11-08-2011, 12:23 AM
That was my attitude until a few months ago. A 26 year old friend of mine woke up one morning with what felt like a pulled muscle in his shoulder. He makes $1,600 a month driving a delivery truck for a department store.
He ended up in surgery, and had to lay out $1,000 on the spot which he scraped together. NO $1,000, no surgery. NO surgery, no truck driving. How many of us tweens have $1,000 in savings?
My bud negotiated his medical bill payments down to $600 a month, and his rent is $850 a month for a studio apartment. He has crap health coverage with a $5,000 deductable, but he has no savings. As he has been off work, he has only received 60% of his pay check for the last three months. Now that has ended, he gets nothing.
Over the weekend came the knockout bomb. Pay $375 a month to continue his health and dental insurance. And, there is no guarantee he will get his job back, (this is a good job by L. A. standards these days). That just blew him out of L. A. and his life as he knows it.
It is pretty clear bankruptcy is coming if he does not catch a break. The soonest he could go back to work is this February. Looks like he will be heading back to Keokuk, Iowa to live with mom and dad. We will all miss this great guy.
While The Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare), would have prevented this, the thrust of the legislation does not go into effect until 2018. Too bad for my bud. Republicans are trying to scuttle the Affordable Care Act in order to provide more tax breaks for the rich. I just think it is important that we tweens know how this can work - failed - sucks!
Hypocratic Oath my ass, these guys are the worst kind of thieves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath
[COLOR="DarkRed"]I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.[/COLOR]
He ended up in surgery, and had to lay out $1,000 on the spot which he scraped together. NO $1,000, no surgery. NO surgery, no truck driving. How many of us tweens have $1,000 in savings?
My bud negotiated his medical bill payments down to $600 a month, and his rent is $850 a month for a studio apartment. He has crap health coverage with a $5,000 deductable, but he has no savings. As he has been off work, he has only received 60% of his pay check for the last three months. Now that has ended, he gets nothing.
Over the weekend came the knockout bomb. Pay $375 a month to continue his health and dental insurance. And, there is no guarantee he will get his job back, (this is a good job by L. A. standards these days). That just blew him out of L. A. and his life as he knows it.
It is pretty clear bankruptcy is coming if he does not catch a break. The soonest he could go back to work is this February. Looks like he will be heading back to Keokuk, Iowa to live with mom and dad. We will all miss this great guy.
While The Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare), would have prevented this, the thrust of the legislation does not go into effect until 2018. Too bad for my bud. Republicans are trying to scuttle the Affordable Care Act in order to provide more tax breaks for the rich. I just think it is important that we tweens know how this can work - failed - sucks!
Hypocratic Oath my ass, these guys are the worst kind of thieves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath
[COLOR="DarkRed"]I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.[/COLOR]