{"id":1132,"date":"2010-03-22T09:02:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T13:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2010-03-22T09:14:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T13:14:05","slug":"taking-responsibility-for-our-own-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=1132","title":{"rendered":"Taking responsibility for our own health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to a dermatologist in Indio, CA on Friday. He won’t deal with Medicare because he says they’re patient unfriendly. \u00a0They won’t pay for an injection for bronchitis that he finds works. \u00a0They make his patients wait forever before allowing treatment.<\/p>\n

He cut two skin things off my body. Charge $135 cash.<\/p>\n

Several months ago, I went to New York dermatologist. He cut five skin things. He charged Medicare $4,475.<\/p>\n

I saw his Medicare bill. When I queried the bill, he said it was a “mistake.” He outsourced his billing. They made the mistake. I shouldn’t worry since I didn’t have to pay. Medicare did. I never found out what he eventually charged Medicare or what he got paid by Medicare. Or even if he submitted an amended, reduced bill. I’m betting Medicare paid him a lot more than $135.<\/p>\n

The bill, \u00a0approved by the Senate in December and by the House on Sunday, will be hugely expensive — for \u00a0insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and our government. We won’t know how many will be bankrupted, we won’t know for many years how many doctors will leave the system in disgust.<\/p>\n

There are four lessons here for all of us:<\/p>\n

1. We should all pray there will continue to be doctors who live outside the system, giving good, timely, loving, non-bureaucratic\u00a0\u00a0patient service and taking cash.<\/p>\n

2. We should all pray that we have enough cash stashed away to pay for our own medical care, because relying on our government will give insanity a whole new meaning.<\/p>\n

3. We need to take much greater control and greater in-depth understanding of our own health. As doctoring \u00a0becomes a 9-5 government job, one has to expect the patient indifference you see in many countries overseas will creep into the U.S. \u00a0(See below on what Americans hate unviersal health care.)<\/p>\n

4. We need to give\u00a0our family strict instructions as to what to do with us when we become seriously sick. Make sure they understand that letting you die is what you want. \u00a0They should not feel guilty. A honorable death is what you want. As I read all the weekend’s health care verbiage, I was struck by three facts. First, 70% plus of health care costs come in the last few months of people’s lives. Second, keeping people alive can bankrupt a family. Third, \u00a0there are families that keep Grandma alive on expensive, government-funded life support solely so they can continue to collect Grandma’s social security checks.<\/p>\n

Why America hates universal health care; The Real Reason<\/span><\/strong>. Dr Earl Sunderhaus, an eye doctor in North Carolina, may lose his medical license because he poked a patient in the thigh and told she was too fat. He told the patient that thick eyeglasses would not cause her to go blind \u201cbut her thick thighs and diabetes would.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

A blogger makes the point,<\/span><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m perfectly willing to provide subsidized health care to people who are suffering due to no fault of their own. But in those cases \u2014 which, unfortunately, constitute perhaps a majority of all cases \u2014 where the unwellness is a consequence of the patient\u2019s own misdeeds, bad habits, or stupid choices, I feel a deep-seated resentment that the rest of us should pick up the tab to fix medical problems that never should have happened in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m speaking specifically of medical problems caused by:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Obesity
\n\u2022 Cigarette smoking
\n\u2022 Alcohol abuse
\n\u2022 Reckless behavior
\n\u2022 Criminal activity
\n\u2022 Unprotected promiscuous sex
\n\u2022 Use of illicit drugs
\n\u2022 Cultural traditions
\n\u2022 Bad diets<\/span><\/p>\n

You can read the rest of the well-done blog. Click <\/span>here<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Sunderhaus also told his patient that in addition to being fat, \u00a0she was irresponsible for being unemployed, on Medicaid, and relying on taxpayers to cover another pregnancy after giving birth less than a year earlier. <\/strong>You can read the local newspaper’s (The News & Observer), account <\/strong>here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Google Health is useful.<\/span><\/strong> Lots of ways to organize your health information. I like it because it gives information on ailments and health issues. Click www.Health.Google.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Update on BankDirect. I still can’t prove to my satisfaction that deposits with BankDirect (somehow affiliated with Texas Capital Bank) are FDIC-insured. Sadly, Jody Grant, the bank’s\u00a0\u00a0Chairman Emeritus, who seemed to understand what I needed, assigned the task of answering my inquiries to an underling and then promptly left town for the weekend. Hopefully, I’ll get to speak to him today. There is no mention of BankDirect on the FDIC’s site. This worries me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How about a German iPad? This one is called the <\/span><\/span>Neofonie WePad<\/span><\/span><\/a>. It has many more features than Apple iPad. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love competition. For more on the device’s abilities, click<\/span><\/span> here.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At least one benefit of immigration.<\/span><\/strong> I came here as an immigrant, have become a U.S. \u00a0citizen and have generated millions of dollars in taxes — one year enough to pay for 43 cruise missiles.<\/p>\n

From Thomas Friedman of the New York Times:<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s wired world, the most important economic competition is no longer between countries or companies. The most important economic competition is actually between you and your own imagination. Because what your kids imagine, they can now act on farther, faster, cheaper than ever before \u2014 as individuals. Today, just about everything is becoming a commodity, except imagination, except the ability to spark new ideas.<\/p>\n

If I just have the spark of an idea now, I can get a designer in Taiwan to design it. I can get a factory in China to produce a prototype. I can get a factory in Vietnam to mass manufacture it. I can use Amazon.com to handle fulfillment. I can use freelancer.com to find someone to do my logo and manage by backroom. And I can do all this at incredibly low prices. The one thing that is not a commodity and never will be is that spark of an idea.<\/p>\n

His piece covered what he saw at a dinner to celebrate 40 finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search.\u00a0He ends the piece:<\/p>\n

Gotta say, it was the most inspiring evening I\u2019ve had in D.C. in 20 years. It left me thinking, \u201cIf we can just get a few things right \u2014 immigration, education standards, bandwidth, fiscal policy \u2014 maybe we\u2019ll be O.K.\u201d It left me feeling that maybe Alice Wei Zhao of North High School in Sheboygan, Wis., chosen by her fellow finalists to be their spokeswoman, was right when she told the audience: \u201cDon\u2019t sweat about the problems our generation will have to deal with. Believe me, our future is in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

As long as we don\u2019t shut our doors.<\/p>\n

The piece was his plea for immigration reform, a subject dear to my heart. To read his full piece, click\u00a0here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Zimbabwe has a new law<\/span><\/strong> called the Indigenization and Empowerment Act, which mandates that all businesses operating in the country with more than $500,000 worth of assets be majority owned by black Zimbabweans within five years. I don’t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n

Alleged one-liners from Muslim stand-up comic Goffaq Yussef.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Good evening gentlemen, and get out, ladies.<\/p>\n

On my flight to New York there must have been an Israeli in the bathroom the entire time. There was a sign on the door that said, “Occupied.”<\/p>\n

What do you say to a Muslim woman with two black eyes? Nothing! You told her twice already!<\/p>\n

How many Palestinians does it take to change a light bulb? None! They sit in the dark forever and blame the Jews for it!<\/p>\n

Did you hear about the Broadway play, “The Palestinian”? It bombed!<\/p>\n

What do you call a first-time offender in Saudi Arabia? Lefty!<\/p>\n

Did you hear about the Muslim strip club? It features full facial nudity!<\/p>\n

Why do Palestinians find it convenient to live on the West Bank? Because it’s just a stone’s throw from Israel !<\/p>\n

Why are Palestinian boys luckier than American boys? Because every Palestinian boy will get to join a rock group!<\/p>\n

A Palestinian suspect was being grilled by Israeli police. “Honest, I’m not a suicide bomber,” he said. “I didn’t say I wanted to blow myself up so I could sleep with 72 virgins. All I said was, ‘I’m dying to get laid”!<\/p>\n

What does the sign say above the nursery in a Palestinian maternity ward? “Live ammunition.”<\/p>\n

Palestinian girl says to her mommy: “After Abdul blows himself up, can I have his room?”<\/p>\n

Of course, there is no such comedian as Goffaq Yussef (read the name aloud). And no one knows who wrote these. But they’re still funny.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Harry Newton, who is obsessed with his family’s healthcare — because no one else will be. Not the government. Not the insurance companies. Not some of our busy doctors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went to a dermatologist in Indio, CA on Friday. He won’t deal with Medicare because he says they’re patient unfriendly. \u00a0They won’t pay for an injection for bronchitis that he finds works. \u00a0They make his patients wait forever before allowing treatment. He cut two skin things off my body. Charge $135 cash. Several months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}