Stewing in my own juices....
Mar. 27th, 2008 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaMy liberal/populist nose is out of joint at the moment.
Last night on the news (I think it may have been CNN) there were a couple of economists talking about the actual cost of this war in Iraq. The billions upon billions upon trillions of dollars that had been poured into a rat hole, predominantly of our own creation is mindnumbing. Frankly, I don't know whether to rage, to cry or to laugh.
Fast-forward to today. I was at my desk doing paperwork when my PA came in and said, "would you take a look at these eyes with me?" So I sauntered across the hallway to look at an eight-year-old with what appears to be eczema on his eyelids. The diagnosis was clinched when I took a look at his elbows (after rolling up his sleeves) to find more of the same. Easy diagnosis to make and very amenable to treatment. Other things however were a bit more disturbing.
I looked across the room and recognizing his mother I asked her (in Spanish), how long it had been since I had seen her. It's been a couple of years, and currently she is going to a clinic because she's no longer insured, even though she's working full-time, as is her husband. Now I diagnosed this lady with diabetes a few years ago.
"Are you taking anything for your sugar," I asked.
"No," she replied.
"When was the last time you saw someone medically?"
"Three or four months ago."
"Did you have lab work done?" When she nodded I asked, "how were your results?"
"I don't know. They didn't tell me."
I asked her, no, I begged her, to give the clinic a call and ask them for her results so she can bring them in with her, when she brings me her kid in two weeks, to follow up on his skin. It galls me. It frightens me, that a woman with four children, who is full-time employed and whose husband is full-time employed cannot afford to have a life threatening but eminently treatable illness appropriately cared for in our society. What will happen to the family if something happens to her? Who will get her eight-year-old to school? Who will keep this family intact?
We can afford to pour money hand over fist into Iraq and into our military but we can't afford to make certain that basic health care needs are met in this country. There is something desperately wrong with our priorities.
At the end of the day I sat with my PA talking politics and health care. He's my age, well actually a few years older with a set of four-year-old twins at home. His oldest son is now home after serving in Afghanistan. The young man did a year-long tour of duty there and amen, came home physically intact. Nine boys from this county has not been so fortunate and have come home in boxes. Others, more than I care to count, are coming back maimed both mentally and physically. I've seen one gentleman in my practice go after three tours of duty in Iraq has a nice case of PTSD. His scars remain unseen unless you stop to look.
Federal Census data offered in 2005 more than 46 million American citizens had no insurance coverage at all. No private insurance. No HMO. No Medicaid. No Medicare. Nothing. Another 47 million were on Medicaid according to census data released in 2004 and even though these people have coverage, their access to care still remains limited as many physicians will not accept them because coverage is so poor. Our current population is estimated at 303 million and almost a third of us have either poor or no access to adequate health care. Yet, we spend more per capita than any other nation in the world for healthcare.
What the hell is wrong with this picture?
Last night on the news (I think it may have been CNN) there were a couple of economists talking about the actual cost of this war in Iraq. The billions upon billions upon trillions of dollars that had been poured into a rat hole, predominantly of our own creation is mindnumbing. Frankly, I don't know whether to rage, to cry or to laugh.
Fast-forward to today. I was at my desk doing paperwork when my PA came in and said, "would you take a look at these eyes with me?" So I sauntered across the hallway to look at an eight-year-old with what appears to be eczema on his eyelids. The diagnosis was clinched when I took a look at his elbows (after rolling up his sleeves) to find more of the same. Easy diagnosis to make and very amenable to treatment. Other things however were a bit more disturbing.
I looked across the room and recognizing his mother I asked her (in Spanish), how long it had been since I had seen her. It's been a couple of years, and currently she is going to a clinic because she's no longer insured, even though she's working full-time, as is her husband. Now I diagnosed this lady with diabetes a few years ago.
"Are you taking anything for your sugar," I asked.
"No," she replied.
"When was the last time you saw someone medically?"
"Three or four months ago."
"Did you have lab work done?" When she nodded I asked, "how were your results?"
"I don't know. They didn't tell me."
I asked her, no, I begged her, to give the clinic a call and ask them for her results so she can bring them in with her, when she brings me her kid in two weeks, to follow up on his skin. It galls me. It frightens me, that a woman with four children, who is full-time employed and whose husband is full-time employed cannot afford to have a life threatening but eminently treatable illness appropriately cared for in our society. What will happen to the family if something happens to her? Who will get her eight-year-old to school? Who will keep this family intact?
We can afford to pour money hand over fist into Iraq and into our military but we can't afford to make certain that basic health care needs are met in this country. There is something desperately wrong with our priorities.
At the end of the day I sat with my PA talking politics and health care. He's my age, well actually a few years older with a set of four-year-old twins at home. His oldest son is now home after serving in Afghanistan. The young man did a year-long tour of duty there and amen, came home physically intact. Nine boys from this county has not been so fortunate and have come home in boxes. Others, more than I care to count, are coming back maimed both mentally and physically. I've seen one gentleman in my practice go after three tours of duty in Iraq has a nice case of PTSD. His scars remain unseen unless you stop to look.
Federal Census data offered in 2005 more than 46 million American citizens had no insurance coverage at all. No private insurance. No HMO. No Medicaid. No Medicare. Nothing. Another 47 million were on Medicaid according to census data released in 2004 and even though these people have coverage, their access to care still remains limited as many physicians will not accept them because coverage is so poor. Our current population is estimated at 303 million and almost a third of us have either poor or no access to adequate health care. Yet, we spend more per capita than any other nation in the world for healthcare.
What the hell is wrong with this picture?
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-28 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-28 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-28 03:01 pm (UTC)It must be so frustrating for you at times!
Here I am sheltered in industry.
Isolated from anything of this sort.
Please keep us posted!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-29 04:38 pm (UTC)Instead of the static, but reliable economy we had in the 50s/60s, with a hugh stable middle class, we'll have a third world economy of a unstable economy, a very small middle class, tiny wealthy class, and a huge class of poor people.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 08:22 pm (UTC)