Thursday, July 30, 2009

That's impossible, this doesn't happen in America...

Yes, I’m an old man and I have a rheumatologist, but I was on their website today and this is what it says:

Team Structure of Care at AARAA chronic shortage of rheumatologists exists
throughout the US. In most practices, waiting times for a new patient to
see a rheumatologist is 2 to 6 months
,
and many rheumatologists struggle to meet
the needs for follow-up care of existing patients. The shortage is projected to
worsen over the next 20 years.


How can this be? Americans don’t wait for Medical Care, that only happens in Communist dictatorships like Canada and France. That's what Republicans keep telling me.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Sound and Fury and Complete Bullshit

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090720/ap_on_go_ot/us_health_care_overhaul

I absolutely love the RNC and GOP tactic of just screaming “Socialism” at every thing they don’t like, even though they seem to love Stalinist moves like wiretapping every American without a warrant and arresting people and locking them up with judicial review. But again that was then this is now (Like how somehow it’s awesome when Sam Alito talks about how his judicial decisions are formulated against growing up poor and Italian, but 2 years later if you’re Hispanic it’s somehow a crime…Why has no one mentioned Alito’s bias towards Italian-Americans in Ricci? Why? Double standard? Racism? Or just plain politics?...speaking of Ricci I am fascinated how this has become “her” decision in the ignorant Right-leaning media that America lives under. A decision that was decided in trial and her court unanimously upheld (meaning they found no errors in their reaching their decision), then 4 Supreme Court Justices agreed with her court’s decision. Somehow b/c of the way one SC Justice voted she’s now some idiot or has a bias. Shameful)

But that is not my major problem with this “discussion” on health care as overly simplistic as they make it out to be. It’s this fallacy that today in America “you and your doctor” are the only people who decide your care. What a bunch of crap. There is already someone in between you and your doctor and that is a profit motivated bureaucrat in some office in Hartford. I’m not saying that I want a government bureaucrat making medical decisions, but if I’m going to have someone in the middle (and we ALL do today) I guess I would rather have the person who doesn’t have a financial incentive to deny me care.

I have a pretty good plan here, but numerous times I’ve had to jump through ridiculous bureaucratic hoops to get care. I’ve had prescriptions written by MY DOCTOR refused by my health plan and told to try something else, not a generic version for which I have no problem, with but a different drug altogether. So, let’s stop this false dichotomy of today it’s “Me and my doctor” vs tomorrow it’s “Me and the government”. Because unless you’re paying for your healthcare out of your own pocket you’ve already got someone with a financial incentive to minimize your care in between you and your doctor.

All socialism is created equal, just some is more equal than others.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/21/house.dealerships.closures/index.html

Panel member Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said his concern goes further than
that.

"Every day I guess I get a little more concerned about what the
administration is doing in regard to the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. It seems
to me that literally the administration is declaring war on capitalism," Smith
said.


So, this stalwart of Capitalism is going to use CONGRESS to re-open unneeded dealerships that the auto companies decided should be closed. I guess they’re all for capitalism and the free market when it happens to someone else (say Michigan), but not in my backyard. Like many senators tried to do with the funding of 7 more F22s that the military doesn’t want or need, fortunately, most took their head out on that one and common sense prevailed. But hey if a plane is made in 44 different states it’s almost impossible to stop making more even if the Military doesn’t want or need them. Everyone is for capitalism and common sense unless it hurts their chances for re-election….IDIOTS ALL. To paraphrase Orwell. All socialism is created equal, just some is more equal than others.

Friday, July 17, 2009

So obvious

Robinson's comment here is so engrained that I never even really thought about it, but it is totally how politicians (especially white male Republicans) view the world: