Its a matter of opinion. Yesterday I blogged about the affordability of health insurance and issues around it. I got an anonymous comment which said:
"I think it's really about the good old US of A being the ONLY developed nation that still does not provide universal health insurance. We are like fish oblivious to the water we swim in, it doesn't have to be this way."
This made me think. I think that the benefit of the ACA was to offer more affordable health insurance options to many. No matter how flawed the system may be. My opinion is that the health insurance industry had Americans over a barrel and were blocking people from getting health insurance due to previous medical conditions or jacking up their rates so they became unaffordable. Also, bankruptcies due to medical bills were climbing.
HOWEVER
As a rule American's do not like being told what to do. We want and enjoy our many freedoms. The opposite of freedom is confinement or limitation. Its a matter of choice of what we want. Also, many people want smaller government and do not think the government should interfere with their lives.
While I like the idea of social programs such as medical care and social security, we should not become a country of spoiled brats where we expect everything to be given to us on a silver platter. The government has many responsibilities and cannot give everything to everyone, unless you want to live in a socialist or communist state.
I, for one, am very pro-health insurance and its affordability. The industry demonstrated that it could not affordably insure us by focusing on their profits and not our health. The government took a fairly drastic step and made them change their ways which turned into the ACA.
It's definitely not a perfect system and requires us to sign up for health insurance as a way to provide a huge pool of both healthy and sick people to balance things out. But I do not think that the government was supposed to be in the business of being a health care provider.
And if you can find any country's universal health system that is perfect, please let me know. I have heard too many stories from too many countries about long delays for care, people who pay for private health care because the national program is poorly run or poorly staffed, and lack of access to testing equipment.
Feb 27, 2018
Feb 26, 2018
The thyroid cancer myth: the 'good' cancer
Another patient is reaching out and speaking out on thyroid cancer being the good cancer. You can watch the video here (because my technical skills do not allow me to embed the video) or read the article here.
"The reason thyroid cancer is commonly called the good cancer, according to Dr. Brose, is because it is highly treatable, but still no less frightening and life changing. Take it from thyroid cancer patient Victoria Ballesteros.
“For me the impacts were felt immediately from having severe complications from my surgery and then of course, five years later I’m still struggling with a lot of physical impacts every day,” Mrs. Ballesteros said.
Even though Mrs. Ballesteros has thus far received a clean bill of health from her doctors, it hasn’t slowed her efforts to dispel the myths associated with thyroid cancer. She still suffers from a lack of energy, weight fluctuation and trouble regulating her body temperature, as well as the emotional stress that accompanies any cancer diagnosis."
So its not just me. Actually I know many others who go through this with thyroid cancer. None of us think its a good cancer. Just stupid people do.
"The reason thyroid cancer is commonly called the good cancer, according to Dr. Brose, is because it is highly treatable, but still no less frightening and life changing. Take it from thyroid cancer patient Victoria Ballesteros.
“For me the impacts were felt immediately from having severe complications from my surgery and then of course, five years later I’m still struggling with a lot of physical impacts every day,” Mrs. Ballesteros said.
Even though Mrs. Ballesteros has thus far received a clean bill of health from her doctors, it hasn’t slowed her efforts to dispel the myths associated with thyroid cancer. She still suffers from a lack of energy, weight fluctuation and trouble regulating her body temperature, as well as the emotional stress that accompanies any cancer diagnosis."
So its not just me. Actually I know many others who go through this with thyroid cancer. None of us think its a good cancer. Just stupid people do.
Feb 20, 2018
I'm not sure this is an upgrade
I broke my old pill box. The Sunday latch no longer works.
I had to buy a new pill box. I had to get one that has AM and PM too.
Very depressing. I feel old. I was at the gym the other day and another woman said to me that she takes too many. She takes 3 in the morning and 7 at night. I take way more than that. She is in her early 80's and is recovering from heart surgery.
Feb 19, 2018
More on cancer costs
A few days ago, I blogged about the costs of cancer. But there are lots more costs of cancer that are not just financial.
There are physical costs that include surgical scars, damage to your body from treatments, and more.
The emotional costs are things like PTSD which takes a lot to get through. Neither of these can ever really go away. You just end up covered in scars inside and out.
So well-intentioned people do things like give free trips and events for those who were diagnosed with cancer. These are the people who offer trips to us cancer people.
If you have been diagnosed with cancer, you can go to events like the Stowe Weekend of Hope for free the first year. Then you get an incredibly discounted rate for future years. Don't get me wrong, the Stowe Weekend of Hope is a wonderful event with so many resources for those with cancer. But I just wish I didn't have the medical history which allows me to go so cheaply.
So as we dig deep in our financial pockets we also have to cope with all the other costs and you can't just declare bankruptcy and walk away from your emotional and physical costs.
There are physical costs that include surgical scars, damage to your body from treatments, and more.
The emotional costs are things like PTSD which takes a lot to get through. Neither of these can ever really go away. You just end up covered in scars inside and out.
So well-intentioned people do things like give free trips and events for those who were diagnosed with cancer. These are the people who offer trips to us cancer people.
If you have been diagnosed with cancer, you can go to events like the Stowe Weekend of Hope for free the first year. Then you get an incredibly discounted rate for future years. Don't get me wrong, the Stowe Weekend of Hope is a wonderful event with so many resources for those with cancer. But I just wish I didn't have the medical history which allows me to go so cheaply.
So as we dig deep in our financial pockets we also have to cope with all the other costs and you can't just declare bankruptcy and walk away from your emotional and physical costs.
Feb 12, 2018
I've been busy
For the past month or so, I have been very busy. And for the past week I have been very very busy. The big project has been moving. Thursday we saw a house we really liked on paper but in reality it had too many problems. We also saw a house that was too big for us, a house that was a bit too expensive, and a house that simply needed more work than we wanted to do.
Friday we found another house on line that we really liked. Our realtor even went to see it Friday afternoon and they said we needed to act fast. My husband went to see the house on Saturday morning (I was unavailable) and liked it a lot. We made an offer, only to find out someone else had already made an offer that was accepted.
Sunday we went to see more houses, only to find one that we really liked on paper had an in ground swimming pool, something we don't want. And we saw a couple more but either they were too big, too small, to much money or needed more work. We decided to go back to the one we really liked that was too expensive and decided to make an offer. We now have to wait to find out. As the house hunting roller coaster continues.
After the house price, the biggest issue in house hunting is my husband's commute. The second biggest issue is to make sure we have a house that is mostly one floor living as the expected decline in my health will continue. This all makes me feel even older. I am too young to look for one floor living.
But I've been busy. I promise to get back to regular blogging. As pinktober continues.
Friday we found another house on line that we really liked. Our realtor even went to see it Friday afternoon and they said we needed to act fast. My husband went to see the house on Saturday morning (I was unavailable) and liked it a lot. We made an offer, only to find out someone else had already made an offer that was accepted.
Sunday we went to see more houses, only to find one that we really liked on paper had an in ground swimming pool, something we don't want. And we saw a couple more but either they were too big, too small, to much money or needed more work. We decided to go back to the one we really liked that was too expensive and decided to make an offer. We now have to wait to find out. As the house hunting roller coaster continues.
After the house price, the biggest issue in house hunting is my husband's commute. The second biggest issue is to make sure we have a house that is mostly one floor living as the expected decline in my health will continue. This all makes me feel even older. I am too young to look for one floor living.
But I've been busy. I promise to get back to regular blogging. As pinktober continues.
Feb 5, 2018
What happens when you are sleeping
I think we should all be allowed to have an independent person in the OR while we are undergoing surgery if this is any indiciation:
"About half of all surgeries involve some kind of medication error or unintended drug side effects, if a study done at one of America’s most prestigious academic medical centers is any indication."
That is just plain scary. You go for surgery and then you have a 50% chance of medication error or unintended side effect. That is not good.
"“There is a substantial potential for medication-related harm and a number of opportunities to improve safety,” according to the study, published in the journal Anesthesiology. More than one-third of the observed errors led to some kind of harm to the patient."
But these numbers are pretty real. A recent study was done at Massachusetts General Hospital by observers. Previous studies showed much lower numbers but those were self reported by doctors.
"Drugs delivered during an operation don’t have the same safeguards other medication orders do. In most parts of a hospital, prescriptions are double-checked by pharmacists and nurses before they reach a patient. Operating wards are riskier. “In the operating room, things happen very rapidly, and patients’ conditions change quickly, so we don’t have time to go through that whole process, which can take hours,” Nanji said. While all the errors observed in the study had the potential to cause harm, only three were considered life-threatening, and no patients died because of mistakes, Nanji said. In some cases, the harm lay in a change in vital signs or an elevated risk of infection."
A few more thoughts:
"Not every mistake meant the patient got the wrong drug or an incorrect dose. For example, many errors had to do with properly labeling drugs when they’re drawn into syringes for delivery. Because most medications just look like clear liquids, having several prepared without labeling them poses a risk that the wrong one could be delivered. Those breaches in protocol were counted as errors. In about one-fifth of the problems, adverse drug reactions were considered unavoidable — for example, if a patient had a drug allergy that doctors didn’t know about ahead of time. The study found that some kind of error was made in about one in every 20 drug administrations. Several medications are typically used in each operation, from anesthesia to antibiotics, so that rate translated into some kind of error or adverse reaction in every other surgery. Operations that lasted more than six hours were more likely to involve an error than shorter procedures."
Okay, I'm good with no more surgeries, thanks.
"About half of all surgeries involve some kind of medication error or unintended drug side effects, if a study done at one of America’s most prestigious academic medical centers is any indication."
That is just plain scary. You go for surgery and then you have a 50% chance of medication error or unintended side effect. That is not good.
"“There is a substantial potential for medication-related harm and a number of opportunities to improve safety,” according to the study, published in the journal Anesthesiology. More than one-third of the observed errors led to some kind of harm to the patient."
But these numbers are pretty real. A recent study was done at Massachusetts General Hospital by observers. Previous studies showed much lower numbers but those were self reported by doctors.
"Drugs delivered during an operation don’t have the same safeguards other medication orders do. In most parts of a hospital, prescriptions are double-checked by pharmacists and nurses before they reach a patient. Operating wards are riskier. “In the operating room, things happen very rapidly, and patients’ conditions change quickly, so we don’t have time to go through that whole process, which can take hours,” Nanji said. While all the errors observed in the study had the potential to cause harm, only three were considered life-threatening, and no patients died because of mistakes, Nanji said. In some cases, the harm lay in a change in vital signs or an elevated risk of infection."
A few more thoughts:
"Not every mistake meant the patient got the wrong drug or an incorrect dose. For example, many errors had to do with properly labeling drugs when they’re drawn into syringes for delivery. Because most medications just look like clear liquids, having several prepared without labeling them poses a risk that the wrong one could be delivered. Those breaches in protocol were counted as errors. In about one-fifth of the problems, adverse drug reactions were considered unavoidable — for example, if a patient had a drug allergy that doctors didn’t know about ahead of time. The study found that some kind of error was made in about one in every 20 drug administrations. Several medications are typically used in each operation, from anesthesia to antibiotics, so that rate translated into some kind of error or adverse reaction in every other surgery. Operations that lasted more than six hours were more likely to involve an error than shorter procedures."
Okay, I'm good with no more surgeries, thanks.