The most recent depressing development in the War Against Ourselves Concerning Health Care was reported this week when a growing number of doctors declared they will no longer accept Medicare patients because the government is cutting their payments.
Republicans, Tea Partiers, Faux News followers, right-wing extremists, Second Amendment fanatics, and other assorted nut cases, I’m ready to join your anti-government screed on this issue.
That is, if you agree that any savings in health care expenses should NOT be born by the doctors who deliver our care. Unlike health insurance companies, physicians have invested heavily in time and money to contribute to the health and well-being of us all.
Contrast this with Anthem Blue Cross, a giant health insurer with no purpose other than serving as a middleman to skim money from the system. Anthem heals nobody, can’t give a flu shot, does no research into cures for diabetes or cancer, and couldn’t hook up an IV if their life depended on it (though ours often does.)
Why do we in this country allow the likes of the health insurers to hijack our system and make our health care more expensive and our lives more miserable? The insurers contribute NOTHING to the good of the country, or to the health of its citizens.
I think we can all agree that we are unique among the developed nations, and even some Third World countries, that we pay too much for our health care and get too little in return. The statistics are daunting. The most recent estimate is that 59 million of us now go without health insurance, up from 46 million just a few years ago.
Health insurers have taken a necessity, like water and electricity, and monopolized it for profit. When we will we awaken, take up arms (hooray for the Second Amendment) and extinguish these thieves once and for all? Health insurers should be regulated like public utilities, which is exactly what the Obama Administration has tried to do with its reforms.
“Obamacare,” as the Right Wing has dubbed it, is NOT socialized medicine, but a long-overdue attempt to put some much-needed rules in place to reign in the worst practices of the health insurance tyrants.
So Annie get your gun, and let’s go after these outlaws.
Good points. We should adopt "Medicare For All" by successive lowerings of the eligibility age.
ReplyDeleteInsurance companies too powerful as lobbyists means it ain't gonna happen. Special interests trampling on the common interests yet again. How do we break this cycle? Does not seem possible, especially in light of Supreme Court reactionary rulings re "free speech rights" of corporations. Humpf.
I somehow stumbled onto your blog, and tried several times to comment but I guess I did not follow directions or something in order to get the comment sent, so I saw your e-mail address listed and will respond to it.
ReplyDeleteI have been in healthcare for 40 years now and have seen tremendous change taking place in the realm of medical technology and am amazed that we keep coming up with more innovative tests and diagnoses to extend life and help in the cure of diseases. That being said, I too am frustrated at the current system and the insurance payers and the fact that they have so much control over our lives and can make it difficult to get treatment based on their definition of what conditions are covered and what are not. I also have had to deal with BCBS Anthem and I share your feelings regarding having coverage under their umbrella with great consternation.
I think though, that in the US, we all are going to have to realize that Healthcare is not an entitlement and that someone has to pay the bill whether it is the Insurance company or the individual or our government, which is for all practical purposes, is bankrupt. Our healthcare system is in it’s own state of disarray with so many demands to find miracle cures, fix everything with a pill, and restore our worn out “boomer” bodies because we suddenly now want to live more than ever after a lifetime of abuse. George Carlin summed it up with his comment; “My generation took LSD to make the world weird, and now people are taking Prozac to make it look normal”. Everyone thinks a pill will be the answer when it often is not the case and only leads down a dead end road. I sometimes find it difficult to sympathize with some individuals who I come across when I know that they have more less “done it to themselves” when it comes to their health state.
I hope this e-mail finds you in good health and enjoying life to the fullest. I have no complaints, life is good and I like what I do, I feel like I make a difference being in healthcare. I enjoy reading your blogs so keep it up.
Bob Black, CHS class of ’65.