Health Derby

Ed Raymond
Staff Writer

The Four Derby Winners In The Apocalyptic Healthcare Sweepstakes

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in Revelations as symbolic descriptions of events which will take place during the “end times.”  I thought of the apocalyptic decision the Republican U.S. Supreme Court will make sometime this winter when it will declare by a 5-4 vote that the new health care law passed by Congress and President Barack Obama is unconstitutional. This will mean the end times for any sensible health care program in the United States. We have four major organizations fighting any reform of a “system” which leaves almost 50 million Americans without any coverage and medical care that is ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organization, somewhere behind Cuba and Slovenia.

The first horseman is on a white one, holds a bow, wears a crown, and rushes out “as a conqueror bent on conquest.” Our doctors wear white in the office but often wear green scrubs in the operating rooms which is symbolic of the money they make carving, cutting, and pushing drugs. U.S. doctors currently make about four times what doctors in civilized countries make.  Evidence will be supplied later.

The second horseman trots along on a fiery red horse, swelling with his mission to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. He wears a “large sword.” Our drug companies with their $100,000 drugs that may prolong a life four months if your lucky, also ride a red horse—with the red symbolizing bankruptcy for the sick. Over 60 percent of the bankruptcies in this country are caused by excessive medical bills. Many are filed by people who have medical insurance—which says something about the quality of their coverage.

The third horseman of the Apocalypse rides a black horse and struggles to carry a pair of scales. This one is also concerned with money: “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and wine.”  The black horse symbolizes the way hospitals and clinics keep in the black, charging $10,000 a day for intensive care rooms, 17 cents a sheet for Kleenex, and $1,100 for $98 MRIs.

The fourth horseman rides a pale horse and is named Death because he is the symbol of death and disease. He also kills by sword, famine, and plague. The pale horse rider certainly represents health insurance companies that spend untold millions trying to limit policies to only healthy clients. Got a pre-existing condition such as toenail fungus, hangnails, pregnancy, allergies, or a 10-year old prescription that hints at something diabolical such as stress or depression? Insurance denied!!

If We Have “The Best Medical Care In The World” As We Hear From The Republicans, Why Do We Rank 49th In Human Longevity In The World?  41st In Infant Mortality?  This Does Not Compute!

The World Health Organization (WHO) keeps track of health statistics for as many of the 191 recognized countries as possible and then compares the effectiveness of the health care programs in the world. The WHO ranks France first in the overall health care derby. The U.S. ranks 37th. France currently spends $3,696 per capita maintaining their leadership. We blow $7,538 per capita “maintaining” 37th position in the derby involving both skinny and fat horses from the industrialized nations and the third world. We are the only industrialized country that does not have universal health care paid for by a combination of public and private funds. (Other interesting 2010 per capita costs by countries with universal care: Japan, $2,729; Italy, $2,870; Spain, $2,902; United Kingdom, $3,129; Germany, $3,737; Canada, $4,079. One could ask: “Why are we so damn dumb?”  I know evolution scientists have determined that the human brain has been shrinking over the last 10,000 years, but why have U.S. brains been shrinking more than the rest of the world’s brains? Maybe all of our ancestors who immigrated here were the dumbest, not the brightest, of their generations.)  The real question is, why are we spending more than twice as much as France for—pardon my French—piss-poor health care in the U.S.? According to all reputable authorities we will increase health care spending at a faster rate in the future than any other industrialized country. What’s going on here? There are four reasons why U.S. medicine is near “the end times”:(1) High doctor’s salaries that put them on a high white horse, (2) Obese drug company CEOs riding red Belgian work horses charging thousands of dollars for a few extra minutes of life, (3) Hospitals with very flexible price lists depending upon insurance—or the lack thereof, and (4) Insurance companies with $100 million-per-year CEOs, savage shareholders, and the ability to cover onlythe young and healthy–with family policies at over $15,000 a year.

Why Should “Hippocratic” Physicians Make Five Times The Median Income Of Average Workers?

When I get on a plane that seats 300 souls I don’t want a pilot that makes $27,879 on an annual schedule. I want one who has demonstrated with his salary of perhaps $150,000 that he is capable of handling most incidents with large airplanes. You pay for survival in this modern society to a certain extent. But all units of our health care have taken this to extremes.

Columbia University researchers have compared the salaries of primary doctors and specialists in six developed countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States. (The five are way ahead of us in the WHO ranking of quality health care.) In the United States physicians are making on average five times the median salary of about $47,000. They are one of the reasons health care is about twice as expensive as any other place on earth.

U.S. primary doctors average $186,582 this year. French and Australian primaries make $95,585 and $92,844 respectively. That’s double in anybody’s language, even while the French provide the best quality care on earth–and the Australians are not far behind. If you replace knees, hips, and repair other bony parts, U.S. surgeons average $442,450. Orthopedic carvers and cutters in France get by on $154,380, while Canadians are higher at $208,634. I would guess living north of the U.S. must help your salary.

Amazing how the presence of private insurance increases costs.  A hip replacement is worth $3,996 to an American doctor–but only when paid by a private insurer. In Australia the doctor gets $1,943, in England $2,160. But when there is a public payor the U.S. doctor gets only $1,634, the Canadian gets a lousy $652, the Australian $1,046, and the English one gets $1,181. Dr. Daniel Polsky of the U. of Penn. Says: “What the study suggests that it’s not about how much we are doing, but about how much we’re paying for what we are doing.”  Dr. Jonathan Weiner of John Hopkins School of Public Health says the fact that health care salaries are 70 percent of total costs while 50 million Americans have no insurance suggest ”we don’t have the right balance.”  No kidding. Why are dermatologists paid about $70,000 more than primary doctors? Why do plastic surgeons in big cities make millions repairing and removing normal age patterns from the Dorian Grays of society?

Our health care “industry” is so expensive we had 875,000 medical “tourists” go overseas for various treatments.  Root canals and crowns in India go for $200 in first class facilities that would have cost $2,000 or more in the U.S. Need a bypass? Do you want to pay $2,000 to $5,000 in India or $20,000 to $50,000 for the same operation in the U.S.?  I just supply the facts–you decide!

We are now sending about 20 percent of our radiology and lab tests overseas for reading because of cost, efficiency, and a 12-hour turn-around. This transfer of jobs involves 200 U.S. hospitals. Even England sends blood tests to Mumbai, India for cheaper processing. A U.S. doctor sent his mother to India to have two front teeth replaced. The trip saved her $3,000.

If Some Of The Following Makes Economic Sense, Please Let Me know

The U.S. drug companies are actually running Ponzi schemes, Wall Street subprime scams, extortion rackets, and “deals people can’t refuse” to make an unethical buck. These people are so fat and obese with profits at 49%  they couldn’t ride the Budweiser teams without killing them. How about the drug Makena which sold for $10 to $20 a shot before approval by the FDA and suddenly costs $1,500 a shot? It’s a drug which was finally certified by the FDA to possibly enhance the possibility that babies would not be born premature. If you really want to get angry, study the history of this drug. Want to keep your baby during an at-risk pregnancy? $30,000 please, instead of $400.

I’m beginning to favor televised summary executions near the Wall Street bull for these types of drug scams. People think the Mexican drug cartels are the worst on the planet.  I think ours are more destructive. I wonder if our drug companies have killed 35,000 with prescription drugs over the last four years. We have to make an impression on these dedicated thieves somehow. Being sick can mean death, but paying for health care can mean homelessness and poverty. What’s the difference?

The Republican health care program is remarkably simple. Let the young die in coma or pain; let the old die quickly in a coma. Anything to destroy Medicare and Social Security so the rich can get richer.  It is amazing how “Republicans” have strayed from the beliefs of true conservatives such as Republican President Theodore Roosevelt: “We must protect the home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment, and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance.”  By trying—and basically succeeding—in destroying the middle class, we are rapidly returning to the feudal system of the Middle Ages. The dogs and pissants will be fighting for the stripped bones under the tables of their masters, tossed there with indifference. 
 
Of Course, We’ll Have To Kill Grandma Sometime!

Occasionally we just have “to get real” about health care.  My favorite columnist Molly Ivins put this in perspective for me years ago when she was discussing abortion in a column. She was writing about the idea that life begins at conception, the favorite argument of skirted bishops and cardinals and TV evangelists strutting on “Christ’s Platform” waving the Bible while crying tears of supplication. Ivins: “People (especially men) tend to be uncomfortable with discussions of female plumbing, so I apologize for bringing up what an old friend calls ‘dank, womb-like subjects.’  Still, approximately one fourth of all fertilized eggs are swept out on the menstrual tide before they even get near to implanting themselves in the uterine wall, and we do not hold funerals over Kotex and Tampax.” And they don’t even get the last rites. So much for the sanctity of life going in the trash or toilet.

Somehow Pope Benedict making the sign of the cross and saying “Dominus Vobiscum” over a dumpster almost sends me into hysterics.

We have to get real in health care.  We are now 41st in infant mortality, way behind Poland, Cuba, and Estonia—and tied with Croatia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. One in every 233 newborns in the U.S. dies in the first month. That bastion of Commy medicine Cuba loses one in 345 births. “The best health care in the world?” What ever happened to “Facts?”  Has Fox News swallowed all of them? Are Republicans really the new “Know-Nothings?” We have had them before.

Why does France lead the world in health care? Because it starts taking care of its citizens at birth. We should study France’s system. Here is one reason why they are so successful. The French have banned the use of American ketchup in all schools nationwide except for use on French fries—- allowed only twice a week. All students eat school lunches (they are not allowed to bring any food to school) and get four or five fruit and vegetable servings per day. Fatty foods are scarce. Students are taught early on that diet is important. There are very few fat kids in French schools, even though they do eat meats and other foods with traditional sauces. Most schools have an hour for lunch. The French have great disdain for McDonald’s. Maybe this is why the French outlive us by about four years and have the best health care in the world. We could learn something if our brains were not shrinking. I’m afraid the health care “end times” are almost here.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)