Steven Brill’s 26,000-word health-care story, in one sentence

Steven Brill’s 26,000-word health-care story, in one sentence

OK readers, so you couldn't get through the longest Time article in history of 26,000 words? We have here the remedy in one sentence. [Spoiler alert: I'm gonna give the sentence to you and you don't have to click on nuthin.]
"The American health-care system does not use rate-setting." Except for Maryland it turns out, which is living proof that we CAN control costs. In general the rest of the (rational) world sets rates for medication, treatment, hospital stays. In the USA (except Maryland) there is nothing to stop the hospital from charging you $1.50 for a Tylenol, yet you can buy a bottle of 100 for $1.49. Folks, we are being raped financially.

So, if NOW I've got your interest, how about clicking on that full length Time article? 

Whatever you do, don't get sick in the USA

Time Magazine: Why medical bills are killing us.
This is a long article, lots of details, on how and why the medical system is broke. There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle including the worst: the incredible greed of the medical establishment in the USA. I can say with certainty that this is a "USA problem" with the perspective we have in Bolivia. Yes, doctors are relatively well compensated here; yes a good hospital (private) or clinic will cost more than a public facility. But there is no conceivable way that the 10s, 100s of thousands of dollars that one sees in the USA could possibly exist here. And thinking of the millions of dollars that are not that uncommon: impossible.

One of the reasons (other than not having a job or a way to pay for return expenses after being abandoned overseas during the Great Recession.) that we have not moved back to the USA is simply we don't have medical insurance. And at the age we were dumped six years ago (late fifties) and with some no-so-serious-but-impossible-to-hide medical issues, it was impossible to get health insurance.

My solution: universal health care-single payer just like Medicare. Or, if you want to put the greed business out of business: nationalize the entire system. But whatever you do, don't get sick in the USA. You could lose everything.

Asteroids and Meteors and Congress: Oh My!

Glad those folks in Congress had a nice President's Day vacation (and more; like how many days did YOU get off?) Hope that when (if?) sequestration takes place and 10's to 100's of thousands lose their jobs or get furloughed that they will vote accordingly in 2014.

My Opinion of Rich Folks on Cruise Ships

    One does not see too many Bolivians taking a cruise. The biggest problem is probably not money but the fact that the cruises normally originate or have stops in countries where we have problems getting a visa. Trust me, being in a landlocked country is probably an incentive for a cruise.
    The cartoon clipping perfectly captures the huge disparity between the rich and the poor. You get to define 'rich' how you want. To me having enough money to jet off to a port, get a passport, have someone watch your house(a BIG issue in much of the world) is only preliminary to paying for the cruise itself. The caricature   of the poor is a bit misleading: most of the persons living on a few dollars a day (if that much) have clothes, have food, have shelter. But it is inadequate and varies by season. For example it is the rainy season now in Bolivia. A house that may be adequate for 8 months of the year could be uninhabitable for 4 months. Clothes that are fine for summer don't cut it when the temperatures are 20-30 degrees cooler in the winter.
   So please enjoy your cruise. But remember that there are literally billions on the planet that are just making it day to day, month to month, season to season.

Giving up something important for Lent....

Could not resist.....

In Montana, Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government - NYTimes.com

In Montana, Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government
Wow, I didn't know I was so young! My hunch is that many / most of us that have been thoroughly whacked by the Great Recession (loss of jobs, loss of health care, loss of life savings, loss of dignity/self-worth) are also converts to "liberal and open to big government."

Hey, wanna die three years before your time?

Americans Closest to Retirement Were Hardest Hit by Recession - NYTimes.com

Mark Twain wrote: "There are three kinds of misstatements: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics." I wish that the link above was indeed a misstatement, but it is not. In the article by the NY Times is a link to an NBER paper on the statistics of "being laid off at the age of 57-59". Their conclusion: subtract three years from your life expectancy. Those of us that were in this age range (I was 57 when laid off six years ago) and laid off during the Great Recession can expect nothing but bad news. Part time low paying jobs with no benefits; liquidating assets to pay for the basics of life; depression / low self esteem; poorer health as one delays health care until the symptoms are too big to ignore; statistically dying three years before your time.