One sentence about Health Care

[mimitabby]

my husband wrote this today:

So, last night was a crappy one. In the middle of the night, I started to think of my own circumstance as respects my doctor, who has been my personal physician for over a decade, his brother being my personal physician for the 20 years before that and I've even been treated by their father, who was retired but used to fill in for them when they were on holiday. So I get a letter just before the holidays last November saying that he now wants $2,000 to keep me on as a patient. It isn't enough that doctors and hospitals charge for services at inflationary rates that don't begin to mirror the rest of civilized society, all the while putting all their money into research and development and clinic expansion and hospital expansion, all so they can provide more services for which they can charge higher fees and at the same time they are laying off nurses and other staff, charging prices for drugs that are up to TEN TIMES what other countries charge for the same drug and the insurance company lobbies, AMA lobbies and drug company lobbies all join hands and sing kumbaya while the rest of us poor dumb schmucks pay and pay and pay and when I had to visit my father in law in the hospital when he went to ER at Ma-in-Law's insistence 2 weeks ago because he kept losing weight and couldn't eat and as I walked through the door I saw the walls and halls of the ER lined shoulder to shoulder not just with the true emergencies but with the poor who have no other resource BUT the emergency room which is the most expensive treatment available anywhere, but because they have no insurance they can't afford to go to a regular doctor because the regular doctor wants cash they don't have in order to treat them and if they could get into the doctor's office in the first place they would probably not get adequate treatment anyway because they've laid off so many of the staff: and I'm laying there in bed thinking about all this and how I need to make an appointment with my head doctor, and I don't mean "chief physician" but THAT head doctor cuz I am in need of some tweaking, but unless I shell out the two grand in case management fees, my doctor doesn't want to see me anymore but will be happy to refer me to another physician; like I really want his referral if he is too dingblasted important to see me at the 'normal and customary' rate that the insurance company is willing to pay, and can I see Dr. Gary the head doc without a referral from Dr. Gary the internist and general practitioner who wants to bleed my personal pocket because he's not getting enough out of my TWO INSURANCE COMPANIES plus my CO-PAY to support himself and his practice in the manner to which he's become accustomed, and the longer I lay there and think about this the more anxious I become about what is going on in the world in general, not just about health care, but individual service in a lot of areas and how we treat each other as human beings and how the world has changed in my lifetime and how much more removed people seem to be from each other except on a very very personal level, but in spite of trying to maintain healthy relationships with friends, take care of my family, maintain a healthy outlook on life, attend to my physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing, I am surrounded by a world full of IDIOTS who man the pharmacies, the health insurance companies (not to mention my OWN insurance company where I show up to work every day and shuffle papers around in the game called "get it off my desk and onto YOURS" - aka "corporate America"), the IT departments, and pretty much every service oriented business in the land, all the while calling what they do "customer service", and the more I thought, the more I tossed and turned and about the only good thing about this?

My little 7 month old kitten not only snuggled up at my feet, but when I got out of bed and went out to the sofa so I wouldn't disturb my wife with my dark thoughts in the dark of night, the kitten followed me out to the sofa, curled up and purred in my lap until I finally relaxed and fell back to sleep.

Life may suck sometimes, but with a kitten in your lap, it isn't ALL bad.

[SharonAnn]

1. You're right! With a kitten in your lap, it isn't ALL bad.

My husband is very sick, takes pain pills and is sleeping a lot. We lost two of our cats of old age last fall and almost the first thing I did was replace them. I actually brought one of them in about a month before one of the older cats died because I saw it coming.

A friend thought that with my husband so ill, I shouldn't add to my troubles with more pets but I told here that it comforts him greatly when one or more of them lie down with him and sleep with him. It really helps him.

My new motto, "Witha kitten in your lap, it isn't ALL bad."

[mimitabby]

2. thanks Sharon Ann

[alstephenson]

3. K & R

for the kitties.

[Paper Roses]

4. $2000 to keep you on his patient list? I never heard of this.

We all are having Medical nightmares but this one would make me find a new doctor. Unless I read this wrong, that $2000 seems like bribery.

[mimitabby]

5. not exactly

If you give the doctor that $2000 you get some bennies like a free medical checkup. I forget how much more you have to give him to get his cellphone number... No kidding!

[KT2000]

6. Going through that too

the angst about healthcare in an increasingly callous world. We are in the middle of a massive marginalization of
people not considered wealthy.

Have often wondered what is up with the docs that they are against the tyrany of the insurance companies but are just waiting for the patients to do the hollering. Then when they do - they come out against them if they advocate single payer. I wondered what their plan would be, and you have answered that question - the $2,000 fee.

Now for the good part - my kitty slept with me last night too!

[mimitabby]

7. we think

our doctor is trying to limit his clientele to the very rich.. That in itself is disturbing, as we trusted this guy and then we find out that he really doesn't care about us... since we are not rich.

[Jamastiene]

8. Health Benefits of Animals

Library: GENERAL Health Benefits of Animals
For articles, abstracts and resources specifically related to the health benefits of animals for children, adults, seniors and/or families, utilize the green navigation buttons on the left hand side of this web page to access those libraries.


Articles & Other Resources
http://www.deltasociety.org/Page.aspx?pid=333

Health Benefits of Pets
http://www.cdc.gov/HEALTHYPETS/health_benefits.htm

Bottom line:
Pets are GOOD for our health. :thumbsup:

[mimitabby]

9. thanks for the cool links

I'm the cat lady. This is the first cat that follows my dear husband around. :)

[Vinca]

10. For $2,000 he ought to let you have the use of his vacation home

for a couple of weeks a year. I think this scheme is referred to as "concierge medicine." Ideally, the suckers reeled in can provide BIG bucks per year. Your doctor must be a newbie at $2,000. What a world we live in.

[mimitabby]

11. yes, that's what it's called "Concierge Medicine"

sounds snooty enough I guess.

[tblue37]

12. I would like to read your post, but it is a solid block of unreadable

print. Maybe break for some white space now and then.

[mimitabby]

13. sorry that was the point

it's one sentence. sorry you can't read it.
I thought you would be amused and saddened at the same time.
I, on the other hand write in short choppy sentences most of the time.