Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for September 12, 2019

So our decision on whether or not to save your life will depend on … whether or not you purchased a commercial product?

RATIONING access to health care based on where you work or how much money you have is literally: “Your money or your life.”

Health care (including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, vision, hearing and mental health) is a public policy issue — a matter of public health and safety just like law enforcement, firefighting or emergency first responders.

When your house is being broken into and you call the police, or your house is on fire and you call the fire department, or there is a natural disaster and you need emergency first responders, they don’t ask where you work, what kind of insurance you have or how much money you have.THEY JUST SEND HELP.

What is the difference between getting hit with a hurricane and getting hit by cancer?

When your life is at risk from illness, injury or accident, access to life-saving health care should not depend on where you work, what kind of insurance you have or how much money you have.They should JUST SEND HELP.

It is no more a matter of “socialized medicine” than “socialized law enforcement” or “socialized fire protection.”

It covers putting you to sleep but not waking you up.

There are so many comic strips that make fun of how much health care coverage U.S.A patients can afford to have. For some reason, no other developed countries have these type of strips.

Deary me, the knock on effects of knocking one out!

You are suppose to gently ease them under, not shock them into unconsciousness!

The insurance paradox, before you buy it, it covers EVERYTHING! After you buy it, it covers NOTHING!

That would keep me awake.

Sorry to say, sir, you have a pre-existing condition. It’s your age.

That’s about right!

As usual, DD… has offered an unread manifesto which I somehow have managed to skip. I imagine that most of you will skip the following except for DD, who will respond to my post.

For the record, I have insurance on my home, car, life, and health. I’d be happy to collect on just one of those. Some of my risks are covered by taxes and some are by private companies. Where I feel that the government is offering limited coverage, I can help myself. I’ve worked with firefighters for many years; and they all agree that the majority of their calls are caused by poor maintenance of appliances and careless acts. My doctors would agree that much of our health issues fall into the same category.

I’ve survived weather and cancer. I don’t expect to survive death. Genetics and luck play a role in all of it; and people need to establish a distinction between “basic health” care and having access to the latest procedure/drug for a growing list of health issues. If you would settle for 1950 health care, you can get it for less than the price of a new iPhone.

This is exactly what caused me to lose my house and threw me into bankruptcy.

Wouldn’t that be more likely to cause a heart attack?

I live in Spain so I have no experience with the apparently crap system in USA. Public heath care here is really good.

When I had my wisdom teeth extracted, they told me how much it would cost right before they put me out. I came out of anethesia crying. AND in pain.

Ok, tell me again, if we have “Medicare for All,” why can’t I keep me Medicare Advantage Plan?

Funny thing, as a favor to a friend, I hired a guy that just got out of prison to do some Handiman work around my home. He stole over $8,000 worth of power tools. I gave the the police his name, address, phone number, and a photograph, plus a complete list of missing tools complete with make, model, and serial number of some of the tools. Never heard another word. When I contacted the District Attorney’s office they said the case was not worth prosecuting because there was not absolute proof he took the tools. Over the next few months, I had to buy my stuff back from pawn brokers. Strange, the person that sold my stuff turned out to be a fake name. Etc. Bottom line, the police and the rest of government was useless. Government WILL ration care to hold cost down. Beyond a certain age, if you fall and break a hip, you will have to live the rest of your life in pain and a wheelchair, because it is not worth replacing a hip.

Plus, the Government knows better than you and your doctor how to care for you. At age 76, I am already seeing this. So far I have lost 4 medications that worked well, but the FDA decided that they were too dangerous. I now have medications that do not work as well and make me depressed.

But at least you don’t have to suffer with (gasp!) socialized medicine!

And more and more prescription drugs are NOT being covered by insurance. This is personal but true. I have chronic constipation. It’s awful. I usually go the herbal route. One of my doctors was very concerned and wrote me a prescription for something I can’t pronounce. I believe the health industry gets paid by the syllable. I went to pick up the medication and was told my insurance wouldn’t cover it. A 30 day supply was $480! I looked at the pharmacy tech and said…“Well, it works!” I got a confused look to which I cleared with my next reply. “I just s*#t a brick!” A woman in line behind me laughed so hard she had tears. The pharmacy tech AND the pharmacist laughed. Needless to say I did NOT pay for that medication and I’m back to my herbal suppliment…which works just fine.

You are indeed correct.

Is it OK for the current occupier to cozy up to a socialist dictator?Great health plan the RethugliKlan party has come up with.Crickets ;(

THAT’S gonna raise the ol’ blood pressure……..

There was a case where a baby was born with just enough brain to breath. The baby went into a NICU and put on life support. Nothing could be done. The mother refused to end the support, believing the God would produce a miracle.The issue then became the bed in the NICU. There were babies that needed to be treated now. Babies that could be treated and moved out. Under all the universal health care concepts you’ll find there are limits on the care provided. As example, Medicare payed for my cataract surgery. However, a medical condition that required a laser to be used, came out of my pocket. This isn’t the boogeyman of “Big Phama” or “Big Insurance” it’s the reality that everything has limits.

Trying to knock him out or give him a heart attack?

The irony of it all is that the people who are the staunchest opponents of “socialized medical care”, as they put it, have the best socialized medical, dental and medication care that your tax dollars can buy as soon as they are elected into office and they gave it to themselves courtesy of you and me… plus it stays with them until they die, even if they are not re-elected, so what do they care about if you don’t have it???

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It boggles the mind that the people who keep bringing up these tropes about socialism don’t know in reality how the whole system works for the benefit of the people who make the laws and the lobbies who pay to get the laws made, and not for the tax payer who pays those bills….

I notice that the nurse is standing by with the defibrillator paddles, just in case his heart stops when he finds out his costs.

I read a post the other day by a surgeon who was operating on a woman with an ectopic pregnancy. She was uninsured & the surgeons knew that the hospital was going to write off her bill. Although hospitals can be ruthless about pursuing victims & people lose their homes to medical bankruptcies all the time in the U.S., hospitals do write off the care of indigent patients & pass on the costs in higher charges to everyone else. He was trying to carefully remove the misplaced embryo from her fallopian tube and save the tube to preserve her fertility. The other surgeon assisting him expressed contempt for this, saying, just take the tube, why make the effort when this patient is not going to be able to pay. That sums up the U.S. attitude to healthcare: Surgeons who believe, “Why do a careful job on a patient who can’t pay for their treatment?”

Don’t try that with me. It will not work. I’ve seen my latest hospital/surgery bill. Lots and Lots of numbers before the decimal point. Where I work has an excellent benefit package. I paid a $150.00 co-pay.

Making him Faint from shock is so much Cheaper than Anesthesia …

So long as it doesn’t turn into a Stroke or Heart Attack.

On the Plus side, his insurance Does cover a Bypass.

When my grandchild was about to be born 11 years ago, it was going to be a breach birth so my daughter had to have a cesarean. She was give a ‘window’ of three dates to choose from — earlier would put classify her as a premature birth, which the insurance company wouldn’t pay for and later would be too close to her due date and she might go into labor. My daughter went into labor on the first date in the window -indicating that the doctors were off on their due date assessment. If she had gone into labor 5 hours earlier, my grandchild would have been a ‘premie’ and would not have been covered by their insurance - ever. So much for family insurance!