This will be a multi-part post that I undertake with some trepidation. The first part is easy though. My friend from jujitsu and I had a chance to talk over your article Sully. As I thought it would, it had a powerful effect on him. The same thing that resonated so significantly for me struck him as well. The unchallenged cell's "decision to die." Maybe it's the age thing on our parts I don't know, but it hit him right between the eyes. He started asking me about the relative effectiveness of pushups to bench presses or some other loaded movement. I told him increasing weight and load was the key and repetitions less so. So maybe he'll get some more iron in his blood. We'll see.
This is the part I have trouble with. Not government getting out part or staying out, but the true understanding of what happens behind the curtain of the transactions between the doctor or hospital or the billing department and the entity that pays for the treatment or medication. I don't profess to understand that part of it. Dearly Beloved gets it better than me and those of you who are not married will inevitably discover that when you do, your significant other will have an excellent grasp of the ins and outs of this from her own experience and check ups and will get your own part of this equation in good marching order with little or no effort on your part. When kids come into the bargain, all this goes double.
I don't want government involved. When government becomes even more intrusive then it was even two years ago, they will inevitably begin to look for ways to cut costs. The private sector too? No doubt they will too, but they do not have the same extensive power. One aspect of ObamaCare that bothers me the most is the premise that digitizing the records of patients will achieve huge cost savings and efficiencies. I am no IT expert but I call BS. The downside of the huge government database of health care records in the Tron world is immense. Compromise, hacking, and data mining is inevitable. I know enough about the frailities of human nature and greed with respect to selling our nation's secrets to have few doubts about the sanctity of this data. Here in LA LA land hospital and medical info is sold to the National Enquirer or TMZ routinely. Any talented or rich individual or entity who wants some or a lot of information from this repository will get it easily.
Hell, every week the Feds and others lose laptops with all manner of information on them. In my own company HR lost one, and the credit union each lost one within months of each other. Even the FBI carelessly disposed of some PC's containing witness protection information a few years ago. Is the current system with my HMO or PPO the answer? It's working for me and my family so far, thanks of some creative billing practices and careful consultation with Dearly Beloved. But the best? I'm certain not. Just keep the government out of my business. I'm in deep enough already of my own volition because of what I do.