My Doctor's Not A Cave Man

I'm Healthy! Old, but healthy. At least that is what I found out today from two doctors. Two very different doctors, neither of whom I would consider going to if I felt sick or was even remotely concerned about my health.

There is a new commercial on TV lately that shows a cave-man being checked out by another cave-man and then a sick guy being checked out by a witchdoctor then a guy from the middle ages and so on up to the modern era where the Lady doctor checks out a kid with a hand held device similar to the one Dr. McCoy had on Star Trek. Yeah, we're there. We just can't make instant cures yet but we're closer.  The point of the commercial is to promote the new technology and says all through time there have been people that are ill and someone who says, "let me have a look."

Presently our nation is deeply divided over the issue of Health Care. We hear phrases like "1/6 of the US economy" or "30 million uninsured" or "every one has a right to equal health care" . We keep hearing that we need a "government option" and "government take over" and a "Canadian style single payer system". We also hear $$$$$$$$$$$$ billions of dollars and trillions of dollars and that the system is broke and we don't have the money to pay for it.

OK, HERE IS THE TRUTH IN A NUTSHEL.  We have arguably the finest system in the history of the world. We used to joke about about the stuff of Star Trek but today I experienced some of that marvelous technology. You see I went to the Dentist and the Optometrist. My dental hygienist told me I was healthy based on the condition of my gums and mouth. I sat in the chair and watched as she cleaned my teeth, and checked every tooth against a computer screen that shows all my teeth, MY TEETH, taken from a picture taken by a very cool sort of X-ray machine and right there at her finger tips, clear and detailed. No more of those old negatives on a white screen.  I have to say I don't mind going to the dentist. I'm old enough to remember the days when it was like the Little Shop of Horrors. I actually got a tooth removed when I was 19 and the dentist put his knee on my chest and used a mallet to knock the molar out.  I have not felt a lick of pain at the dentist's office in the last 30 years. That fantastic !

Right after that, I rode (yes rode the motorcycle, they run so well when it is cold) to the eye guy. I was sitting in a chair surrounded by miracle machines that looked at my eyes and told the people there everything they needed to know to keep my sight at it's optimum. The doc there told me he could tell my blood pressure was great and my blood sugar is ok and I look to be in good health. My sight is fine for my age and my prescription has not changed very much in the last year. (My glasses lenses are quite scratched though, like looking through a shower door.)

While I was there in both of those fine offices I was aware of the wonderful advances we have made in our society in so few years in medical care. I try to eat well, watch my sugar and exercise at least a little. I quit smoking 23 years ago when my son was born and I watch my alcohol and unless I get whacked when I'm riding by a  "texting while driving" nit wit, I stand a good chance of living long enough to be very unhappy in a bankrupt America.

Nothing is FREE. There is no free health care. I asked the eye doctor about the machines in his office as he looked at a picture of my eye showing all the details of the blood vessels and cornea, if this was all a result of our private health care and would the Obama health care plan help or hurt. He told me that yes the investment in their equipment  is expensive, very. And they will not be able to do that in the future and still take on the same level of Medicare and Medicaid patients as the government cuts the payments to the doctors for those services. 20 % to 40 % cuts in payments, when they serve patient levels as high as 60% Medicare means they can not be profitable enough to make the necessary investment to keep on the cutting edge of technology. I want that latest greatest machine that makes doctors better able to do their job.
I don't want a witch doctor or some snake oil selling traveling medicine show to be my future choice. Hell, I quit Kaiser Health back in the '90s because I never got to see the same doctor twice in a row. I'll put up with the waiting to see a good one.

When I was 18, I was an orderly in a hospital. I saw some bizarre things. I once held a mental patient down while staff strapped her to a table and administered electro shock therapy (shocking experience). I saw aides sharpen scalpels and needles and other stuff we wouldn't think of doing today. We have great health care in this country. It may need some tweaking but it does not need to be destroyed like a tumor in order to save the patient.

People need to realize that free is very expensive. Insurance is a gamble and actuarial tables exist in order to calculate risk. If you live in a straw house you pay more for wolf insurance than the guy in the brick house. (aren't fables amazing how they relate to life?) If you don't pay for your share, why should I? Or better yet why should I care? There are always means to provide for the "Widdas N Orphans" in our society. I've no objection to that but when I see a guy smoking cigarettes and fat as Humpty Dumpty eatin at the buffet when I'm looking at sugar content on a bag of puffed rice, then I'm a little insensitive to his insurance needs.

So I am healthy and plan on staying that way but our America is not. She is nearly broke and this health bill is likely to be the bad medicine that will kill her. Call your politicians and tell them to scrap this nonsense or you will be seeing to it that they will not only be unemployed but standing in line with you to see the witch doctor next time they have a belly ache.

Tim Woodsome
Running with (the Nurse's) Scissors