Hello all... Yes, I'm still alive, though sometimes I'm not so sure... School and life in general have been the bane of my existence for the last several months, and free time to write is non-existant. Anyhow, I just thought I'd post a little something that I sent out to my classmates today about the state of affairs that is looming for veteran's healthcare. Up until now I've been more or less eating my words in that I HAVE agreed with many of the new president's choices. Not all, but a lot. Seemed to me maybe he really was the 'right man for the job' despite my earlier thoughts. Well, after today, I have to say this little idea of his erases ALL previous accolades I'd considered for him...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03182009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/dont_cut_costs_on_vets_health_160069.htm is the article i'll refer to here:
Things tend to be a little less "shades-of-gray" when they impact someone you know.
Essentially, the gist here is the current president is pushing to have private insurance companies become responsible for the cost of healthcare for injured veterans, therefore saving the US government a little money. What's so bad about that, you ask? Isn't change great? Well, here's what I've been able to glean so far...
From what I understand this will cause my healthcare to be subject to the same "standards" imposed by insurance companies.
That said, I wear an $80,000 electrical prosthetic that you only ever find on ex-military amputees b/c they're (the military) the only ones who will pay for it. Insurance companies feel that "since you already HAVE one hand, why do you even NEED another." Therefore, they will not buy the very expensive yet functional electrical arm. They WILL eventually break down and buy a cheap mechanical prosthetic which I've been informed they will only replace/repair every other year.
All that said, I break my prosthetic arm about once a month due to my rather active lifestyle. So looks like soon I'm gonna get to have a functioning (though inferior) arm about 1/24th of the time.
To those of you who think "oh they aren't THAT bad", my prosthetist (civilian guy missing a leg above the knee) told me the reason he went into the field was his insurance company refused to buy him a new leg when his broke after just a few months. He said they bought him a set of crutches and told him it was just as good. He said the reason prosthetic shops are full of amputee employees is that it's the only way they can keep themselves on a leg or with an arm.
Remember, the goal of insurance is to spend the least amount of money possible. A $5000 barely functioning arm every 24 months, or $80,000 electrical arm?
Hope you all enjoy clapping for your elected official...
Things to read...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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8 comments:
Even though you haven't posted in a while...you were the first person I thought of when I heard about this on the news. Hopefully, this bad idea of Obama's will be shot down fairly quickly!
Blackfive just posted that the pressure from the veterans' groups and prominent politicians made the President back down, so you should be okay. Hope so!
Hope things continue to go well for you. Enjoyed the posts about your trip. --Sylvia
Thanks for remembering your blog!! It's good to see you're the same person even after so many months and haven't gone crazy or terribly aloof on your journey to be an MD.
When contemplating purchasing a company, the purchaser does due diligence. When an individual contemplates purchasing a house, he insists that the structure be inspected for problems. Those who did their due diligence and inspection prior to November, 2008 knew what President Obama was going to do when he gained office. Why, why is anyone surprised? Because they did not really check him out. Now we're in for it. Though the vet insurance issue seems to be on the backburner for now, there will always be something else to take its place and "insure" our loss of rights. No bloody fear!
Not so fast.
So far as we can determine, this was not an official policy statement. It's certainly out of character for Secretary Shinseki.
Before you jump on President Obama, give him more than two months to make his case. Remember that it was President Bush and the Republicans that sold our troops and veterans out. It has been the Democrats in Congress that have been trying to fund the VA, and end the abuse of our service personnel.
Furthermore, most of the veterans running for Congress in recent cycles have been Democrats.
Judge the President on his actions, not on media hype or trial balloons. And give him more than two months to undo eight years of abuse of our veterans and active-duty personnel.
I frequent the liberal blog Daily Kos and the majority of people who participate there are supportive of veterans and service members--and not just by sticking a made-in-China "Support Our Troops" magnet on their SUV.
We support candidates who are veterans, that want better benefits for our troops, that want to end no-bid Halliburton contracts that result in electrocution showers. We fought for more armour for combat troops. We were outraged at the prospect of military families collecting food stamps. And yes, I and people like me are disgusted at the bureaucratic two-step that denied you proper recognition for your combat-related injury (I'm a civilian leg amputee).
So give the President and Secretary Shinseki a chance. Every liberal Democrat I know is outraged at the very idea of this policy. We're not sure where it is coming from, but we're committed to fighting it because it is just plain wrong.
Holy crap, 80 big ones? I just had a horrible vision of Cassidy jumping into the pool with it instead of her aligator!
Good to hear from you Daniel.
Face it this is his first trial balloon on the road to socialized medicine.
If he can force it upon the government employees and Vets then he figures it's an easy push down the throats of the rest of us.
Something has to be done about the health care costs but this is not the way to do it.
You, along with the other Vets have paid the price to protect us and we must take care of your needs.
Hey Daniel,
Just ran across your blog. I'll read it little by little. Thank you for your service to our country.
I agree that we are facing a very real threat internally from those who have been elected.
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