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Five Thousand Dollars for Healthcare?
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Five Thousand Dollars for Healthcare? |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738
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At the risk of giving some of you migraines, I need someone to explain to me, and again, talk to me like I'm five years old-- how is five thousand dollars going to help me and my family provide healthcare for us all? I know a lot of you folks out there have health issues as well, and so you know--I'm receiving the benefits of a Healthcare plan right now, and I'm astounded and relieved to understand that although the cost of my morphine alone was nearly that amount, it was covered. I was really happy about this, considering that the cost of "my very good insurance" is more than that of a monthly mortgage. So...somebody please explain to me how my family can "self-insure", because five thousand dollars doesn't even cover six months of our current plan, even with civil servant benefits!!!  How would this work? |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Y'got me, darlin'! Back in 2001, when my husband underwent brain surgery to have a tumor removed, it was easily a $20,000 deal. The ripoff that always gets me is that if you have insurance, the insurance company makes the doctor/hospital "reduce" or "cut" some of their bill - but if you or I do not have insurance, we get to pay the whole thing. Tell me how THAT works? It's never made sense to me whatsoever. |
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threadbear Senior Member
since 2008-07-10
Posts 817Indy |
Here's some ammo for your gun, Serenity. "The federal government tracks average spending on health insurance for people with job-based coverage. The most recent figures are from 2005, and indicate that the average individual's job-based premiums were $3,991 that year, while families spent an average of $10,728." ...sic...($894 mo families & $332 per month for single individuals- 2005 rates) http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/Individual_Market_Survey_December_2007.pdf |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
Hi Karen. McCain's $5000 healthcare tax credit plan might best be described as a bait and switch. Biden spoke about it in the VP debates. Here's link to that portion of the debate where Biden explains it simply enough so that even I could understand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5wxCkH4PVM |
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Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
Karen, nothing is ever free in government, trust me. I just got in the mail today, a Climate Change Tax Credit! (Like what the hell is that?) Now let's see, there was the Carbon Tax Credit, the one-time Gas credit, the Going Green Credit, all were minimal amounts. Oh yes, did I mention we too are right in the middle of an election? Bait and Switch is putting it mildly! They truly must think us all morons. Money buys lots of things, including votes. It is a case of recipient beware! SC I have yet to receive a "Bad Hair Day Tax Credit" but when I do, I am going to freak! I am still sticking with my first choice both down there, and up here, in the hopes that even 1/2 of what the two of them propose comes into action. If anything at all comes out of this current climate, I am hoping we all learn to want less, live with less, share more, as in the end it is all "stuff." Oh, by the way, I do always send them back their weenie cheques, but must be honest, if one arrived in the thousands, I may have to think about it. To refresh everyone's memory of that question last night here you go:Obama and McCain On Health Care Question - 2nd Debate |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Well...I told my hubby that it looks like this year we "beat the house." An odd lottery to win, though. and here I was bragging on my 35,000 dollar va-jay-jay, when actually, it's totalling near seventy grand. Even assuming that private insurers could duplicate that kind of coverage, I'm wondering how long they could stay in business when met with a nation of the likes of me...  I was trying to "rest up" inbetween procedures, and I'm starting to think that might not be wise.  |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
and wow a lot of you guys responded while I did, so let me have some time to read and follow the links... and smiling at Jenn-- "bait and switch" I was thinking that even mentioning that amount of dollars was like waggling baloney on a hook to a big fat catfish... I've been there, and I AM there, and I do know better. But let me read... and thanks folks!  |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
And Shar, no offense intended, but this was a necessary medical procedure. My va-jay-jay was killing me. Literally.  |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
quote: Call it karma. *laughing* and *winks* to LR. I have to run, (or walk very fast) I'll be back though.  |
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Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648 |
Hi Karen, go to the McCain website and click on the healthcare link. It explains it in detail. You get to keep your current healthcare plan if you want to, at no extra cost to you, and I think the tax credit would go to the healthcare provider. |
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Not A Poet Member Elite
since 1999-11-03
Posts 3885Oklahoma, USA |
The $5000 is not socialized medicine as Obama's plan proposes. It is simply a tax credit that you can get if you buy your own insurance. If supplied by your employer then they can get the credit. All insurance still remains private just as it is today. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
hmmm. Okay. But how is this different from Obama's proposition that small businesses get tax deductions in order to provide health care (and thus make them competitive with larger corporations)? Since New Orleans, where I live was eighty percent small businesses, prior to the Katrina debacle, this particular issue is of great importance to not just me, but my entire economic region. I appreciate everybody's patience. |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Hi Serenity -- the $5,000 bucks for the cost of health care premiums is, of course, only semi-useful. It will not pay the annual private comprehensive health care costs of a family of one, let along a family of two, three, or four. It WILL pay the premiums for family coverage in many instances, if you happen to have the 5K, 10K or whatever on hand, or buy a plan that covers only "catastrophic" events without a deductible. This isn't hard to figure out. You poke your numbers and family histories in any health insurer's stie on the web. You get a quote in return. My suggestion to anyone is that you sit down. And my suggestion that a $5,000 tax benefit towards health insurance is MUCH MUCH better than nothing. The best Medical plans that I am seeing among my friends, which admittedly is a very selective sample, stem from benefits accrued as public employees -- not politicians-- but teachers, social workers, fireman, policemen, and every/anyone who had a career in State or Federal Service. Hey, this is good! The trade off for comprehensive health care was the acceptance, in many instances,of a lower wage for value rate than offered in private industry. A choice which for many people was reasonably factored in and accepted. In private major industries where employees put in the same number of years of work, retired and current employees run the risk, and experience, cuts in medical benefits all the time, It's a harsh reality where the employee's contribution to a health care plan go up, while the benefits go down. I don't blame the employers, this is all tough economic stuff. Though not being bright enough to know how to implement it, I like the notion of "universal health care." Nobody else seems to have figured out the implementation part either, so I'm not throwing stones in any particular direction. Best, Jimbeaux [This message has been edited by oceanvu2 (10-08-2008 08:26 PM).] |
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Grinch Member Elite
since 2005-12-31
Posts 2929Whoville |
Karen, Just ask yourself one question, do you think what you pay now is reasonable? As I understand it McCain’s going to give $5000 of tax payers (your) money to a health insurance broker in a sharp suit as long as you give the smart suited chap $5000 of your own money too. In return you get $10000 of health insurance that probably doesn’t cover any pre-existing conditions or anything else they care to squeeze into the small print. It sounds as if McCain thinks that the price of health insurance is reasonable and I’m sure that the insurance companies all agree. Obama, on the other hand, is going to legislate that employers purchase health insurance for employees from insurance companies who drop the pre-existing clause and that make their small print BIG and contain reasonable terms. Any company that agrees to participate will get a tax credit to offset the cost and a government backed fund to cover catastrophic illness claims to reduce cost. Any Company that doesn’t participate will have to pay more tax to fund the scheme. It sounds like Obama thinks that the insurance companies are fleecing their customers and I tend to agree. What do you think? |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
. "As I understand it McCain’s going to give $5000 of tax payers (your) money " And what if to any amount it is the money of others? As I understand it some large percentage pay no Federal income taxes at all. . . |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I tend to be leaning toward that Universal Health Care plan m'self, Jim. It just makes more sense to support a preventative healthcare by making it available than to fix the end result of... folks like me. and I just backspaced a whole bunch of middle class angst.  Those "cushy" civil servant jobs? sigh do a pay reference scale, or just live with someone who has worked twenty years on the job, and watches "newbies" being hired at nearly the same pay that the "vets" are making now... (My husband doesn't know I'm sympathetic.) Don't tell him. It would change our whole dynamic. *chuckle* |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
and ooops... while I was typing my frustrated middle class angst, I missed the replies of my beloved Grinch and Huan Yi. Here's what I'm looking for guys-- I need someone to explain to me in simple housewife budgetry how self-insurance can prevail--I'm not "for" anybody, nor am I promoting an agenda here. I'm simply not believing McCain, because if it sounds too good to be true, it is. So I either don't understand it, or it is b.s. I want someone to help me out here. Give me a reason to believe. Because honestly, the tax redistrubtion responsibility by Obama makes sense to me. McCain's five thousand dollar promotional buzz word sounds like a used car salesman ploy. (And  , don't jump to conclusions--I didn't say who I was 'for'--I'm simply saying that this particular issue is a huge red flag for me.)I'm kinda wondering if anybody understands, actually. Um, I don't just want to know what it means--I want to know if it is PRACTICABLE. |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Serenity -- I didn't say civil service jobs were cushy. In fact, I said the opposite. A "civil servant" often trades off equal pay for value of service in the private sector for what seem to be, and probably are, more secure and better health benefits than currently available to most workers in the private sector, where such "benifits," which I would calculate as part of a worker's wage, are often not available at all. If you really want to follow this through, anyone can hit an insurer's website, state that they are a small business owner, and request a no deductible "group insurance" quote for any number of hypothetical employees. And then you get to gasp. Now, this doesn't mean that it is impossible for small businesses -- and the definition includes much MUCH larger, but still "small" in government terms organizations than a local Mom and Pop grocery -- to offer such insurance. It does mean, however, that employees have to kick in their share in terms of either paycheck deductions or acceptance of lower wages. A Universal Health Care system hardly implies "free" health care. It would have to be paid for out of taxes. However, when you multiply the pool of insured to include everyone in the country who pays taxes, the actuarial (accounting term) risk and concommitant costs go down. Now, it is true that not everyone pays taxes. Trying to stay relevant, I'll leave out children and the infirm, since most of them couldn't pay taxes even if they wanted to, having no income. I suspect someone might reasonably ask why universal health care benefits should be extended to our poor and illegal residents. The answer still lies in the numbers. Health care ranging from flu shots to major problems is available to anyone through the Emergency Room system. Emergency Room treatment for anyone, legal, illegal, or just broke, is perhaps the single most expensive form of medical assistance available, and nobody, insurers, hospitals, or care providers makes a dime off of it (exagerating for effect here) because the bills never get paid, and people keep getting sick anyway. So you look, again, to the numbers. Even including people who will never pay their medical bills, when the pool is expanded to include everyone, it's still going to be a hell of a lot cheaper for taxpayers than insurance and medical costs are now. It has to do with dilution of risk. Grossly, its sort of like this: for every ten people who get sick on a given day, 100,000 people don't I'm making these numbers up as an understandable example, but the actual stats are out there. This is where the actuaries come in. True, idealistic, universal heath care would eliminate all middlemen, including insurers, but I can't see that ever happening in our society, at least not in our lifetimes. Whom might the government hire to manage such a program? The insurance companies, of course, just as the government contracts out many programs, including the logistics of running war ones, to private firms which are in business to make money from our taxes. But maybe that's snarky. Change of the paradigm could involve a lower overall cost per person. That would be great. May or may not work. Under Universal Health Care, what WOULD change is the part about universal access to healthcare. Just maybe, if the label were changed to Universal Health Care Access, we might be able to view the notion in a different light and put some changes into motion. I don't think there is anybody locked into the position that "If you can't pay, tough. Drop dead." Working out the mechanics will not be easy, and the the first steps will probably need to be revised as we go along. Still, Denmak, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Brunei, Qatar, Fiji, Canada, and England have taken decent stabs at it, and a lot of those people don't even speak American. Where, one might reasonably ask, would those extra tax dollars come from? They would come from not having to pay, in California, for example, $1,400 a month to Blue Cross/Blue Shield for a private, all inclusive no-deductible policy for two adults who happened to have gotten sick somewhere along the line. Yeah, it's tough stuff, but it doesn't necessarily require a degree in quantum accounting to grasp the concept. Best, Jimbeaux [This message has been edited by oceanvu2 (10-08-2008 10:50 PM).] |
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Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648 |
The government doesn't seem, to me, to have too good a track record of managing anything. I'd opt to keep it private, open up the competition between the different providers in whatever way possible, which hopefully would bring down prices a bit, and to look into ways to prevent these providers from not providing the care that we were led to believe that we would get. Just ask our friends who have socialized medicine in their countries about the level of care that they experience, and care that they have even have access to for certain conditions and in certain circumstances. And if you think you wait long now in the doctor's office or emergency room, by comparison to those with socialized programs, I'd say we are very lucky. |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Most likely everyone here is literate to what is called "cafeteria plans". That's where they take out all of the extras like insurance BEFORE you are taxed, making your taxes a little less on the take-home pay. Karen, There are no sure and swift answers. What there needs to be, m'friend, is a quick kick-OUT of those who are living off the system, and that would mean, most of all of our government officials who tell us they are running this country in our best interests. They became uninterested a long time ago. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Thank you Jim. I do feel a bit better now. I wasn't aware of how much I was aware of until you pointed it out to me. (seriously) But I tell ya whut, let me run this by the coffee clutch tomorrow... I'll let you know if it translates into "American." Best? Let's just try for better. Karen (with a smilie, even ) |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Hi Denise: RE: "The government doesn't seem, to me, to have too good a track record of managing anything." I really want to agree with that! On the other hand, the "government" is not an abstract entity. It is us. We, the American people, so to speak, don't seem to have an umblemished record regarding management either. Maybe it all just comes with the human territory, Somehow, though, it seems useful to keep plugging away. Sunshine: Re: "What there needs to be, m'friend, is a quick kick-OUT of those who are living off the system, and that would mean, most of all of our government officials who tell us they are running this country in our best interests." I'd like to agree with that completely too, but aren't we all living off the system? It seems like our murky "system" is what floats all the boats. No problem with sinking the boats of those who ABUSE the system and letting them swim about for a while in their own muck. Apparently, that's what's going on in the current economic debacle. Do we really need to throw out a 700 billion dollar oar to those who can't even remember what the shore looks like? The "government" (us,) seems to think so. I agree with you here: Nobody asked me what I thought about pouring billions down a rat hole. Anybody ask you? Anybody ask any one? This whole bailout business, which will affect the nation's economy for decades, took place over the course of two weeks. And this marvelous economic recovery plan caused the market to tank, so far, at a rate not seen since the 20's. I say thanks guys and gals, Republican and Democrat alike, for leading us to the outhouse without so much as a can of Febreze. Just yappin', Jimbeaux [This message has been edited by oceanvu2 (10-09-2008 12:00 AM).] |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
*grins* It's okay. The coffee clutch isn't talking to me, either. Um, I have a print out of the voting records of both candidates.  So the village idiot here has been deemed... *wince* snooty! For bringing INFORMATION to the table!  oh lawsy...ah well... I have free Showtime this week. So whuddicare? *sniff* *grins* |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Dottie: To which village idiot does your post refer? (Notice how neatly I did that to stay within the guidelines.) Or: "It takes a village to raise an idiot." Hillary Clinton. Or: Every village needs an idiot, that's why we elected (whomever). Or: Is "village idiot" an official title or an honorary one. Or: If we both run for Vllage Idiot, who do you think will win? My pledge of sincere and never ending love, which might be a better sign-off than "Best." Jimbeaux, up way past my bedtime. Nytol. |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
Physicians for a National Health Program Single-Payer National Health Insurance http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
I'm sure we have nothing to worry about now, with Daschle in charge. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Was that sarcasm?  |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
hehe...ask the voters who finally voted him out of office only to see him come back as our new health czar. Between him and Hillary being considered as the new Secretary of State, we're not seeing "change". It's more like a remake of an old horror movie. |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
“I'm sure we have nothing to worry about now, with Daschle in charge.” You’ve read Daschle’s book “Critical: What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis” and agree with his proposals, Balladeer? |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Ask me if I trust any politician. Last time I felt this much burning fallout, I'd campaigned for Edwin Edwards. (Actually, it was more like campaigning against David Duke.) And for any and all who are disappointed by Barack's choices, he's got to work with what he has...and you'd be vexed to find someone with experience who didn't work with the Clintons. I'm finding his choices bold and interesting. But back to my topic? Rest assured that Karen the Karenoid will hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. So I'm on to the next--I may get in to see Dr. Tannenbaum before Christmas. YEP. That's his name. The gods still laugh at me, too. Sheesh.  Ho Ho Ho, everybody. sigh |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
I've been trying for six weeks just to schedule an appointment - the problem, no insurance. Hope I live long enough to actually get one. Can't afford any more midnight rides in the meat wagon. Nearly $600 for a mile and half ride, but the EMS guys are wicked cute. Overnight in the Emergency room to fight off nasty attacks by rogue histamines costs me three months pay. Dog food's not too bad if you get the kind that makes its own gravy. Looking for a Canadian to adopt me. I do windows. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Oh I understand... I saved up enough coke rewards to get a portable DVD player just for emergency room visits. They replaced the chairs in there too so that you can't lie down. Our insurance company is looking for a way to drop me, because my marriage and identity has been in question for a few years now. Funny, they didn't question the payments. If I'm overly amused at the brouhaha regarding Barack Obama's birth certificate, it's because I only exist to the government when it is time to pay. My Live Birth Certificate was lost long ago in a purse snatching incident. THEN I neglected to promptly file my marriage with The Social Security folks. THEN for some reason, the city I was married in opted to transfer their vital records to New Orleans which went under water, and whatever is left of those records are apparently filed away in storage where no one lives (wiped out by Katrina) and no one seems to work there either. THEN the Federal Gov't passed some weird Homeland Security Law which requires a form not used in The State of Louisiana (which follows that persnicketty Napoleanic Code Bob K was talking about) so I am now in the midst of a literal identity crisis. I can't get a legal I.D. and I have to explain all of this to get a check cashed, as well as at the emergency room, I couldn't vote, my son is having problems getting cooperation from FASTA and I am having my 19th nervous breakdown. I suppose it could be worse. (I hate even typing that because everytime I do, it DOES get worse.) But at least I'm not president-elect. I'd like to see somebody try to "vet" me. *laughing* I'm laughing but not without sympathy Jen. My pesky little medical problems are what happens when someone doesn't have health insurance. So let's hope that you won't turn forty and find yourself having to replace a lifetime of preventative care with emergency procedures. But I doubt you have the bad habits that I employed either. Talk about your free radicals! But I ramble. All this for hugs.  I'm gonna go play with my dominoes now. *wink* |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
Think out of the box, Karen, identity theft could be the answer to all your ID probems. But do pick someone with no pre-existing medical conditions or else they put you the high risk insurance pool. I checked out the cost, still haven't stopped laughing/crying. Unless I find me a rich man, or a childless Canadian couple, I fear my future is filled with 50lb bags of Gravy Train and midnight meat wagon runs to plead for the compassion of the Sisters of Mercy. |
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moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
See, this is where I think that maybe sleeping in a hard chair in a cold hospital waiting all night for an ambulance to take my Gran(m) back to her nursing home isn't so bad ... I mean at least it's all free!* Thank you NHS. *or is it? Grinch? |
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moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
Jenn, you're young, healthy and in the Land of Opportunity, and you're pondering on rich men and gravy covered dog food?!  |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
They have chairs in your hospitals? Wow! |
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Grinch Member Elite
since 2005-12-31
Posts 2929Whoville |
quote: Nope - it costs but I think it costs less in the long run. I actually believe the NHS is too cheap. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I really hope that didn't translate as whining. I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm lucky. And yes, Jen, the upside of no medical care is that there is no diagnosis of pre-existing conditions. And please folks, please don't think I'm hogging the misery machine. I'm well aware that there's more than enough to go around. I didn't mean to turn that into a "top this" contest. Which reminds me of some of those well intentioned e mails, usually entitled with something like, "Next time you feel bad about your life, read this". They generally show people in various stages of suffering. I'd like to take a moment to thank those who load my inbox with those things that are supposed to cheer me up by asking me to look at even more suffering that I can do nothing about. That's the ticket. Add guilt and shame to clinical depression. It really makes my day to see that stuff. I should paper my walls with um, I dunno, Holocaust photos, so I can shame myself into comparative bliss. |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
In this "Land of Opportunity" there are 47 million (more now most likely) of us without healthcare insurance. My employer doesn't offer it, I work for a very small company. As a single person I simply can't afford it, and now even if I scored a job with a company that does offer insurance, it won't help because I now have "pre-existing" condition, one that's not going to go away, that won't be covered. Karen, the stories need to be told so there a chance for a change in our healthcare system, so keep on telling it like it is. |
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moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
I don't know about the detail of your healthcare system Jenn and Karen, but I do know that practically everything I read about it compared with ours, is negative. The NHS definition of "chair" is broad. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I'm not even sure if there exists a single definition for our healthcare system. I have had a few different plans in the past eight years--and each was different. I do know what my doctor said to me, prior to surgery. I had suggested that since I had other problems as well, why didn't he just order my MRI with contrast. He looked amused. "You're assuming that I am in charge." Everything, and I do mean everything has to be justified to my healthcare provider. So even though I could have had one MRI that would have sufficed for two specialists--that was denied. And of course, the second should be approved. Afterall, I'm one of the lucky ones with very good insurance. (This is the second time this has happened too. I'd tried to do the same thing on previous policy--a company that went under...go figger?) It boggles my mind when common sense is too complicated. And I don't mean to be snarky, I'm just having a crummy day. I'm human, here behind the screen. Sometimes when something hurts I say "ow". Other times I just practice "displacement". And the waiting, for me, is the hardest part. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
A story, for Jenn (and moonbeam). I'd blogged this in another forum, so I just lifted it and cleaned it up a bit. I thought just thought I'd share this. I'm not sure if it's funny, or horrifying. But it's not all that unusual. Here ya go: * * * I went to the doctor's office today--on time for once. Before I walked in, I couldn't help but notice a gray-haired gentleman, his face all contorted, clinging the pebblestone facade of the building. So I walk through the exit door, because the entrance door was now closed (it was the other way around last week) and the place was packed. But...I have an appointment, right? Um...almost. "Do you have an appointment?" "Yes," I said proudly. (I almost never have my act together, in case you haven't noticed. Y'think it's a theme?) "Your name?" "Blah-blah." (Edited to protect my identity. ) "Ah..we don't have you down--didn't anyone call you?" Well yes, I have received phone calls, but only one was for me. "No, I didn't receive a phone call--there's a man outside who is sick." I said dumbly, as if I didn't see an entire waiting room of sick people when I came in. Blank stare. "Your films did not come in." "There's a man who looks very sick outside." "We know." "Can you come back the same time next week?" Um, well, next week wouldn't exactly be the same time but I said: "Okay." So I went outside and lit a cigarette, because I was standing next to the pole for the sneaky exile people who, like me, KNOW they stink of smoke and there is no hiding that kind of stuff from the doctor. I phoned my husband, watching the sick man, get even more contorted, sweating profusely, his hands on his knees, kind of wavering. My son answered the house phone. "Tell Dad to just turn around and come pick me up." (I swear I feel like luggage.) "Who is this?" WHO IS THIS? "Yo MUDDA!" oh. grunt-stretch-ooooookay... "Don't you dare go back to sleep." I hung up the phone. Or, rather, I snapped it shut. I despise the damned cellphone. I always hit the wrong buttons. Fortunately I still had it in my hand when it vibrated. (Y'see? I'd hit the vibrate option.) "Hello?" "Oh crap--I was trying to call Dad." My son was still sleeping, obviously. "No, son. I have the cellphone." I was watching the sick guy grip the wall again. "This means you will have to actually remain awake to tell Dad to come get me." I snapped the phone shut again, and tossed into the great abyss of my "go-to-the-doctor" purse. The sick guy went down to one knee and started wretching. Oy. This is bad. I started to go back into the exit door, and my purse rang. (Y'see? I'd hit that damned button again.) "Hello?" "Who's this?" "What the HELL is the matter with everybody today?" "Oh. Hi Karen!" It was our friend, 'Bala-blah.'. "Are you screening his calls today?" He asked, referring to my husband. "I'm at the expletive doctor." "Well it's about time." Yes, yes, it is about "time" but I didn't want to go into details. I am the queen of bad timing. Bad Timing sums of the very essence of the conception of me. "I'll have him call you back, there's some guy puking out here." "There's a man puking in the waiting room?" "No, I'm not in the waiting room, I'm outside." "What did the doctor say?" "I didn't see the doctor today!" I was now clenching my teeth. "Are you going to see the doctor today?" (This guy calls me every day to yell at me to go see the doctor. He just doesn't get it--apparently.) "Well if you are already there, don't you think you should at least say hello?" (He considers himself a comedian too.) ARGHHHHHHHH. Butthole. sigh. But he's a butthole who loves me so I just say-- "I'll call you back, there's a guy puking his guts out here." "You have the worst luck." Not as bad as some, I thought, looking at the puking guy. "Can I call you back?" I didn't wait for an answer but snapped the phone shut again, resisting the urge to toss the damned thing, and I went back inside to inform the receptionist, who was putting a "Out to Lunch" sign in the window. I tapped on that little pane. "That guy is out there puking now." "We know." She closed the window and put the sign in place. And these are the people I am going to for HELP? OY. "Out to Lunch" No kidding. I walked back outside to see a car had stopped, and someone was trying to assist the puking man. My husband had pulled up in the truck, and I had to do the twisting maneuver to get in it, because he didn't think to purchase a truck with a running board. (These little minor annoyances, they add up, yanno?) "There's a guy puking over there." "They know." I sighed and gave him back his phone. Immediately, the phone rang just as I handed it to him. It was our friend again. "Hello!" My husband was suddenly cheerful. "Yeah, she's with me now. There's a guy puking in the parking lot." "He knows." I said. "Let's go try the dry cleaners." "Yeah, we're going to the dry cleaners now." We drove off and left the puking man behind. (I really do worry about everybody...) * * * I know that's not an explanation of our healthcare system--or is it? |
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JenniferMaxwell
since 2006-09-14
Posts 2423 |
It is and it's brilliant! Well done! |
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moonbeam
since 2005-12-24
Posts 2356 |
What are you pootling around here writing poetry for Karen, you should be writing sit-com. The only point that comes out of this that I can see (apart from the fact that your son needs a better alarm clock) is that health provision over there suffers from the same malaise as ours. Waiting. Waiting while ill seems to be a requirement whatever the financial arrangements in healthcare. It will always be so because alongside sex, our illnesses rank right up there as the #1= human obsession. Go to any dinner party, any bus queue, any office tea break, any board meeting, any G8 summit, and there we will be, luxuriating in the latest disease or malady that we or our nearest and dearest or, failing that, Angelina Jolie, has succumbed to. And is it any surprise really when our entire media is fixated with medicine and health, alternately scaring the hell out of us, and then patting it better, and all the time filling our screens and papers with this pill, and that lotion, until at every slight twinge we run off to a medical profession who eventually get so heartily sick and tired of our pathetic wimpyness that they become inured, hardened, overworked to the point that the really sick people get treated in the same cavalier fashion as the 90% of time wasters. Gone are the days where, as Alfred Pennyworth said in "Batman and Robin": "a gentleman never discusses his illnesses". Until this culture is changed Karen, and people stop expecting that the State will nanny every little financial trouble, and the medics will nanny every little sneeze - until this culture of blame and demand (just look at the wording of the ads these days: "Grab this" "Get yourself that") is reversed, doctors and nurses will never be able to do their jobs properly. |
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rwood Member Elite
since 2000-02-29
Posts 3793Tennessee |
not just health care either. the pharmaceutical corps are a force of their own to contend with. One of my loved ones must pay, out of pocket, $700 a month for 2 bottles of pills. There are no generics, yet, to choose from, and the pills are not an option. Insurance won't cover pre-existing cond. as we know, so he's stuck for the rest of his life with little to do but pay out. seems such should be illegal, you know? to push a drug inherent to life for a person and he stands to lose everything trying to pay for it. sighs. |
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Grinch Member Elite
since 2005-12-31
Posts 2929Whoville |
Ouch! In the UK the NHS caps prescription charges - you pay £7.50 for each item on a prescription or you can pay a one off pre-pay charge of £100 that covers you for unlimited prescriptions in a 12 month period. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Nodding about the pharmaceuticals. There is no standard price on meds either. A pharmacy can charge whatever they like. I've personally seen differences of up to fifty dollars on some meds. For example, my beloved percocette (which I am grouchily mourning) once cost thirty (with insurance, mind you) at one pharmacy, and then I discovered I could get them filled for four bucks, right down the street. It's infuriating, especially considering how many elderly are living on social security and their med costs cut into their grocery budgets and utilities. There ought to be a law. (Unless one was passed while I was sleeping. )I have a love/hate relationship with painpills now. I changed my mindset a bit when I started thinking of the big lobbying pharmaceutical companies as glorified crack dealers, but then? I drank my gallbladder to death. A tip: Do not consume white russians, cheese, pepperoni, jujubeans and toasted pumpkin seed. *shuddering* I've said it privately, and I'll say it publically: It is like trying to pass a...pine cone. |
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