The Whine thread.

[Distracted]

I can see how you'd feel that way in your situation, but you need to look at the big picture. Who pays for Universal Health Care? We all do. Especially those of us in the upper tax brackets. I give over 50% of my hard-earned income to Uncle Sam already. How much of my salary do you think the government should be allowed to take?

Come to think of it, I guess there might be an up side to government funded health care for me after all. Since my income would drop dramatically and I'd be working too hard to spend it on anything but food and clothes anyway (British GP's make barely enough to get by and are forced by law to have 24 hour call coverage and to work nights and weekends) , my absolute tax bill would be lower. I'd be in demand, too, since most docs in the U.S. financially able to do so will quit just as soon as the government takes over health care and young people will stop going to med school. Why bother to get all that education if you can make more money selling real estate?

[WarpGirl]

I understand that it's not fair to anyone, but hey your malpractice insurence should go down. Frankly I don't do politics AT ALL. I take what I'm given right wrong or otherwise and I'm grateful for my blessings. I don't want ANYONE to be adversely affected, but it's hard when my only options are to get drugged into oblivion or deal with pain I wouldn't wish on the most vile people in existance. ESPECIALLY, when after a while the painkillers start shutting me down because of the CP. But I feel bad for EVERYONE even super rich people because it isn't fair to ANYONE.

[Distracted]

How about getting an online job and making money so you can pay for massage therapy? If you can chat on these boards you can post advertising links for Google. Or would doing that endanger your benefits?

[WarpGirl]

It would screw with the money I have. At least in this state it would. Trust me I've thought of it. I'm actually a person who HATES not having a way to make my own living. My mom and I had a fight about me even taking benifits when I was healthier. Unfortunately in some places it's all or nothing.

[Alelou]

I have a cousin who's a doctor in Scotland, and he would probably agree with Distracted about the lives of doctors there (though they live pretty comfortably IMO, not counting all those house calls ... though as I recall he was quite appalled that American doctors didn't do that).

On the other hand, he took locum jobs in Saskatchewan any chance he could, even for years at a time, since the money was so good. And Canada also has universal health care. Hmmm....

[WarpGirl]

I think I'd like your cousin. Personally I find it appalling that Movie and Sports stars are paid rediculous sums of money for entertainment. Good Doctors are worth their weight in diamonds or oil, whichever is more valuable right now. But I don't believe their making whatthey deserve should interfere with the care their patients get. But that's really not their fault, it's the medical beuracracy's fault. Bottom line, politics and greed have the system in a chokehold and EVERYONE suffers.

[Escriba]

Ha! My grandfather used to say the same thing. When my uncle was a child, he was saved by penicillin (as many children here.) Once, my grandfather said, Alexander Fleming came to Spain, and he received almost no honors at all, while football playes, were met like heroes. He thought it was very depressing.

By the way, my town's public school is called Flemming.

[CX]

Oh you mean the stuff where you pop them like M&M's and nothing happens. I wish!

That was the Air Force's cure-all solution to every injury when I was at Field Training. I fractured my ankle and that stuff made it numb enough that I could actually walk on it, and it would just feel weird instead of hurt like, well, it was fractured. If that doesn't do anything for you that sure does suck.

Two words Universal Health care, Britan and Canada does it and for the most part I haven't seen any Stalins rise up. But honestly, complaining about it does NOTHING.

There might not be any Stalins, but there are a lot of inept and arrogant bureaucrats. Their health care tends to be underfunded, and the waiting lists are horrible. The mortality rates for things like breast and prostate cancer compared to the US are just a couple of reasons why socialized health care would be a bad thing. And looking at Canada, you might even notice private clinics making a come-back because people are tired of waiting for months on end to be seen by a doctor. And if you really want to see what government-run health care in the US would look like, just look at the hospital system used by the US military, and the VA Hospital.

I look forward to a day when somebody might actually do a reasonable study of this and decide that, "Hmm. A little regular therapeutic massage or acupuncture could prevent the need for thousands of dollars of life-threatening surgery and medication. Maybe this works out cheaper and safer in the long run...."

However, designing such a study would probably be a nightmare. There are so many variables.

I still think it ought to be studied.

Eastern medicine is way underrated.

[WarpGirl]

My sister married a Canadian and now lives there. She says that BOTH systems have awful things about them, but if she had to choose she prefers Canada. As for Motrin ha I can take tons of the stuff and it doesn't make a dent! I'm not kidding the doctors all just scratch their heads. They're like "so what does work?" I say "Demerol." They say, "Bad Drug" I say, "Life stinks." But hey I'm tough.

Hey why is it so blasted hard to cut the first slice of pecan pie? That was my breakfast and it was unbelievably frustrating!

[Distracted]

For the same reason it tastes so good... all the ooey gooey richness.

You had pecan pie for BREAKFAST? Do you know what's IN that stuff?

Seriously, the first three ingredients are molasses, corn syrup, and brown sugar (sugar and sugar, with a side dish of sugar). Might as well just get the sugar bowl and a spoon. Oh...and there's a few nuts on top, of course.

[WarpGirl]

I also eat ice cream for breakfast. My definiton of breakfast is pretty broad, but in other things I'm usually pretty heathy. Do you know what's in the broth that you have on a liquid diet in the hospital? Now THAT scares me because of the sodium content, not to mention it usually has onion powder which I am deathly allergic too. Really Pecan pie doesn't seem all that bad.

PS. Never get so bored that you ask a hospital nutritionist what's in the food. It's bad enough eating it when you don't know. True story swear to god.

[Aquarius]

Hurt my hands at the second job yesterday. Was busting pills out of blister packs for 8 hours and they're both swollen and puffy in places, and I popped a blood vessel in my left hand so it's all bruised and swollen.

Think I'll tell them I just need to watch a conveyor belt or pills coming down a racetrack when I get there.

And as a member of the "Working Poor," it bums me out that I still can't even afford medical insurance, or the $62 bucks to go see the Doc-In-a-Box at CVS. Not that they'd be able to do anything about this; it's just the principle of the thing.

I've been hearing about a new trend of doctors offices not accepting insurance at all. The doctors trying it say that it actually enables them to charge less money (because they don't need to hire a bazillion people to process all the billing/claims etc.) and get to spend about three times as long with each patient.

Sounds pretty win/win to me. Wish we'd get one near here.

[Aikiweezie]

We have clinics inside of Walgreen's here. They're a great option. We've been without insurance a few times over the past few years (hubby changing jobs) and they're quire reasonable for things like sinus infections, cuts, etc.

I hope you feel better soom. Your injuries sound painful

I've had docs who don't accept insurance - you pay up front and you do the paperwork for reimbursement.

[WarpGirl]

I'm so sorry Aquarius. I start my new hormones tomorrow. I don't want to turn into the psycho witch I was last week again. But it hurts too much not to try.

[JadziaKathryn]

Argh, insurance. I'm worried because my birthday is in a couple of weeks and I fear this might be the cutoff age for staying on my dad's insurance policy. It could be next year, not sure. So that would be bad. I'd better make that dentist appointment soon...

I don't claim to know what the answer is, but I do think that the current medical system is such a mess that something needs to change. Insurance companies are pretty much running the show.