February 25, 2008
Don't Card Me
Bro.
Vol. 3 Issue 5
The year is 2011. It is early in the
evening, the first Tuesday in March, John
Masterson (Pseudonym), a 29-year old,
single U.S. citizen, walks into the
emergency
room of the downtown hospital in Any City,
USA. He is experiencing a sharp severe
pain in his lower right abdomen and is
running a fever. It would soon be obvious,
through routine tests, John's problem is
his appendix and its removal is warranted.
The operation would be simple, requiring a
maximum stay of two days. He will be
treated in the emergency room.
The routine paper work, which is required
of the admission clerk, includes the
scanning of John's
government issued medical insurance card
into the hospital’s computer, which is
linked to the data base
at the offices of the Health and Welfare
Administration where his medical records are
on file.
The medical insurance police who were
there to issue a summons or arrest anyone
arriving at the hospital
without the proper insurance identification
card would not be required to complete their
assigned task.
They could go back to their coffee and
doughnuts. John's papers seemed to be in
order.
Because of John's extremely high white
blood count and his severe pain and
discomfort, it is
determined he should be taken to the
operating room immediately.
Two and one-half hours later (45 minutes
for the new laparoscopic laser surgery and
an hour and forty-
five minutes in the recovery room), he is
taken to his semi-private room where he
would be properly
cared for, bathed and fed for the next
48-hours. John is discharged on schedule.
The total cost of his
procedure and hospital stay is $12,476.
At the same time John was being treated
at the Any City hospital, the Ski-Patrol in
Vail, Colorado is
escorting unconscious Mary Johnson (Pseudonym), 25 down the mountain to
an awaiting ambulance. She
had fought with a tree on the bunny slope
and lost, which left her with a head injury.
Once in the
ambulance, she is whisked away to the
emergency room of the newly opened
government trauma
center; a stark white building containing
the latest sophisticated medical equipment
available. The total
cost to build and equip the center was $942
million. It is the most highly
technologically advanced
trauma center in the U.S. Its annual
operating budget is $67 million. It is the
first of the 102 new
government hospitals and trauma centers that
are being built in America, all with
taxpayer’s dollars.
After Mary's admission, which required a
three-day stay, she is sent home for a few
days of bed rest.
It was determined, after a battery of tests
which included a series of X-rays, an MRI,
Cat Scan, and a
complete neurological and orthopedic work-up
with two specialists, that she has suffered
a minor
concussion and just needs some rest. Mary's
government issued insurance would cover all
her medical
expenses, which including her transportation
to the hospital in the government operated
ambulance,
totaled $17,452.
It seems that government run medical care
really does work or does it?
A year later, John Masterson (the real
John Masterson), needed to have his appendix
removed. The
hospital quickly scanned his universal
government issued insurance card and
determined that it is
impossible for it to be an appendicitis
attack since his appendix was removed a year
earlier at the Any
City hospital, two-thousand miles away.
While the real John Masterson's family is
arguing with the
government worker, who is responsible for
ascertaining all medical records of patients
seeking
medical assistance, that their records were
wrong, time is passing. After six-hours,
John's appendix
ruptures, he goes into shock, sepsis sets in
and despite heroic efforts, he dies
three-days later.
The real Mary Johnson's doctor prescribed
an MRI to discover if the headaches she is
experiencing
are more than stress. When she arrived at
the outpatient center, three days later for
her test, her
headache was just a memory. She is not
upset when the clerk informed her that they
would have to
reschedule her test for five-months, because
she just had an MRI seven-months prior. She
is not
entitled to another one this soon. "The
rules are, you are entitled to only one per
year," the clerk
explained. Her arguing that she did not have
an MRI and was never in Vail in her life did
not mean
anything. However, with the waiting room
overflowing and her headache gone, Mary
ended her dispute
and left. By the time she returned for her
MRI, five months later, the brain tumor in
the middle of her head
was the size of a walnut.
These scenarios may sound a little
extreme. However, socialized or government
run health care may
open up a new industry. It seems because
people are being fined and may be arrested
for not
subscribing to the new government medical
insurance program, forgers are
counterfeiting insurance
cards. They can be purchased for $100 to
$500 depending on the quality of the
forger's artistic abilities.
Not a bad deal, if it allows you to receive
all the same benefits as the real thing. Why
not! If phony ID
gets you a drink at a bar. Why not an
appendectomy.
And, that is my opinion.
Michael Solomon/p>
If you want to
help restore sanity to America, join the
Flag Day campaign.
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