If That Were Going to Work . . .

health care, crisis, charity,
If charity were a valid solution to the health care crisis in the US, we wouldn't have a health care crisis in the US right now.

Larry Elder of Townhall.com has moved on from "everybody who doesn't have health care is spending their money on cavier instead" to "let the charities handle this because they'd be so good at it."

Since Mr. Elder doesn't live in reality, I'll fill him in on a little secret: we've been trying that. For years. It isn't working.

Unless you live in a very small town, you have a free/low cost clinic where you live. There may be more than one. Here's how they work, or at least how the one in my town works:

• They are staffed by interns the same way ERs are, only these interns want to be general practitioners. There is one experienced doctor watching over all the interns.
• They have a very limited capacity. There are only so many exam rooms, so many interns, so many hours in a day, and only so much money. You may wait months for an appointment at a free clinic to see an inexperienced doctor.
• They offer very little in the way of testing. The one I went to could only do very simple tests on site: finger prick tests for blood sugar, the urine test for protein, etc. Tests for strep and the like had to be sent out to an independent lab, and the patient pays whatever the lab charges, if they can.
• X-rays, MRI's, echocardiograms, blood tests, etc. all have to be referred out, and if you have to go to a free clinic in the first place, you can't afford to pay for an x-ray, let along an MRI.
• You see whatever intern you happen to get that time. This makes ongoing treatment for a chronic disorder, even one as relatively simple as arthritis, inconsistent at best.
• There are no specialists at most free clinics. Medicine has become superspecialized in recent years. A general practice intern, no matter how talented or well trained, just doesn't have the knowledge or experience to effectively deal with heart issues, neurological disorders, etc. I know this because I had to tell several interns how to treat my seizure disorder. I'm lucky I learned this from the neurologist I had previously been seeing. Otherwise, I would have been totally screwed.
• You pay for medications. Medications are expensive.
• You pay for surgeries. Surgeries are expensive.
• You pay for therapy, mental or physical. Therapy is expensive.

A free clinic is an acceptable option for a person that has an ear infection. If all 50,000,000 uninsured persons in the US were young and healthy, free clinics run by charities would be the solution. Unfortunately, that's just not the way things are. If charities were the solution to the problem, there wouldn't be a problem. We already have charities, and we still have a problem. Ergo . . .

Fear Itself

health care, crisis, public, plan, liberal, obama, democrat,
I think I may have figured out the motivation behind a certain type of health care reform trolling.

Before I discuss that, I would like to say that not everyone opposed to health care reform is an idiotic troll. We've had some good discussions about health care reform here, and while I didn't agree with everyone's opinions, those opinions were researched and well thought out, so I respect them. That is not the sort of thing I am talking about here.

What I am talking about is the sort of person who sees a post about health care reform and automatically comments something like this: I WORK* and that's why I have health insurance. I don't see why I should have to pay for health insurance for people who don't WORK. Because I WORK.

That's just the most asinine response to the health care crisis in the US, and so far removed from reality, that you have wonder what planet they're visiting from. The US pays the most to get the 38th best health care system in the world. That's right, we're behind Malta, Oman, Andorra and Chile. I've never even heard of the second country before, but apparently I'd rather live there.

Beyond that, most of the almost 50,000,000 USians that don't have health insurance either do work or are not working through no fault of their own (laid off). Those that do work either work for a business small enough that it doesn't have to offer health insurance, or they can't afford the health insurance their employer does offer. Then there's people like me who have insurance, but can't afford to use it due to high deductibles and copays. I WORK is not a relevant response to these issues.

As I was fuming over the general stupidity of people, it hit me. These people aren't visitors from The Planet of the Trolls, they're afraid. They look at the world around them, and deep down they know that all those bad things that happen to their fellow USians- layoffs, bankruptcies, foreclosures, health crises- could very well happen to them. Deep down, they know this, and it terrifies them.

I WORK is the health care crisis equivalent of whistling in the dark. They say I WORK because they mean "These bad things will never happen to me because I play by the rules and I try really hard and no, I will not end up in a gutter, dying of a treatable illness. All those people who do end up there are bad, lazy people who did it to themselves. I WORK!"

So, if you're going to feed the troll (and sometimes, you just can't resist), hit them where they're most afraid.


*I can't find the thread I saw that on yesterday, but that is actual how the commentor wrote "work" every time they wrote it.

Will I Be Stimulated?

I have no idea if the stimulus package will stimulate the economy. I am not an economist. Neither is IamHistoryProfessorWhoThinksTehGayIsNew.

I will say this. Anybody who says that Congress got together to : 1) Create an urgency ("crisis" is the nom du jeur) is living in a fantasy land. The crisis is real. Real people are losing their jobs- faster than ever before. Real people are losing their homes- the most since the Great Depression. The stock market is shocky, credit is all but nonexistent, and if you aren't suffering, good for you. Go tell everyone else who is that, hey, no big deal. I'm a big college professor and it's not bothering me any. What's your problem?

File that under arrogance.