The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Isn't it Ironic

I really do find it ironic that the very people who shoved the war on Terror down our throats like a bad second date,i.e. "let's go take over Iraq. They hate us, and they've fucked with my Daddy, and best of all they've got oil." are the very people who are, right now, fighting tooth and nail to prevent our current President for doing ANYTHING for us.

Now before those of you who are Republican get all itchy and start writing this off as another of his rants against Republicans let me make my point.

We've spent over 3 trillion dollars on the war in Iraq. SO FAR! We now know that there never were WMD's, and that Iraq didn't actually have an active role in promoting September 11, nor terrorist training until AFTER we invaded and took over their country.

Was Saddam Hussein a good guy? Well, no he wasn't, but just because he was a shit doesn't mean we,as the world's police force, get to be the world's biggest bully and just take over whoever we want. If there had been time, we'd be in Iran now I assure you.

But let us return to our homeland, to borrow a phrase. Here at home we've spent trillions of dollars on others. Be it to help them, or to make them be "democratic," or to move in on them and take over their country, we've spent untolled amounts of money. But with all the money we print daily, we're what, 37th in health care, we have a lower life expectancy than dozens of countries, and we pay out the ass for health care.

I will say, in defense of the many dr's who are my friends, that most physicians have no interest in screwing their patients. They want to pay their bills just like we do. They want to earn a decent living, and for a physician that's anywhere from 150k to 5-6k. I can't fault them for that, they work very hard, and they give ALL of their time to others. They're on call, they're awake at all hours, they truly give, and you rarely ever hear any complaints. Patients are another matter. They complain all the time. They're sick and crabby, I get it.

But we have allowed an insidious little group insert themselves into the health care process. INSURANCE COMPANIES. Now, we all know insurance is a ripoff. We know it. And they're so powerful they've gotten laws enacted MAKING us pay them. We HAVE TO HAVE car insurance. I don't advocate repealing the law that makes everyone have liability insurance, but that just demonstrates their power.

It's been testified before congress that physicians have actively participated in Insurance company profiteering by denying health care. And yes people have died as a result. Is THAT doing no harm? How does one live with the knowledge that with the stroke of a pen they not only denied someone desperately needed health care, but effectively signed their death warrant. They should be forced to pay for that persons funeral and attend as well.

Single-payer health care, will probably not be the answer. And the Pharmaceutical companies,(the other fly in the health care ointment) probably didn't realize it when they got us all to pay them outrageous sums for medicare prescription coverage, but they've set the stage for universal health care. If we pay for seniors,let's just pay for everybody. And let's get them to bid the damn jobs too. Let's see just exactly what is wrong with France's health care system, and what drawbacks there are to socialized medicine in England before we forge ahead with the obvious plan to force everyone into indentured servitude to health insurance companies.

Example: I'm a very healthy early 50's white male. I have a Master's degree as well as a PhD. I have a reasonably stable professional job which pays me an average wage. I also have a part time job teaching that pays me reasonably well also. My full time job will, until July 1, of this year, provide my health insurance coverage. After that I will begin to pay a small portion, effectively nullifying that $13.00 per pay period I'm getting from the tax break. And remember that's temporary, so I'll eventually get to pay both of them and I get no raise this year due to the economy.

Last year, I had a colonoscopy, a stress test, and a halter monitor. Mostly those were precautionary since I'm 50 and I live in the United states and I eat what everyone else eats,a lot of junk. All of these tests were fine. I am perfectly healthy.

But it cost me over 3k to have those tests even with health insurance.

One thing that I am concerned over is that I snore. I broached this subject with the dr, and he suggested I have a sleep study. I called the insurance company. Their response was that even tough I only have a 1k deductible they only authorize $750 for this study which costs $1250. So I'd still be on the hook for another $500, even though I've met and well exceeded the deductible on my policy. See how this works?

The study did not get done. And it was all about money. Which as you know is bullshit.

So let's see if we can actually spend some of the outrageous sums we spend whether we have it or not on ourselves. Let's see if we can actually become an educated, healthy confident populace. I'm betting their will be a whole lotta fighting in congress over this.

I wonder if it'll be us or the insurance companies who have the final say.