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pan6467 · 11-11-2005, 07:32 AM

It's cool Scout, and no I am not sayinbg that the world owes me anything but the allowance to follow my dreams to better society the best way I feel I can.

I am very set on a sliding scale medical pay. I don't believe that anything should be "free", everyone has a right to make money and to live as best they can.

Trust me I have no hate for money, I have a hate for putting GREED over people, and that is what the healthcare profession is doing, and our government is allowing them to do.

Right now we are just fucking numbers and statistics to these companies that care only about the bottom line and how much profit they can make so that the CEO's and board members can live in the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, what they do not see (whether it is self blindness or they are just so greedy they do not care about the future) is that they themselves (or more likely their children and grandchildren) will become numbers also and that their lives will be seen as nothing but "how much profit can we make off you in your lifetime"? In other words, they are building a system where everyone is just profit to them and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will mean nothing because from the second you are born to the last breath you breathe the system will be sucking you for as much profit as possible.

I can't look at life that way. People have an inherent right to be happy and free, and above all else America was supposedly built on the basis that people had the freedom to pursue their individual happiness..... (It's even in the preamble of the US Constitution.)

I believe in self suffiency, and my life was being built upon it, however, how can I dream of self sufficiency when all I am seen as is someone who owes more than I will probably be able to pay off in many years. And with Sarcoidosis I can have very painful flareups and need more medical attention at any time for the rest of my life. So even with insurance the way prices are and the fact they keep exponentially going up because these companies have to make profit from the people and insurance companies that can PAY, I could feasibly max out my insurance before I die. Then what? I lose everything I have ever worked for because I have an illness that I did not cause?

Now being a smoker, if I had lung cancer (God forbid) then an argument can be made I did that to myself and therefore I should be held more accountable. But, Sarcoidosis is not a result of something I did to myself so to take profit from my illness and to hold me in debt and perhaps eventually take everything I will have ever worked for because I happen to have gotten it, then is that not just plain greed and saying "too bad so sad, you lost life's lottery...... fucking pay?" So you are punishing me, for something I cannot control..... Is that truly what we want to be in society?

I have psoriasis (another auto-immune disease), and I have refused to take medications that could clear it up because I feared the health effects...... watch the commercials for the one med they advertise heavily for..... "may cause fatal skin infections, may cause liver damage, may cause cancers, and this that and the other thing....". So these miracle drugs that the machine prescribes for people actually may cause more damage in the long run.

I have had Doctors tell me those incindences are very rare...... welll Goddamned.... only 20 - 50 out of every 100,000 people get Sarcoidosis and out of that only 3 white non Scandinavian males get it (plaus it is even rarer in the northern US, as it is more common in the Southern and South Eastern states)...... so gee willikers... I think I have already shown I am a rare case.

But these meds are also "new" and the true effects won't be seen for years after many people have taken them. Look at Celebrex or Vioxx......

But the way these companies see it is that these meds may help or cure one problem but they will probably cause more down the line so more profit will come from these people than maybe what was originally going to. (And if you think that is just a paranoid ramble wait 20 years and see...... I can almost guarantee the long term side effects of all these toenail fungal meds, and penile dysfunction meds, and psoriasis meds and bi-polar meds and whatever band aid med you maybe on.... will kick in and be worse than the original problem.)

Don't get me wrong there are many good meds out there also, that truly do help. We should never stop developing meds, but we should be careful so that the long term effects do not cause worse problems for the patient.... but then that would hurt long term profit.

So in the end what is the solution? I personally believe getting back to treating the individual as an individual and not as a profit margin or as a number and just prescribe whatever the med is at the time.

Our healthcare was the greatest because we had great doctors and a health profession that treated the individual not just the disease.

We cannot as a society grow and develop into anything better if we keep punishing people for falling ill and treating them as profit margins.

Like me, I work and will work in a form of the medical profession. But thankfully, I will be in one of the last fields to be able to treat the individual as an individual (although the vast majority of addictions counseling is moving towards corrections because there is no money in the true treatments of individuals. Why? Insurance won't pay (or in the very best of cases has very low maxes and high copays), plus most addicts have wasted whatever they had on the drugs and life before they realized they were at rock bottom, very few addicts will stop while they are still at the top. So there is truly no money in the business, unless again you go into corrections or treat the very rich (like the Hazeldons and Betty Ford Clinics in the world.)

So if profit is all you want and care about .... then this isn't the business. Because I can guarantee the recovery rates are extremely low.

Whereas, myself, my profit will come in knowing I have helped someone to better their life and be more productive in society and therefore moving the economy far more positively than they had before I helped them.

So if the healthcare profession truly was about helping people and not just their profit and future profit of just themselves, they would see by treating the individual and allowing them a better healthier life, the individual would be able to contribute better to society and thus society itself would be richer.

The industry has to change or we will all go bankrupt feeding the machine.

Anyway, I am rambling now so........

11-11-2005, 07:32 AM	#36 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	It's cool Scout, and no I am not sayinbg that the world owes me anything but the allowance to follow my dreams to better society the best way I feel I can. I am very set on a sliding scale medical pay. I don't believe that anything should be "free", everyone has a right to make money and to live as best they can. Trust me I have no hate for money, I have a hate for putting GREED over people, and that is what the healthcare profession is doing, and our government is allowing them to do. Right now we are just fucking numbers and statistics to these companies that care only about the bottom line and how much profit they can make so that the CEO's and board members can live in the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, what they do not see (whether it is self blindness or they are just so greedy they do not care about the future) is that they themselves (or more likely their children and grandchildren) will become numbers also and that their lives will be seen as nothing but "how much profit can we make off you in your lifetime"? In other words, they are building a system where everyone is just profit to them and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will mean nothing because from the second you are born to the last breath you breathe the system will be sucking you for as much profit as possible. I can't look at life that way. People have an inherent right to be happy and free, and above all else America was supposedly built on the basis that people had the freedom to pursue their individual happiness..... (It's even in the preamble of the US Constitution.) I believe in self suffiency, and my life was being built upon it, however, how can I dream of self sufficiency when all I am seen as is someone who owes more than I will probably be able to pay off in many years. And with Sarcoidosis I can have very painful flareups and need more medical attention at any time for the rest of my life. So even with insurance the way prices are and the fact they keep exponentially going up because these companies have to make profit from the people and insurance companies that can PAY, I could feasibly max out my insurance before I die. Then what? I lose everything I have ever worked for because I have an illness that I did not cause? Now being a smoker, if I had lung cancer (God forbid) then an argument can be made I did that to myself and therefore I should be held more accountable. But, Sarcoidosis is not a result of something I did to myself so to take profit from my illness and to hold me in debt and perhaps eventually take everything I will have ever worked for because I happen to have gotten it, then is that not just plain greed and saying "too bad so sad, you lost life's lottery...... fucking pay?" So you are punishing me, for something I cannot control..... Is that truly what we want to be in society? I have psoriasis (another auto-immune disease), and I have refused to take medications that could clear it up because I feared the health effects...... watch the commercials for the one med they advertise heavily for..... "may cause fatal skin infections, may cause liver damage, may cause cancers, and this that and the other thing....". So these miracle drugs that the machine prescribes for people actually may cause more damage in the long run. I have had Doctors tell me those incindences are very rare...... welll Goddamned.... only 20 - 50 out of every 100,000 people get Sarcoidosis and out of that only 3 white non Scandinavian males get it (plaus it is even rarer in the northern US, as it is more common in the Southern and South Eastern states)...... so gee willikers... I think I have already shown I am a rare case. But these meds are also "new" and the true effects won't be seen for years after many people have taken them. Look at Celebrex or Vioxx...... But the way these companies see it is that these meds may help or cure one problem but they will probably cause more down the line so more profit will come from these people than maybe what was originally going to. (And if you think that is just a paranoid ramble wait 20 years and see...... I can almost guarantee the long term side effects of all these toenail fungal meds, and penile dysfunction meds, and psoriasis meds and bi-polar meds and whatever band aid med you maybe on.... will kick in and be worse than the original problem.) Don't get me wrong there are many good meds out there also, that truly do help. We should never stop developing meds, but we should be careful so that the long term effects do not cause worse problems for the patient.... but then that would hurt long term profit. So in the end what is the solution? I personally believe getting back to treating the individual as an individual and not as a profit margin or as a number and just prescribe whatever the med is at the time. Our healthcare was the greatest because we had great doctors and a health profession that treated the individual not just the disease. We cannot as a society grow and develop into anything better if we keep punishing people for falling ill and treating them as profit margins. Like me, I work and will work in a form of the medical profession. But thankfully, I will be in one of the last fields to be able to treat the individual as an individual (although the vast majority of addictions counseling is moving towards corrections because there is no money in the true treatments of individuals. Why? Insurance won't pay (or in the very best of cases has very low maxes and high copays), plus most addicts have wasted whatever they had on the drugs and life before they realized they were at rock bottom, very few addicts will stop while they are still at the top. So there is truly no money in the business, unless again you go into corrections or treat the very rich (like the Hazeldons and Betty Ford Clinics in the world.) So if profit is all you want and care about .... then this isn't the business. Because I can guarantee the recovery rates are extremely low. Whereas, myself, my profit will come in knowing I have helped someone to better their life and be more productive in society and therefore moving the economy far more positively than they had before I helped them. So if the healthcare profession truly was about helping people and not just their profit and future profit of just themselves, they would see by treating the individual and allowing them a better healthier life, the individual would be able to contribute better to society and thus society itself would be richer. The industry has to change or we will all go bankrupt feeding the machine. Anyway, I am rambling now so........ __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"