Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[entropy]

http://www.paulkeckley.com/

The Week that Altered the National Discussion about Health Reform and More

[crashcourse]

JB I base my statements on 30 years of watching people peter away their money and the government doing the same on the last 6 months of life.

There is just way too much hospital visits and treatment excess imaging/labs/consultations/experimental Rx

Half these guys twist and manipulate stats to make it sound like you should use drug x.

drug x extends your average lungcancer survival by 20 % for only 50K a month.

Oh well got to use drug x!!

what it means is instead of 4/100 lung cancer patients surviving at 6 months now 5/100 survive.

well that only sounds like 1% increase but the stat companies use that one xtra person and uses the 1/5 ratio calling it 20 %
and you don't think those studies aren't cherrypicked to make sure they get the benefit of the doubt?

or lets talk about amiodarone. they got on all the crash carts claiming they increase survivability where pateints make it too the hospital 20% increase in survivability getting to the hospital

when we switched from lidocaine and breteyllium to amioradone I asked that drug rep point blank that question

what they don't tell you is of those 20% who make it to the hospital there is no increase in survivability getting out of the hospital and his answer was well we give more of a chance for the patient to say good bye --LMAO

but they got it on all the crashcarts all over the united states and they mad millions doing it

anyway if you don't think you get hired by hospitals/HMO's as a provider to generate revenue encourage overtesting and overtreatment with overconsultation you must be employed by the government because medicine is big business.

revenue is more important to a lot of those mgmt folks then the patients wallet and his eventual outcome

[Da Geezer]

....But now this is the best corporate environment in the world in large part because people can be convinced to vote against their own interests, and in favor of those of corporations.

Yup, a pity all these folks are so stupid and befuddled. Far better to accept "hack facts".

[AlabamAlum]

For those who are science-minded, this is a worthwhile read on the recent kilonova.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/science/ligo-neutron-stars-collision.html

[Dr. Strangelove]

Senator Manchin calling for Trump to withdraw his nomination of Rep. Marino to be 'drug czar' after the blistering 60 Minutes/Wash Post stories about his role in getting the DEA to back off of drug companies for distributing opioids like candy.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I want Candy

[Jeff Buchanan]

JB I base my statements on 30 years of watching people peter away their money and the government doing the same on the last 6 months of life............

These are great examples of the wastefulness and profiteering in the business of Health Care.

I took your original comments at face in my post; the reason for that was the kind of stuff you posted is superficial at best and misleading at worst. But your follow-up is spot on. Appreciate that.

Do you think any of this - spiraling costs and profiteering that benefits a few and hurts most of the rest - is going to change? I don't.

I'm beginning to come around to single payer as a poor alternative but maybe the only alternative to the current system. That's because I think the current system and it's vested interests make it nearly impossible to improve delivery and lower costs competitively.

I'm not an expert on political climates, maybe someone else can chime in on this view: The Dems abandoned New Deal and Great Society ideals as platform planks in the 80s. These ideals are what created a modicum of income equality. By late 1980 and the 1990s the Rs had shifted significantly right and the left no longer associated itself with populism, the blue collar worker and middle class America in general. Income inequality got worse.

The Dems, notably the Clintons, found that attaching themselves and their party to Technocrats (Silicon Valley), highly educated elites and Wall Street, was far more productive in maintaining a hold on politicial power than latching on to blue collar workers, populists and the dwindling power of union heavies. Huge departure from FDR's, Truman's and Johnson's Democratic party principles of their time.

So, we've got this, for the most part, disinterested Democratic party and it's leadership in addressing the real implications of a shift in the political and economic culture to that of the 19th century. It is, IMO, that kind of problem that exists and is preventing Congress from actually addressing health care in the manner that it needs to be addressed.

[entropy]

American's need to understand that freedom of choice doesn't mean freedom of consequences.

If the US is moving to the single payer, I hope what comes with it is taxes on things like sugar, high fat/calorie fast food, and other habits that lead to health problems. Frankly, you are free to eat as you choose, but you should pay a penalty for potentially using more resources.

That DOES NOT mean people should be punished for hereditary issues or developing something like cancer. I'm talking purely choices.

[AlabamAlum]

Ent,

There are a number of studies that suggest high fat diets are not necessarily bad (unless you are specifically noting trans fats). Excessive and essentially nutrition-less carbs seem to be the main culprit for health issues in many studies. So, that could be a tax on flour, white rice, corn, as well as table sugar.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I think Ent should be punished for his hairdo...

[entropy]

AA.. don't disagree on nutrition-less carbs. I wasn't trying to do an all inclusive list, but you probably right on those carbs being worse that many fats (excluding trans). It's a good point to make.

I also wonder in 5 years if sugar substitutes would be added to this type of list. Which actually points out a danger of what I'm proposing. A few lifestyle avoidances are fine. A highly restrictive list that basically means taxing all food isn't the right concept either.

[entropy]

I think Ent should be punished for his hairdo...

what is wrong with a mullet?

[THE_WIZARD_]

So can't I go skydiving with a Double Whopper with cheese and a milkshake in a violent thunderstorm?

fuckin' killjoy

[THE_WIZARD_]

what is wrong with a mullet?

Not a thing Ent. You apparently have moved on from the Mohawk...

[crashcourse]

I think you should be allowed to do anything you want-I just don't think the government should pay for it

I think single payer is ok for basic preventive health care

but for advanced care if you don't give a shit about yourself and drop your A1C or attempt to lose 30 lbs or quit smoking --why should the government pay for your angioplasty or your chemo for lung cancer or taking care of that wound on your leg while you continue eating bon bons

continue the present system for those who elect to have more advanced health care or a employer provided plan