THE STATE OF AMERICAN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY,

BEFORE AND WITH OBAMACARE

BY GEORGE A. SPRECACE, M.D., J.D.

DECEMBER 25, 2015

This analysis is offered by a physician with 59 years of practice experience, 53 of them in New London, Ct…and counting. These insights have been reported since the later 1970’s, on my web site (www.asthma-drsprecace.com) and elsewhere.  They are bottom-line, conclusory statements. If the reader seeks documentation…”look it up”.

HEALTH CARE CHRONIC PROBLEMS AND NEEDED REFORMS, IGNORED BY OBAMACARE.

1. 50% OF ILLNESSES / DISEASES ARE LIFE-STYLE RELATED – AND AVOIDABLE.
2. 20 – 30% OF Health Care costs involve “Defensive Medicine”, thanks to the medical mal-practice industry. “Go to the doctor and take a chance on striking it rich”.
3. 80% of the elderly want an Advanced Directive, to “protect” themselves from their physicians and from their families. 20 – 30% of them actually have Advanced Directives.
4. Half of all Medicare costs are incurred in the last 6 months of the patients’ lives.
5. Drug costs…and the “insider trading” Medicare Act of 2002, wherein the Federal Government is prohibited from negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies!
6. 20% of health care costs are physician charges.  80% are hospital charges.
7. Before ObamaCare, no one was dying in the streets…except for the “homeless” who are largely the mentally ill who were thrown out of closing psychiatric hospitals beginning in the late 1960’s – with no alternative care as had been promised as a “quid-pro-quo”. And regarding the emergency room as provider of needed care for these patients: wrong time, wrong place, wrong providers…as recently attested by 80% of ER physicians nation-wide.
8. ETC….

All of the following Results are Bad and Worsening.

1. “Increased coverage”, if you can find a physician, including your own existing physician.
2. “Universal” health insurance coverage, and the Fine (aka “tax”), the illegal product of the “800 lb. gorilla” at the U.S. Supreme Court. “It sits where it wants to sit”.
3. Uniform “Cadillac coverage”: not only the fancy plans, but also the expanded coverage for non-health related items.
4. Mandated insurance coverage for “prior existing diseases or illnesses”…aka covering the house after it has burned down.
5. Electronic Health Records… and penalties for non-compliance.
6. 30 day readmission rules…and penalties.
7. “Avoidable” infections…and penalties.
8. “OBV” – prolonged “out-patient” hospital admissions…and penalties imposed on patient and hospitals.
9. Taxing non-profit hospitals excessively…just “because” the State needs the money.
10. All of this cumulatively imposes a “how high” mentality on hospitals and physicians alike when yet another disruptive “JUMP” comes down from the Government…instead of a proper “SEZ WHO?”.
11. 11. Increasing cost transfers to the patients…mainly the working Middle Class: the new “Un-Insured”: delayed care, sicker, costlier care.
12. The increasingly injurious effect on physicians, 50% of whom were recently reported to be at least partly depressed…and some to be suicidal.  Is that the physician you want to care for your increasingly complex needs?

See the following articles:

• “The Fate Of ObamaCare”, by Ross Douthat, NYTimes Sunday Review, Dec. 19, 2015.
• “United Health Care Reckoning”, Editorial, WSJ Nov. 23, pA16.
• “The Slow-Motion Implosion Of ObamaCare”, by Andy Puzder, WSJ opinion, Nov. 2, 2015, pA15.

RR#4

ANOTHER CONVERSATION ON "ISLAM".

GS

ANGELA MERKEL: "CHANCELLOR OF THE FREE WORLD".
Also: "Time" Person of the Year.

Having had 5 years of German studies in school, and having spent 2 years (1960-62) in Germany with the U.S. Army Medical Corps, I continue to have a interest in that vital and at times benighted Nation.

And today we should all develop such an interest, since Germany has become central to the future of the Western World.  An excellent source for such a quick study is the fine and extended article on Chancellor Merkel published in the above-noted edition of Time Magazine (Dec. 21, 2015).

It turns out that here is not only a Leader, but a "mensch" - a real person whose entire life has been an ideal preparation for her decade guiding the German people from their past to their future - and guiding all of Europe at the same time. As demonstrated graphically in her stern handling of the "Euro Crisis" and now in her sympathetic approach to admitting 1 million refugees into her country, she is the epitome of a "can-do" person.  Or, as she puts it:
"Wir schaffen das", we can do this.

  T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,  HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
  IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE,  MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

  I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY, WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE

  AND TO SEE JUST WHO,  IN THIS HOME,  DID LIVE.

  I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
  NO TINSEL,  NO PRESENTS,  NOT EVEN A TREE.

  NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
  ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES,  OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

  WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
  A SOBER THOUGHT, CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

  FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
  I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

  THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,  SILENT,  ALONE,
  CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR,  IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

  THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN DISORDER,
  NOT HOW I PICTURED,  A TRUE AMERICAN SOLDIER.

  WAS THIS THE HERO,  OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
  CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,  THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

  I REALIZED THE FAMILIES, THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
  OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS,  WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

  SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
  AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE,  A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

  THEY ALL ENJOYED  FREEDOM,  EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
  BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,  LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

  I COULDN'T HELP WONDER, HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
  ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,  IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

  THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
  I DROPPED TO MY KNEES,  AND STARTED TO CRY.

  THE SOLDIER AWAKENED, AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
  "SANTA DON'T CRY,  THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

  I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
  MY LIFE IS MY GOD,  MY COUNTRY,  MY CORPS...

1. First, a few thousand words from the Left - falling New York Times: a) Charles Blow's article on Social Justice, Dec. 21 - facts...and then "off to the Races"; b)David Brooks "Ego As Ideology", Aug. 4, 2015: "Trump is the perfect confluence of these trends. He won't be President, but he's not an aberration".
2. "Hillary Has Her Running Mate: Obama", by Juan Williams, WSJ Dec. 23, pA13: "The Downside to this strategy is that today's polarizing President could turn out more Republicans than Democrats next year."
3. "Cheer up, Obama's Legacy Can Be Eraced", by Phil Gramm and Michael Solon, WSJ Dec. 21, pA23: "All I Want for Christmas..."
4. Some Adult Discourse: "Uncertain Leadership In Perilous Times", by Peggy Noonan, WSJ November 21-22, pA13.

• The Middle East.  Shades of 1938?
• The rise of Demagogues. Shades of 1933?
• CyberWar. We're already in this one, mitigated so far only by "MAD": "mutual assured destruction". Will that save us again?
• Climate Change.  This would not be the first time that the "treatment" for the "disease" killed the patient.
• Immigration.  As with water, we need it. But we must control it, as with Dams and controlled waterways.  If the Republicans do not solve this problem, they will lose in 2016 and for many years afterwards.
• Rampant political self-dealing, promoting division, and rank incompetence. This requires Amendments to our Constitution. Are we brave enough for that?
• The Politics of "Equality". The U.S. Constitution guarantees Rights of Life, Liberty, and the PURSUIT of Happiness.  What we must assure is a level playing field without Racism.  The rest depends on individual responsibility and individual effort. Not much of that around in the younger generations these days.

Minnesota Muslims Demand Pork-Free Halal Food From Minnesota Welfare Food Bank
 
HOLD THE PORK AND JUST GIVE THEM THE AFTER EFFECTS OF THE BEANS...



Above: Somali “refugees” on lifetime welfare demand their free food adhere to Islamic Law
by Jason DeWitt
 
Whoever said “beggars can’t be choosers” never met Somali Muslim refugees in Minnesota.
These Muslim imports in Minneapolis are now demanding a tax-funded “halal” non-pork food shelf at a free food pantry for the poor.
As if it’s not bad enough that nearly all the “American” Muslims who have joined ISIS have been Somalis from Minneapolis, their relatives here are demanding that Americans adhere to the same Sharia Laws the Islamic State fighters are trying to impose throughout the Middle East.
A group of first-generation Somali Americans says they need help in developing a food shelf that specializes in healthy foods that do not contain pork or pork byproducts. “It’s about human rights also, basic human rights to get the proper food and also healthy food,” said Imam Hassan Mohamud.
“Human rights”? Seriously? Their arrogance and self-entitlement has to be unprecedented for a group on the public dole.
Tens of thousands of Somalis settled in Minneapolis/St. Paul after Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and later Barack Obama imported them and funded massive “refugee” centers there. Welfare, schools, hospitals and social services have been crushed by the burden of immigrants who lack the most basic skills to live in a modern society.
This is hardly the first demands Somalis have made on the good people of Minneapolis. When the influx of Somali thugs naturally resulted in a massive increase in crime a decade ago, Somalis demanded a $48 million Sharia-compliant “youth center” to keep Somali gangs “out of trouble.”
We have read for several years now how Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis and several airports have kicked out blind passengers with guide dogs (dogs are “unclean” in Islam), or customers transporting alcohol. They came here, taking advantage of American generosity, and returned it by enforcing their own brand of Sharia Law upon us.
Liberals in Minnesota have bent over backwards for them, setting up foot-washing basins in their airport and even at a university, in response to their demands.
But as with most appeasement, these refugees keep making more demands. Now it is for “halal” products (meat slaughtered with Islamic prayers and a ban on pork).
The Imam leading this protest actually claimed that there were beans with pork in it and this was a “literacy” issue that required more government funding and special halal-compliant beans. But one commenter on the article from Minneapolis wrote:
As someone who made use of the food shelf recently, I can tell you that most of the food doesn’t contain pork. I hear what they are saying about a literacy issue, but can’t the food shelf people just point out the cans of pork and beans? Besides, the food shelf is based on donations!
This is not about Muslims “making do” or getting help on what to eat. The Koran demands that Muslim make any country they live in adapt to them and Sharia Law. The last thing they plan to do is assimilate.
One blogger added:
How long until they demand separate entrances to the food pantry for men and women and separate entrances for Muslims who don’t want to see any Christmas or holiday food or decorations?
The state of Maine has also been crushed by Somalis that Obama has forced upon them. The Governor of Maine, Paul LePage has valiantly been trying to cut off cash aid to Somalis – nearly all of whom are on welfare – since Obama has purposely dumped thousands of them in Lewiston and Portland.
America got Black Hawk Down and 18 dead Americans. Somalis got 90,000+ “asylum” slots in America, free housing, Sharia-compliant facilities, and a lifetime of welfare. How do you say “chumps” in Somali?
 
Each refugee already has access to the following:
Temporary assistance for Needy Families
Medicaid Food Stamps
Supplemental "Security" Income
Social Security Disability Insurance
Administrative Developmental Disabilities (ADD)
Child Care and Development Fund
Independent Living Program
Low Income Housing Energy Assistance
Postsecondary Education Grants
Refugee Assistance Program
Title IV Foster Care
Title XX Social Services Block Grant Fund
 
And from our lovely State Department...$2200 per month for every man, woman and child.
 
How much is the SSI check you receive every month......the SSI fund you paid INTO all of your working life?
 
IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG HERE?!