you could tell he was holding back to try
> being "fair and balanced".  Health care in the USA is a joke compared
> to the UK.  You don't believe it?  Watch the movie and ask any of your
> friends who have had care in both places...

Or you can ask me. I endured the Canadian health care system for over 
30
years. To clear things up, it's not the panacea you appear to think it 
is.
The US health care system -- expensive as it may be -- is light years 
ahead
of the Canadian and British systems.

A few quick examples from my own life experience.

1) I had to wait over 18 months to get a simple, outpatient operation 
to fix
an inguinal hernia in late 2004. The only reason I was "rushed" in at 
the 18
month mark was that I was to the point where I could barely function 
any
more. If I hadn't pushed the issue, the surgeon's office would have let 
me
sit on the waiting list for my originally scheduled date -- six months 
later.

2) My mother waited over 2 years to get one hip replaced and has waited 
over
two more years to get the other done (four years and still waiting).

4) My wife's step-grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 
November
last year and was told that he will need to wait until June to get in 
to see
the specialist to determine how they will treat his cancer. Eight 
months of
letting the cancer grow before they will even take a first look at it.

5) My wife and I lived in Calgary, AB for five years. In that time, we 
were
only able to get our kids into a pediatrician once, after we were 
referred by
another doctor. Additionally, none of the doctors we could find were 
taking
on new patients, so any time we needed health care, we went to walk-ins
(urgent care) or the emergency room.

Those are the first few examples that come to mind. If I needed to, I 
could
dig up a lot more.

Regarding your first assertion, Michael Moore doesn't have the first 
clue what
life is like under socialized health care and you don't see him 
traveling to
Cuba for his check ups and surgery, do you?

The simple truth is that people are dying on wait lists in Canada, 
Great
Britain, and France. Worse, they're made to wait like that after having 
paid
50%+ taxes for their "free" health care.

Don't fall for it. The grass is not greener on the other side of that 
fence.

--
Jason Hayes
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss






________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - 
http://webmail.aol.com