May 20, 2007
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SUNDAY GOOD NEWS
Seemingly
ages ago I first posted about Sicko, Michael Moore’s new film currently
premiering out of competition at Cannes. Yes, it’s Cannes time again.
Having just retired from the health care field last July, I’m so
looking forward to any headway this work may make in the corrupt world
of pharmaceuticals and health insurance. Because of retiring, I also
had to totally change my medical and dental insurance.
Unfreakingbelievably complex, especially when factoring in Medicare. I
don’t know how anyone who doesn’t have at least a partial college
education and deep moral support can get through the Medicare
supplement world without a meltdown. Many many phone trees into the
process I found myself paying $119/month for a policy that covers both
medical and dental but limits the dental to an amount I know won’t last
me the whole year and that I’ve essentially already used up in less
than 6 months with one root canal, one crown, and a prophylactic
cleaning and yearly exam with x-rays. As for medical, the internal
medicine doc I settled for has basically turned over most of my visits
to her nurse practitioner. Don’t get me wrong. I’m blessed to have
insurance at all. Many don’t. And lucky that so far I only require a
prescription for the minor issue of a thyroid gland that pooped out 15
years ago. Many aren’t so lucky. Over the past six months, the other
grandmother of my grandchildren suffered and died of ovarian cancer.
The amount of chemo protocols, doctor visits, traveling to another
state for care part of the time, and hospital stays, plus surgery,
medicine, and loss of income were undoubtedly ginormous. So I’m
counting on Michael Moore to be as fearless in his attacks on these
industries as he was with Fahrenheit 9/11. And I hope those who persist
in concentrating on his manner of attack or his overweight slobbiness
will restrain themselves. He’s always endured Attack the Messenger
Syndrome. There’s a saying in 12-step circles that it takes being sick
and tired of being sick and tired to get started on Recovery. Hopefully
Sicko will encourage us to be sick of being victims of sick health
industry profiteers.
Deep Thought: “Just as bees will swarm about to protect their nest, so will I “swarm about” to protect my nest of chocolate eggs.”
Today I am grateful for: Stillness
Guess the Movie:
“We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting
smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our
living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted
radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not
gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to
protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your
congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. All I
know is that first you’ve got to get mad.” Answer: Network, 1976. Winner: thenarrator.
Diabetes drug costs could soar 70 pct by ’09: report
NEW
YORK (Reuters) – A growing diabetes epidemic and more aggressive
treatment with combination drug therapies could result in a rise of
nearly 70 percent in drug spending on the disease through 2009,
according to a report released on Thursday by Medco Health Solutions
Inc. (Rest of article here.)
Comments (24)
Health insurance is getting pretty unaffordable to a lot of Americans. My mom was paying about $600 a month for health insurance alone there for a while.
*sparkle
Network?
The United States will collapse within 10 years if it does not adopt fully socialized medicine before that. The economy will simply crumble under the weight of the absurdly expensive, and fairly ineffectual system that exists now.
The French have the perfect model. The US just has to copy it.
I hope there is help for America and health insurance. I pay so much and then I still can’t get many of the things I need.
Great post. On the movie, I don’t know this time…
Hugs, Tricia
I do think Michael Moore goes a little off the deep end when he’s attacking something, but he does call attention to issues and I respect that. I hope his film will help cause change to actually happen! I’m still without health insurance. I’m young and in good health, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous without some kind of safety net.
I sure hope we can do something about the healthcare system. We spend more money and get so much less than other countries.
Network, you betcha!
Network is one of my all-time favorite movies and is in my collection. A videocassette with no advertising on it!
If you haven’t yet, you might like to check out http://kucinich.us/ because Dennis is the only one seeking a presidential nomination who’s committed to universal single-payer health care.
I’ve been without health insurance since 1996 when the premiums got beyond my reach. I hated making that decision, but it was that or pay the premiums and lug the family into the emergency room every now and then to have their malnutrition addressed.
This is an issue that is of great concern to me. I am on the other end of the spectrum from you in that I have ongoing health care issues. My husband is locked into his job because we need his insurance for me. If we lost our prescription coverage we’d literally be bankrupt in months.
Most people don’t understand what a horrible system we have until they or a family member becomes terribly ill. We need people in this country to wake up and demand decent medical coverage. It can be done.
My condolences on the passing of your grandkids other grandma.
a really good analysis of US healthcare is the new book Sick. It is worth reading.
Network for the new millenium: “I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I SEEM TO BE TAKING IT!”
i am sick of our supposed health care system (no pun intended). i am still awaiting the bills from my daughters surgery in january….This country is a very frightening place to be, if you are ill or old.
good post..he ( michael ) did good job…even too late..
It seems a lots of people who got secondery problem of medicien out there..
they don’t need deep sick if don’t take use mediecien..in East medical,
take use harb for care sick…that chaina produced since very ancient times…
we took use harb long time ago, but people become take use mediecen
common sense…because, it fix at once..we need this movie and must pay attention..
I do hope the movie makes a difference.
I am tired of not having insurance.
Excellent post :>)
I wonder what the state of America would look like if it had a healthier citizenry. I think lack of health care is one of the biggest woes in the United States. Those who can afford health care (or the repercussions of not having health care) are persons who are better off in many, many ways. Imagine…
I am going to go back to work early next year because I need insurance.
Haven’t seen the movie, but health care insurance is out-of-control. I’d be curious what kind of policy you managed on $117 month?
Unfortunately yes, I have a chronic health issue that I’ve had for years. In most people it is a managable condition. I seem to have an unusual type that makes it much more difficult to treat. It also leaves me with a compromised immune system and I catch every little virus that walks by and it takes me much longer to get over it.
Several months ago I found a doctor that really had some great treatment ideas – basically a mixture of standard meds at extremely high doses. My insurance company which had always been wonderful previously balked at the dosages due to cost, of course. One script I picked up tonight from the pharmacy has a retail price of $1300 for a 26 day supply. The dose might put most people with this illness in a coma or even kill them. It just scratches the surface for me. I take 3 other meds to help with my condition. One of those also has an unusually high dose. If they were cheap meds the company wouldn’t care. My doctor had to send a letter to get approval and then I have to get reapproved every 6 months. While awaiting approval I almost ran out of my meds and had to pay out of pocket to get the medicine. At that point it really hit me, what a disaster it would be if Craig lost his insurance benefits. It is truly frightening.
I hope the Moore film has some impact and that people wake up to this health care crisis.
let’s hope it does agitate for change and outrage…
I was sure it was “Network” but as usual I’m too late to win the prize.
Uh, Michael Moore. No, sorry, I can’t abide him. I wish he was on the other side. Obviously, he and I agree on issues. Just as obviously, I believe he does more harm than good because of his lying and exaggerating ways. I base this solely on “Bowling for Columbine” because I know how distorted that one was.
I’m open to changing my mind, if you think you can convinced me that he has change his ways and renounced fabrication as a way of making his point.
As for medicare, yeah. I’m switching my coverage on Nov. 15, but I still don’t know what I’m doing and don’t know where to go for good information. I’d watch “Sicko” but I don’t trust the filmmaker.
RYC: Good to hear from you again. I hope things are good.
Nice to see you back.
I’m looking forward to Sicko, too, although you have to know MM is going get grilled. Insurance and pharma lobbies will not stay quiet. I find it interesting that nearly all the health-care “solutions” involve insurance coverage, rather than providing care or prevention. I had an emergency room visit, with a night in the hospital, last summer that totalled $13,000. Yes, insurance covered most of that, and I’m grateful that I do have coverage, but to see the detailed charges, what a rip-off this Catholic, non-profit medical organization foisted on me, was enough to make me sick all over again. The fiasco with the Medicare Drug Supplemental coverage should be enough to bring outrage. A dozen (more?) pols and aides went to work as pharma lobbyists before the ink had dried. The honorless Billy Taubin, chief bill pusher in the House, signed on as a pill pusher for $2 million a year. Such a deal.
You are so lucky. My med ins has just been raised to $310 mo. $1500 deductible. No co pay. No dental.
From the looks of these posts, Sicko will be a huge success.
Hi lionne, thanks for stopping by. I saw the pile of uprooted hydrants as I was driving and just had to do a u-turn and get a photo. I’m glad you like it, even if you don’t know why. Same here.