So the landscaper who was supposed to come after lunch yesterday called and said he'd come tomorrow... and the other landscaper—I called and he said he'd come today after lunch... but then he called and said he'd come at 3:30 PM and now it is 3:44 PM... so much for promises.
A friend gave me a diamond to sell for her. I have two places that will take it on consignment. One says they will sell it for 2/3 of what the other one will sell it for. I'll try the place that will sell it for more rather than less... but we'll see. I did learn that diamonds are not forever... unless it is forever........depreciating.
We had lots of dirt to give away. We put ads on Craig's List, and various neighborhood elists. Someone called an hour ago. They were going to come in 20 minutes. And one of the landscapers did show up... but he wants the dirt later this week. I won't hold my breath.
I've been thinking too about the range of quality of doctors. Some are butchers. Others are able to help people. Is the health care that was just passed good health care? It was announced that 1/3 of births are Caesarian. Most think that is about 18% too many. Is that good health care?
4 comments:
If I said now that I understood everything about the Healthcare Bill both negative and positive, I would be a liar. So am I making an educated decision on where I stand on this issue. . . probably not. But I did pick a side in the end.
What bothers me about this whole health care debate is how the words sound in my ears. People seem very upset that the government would expect them to fork over their hard earned money and spend it on something like health care. Who is the government to decide which person gets treatment? Who is the government to decide if one lives or dies?
The debate about health care is loud and people seem to have no real problem expressing their position in my experience. . .
But there is another huge costly activity playing out for our county right now . . . WAR. . . or occupation if you prefer. Who is the government to expect me to fork over my hard earned money and spend it on something like bombs and fighter jets? Who is the government to decided if people go into battle? Who is the government to decide if one lives or dies?
I don’t really hear this debate. It is mysteriously absent. Why?
There are worse things to spend money on than health care.
I recently went to my doctor. She seemed displeased that I had taken the medication she prescribed me for as long as I have. The drug has a side effect of depleting the calcium in my body, making my bones brittle. She wants me to take a different drug now and she even gave me a pamphlet describing how I can get the new drug free if I participate in a new study of said drug through Wash U. So as my doctor presented it to me, I can either continue to take the drug I’m on now and deal with the known consequences, or I can switch to the experimental drug and deal with the unknown consequences. But I am not foolish enough to believe that these are my only two options. Sometimes health care is not the insurance company or the government limiting what treatment is available to you. Sometimes health care is about which drug rep bought you doctor lunch yesterday. So I agree. . . There’re more issues with health care than who pays for it.
If I said now that I understood everything about the Healthcare Bill both negative and positive, I would be a liar. So am I making an educated decision on where I stand on this issue. . . probably not. But I did pick a side in the end.
What bothers me about this whole health care debate is how the words sound in my ears. People seem very upset that the government would expect them to fork over their hard earned money and spend it on something like health care. Who is the government to decide which person gets treatment? Who is the government to decide if one lives or dies?
The debate about health care is loud and people seem to have no real problem expressing their position in my experience. . .
But there is another huge costly activity playing out for our county right now . . . WAR. . . or occupation if you prefer. Who is the government to expect me to fork over my hard earned money and spend it on something like bombs and fighter jets? Who is the government to decided if people go into battle? Who is the government to decide if one lives or dies?
I don’t really hear this debate. It is mysteriously absent. Why?
There are worse things to spend money on than health care.
I recently went to my doctor. She seemed displeased that I had taken the medication she prescribed me for as long as I have. The drug has a side effect of depleting the calcium in my body, making my bones brittle. She wants me to take a different drug now and she even gave me a pamphlet describing how I can get the new drug free if I participate in a new study of said drug through Wash U. So as my doctor presented it to me, I can either continue to take the drug I’m on now and deal with the known consequences, or I can switch to the experimental drug and deal with the unknown consequences. But I am not foolish enough to believe that these are my only two options. Sometimes health care is not the insurance company or the government limiting what treatment is available to you. Sometimes health care is about which drug rep bought you doctor lunch yesterday. So I agree. . . There’re more issues with health care than who pays for it.
Your musings about Ceasarian section births in the US prompted two thoughts; 1, Who would think that further involvement of government in medicine will rectify all errors and problems? Such a person would be a few slices short of a loaf. We still have falible humans running things regardless of the system. 2, Israel has for many years advocated Ceasarian delivery as the superior method of delivery with far less trauma to the deliveree. I don't buy that but it is some smart folk's opinion.
Many countries have had socialized medicine for years and they all seem to be happy with it. The insurance companies made this problem for themselves. I understand they want to make money but they have taken it to a perverse level as with just about everyone in the financial sector. Pharma companies pushing the latest pill that hasn't been properly tested or worse, has been proven dangerous but they still got to sell it to make money is just one of the reasons that the wealthy can not be trusted to police themselves. This is such a twisted mess though because the government agencies formed to protect us are bought and sold by these people who got their Bush tax cuts so they could throw money at politicians and not the people who sweat for them (ie the joke of the trickle down theory). I also have an issue with the way welfare is set up to not really help a person do better but puts them in a situation were they can't make that jump from barely surviving on welfare to functioning in the world. They lose hope because there is no hope, just a monthly check that will only feed them if they use a lot of cheap carbs to fill their food quota. Then you can add the crap of an education system that is losing another 4 million dollars here in Missouri this year. When a child goes all the way through school to 8th grade before dropping out and still doesn't know how to read there is a problem that somebody somewhere could have, should have done something about. In conclusion, as I could go on and on, the poor or middle class can not be the only one's expected to pay to play in this game. The odds are stacked too high when a CEO of a failed bank gets millions in bonuses and a school teacher loses their retirement because no regulation let these greedy people take it from them. You can see the same issue everywhere that deregulation has hit, health care, banking, GMO's, education, the working their butt off poor who a 40 hour work week would seem like a vacation, the media, and on and on. People have proven themselves to greedy to do what is fair and take care of the people who work to make them who they are. With the supreme court ruling on allowing these big companies to buy all the politicians they want this little crap health care bill(also a give away to the rich with the mandate) is a laughable little fish to throw out to the have not's to send them back to their TV's and keep them and their signs off the steps of the court houses for awhile.
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