Obama finally called them out

[reinbeau]

No, you can't tell people not to go to the doctor, but wouldn't it be nice if people did use their heads and not run to the doctor for every sniffle? Wouldn't it be nice if they'd just use their heads period.....

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Wouldn't it be nice if they'd just use their heads period.....

Omigosh I literally LOL...Ernie thinks I've lost it....yea, that'd be nice! Have as much chance of that happening as I have to win the lotto!

Now I gotta wipe coffee off my keyboard

 

[FarmerChick]

Wouldn't it be nice if they'd just use their heads period.....


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMGosh the problems this would fix!!!!!!

Why in the heck don't we? Honestly!




Are we so far gone???

 

[Big Daddy]

I wouldn't call it a catastrophic SINGLE event...but I agree with Reinbeau that we all seen this coming, we all see the decline over the years, we all must acknowledge it, accept it and move forward to positive change.

Cause if we don't we are in for worse times (which are way far from over with already)......and one problem is lousey healthcare for the US along with tons of other major problems.

But yes, I seen many years of bad times for the US and rough change for the US ahead.

It doesn't have to hit in one day, fall apart this minute to declared a catastrophe. Not to me anyway. This is a long time coming catastrophe.

That Medicaid article is troublesome. If the feds are using medicaid to cover low income people in general that's fine. It needs to be at the federal level though. States actually have a budget they have to adhere to. So they will have to up taxes or cut other programs. Right now they have already cut everything to bare bones. I would expect that you will see something change there.

The biggest catastrophe we're facing right now is lack of production. We have changed from the worlds leading producer of goods to the worlds leading consumer. How long can we sustain ourselves doing that? I don't care which side of the aisle you are on. Unless you are making money from outsourcing jobs this is not good. Like you said his is a long time catastrophe. Unless someone has the gonads to make it non profitable for businesses to continue outsourcing then there will never be any more jobs to come back to. The center of the pyramid will be gone and the whole country will crash.

 

[Big Daddy]

They're talking about squeezing the waste and fraud out of Medicare

They can already do that without passing this new legislation. In fact, they should FIX WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE. The IHS example I gave has been ignored. 200 years....waste...fraud...heeelllloooooooooo. Fix that FIRST.

That needs to be fixed. It's just a portion of the problem though. Fixing that isn't going to fix the overall problem. The solution is preventative medicine for all to prevent catastrophic needs. Preventative cost a lot less than catastrophic. People won't get preventative on their own so they need insurance. For sure the fraud needs to be fixed. I think Obama is putting too many eggs in that basket though.

 

[Big Daddy]

OK Folks, as someone who is on Medicaid, may I tell you what I see? I mean when we go to the Dr.'s.

When we're at the Dr.'s people are coming in for everything. Even things they don't need to come in for. All because they get Medicaid, and they think they can get unlimited free care. They come in, and they just want the Dr. to give them medication and send them home.

We only go for necessary things (ie. yearly checkups, and Ernie's follow ups for his back, etc). I don't run my kids to the doctor because they have a cold, a runny nose, etc. I don't even rush them in if they get a fever of 102 etc. I treat it at home first. If that doesn't work, they don't get better, then I call the Dr. and I can tell them, "We've tried this and this."

They bump their head, I grab a bag of frozen veggies and watch them for a couple hours. No rushing to the ER for possible concussions, etc.

Medicaid has problems because people rush to the doctor for every little bump and scratch they get. Every injury, or just because you sneeze, doesn't require a trip to the Dr.

I think there should be something added to medicaid to stop people from turning every scratch into a trip to the Dr. Some kind of repercussions for abusing the medical coverage.

People do that with health insurance too. I think a modest copay would be a good idea. Perhaps 20.00. Not enough to kill you, but enough to make you think about it 1st. Problem with people not having any coverage is they get a fever and can't afford to pay a doctor 85.00. So they let it go. Three days later there at the emergency room in a coma. Then they're on life support. Five years later a court finally agrees to pull the plug and the tax payer has paid 5 million dollars on a vegetable. Just a stupid scenario I came up with but it makes the point.

 

[reinbeau]

You do not need to have insurance to get preventative care - that's an oxymoron if I ever heard it! Preventative care means taking care of your self, eating right (not what the big ag companies tell you to eat, but good, whole food), getting the proper exercise, sleep, etc. That's preventative care. There isn't anything other than vaccines a doctor can do for you to prevent bad health. You need to take care of it yourself- there's that dreaded personal responsibility thing again!

'Health Insurance' is for those who are sick, who need care. Keeping yourself healthy means - you won't need anything more than routine checkups, maybe, to make sure there isn't anything lurking under the surface that will make you sick.

The dietary issues in this country are a huge part of our 'health care problem'. Many of them are propagated by the government via the USDA and big ag, and a lack of knowledge (and laziness) by the public. The obesity problem in this country is huge, and growing (no pun intended). Getting big ag out of the education of our public is a huge part of fixing this - fat chance, the lobby is well-funded. There's tons of money in processed foods, and processed foods are a huge contributor to obesity.

 

[FarmerChick]

BD--you make good points in all those posts.

yea we need to be sure the "state level" is taken care of also.
See the states pick up their portion.....so while being OK with the federal govt....the state then must see increased state tax...etc.
Boy it sure is the catch 22....

but again nothing in stone yet.

You are right. We are a consumer nation. That means dependent on others to the extreme for our number of population. And if we don't produce, we can't make indiv. incomes, therefore, we can't buy. Yikes, it all leads to trouble!

I pay 25 now for copay. went up from $15 about 3-4 years ago. AND while it won't stop ME---it might stop others. Then again, commen sense is important.

And you are right, a small scratch we ignore, turns septic and then into gangrene. A $25 copay and insurance for meds means no amputation of limb surgery.

prevent is important!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

Ann I understand the common sense here.
I understand the prevent for health reasons AND THEY all need to be addressed and public made aware---which is happening but the extreme poor don't care about articles, internet info, health magazines they can't buy, Oprah and more telling us this is true.

Many miss out. I know, sad, but true. They don't have the time to learn true prevent or care---they exist minute to minute to survive. The luxury of learning is not had by all.

While we know it is a problem, attack from the back end and stop the addictive chemicals in food means the consumer who "just doesn't get it" will be helped.

Not everyone is smart -----true
Not everyone can worry about reading constantly and learning the info. that is available
Not everyone is you and me and we have to help more from the backend vs. the "common sense" approach. That you and me and many SS and other people live by.


So come in from the back---make less chem foods that will cut more problems then they make.

Hard to do when cheap food is needed by the very people you are trying to help!!!!

 

[Big Daddy]

You do not need to have insurance to get preventative care - that's an oxymoron if I ever heard it! Preventative care means taking care of your self, eating right (not what the big ag companies tell you to eat, but good, whole food), getting the proper exercise, sleep, etc. That's preventative care. There isn't anything other than vaccines a doctor can do for you to prevent bad health. You need to take care of it yourself- there's that dreaded personal responsibility thing again!

'Health Insurance' is for those who are sick, who need care. Keeping yourself healthy means - you won't need anything more than routine checkups, maybe, to make sure there isn't anything lurking under the surface that will make you sick.

The dietary issues in this country are a huge part of our 'health care problem'. Many of them are propagated by the government via the USDA and big ag, and a lack of knowledge (and laziness) by the public. The obesity problem in this country is huge, and growing (no pun intended). Getting big ag out of the education of our public is a huge part of fixing this - fat chance, the lobby is well-funded. There's tons of money in processed foods, and processed foods are a huge contributor to obesity.

You're absolutely right. Only problem is that a lot of people can't scrape up 85.00 to go see the local clinic. A lot of 50 year old men can't afford 600.00 for a colonoscopy. A lot of women can't afford to scrape up 500.00 for a mammogram. Yes there are programs like Planned Parenthood that provides the entire spectrum of womens care. They provide it on a sliding scale. Good thing they atre around. Keeps a lot of women off welfare and helps keep Medicaid cost down by providing free birth control.Of course the conservatives try to dump them every chance they get.

So in a Utopia we would all eat healthy and stay in fantastic shape. Sickness would be rare, obesity would be non existent. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Healthy food is more expensive than less healthy food with exceptions like beans and rice. McDonalds sells double cheeseburgers for 1.00. Heck you can't pack a lunch for that much. A peach cost 1.00.

So the merry go round just keeps on turning. Fight it all you want. Health care reform is needed.