Obama '08?

@roger,

I believe some studies have already shown that doctors do not authorize tests based on efficiency and necessity, but to CTA. Some proposals now being made to impose efficiency is to give hospitals a fixed amount for any illness/treatment. They are also talking about regulations that will be to time test some of their procedures before they make them permanent. There are a lot of good ideas out there, but also some questionable ones. All they need to do is make more right decisions than wrong ones up front, and the rest will take care of themselves.

Another idea that I think will improve efficiency is to impose a fee for every doctor visit - and if possible - based on a sliding fee scale.

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@cicerone imposter,

I'm familiar with the CYA theory of medicine, and I'm sure it's a valid issue. Sometimes, I suspect the docs will prescribe a series of diagnostics just to get rid of a troublesome patient. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the specialists and the imaging equipment is either there, or it is not. I'm afraid a significant portion of both will just somehow go away. Those that remain will be very busy, and very expensive. Expensive might mean they cannot work for what Medicare will pay.

On a personal note, I recently got the numbers on my first visit to a family practice under Medicare. I have yet to meed the deductible, but the office visit is stated at $137.00. Medicare values it at $88.xx. That's a $49.00 hit to the bottom line. Small wonder he only accepts Medicare patients that were part of the practice before they became eligible. How does it feel to be unwanted?

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@spendius,

Quote:

It was cornpone.

Maybe to someone who hasn't lived the context.

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What is the context of cornpone? I am lost here.

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Cornporn I am familiar with, but the aforementioned is esoteric as far as I am concerned.

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Where is Dys when you need him?

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@gustavratzenhofer,

the context of cornpone is...wait, I just started my first glass of cider - I need a few minutes to get silly- so I'll give you the serious answer.

Because this is serious. I resent someone saying those words are cornpone when they haven't lived through what this man is speaking of rising above and fighting against.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

the context of cornpone is...wait, I just started my first glass of cider - I need a few minutes to get silly- so I'll give you the serious answer.

Because this is serious. I resent someone saying those words are cornpone when they haven't lived through what this man is speaking of rising above and fighting against.

Aidan you know I love you dearly.

But honestly, is it any more feasible to defend something/somebody if you haven't lived the context than it is to criticize somebody who hasn't lived the context?

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Oh, dear. Gus got loose.

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Quote:

a man is not independent, and cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter. If he would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors, or suffer damage in his social standing and in his business prosperities. He must restrict himself to corn-pone opinions -- at least on the surface. He must get his opinions from other people; he must reason out none for himself; he must have no first-hand views. Mark Twain

mother usually had her pone crumbled up in buttermilk. Corn-pone (also called "Indian corn") is an american food of the first order not to be confused with English food which is all too often mostly sugar, flavored with something or other and then boiled for several days. the only edible foods found in England are Indian, Chinese and Italian.

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@Foxfyre,

Quote:

But honestly, is it any more feasible to defend something/somebody if you haven't lived the context than it is to criticize somebody who hasn't lived the context?

But I have lived the context. I was alive during the civil rights movement. I found out about segregation when Martin Luther King was assassinated- so I learned about the existence of racism at a very impressionable age. The thought of it blew me away.
I married a black man who grew up in the segregated south. I have two children who are considered to be black and I have watched them be treated differently than I am at times in the US.
I've spent my whole teaching career working with minority children in the US - and not because I want some sort of medal - but because I LIKE those kids, and I care about what happens to them.
So Obama's words aren't cornpone to me- and I don't consider him just to be making some stump speech on these issues.

But I still love you and view Spendius with real fondness - even if I don't think he is more American than many Americans and could ever understand what it feels like or means to be an American on either side of this issue.

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hmmmm...

"But honestly, is it any more feasible to defend something/somebody if you haven't lived the context than it is to criticize somebody who hasn't lived the context?"

she said it, but does she think about it be fore she posts, herself?

things to ponder...

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@roger,

My wife and I are under Medicare with Kaiser, and we do have deductibles, but from my personal experience, I really can't complain. I think my treatment for prostate cancer was about $100 total for my doctor visits, but the radiation treatment itself was included, and was treated for eight weeks.

I researched the cost for prostate cancer radiation treatment, and I saw figures anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000.

On top of all that, my doctor is one of the best I have ever had in my life. She's from India, and trained at Stanford, and I've had her for over several decades.

I think Kaiser has an established rule about time spent with each patient (I think they schedule each patient for 15 minutes), but my doctor ignores that rule and spends the needed time with each patient. Knowing this, I have waited to see her past my appointed time frequently, but I have no complaints. She's the best!

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@Rockhead,

yeah - now give Spendius a recipe for real cornpone - ya'll make that in Kansas don't you?

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@aidan,

indeed.

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@Rockhead,

I wish I could make cornbread here - but it's really hard to get cornmeal.

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@aidan,

mebbe i send some back to devon next month, from there it is up to you...

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@aidan,

Really? You get it here in every supermarket, even organic brands.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Well they have cornflour - and I've used that and it turned out okay - but it's a lighter, finer texture - so it's not quite the same. Although in the Sainsbury's recipe booklet that they give out free at the supermarket - they had a recipe that called for cornmeal so I thought, 'Maybe I should look again = they might have it now or there - I think I looked at Morrison's and Waitrose the other time- and it was a couple of years ago now.

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Obama’s Czars: What Are They and How Much Power Do They Wield?

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