Sad day in the USA

[rickkijo]

Thinking about how sad it is in the USA today that we provide free medical care for all these folks who have never worked a day in there life, but when it comes to the elderly who have worked everyday of their life can't even get their prescription medications or have to pay out large amounts just to get a little bit of medical coverage. Although the free medical care we provide to non working baby making machines, I call it the American Express Card that we provide to the folks who have never worked really isn't free you and I pay for their free medical care. I would rather pay for my parents medical care then for someone who comes in saying I don't have tylenol or motrin at home for my kids while pointing their newly put on fingernails or calling on their cell phones or having that pack of ciggs in their pockets, when my parents who have worked all their lives and should be living the best days of their life won't even turn on the air in their home because of the cost and not being able to afford medical care or medications!! If they had to pay a nice co-pay for non-emergancy visits to the ER then we could really see the people who really need emergancy care. Sorry just venting and wondering how everyone else feels about this sitution??

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

With our new proposed healthcare system our elderly WILL suffer, anyone of any age with a chronic condition will suffer. Our children will also suffer. We will wait MONTHS to be seen by a specialist (no matter what the diagnosis is).

That's exactly what's happening now. People with money can jump the line. Everyone else waits, if they can afford to get into a line.

[bds165]

I LOVE TRAUMA,

Based upon what you have provided as your life history, there is no one more qualified to give testimony to the human condition. You would know more than most that:

We humans are narcissistic monkeys who manipulate (the "system" as well as each other), lie, are violent for no good reason, inflate our image (especially to others), and can be very moody.

But we also can be loving, poetic, altruistic, entertaining, and endearing to our closest friends and family.

My point is you have to take the good with the bad. Energy wasted on things we cannot change is energy taken away from our lives. I wish my taxes didn't pay for things like filibusters, meetings with lobbyists, wasteful military spending (being a vet, I saw WAY too much of this) like "Mission Accomplished" signs, and welfare for the unworthy. But I can't change what happens after my taxes magically disappear from my paycheck.

I wish you the best of luck and I thank you for your insight. I was thoroughly impressed by your life story.

[I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN]

That's exactly what's happening now. People with money can jump the line. Everyone else waits, if they can afford to get into a line.

I would have to respectfully disagree with you here. If they come to the ER, no matter what, they go to the front of the line. The GSW and the addict I spoke of in my last post-they were both operated on by top of the line surgeons (granted these were emergencies). The back pain was seen by a world renowned neurosurgeon. The gravida 10 got a state-of-the-art u/s as well as pictures to take home (which is what she wanted in the first place). We will see them through this until the end of their care now (EMTALA). I would say hundreds of thousands of dollars-whose gonna pay for it?

If some feel that we should not have to pay for healthcare-don't you at least think that we should be responsible and held accountable for our actions, and be forced to make more responsible decisions with regards to our health-especially if someone else is footing the bill?

I just feel like someone who has worked all of their lives and taken great care of themselves (not abused the system) should be allowed to BUY a better health plan if they choose to. However someone who takes advantage of things and inflicts illness upon others and themselves time and time again should not be able to receive handout after handout.

[I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN]

I LOVE TRAUMA,

Based upon what you have provided as your life history, there is no one more qualified to give testimony to the human condition. You would know more than most that:

We humans are narcissistic monkeys who manipulate (the "system" as well as each other), lie, are violent for no good reason, inflate our image (especially to others), and can be very moody.

But we also can be loving, poetic, altruistic, entertaining, and endearing to our closest friends and family.

My point is you have to take the good with the bad. Energy wasted on things we cannot change is energy taken away from our lives. I wish my taxes didn't pay for things like filibusters, meetings with lobbyists, wasteful military spending (being a vet, I saw WAY too much of this) like "Mission Accomplished" signs, and welfare for the unworthy. But I can't change what happens after my taxes magically disappear from my paycheck.

I wish you the best of luck and I thank you for your insight. I was thoroughly impressed by your life story.

Thank you so much, and I agree with you. The reason I became a nurse was so that I could help those in need. I don't judge anyone. I was not trying to sound better than anyone else-just giving an example that IT CAN BE DONE. Many in this society seem to feel that they should be able to just skate along on someone elses dime.

I know that we have to take the good with the bad. I think that every nurse knows this. I wade through all of the violence and self destruction trying to reach out and help those that are reachable, and help the innocent victims along the way.

Thank you for your kind words.

Good luck to you!

[I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN]

I LOVE TRAUMA-

you are truly an inspiration and should be so proud of everything you and your husband have accomplished even through the hard times.

Thank you for sharing your story with us and giving some insight into what it can really be like in the health care field.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I really did not want to get on here and share this personal story, but I felt it was relevant to the topic.

Good luck to you!

[I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN]

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that

he had never failed a single student before,

but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one

would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class

on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade

so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied

little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had

studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a

free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a

D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores

never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in

hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that

socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,

the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward

away, no one will try or want to succeed.

"you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.."- Adrian Rogers

Boy, you really know how to scare a girl! I just saw our country in 5-10 years. Why did you have to bring this up-I'm more scared than ever for my children now!

If you want to watch a good documentary on the subject, (it's on the internet) called "sick around the world," it's purpose was to go around to all of the countries with socialized medicine in place and show us what works and how we can accomplish this. However, those in the healthcare profession will quickly be able to read between the line.

Again thank you and good luck to you and yours!

[MauraRN]

My story is so similar to yours I_LOVE_TRAUMA. Husband and I have been working full-time since we were 14 year olds, put ourselves thru college, grad school, in my case nursing school. We were so poor at times we lived on instant coffee and vegetables from our garden. Now we can't afford to send our kid to college or retire, lost most of our savings in the meltdown, my son is a cleft-lip/palate kid, med ins says its a dental problem. dental ins says its medical, so most of his care comes out of pocket. I worked 3 jobs to pay for speech tx, ot, pt. And we have "great insurance". Our premiums and co-pays have quadrupled in 3 years. DID I MENTION THAT WE LIVE IN MASSACHUSETTS WHERE EVERY PERSON GETS HEALTHCARE!!!! But those of us who work hard for a living have to pay for ours.

Sorry if this sounds bitter, but so many people that I know are losing everything, homes, jobs, savings, but we have to work more to make ends meet.

[fifi65]

So what do other countries (that supposedly have cheaper health care costs) do with patients in your example? Do they stop the vent w/o family permission?

In the UK, the decision is usually taken in conjunction with the family, but I have seen it done on occasion done without all the family being in agreement.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

In the UK, the decision is usually taken in conjunction with the family, but I have seen it done on occasion done without all the family being in agreement.

In the USA, pts can be taken off the vent without family consent. But it tends to be such a PR nightmare that few facilities do so....plus requires so much legal wrangling/ethics consultations and other paperwork . In one case in Sarasota, Florida, the family insisted that their 12 year old child who was brain dead could not be taken off the vent....she was finally sent home on the vent, with hospital support (home care, etc.) where she died a few weeks later. The family still sued the hospital. There was also PR fallout, as there was with nonvent pt Terry Schiavo.

Ironically, Republican George Bush signed legislation (when he was governor of Texas) that pts could be taken of the vent without family consent, if the care was considered futile. The main case regarding this involved a minority child. But I haven't seen that brought up into the recent fray, and there was no national outcry over this when he ran for office. It got mentioned briefly during the Terri Schiavo Incident.

[UserG]

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that

he had never failed a single student before,

but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one

would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class

on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade

so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied

little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had

studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a

free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a

D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores

never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in

hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that

socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,

the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward

away, no one will try or want to succeed.

"you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.."- Adrian Rogers

How's this for a story?

"A student in an economics class was struggling to get by. But, no matter how hard he worked, he kept getting Ds and Fs in the class. He knew the material! He could quote the text by heart! Maybe he was losing ground in the lectures?

One of the kids approached him and asked him for his notes for the lectures of the previous week.

'I missed a whole week of class because my family wanted me to head to St Marten with them for the week. I know how smart you are,' the kid explained, 'And I'll repay you by getting you in good with the professor! He's a longtime family friend.'

That sounded like a wonderful investment: he give up a week's worth of his notes to get a secure future. He could supplement the own notes, still feel good about working hard, and be able to get ahead. He couldn't lose this time!

The next week came and the vacationing student had no time for him. No introduction occurred. He got screwed by a bad investment and the other student got to continue his lifestyle. But the screwed student felt confident going into the test because he worked twice as hard now.

He failed.

Later, he found out the teacher graded on a curve. Worse, the teacher accepted "donations" in return for a better grade. People were buying their way into better grades and he would never be able to afford to do the same.

When he approached the professor to complain, he shouted, 'How is this fair? I can't afford to give you any "dontations"!'

The economics professor responded, "That's how our society is set up. You think just hard work will get you rewards? This is capitalism. I don't make very much at this school. I need braces for my kids, vacation money for my wife, and my boat needs $50K worth of work! I demand money and will then supply the good grades! If everyone could just expect their work to count, how would I make enough to afford my lifestyle?'"