Ah Aidance,

I agree with you. We do pay for people without medical care. So what is the problem!?!?! I'm finally glad to get a person who wants to change the medical system to admit this. If someone was to go to a hospital, and not get treated, they would have every channel on TV showing this. Uninsured people do get medical care in this country, so this really is a non-issue, isn't it?

If you think the government getting involved with our health care system will make it cheaper, you obviously don't work for the government like I do. A government run system would be the most inefficient and costly.

Fine, gazpacho, but now you see one big reason why our medical care is so expensive--we're paying $500 for that uninsured family to get medical care in the emergency room instead of $50 in the doctor's office. Multiply that by the millions of visits....
Gazpacho, I just can't resist:
No wonder you like this big-government free-spending Republican administration--they're employing you!

Aidance,

I was hired under Carter. But you're right, they spend money like it was other people's. Actually, I didn't see the wholesale wild spending until the Clinton Administration, but, true enough, I don't see any fiscal restrain under President Bush either.

But I sure don't hear the other candidate advocating spending controls. Kerry never met a tax increase he didn't like. And as far as I know, Mr Heinz hasn't offered a plan, just a criticism, which does not a plan make.

Um....$500 instead of a $50 bill. Have you ever heard of the $1000 hammer that the government buys?

Aidance, Gazpacho; To answer some questions that you both had about the incident with my hand and the table saw. First of all, the Dr. and his training. He told me in one of the several post op visits to his office, that he was born and raised in Canada, then rec all of his training in Canada. When I asked him why he came down here from Canada without hesitation he said the pay. He said that in Canada he would have been basically an employee of the Canadian govt. He said that after all the training, and time involved he felt that his family deserved more than he would be able to provide for them on a Canadian Dr's pay. He went on to say that he did not accept what the prearranged amount that insurance companies would pay and that he had his own fee schedual. Something that his office and my insurance carrier are still working out.

Yes we do have medical insurance. Out of the $48,000, it looks like our out of pocket will be about $2850. I think it will be of interest to most reading this post that I am classified as 100% disabled by the VA for problems with my muscular skeletal system as a result of something that happened while in the military during the 1970s.That is not to say that I collect a compensation check only that I am entitled to the medical care. The morning that this happened I could have had the amulance take me to the VA hospital in Phoenix. As opposed to being a burden on the taxpayer I elected to go to the privated hospital where I will gladly pay the $2850 and not be further burden to you the US taxpayer.

Aidance, you brought up the point that Jr. is not wanting to bring the Canadian medicines down here. On November 2nd I intend to vote for the man for the second time. That does not mean that he has blanket approval from me on everything. I think that it would be a great thing to be bringing Canadian meds down here and selling them. There is a business here in the Phoenix metro area that advertises on the radio that they can get your perscriptions from Canada at a greatly reduced rate. So far they have not been busted. I will further go on to point out that I personally have gone to Mexico and purchaced perscription meds, sometimes at a lower cost than I could have purchased the same med with my insurance here in Arizona. No I am not going to go to Canada for my flu shot. I am going to hope for the best.

The last comment that I will make about foriegn medicine is this. We went back to Spain in Feb of 2003. We were in Madrid on the day of the world wide protest of the war. While we were there on our two weeks stay I developed a fever blister. I went to the "farmacia" and was give something over the counter and told "tommorow it will be ok senor." Within six hours the cold sore was dryed out and only a red spot remained, by the next day only a minor pink spot remained. Well into the second week, both my wife and myself developed colds. Again back to the farmacia, and was sold something that had a Johnson & Johnson lable on it, again "tommorow you will be a new man senor." We both took a real good slug of whatever was in that bottle, and guess what. The next morning all symptoms of the cold were gone. We purchased a couple more bottles of that wonder drug and brought them home. When we got home we sent off an E mail to J&J to ask what name it was sold under here in the States. They sent back an E wanting more specifics about the medicine. I gave them right off the bottle with their logo and name on it, the address of the factory, and the ingredance. Within minutes came back the reply "we know of no such product, or of any such plant within our company." Now what is in that to make it work, and that J&J wants to distance themselves from, I don't know. I do know it works.

All for now keep the questions coming. I hope I answered everyones questions.

Desert Dweller,

I assumed that you wouldn't be a burden on U.S. taxpayers before you made your post. I also assumed that you had health insurance. My point is that this is something we get in this great country by having a job that provides it, or a job that allows us to pay for it. And if we don't have a job that provides medical insurance, or can't afford medical treatment, there are always ways to receive medical treatment here, without having to revamp our entire medical system.

In short, I think our system works just fine, as expensive as it is. I haven't heard any solution short of socialized medicine, which I'm sure your doctor is evidence that it doesn't work. I can't imagine a person going through ten years of medical training to be told by the government how much his services are worth.

I think that all products and services are getting too expensive in the U.S. Let's take groceries. Are there people that are willing to tank our competitive system of producing food by allowing the government to tell us what food will cost and who will produce it? I bet there is. Thankfully they're not yet in power in the U.S.

This following is a quote from a book titled "Will Your Next Mistake be Fatal? Avoiding the Chain of Mistakes that Can Destroy Your Organization" by Robert E. Mittelstaedt - economist and much more w/ the Wharton School of Economics. knowledge@wharton.upenn.edu

Yes - I'm at work - but the following was too glaring not to share - Suggest the substitution of Bush for Enron .... or, perhaps that isn't even necessary.

I found it interesting - and a bit mroe than scary ....

Thanks Puna,

That excerpt not only tells about what happened at Enron, but in my opinion, happens way too often in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and even in the lesser places. It's a truth that relates to all places where decisions are made.

It isn't a stretch to believe that at least a part of, or all of, what was said about Enron's top level personnel could apply to the Bush White House, and even the Clinton White House before them.

It's amazing how easily people forget what got them to the top. I guess that's why the inference in the bible speaks about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to gain the gates of Heaven.

I'm copying your quote. It's a good one to remember, every time we reach a height that can make us a tad bit dizzy.

Wolf

An updated version of Machiavelli's comment about total power equalling total corruption ... or is that my "older" brain getting things confused - sort of like making up my own words

Seriously, when I read it my mind couldn't help but transpose Bush for Enron form the start ....

Also, the Wharton website (link in post) is a freebie - and has some good stuff

Puna,

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absloutely"

-Lord Acton 1834-1902

Ah, how proud of me, the Booklady will be...

Applause, Gazpacho, Wolf and Puna. What an excellent and incisive excerpt on leadership and arrogance. I must get that book!

Puna, as the except points out this not only holds true in the global business world, but as you say in political arena, where to our misfortune, it is a very common problem.

Brings to mind this little poem by T. H. White, in the Once and Future King:

Good piece of advice.