We'd be a great deal healthier if the news didn't make us sick by Raven West
(libertarian)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I'll admit, the last time I had heath insurance was over seven years ago when I was working for a major company. The premium, which was automatically deducted from my paycheck, was $350 a month and I never had even one claim. I never really paid much attention to health insurance, or the lack thereof since, until the issue became the "flavor of the day" topic on every television news program and internet cite 24/7, ad nauseam.
I watched Glenn Beck on Fox news, then switched to Keith Olberman on MSNBC,, I got whiplash. Four hours of CNN later, I began to get a terrible headache, and thought I was having a stroke. I felt a sudden chill in the air, and thought I was coming down with swine flu.
Watching all the medical programs didn't help, either. I also started to wonder why none of those injured, sick or dying patients on shows like E.R. and Hawthorne were ever asked if they had insurance and just who was paying for all those test administered by those diagnosticians on House? They don't need health insurance to receive treatment, so do we really need reform?
I had two very good girlfriends who were both diagnosed with cancer. One was a very successful C.P.A, whose health insurance policy fully covered every test, every treatment, every doctor's visit and every prescription. The other was a legal secretary whose employer refused to pay for any health insurance. MediCal, California's medical plan, paid for every test, every treatment, every doctor's visit and every prescription.
They both died within two years of being diagnosed.
Having heath insurance hadn't made any difference in the care or treatment of either of my two friends and the end result was the same, so why is there such a huge debate on both sides of an issue if it has very little actual difference in anyone's life? Life insurance does not guarantee life any more than health insurance guarantees health. We're being sold a bill of goods which is no more effective in preventing illness and death than the bogus ingredients in snake oil will cure grandma's gout.
Insurance is a funny thing to try and sell. It's the one product that you buy hoping you'll never use. I was sitting in traffic the other day listening to a life insurance ad on the radio. The salesman, in an ominous tone, says "You're driving on the freeway, when suddenly you're hit by a truck and you're dead. What will happen to your family?" The thought that went through my head was; "Don't care, I'm dead."
The salesman went on to cite an entire list of "who will" and "what will" questions, which I responded the same way. "Don't care, dead." However, the fear of disasters yet to come tactic is exactly what insurance salesmen use to terrify us into buying their product, whether we need it or not promising peace of mind and security with their slogans; "You're In Good Hands", "Like a Good Neighbor", and "So Simple A Caveman Can Do It." Ok, forget the last one.
Not everyone needs heath insurance, but to hear our politicians and talk show hosts talk, and talk and TALK about the dire consequences to our country if we don't providing this product that some may never use, we not believe every man, woman and child MUST have insurance or we're all going to die. While everyone knows that they're going to die sooner or later, with or without health insurance, we have somehow come to believe it will be a great deal sooner unless we pass some kind of health care i.e. insurance, reform. It makes a great deal of sense that in order to sell a product that you hope you'll never need, is to create that need and make it so necessary that everyone wants it and will do whatever they can to get it.
Well, it worked for Harold Hill in the Music Man, didn't it?
It is truly amazing how healthy Americans were before all this talk of health insurance reform hit the fan. People would attend a town forum without risking getting a stroke from carrying heavy picket signs in ninety degree weather and screaming at the top of their lungs at town hall forums.
The best way to cure the ills of our health care system and regain a happy and healthy life is to pull the plug.... on the television set.
I'll admit, the last time I had heath insurance was over seven years ago when I was working for a major company. The premium, which was automatically deducted from my paycheck, was $350 a month and I never had even one claim. I never really paid much attention to health insurance, or the lack thereof since, until the issue became the "flavor of the day" topic on every television news program and internet cite 24/7, ad nauseam.
I watched Glenn Beck on Fox news, then switched to Keith Olberman on MSNBC,, I got whiplash. Four hours of CNN later, I began to get a terrible headache, and thought I was having a stroke. I felt a sudden chill in the air, and thought I was coming down with swine flu.
Watching all the medical programs didn't help, either. I also started to wonder why none of those injured, sick or dying patients on shows like E.R. and Hawthorne were ever asked if they had insurance and just who was paying for all those test administered by those diagnosticians on House? They don't need health insurance to receive treatment, so do we really need reform?
I had two very good girlfriends who were both diagnosed with cancer. One was a very successful C.P.A, whose health insurance policy fully covered every test, every treatment, every doctor's visit and every prescription. The other was a legal secretary whose employer refused to pay for any health insurance. MediCal, California's medical plan, paid for every test, every treatment, every doctor's visit and every prescription.
They both died within two years of being diagnosed.
Having heath insurance hadn't made any difference in the care or treatment of either of my two friends and the end result was the same, so why is there such a huge debate on both sides of an issue if it has very little actual difference in anyone's life? Life insurance does not guarantee life any more than health insurance guarantees health. We're being sold a bill of goods which is no more effective in preventing illness and death than the bogus ingredients in snake oil will cure grandma's gout.
Insurance is a funny thing to try and sell. It's the one product that you buy hoping you'll never use. I was sitting in traffic the other day listening to a life insurance ad on the radio. The salesman, in an ominous tone, says "You're driving on the freeway, when suddenly you're hit by a truck and you're dead. What will happen to your family?" The thought that went through my head was; "Don't care, I'm dead."
The salesman went on to cite an entire list of "who will" and "what will" questions, which I responded the same way. "Don't care. Dead." However, the fear of disasters yet to come tactic is exactly what insurance salesmen use to terrify us into buying their product, whether we need it or not promising peace of mind and security with their slogans; "You're In Good Hands", "Like a Good Neighbor", and "So Simple A Caveman Can Do It." Ok, forget the last one.
Not everyone needs heath insurance, but to hear our politicians and talk show hosts talk, and talk and TALK about the dire consequences to our country if we don't providing this product that some may never use, we not believe every man, woman and child MUST have insurance or we're all going to die. While everyone knows that they're going to die sooner or later, with or without health insurance, we have somehow come to believe it will be a great deal sooner unless we pass some kind of health care i.e. insurance, reform. It makes a great deal of sense that in order to sell a product that you hope you'll never need, is to create that need and make it so necessary that everyone wants it and will do whatever they can to get it.
Well, it worked for Harold Hill in the Music Man, didn't it?
It is truly amazing how healthy Americans were before all this talk of health insurance reform hit the fan. People would attend a town forum without risking getting a stroke from carrying heavy picket signs in ninety degree weather and screaming at the top of their lungs at town hall forums.
The best way to cure the ills of our health care system and regain a happy and healthy life is to pull the plug
.... on the television set.
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That's an interesting, if somewhat tongue-in-cheek, perspective. And I appreciate you're subtle sense of humor. It is indeed strange that we are willing to pay so much for something that our ancestors 100 years ago hardly thought of at all.
I have also had friends and relatives who died of cancer.
One man got it in the jaw from smoking. He was about 60 at the time. The docs removed half of his jaw and then put him on chemo. Prior to the surgery he was up and walking around. After surgery he was bed-ridden. 6 months later he was dead.
Another friend, also about 60 got it in the lungs, also from smoking. He didn't even know anything was wrong before the diagnosis. But after starting the treatments he had to be hospitalized. They first gave him radiation, then chemo and then he was dead. Elapsed time was about 3-6 months.
My mother died of breast cancer at age 82. She had been taking hormone therapy. That kept the cancer under control for several years, but eventually it stopped working so they gave her chemo. She was very frail at the time so one shot of that was all it took. She died a day later. She never was a smoker.
My oldest brother died of pancreatic cancer at 66. In his case the docs said there was no hope so they did not try any treatments. He died after about 6 months. He had been a smoker years before. I don't know if that was a factor or not.
Another friend got Leukemia when he was about 50. He was also a heavy smoker. He is the one success story. They gave him chemo and he quit smoking. He recovered. I think he's been disease free for ten years now, and very happy to be alive.
I'm 60 now and as far as I know I don't have cancer. But if I was told that I had it and needed chemo I think I'd say; no thanks. BTW I'm really glad I quit smoking 37 years ago.
Posted By: bruce brinson
Date: 2009-10-27 09:28:52
The real issue here is that people do get sick, and people do die. In America it is expensive to do either. Medical bills are wrecking people's lives and driving them into record numbers of bankruptcies. What can we as a scoiety do about that? The writer of this article would turn his back on all of it. That is exactly what these mega companies want us all to do. Bury your heads in the sand, and it will all go away! Get real, and get involved! What we all do today, and how we get involved in this process affects thounds of lives. I pray that your unborn children will be protected from these greedy criminals as well, even if you don't want to be involved! Punk!
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