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Economics 101
Aug. 30th, 2009 06:44 pmBruce Bartlett speaks -- and if you don't know who he is, at least read the article.
Aug. 30th, 2009
Health Care
Aug. 30th, 2009 09:11 pmLet's review this again, in case you fell asleep before the end of the long post:
The U.S. Census Bureau places the number of uninsured people in the U.S. at 45.7 million in 2007, down slightly from 2006 but still unacceptably high.(1) Who are they? Eight in 10 uninsured live in families with at least one worker; most uninsured workers are self-employed or work for small firms that don’t offer benefits; 66 percent of the uninsured come from low-income families (below 200 percent of the federal poverty level), but a surprising 9.1 million earn $75,000 or more. The uninsured span the age spectrum, but young adults have the highest uninsured rate (28 percent of 18-24 year olds and 25.7 percent of 25-34 year olds); 78 percent of the uninsured are U.S. citizens; non-citizens have high uninsured rates due to employment in low-wage jobs. Minorities have been hit hard by the problem – 7.4 million blacks or 19.5 percent, and 14.8 million Hispanics or 32.1 percent are uninsured.
(1) U.S. Census Bureau, Income, “Poverty and Health insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007,” August 2008.
Eight out of every 10 uninsured patients in the US are American citizens with jobs. How does this translate into "OMG the illegal aliens will overwhelm the system!!eleventyone"? Answer: it doesn't. That's right-wing propaganda against the proposed overhaul of the health care system.
Instead of paying attention to these rumors about how awful "socialized medicine" will be, let's think about how much healthier our country will be once we can offer basic health care services to everyone. How much nicer will it be to know that your high blood pressure medicine, your insulin, your asthma medications will be readily available? My own sister-in-law is asthmatic, works several jobs, none of which give her any health care or pension benefits, and goes to the ER everytime she has an asthma attack -- which makes her a much more expensive patient than having her check in with a doctor and get her meds for free.
In Oklahoma, regular asthma medicines cost approximately $30; if you get them from the emergency room, however, those same meds cost $65, plus the cost of treatment in the ED.
In Oregon, an epileptic man whose daily medicines cost $14 had them removed in a cost-cutting measure by the Oregon State legislature. After his severe seizures sent him to the ED, it cost that state $7,500 per day to treat him.
In Texas, 9 patients cost the city of Austin more than $2 million, because of repetitive trips to the ED for long-term chronic illnesses. All of them could have been seen as outpatients in a clinic devoted to caring for homeless or mentally ill people.
We are already paying for these folks, in higher premiums each year, and through the Medicare/Medicaid system. How about remembering that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure?
The U.S. Census Bureau places the number of uninsured people in the U.S. at 45.7 million in 2007, down slightly from 2006 but still unacceptably high.(1) Who are they? Eight in 10 uninsured live in families with at least one worker; most uninsured workers are self-employed or work for small firms that don’t offer benefits; 66 percent of the uninsured come from low-income families (below 200 percent of the federal poverty level), but a surprising 9.1 million earn $75,000 or more. The uninsured span the age spectrum, but young adults have the highest uninsured rate (28 percent of 18-24 year olds and 25.7 percent of 25-34 year olds); 78 percent of the uninsured are U.S. citizens; non-citizens have high uninsured rates due to employment in low-wage jobs. Minorities have been hit hard by the problem – 7.4 million blacks or 19.5 percent, and 14.8 million Hispanics or 32.1 percent are uninsured.
(1) U.S. Census Bureau, Income, “Poverty and Health insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007,” August 2008.
Eight out of every 10 uninsured patients in the US are American citizens with jobs. How does this translate into "OMG the illegal aliens will overwhelm the system!!eleventyone"? Answer: it doesn't. That's right-wing propaganda against the proposed overhaul of the health care system.
Instead of paying attention to these rumors about how awful "socialized medicine" will be, let's think about how much healthier our country will be once we can offer basic health care services to everyone. How much nicer will it be to know that your high blood pressure medicine, your insulin, your asthma medications will be readily available? My own sister-in-law is asthmatic, works several jobs, none of which give her any health care or pension benefits, and goes to the ER everytime she has an asthma attack -- which makes her a much more expensive patient than having her check in with a doctor and get her meds for free.
In Oklahoma, regular asthma medicines cost approximately $30; if you get them from the emergency room, however, those same meds cost $65, plus the cost of treatment in the ED.
In Oregon, an epileptic man whose daily medicines cost $14 had them removed in a cost-cutting measure by the Oregon State legislature. After his severe seizures sent him to the ED, it cost that state $7,500 per day to treat him.
In Texas, 9 patients cost the city of Austin more than $2 million, because of repetitive trips to the ED for long-term chronic illnesses. All of them could have been seen as outpatients in a clinic devoted to caring for homeless or mentally ill people.
We are already paying for these folks, in higher premiums each year, and through the Medicare/Medicaid system. How about remembering that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure?
Life with BT
Aug. 30th, 2009 09:25 pmOn the lighter side, BT continues to do well as long as the depo-medrol is in effect; it wears off near the end of two weeks. This time, she started showing signs of slower appetite on Thursday, and only really didn't eat on Friday night/Saturday morning, so I gave her the injection about 12 hours ahead of time (Saturday night) (ruthlessly suppresses Bay City Rollers flashback), and she didn't fuss about the injection -- in fact, she poked her head back into her bowl for a few seconds more. This evening, she was waiting at the top of the stairs, and ate her dinner pretty quickly. I was able to let Cinder out at the end of the meal to have the run of the basement.