[PRCo] Re: Gas Prices

[Schneider Fred]

And, whether we wish to recognize it or not, with the welfare medical  
cards for those of insufficient means to afford medical care  
otherwise, we are somewhere in the middle.    We simply have refused  
to acknowledge it.    There are several of us on this list who have  
relatives who participate by choice.   Will someone explain to me  
what the difference is?   Yes, the difference lies in the middle  
between those who have employer paid benefits or abundant cash and  
those who have nothing or choose to have nothing ... those who  
struggle and get no where may have nothing.   However, the doctors  
can still not turn them down.

It is the doctor who gets screwed.  One of the many I have collected  
as I aged told me several years ago, "I have not raised my rates in  
five years because it won't do any good.   The insurance companies  
and medicare tell me what they are going to pay me anyway."   What he  
left unsaid was that he didn't have the heart to charge those with no  
money.   Unfortunately, what happens is that the minutes the doctor  
can allocate to each patient becomes reduced each year and the  
patient is forced, in some ways, to control his own medicine and to  
make sure he asks the right questions.   There is a medical  
practitioner on this list who I personally know wrote off a  
substantial amount of money when he went from private practice to  
hospital practice some years ago.   My father-in-law wrote of  
hundreds of thousands of dollars in his life time as a surgeon.     
Sadly the image is a man driving around in a big car; they are not  
all like that.

On Dec 30, 2008, at 8:54 AM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> If you remove the profit motive, you remove the incentive for any  
> kind of
> quality or service.  But you also get in trouble when there is  
> unlimited
> profit motive, because in the hubris, the recognized need for those
> qualities gets lost.
>
> As with everything else, the best position is somewhere in the middle.
>
> Ed
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of  
> John
> Swindler
> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 8:37 AM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Gas Prices
>
>
>
> We already have an example of socialized medicine in this country.   
> It's
> called the Veteran's Administration.
>
> I've heard some good stories about the VA, particularly the one in  
> Lebanon,
> but also too many horror stories.  Also, there were three incidents  
> over
> past 12-15 months of patients being ignored in emergency rooms to  
> die.  All
> three happened in government run facilities.  I'd rather be able to  
> schedule
> an appointment at Lancaster General instead of being put on a VA  
> waiting
> list.
>
> John
>
>
>
>> Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:50:18 -0800> From: pcc_sr at yahoo.com>  
>> Subject:
> [PRCo] Re: Gas Prices> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > > -----
> Original Message ----> > > From: John Swindler  
> <j_swindler at hotmail.com>> > >
>>>> My wife went on a mission trip to Novosibirsk several> > years ago,
> and at a get-together showed a picture of our > > house. The  
> 'locals' wanted
> to know on which floor was> > our apartment located. She felt  
> embarrassed
> telling them> > that we lived in the entire house. And our > > square
> footage is smaller then the average.> > When living in San  
> Francisco in the
> 1980s I attended a> church which had a big missionary project to  
> Russia> as
> well as Russian immigrants here. Mention a trip> to the super  
> market and
> they begged to go along. They> were constantly astonished at the  
> variety we
> have here.> > The battle cry of protesters coming out of the hippy  
> era> was
> 'food for people not for profit.' Remove the profit> incentive and  
> there
> goes our variety doesn!
>  't it. That's why> I give pause to 'socialized' medicine. As I  
> mentioned
> before> we seem to have much better health care in some respects> than
> Britain. But 'if' we go socialized method I shall> probably be  
> pushing up
> the daisies by then.> > > Phil> > > > > >
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