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Uninsured, Medicare, Medicaid, Health Care Reform

May 15, 2009

About This Editor: I am a writer. Have been writing for other sites, but expect to do most of my future work HERE! My expertise extends from the esoteric such as burning hydrogen to the unpredictability of the stock market and my writing makes me a jack of all trades and exasperated master of none. I have had some influence over national wildfire and water policy and there are hints of a change in energy policy, BUT as Samuel Goldwyn once said, "A verbal promise is not worth the paper it is written on."

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The federal government has a major role in a lot of diverse fields, especially including health care. So the new political debate about insurance and other reforms is of great interest to me particularly because those folks in Washington dominate the field and also set standards through funding and policies and rules and regulations such as approving medicines and treatments and the terms and conditions they can be applied under along with choosing what to pay for or deny and so on and so forth.
Currently, I am covered by both Medicare and Medicaid while in the past I have had private coverage and even paid cash for treatment and other medical extras as matters unfolded. so I know the difference between medical service and a menu of practical options compared to cheap and skimpy government services, often provided on a take it or leave it basis mostly on a bare bones basis.
As a basic example, I just had cataract surgery. Were I able to take advantage of private coverage, I would have had more discussion about what is going on and what my options were and are depending on what I could pay for and what I wanted and needed. Let me tell you that without a doubt private coverage is better, but that is not where I am, much to my chagrin.
Then there is coverage of medicine that I need and have to take. The government does not like to pay for brand names so the pharmacists have to make calls and substitute generics or get approval when something is in short supply if another option is available at all but first has to be approved in any case. It is all bureaucratic nonsense and takes extra visits and phone calls killing a lot of time. It is very, very annoying. Luckily for me, I had extra tests done at extra cost to identify the infectious agent that caused my legs to swell to much I could not walk and had to be hospitalized on two separate occasions so having carefully read the available patient information on my new medications I am pretty sure I got the right medicine thank goodness.
My understanding is I face further eye surgery in less than 30 days along with an existing major medical problem somewhere down the road that will definitely require hospitalization so I am not at all satisfied with what is going on.
I would prefer to be in private business where I have a vested interest in non dam water power that is far superior to the patronage schemes being promoted by certain more radical political interests but have been unable to gain traction because of overbearing and undue political influence and meddling. So I am reduced to complaining about the inadequacies of government prescribed medicine as I am making obvious here. If this is any elected official’s idea of proper treatment perhaps they should avail themselves of abundant doses just for good measure.
Anyone who listens to ABC Radio knows Don Imus, because he has a big contract and is what is considered a savvy media icon, is able to shop doctors and treatments. I would hope to do this for some lingering prostate and dental problems where government insurance likes to draw fine points like whether false teeth have to be adjacent or prostate medicine has been efficacious and other important issues, mostly to save money, something I do not like.
Like I said, I have been there and done that so I know the difference.
I also know that because of the leading role Washington plays in research and development more could be done in developing medicines, including encouraging basic research and providing seed money, to cure such common maladies as pneumonia. Yet leadership is sorely lacking, probably because there isn’t a gang of voters jumping up and down rooting for results.
In addition, I intend to further elucidate these matters when I post what I know about federal policy and transparency on wildfires, flood control and those criminal Somali pirates. Just think how effective sanctions are on an ineffective, phantom government in upheaval and freezing bank accounts for thieves who sleep with their AK-47s on top of whatever they stuff into cheap, straw filled mattresses.