The yard is looking more grassy green than snowy white now. It’s been a long time coming in this record breaking winter not of discontent as much as surprise. I thought my house had been relocated to Buffalo, Erie or some other such place. The most snow in a season since recordkeeping began for Washington, DC. Also Baltimore and Philadelphia. It looked pretty for awhile but dingy later; like the snow in Minnesota does because once it falls it may remain for weeks up there. Something more pithy soon.
A break from health care reform. The Obama administration has apparently finally embarked on the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy implemented during the first Clinton administration. Reinforcing the conclusion that he was just as much a politician that will say whatever needs saying to be elected (except he didn’t succeed), John McCain has done a 180 degree turn from his previous position and now is “disappointed” in Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen’s opinion that gays in the military pose no problem. It’s difficult to fathom why McCain needs to curry conservative favor at this point in his political career–at his age and his showing in the last election he has no future in politics. Anyway, assuming the gossip is correct, if Alexander the Great was in fact gay, then why should being gay in the 21st century U.S. military pose a problem? With an all-volunteer service having at least some difficulty getting people to enlist when the real likelihood of posting to a combat zone is high, why discourage gays from joining? It is time to end the charade. Let them in and leave them alone.
Tags: Don't Ask Don't Tell, gays in the military, McCain, Obama
OBE, for short–that’s a much used phrase from a once upon a time former supervisor. Applied to projects, assignments, etc., it meant the task at hand no longer needed doing. Some might suppose that recent election results might make that an epithet applicable to health care reform. But as President Obama said in his state of the union address, it still is something needing doing. As an aside, in my own case, OBE also refers to the bronchitis that took a toll on me recently–a partial excuse for the interval between my last post and this one. So, a couple more installments on the main topic.
Prohibiting insurors from refusing coverage of pre-existing conditions seems a bit unfair to them on the one hand or a prescription for higher rates for everyone does it not? However, while there may be some cross subsidization by healthy people of sick people, consider the alternatives. Those sick people who can’t afford or are unable to obtain coverage, will go to emergency rooms–soaking up available resources from people with genuine emergencies. Those uncovered people will also be out and about in stores, schools, neighborhoods, etc., where any communicable illnesses they may have can impact on the rest of us. In other words, we may all wind up paying for or suffering on account of denying coverage to others. So in the long run, it may make more sense to find a way to pay for coverage for them, pre-existing conditions and all.
In most cases, insurance is something you buy to cover yourself in case the unexpected financial setback occurs–damage to your house or car for example. Or in the case of health, an acute illness or event such as a stroke or heart attack. On the other hand, you can and should expect to have some routine preventive care like physicals, vaccinations, periodic blood tests or various scans depending on your age and gender. While the high cost of treating acute illnesses is something few people can absorb absent insurance, the routine tests could be afforded by some to many people. Still, insurers are generally happy to cover payment for the preventive care because, at least in theory, that may lower the risk of the much more expensive acute care. How likely it is for an individual to need the pricier care is what makes the risk pool definitionand the pre-existing condition issue a driving concern in the health care debate.
The theory of insurance is that among a large group of people, only a relatively small percentage will suffer very severe ailments necessitating very costly medical treatments. Accordingly, the risk-based premium set for the members of the group of insureds can be set low enough for the premiums to be affordable (much more affordable than risking one’s own bank account). Of course, this means that if you are very healthy, you are subsidizing sicker people’s medical care. On the other hand, if you are the sickly one, you have other people paying for you. Still, I for one would rather help someone else pay their medical bills than be sick myself and make out better financially. In any case, a major component of the health care reform debate focuses on preexisting conditions.
Because health care (chiefly what hospitals, doctors, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and drug stores provide us with) is so expensive, most people find it difficult if not impossible to pay for out of pocket. Well duh! Yes, I know, it is so obvious–but I mention this only as a preface to serve as a distinguishing feature to the the health insurance issue. Insurance, in the general sense, is a pooling of risk by individuals who contract with an insurer who promises to reimburse them if stipulated risks or events occur. One can buy insurance against almost any form of risk. You buy whole life insurance and “win” the bet with the insurer if you die earlier than the time by which your premiums exceed the policy payout. You buy term life insurance and pay a lot less during your 40s or 50s because the insurance is for a fixed period during which it is not so likely you will die. Property and casualty insurance covers your house, your car, your boat, or you as an individual against loss due to covered perils or liability to others for harms caused on your property or by your negligence. There are many other forms of insurance, including health insurance. But health insurance has some peculiarties, which partially explains the difficulties of making sense of health care reform.
Like other forms of insurance, the insurance companies ostensibly base their premiums on the risk that they will have to pay out on the health insurance policies. But they earn their income not simply on the difference between the payout and the premiums but on the revenue earned on the investment of the capital in the form of premiums. So when the stock market goes south, they, like other institutional investors take heavy hits. Then again, in the case of health insurance, many major companies are not-for-profit rather than stock holder owned. Accordingly, they don’t have to win on the investments–except they do if they want to price their products correctly. Also, unlike the case of homeowner insurance–payouts for which may ebb and flow with hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters, but otherwise is relatively less risky for the insurer–medical insurance can reliably expect to pay out substantial sums every year for many people. More on this in the next post.
Tags: health care, insurance
I didn’t really want to do it, but I need a topic that lends itself both to some amount of continuity and also fits the notion that this blog is about expressing what really is happening–reaching beyond ignorance and illusion. So as arrogant of me as it may be, I will latch onto this topic and like Clarissa, try to explain it all. First, some bold statements without citations of authority (because it’s my blog and besides, if you don’t believe me you probably won’t check the references anyway): The United States does not have the best health care system in the world. (If you doubt that, check infant mortality, life span, incidence of diseases and disabilities with other industrialized or “first world” nations). There are more (on a percentage basis and an actual number) uninsured and underinsured people here in the U.S. than in several other nations. We get less “bang for the buck” here than many other countries–in other words, we pay more for inferior care. Oh yes, there are countless high tech tools and innovative processes available to American patients, but they are also available elsewhere and they may not be most effectively utilized. OK, that is it for starters, we will do more on this every few days.
Tags: health, insurance, medical care, mortality
I really was going to get back to this blog sooner. Oh well. I could scarcely resist on this day. As the first snow of the season falls on the Northern Virginia area, other flakes fall as well. I refer to those exceptional narcissists named Salahi. Day after day, a new detail of their flaky self-aggrandizing efforts hits the news. While they may be a cut above (in refinement at least) the underwearless Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan, they more than make up for the shortfall in physical embarrassment by the scope of their scamming and scheming to get unwarranted attention.
Not today, mind you, but soon. Not a sabbatical, but I have been out of the blogging loop. Reference back to my “Scrooged” post. The physical went fine, the spiritual went fine, but there was another dimension I didn’t expect. But I am now ready to roll again. More coming soon and regularly again.
OK, we are getting older. Still, objectively I think, the volume was louder. We went to see Angels and Demons yesterday in a local multiplex. The movie itself was fairly loud, while the previews were louder still. I found myself putting bits of tissue in my ears to muffle the sound. I used to go to rock concerts years ago; they were louder, of course. But movies were never this loud. I think there is an age gap here. After years of ear buds blasting MP3 tunes, car sound systems rattling windows and car frames or whatever else the youth of today use to stoke the music receptors, it seems that theaters must ramp up the amps. I am 62 now, still without hearing aids. Not to be too much of an old fogy, I will boldly predict hearing aids a great long term investment. I suspect they will be big sellers in 15 years or perhaps even less. Get in now on the ground floor and profit from the coming auditory impairments of young to middle-aged Americans.
Tags: age gap, hearing loss, movies
A two-fer: a physical tuneup and more importantly, a spiritual tuneup. On April 29th I started having pains in my upper right abdomen. Because I knew I could get test results quicker at the emergency room, I went there the next day when the pain increased. I expected it might be something like gallstones, since I had already had the appendix out many years ago. Blood tests, ultrasound and a CT scan showed no gallstones or gall bladder irritation. Instead, I had something I never heard of–an omental infarction. The omentum is this fatty layer that hangs down like an apron over the intestines. The guy at the emergency room consulted an on-call surgeon, who said I should be admitted to the hospital. I came into the emergency room at 9:30 in the morning; 12 hours later I was on my way to the hospital, 20 minutes away. Not until the next morning did I find out what this was all about. The surgeon said this corner (?) of the omentum may have experienced some kind of twisting. Tissue death–and pain, followed. He put me on IV antibiotics and periodically pushed on the area to be sure where the pain was. Four days later, with the pain going away and no uptick in the white count, I went home. Still, I had concerns. A puffy arm from where the IV fluids had leaked. Worries over what this all meant. Nonetheless, I took it as a message from the universe that now was the time to finally begin that diet and exercise program that would achieve my weight loss/fitness goals. How would I survive to enjoy my retirement years in that New Mexico dream home otherwise? So I began walking, cut back on the food and have lost 16 pounds already. The spiritual tuneup was another matter.
Awaiting a rescan on May 17th, I daily freaked out. Going to the Gohonzon with daimoku I thought the worst as my stomach turned somersaults. The mind/body connection is amazing; more later. I reread SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s lecture on “The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life.” I reread portions of The Buddha in Your Mirror. I reread portions of Mike Lisagor’s book, Romancing the Buddha. Most importantly, I had a long-time SGI friend come and chant daimoku with me. On the 16th, while chanting, I prayed for some word or concept that would refresh and reassure me. Soon thereafter I recalled the postcard I received from my sponsor on the occasion of receiving my Gohonzon almost 32 years ago. On it was a quote from Nichiren’s writing, “Letter to Niike.” It reads: “The journey from Kamakura to Kyoto takes 12 days. If you journey for 11 but stop on the 12th, how can you view the moon over the capital?” That did the trick. It takes as long as it takes. I got the scan on Sunday, confident that my prayers of complete recovery would be confirmed–and confident that I would use this experience to encourage others to remain steadfast in their faith. The surgeon confirmed on Monday that the omentum was healing nicely and no further follow-up or action on his part would be necessary. On Tuesday, the stomach that had been turning somersaults was now calm; a convincing demonstration of how the mind affects the body.
I must add that I have been somewhat lazy about completing my goals of reading the Gosho (the collected writings of Nichiren Daishonin) and the Human Revolution (Daisaku Ikeda’s history of the movement of the Buddhist lay organization in widely propagating Buddhism) cover to cover. Moreover, I have relaxing a bit much from encouraging fellow members. So I am now back on the front lines, assuming the responsibility of a district leader having resigned from a chapter leader position almost 7 years ago. I feel reborn, refreshed, revitalized. If this were Christmas day and the Cratchits lived nearby, I certainly would buy them a goose.
Tags: diet, exercise, human revolution, overcoming fear, spiritual, victory