Just so we\u2019re clear. I\u2019m a pinko commie big government nazi. I don\u2019t really want to kill your grandmother but I do think it\u2019s a smart idea to talk with your doctor about what you might want when you\u2019re experiencing more pain than pleasure at the end of your life.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve lost some of the little sanity I have left listening to the health care debate. I\u2019m as annoyed at the Democrats as I am at the Republicans. I\u2019m perpetually embarrassed at how stupid the debate has been considering what\u2019s at stake. I am angry for myself and for those I have lost to illness; and I am angry for every American who worries about his or her healthcare, and the health of those they love. I\u2019m angry for everyone who has spent hours dealing with their insurance companies for reimbursements they deserve; for everyone who has given up and gone without the care they need or the care their doctors tell them they need.<\/p>\n
I have spent a significant amount of time over the past years watching friends and family die. I have sat beside loved ones as they\u2019ve gotten chemo, waited for them to come out of radiation, and multiple surgeries. I\u2019ve combed through doctors\u2019 and hospital bills trying to figure out why and how everybody seems to be billing for what seems to be the same thing. <\/p>\n
I have watched as my mother\u2019s cancer spread everywhere throughout her body, finally to her brain. I watched as anxiety and paranoia replaced her normal graciousness. I watched as she lost large parts of herself; and watched as her savings evaporated, as \u201cthe gaps\u201d in her multiple health insurance policies grew and grew.<\/p>\n
So, for me, this is not a debate about phony notions about socialized medicine. I know that even though we need national healthcare \u2013 that we need to get rid insurance companies who add unnecessary overhead and unreasonable profits to what should be simple transactions between patients and medical care providers \u2013 we won\u2019t get it. Not this year. Not next year. Not with Democrats and Republicans who take money from drug companies and health insurers. <\/p>\n
What this needs to be is a debate about ordinary people who unfortunately get sick and what medical care should be about: very talented doctors and nurses and hospital support people helping others get better. And how as a society we can do this in the most humane way and pay those who do this extraordinary work a fair wage.<\/p>\n
A friend of mine \u2013 a very smart person \u2013 showed me a little bit about what one goes through to apply for Medicare. I urge you all to go to the Medicare website and take the trip. First, figure out what the heck they\u2019re talking about with Part A and B and C and D. Part A and B are pretty straigthforward. It\u2019s gets really complicated when you move down the alphabet. About Part C: gap insurance. About Part D: drug coverage. There\u2019s a great game you can play: try to figure out the prescription drug coverage you can afford, and which drugs you\u2019re prepared to do without because you can\u2019t really afford them. Try your best to figure why different insurance companies charge such different prices for your monthly coverage, or such different amounts for your blood pressure medicine. About your different deductibles. <\/p>\n
I know you are very busy, and you probably don\u2019t need to deal with Medicare just yet. But I guarantee you, you\u2019ll learn a lot.<\/p>\n
Then, when you\u2019re done, do me a big favor and tell me why we can\u2019t enact a simple public option that brings efficiency and sanity and reasonable competition and price controls to the process.<\/p>\n
Just maybe you\u2019ll go through the process and think everything\u2019s just fine. Then you can call me a pinko commie big government nazi.<\/p>\n
___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
\tMickey Friedman is trying to figure out which agency he has to apply to in order to get his \u201cpinko communist big government nazi\u201d membership card.<\/p>\n
Thursday September 24, 2009 \u00a9 Mickey Friedman – All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just so we\u2019re clear. I\u2019m a pinko commie big government nazi. I don\u2019t really want to kill your grandmother but I do think it\u2019s a smart idea to talk with your doctor about what you might want when you\u2019re experiencing more pain than pleasure at the end of your life. I\u2019ve lost some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5pvz8-1Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions\/250"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}