Fun with Medicare

I’m going to be 65 in a couple months. One of the neat things about turning 65 in the United States is that you can finally qualify for socialized medicine. Some people don’t like to call it that. Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. 

Anyway, I’m not exactly a shoo in for the program. As far as Social Security is concerned I’m pretty much a ghost. The last time I paid into Social Security I was when I had a part time job when I was 18. I haven’t exactly contributed to the program.

Let’s back track a bit. First I tried to figure out if I qualified by going to Social Security’s on-line site. That didn’t get me very far. Then I went to an organization called Service Link that’s supposed to help people with these programs. After a couple of meetings they gave up and sent me to the Social Security office an hour away. 

At first they didn’t get very far. They had a hard time believing I didn’t have to pay into the Federal system because I was a firefighter covered under a state plan. That covered my retirement, but Medicare was not part of the deal. In later years firefighters were entered into the Medicare system, but I never was. 

It occurred to me that plenty of housewives, who’ve never worked outside the home, get Medicare under their husband’s contribution. I asked if I might get in under my wife’s contributions. They think that might work. However, they had no record that we ever got married. Don’t know how that happened. 

At any rate I had to go back to the SS office so they could make a copy of my marriage certificate. Of course, I was dealing with a new person and they had no idea what I was talking about. They couldn’t find any record of my application. Hey, it had been two whole days, so it’s no wonder we had to start from scratch. 

As it turns out my application is under my wife’s SS number. I’m still pretty much a ghost to them. 

Currently I’m scheduled for a phone interview at the end of the week. Let’s see how that goes. 

Personally, I think this is pretty amusing. One can’t take these things too seriously. Worse come to worse I can always do what I’m doing now: running up bills I can’t pay. What they heck, they can only ruin your credit once. After that you’re pretty much free. That’s one less thing to worry about. 

-Sixbears 

Dying in harness

Monday I got a phone call from a good friend of mine. We go way back to middle school. He’s been struggling with an incurable cancer. There are treatments that are supposed to extend his time but they aren’t a cure. 

He called from the hospital. Another good friend was with him and I’m glad he wasn’t alone. He had an episode where he was mentally confused and could not hold down solid foods. The mental fog has cleared up, but he still can’t eat. The guy isn’t doing well.

So my other buddy drops in on him at the hospital and finds our friend in a zoom meeting. He’s working from his hospital bed. That’s just wrong. He claims he has to keep working for the medical insurance. That says so much about work in America and our health care system. The poor guy is supposed to retire next year but I don’t know if he’ll make it. 

I’m beyond disgusted. 

-Sixbears

Location Matters

In these trying pandemic times it really matters where you live. States that put stay at home orders in place early are doing better than those who resisted doing so. Some state governments are handling the emergency much better than others.

The prepper community has had a long ongoing debate between bugging in or bugging out. Well, in this case, bugging in is the solution. One of the things I always said is that you should live at your bug out location. Since it’s difficult to know what’s going to happen, it’s better to always live in your safe place.

That’s why I felt the need to head back home when I did. Fortunately, the nature of the crisis was such that I had enough lead time to get back to my house in the woods.

People who’ve bugged out are being looked upon with suspicion in the rural communities they’ve fled to. Police go door to door because they see out of state plates on cars parked in front. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Being an outsider is never easy, but now it might even be considered criminal.

The United States medical system varies hugely by area. Worse, there’s no central system that has control over everything. Normally the system is pretty efficient. However, it’s become pretty obvious that countries with national health care are doing a better job now. That’s just a fact, like it or not.

Maybe we should think of medical care the same way we think of police and fire departments. There used to be private fire departments in this country. It didn’t work very well and put the public in danger. Now it’s inconceivable that fire departments once let houses burn down because the didn’t have the right insurance. Today we have sick people spreading disease because they don’t have health insurance and can’t afford not to work.

Don’t feel superior if you don’t happen to live in a hotspot like New York. At least they have economic and political power. When NY politicians make a fuss the feds have to listen. If you live in a rural area take extra care to stay well. The politicians of Dead Dog County of Backwoods State don’t have much clout in Washington.

Stay well everyone.

-Sixbears

New Day, New Issues

I woke up Tuesday morning, looked over at the Blazer and noticed one of the tires looked low. Sure enough, it was down to 15 pounds. Good thing we travel with a small compressor just for such problems. A local tire place took a look at it right off. Turns out it was just a bad valve core and a quick and easy fix. While there the mechanic pointed out the tires were due for rotation. Sure enough, it was time. They did everything for $20, which I though was a bargain.

News out of China is looking worse all the time. Even my home state of New Hampshire is dealing with a couple of suspected cases. Face and appearances are more important than public safety in China, Doctors had been instructed to keep silent about the disease instead of warning the public. Right now the they are closing the barn door after the horses have left.

How severe the disease is going to be will depend on how virulent it becomes. Health care systems are not prepared to cope with a major outbreak. In the United States there are too many people like me -without health insurance. We don’t go to the doctor’s unless we are dying as it causes financial ruin. That will delay treatment.

Then there’s the issue that people can’t afford to take time off when they are sick. Instead of staying home and getting better, they go out in the public and spread whatever they have.

I guess I’m going to have to pay more attention to the news instead of blissfully ignoring most of it. With that in mind, it’s time to shop for a new cell phone. Mine is randomly dying and unreliable. Odds are it won’t last us the next couple of months. Such is life.

My lovely wife and I are looking at possibly moving back on the boat for the next part of our adventure.

-Sixbears

Doctor Visits

I'm in the process of taking care of some small health issues. A leg infection seems to come and go, but hasn't quite gotten better. Last time I went for treatment the wound cleared up about 90%, but the last 10% just lingered. Enough is enough. Being stubborn, it took a while before I finally decided to return to the docotor. So it's back to antibiotics.

However, a swab of the wound revealed there was also a fungal infection. My options were either an over the counter topical antifungal, or three days of treatment with pills. The pill option was supposed to be more reliable, but required a liver function test. As this never quite healing wound has gone on too long I sprung for the test and the pills. On the plus side, I now know my liver is in great shape. Maybe I should drink more?

While I'm at it, I decided to make an appointment with a poditrist. One of my big toes has a messed up toenail that's often painful. Since I'm hanging around anyway, might as well get that looked at too.

These doctor visits are kicking a big hole in my budget. Having no medical insurance it's all coming out of pocket..In spite of the expense, I owe it to myself to get in better health. I'm getting sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Don't even get me started on what I think of our nation's screwed up health care system. Right now even a system that “rationed” health care would be an improvement. At least I'd probably get some care.

-Sixbears

Taking charge of medical issues

A friend of mine has had a lot of problems with his neck. Nine years ago he had a neck operation that prevented him from becoming paralyzed. Unfortunately, now the doctor who did the operation is retired to Alaska. My friend is stuck dealing with a whole new group of doctors.

That's bad enough. His problems are compounded by our horrible insurance system. He's been to the doctors enough this year that he's paid his $5000 deductible. He drove a long distance to see a specialist while in great pain. The specialist wanted to do an MRI but the insurance wouldn't let him. (isn't that practicing medicine without a license?) It appears for all the world that the insurance company wants to wait for January when the $5000 deductible resets. That's the sort of thing that drives me crazy.

This past year I've had to deal with medical issues and paid totally out of pocket. It was worth it as I would not have gotten better on my own. I even recently went to the doctors to follow up. Now I know what things to watch out for in the future. This is the point where I decide what my future involvement with the medical system will be.

My doctor mentioned that he wants me to see a sleep specialist for my sleep apnea. Not gonna happen. I can't afford it and don't need it. Consumable parts, hoses, filters, masks, and headgear can be purchased on-line for a lot less money than what insurances are willing to pay. It's the exact same stuff. The machines themselves require a prescription so I can't get a new one. However, there are a lot of used machines out there. People get them and find they can't adjust to using them. They are free for the asking.

The machines have hidden settings for the therapist to set. Once I found out how to get into those, I was able to adjust the machines for my needs. It's a little know fact that therapists rarely dial them in perfectly. They can get into the ballpark, but informed users can fine tune them to work better.

Sometimes you need a doctor. Sometimes you are better off dealing with things on your own. Sometimes you can't afford a doctor and have to deal with things on your own. It's pretty disturbing that the so called richest country in the world cannot provide its citizens access to affordable health care.

-Sixbears

Flooding and medical care

It's flooding in the North Country of New Hampshire, worse than snow melt time. We've had few days without rain. In fact, rain is predicted for the next 10 days. It might rain after that, but the forecast only goes out 10 days. Noah was lied to.

Personally, it's not much of problem for me. My swamp might get wetter, but it is a swamp after all. We might have to start picking our roads to get into town. Flooding and washouts will most likely become a travel issue.

I see the the Republicans in the House passed a “Healthcare” bill. For me, it promises to be worse than the programs I already can't afford. It's not all bad news. The wealthy get some nice tax breaks. I guess it's my own darn fault for not being wealthy. Okay, it looks like the unpopular insurance mandate will also be dropped, so I guess that's something.

Of course, now we have to wait to see what the Senate does with it. By the time they are finished, the proposed law could be completely different. The political pundits have serious doubts that a majority will be able to agree on a final package.

Personally, I'm still waiting for the rest of my totally out of pocket medical bills to come in. So far it's been an ER visit, a doctor's visit, two sets of lab tests, three types of medication and at least one more doctor's visit scheduled. Thank goodness I'm actually seeing progress. No doubt it will be weeks yet before I'm all better, but the trend is in the right direction.

I can prepare for natural disasters like flooding. Risks can be mitigated. The disaster known as Congress is much harder to prepare for.

-Sixbears

Still Alive

I've missed blogging, but there's been many other demands on my time and energy. Such is life. Right now I happen to have a few moments to myself so I thought I'd write a new post. Since my last post I've been out straight with another creative project. That project has the potential to make a few dollars. The last year and a half has been rather expensive for me; it's time to take care of business.

The weather has been bitterly cold. Now a major snowstorm is on its way. Interesting times. One week I'm running around in sandals and no jacket, the next week we have a wind chill of -29. It was all I could to do keep plumbing from freezing.

I have to be honest and say I'm not too impressed with Trump. His administration looks like the “not ready for prime time players.” It's not all bad. There are a few decent cabinet choices and I was happy to see the Pacific Trade deal get shut down. That deal was negotiated in secret and that made me very wary of it. The best I can figure is that it wasn't so much about trade as it was about political alliances.

Too many people relaxed their prepping when Trump was elected, as if having a Republican at the top was going to change all the basic facts of modern life. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes don't care who's president.

I've made it clear in the past that I wasn't a fan of either Hillery or Trump. There's a reason I'm a registered Independent voter. Trump did upset the apple cart, so there is opportunity in chaos. In the short term, however, I know a lot of people who've personally suffered due to his policies. One example, here in NH we are a big tourist state. International travel is way down. I've friends and family who've lost money and work because of it. One thing about change, you can never do just one thing. Everything has consequences. Enough of politics though. Everyone is still emotional and it's going to to take time for peoples' logic to kick in.

Currently I'm convalescing after bruising the heck out of my leg. Dropped a bundle of firewood on it. Can't really afford to see the doctor, so I'm doing what I can to avoid that. Obama care was too expensive and the deductible too large so I let it go. As luck would have it, Trump care doesn't look any better for someone my age and with my income. One can only hope that the promise of cheaper/better care is fulfilled, but I'm not holding my breath. On the other hand, it certainly looks good for the top 10% or so.

In happier news, the motorcycle project is moving along. Just had three deliveries of parts come in. I've cleaned up some corrosion, (still more to do) and sorted out electrical problems. It might cost me more for riding safety gear than bike parts. Looking forward to getting the old bike out on the road. I'm an adrenaline junkie at heart.

This has been the first winter in many years that my lovely wife and I have stayed in the frozen north. I'd forgotten how pasty white I was under my tan. For years I've been getting enough sun to have some color. This winter I resorted to taking vitamin D3 pills. Next winter we plan on traveling to warmer climes.

We are trying to figure out what to do. There's a chance we'll buy another sailboat to replace the one we lost one dark and stormy night. If that doesn't come together, we still have the Oday 19. We could do a mix of van camping and sailing. There's the possibility that we'll concentrate on camping and just bring the kayak. It's nice to have options.
So I'm still around, just busier than a one armed paper hanger.

-Sixbears

Let the health care games begin!

It's no secret that I've never been a fan of Trump. However, I wasn't a fan of having another Clinton in the White House either. Still with me?

There was some thought that the Republican leadership were going to handle the day to day business of government. Trump was expected to be some sort of figurehead who rubber stamped what the leadership wanted.

It doesn't look like that's going to happen. The big issue that caught my attention was health care. Republicans have been trying to shut down the ACA for years. It appeared that their plan was to shut it down and figure out some sort of replacement later . . . maybe.

Then Trump comes around and promises health care for everybody, no preconditions, kids can stay on their parent's plan, and it's going to be cheaper for everyone. Plus, the unpopular mandate will be done away with. Turns out that Trump has a plan of his own. The Republican leadership is quietly have fits.

The big question is how is that going to be paid for? Trump is talking about cracking down on the drug companies. Okay, that should help, but it won't pay for the whole plan. I am very interested to see how this will turn out. There are ways to make it work. The most practical is a single payer plan, like the rest of the civilized world has. That is ideologically forbidden, so I'm curious to see what happens next.

I used to think that competition could lower prices, but we haven't seen that happen. Drug companies have raised essential medications to ridiculously high prices, because they can. Many drugs are controlled by just one company so competition isn't going to help; there isn't any.

The medical field is not like other industries. I've got one hospital within reasonable driving distance from my house. It's not like hospitals compete on a dollar to dollar basis with each other. The pricing is totally opaque so we don't' know what a procedure really costs. We can't shop around. Besides, this not like like buying a new smart phone. Our lives are on the line here so the pressures are different.

As for myself, I'm looking at heath insurance from the outside. Before Obama care my insurance, while fairly decent, was completely unaffordable. After the ACA appeared I could afford a minimal plan with a crazy high deductible. After two years even that got too expensive. Now my plan consists of going to the emergency room and stiffing them for the bill. That's not a great plan, but it's the one forced onto me.

To sum up, as much as I'm not a fan of Trump, I'm glad he made the promises that he did. Let's see if they can pull a rabbit out a hat.

-Sixbears

Next Medical Sign-up

Pretty soon it'll be time to figure out what I'm going to do for medical coverage for the next year. That could be interesting.

First some background. I used to have medical insurance through my state retirement plan. It sucked. Even though the plan was subsidized by the state, my personal cost for individual insurance was $1000/month. That was a significant portion of my retirement income. There was no way to keep paying that and still eat.

Having become rather fond of eating over the years, I decided to let my insurance go. That's no small decision as once dropped, there is no way to get back on the state plan. For a couple years I went without insurance. During that time I had a few injuries. While gathering firewood I stuck a pickaroon in my leg. Later I broke a toe, and ripped the skin off my thumb in a fall. Also picked up my fair share of bumps and bruises.

The thumb was ugly, but I managed to keep it free from infection and it eventually healed perfectly. Doctors don't really do much for broken toes anyway so it was just something to live with. As for stabbing myself with a pickaroon; really should have gone to the hospital. If for nothing else than to get a tetanus shot. Eventually the leg healed, leaving an interesting scar.

When the Affordable Care Act was passed I almost did not get insurance. My income is just high enough to disqualify me for subsidies. At the last minute a new company came into the state, allowing me to purchase insurance for $350/month. With strong family encouragement I signed up. Last year my cost jumped to $400/month. During that time I used the insurance exactly once: for a checkup.

Early indications are that my insurance is going to jump up again -and maybe by a lot. Should that happen I'm very tempted to let it go. As it is, every month the money paid for insurance I don't use is bothering me. Last year was pretty expensive and I incurred more debt that I'm comfortable with. It's getting paid down, but ever so slowly.

It would be s a risk to get without insurance again. My life is active and accidents happen. I'm also 58 and fat. On the plus side, I did get a clean bill of health at the doctor's visit. While there they gave me a tetanus shot, so that's finally up to date.

Now some would think I could maybe hope to cruise along until I got old enough for Medicare. The problem is I'm not in the system. As a firefighter in a state retirement system we did not have pay into Social Security nor did we pay into Medicare. No hope for me there.

So what am I going to do? Accept my own mortality? Well, there's that. Emergency rooms will have to treat me if I show up at their door. That's fine in an emergency, but they won't give care for chronic conditions.

Medical expenses could bankrupt me, but I'm not all that afraid of that happening. My parents had good health insurance but medical expenses eventually caused them to file bankruptcy. Even good insurance won't save you from co-pays, travel costs, and other out of pocket expenses. They add up. The insurance I've been able to afford hasn't been nearly as good as the plan my parents' had. If I get really sick or injured, I'm financially ruined anyway.

Next month I'm going to figure out what to do. As for now I'm working on losing some weight and getting more exercise. That probably will do more for me in the long run than buying medical insurance.

Currently we have the worse of Capitalism and the worse of Socialism. If our medical system was truly open market there would be real competition to reduce costs. If it was fully socialized the government would pay for it.

Maybe I'll have to sneak across the border and pretend to be Canadian.

-Sixbears

Ice storms and other distractions

There's an ice storm in progress this evening. My lovely wife and I were invited over to some friends but we aren't traveling anywhere. More ice and snow are in the forecast. Hopefully it will clear by the end of the week so we can head south.

The White Mountain Cafe in Gorham NH has a ham sandwich called the Monroe, named after Mt. Monroe. It's the closest thing I can find locally to a Cuban sandwich. It's good, but it's not quite the same as those sandwiches made by actual Cuban immigrants in the Florida Keys. You know it's an authentic place when it has a small boat out front in which young Cuban men dared the waters from Cuba to Florida.

Those Cuban sandwiches are pretty healthy too. So how can a pork and ham sandwich be healthy? Well first we have to kayak from our boat to land. Then it's a long walk across Boot Key to the restaurant. Those sandwiches are earned.

People ask me how I can boat in shark infested waters. It must be so dangerous. Yes, it is possible to tangle with a shark that wants to take a bite out of your inflatable kayak. However, here in NH it's much more likely that someone will get hurt and killed slipping on ice. Falling down isn't as dramatic as a shark attack, but it's much more likely.

For the last couple of days I've been sorting out my personal business. One company was giving me a lot of trouble. I had on-line payments with them before, but because I closed one account they automatically closed on-line access to my remaining account. Since I'm staying in town I don't have access to all my paper work back at the lake. Their “security policy” would not let me pay my bill. Finally I told them that if they didn't straighten out the on-line payment system they would not get paid at all. Suddenly they found a way to make it happen. Imagine that.

I'd planned on sorting out this stuff in the fall, but my dad's sudden illness put everything on hold. As a stop gap measure mail was forwarded to his place. Eventually my business will be simplified even more, but as a mid term solution I'm setting up more on-line payments.

Last winter while traveling in rural Texas I purchased an AT&T hotspot for Internet access. When I got home in April I let the service lapse. Yesterday I was able to charge it up and reestablish the account. Fortunately I'd kept good notes on how to set up the hardware and software. It saved me a lot of grief. The service isn't cheap. Currently I'm paying $75 for 8 gig of data. Last year I often found myself adding a couple more gigs at the end of the month for a few extra dollars.

There are cheaper services out there, but AT&T provides good coverage in most of the areas I travel in. If it allows me to spend more time out at anchor than in a marina it pays for itself.

A good part of the afternoon was spent dealing with my health insurance -a very frustrating and eventually pointless exercise. The government informed me I might qualify for cheaper insurance, about half of what I'm currently paying. After dealing with their crashing web site, spending long stretches on the phone, mostly listening to crappy on-hold music and plowing through paperwork, I got the final result. Not only do I not qualify for the cheaper rate, my insurance is going up $50/month.

While it's not great insurance, it's still $600/month cheaper than what I was being billed before Obama care. In fact, I couldn't afford insurance and had none at all. It was tempting to let it go, but since my dad just passed away I'm feeling a bit more mortal than usual.

Most of my business up here in NH is done. One more trip up to the lake to raid my old boat for gear should do it. However, I'm not going to budge until the ice is clear. Schedules are killers so I'm doing my best to avoid having one.

-Sixbears

Canadian Health Care

I was talking with a Mohawk from Canada the other day. He spends about 8 or 9 months of the year down here in Florida. Unlike other Canadians he doesn't have to return to Canada after 6 months. It's one of the few advantages of being recognized as belonging to the First Peoples. A buddy of mine has the same deal but in reverse. He's a US citizen who owns property in Canada and can stay up there as long as he wants.

The Canadian said he'd move down to Florida full time except for US health care. He and his wife try to schedule most of their healthcare while up north.

US politicians go and on about the horrors of Canadian healthcare but I've yet to meet one Canadian who would give it up for what we have in the US. Of course, if you are wealthy or a politician with the best of US care the Canadian system might be a step down.

Right now I've the cheapest bronze plan I could scrape up money to pay for. Before that I went two years with no health insurance. There's a couple of times I should probably have gone to the hospital, but I sucked it up and took my chances. Socialized medicine doesn't look too bad to me. On the other hand, a totally open market system might not be bad either. Real open competition should bring prices down to earth.

Right now I'm a getting an up close and personal look at end of life care. The hospice people are good, but are locked into pretty tight constraints. They can't do some fairly simple things that could make life better for people. The patient would have to drop hospice, get medical treatment, then go back on hospice -with all confusion and messed up paperwork that would entail. Hospice and regular doctors don't really work together. It's a mess, all because of the way things are paid.

-Sixbears

Insurance Disclosure

From time to time I rant about medical insurance. Recently I wrote a blog ranting how none of the insurance packages being offered in my area did me any good. My lovely wife convinced me to take another look. She worries about me.

There was a plan that was affordable, but it didn't cover any of the doctors in my area. Just out of curiosity I gave it another look. Much to my surprise all the local doctors are now covered by that system. Either the web site had a glitch the first time I checked it or the plan just expanded.

A few years ago when I'd dropped insurance coverage my cost had risen to almost $1000/month. That was totally out of reach. The plan I signed up for will cost me less than $350/month. While I hate to spend money on something I might not use, it's not going to break my budget.

I am one of those people who benefits from the new rules about preexisting conditions. Had the old rules been still in place they would not accept me.

It's still a messed up way to run a health care system. A wise man takes care of his own health and only relies on the system for things he can't fix himself. As a disabled firefighter I've learned how to manage my issues with alternative treatments. At least now I'll be covered in case I do something stupid like fall off my roof and break a leg.

-Sixbears

Health care rabbit hole

On November 15 the sign up period for health care will open up again. I haven't had health insurance for a couple years now. When the cost rose to almost $1000/month it was no longer affordable. The money saved on health insurance went into things like buying good healthy food. I also got myself a good bicycle.

Since then we've had the roll out of Obama Care. Big woop. Last year there was exactly one provider in my state. They weren't good when my employer used them so there was little incentive to sign up. This year it looks like there will be at least half a dozen providers. That part looks encouraging.

I'm actually going to take a look at having insurance this year. That doesn't mean I'm going to sign up. The numbers will have to make sense.

How have I managed in the years since I let my medical insurance go? I've stayed out the hospital, but that doesn't mean nothing bad happened. I did take a nasty fall off a porch onto a brick walkway. A toe was broken and the skin torn off the end of my thumb. Hospitals don't really do much for broken toes. Took care of it myself. Good self care of the thumb prevented infection and it healed up nicely.

The thing I probably should have gone to the hospital for was when I drove a pulp hook into my leg. In retrospect I should have at least gotten my tetanus shot updated. Fortunately that wasn't a problem. The leg healed up and left a nice scar, but it doesn't bother me.

My lungs were damaged when I was a Firefighter and since then I've been on a c-pap machine. Those things are expensive, there are ways to cope. I've been able to buy replacement parts on-line at a tenth the cost my insurance was paying. A couple almost new machines made their way into my possession.

Another problem is with the health care industry itself. Let's just say doctors and I don't get along. After my work injury doctors did very little good and some did serious harm. That leaves a bad memory. My health improved thanks to alternative medicine.

Some things modern medicine does really really well. If I ever get a broken leg or rupture a spleen, by all means take me to a hospital. We'll sort out the bills later.

If the numbers make sense I'll get insurance. If not, I guess I'll have to really take better care of myself. At the very least I should probably lose weight.

Not having insurance has made me a bit more concerned about safety. These days I'm much more likely to wear my safety glasses, gloves, ear protectors and steel toe boots.

What about the penalty for not having insurance? Yeah, what about that? There isn't much they can do if you don't pay. They can take it out of your tax return, but no return, no penalty. I don't even pay taxes so it's not a concern.

In short, I'm going to look it over, but I don't feel any strong compulsion to do something about it. That's probably not the wisest attitude for a fat 56 year old, but there you go.

-Sixbears

Embarrassed about US health care

Okay, anyone else embarrassed that the US has been less effective dealing with Ebola than Nigeria?

Quarantine everyone who contacted an Ebola victim for 21 days. End of outbreak. Don't let them move around the general population. Certainly don't let them on planes or cruise ships. The CDC couldn't even get that straight, and it's supposed to be their main job.

I'm sick of hearing politicians and bureaucrats blather on how the US has the best health care system in the world. The US doesn't have a health care “system.” It has a patchwork of public, private, and for profit hospitals. The quality of available treatment runs from excellent to nonexistent.

In the US health care only means anything if you have good affordable health insurance. Even people with basic health insurance avoid hospitals because even the copays are out of reach.

Do you know what working people with a fever do? They pop a couple of Ibuprofens and go to work. Thanks to weak worker protections many don't get sick leave. Where do a lot of these workers work? Many toil in the food service industry, handling the food you eat. Even hospitals have workers who can't afford health care or sick leave. How messed up is that?

When the Mongols invading Europe came down with plague they were unable to continue their conquest. Before they left they catapulted their dead over the walls and spread plague to the defenders.

We probably won't have dead fast food workers catapulted over the walls into gated communities. Nope, the plague will walk in the back door with the cleaning lady, the pool boy, the maintenance man, and even the security guards. The sooner those in charge figure out we are all in this together, the sooner we can fix the problems.

Ebola is the crisis of the moment. Our health system and worker's rights both need an upgrade. This current disease will pass, but until the US gets it's act together, it'll be an easy target for the next flavor of plague.

-Sixbears

Unconventional Medicine

I had a nice long phone conversation with a good friend of mine. About 6 years ago he had a massive stroke. For a time he was completely parallelized and was unconscious. Later, he came out of his comma. Speech was difficult and he'd often be lost for words. Doctors put him in a nursing home.

Over time, with some physical therapy, he was able to regain the use of his left side. Eventually he was able to move into an assisted living apartment. That was a big step up from the nursing home. His physical therapy stopped, which is normal in these cases. It's expensive and they only expect improvements during the fist year after a stroke.

That's where things stayed for a while. He didn't get any better, but didn't get any worse. He could watch TV, but struggled with reading. Anything longer than a short magazine article overwhelmed him. Reading was slow and he could not retain what he'd read.

Then he decided to do more about his health. He lost weight -about 100 pounds. That got him off insulin and most other drugs. An “energy worker” did some procedures on him. He started going to an acupuncturist on a regular basis.

One day he noticed some feeling in part of his right leg. It doesn't sound like much, but to him it was a big deal. Instead of just being something dragged around, his leg felt like his again. He has no control over it, but at least there's some sensation.

Life got busy and I hadn't heard from him in a while. We talked on the phone last night and he'd made another big improvement. Suddenly he got the urge to try and read a book. He was able to read, comprehend, and retain what he read. Now he's on his third and truly enjoying himself. It opens up a slice of life that had been closed off.

He didn't do alternative treatments instead of regular medicine, but when conventional treatments come to their end, what does one have to lose? The effort paid off for him.

It had also paid off for me when I was trying to recover from lung injuries from firefighting. A martial artist taught me exercises to strengthen my lungs. I learned how to breath all over again. In my case, conventional medicine had actually made matters worse for a time. Once they cut me loose from the system, I started to slowly improve.

The nation is struggling with this whole Obamacare thing. We talk about insurance, but not so much about health. If I've learned anything about health care over the years is that we are responsible for our own. Blindly listening to doctors is a trip to an early grave.

I'm paying more attention to my health as of late. For a time I was so sick that just feeling Okay was wonderful. Now that I've been enjoying sun and salt air and exercise, I see that I can feel even better. Talking to my friend has inspired me to do more.

-Sixbears

Dealing with hospitals

My lovely wife used to be the one who dealt with hospital and medical insurance. They push my buttons. However, I've taken over the task once more.

Here's an example of the sort of thing that grinds my gears. Years ago we had an insurance that required preapproval of non-emergency surgery. Fine. We got all the preapprovals. My lovely wife had a successful operation. Great. Then we got a bill for over $20,000. They said we hadn't gotten preapproval. My wife had to straighten it out as I was incoherent with rage.

Now I find myself back dealing with this stuff again. My lovely wife has Medicare and had a procedure done. Quite a fair chunk was not covered. That in itself kinda ticked me off. I decided to send them a small amount every month. One day they called me on the phone and offered to clear the bill if I paid half. Fine. It took some doing, but the budget got squeezed and they got paid.

Except they kept on billing me. I just got off the phone with the hospital with my fourth attempt to straighten this out. The guy assured me that this time it's fixed. Right.

As for my own self, I have a solution that's been working for me. I don't have insurance and don't go to the hospital. Those two things give me peace of mind and keep my blood pressure low. Very good for my health, physical and mental.

-Sixbears

Killing yourself for health insurance

Over and over I hear of people doing things they don’t want to do -for the health insurance. My lovely wife was just telling me about another one. This woman is doing a job that will most likely get her seriously injured and she’s doing it for the health insurance. There’s another job that she’d really rather do but she thinks she can’t give up her health insurance. The thing is, she’s currently healthy -except for the constant wear and tear her job is doing to her.

The woman could actually do something she likes. If she quit her old job could be filled by a nice young strong person. She’d be healthy and happy, plus someone else could have a job. Still, she’s working the job that’s slowly killing her.

There’s a couple I know who got married because one of them lost health insurance. Both of them are healthy but they rushed into marriage for that all important health insurance.

What really drives me nuts is that the insurance that they are sacrificing for isn’t even that good. Plans have been whittled back until they don’t provide the same sort of coverage that they used to. The polices are written to conceal their true weaknesses. Even if a service is technically covered they deny payment on trumped up excuses.

I know from experience that fighting an insurance company is very hard to do -especially when I really was sick and not at my best. If my lovely wife hadn’t dealt with the insurance companies for me, it would never have been straightened out.

People are making large sacrifices for insurance only to get screwed by the insurance companies anyway. The decisions aren’t driven by logic. Destroying real health for something that may or may not help you when sick doesn’t make sense.

Fear is driving these decisions. Give up fear. Think the unthinkable.

-Sixbears

Medical training

Yeah, I’ve had medical training. I know when to bleed a patient, when to apply leeches, and when to shake a turtle shell rattle and burn a sage bundle.

Recently it’s come to my attention that my medical training just might be a wee bit out of date.

Seriously, it has been decades since I’ve sat in a formal emergency medicine class. Quite a few of my friends work in EMS. Talking to them has really brought home how some of the thinking about emergency medicine has changed.

Reviewing the new literature would help. The book “Where there is no Doctor,” is darn useful too.

Even so, there is something to be said for actually taking classes. The price is reasonable. It would give me a reason to actually do the studying and practicing. For me, nothing beats learning from people who actually use this stuff.

It’s something to think about as part of living a prepared life. Actually, what you really want is for all the people around you to know this stuff. Convince the people in your life to join you in class. That way there will be someone close by to help you in an emergency.

-Sixbears

Things that embarrass the United States

The Secret Service gets caught “stiffing” a prostitute in Columbia. It’s described as a “Tremendous embarrassment to the USA.”

Really?

Yeah, it’s a bit of an embarrassment that they didn’t pay a worker her wages. As a US citizen, I feel no embarrassment at all.

I’m full up with embarrassment. I’m embarrassed by our politicians. Our health system is shameful. The level of economic disparity in our country is an embarrassment. The fact that the TSA has a bigger budget than NASA is another one. We claim to be the land of the free yet lock up more people than anyone else; that’s embarrassing.

Anyone who’s surprised with governmental scandal has very little contact with the government. It’s the purest example of the Peter Principal at work: people rising to their level of incompetence.

If the government would lock up some of the criminals on Wall Street, I’d feel that maybe it was my government. Right now, I can’t feel that much for a government that acts more like a tyranny than a representative republic.

The SS got embarrassed . . . good.

More departments need to be shamed in public.

-Sixbears