Socialized medicine

I like John Stossel. Today I found out he was under treatment for lung cancer, and at 69, I’d have given him about a zero chance of living the next 5 years with our very broken medical ‘system.’ One can get lucky (I did after my stroke), however, one cannot expect that luck is anything other than an aberration. One comment was quite interesting:

chev1958 3 hours ago

"Patients will have a better experience only when more of us spend our own money for care. That's what makes markets work."

Dream on. Sadly, most patients can't spend their own money for care. The medical profession has fed off the government and insurance largesse for so long that costs for services will never come down to what most people can afford. Those patients will just do without.

When the money runs out for decent treatment, indecent ‘treatment’ follows. After 44 years of paying into the Social Security ‘system’, it’s a true horror story to find out what it has morphed into. Virtually all the alleged ‘doctors’ around here are the miserable, totally uneducated, low I.Q., ethic-free, narcissistic, marble-gargling, worthless creatures from India which have absolutely no business other than feeding at the trough. My disgust of these creatures is incurable and the ‘system’ that allows these quacks the ability to feed is no less. Ferengi.

Your and my tax money pays for this. Obatshitcare has vastly exacerbated this disaster. Bullshit and paperwork (read computerized ‘paperwork’) now comprise an unknown (>70%) amount of the health practitioners’ time. Unless, of course, one is a hindu. They hire humans to feed the papermill. Someday, ask me how I feel about hindu ‘society.’

‘nuff of that. Today, as usual, I read the morning news (14 sites, all flavors), my favorite blogs, and a bunch of links. This stops as one could go mad quickly. Fun, awesomely addictive for someone who has outlived his friends and family and lives in a wheelchair, however it is too soon to join the rubber-room crowd! ...time to continue on one of my favorite future posts on the personality development of children (was a foster father for years), Wade and the Rhodamine Machine (totally legal then, now the powers-that-be would put us all of us in jail!), or one of a half-dozen others. It takes me what feels like nearly forever to type these with just my left index finger, especially since I was a rapid typist before.

ANYWAY, since this post is my first for a month, it rambles miserably. I’ve found out so much since my ‘discharge’ from SHCC about Obatshitcare that I am absolutely furious. A system that can’t be afforded, won’t be. The extreme cost and the extreme drugging to keep otherwise useful, productive people in pits for the enrichment of the unethical has gone on for far too long. How to change it back to the system of the 50’s and 60’s I’ve no idea. Anyone under the age of 60 probably has no idea of what I’m writing about.

Now for a bit of fun. Yesterday I had decided to finally go and see if my prescriptions for a wheelchair that actually fit (the one I’m in is 20+ years old, doesn’t ‘belong’ to me, and is twice my size), a new seat cushion (can you believe a ‘prescription’ is required?) to replace my 5 year old one, and a standard sling for my paralyzed arm. No biggie, just things to improve life a lot. This store is one that I’ve had dealings with and friends in for 29 years and have always been good. Yesterday was no different. To replace my present seat cushion which is no more than a piece of firm, non-collapsing foam with a water-resistant cover (think airline seat) is $350 ! Damn! I was in the wrong business! ...and that was the cheap one...

The sling? It is mostly for me to be able to travel in my one-armed, one-legged way in the oversize wheelchair without my right arm looking like a piece of hamburger meat. Under Obatshitcare, $179 ! They are $19.95 retail. Again, I spent my entire career in the wrong business…

The wheelchair? In 1971, I bought a brand new Dodge Charger SE, all accessories, 440 magnum, a very nice car.

Mine was silver-gray and I had my own girl! ;o)

The wheelchair? I took this from the store’s site:

You can have one for the same price I paid for the Charger.