Democrats and National Health Care

Don't you just love it. One of the leading causes of death in the country is medical misadventure and the politicians what to put an 'arsonist in charge of fire fighting'. Can you imagine the blame assigning by government bureaucrats and the associated paperwork explaining the why's of health issues?
Maybe I see things too black and white with no gray, but is there not a simple solution to what ails the health industry? It does not matter whether you are talking about hospitals, doctors or pharmaceutical products. They all quake before the lawyers and the FDA. Wrongful death and malpractice suits are destroying any chance we might have of an effective health system. Product liability suits and class action suits dominate the minds of health industry leaders. No one has time to make improvements in the health system or its cost, everyone is too busy filling out forms for the government or an HMO.

With the amount of bureaucracy we have in place today here is a small example from the cost effectiveness side. I take pharmaceutical products for COPD. Every 3 months, I spend $100 on two 3 month prescriptions. OK, let's break this down. Now DJ has health insurance through her school board. Here are the numbers:
Name __Non Plan List Price_Plan 3 months_Plan 1 month
Foradil _____$423.95_______$50.00_____$25.00
Spiriva _____$519.95_______$50.00_____$25.00

Taking the costs of drugs a step farther, Walmart and Costco are supplying a large number of popular drugs at $4.00 per monthly prescription with or without health plan.
PS. If you do not tell your doctor to give you a 3 month prescription, you will receive a 1 month script and it will cost you an extra $25 every 3 months even if you are on a plan.

Can someone tell me how the price spread is possible?

Several years ago, when I was diagnosed with COPD, the pulmonary specialist ordered a catscan test at Northside hospital. Making a long story short, it took me about 90 minutes to get a 2 minute catscan completed. When I was leaving the hospital I was told that I needed to make the copayment for the insurance plan.
Retail price for catscan____________$2500.00
Price per the plan.________________$800.00
Copay with the plan________________$50.00

Can someone explain how this price spread is possible?

Here is a story from my personal health history. No exaggerations. No lies.

About 10 years ago, I was losing the feeling in my right arm. Not my left arm, that would be angina, my right arm. I went to the doctor and was referred to the orthopedic specialist. He looked at my shoulder and give me a cortisone shot which hurt like Hell. Nothing got better, if anything it got worse. My wife got fed up with my bellyaching and made me go to a Chiropractor. Now, before this incident, I had never been to a bone cracker and considered them all quacks. Wrong. He wouldn't give me a fast answer but insisted on taking Xrays. I had to come back the next day to get the results.
Here's the punch line. I had broken the horn on my third vertebrae and the calcification was pinching a nerve. He put me through some manipulation and exercises and I was good to go in about 3 weeks.
Traditional medicine - strike one.

Here is a story from my wife's personal health history. About 4 years ago, DJ went on a camping trip with our son Liam. During that trip she contracted Jiggers. I thinks that's how you spell it, I not from the south. In Canada when I was growing up we did not have Jiggers, thank goodness. What mean little mites. They infest your skin and make numerous sores which can end up bleeding and open if not treated immediately. We applied the local ointment and the Jiggers seem to be under control. Unfortunately, the bout with Jiggers messed with DJ's immune system and the open sores return over much of her body. She rushed off to her dermatologist and got some hand holding and no solution. After 3 more dermatologists, that's right 3 more, the consensus opinion was treat the sores with steroidal cream and take some steroids orally. Which DJ did. There was minor improvement. Even where the sores healed, there remained an indentation and a scar. This was very prevalent on her arms and legs. Some of the sores remained open and weeping.

I had been taking some glyconutrients as a supplement because I believe that the body can heal itself if it is giving fuel and resources. Because the sores were persisting, DJ asked if I thought glyconutrients might help. I said yes and told her to take 2 tsp of ambrotose daily. Time passed and I did not really notice a lot of change. DJ was taking glyconutrients once in a while. Several months passed by.

Now DJ is a beautiful lady. She takes pride in her appearance which had made this skin problem especially troubling. She often wore long dresses in the past so now she made a habit of wearing long sleeves and long dresses at her school. She has taught kindergarten for more than 25 years. About 2 years ago she was chatting with a fellow teacher. That day DJ had not wore a long dress and her bare legs were visible. Her friend blurted out - what's that on your legs DJ, it look like you have leprosy. Now DJ took the comment like an adult until she got home, then she cried.

That night she asked me again about glyconutrients. This time she took 2 tsp every day. In 2 weeks the sores had all dried up and were starting to heal. After a month almost all of the sores were gone and the indentations had filled in.

That's strike two for traditional medicine.

And in both cases, it was specialists who are supposed to know what is going on...

Now the purpose of this post is not just to bitch about health care. Please take the warning, we need less paperwork and control by the government. We are turning the doctors and nurses into paper pushers. Our justice system is destroying our traditional health and drug industry.