This is the premiere installment of This-N-That Sunday and I have no idea where it is going as I write these words. I’m just going to fly by the seat of my pants so to speak. Forgive me in advance if it seems like a mishmash, but that is as it was intended to be wasn’t it? Let’s get down to business. Global Warming It … Continue reading This-N-That Sunday
“Best doctor in the world is a veterinarian. He can’t ask his patients what’s the matter. He’s just got to know.” – Will Rogers This quote from Will came to mind recently while my wife was going to doctors trying to determine the cause of her recent ailments. In the last couple of months, she has had three emergency room visits, two of them by … Continue reading The Best Doctor In The World…
Medicare is a system that has been in place for 50+ years. Its approval rating is well above any competition and it keeps the costs of healthcare down. Paperwork which drowns the private sector insurance is very well managed to less than half in Medicare. So, why should we be experimenting with other often radical solutions to our healthcare network in the U.S.? I will … Continue reading Medicare For All… It Just Makes Sense
Before the surgery, I really had no idea who Dr. P was or what he looked like. (I am not using his full name here as I don’t have permission from him and don’t want to intrude on his privacy). Looking at him when he delivered the good post-surgery news I discovered he was a sixty-year-old or so guy with white hair and a neatly … Continue reading My Personal Experience with Brain Trauma – Part 3
In the last post, I left off just before my consult with a brain surgeon. When the ER doctor told me I had a chronic brain bleed because of my fall that scared me more than I have been in a long time. When the surgeon told me he needed to go in and fix it and to relieve the pressure, my life didn’t flash … Continue reading Personal Experience with Brain Trauma – Part 2 Off To The Operating Room
There seems to be many opportunities cropping up on this first day of a new administration for resistance to draconian change they intend for our democracy in the upcoming years. I am particularly happy to see Christians in this mode. No, not all Christians are among the 81% of Evangelicals who pushed the current administration in office. In reality they are a small percentage of that … Continue reading People of Faith For Resistance..
A threat by the nation’s largest health insurer to pull out of ObamaCare is a sign of the industry’s growing angst about the viability of the federal exchanges, sources close to the industry say. UnitedHealthcare’s warning sent new shockwaves across the healthcare sector after weeks of mounting anxiety among private insurers whose participation in the exchanges is critical to the viability of the president’s signature … Continue reading Why Are We Crippling Obamacare with Private Insurance Companies When Medicare Can Do The Job??
Shinseki reiterated other steps he’s taken, including putting the leadership at the Phoenix facility on leave and ordering a “nationwide audit of all other major VA health care facilities to ensure understanding of, and compliance with, our appointment policy.” Some question whether removing Shinseki would address the core problems at the VA or simply serve as a distraction for now.”Is him resigning going to get … Continue reading VA Hospital Problems….
Anyone who has read some of my posts know that I am an advocate for universal single-payer healthcare. After all, it is very efficient and cost containing system used in much of the rest of the world. Many of our citizens in the U.S. including this one are currently on a single payer system known as Medicare. After being on it for two years now … Continue reading Back Door Universal Healthcare…
Just a quick note to say I just watched a video of a town hall meeting opposing Obamacare. There was an elderly lady who ranted on and on about it. She was totally convinced that if we allow it to be implemented that it would certainly cause the downfall of the entire country. She finished with the following statement. “I realize that Obamacare does not … Continue reading LOL Moment….
A central reason U.S. health care spending is so high is because hospitals and doctors charge more for their services and there’s little transparency about why. There is no uniformity to the system, in which public and private insurers have separate, unrelated contracts with hospitals and doctors. The result is a tangled, confusing and largely secretive collection of forces driving health care prices higher and higher. … Continue reading Why Our Health Care Lets Prices Run Wild…
A hospital in Livingston, N.J., charged $70,712 on average to implant a pacemaker, while a hospital in nearby Rahway, N.J., charged $101,945.In Saint Augustine, Fla., one hospital typically billed nearly $40,000 to remove a gallbladder using minimally invasive surgery, while one in Orange Park, Fla., charged $91,000. In one hospital in Dallas, the average bill for treating simple pneumonia was $14,610, while another there charged … Continue reading Hospital Billing Varies Wildly….
Source: Paul Ran’s new Medicare plan could be tip of the iceberg (+video) – CSMonitor.com. A parallel factor is rising income. As a society grows richer, it tends to spend more of its income on health care. Add in demographics (an aging population) and a lack of competition among health-care providers in many markets, and you have a recipe for more people to consume more … Continue reading Paul Ryan’s new Medicare plan…
Source: Top six myths about Medicare | Reuters. MYTH FOUR: DOCTORS WILL NOT ACCEPT MEDICARE BECAUSE OF ALL THESE CUTS Facts: Most Medicare patients do not have trouble finding doctors who will see them, but there is growing concern about access to primary care physicians. This issue is monitored closely by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent Congressional agency charged with advising Congress … Continue reading Being Denied Coverage….
What the government has got to do is live as cheap as the people. 21 December 1932 Will Rogers Speaking about money not being wisely spent this morning got me to thinking about Will’s quote above. If you have read much on this blog you will know that I am a proud social progressive but also a fiscal conservative. In … Continue reading Living As Cheaply As The People……
RJ's Corner 