WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
HOW CAN WE MOVE MILLIONS OF ‘MEDICALLY NAKED’ PEOPLE INTO THE ‘INSURED’ COLUMN?
OUR ECONOMY IS ON LIFE-SUPPORT AND OUR MEDICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS NOT ABOUT TO EXPAND QUICKLY ENOUGH TO ABSORB THE HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE.
AS POLICE CHIEF BRODY SAID IN JAWS…?
“WE NEED A BIGGER BOAT, AND A BOATLOAD OF CASH?”
WE HAVE NEITHER.
HOWEVER, AS JOHN F KENNEDY SAID IN BERLIN,
“ASK NOT WHAT HEALTH CARE CAN DO FOR YOU.”
MAYBE WHAT WE NEED ARE FEWER PATIENTS.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A PATIENT?
ANSWER: SOMEONE WHO GETS SICK OR HURT.
THIS PRESCRIPTION WILL PROPOSE WAYS TO INSURE MORE PEOPLE, WHILE HAVING FEWER PATIENTS…
A VERSION OF HAVING YOUR CAKE AND, WELL, … WE SHOULDN’T REALLY BE EATING CAKE.
BEFORE WE HAVE NEED FOR A DOCTOR, WE SHOULD BE DOING THINGS TO AVOID NEEDING THE DOCTOR.
FACT: 25% OF HOSPITAL PATIENTS ARE THERE DUE TO ACCIDENTS AND BAD LUCK.
WORSE FACT: THE OTHER 75% ARE BEING TREATED FOR SELF-INFLICTED AILMENTS CAUSED BY SMOKING, DRINKING, OR EATING LOTS OF THINGS WE SHOULD LEAVE IN THE LAB.
SEVERAL EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT NOT TO EXERCISE---WHICH IS THE ONLY EXERCISE THAT THEY DO.
SO HERE IS OUR NATIONAL RX.
WE MUST TRIPLE THE TAX ON ALL ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS.
NO NEED TUH ESHPLAIN.
TAX CIGARETTES INTO EXTINCTION.
AN ADDITIONAL $20 TAX PER PACK…
…NOT TO RAISE REVENUE, BUT TO ELIMINATE A MONSTER WHICH PLACES A HEAVY TOLL ON SOCIETY.
YES, WE’LL NEED TO PUT A SEVERE CRIMINAL PENALTY
ON BUTT-LEGGERS.
SPEAKING OF HEAVY TOLL…WE MUST PLACE A TAX ON CORN SYRUP AND TRANS- FATS.
THESE INGREDIENTS ARE KILLING US… SOFTLY.
GIVE TAX CREDITS FOR GYM MEMBERSHIPS.
USE IT OR LOSE IT.
MANDATE DAILY GYM CLASSES FOR EACH STUDENT.
HAVE SCHOOL HEALTH CLASSES FOCUS ON INTERESTING
SUBJECTS ….LIKE...UM... HEALTH.
ELIMINATE DORITOS AND MC GARBAGE FROM SCHOOL CAFETERIAS.
LET COWS BE COWS AGAIN.
NOTE: REMEMBER WHEN COWS WERE CONTENTED?
TODAY’S HORMONED COWS PRODUCE TWICE THE MILK THEIR GRANDMAS PRODUCED 30 YEARS AGO.
AT OUR CURRENT RATE, BABIES WILL BE WEARING BRAS IN 50 YEARS.
INSTITUTE A SPORTS-WIDE LIFE-LONG BAN ON ANY ATHLETE USING ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES.
STOP TREATING HOT-DOG EATING CONTESTS LIKE SPORTING EVENTS ON TV.
AIRLINE TICKETS SHOULD BE PRICED ACCORDING TO TOTAL WEIGHT…BODY AND BAGGAGE
ELIMINATE MOST SCHOOL BUSES AND USE THE SAVINGS TO INSTALL SIDEWALKS.
REINSTALL BICYCLE RACKS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS
STOP THE NATIONAL HYPOCHONDRIA FED BY DRUG COMMERCIALS ON TELEVISION.
BAN THEM.
WE DID IT FOR CIGARETTES.
AND, THE PRICE OF DRUGS WILL GO DOWN.
NOTE: DRUG MANUFACTURERS SPEND MORE ON ADVERTISING THAN ON RESEARCH. AND, THE ADS ARE SUBSIDIZED BY TAXPAYERS!
WE MUST HAVE REAL TORT REFORM SO THE INSANE COST OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE WILL BE REDUCED, AND WILL LIMIT DEFENSIVE MEDICINE.
DOCTORS SHOULD TAKE THE SAVINGS FROM THE REDUCED MALPRACTICE INSURANCE PREMIUMS AND INVEST IT IN ELECTRONIC RECORD KEEPING.
IN THE AGE OF GPS AND KINDLE, DOCTORS SHOULD NOT BE USING BALLPOINT PENS.
EVERY CITIZEN SHOULD HAVE A MEDICAL FLASH DRIVE, WHICH WILL ELIMINATE MILLIONS OF ERRORS AND SAVE VALUABLE TIME.
MEDICAL SCHOOL SHOULD BE FREE…PAID FOR BY THE GOVERNMENT, THIS WILL GREATLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT FREE-MARKET COMPETITION DOES.
WE MUST HAVE A NATIONAL TALENT SEARCH TO SEE IF SOME GENIUS CAN CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THE PUBLIC DOOR KNOB IN RESTROOMS. *
* SAME FOR ELEVATOR BUTTONS.
ISSUE SEVERE SUMMONSES FOR PEOPLE DRIVING WITHOUT SEAT BELTS.
INSURANCE COMPANIES SHOULD STIPULATE IN THEIR POLICIES THAT CERTAIN CONDITIONS WILL VOID THE COVERAGE…TEXTING, CELL-PHONING, ACCORDION PLAYING, ETC.
$1,000 FINES SHOULD BE ISSUED TO ANY DRIVER USING A CELL PHONE OR TEXTING. A SECOND OFFENSE SHOULD REQUIRE CONFISCATION OF THE VEHICLE.
KINDA’ LIKE A CASH FOR KILLERS PROGRAM
THE FEDS SHOULD APPLY THE NEXT ROUND OF ECONOMIC STIMULUS MONEY FOR THE INSTALLATION OF GRAB BARS IN EVERY SHOWER AND TUB AREA IN AMERICA.
FERTILITY CLINICS SHOULD BE REGULATED TO HELP PEOPLE HAVE BABIES…NOT LITTERS
REDUCE THE NATIONAL SPEED LIMIT IN ALL BUT A FEW STATES.
NOTE: DURING THE OIL-EMBARGO DAYS, WE HAD A NATIONAL SPEED LIMIT OF 55 MPH.
DEATH AND INJURY WAS SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED.
INSTALL TRAFFIC CAMERAS ALONG HIGHWAYS AND INTERSECTIONS.
MAIL EYE-POPPING FINES TO FREE-SPIRITED ROAD WARRIORS.
INSTITUTE AN EXEMPTION-FREE NATIONAL DRAFT WHENEVER THE COUNTRY CONSIDERS WAR.
IT WOULD ASSURE US THAT ANY WAR CONTEMPLATED, WAS REALLY, NO JIVING AROUND, NECESSARY.
NOTE: THE AMOUNT OF MEDICAL ATTENTION THE WAR IN IRAQ WILL CONTINUE TO COST THIS COUNTRY IS WAY BEYOND STAGGERING.
HAVE THE GOVERNMENT DO ANTI-ANTIBIOTICS PUBLIC ADDRESS ANNOUNCEMENTS.
AS WE TRY TO SANITIZE THE WORLD, WE’RE CREATING AN AL QAEDA OF TERRORIST BUGS!
THIS IS JUST A START.
DON’T GET ME STARTED!
16 comments:
oh my god...I don't even know where to begin.
There are many out there that alot of what you propose is limiting our 'freedom', and Americans don't take kindly to that kinda talk.
It's a fine line between personal responsibility and government intervention. I think I am becoming more Libertarian as I age, but I also feel the tug of regulating all of this stuff you mentioned, because I don't want to pay for someone's bad lifestyle decisions.
One example: a close friend went to rehab for alcohol. He had a bitch of a time with his insurance company. Their stance was, you must do outpatient for a bit, before you can be deemed worthy of inpatient. Perfect. Great advice for someone who needs immersion into a program, not access to a liquor store on every corner on the way home from the 'outpatient program'... So, the decision was made to pay out of pocket, because the need was dire. While in there for 30 days, it became apparent there seemed to be three basic groups.
His group, the elective admissions, seeking sobriety and release from their addiction.
The mandated group, people who have absolutely no interest in being there, but have caused anough danger to society to be placed there...under protest. Either that, or jail time.
And, last, and most absurd. The group that was called, 'three hots, and a cot'. The guys that had no money, not a dime. Homeless drunks, basically. Sign themselves in for 30 days of eating well and clean sheets, then back out on the streets for a bit to return to the preferred drunken state of oblivion. Knowing, all the while, that this oasis was waiting for them any time they wanted it. Totally FREE. Free for them, that is.
Now, I know there may be some of that feel the people in the last group are not all undeserving drunkerds. That may be so, but, like most things, there is a larger group that overshadows and makes up the majority.
I digress. I don't think you can regulate how people live, but you can certainly charge them for it. If you are 'clinically' obese, then your insurance should be more expensive...to pay for the extra benefits that you will require during your lifetime.
And, tort reform is the absolute first. In this litigious society, everyone is a victim and seeks financial retribution. That alone would save us millions, or is it trillions these days, from the scumbags that prey.
Okay, I don't want to go on forever, even tho I feel I could easily.
All of this is difficult for our government to come to agreement on. Too much bipartisan bullshit...can't see the forest through the trees.
At first, I want to say, "another person who thinks government interference with our lives is the answer." Then I realize how much government already interferes with too many of the wrong laws, or not enough "brave" laws which help people. Let's re-negotiate and trade a law for a law. Add one, then eliminate a shit law.
I wonder what the savings would amount to if people who smoke, people who are overweight/obese because of lack of exercise and unhealthy diet, and people who drink too much, were not in our hospitals.
Legalize and tax my pot. We could pay for healthcare for the entire world with tax revenues generated in that way, just from the pot consumed by the music industry & legal professions alone.
On a much less serious note: Eliminate the horrid Middleman who does nothing substantive - in any of the many industries he dominates - yet takes home the lion's share of the money he collects and disburses. He is pervasive. Wherever you see a problem in our country's "free market" system, the Middleman is the source and sustainer of the problem. The Middleman is held accountable to nothing but his conscience and his greed. His conscience winning out is tantamount to the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters.
Regrettably, the Middleman is often your congressperson and/or senator. The business Middleman writes the bills that the congressional Middleman doesn’t read before voting them into laws by which we must abide. The Middleman also pays the bills for re-election campaigns. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled conflict of interest.
A brief example, then I’ll sign-off and get back to my hookah and studying for the bar: Sen. Conrad from ND, in comments during the recent senate finance committee vote on its healthcare bill said, “a public option is a non-starter for me, because I represent North Dakota.” Note that he did not say, “I represent the People of North Dakota.”
ND enjoys one of the lowest rates of un-insured people in the country, which is 11.8%. ND has a population of 641,481. Therefore, ND has 75,694 un-insured people living (living, that is to say, at least for the moment), and who would probably like a “public option.” Does Sen. Conrad represent those people in the same way he represents their more fortunate fellow North Dakotans? Obviously, the answer is a resounding Nay. But Sen. Conrad did not say he represented any of the people of his state, merely North Dakota. Perhaps I am splitting hairs.
I am not splitting hairs. Blue Cross / Blue Shield commands a staggering 94% of the market share of health insurance in North Dakota. Noridian has most of the rest of the ND health coverage market. BCBS is a monopoly in all but name, because Noridian exists and competes with them. Ready for the final buzzer at the Globetrotters’ game? BC/BS exists because of federal government mandate and participation, and Noridian manages Medicare payments for North Dakotans older than 64. These are facts, not opinions.
So when Sen. Conrad infers that he does not support a public option, is it because his constituents are against it? No, he is not: They already emjoy a public option. By his own admission does not represent the People of North Dakota, he represents North Dakota. By that I do not think he means the rocks and weeds of the Badlands or Mount Rushmore itself. I believe he is saying that he supports the monopoly of BCBS, in this regard. They are in the top 20 donators to Sen. Conrad’s mission to continue not to represent the People of North Dakota. The gigantic granite bust of Teddy Roosevelt – the granddaddy of all trustbusters - would never stop vomiting if it were conscious of this travesty.
The only other solution I have is to go find some genius computer programmer prodigy whiz-kid who can figure out how to change the words “65 years old” to “1 day old” in our Medicare legislation. But I came up with that one at a Grateful Dead concert smoking a joint with Pat Leahy and Al Franken 15 years ago, when I ceased being covered by my parents’ socialist health insurance plan.
And PLEASE stop saying “free market.” It’s a bunch of crap. It is an interesting 18th century economic theory that has never existed; not here, not anywhere. Never. The reason for that is because the greed of the Middleman must be regulated.
Excuse me now while I smoke my tax-free pot while I still can.
nerals beating the Harlem Globetrotters.
SWEET RTHGRL,
YOU EXPLAINED THE PROBLEM BETTER THAN I DID.
YOU NAILED IT...WHEN DOES THE RESULT OF ONE PERSON'S FREEDOM BECOME THE FINANCIAL OBLIGATION OF OTHER PEOPLE?
THANKS FOR THE INPUT
DEAR MEG
PERSONAL FREEDOM IS OUR AMERICAN BEDROCK.
BUT...WHEN A CAMERA INHIBITS A DRIVER FROM RUNNING A RED LIGHT... WHO MIGHT CRASH INTO YOU...
JUST WHOSE FREEDOM IS BEING RESTRAINED?
TOUGH CALL...BUT I VOTE FOR THE POTENTIAL VICTIM'S RIGHTS.
DEAR ANON,
THE SAVINGS WOULD BE VAST.
AND THE HOSPITALS WOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE BETTER, AND MORE TIMELY CARE TO THE REMAINING PATIENTS.
WELL, MISTER BELL...
IS THERE REALLY THAT MUCH POT OUT THERE?
THAT MIGHT EXPLAIN WHY WE'RE A ZONED-OUT SOCIETY WITH THE MUNCHIES.
WE SURE HAVE BEEN MUNCHING.
THE LATEST TREND...BATTERED, AND DEEP FRIED BUTTER-BALLS. NO JOKE.
THANKS FOR YOUR WELL-EXPRESSED COMMENTS.
INSURANCE COMPANIES PROVIDE NOTHING BUT EXPENSE TO US AND PROFIT TO THEMSELVES.
AS FOR OUR GOVERNMENTAL REPRESENTATIVES........THEY SERVE THEIR BENEFACTORS.
E-MAILED FROM OFTEN-ANNIE
I almost forgive you for omitting one of the biggest crimes of all, i.e., the legal profession. Those bums should be crucified. Last night, I suffered through (watched) two expensive (of course) ads from two different law firms to “victims” of hospitals and doctors who “you think may have neglected to perform/order every [goddam] test/procedure” in existence. THAT should be illegal. Lawyers get away with murder (literally?) because no one dares take them to court. Is disgusting. Good thing my father is already dead; he’d die at today’s utter corruption.
Well, Mister... Sand? Thanks for Some of your kind Words.
Yes, there is that much pot out there. Melt down and add to that the Cathaholic [sic] Church’s useless gold and now we’re talking about solving the 3rd world starvation problem, too. Glory of God my ass. What is the #1 cash crop in Kentucky? It ain’t gold, that’s for sure.
It was tobacco until 1992. Then taxes hit that industry real hard - but apparently not as hard as you would like - and the small tobacco farmers who sold the product of their actual, physical, hard-earned labor (must I remind you that we built this country on tobacco farms and cotton fields and native “American" Genocide Land?) to the big tobacco “farmers”, who then sold it to tobacco futures speculators, who generated the revenue required to have it rolled up inside tree pulp, capped with a fiberglass filter, advertised, marketed, and sold to us at the age of 14, because it was extremely cool and addictive, which made us addicts before we knew what that meant, then, with a bunch more Middlemen in between, who you elected, wrote into our laws loop-holes galore, and, get this, then invented run-on sentences, which, as we all know, cause cancer, second-hand-like.
At this moment, now the #2 cash crop in Kentucky is tobacco. You may well ask, "Well, Mister Bell, what cash crop supplanted tobacco as the #1 cash crop in Kentucky?" Pot, Mister Sand. Pot. Tobacco farmers in Kentucky, faced with an insurmountable tax burden, have resorted to growing marijuana on their used-to-be tobacco farms. Pot is the #1 cash crop in the Great State of Kentucky, and in several other states of our so-called Union, as well. You may well ask, “Well, Mister Bell, why are they growing pot instead of tobacco?” Children, Mister Sand. Children.
If one of your solutions to our so-called Union's health care dilemma is to tax tobacco consumption by childish addicts like us into non-existence, I have several questions. I will pose, and presumptuously answer, only one here: How will you provide health care to the children of formerly existent tobacco farmers? Pot. And Yodles © .
I believe We the People, must now, more than ever, focus on the Real Problem: the Middleman. Trust me, I’ve been one, and I am ashamed of the harm we are doing to our so-called Union. Greed is the primary threat to our general Welfare, our more perfect Union, our… Hey! Stop daydreaming. Look over here!
Focus: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, [sic] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We, People, United, States, Order, Union, Justice, Tranquility, Welfare, Blessings, Liberty, Posterity, Constitution, United, States, America. I liked it better when we used capital letters at the beginning of words that matter, though I was not born yet, as will lots of our Posterity, most still yet unborn. Words still Matter, Mister Sand. Lots. And I obviously have lots of them. I have no problem with your exclusive use of caps, because I know that you are a luddite, blinded by the fame that naturally accompanies all bloggers who command an audience as numerous as yours, and also because I know you cannot focus on the Caps Lock key very well, you being blind and all.
FOCUS: THEIR CHILDREN MATTER.
I remember your absolute disdain and derision towards the Police State that mandated you wear a seat belt, way back when I had hair, because of the inconvenience it imposed upon you to strap one on, being blind and all. I am glad to read you changed your mind about that. As for the encore, the first time I heard the Grateful Dead was in your living room. I was not “zoned out” then and I am not “zoned out” now, although I am enjoying a Yodle © for dinner at the moment. Will you reconsider that phrase?
Thanks You! You’ve been a lovely audience.
Warmest Regards,
John Bell
To Often Annie:
In the interest of full disclosure I will point out that my son is a personal injury attorney.
I am reminded of the often overlooked ironic line from Arthur Miller's "Crucible." When a sympathetic witness to the witch hunt in Salem advises a "suspected" person that he should consult an attorney, one of the "witch hunters," smugly proclaims, "The pure of heart need no attorneys." And there you have the common attitude toward, "sharks," ambulance chasers," "professional prevaricators,"etc etc. Yet, when any of these people need someone to represent them in a real estate deal...or in the unfortunate case of an automobile injury due to the fault of another, these same people swallow their principles for their own protection and self interests.
Take the true case of a woman who underwent double mascetomies as a result of botched lab test result. Should we condemn the lawyer who brought a law suit against the careless parties? Should we put a cap on awards given to a woman who will spend the rest of her life without breasts due to someones carelssness?
Annie, I have no doubt that if you ever find yourself in the position that you need legal protection, you will not tell your attorney that he "gets away with murder."
MISTER BELL,
YEARS AGO I TOOK OUT A PAID ADD IN THE NEWSPAPER STATING THAT IF I WAS HARMED BY THE WEARING OF A SEAT BELT, I WOULD SUE THE STATE.
I WAS YOUNG, FOOLISH, STONED, AND GROOVING ON THE DEAD.
STILL BELIEVE THAT INSURANCE COMPANIES SHOULD REFUSE TO COVER ANYONE IN AN ACCIDENT WHILE GOING STRAPLESS.
SAME WITH CELL/TEXT DRIVING.
As I said, I am glad you came around on the seat belt issue. I agree with you about the necessity to wear one, however I think the last thing we need right now is more people being denied health coverage due to what in many instances could be a technicality. What if a cinderblock is thrown from an overpass that puts you in a coma while you are not strapped in? I could come up with dozens of other hypothetic situations in which an insurance company would deny to payout because of no seat belt, even though that had nothing to due with your injuries.
The cell phone issue is a no brainer. I agree without qualification.
FYI, the first time I ever heard the name and music of Bob Marley was also in your living room. He's groovy too, but he never smoked pot. He did, however smoke an island's worth of ganja and kaya. Mon.
Love ya, Mon!
JB
QUICKSAND LOVES HYPOTHETICALS!
you are hypothetical
I'M RELIEVED THAT YOU DIDN'T SAY 'PATHETICAL'
WHEW
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