Police Officer Can’t Get Necessary Healthcare
A very sad and disturbing story ran in the local paper here on the Big Island regarding a Police Officer named Charles Keliipio who suffered brain damage resulting from a car accident which occurred while in the line of duty.
Injured officer fights for treatment
by Erin Miller
West Hawaii Today
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com
Saturday, December 22, 2007 7:12 AM HST
Charles Keliipio has fought for treatment of a traumatic brain injury for more than eight years.Keliipio had served on the Hawaii County Police Department for 16 years when the vehicle he was driving was rear-ended by another vehicle.
He went home following the collision, only seeking medical treatment at his wife’s urging, Denise Keliipio recalled. A doctor told them the problems might clear up within six months or a year. They never did, Denise Keliipio said, adding that her husband’s condition has worsened in the last six months or so, as opposition to treatment plans increases and the likelihood of his returning to a job he loved diminishes.
“For eight years, they’ve been piecemealing his treatment,” she said. “My husband spends days when he never comes home. All the Police Department and county have done is harass us and put us through hearing after hearing.”
Charles Keliipio, 51, wants to spend at least six months at the Center for Neuro Science in Bakersfield, Calif., a treatment facility more than one physician has recommended. But his employer has balked at the cost, which could reach a minimum of $360,000.
According to documents, including decisions by the Labor and Industrial Relations Board and letters from Deputy Chief Harry Kubojiri, provided by the Keliipios, a representative of the Center for Neuro Science first interviewed Charles Keliipio in 2004, at the Police Department’s request. Denise Keliipio said the center’s representative noted that many of its patients received treatment sooner than her husband had but that the doctors there believe he could recover enough cognitive abilities to hold down some kind of job.
The department, through its workers’ compensation representation at the state level, has denied the treatment repeatedly, attempting to send Charles Keliipio to Big Island therapists. The department also requested a new evaluation earlier this year; that doctor reported Charles Keliipio did not have significant cognitive impairments.
Denise Keliipio said her husband can appear to be functioning normally at times, even for a few days. But he isn’t the same as he once was, and she said their request for treatment is a sign that he’s not faking.
“If it were an act, wouldn’t he ask for a cash settlement?” she said. “Why would anyone ask for treatment in a lockdown facility for six months?”
The state Labor and Industrial Relations Board ruled Nov. 27 that Charles Keliipio was entitled to treatment at the California treatment center. The Police Department appealed that decision.
Police Chief Larry Mahuna referred questions about the workers’ compensation case to a personnel specialist with the department, noting that the case is handled by the state Workers’ Compensation Division.
“I’m sorry he feels that way,” Mahuna said, when asked about Charles Keliipio’s concerns and an apparent abandonment by his former employer. “We’re doing as much as I can. That’s all I can say.”
Amy Miyao, a personnel specialist with the department to whom Mahuna referred comment, said she was unable to discuss the case because Charles Keliipio had filed suit against the county. She said she had not seen the lawsuit, and no record of it is available in the state’s online judiciary Web site. A call left with Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida asking about the status or existence of a lawsuit was not returned.
Miyao referred questions about the workers’ compensation case to the Workers’ Compensation Division. A message left there Wednesday morning was not returned. The employee who answered the phone and took the message indicated someone from the Police Department contacted them Wednesday morning, too, providing notice that a reporter would be calling regarding Charles Keliipio’s case.
A message left for State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers President Tenari Maafala was not returned.
Charles Keliipio, a career law enforcement officer, received a letter in November instructing him to go to the Kealakehe Police Station to turn in his gun and his badge. Talking about the situation, his eyes filled with tears. Law enforcement is in his blood, he said, noting that his great-grandfather was sheriff and other family members have served as police officers.
“I’m looking for righteous treatment for myself,” Charles Keliipio said.
Some of his concerns focus on how his former co-workers treat him now; he filed a formal complaint against Mahuna through the Police Commission a few months ago, and even attempted to arrest Mahuna after the meeting.
The couple did seek legal representation early on, but after their lawyer repeatedly missed appeal deadlines, they began battling on their own. The teenage driver who rear-ended Charles Keliipio was driving a relative’s vehicle that had minimum insurance coverage; Denise Keliipio said lawyers encouraged them to seek a lien on the vehicle owner’s home, but she and her husband couldn’t bring themselves to do that. The Police Department’s Records Division had no criminal charges connected to the collision case.
His wife said she can understand why her husband is upset about the treatment. After all, she said, they worked together for years, and he was the State of Hawaii Organization of Police chapter chairman, a position in which he helped other officers.
“He’s never gotten in trouble, never gotten sent home without pay,” she said.
Still, Denise Keliipio is worried about what will happen if treatment is delayed much longer.
“If he can just come back and get a job, be part of the community again,” she said. “Right now, he’s just here, there and everywhere.”
Timeline:
Aug. 8, 1999: Charlie Keliipio is injured when a vehicle rear-ends his vehicle on Kaiminani Drive.
Nov. 28, 2001: Hawaii County Police Department files its first appeal regarding Keliipio’s treatments.
Feb. 25, 2002: The Police Department withdraws its appeal because it wasn’t filed in a timely manner.
Jan. 29, 2003: Neuropsychological testing shows “numerous deficiencies in cognitive abilities.”
March 4, 2004: Dr. Ann Mary Palozzi evaluates Keliipio and recommends he receive a minimum of six months treatment.
April 21, 2004: At the request of the Police Department, the Center for Neuro Science evaluates Keliipio, concluding he would be a good candidate for the treatment program there.
June 14, 2004: Dr. Frank Ferren and Palozzi recommend Keliipio be sent to the Center for Neuro Science as soon as possible.
June 17, 2004: Ferren requests Keliipio work with Dr. Steven Pollard, in Hilo, for cognitive retraining.
June 29, 2004: The Police Department approves treatment with Pollard.
July 12, 2004: Ferren withdraws the request for Keliipio to receive treatment with Pollard. Ferren cites Palozzi’s report that Keliipio needed a “guided and structured therapy program,” and Palozzi’s opinion that Keliipio’s “best chance” would include more focused and more frequent training than the two to three sessions scheduled for Keliipio between July 4, 2004, and Oct. 4, 2004.
July 16, 2004: Ferren requests cognitive retraining for Keliipio at the Center for Neuro Science.
July 26, 2004: The Police Department denies the request.
Aug. 2, 2004: The Police Department responds to Ferren’s assertion that only three sessions were approved with Pollard during a three-month period.
Aug. 30, 2004: The Police Department proposes Keliipio be treated by Pollard for six months, then undergo a progress evaluation. If Keliipio does not show “measurable improvement,” to be determined by Palozzi, they agreed that he could enroll at the Center for Neuro Science.
Sept. 9, 2004: Keliipio and the Police Department create an agreement that determines how progress will be shown.
June 2005: Keliipio begins treatments with Pollard.
Dec. 1, 2005: Palozzi re-examines Keliipio. She notes that Pollard did not create a formal treatment plan with long-term goals and objectives, and therefore could not determine if treatment had been effective. She again recommends treatment with specific goals.
June 20, 2006: The Police Department requests Keliipio meet with officials to discuss his employment status, citing information from Palozzi that Keliipio would be unable to return to work as a police officer. Hearings and meetings on the subject continue through the end of the year.
Feb. 9, 2007: Palozzi reports Keliipio is showing some improvement but notes there are no physicians in Kona to treat Keliipio as a workers’ compensation case. Palozzi’s opinion is Keliipio should attend a “community based” program like the Center for Neuro Science.
Oct. 5, 2007: Dr. Kyle Boone reports on an evaluation of Keliipio, expressing her opinion that he does not require cognitive rehabilitation.
Nov. 27, 2007: Labor and Industrial Relations Board rules in Keliipio’s favor, noting that he is entitled to treatment at the Center for Neuro Science. Subsequently, the decision was appealed.
A couple of things to keep in mind when reading this story:
1. This was a Police Officer who serves the public and is a STATE EMPLOYEE (Government employee);
2. This occurred on the job, while on duty;
3. The Doctors repeatedly said he needed the treatment in California which the state, his employer, continuously refuses to pay for.
Now, consider what would happen if this happened in a place where the government runs the healthcare system. Like say in..oh I don’t know....Canada or Cuba. Would Officer Keliipio even have the option of going to see a specialist for a second opinion? My wife’s grandmother lives in Canada and has told me stories about what happens in cases like this. She went to her doctor with difficulty swallowing and could feel a lump in her neck. The doctor gave her throat lozenges and antibiotics and told her it would go away in a few weeks. Of course it didnt and she went back to the doctor. She had to wait two months before she could see him again and at that point the lump had grown and she began having trouble breathing at night suffering from sleep apnea. When she was able to see the doctor again, he told her that he could refer her for a consult but that it wouldn’t be for another couple of months. So what did she do? She drove down to Washington state, went to an ER, saw a doctor who diagnosed her with a malignant growth in her neck that needed to be removed immediately. She had the procedure and was out in a matter of days. She paid for it all out of her own pocket.
Now, this was an elderly woman with a lump in her neck. When I asked her about the appeal process she just laughed and said, “what appeals? It’s Canada. The doctors basically figure it’s free so who are you going to complain to?”
While Officer Keliipio has a battle before him fighting with the state to secure him the treatment he desperately needs, I can’t help but imagine how much worse it could be if he lived in a place with socialized state run medical care!
Comments
And I thought you wouldn’t diss anyone for a new post. I guess thats they way you are. The treatment of your wife’s grandmother is by only one doctor. Not Canada itself. This particular doctor was obviously very busy or just plain stuck up. Otherwise he does not portray all of the doctors in Canada. It’s like saying that all Americans are like Bush because he’s American. Now don’t you think that sounds stupid? So I would suggest you do not assume on what one person does to accuse the rest of us.
It’s like saying that all Americans are like Bush because he’s American. Now don’t you think that sounds stupid?
Yes, kitsumiti, it sounds stupid, but that doesn’t stop many foreigners from making similar accusations.
In other words, welcome to the world we live in EACH AND EVERY DAY.
So kitsumiti, are you going to go on the record and defend the Canadian healthcare system as Moore does and tell us how it’s perfect and everyone gets all the free healthcare and surgery in the same kind of timely manner that Moore claims they do? Are you going to personally tell us that nobody in Canada dies while waiting for necessary surgeries to be performed because the doctors or the government wont approve the procedures? Are you going to state here and now that what happened to my wife’s grandmother and these stories:
‘Serious flaws’ in UK health care
Why must Canadians die waiting for surgery?
INTL: Market invisible hand forces Canadian death rate numbers public!
Death on the waiting list for cardiac surgery
Wait times for surgery in Canada at all-time high: study
are simply anomolies, isolated incidents or problems or simply made up?
Of special concern in these articles is the wait time for cardiac surgery patients who the Canadian government seems content to let die while on the waiting list rather than actually pay for their surgeries.
I had to have three separate cardiac procedures called “coronary ablations” performed over a period of about five years. Each time the Dr. told me that I needed to have it done, do you know what the wait time was? Practically nothing! The longest I had to wait was one month for the last procedure and that was only because they had ordered a new machine and were waiting for it to be delivered via ship (we live in Hawaii) from the mainland. Each procedure came with a $70,000 price tag. My share? $75.00 and that included the two days I had to stay in for observations. The funny thing is my Cardiologist at the time (2004) told me that if I lived in Canada, the Dr. would simply presecribe me lifelong medication rather than the procedure due to the price tag.
We could have the Australian form of universal healthcare--the one in which doctors and courts decide when to terminate treatment, not families:
A FAMILY has reacted with anger and grief to the death of their son hours after a court ruled he be taken off life support.
The Melo family yesterday lost an 11th-hour bid to keep 29-year-old Paulo Melo on life support when they failed to prove to the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin that he could come out of his coma.
The court agreed with doctors that further treatment would be futile.
Ninety minutes later, at about 4.30pm yesterday, the Royal Darwin Hospital turned off the machines that were keeping Mr Melo alive.
He died about 9am today, shortly after the hospital gave him a morphine injection, said his family, who have welcomed a coronial inquiry into the death.
“My brother didn’t pass away, he was forced on,” Nelson Melo told AAP today following his brother’s death.
His family said even after his life support was turned off Mr Melo was breathing well and seemed to be talking.
“At eight o’clock this morning he was breathing well, he actually seemed to be breathing better than he had on the machine,” Nelson Melo said.
“We were actually very confident and the family this morning had a sense of calm.
“Last night my mother, myself and the priest were at the hospital and he seemed to be talking. It sounds like `hurt, hurt’ and then `dad, dad’.”
“My mother is devastated, everyone in the family is....because of my brother’s strong response (when he was taken off life support),” he said.
“We were happy and joyous because he seemed to be talking and that was the most anyone could hope for.
“Then for this to happen after they gave him the injection (he received an injection of morphine) is so devastating and terrible.”
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Len Notaras, yesterday said every effort had been made medically and more than 20 specialists had agreed Mr Melo would not recover.
Asked if the hospital could have waited until after Christmas, Dr Notaras said there was no right time for something like this to happen.
“There is no right time, whether it be Christmas, New Year, a birthday,” he said.
So is this what we want? A guvment hospital and it’s staff deciding for the family that they should stop care? And actually, they took it one step further by giving him an injection of morphine, most likely in the guise of “hospice care”. From personal experience, with a person with breathing problems, morphine can actually inhibit breathing and cause severe internal bleeding (my late Gram suffered those symptoms when a hospital nurse, against my Gram’s wishes, administered her own form of hospice). But hey, don’t we want the guvment making our big decisions for us? Is that not where we’re heading?
Posted by kitsumiti on 01/07/2008 at 09:30 AM (Link to this comment | ) “And I thought you wouldn’t diss anyone for a new post. I guess thats they way you are. The treatment of your wife’s grandmother is by only one doctor. Not Canada itself.”
Thats complete nonsense. It is the system and not one doctor. If the system worked, she could see another doctor… but alas, they probably all have wait lists too. Furthmore, if the system worked, it would pay her back for seeking care outside the wait listed system.
The ‘good thing’ about the US system is that is not one system. One insurance company or a certain plan offered by one may suck, but the average person still has the freedom to opt out of one for another (either plan or company). I, myself, hate HMO and/or managed care insurance. I’d rather get a policy that pays a percentage (maybe with an out of pocket cap of a few grand a year) of whatever a doctor recommends… for which, I can go anywhere that offers the service recommended (even in another country) and they’ll pay it…
yngcelt :
So kitsumiti, are you going to go on the record and defend the Canadian healthcare system as Moore does and tell us how it’s perfect and everyone gets all the free healthcare and surgery in the same kind of timely manner that Moore claims they do? Are you going to personally tell us that nobody in Canada dies while waiting for necessary surgeries to be performed because the doctors or the government wont approve the procedures?
Who would or has gone on record saying that? This sort of all or none thinking often crops up in the debates on Moorewatch – the gun control discussion comes to mind – where any law or system that achieves less than perfection is a failure. Referring back to my comments in the thread involving Ms. Stronach, despite being a staunch supporter of the health system in Canada, and frankly, one that is pretty much shared by most countries in the industrialized world, I’m still willing to admit it has some serious shortcomings.
The most apparent, wait times, is currently being addressed by the Wait Times Information System in Ontario, which in a nutshell is attempting to create electronic health records to improve communications between providers. The WTIS will also offer a more standardized evaluation of ‘wait times’, as current data can be sketchy due to inconsistencies in reporting. That said, it’s still a big problem.
Secondly, compared to the US, medical innovations can also have a slower uptake here, and hopefully with the increase of public-private research partnerships we’re seeing up here, we’ll see the distance from bench to bedside decrease.
We also have a bit of a brain drain with respect to Canadian-trained docs being lured down to the US with the promise of fortune, though it’s waned somewhat recently. What can be maddening about this, is that some of these docs have benefited from a subsidized medical education up here…
So in your opinion what are the shortcomings of the US system?
Now, about some of your links… did you notice these paragraphs from your first link?:
Over half of those quizzed also said “fundamental changes” needed to be made to the system, with 15% saying it should be completely rebuilt.
These were similar figures to the other countries with the exception of the US which was much higher and the Netherlands which was lower.
However, UK patients were the least likely to have problems paying medical bills. Just 1% said they had had difficulties, compared to 19% in the US and 8% in both Australia and New Zealand.
As I outlined in my final post on the Stronach thread, equal access to care is a significant difference between the Canadian and American-style systems. If you’re so inclined, click here and scroll to my final entry to see the links I posted..
I find it curious that you posted this one: “Why must Canadians die waiting for surgery?” After all it’s a criticism by a labour union of the current Conservative Government’s lack of funding for our health care system, hinting that tax surpluses should go to increased health funding to ensure the current system can function the way it’s supposed to.
“Wait times for surgery in Canada at all-time high: study” – Here we go, this has some solid figures in it…I’m glad to see that you don’t shy away from quoting our government-run network, the CBC. In the interest of full disclosure, the study was published by the Fraser Institute, a right wing think-tank that is pro-privatization… Nonetheless, wait times is indeed a serious issue that needs to be addressed with more funding and communication/technology/staffing advances. Thankfully for me, it looks like Ontario is the best of the bunch, and hopefully the WTIS project makes it even better.
Each procedure came with a $70,000 price tag. My share? $75.00 and that included the two days I had to stay in for observations.
See, I find this interesting. Fanbeer wrote a similar anecdote regarding the health of his brother and the millions of dollars in medical bills his family would have incurred due to his life-saving treatment. I asked fangbeer at the time, though didn’t hear back as I think perhaps the discussion had run its course, if he could explain how, or better yet, by who, the expenses were covered. Who paid the $69,925 x 3 in your case? Insurance? The state? I really don’t know, and must admit, I don’t entirely understand how Medicare and Medicaid factors into health care provision in the US.
Canuck,eh:
So let me get this straight, if you don’t like the source of the information then it’s a lie? ‘Cause that’s kinda what I was getting from your post. You talk about the popular party and the government run news network. You sound like one of these barking moonbats who constantly accuse Fox News of being a neocon propaganda machine while flip flopping about how reliable the main stream media is on stories.
As for my experience, Kaiser Permanente paid for the rest of my bills. I have Kaiser through my employer who happens to be the State of Hawaii. For about $400 a month my wife, both my children and I are covered by Kaiser Permanente which has nationwide services and great services at that I might add!
How medicaid/medicare operate here in the nanny state of Michigan. Remember, it’s a guvment run program foisted upon the entitled of the Peoples Republic of Michigan:
IMPACT OF MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT CUTS IN MICHIGAN
• Michigan physicians will lose $263 million for the care of elderly and disabled patients next year due to the 10 percent cut in Medicare payments beginning January 1, 2008. The state’s physicians will lose $10.5 billion for the care of elderly and disabled patients by 2016 due to nine years of cuts for this important medical care• 90,582 employees, 1,402,285 Medicare patients and 93,226 TRICARE patients in Michigan will be affected by these cuts
• Compared to the rest of the country, Michigan, at 14 percent, has an above-average proportion of Medicare patients and, at 19 practicing physicians per 1,000 beneficiaries, has a below-average ratio of physicians to Medicare beneficiaries, even before the cuts take effect
• 40 percent of Michigan’s practicing physicians are over 50, an age at which surveys have shown many physicians consider reducing their patient care activities
• In 2008, the “Rest of Michigan” Medicare payment area faces cuts of an additional 0.2 percent on top of the 10 percent cuts across the country. The 2003 Medicare law provided a temporary increase in geographic payment adjustments for certain states. This increase also will expire on January 1, 2008 under current law.
Guvment Run And Cost Effective Are Not Mutually Exclusive
Please note that this society recommends that people contact their reps to oppose any more cuts in medicare payments. But, since Michigan is losing nearly 40,000 citizens per year, that scenario is highly unlikely.
I have to disagree with you about Kaiser, yngcelt. My girlfriend has a broken back that she got while innertubing in the snow when she was 18. This causes her a lot of lower back pain and problems with her sciatic nerve. The break (which has never healed) can’t be repaired surgically because of its location and the nature of the break.
When we were in California, she had Kaiser and all they’d do is give her an epidural every six months, plus an ibuprofen prescription. She was also limited to one doctor who never spent more than 5 or 10 minutes with her and didn’t seem to care much about her when she did see him.
Now that we’re in Nevada, her employer (same employer as in California) has her on an Anthem plan. Anthem has been MUCH better. The doctors (note the plural form there) she’s seen have ordered multiple MRIs and prescribed much better medications for the back injury (which Anthem has paid for except for the copay). She’s had two sleep studies done for her sleep apnea and a CPAP machine now sits next to our bed.
In three short weeks, she’s having surgery to relieve some of the pressure the broken bones are putting on her sciatic nerve. That should help with the numbness in her foot (she can’t feel anything in the left half of her left foot) and her inability to stand/walk for more than a few minutes at a time.
She’s been out here just nine months, and the care she’s received to date in Nevada far surpasses the total of the care she received over several years in California under Kaiser.
Kaiser has a built-in conflict of interest - the insurance company is also the service provider. If their doctors prescribe expensive drugs or procedures, then their profits fall because they’re not only providing the services, but paying for them, too. In a traditional insurance/provider situation, the doctors don’t generally answer to anyone but the patient. At Kaiser, the doctors answer directly to the insurance company. If they prescribe too many expensive things, it just might cost them their job…
And to top it all off, you have to visit a Kaiser facility! I took my girl to Kaiser once for some abdominal pain she was having, and we passed two hospitals on the way. It was a 30 mile drive to the closest Kaiser facility. That’s just nonsense - she shouldn’t have had to go that far in a metro area like Los Angeles.
Anyway, that’s my Kaiser rant. I’ve never had to use them myself (thankfully), but the whole system stinks. My girl and everyone in her office agree, except the head of the company, who manages to get excellent care when he goes in - gee, I wonder why…
Swagger, that’s unfortunate your girlfriend had such a bad experience. I know that when I dropped a barbell on my lower back one morning before work, I went to a smaller community hospital in Kailua since the drive to the nearest Kaiser was too far. I went into the ER of the hospital and gave them my Kaiser info. They x-rayed and ran tests and found I had cracked my hip bone and bruised my left kidney. I was sent home and later that same day my doctor’s office at Kaiser called me and asked me about my visit to the other hospital’s ER and made me an appointment right then and there to come in and see a doctor.
One of the things I like most about an HMO like Kaiser is that you can see ANY doctor at your convenience rather than wait days, weeks or even months to see your primary care physician.
One of my past employers switched us from Kaiser to Queen’s (a local service provider through the Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu) and it sucked royally! You could ONLY see your primary care physican and if you even tried to make an appointment with another doctor because you couldn’t wait the three weeks to see your doctor, they would tell you that you would first have to consult with your doctor for permission to see another doctor! And of course my primary care physician through Queen’s at the time was NEVER available as he seeemed to always be with another patient, in a meeting or simply “out of the office”.
But to give you a better perspective, talk some time to the spouses and families of military personnel and ask them about their experiences with government provided medical care. Especially talk to those who tried to sue for malpractice and see what happened to them! That is just a taste of what government run healthcare is really like!
In fact, check out these stories:
GAS ERROR PUT BABY IN COMA
Child’s Family Sues, Accuses Tripler Doctors Of Malpractice
Parents File $150M Suit Against Naval Hospital
And here’s a great story about yet another Canuck who shares his thoughts and feelings about the Canadian healthcare system:
It sounds like Kaiser in Hawaii works practically opposite of how they work in California. In CA, Kaiser worked very much how you described Queen’s.
BTW, it sounds like you think I’m a proponent of government run health care. I’m not. I just think that Kaiser is/was a horrible operation that’s got a built-in reason to not provide services to patients. I would never choose Kaiser for my employees, and would probably decline their coverage if offered by my employer, opting to find my own plan through Blue Cross or something. My girl’s experiences with them over the years (not just one experience) proved to me that I want them to have nothing to do with my healthcare whatsoever.
yngcelt:
So let me get this straight, if you don’t like the source of the information then it’s a lie? ‘Cause that’s kinda what I was getting from your post.
Well, I encourage you to read it again, because I think you missed the main point(s).
You talk about the popular party and the government run news network.
I don’t even know what you mean by the ‘popular party’, so I’m certain I didn’t talk about it, and I brought up the CBC because it was mildly humourous to me that you referenced a government-run media source in a rant about government-run health care. No intentions beyond that. The Fraser Institute is a right wing think tank that is very much for the privatization of health care – seems like relevant knowledge to have in light of the findings of their study (wonder what their news release would have said if they found the opposite??) I’d be equally suspect of the results of a study by the Michael Moore Institute… You apparently missed the part right after when I wrote: “Nonetheless, wait times is indeed a serious issue that needs to be addressed with more funding and communication/technology/staffing advances.”
You sound like one of these barking moonbats who constantly accuse Fox News of being a neocon propaganda machine while flip flopping about how reliable the main stream media is on stories.
And now the name calling…
Really, one doesn’t need to be a barking moonbat to suggest FoxNews is a neocon propaganda machine. Ever watch O’Reilley or HANNITY & colmes? Are you familiar with the career of Tony Snow? How about those exclusives with GWB and company?
And in my opinion, the “Mainstream Media”™ are a pretty weak kneed bunch in general. As much as you may think they’re riding the administration on the war, I would say they gave them a free pass in the lead up to it. If you think there’s some vast left wing conspiracy running “Mainstream Media”™, I suggest you review a media ownership chart some time.
As for my experience, Kaiser Permanente paid for the rest of my bills. I have Kaiser through my employer who happens to be the State of Hawaii. For about $400 a month my wife, both my children and I are covered by Kaiser Permanente which has nationwide services and great services at that I might add!
Good for you. Glad that your insurance provided you with such good service (unlike the experience of swagger). How well do those who are uninsured fare?
Sooo, any thoughts on this: “So in your opinion what are the shortcomings of the US system?”
Canuck,
I think the shortcomings of the US healthcare system are many.
1. Too many restrictions on drug testing. Thank PETA and other such organizations for keeping scientists from testing possible cures and treatments impossible. If a few hundred rabbits need to die to help find a cure for a disease, then I say fuck the bunnies!
2. Malpractice insurance is extremely expensive. This is a problem because it makes doctors afraid sometimes to try procedures or surgeries that may be risky but could also be life saving.
3. The archaic practice of overworking hospital doctors. There have been several articles that have criticized this almost ancient practice of forcing doctors to work inhuman hours in hospitals for no other reasons than to save the hospital some money by hiring less doctors and because the old doctors did it so the young guys have to do it now too. Consider the risks and dangers of a doctor who has been working for 24 hours straight trying to diagnose you. Airline pilots, truck drivers and other professionals have strict, legal guidelines regarding work hours and rest time between shifts, yet the doctors who we entrust with our lives and the lives of our loved ones are forced to work like slaves.
4. Too much focus on aesthetic procedures and not enough on life-saving professions. I think that there are a lot of med school students who have the goal of becoming plastic surgeons since it’s fairly easy to get licensed, it’s lucrative and it’s so popular with the kind of coverage it gets on TV.
5. With the advances that we have made in medicine, people are living longer but not necessarily healthier lives. Consider the average lifespan of the average American 100 or even 50 years ago compared to today! People are living longer but have more health problems than they did generations ago. My great grandfather lived to be 100 and he smoked and drank daily. He never got sick or went to the doctor and finally kicked off in his sleep a few months after hitting 100. My grandfather lived to be 81 but developed Alzheimer’s and Dementia at around 70 and by the time he passed away he was a shriveled shell of the muscular man he used to be. Look at the medicine cabinet of any senior citizen and you will see a small pharmacy of medicines they have to take just to try and squeeze a few more years out of life. Imagine what it will be like when you and I reach that age!
6. Finally, money that could be used for healthcare is instead used for other things. Look at all the pork that Senators add to their bills and budget proposals every year for such things as parks and such when they could be trying to get money for county hospitals and clinics in their low income areas.
How do you drop a barbell on your lower back? I can understand dropping one on your foot, or maybe even your hand, but how do you drop one on your own back?
Belcatar, I was doing seated behind the neck presses with a smith machine. I didnt fully engage the safety hooks when I was finished and when I leaned forward the barbell dropped straight down on the tracks like a guillatine onto my lower back.
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Maybe it is different in Hawaii, or different since it is a government agency involved, but here in Illinois, the Workers Comp people make sure that anyone injured on the job gets a+ premo care, regardles of the cost. They just stick it to the employer later. This is just sad that they treat an officer that way, especially one with a person and family history like this one. Truly inspires great confidence in any government run healthcare system.