I’ve heard this “prevention” thing for close to 40 years now, and it’s a pile.

My knee went out a couple of weeks ago and my primary doctor wasn’t available until April; fortunately, the orthopedist referral was still good and I got in within 10 days. The pain was rather intense and had it not subsided, the only recourse would have been a trip to the emergency room. That is precisely what all this “prevention” nonsense is supposed to prevent.

I currently am thinking these allergies may be bronchitis. If that’s the case, my best bet for being seen is… the emergency room. Well, I can try to call my doctor’s nurse (no, she’s a medical assistant) and get some penicillin called in, but that assumes she will return my call, which she does 3-4 days later, if at all.

Obamacare is going to make a bad thing worse.

And furthermore…

My step-father, almost 83, said the other day that “I didn’t have health care until I was 25″. I pointed out quickly that he did: Parkland Hospital (that’s in Dallas). Don’t let anyone say that 40 million people don’t have health care. What they don’t have is health insurance and that’s not the same thing.

The bill has to be passed before we can know what is in it? Is this some kind of government by surprise? Obviously this woman is insane. But then again….maybe we’ll get ice-cream with our health care! Hey, maybe there will be free toasters with every surgery! Oh boy, I’ll bet there will be a free prize in every prescription bottle just like Cracker Jacks! Whoopee! But back to reality – what a bunch of nonsense.

For some reason your delightful list at the bottom reminds me of my favourite Betrie Wooster quote (remember this is PG Wodehouse’s send-up of English upper-class twits). One walks in and asks “Do you speak French?” to which the other replies “I don’t know, I’ve never tried.”

FW Ken, sorry about your knee, and I hope it is soon fixed. Are there no urgent care clinics in Dallas? Last year, home on leave, I got what I thought was bronchitis. I went to urgent care, got an examination and a chest X-ray, and a prescription for a high-powered expensive antibiotic since it turned out to be pneumonia. Total cost, all-inclusive, $300, which I paid out of pocket. You might pay less if you don’t need the X-ray or the levaquin.

As to Pelosi, she and Reid are the worst excuses for public spokesmen I’ve seen in a long time. Are they the best the Democrats can do?

Thank you, Katherine, for the concern. The knee fixed itself, although since we don’t know why it went out, I’m waiting for it to happen again. I didn’t think about an urgent care clinic (yes, we do have them in Fort Worth); I wasn’t thinking at all, just hurting. The reality, however, is that an ER visit would cost me $100, far less than Urgent Care. Which makes part of my point.

I know that Michael D (and every Canadian I’ve ever heard discuss the subject) likes their national health insurance. I respect that, while believing it won’t work as well in the U.S. and this is why: my insurance sucks. Part of this is the avarice which has overtaken the U.S. health care business. My doctor works in a clinic recently acquired by a larger company. Their billing practices changed, costly me more, and, worse, they got rid of the nurse practitioner you could see within a day if you were acutely ill. My doctor’s “nurse” is now a medical assistant, and What used to be a bright place full of patients has changed to darkened halls with a few patients.

So why don’t I change doctors? Well, my last doctor quit taking my insurance (a Blue Cross/Blue Shield product) because he wanted a “younger, healthier clientele”. That’s is exactly what his receptionist told me. It took me weeks to find this doctor and I’m not up for it right now. Despite weight problems all my life, I’ve enjoyed remarkably good health. But that’s changing with age, and I need stable health care. Unfortunately, all I have is insurance.

FW Ken, I have an excellent GP in Arlington that I use.

If you want his contact info, email me at clwcain [at] hotmail [dot] com

FW Ken, sorry about your knee, and I hope it is soon fixed. Are there no urgent care clinics in Dallas?

FW Ken, I have an excellent GP in Arlington

Tarrant County? Yeah, I’ve heard of it.

(Yes, I know that everyone is well-intentioned, and I really appreciate that, but it was the first laugh I had had all day.)

FWK: I respect that, while believing it won’t work as well in the U.S. and this is why: my insurance sucks.

Now I’m confused. I thought “sucks” would be a good reason for wanting to reform US health care?

I won’t repeat my opinion of Canadian health insurance – apparently that message has been delivered – but let me say this as an outsider: In Canada, we are generally in awe of the ability of the United States to achieve amazing things. From landing on the moon to flying a bomb into the front door of an Iraqi bunker and showing us the bomb’s-eye view on the 10 o’clock news. From Global Positioning Systems to Pixar to documenting the human genome. Moreover, the USA has stood its ground against a secular humanist and liberal tide of Political Correctness, championing the importance of free speech.

Here in the rest of the world it seems that, if something is possible, the US can do it. Can do it first and do it so well that all subsequent efforts are just imitations. There are a few exceptions (American beer comes to mind) but we put those down to, I dunno, being too busy curing cancer or something.

So it just seems implausible that the US has what is, by objective standards of developed countries, a pathetically inferior approach to health insurance. Excellent health technology, excellent health practitioners, but a crappy delivery and funding system. How can this nation, this icon of engineering excellence, throw up its hands and say, to quote FW Ken, “it won’t work as well in the U.S. and this is why: my insurance sucks.”

Oh, sorry, FW Ken, and of course the FW stands for Fort Worth. Forgive me, please. Urgent care: My visit to urgent care cost $150, including $50 for the chest X-ray. You could call an urgent care clinic and ask how much they charge to see a physician or PA. Might not be a bad idea to look around and get this information for the next time you are ill. When you feel lousy, you’re not likely to make the effort. We are not in a low-cost area here in Raleigh, so I don’t know why a cash visit to an urgent care clinic would cost you more than it did me.

Daniel, given the proximity between FW and Arlington (they share a city limit border) it’s not as silly a suggestion as it might seem.

But what do I know. I only live here.

Michael D – I’m all in favor of reforming our healthcare. It’s just that going the insurance route may not be the best plan for a country like the U.S. I know it works well in Canada, but you folks are generally more civilized and sociable than your southern neighbors.

Katherine, thanks for the idea. I’ll research it for a back up. Actually, in the past, I could make an urgent care center my “primary care physician”, and that may be the way to go.

Daniel who?

I’ll have to hit you with this loaded sock so we can find out what’s in it.

We’ll have to appoint this bishop so we can find out who, if anybody, he diddles in his free time (oooh, topic convergence!).

Here; smell this.

Ok, so I think her point was that when we pass it, we can review it objectively, without the rhetoric from both sides (or without the reasoned discourse from her side and the screaming from the other). But she’s assuming that we’ll obviously love love love it once we take an objective look at it. It doesn’t even dawn on her that we could look at it “away from the fog of the controversy” and still disapprove. Which is typical of these Democrats: if you disagree with us, it’s obviously for some irrational reason; no sane, logical person would come to any conclusion other than ours.

Totalitarians all! They need replacing – by peaceful means, if at all possible. But sometimes peaceful means do not work.

Am I advocating armed rebellion? No. But the Administration and the Democratic leadership seemed too disposed to ignore Constitutional limits. In that case, we have a very serious problem on our hands.

I guess my thoughts are revolving around this:

“What do we do when our government ceases to abide by its own rules? What is a citizenry to do when the government becomes hostile to their best interests?”

It seems to me that the Founders dealt with those same questions back in the Eighteenth Century.