This is really, really disgusting.

Well, dlowan, I feel that the best perspective I can give you is from my own personal experience.

I had to have surgery a couple of years ago (my benefits were thru an HMO). I was able to go to a very good hospital, received care from excellent doctors -- and was left with only minimal bills to pay. Works for me!! Actually, I've always had very good experiences with the HMOs (although I'm aware that others have had problems with them).

However, if you sincerely feel that your current system is better -- and you want to fight ours tooth and nail -- all I can say is, good luck with that! :wink:

barefootTia wrote:



I admit that having a McDonalds in a hospital seems inappropriate. But every hospital I've seen has -- at the very least -- a coffee shop that sells sandwiches, sweets and snacks. Should they take all of that out of there so the overweight people won't be tempted?

Let's be realistic. Overweight people will always have to deal with temptation -- whether it's an elevator ride away, or right down the street from them.

Stray Cat, have you read the article I linked to above? I highly recommend it.

Gus
Gus, oh Gus, I'm so disappointed at your lack of understanding of incentives.

The hospital administrators are not dummies. All those people eating those big macs will, sooner or later, turn up as patients at the hospital, bringing with them MONEY! In the meantime, they get MONEY from allowing McDonald's sacred place in their hospital.

MONEY NOW! MONEY LATER!

The hospital also probably owners the mortuary down the street too. MONEY AT THE END!

Get it?

BBB

Of course, I agree that overweight people will always have to deal with the temptation, I was merely making light of the subject, because this is Gus's thread.


sozobe, I have read the very enlightening article you posted and have printed it for others to read.

Yes, sozobe, I read the article. Thanks for the link. It was very interesting and ..sad!

There's no doubt that our system has its problems. The fact that there are many Americans who are uninsured is very sad -- and all too real.

But I have to ask again..what is the answer? What country has the perfect system?

I'm thinking of a case I heard about in England. (I heard this about a year ago on the news, so I'm afraid I don't have a link to it.)

Anyway, there was a man in England who had a life threatening condition. He needed to have surgery within six months -- or he was a goner!

So they put him on a waiting list and told him he could have his surgery --in nine months.

I thought that was pretty sad too. But there's socialized medicine at work for you. Not exactly perfect either, is it?

They are no longer allowed to sell cigarettes in hospitals, or stores that have pharmacies, or within a specified distance of schools, here. They've taken junk food/soda vending machines out of schools as well.

Taking access to crap food out of hospitals is a great idea for a start.

article edited


To my way of thinking, McDonald's can't have it both ways. Why not just offer the healthier menu items in their hospital stores, and remove the other items?

The blame really should be placed on the shoulders of the person(s) who allowed them in the door without making stipulations about what they would be allowed to serve. If McDonald's couldn't live with that, that would have settled this business right then and there.

Of course what happened was, whomever gave the okay to go-ahead was all too eager to have them sign on the dotted line thinking the deal was a feather in their cap, looking at the bottom line.

This deal makes the hospital look bad. I'm betting that McDonald's will be there for the remainder of their lease agreement.

Wait a minute. Has anybody here actually eaten the glop they serve in hospitals?

So, let's say someone is visiting a relative in the hospital. They decide they'd like to get a snack (something that's not necessarily healthy, like say, a candy bar).

You don't think they should be allowed to do that?

We're not talking about schools and children, here. We're talking about adults.

Who's going to decide what food choices adults can have access to? You?

I'm gonna kick Ronald McDonalds ass.

I like you, Amigo...purrrrr....

I don't think that's the issue here.

The issue is if some business, like McDonald's for example, should be selling their regular fair within hospital walls.

If I were McDonald's, why not climb on the "healthy bandwagon" and go with the flow? As I mentioned above, why not just serve the heathier items on the menu and not serve the rest? McDonald's makes menu adjustments when they open up stores in other countries. Why not hospitals?

This way, they get to play good corporate citizen, too. I think they could still make a go selling just the healthy stuff.

As for adults buying what they want, I'm fine with that. They just can't buy it within a health facility - just like you can't smoke there now, which surely we can all agree on is good, right?

Yes. I decide what food choices adults have access to in my house, and I see no reason why hospital administrators should not exercise the same controls in their facilities.

Their business is improving health. Selling anything that compromises that mission should be considered a conflict of interest.

I also applaud school administrators and others for removing items like unhealthy food and tobacco products from their facilities as well.

Doing the moral thing doesnt bring the financial benefits they are used to.
You know the lowest selling items on their menu are their " healthy" choices?
How ever healthy you can call sugar coated nuts and old fruit that is..
( fruit salad)

IN the hospital I was recently in there was an Ore-Ida french fry machine yes like a vending machine. -- I LMAO

There will always be problems with any health care system, but as long as it is based on capitalist principles, the bottom line is more important than the patient, even when the doctors want to provide better treatments.

How about this for an example of capitalism at its most venal?
Prescription Prices

The following is incredible. Make sure to keep reading to the bottom where it discusses Costco, Sam's Club, etc.

The women who wrote this email and signed below are Federal Budget Analysts
in Washington, DC

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of "Life Extension," a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United State contain active ingredients made in other countries.

In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America.

The chart below speaks for itself.

Celebrex 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor 20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasec 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $10237
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809%

Zithromax 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone I knew should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner.

On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo ... three thousand percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The
pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco, Sam's Club and other discount volume stores consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went to the discount store's website, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Comparing, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at another discount store for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although these are a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated
substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in.

I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own email, and send it to everyone you know with an email address.

Sharon L. Davis, Budget Analyst, US Department of
Commerce Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458; Office Fax: 202-482-5480
Email Address: sdavis@docgov

Mary Palmer, Budget Analyst, Bureau of Economic
Analysis Office of Budget &Finance;

Voice: (202) 606-9295

Diane Foster
Contracting Officer
VA Detroit
(313) 576-4281

I'm sure they wouldn't make as much money selling the fast-fryed items, but I'm betting it could still be worth their while. If it were not so, why did they (and other food establishments) introduce "healthier items" to their respective menus?

McDonald's of the 1950s and 1960s is so much different than McDonald's in 2005. They have to "go with the times". They appear to be doing so slowly, but surely.

i tried (had to); it made me appreciate airline food.

Ok. Let's say someone's been sitting up all night with a sick relative, so they'd like to have a cup of coffee. I'd like to be there when you tell them they can't have it because it's got that nasty caffeine in it -- so you're just going to make that decision for them.

Deciding on the food choices in your own home is one thing -- making them for all other adults everywhere -- is something else again. No thanks, "big sister." I don't need you making those choices for me.

A hospital's business is to improve the health of their patients. Not the entire community. Not everyone who walks in the door of a hospital is a patient (this would include employees, visting relatives, etc.)

I like you too.