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July 2009 
Did you ever wonder why
Posted on Jan 10th, 2009
by 
martha
martha
Did you ever wonder why, when people have a really serious illness, and they don't have the greatest health insurance, that they might have to sit around for months, or even years, until they find a doctor who is willing to operate on them?
Did you wonder why, during that time, not the slightest effeort is made by any health care provider to provide appropriate treatment or mitigation?
Have you wondered why, when the patient gets worse, the patient is blamed for being ignorant or lazy and causing the situation to worsen?
Have you ever wondered why, when the patient finally DOES get their operation, their care is inadequate afterwards?
Have you wondered how people can languish at home without proper nursing care?
Have you wondered whether there is a connection between proper care and the continuing spread of resistant strains of bacteria?
Have you wondered why patients have to lose their home and their car, all of their money, and be destitute, and yet they STILL can't get proper care?
Have you wondered why prisoners in prison are entitled to operations and rehabilitative care that humble working class people are unable to obtain?
Do you and your friends joke about robbing a bank so that one of you can get their operation?
Have you wondered why doctors are willing to allow their paitents to go away and just die?
Have you ever met a patient who started to feel like they were expected to just shut up, go away, and die?
Have you wondered why doctors are able to write orders that the patient can never, ever, in real life be able to follow?
Have you wondered why physical therapy is so expensive?
Have you wondered why only expensive drugs and complex technologies are seen as agents of healing?
Have you wondered why nurses who don't like their patients get away with telling them that they are "lazy" and "don't deserve" to receive treatment?
Have you wondered why nurses' aides can get away with telling patients that the patient is "only imagining" that the patient needs assistance?
Have you ever wondered why people call health care in this country a "system"?
Have you ever wondered whether the insurance executives living in their 80,000 sq. ft. mansions think about the people who died sooner than they had to, and in pain, in order for them to live like nobility on the "profits" they have squeezed from their "profitable" industry?
Have you ever wondered why people accept a health insurance code which is built on a principle of "moral hazard" which means that it is assumed that if people are allowed to receive as much medical care as they need, that they will inevitably abuse that "privilege," and do things such as go to the doctor to avoid going to work that day, so it is therefore requisite that strict limitations be embedded in the system to avoid this unavoidable dishonest abuse by any and all patients?
Did you ever wonder if any of this will ever, ever get any better?
Did you wonder why, during that time, not the slightest effeort is made by any health care provider to provide appropriate treatment or mitigation?
Have you wondered why, when the patient gets worse, the patient is blamed for being ignorant or lazy and causing the situation to worsen?
Have you ever wondered why, when the patient finally DOES get their operation, their care is inadequate afterwards?
Have you wondered how people can languish at home without proper nursing care?
Have you wondered whether there is a connection between proper care and the continuing spread of resistant strains of bacteria?
Have you wondered why patients have to lose their home and their car, all of their money, and be destitute, and yet they STILL can't get proper care?
Have you wondered why prisoners in prison are entitled to operations and rehabilitative care that humble working class people are unable to obtain?
Do you and your friends joke about robbing a bank so that one of you can get their operation?
Have you wondered why doctors are willing to allow their paitents to go away and just die?
Have you ever met a patient who started to feel like they were expected to just shut up, go away, and die?
Have you wondered why doctors are able to write orders that the patient can never, ever, in real life be able to follow?
Have you wondered why physical therapy is so expensive?
Have you wondered why only expensive drugs and complex technologies are seen as agents of healing?
Have you wondered why nurses who don't like their patients get away with telling them that they are "lazy" and "don't deserve" to receive treatment?
Have you wondered why nurses' aides can get away with telling patients that the patient is "only imagining" that the patient needs assistance?
Have you ever wondered why people call health care in this country a "system"?
Have you ever wondered whether the insurance executives living in their 80,000 sq. ft. mansions think about the people who died sooner than they had to, and in pain, in order for them to live like nobility on the "profits" they have squeezed from their "profitable" industry?
Have you ever wondered why people accept a health insurance code which is built on a principle of "moral hazard" which means that it is assumed that if people are allowed to receive as much medical care as they need, that they will inevitably abuse that "privilege," and do things such as go to the doctor to avoid going to work that day, so it is therefore requisite that strict limitations be embedded in the system to avoid this unavoidable dishonest abuse by any and all patients?
Did you ever wonder if any of this will ever, ever get any better?
Access: Public
living in a society where health care is free & where the vast majority are willing to pay even higher taxes to ensure the highest pos standard available to all, it has me baffled to the core that a wealthy & resourceful country like yours, has soo many citizens reluctanct towards sharing the abundance. I think this will change eventually & maybe the recession worsening the living standard of millions, will make the necessaty for change become imminent. Loooking in from the outside, this is surely a topic that I anticipate the Obama administration to be adressing as a high priority. ( And whilst raising the moral & ethical foundation for coexisting, methinks taking guns away from people would go a really long way too ;-)
you know, funny thing. my symptoms were not taken seriously, they refused me any treatment whatsoever, told me it was all in my head, until i finally got health insurance for the first time in my life, at the age of 30.
When I am sick , I go my family doctor, or to a walk clinic anywhere I am. I can go to a hospital emergency room and be treated. If admitted, I can stay there at no charge for as long as needed. If I need therapy, for months, it is free. Some therapists will be sent to my home - speech, occupational, physio. If I have cancer, volunteer drivers will drive me 30-40 miles away for radiation treatments.
Hospitals have discharge planners who arrange all these things before they will let you out of the hospital. If you have to go to a nursing home, your pension will cover the cost of your stay there forever. (Private rooms are extra).
We were lucky to have Tommy Douglas, Premier of Saskatchewan 1944, (Douglas found himself an instant celebrity as
the head of North America’s first-ever socialist government. He wasrecently voted “THE GREATEST CANADIAN”:
http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/douglas-tommy.html
” Amid widespread skepticism, Premier Douglas mobilized aggressively, passing
more than 100 bills during his first term. He introduced paved roads, sewage
systems and power to most farmers and managed to reduce the provincial debt by
$20 million. Over the next 18 years he weathered Communist fear campaigns and a
province-wide doctor’s strike. Elected to five terms, he introduced
Saskatchewan residents to car insurance, labour reforms and his long-standing
dream of universal Medicare.”
Hopefully, President Obama will do something seemingly as radical and end up being The Greatest American. And all the questions you asked above will be obsolete.
Dear ones, thank you for commenting. Currently, we are facing a crisis situation which includes ALL of the elements mentioned above, and if you knew the context of these comments, you would know that the situation is worse than that. It’s to the point now, where I’m thinking about contacting politicians. The person involved is a vet, but because the person is not a combat vet, their benefits are strictly limited. Since last night, another question has arisen:
Did you ever wonder why people who are very ill, who need to focus on rest and recovery, are told that if the proceeds from selling everything they own that is sale-able do not cover their care bill, that they will be “put in a home” that offers no physical therapy? This, while being under treatment with antibiotics. What person could heal under this treatment, this dehumanization?
And as the friend, I find myself asking why I’m not taking a 2nd mortgage on my house, the house that I am refinancing because my husband can’t work, because I spend half my take-home pay keeping him ALIVE, paying the high costs of “reduced cost” medications and health insurance premiums.
When one lives in a capitalistic country, that’s what happens.
Problem is the capitalists have all the capital.
They don’t mind capitalizing on human suffering if they can make a buck.
A country should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.
The US citizenry has been brainwashed into thinking that socialized medicine is some evil thing. It is the greatest gift that Canadians have - security when at our most vulnerable. I am putting my money on Obama to finally get universal health care for our good friends to the south. Hopefully, that will be Obama’s greatest legacy. I hope to live long enough to see it.
I am truly sorry for anyone facing ill health and losing everything just because they are sick. Maybe you can find out which politicians support universal health care. I was told that EACH phone call or letter on a subject is counted as 100 opinions. Maybe some kind of phone blitz or out on the street with signs. Maybe the media might pick it up.
On the practical side, if your friend needs some dollars, I would gladly donate something to help. You can e-mail me. I try each month to donate to some needy person or organization.
In the meantime, I pray for all to be well, happy, and especially healthy.
Yeah, I often wonder how the world can be so cruel…and I was never able to understand money…so I guess, I’m wondering all the time.