Falling Sky
The sky is falling.Almost every day and certainly every week my conservative friends let me know that the sky is about to fall because of something Obama has done now.
I ignore them.
I’m not much good at catching falling sky anyway.
When Bush was President my every week sky falling e-mail came from the left because of something Bush did.
I ignored them too.
But this time my sky might really be falling.
Last week I got an e-mail from my conservatives saying I should do something since Obama was going to make deep cuts in Medicare.
I, of course ignored them.
But then I got an e-mail from my liberal friends , the same ones that wanted me to send a letter to my Senator to make sure he voted for the Supreme Court nominee because they were afraid the dastardly Republicans were up to something.
They told me I needed to write to my congressman because the health program contained in the huge pile of paper congress was pushing around included deep cuts to Medicare.
My liberal friends said this "
Now I began to wonder if my sky really was going to fall.
If both the left and the right are afraid then I should probably be afraid as well.
Seldom do these two groups agree on anything.
I am one of those people who is almost poor. I have enough to live on with a little help from my daughter.
But because of my serious health problems I need both a specialist and a local Doctor.
Until now Medicare has met those needs.
But in order to pay for this massive new program our health help is going to be cut back.
We are part of what Obama is willing to sacrifice to make the budget work out.
I know I’m selfish but I don’t want to be the sacrifice.
I want to live as fruitfully as I can until the end comes.
I think my Congressman might listen. He’s a Democrat but he was A Doctor. As a Doctor he refused Medicare patients because the reimbursement was too low. Now it will be lower.
But the President wants this bill.
He doesn’t seem to care or want to hear about who will get hurt.
My sky may really be falling.
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Thom over at Thom's Place.. has given me two more awards.
Thank you Thom. I am overwhelmed. You really, really, shouldn't have.
These are not exclusive . He gave the same two awards to fifty eight other blogs. He just loves to spill out awards.
Thank you Thom. I am overwhelmed. You really, really, shouldn't have.
These are not exclusive . He gave the same two awards to fifty eight other blogs. He just loves to spill out awards.
posted by Dr.John at 1:00 AM
20 Comments:
Your sky and a lot of other people's may very well be falling. I think it is time for another massive mail in campaign. Everybody needs to write to ALL their reps and send a letter to the White House, too.
I don't know enough about Obama's bill to know the outcomes of it. All I can talk about is healthcare in the UK.
After World War Two the socialists got in. Everything went left, including nationalisation of all major industries. Most of this was a disaster, but we still have a national health system. Everyone pays a national insurance contribution above tax, and for this we get a state pension upon retirement, unemployement and sickness benefits if we can't work, and a total health care system free at the point of use for everyone.
Now, it's expensive and it has problems, but when you need care, you get it, from emergency treatment, to major operations, to your local doctor, to a lifetime on medication - and apart from a small contribution for the latter if you can afford it, it is all free at the point of use.
And if you're rich enough, you can even opt to go private.
Like Anthony I can only comment on our Healthcare system in the UK - I beleive even with it's problems it is still second to none. I hope what happens in your country won't mean you will lose out Dr. John.
Congrats on the awards m'dear. x
Medicare has cut payments to doctors continually through the years. First it was the percentage that is paid, then it was just cutting the dollar reimbursements. This is nothing new; it has happened under both the Reps and DEms. The payments to the hospitals were often "delayed" for months on end. I'm not sure if that was because they didn't have the money or because they were investing it before they paid the hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospitals still had to pay their workers and bills.
One of the problems with Medicare cutting the reimbursement is that the Medicare supplement insurances often (usually??) don't pick up the rest of the bill, but only the rest of the percentage not paid by medicare.
One the other hand, doctors who treat older people have continued to have fairly high incomes throughout the years, which may well have not been the case if there had been no Medicare at all. Yes, Medicare and insurances have meant the clinics have to hire lots and lots of insurance clerks and the insurance companies, who also administer the Medicare as well as the Medicare Sup insurances, hire lots of clerks.
But even if Medicare doesn't pay as well as it should, the patients are liable only for the amount that Medicare says is "reasonable and customary."
SO FIGURE THAT OUT IF YOU CAN. AND WHO IS THE LOSER HERE????
PS- Bush tried to cut the Medicare payments and enough people screamed to prevent it. It isn't a Republican or Democrat thing. We are fair game for every body.
I honestly can't make enough sense of what's actually IN the health care bill, to know if the sky is falling or not!
Welcome to the "Confusion CLub" -or parhaps, "party" if you will. I'm also a medicare recipient and I also have a supplemental plan. So far, I really can't complain that much about what gets reimbursed or how because I've only ever received a "left-over" bill and that was finally resolved with my insurance paying it. But this whole health-care issue is a huge can of worms, to say the least. We need some kind of health care plan that is affordable for all people to subscribe to and that has not been the case. I am so confused over this health-care issue and those screaming that it is a terrible idea on all levels, and having been one who had no insurance at all for many years, I wonder why these people feel this idea is so atrocious. One of the complaints I've seen has been the mention of "discussions" with the doctor and patient about "end care" at various intervals. Geez, don't these people who complain and question that realize that this type of "discussion" comes up regularly now whenever one is about to be admitted to a hospital? It's not a sure fire means of doing away with elderly and/or very ill patients. That's just one item though and the rest -well medicare itself just confuses the living daylights out of me most of the time anyway so what else is new, huh?
Welcome to the "Confusion CLub" -or parhaps, "party" if you will. I'm also a medicare recipient and I also have a supplemental plan. So far, I really can't complain that much about what gets reimbursed or how because I've only ever received a "left-over" bill and that was finally resolved with my insurance paying it. But this whole health-care issue is a huge can of worms, to say the least. We need some kind of health care plan that is affordable for all people to subscribe to and that has not been the case. I am so confused over this health-care issue and those screaming that it is a terrible idea on all levels, and having been one who had no insurance at all for many years, I wonder why these people feel this idea is so atrocious. One of the complaints I've seen has been the mention of "discussions" with the doctor and patient about "end care" at various intervals. Geez, don't these people who complain and question that realize that this type of "discussion" comes up regularly now whenever one is about to be admitted to a hospital? It's not a sure fire means of doing away with elderly and/or very ill patients. That's just one item though and the rest -well medicare itself just confuses the living daylights out of me most of the time anyway so what else is new, huh?
If Congress thinks Obamacare is such a good idea, then why are they going to be exempt from it?
-Some animals are more equal than others-
I think MY awesome God will hold the sky up! However... He may allow medicare to suffer... if He feels He can use it to the good. I shall continue to ignore the left AND the right... and trust God to keep watch over me.
That is a sad situation to be in Dr. John. I've heard all of that as well and it's scary. I can only hope that it's not true. I don't know enough about Medicare to know what they do and don't pay for unfortunately. I think this health care reform is, like most everything Obama has done since he took office, being shoved down our throats to quickly. And let's hope your sky doesn't fall. People need to be more infomred and write to their senators and congressmen on this issue. I have sent both of mine and my representative my opinion on this and told them not to vote for it. Sad thing is...they are all deomcrats and are voting for it. They will all loose my vote next time they are up for re-election. It's all I can do.
Crap...sorry. You are most welcome for the award. Yeah I do love to pass the love :)
Medicare is falling into the same trap that was set years ago by some private HMO insurance companies. They decided what a dr should be paid and what he could prescribe or how to treat the patient.The doctors seemed to lose control. I used to work in the hospital or drs billing offices and getting payments or even getting a person to talk to me was a nightmare.When I billed Medicare for a certain diagnosis the claim was always held up for stupid reasons. I don't know the answer. But I have seen both sides and I still wonder what will the government screw up next.
It was not long ago that the experts -- whoever they are -- told us the economy would collapse and we would be in the worst financial ruin since if not including the Great Depression.
Now they are telling us things are better.
I told my students it is typical of a business cycle to go up and down -- but to just stay in their plugging away and usually things work out okay. I confess my retirement savings are not looking good but I think the crash / downfall has slowed down.
I feel that way about health care. It will be okay. There's a lot of noise now from various special interest groups and a whole lot of money involved. But when the dust settles everything will be okay. There is too much money in play and, well, health care is about as important as things get.
I am hearing people say that the world will end on 12/12/2012. My guess is that the world will continue on after 12/12/12 and that health care will be just fine, too.
I really hope your sky does not fall down Dr John!
People should have a discussion with their doctors about end of life care because the canned form from the lawyer is worthless, not understandable from the point of view of a lay person, and not helpful to the doctor, so says the in-house doctor here, who went over the form with me point by point and changed a whole bunch of stuff to fit my wishes.
But I will say that having these legal forms in place is a great blessing to our loved ones.
Now you're scaring me. I may have to actually start paying attention to politics.
Congrats on the awards.
The medical care is also a big issue for me. The more so as I am retired (ok, I have the chance to work for a few month which gives me a bit of a financial blanket), I have to watch my expenses.
Twenty years ago, I paid monthly close to 2'000 dollars fro medical care insurance. But that ocvered the four of us. I could not afford it anymore and looked for another insurance. I got the same service for 700 dollars. So, I changed. We were well insured. Semi-private as we call it. That means, if we had to go to hospital, we would be in a two bed room. And we could go to any hospital of our choice.
As time went by, my kids grew, started to work and made their own medical care. But for my wife and me, I now had to pay 800 dollars. So for two, I paid more than for four.
And it climbed and climbed. I finally had to decide to get rid of the complementary insurance and only keep the legal, mandatory one. Because keeping the "total" I was now at 1'200 dollars. So, now I pay 700 dollars. Ok, I can afford. But: No more semi-private: Common division, with 8 beds in a room. And no more choice of hospitals, I have to go to where they tell me to.
So, it does not matter if a president is called Obama or Merz; they screw you on medical care.
I never understood the American health system, it had never existed compared to what we have in Belgium and the other European countries. When I took care of my dying aunt (generalized cancer) in 1995 in Madison (Wisc) I was scandalized about the health insurance system. Fortunately she had a private one and had no financial problems, but I heard so much at that time. So I wonder how can you change something which has never existed ? I mean according to our standards.
My dad is in the same boat as you are, Dr. John. It's bad enough to be adrift in the sea of medical issues without the insurance sky falling on you! And I hope it does not.
It sounds like we need what the UK has...
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