I’ll primarily be coming at this Michael Moore business from a medical management standpoint

JK

Welcome. (Its almost inevitable that somebody might chat you up about global warming, tho, too.)

Mike,

First, welcome I am a constant lurker and occasional poster to the site. I read your blog and found it interesting and informative. The information that you provided corresponds very closely with what health care professionals that I know have told me anecdotally concerning medicare. I would, however,recommend that you yourself do some fact checking, particularly when you are pinging someone else’s fact checking. The story about rat infested facilities was addressing a problem with Army Medical Corps facilities. It was caused largely by a funding authorization shift in how facilities on military posts were improved and maintained, with the maintenance being shifted form Post Commander to central contracting. The result was a loss of accountability in the process that allowed people to basically get away with not doing their jobs.

I use VA facilities and can state without fear of contradiction, that they are clean and professionally run, in spite of funding shortfalls. I can also state that there is a significant backlog for non life saving medical treatment and care because of this backlog. Many eligible veterans must wait months to years for treatment that they earned through their service.

Leatherneck

Mike is absolutely correct about the spin being put on how low administrative cost are with socialized medicine.  It’s been my observation that those doing the spinning couldn’t define “administrative expense” on a bet.  If they knew the difference between what government and private enterprise counts as administrative expense, they wouldn’t even bring the subject up.

Mike, welcome!

Given your credentials and pool of knowledge, I can already see that you’re going to make quite an impact, here, and be a valued contributor.

Good call on Jim’s part.

(Much better than, say, angry, uninformed hacks
like myself, Buzz and Lee. heh. j/k guys.)

Again, welcome. I look forward to reading your posts.

Good call on Jim’s part.

This was all Lee’s doing...although I totally agree, excellent choice!

BTW, you is no a hack.  You has a flavor.  No, I wont lick you to prove it.  :)

This is my first time posting on this message board.  I served in the Navy for 20 years, and I am 70% service related disabled.  All of my health care comes from the Veterans Administration.  I am satisfied with the care that I have received.  Could it be better?  Yes.  Could it be worse?  Absolutely.
To Mr Kennefick, I hope and pray that your wife is doing and feeling better.

Leatherneck wrote:

I use VA facilities and can state without fear of contradiction, that they are clean and professionally run, in spite of funding shortfalls. I can also state that there is a significant backlog for non life saving medical treatment and care because of this backlog. Many eligible veterans must wait months to years for treatment that they earned through their service.

I salute you sir for your prior service to this country.  I consider it a shame that the VA Medical Facilities are not able to provide the service to you and other vets quickly in non life threatening situations.  It is also a shame that there are so few facilities and many vets have to travel many hours to get treatment.  I wonder how different things would be if vets could use their benefits at any hospital they might choose.

Welcome, MikeS.  Your two blog fiskings are very good reads.  I especially liked the part about claiming doctors stick their heads in the room for 5 minutes and charge $150. 

When I go to my doctor, besides being a dead ringer for Monica from “Friends”, she has already looked over my vitals and consulted the nurse who took them and asked me what the problem is.  She checks me over, asking pertinent questions along the way.  After making her diagnosis, she will ask me if I have any questions.  If I answer “no”, she then responds “I know how men are, what questions do you have for me.”

When I ruptured the bursa sac in my left knee last year, she sent me in for an emergency ultrasound to check for possible DVT.  It was after hours so my doctor had already left for the day by the time the ultrasound began.  When they completed the ultrasound, the techs took me to the lab where I was on the phone with the chief of staff, a brilliant doctor in his own right.  He was at home (7:30PM at this point) watching the video of the ultrasound on his PC explaining to me what we were looking at.  His conclusion was that there was no DVT but still gave me a litany of things to watch for.  He concluded by asking me if I had any questions.  I said “No” to which he replied, “I’ve talked to your doctor, are you sure you don’t have any questions?”

This guy consulted my doctor, took the time to talk to the ultrasound techs, look at the ultrasound and then go over it with me from his home some 2 1/2 hours after quitting time.  There’s no “poppin’ in” going on at my doctor’s office.

There’s no “poppin’ in” going on at my doctor’s office.

I have two I see regularly - my GP and my physiatrist.  Neither of them spend less than 15 minutes at a time with me, and the physiatrist often spends a half-hour at a time with me.  He’s very dedicated.

In fact, my GP often does tests and things that a nurse could do.  She’s a very hands-on doc.  No pop-ins for her.

Thanks to leatherneck for the correction.  It was indeed an Army Medical Center.  I should have remembered that since I’ve been there.

My limited experience with the VA has been that the people who work there are extremely hard-working and helpful. But they are woefully underfunded.

Hello Mike:

Question for you…

Is there any country in the world where all of the following are true?

1) It is rare for people to die from easily cured medical conditions.

2) Surgury for non life-threatening but painful conditions, such as join injuries, don’t entail waiting lists of a year or more.

3) People don’t have to fight paper battles with faceless buorocrats they’ve never met who second-guess their doctors on which drugs & treatments are necessary.

4) Middle class people don’t lose their homes & retirement savings because someone in the family needed a major treatment, such as organ transplants or some cancers.

5) Prices for medical care & drugs don’t increase faster that the rate of inflation year after year.

Is there a point to the question?

The point is that if that country exists, that’s the healthcare system we should model ours after.

If that would be “having our cake and eating it too,” then we need an honest comparision of the pros & cons of the various alternatives (which I admit Sicko is not).

balancer, I was just chatting with my nephew about the tuition increase at the state college he attends.  His state school announced a 7% increase in tuition for the school year starting this fall.  It’s the smallest tuition hike they’ve had in the past 4 years.  What’s the going rate of inflation? 

My point is, what makes you think that the guvment will have increases less than the rate of inflation?  I just gave you but one example where a guvment run program routinely increases it’s costs by double the rate of inflation.  (current CPI is 2.7%).
http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM222

Education is another area where costs consistently increase faster than the rate of inflation.  The reasons why would make an interesting, yet separate discussion.

If that would be “having our cake and eating it too,” then we need an honest comparision of the pros & cons of the various alternatives (which I admit Sicko is not).

That really is the one critical piece of information that I wanted to hear from you.

Can we also stipulate that MikeS might also be approaching this from the angle of taking a fair and honest look at the situation, rather than viewing it through the Moore Distortion Field?

Thanks for your comments Leatherneck. The VA hospital here in Loma Linda, is well run. I go to the VA clinic in Upland and I have no major complaints.  I have trust in my doctor.
I have great respect for other veterans. Veterans have fought evil, tyranny and oppression. When they return home deserve all of the best treatment available.