And nuke florida too
"That's what old people do. They die."
-Bernard "Beanie" Campbell
Much ado has been made over the past weeks and months about health care reform. Loudest have been the time-testedly effective town halls, in which "Real" American citizens change the laws of the country by angrily berating their elected leaders, and brandishing guns in front of television cameras. One big "talking point" is how health care reform (or Obamacare, if you're trendy) will take the medical decisions away from cost-cutting bureaucrats in the private sector, and give them to cost-raising spendocrats with the federal government, in the hopes of somehow creating some magical system where everyone can go to the doctor.
This whole thing struck me as a terrible idea, something straight out of the land of make believe. If more people go to the doctor, it will cost more. Fact. Nevermind preventative medicine -- if there is anything I've learned from my years of schooling and working for soulless corporations, its that nothing is more effective than waiting until the last possible second to do something about a problem, and then hastily rushing through whatever solution happens to be handy. The worse it gets, the more painless treatment and recovery will be. So if there needs to be some changes in the system, it's always better to take a wait and see approach.
But then I heard about these so-called "death panels" that would order the elderly and infirm killed if their medical costs exceeded some predetermined level. Perhaps they would even kill them right there, I couldn't be bothered to read any more deeply on the subject. The bottom line is executing the ill is change I can believe in! Moose-torturer Sarah Palin even said that they would kill her down-syndrome grandbaby. That would be kind of a shame, but honestly there are two many retards in the world already, using up all our non-renewable fingerpaints. How are my un-conceived, yet sure to be healthy kids supposed to express their creativity if a bunch of Corkys are hogging all the good art supplies? They aren't, that's how.
Off track once again -- the point is death panel legislation would effect old people more than any other group, because of their sickly nature. "They are going to kill Grandma!" Glenn Beck told me the other night, and every night. Which would be a loss, no doubt. Everyone loves their particular grandparents, if they are still alive. But let's be honest, they don't do a whole lot. Many of our elderly are even terrible bigots and racists. Sure, maybe "your" grandparents are kindly, and always give you candy when you visit or some other Hallmark shit, but sacrifices must be made to ensure the future of this great nation.
6 comments:
the thing is these so-called death panels are a republican conspiracy to derail the health care debate. maybe i'll make a post and vent on the topic of health care reform in the next few days...i do have some knowledge in that area, after all.
I think the general idea behind government health care is that you cut out the health insurance companies. So instead of companies and individuals paying large premiums to private companies that are only looking to make a profit, they can pay the government, who then pay the docs directly. The idea of cutting out a middle man is good. How this would actually be implemented is probably not so good.
-Dan
Glenn Beck is the new Perez Hilton, and Obama is his love-hate source of intrigue, will.i.am.
But where does that leave the Goats, you ask?
You can be the will.iam/Obama bodyguard, who punches Beck/Hilton and then denies it. Sounds goatlike to me.
What?
Correct me if I am wrong Dr. of the gpiece, but I was under the impression that most doctors were against a single payer system or even a government run alternative because that would mean the government could dictate how much they want to pay for services, like they already do with medicare. Which in turn, would make doctors get paid less.
No?
well, a lot of specialists are worried about getting paid less. most primary care physicians earn quite a bit less than the high paid specialists. for example orthopedic surgeons can start out anywhere from $300,000 - $550,000 and start earning more than that pretty quickly; family physicians start out around $80,000 - $150,000 and might go up slightly, but not really that much. don't get me wrong both are good salaries but there is a significant difference.
the primary care salary is less desirable for a number of reasons including the amount of debt one incurs these days (i'll have about $225,000 from med school alone), the medical practice's overhead, and the hours (60-80 hr weeks on average). i think the specialists could stand to make less.
medicare would pay more if it could afford to...a lot of things need to be done to make the industry more efficient.
payment for services also needs to be changed. you get paid significantly less for a 30min physicial than for a cortisone injection into an arthritic joint that takes barely any time at all. this is why you end up seeing your primary care physician for 5-10 minutes a visit. they inevitably see patients that require more time than that and immediately fall behind. sometimes they get double booked too making things that much worse. most days you have a few hours of paper work that you don't get paid to do, but have no choice in the matter.
btw, i'm going into family medicine and my brother is an orthopedic surgeon, so that's why i use those examples.
Discuss like a fox!
The Phillies are a doomed. Now that's discussion!
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