11.25.2009 5:48 pm
Two thoughts on government and health care
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Currently in the news:
1) H1N1 - The government strictly controls production of immunizations. They failed to provide enough vaccine. Not only that, but they disrupted the production of seasonal flue vaccine so that we can’t get that either. What’s the solution? A plan introduced by a senator to force small businesses to give paid sick leave to an employee who thinks he has the flu. (I had a small restaurant. One bartender, one waitress, one cook, plus me. If one of them takes off, I have to hire someone new and thus pay double the usual wages and I can’t afford that.) Just to add insult to injury, the same senator now says the business shouldn’t be allowed to require a doctor’s note for the absence, because “we don’t want the doctor’s office clogged with people needing notes.” So the government screws up and small business has to pay for it - and they want those businesses to add jobs?
2) Breast and uterine cancer - A panel says breast cancer screening should be cut in half, basically, because of cost considerations. They also scale back on uterine cancer screenings, also because of cost. If you have a private, portable insurance policy and the company says it’s going to follow the panel’s recommendations, you have the option of changing companies or paying for the tests yourself. If the government runs the system, as in Canada, you CANNOT get the test, period. Canadians now come to the US, but what will happen when have the same system? Since these panels noted in their announcements that some individuals would probably die from undetected cancers, is it fair to call them “death panels”?
Tom Jeffrey
St. Louis
1) As a restaurant owner who cares about his customers, you should DEMAND that your help stay home if they are anything remotely like sick, and bend over backwards to make dang sure that they don’t get near my food. And it’s not so simple, o persecuted one who actually has it pretty good. We could double or triple our supply of vaccine if we added adjuvants to them (look it up).
2) On the breast cancer findings, you clearly can’t read. Ritual screening doesn’t prevent deaths in women who have no other risk factors. Alerting the physician when you do notice something (via “breast awareness” vs. “routine screening”) does, and physicians will certainly encourage women to be vigilant. This has nothing to do with money. Indeed, it actually brings our practices into line with those of the rest of the world. Just because you don’t understand it does not mean that people are out to get you.
HJ
Tom….So you owned a small restaurant and demanded your minimum wage employees get their butt’s to work even if they had the flu.
That’s comforting….What line of work are you in now?
Dental hygienist?
Bing,
Do you know how many women have caught the presence of tumors merely by following the current recommendations? Do you know how hard it is to become aware of a tumor when you are have fibroid type breasts (which many women do)? Bringing our practices in line with the world makes us followers…NOT leaders! I guess it’s ok to follow when it comes to healthcare…What about following other countries in pay, gov’t controlled family reproduction, healthcare rationing, lack of conservation, etc.
Tom:
Forgive clunker Goofy Garrison after all of his Nanny State family members were laid off from their arduous duties with flailing ACORN. The natural-born losers with mental disorders are now all nestled up against the Audacity of Hype’s shameless big government boob for protection and comfort.
My favorite part here is ‘private,portable insurance policy’… and ‘you have the option of changing companies’. That’s one of the biggest problems with insurance today… who has that option?????