Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Free Government Health Care

(Stumbled across the linked articles while looking up "tincture of time," which has so far proven the most effective treatment for my migraines).

...Don't listen to me; what do I know? Go read what one of the guys who pushes that boulder uphill every day has to say.

Rom Risley appears to be one of the dedicated people who makes it work; his politics are not mine. But he gets it, even not wanting to. In him, we have someone who sincerely wants to do good -- and is impeded in his efforts by the very system that's supposedly enabling him to do so.

Maybe there is some magic formula that keeps public health care -- and private health care, too* -- from being run by, for, and about bureaucrats but I am bedarned if I know how.

As Dr. Risley illustrates, when budgets are fat, patients are a huge boon to public health systems; when times are tough, well, that's another story. Tough luck, Jose.

I have been called "heartless" because I don't believe people's medical problems -- or any other sort -- impose a requirement upon others (or "society") to help. Isn't it more heartless to help 'em for awhile and then pull the rug out? Flip side is, I'm entirely in favor of voluntarily-supported efforts to help others and rarely pass up a legitimate collection-plate without tossing some money in. ...I could afford to pitch in more if I wasn't being taxed, 80% of which is keeping corpulent paper-shufflers in nice offices funneling the remaining 20% to do what my tax money is supposedly being taken for.

But stopping that would be just heartless, wouldn't it? Or would it?
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* Usually not as egregiously and often in different ways -- but I vividly recall an interesting three-way telephone call between an endodontist's bookkeeper, a "customer service" representative from my dental insurer and me, in order to resolve a billing dispute created by the D.D.S. using one set of billing codes and the insurer another, which they would not address until brought into direct contact. No question what the procedure was or that it was covered but hey, wrong code? Looks like you'll be footin' this bill, Ms. X! Except not, 'cos for a few pennies, Ma Bell hooked us all up.

5 comments:

Secesh said...

Have you been to an MD for the migraines? I had them in my 40's and so did my daughter. They have prescription meds that work for it now.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

If you're heartless, so am I. I simply do not see why I should have to pay other peoples' medical bills. I don't have any moral or Constitutional responsibility to do so, regardless of what the gummit has to say about it.

wv: turdea. That's what universal health insurances is -- a turd of an idea.

NotClauswitz said...

Health Savings Accounts - but 'Bama and Pelosi want to destroy that option.
Thanks for linking to that guy - he's in the belly of the beast for sure, the pancreas of the Politburo at least. He shows fairly conclusively what level of bureaucratic duplicity exists in Sacramento - and that California's woes are not just the fault of somnambulant conservatives or moonbeam air-head hippies. It's the Apparatchiks stuffing public money in their mattresses, gaming the system and feathering their beds. Much like my wife's present boss who is doing the same thing at The Big Private University, having moved over from the UC System-side.
It's especially revealing that he works inside such a neo-Stalinist system, and it is evident that rationing is already effectively a party of the system despite the hugely bloated purse/budget that hangs above him, controlled by literally his Superiors, the Apparatchiks in our Sacramento Politburo.
The description of his office is also pretty good description of schools in California, as the system that ru(i)ns and "finances" them is xerographically similar.

Really what he's saying and showing is that the "Public Trough" is not really for the public - it is provided by the Public, but that *Some Publis* are much more equally compensated that other mere public actors. The rape of the state continues from above.

Roberta X said...

(Secesh, you would not believe the tale of woe I could tell about my migraines, which were at one time totally devastating and which involved a whole lot of doctoring. But I won't tell it, as it would also bore everyone well past tears. Suffice to say that I have seen many doctors and tried every medicine offered as of about 2002 and I will have to be a lot worse off before I even consider trying that again).

perlhaqr said...

There's some new stuff out. My wife is a pharmacist, I could ask her for a list of everything that's come out since then, if you'd like.