Thank you for the "plug," AOW. I don't know what we could hope to do about all this, but it's cinch no one will be able to do ANYTHING, if they are UNAWARE of what is happening. I no longer believe there is anything to be gained by complaint, but we have lapsed i to our present sorry state, because we have been militantly DISINFORMED by the ubiquitous influence of the enemedia, by our failed system of public education, and we let our guard down, because we've been lulled into passivity by the hypnotic effect of the enemedia.
We've grown soft, hopelessly shallow, weak-minded and devoted to little but frivolity. The nation now resembles a gigantic KINDERGARTEN.
As Ducky says so frequently, "We are a sorry people."
Though we have certainly been subject to perverse, unwholesome, degrading and degenerate influences for the past hundred years at least, what has happened is truly our own fault for succumbing to Temptation. The worst thing is that many-if-not most no longer seem to know the difference between Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Healthy and Noxious, etc. We could easily say this has happened because "we've abandoned God," but I would much farther and say we've never had a mature understanding of who and what God is. We've had a lot of childish superstition drummed into our dear little ears, which made our immature concept of the Divine vulnerable to attack by clever, unprincipled sophists.
Ignorance and Superstition create a vacuum into which vile, impure, wholly detrimental concepts rush with a vengeance -- and impunity.
Unfortunately, the Fundamentalist approach to religion keeps followers imprisoned in a state of childish, blind, unquestioning obedience to dictates they follow our of FEAR. This does NOT serve the interests of TRUTH, nor does it help one iota in spreading the Rule of Love, which is what Christ's Presence on earth was meant to do.
ALL the tommyrot that plagues us has come about because of mental laziness, militant Ignorance, and the childish desire always to be TAKEN CARE OF by a quasi-PARENTAL figure, instead of learning to take full responsibility for our actions, --0 and the (often bad) decisions we make.
FT, The best way to deal with this warning -- at this time, at least -- is to be aware of one's admissions status (or a loved one's admission status) at a hospital.
It is a financial nightmare for a someone to be sent to a skilled nursing facility for therapy which might well result in the patient's being able to return home without the required time of being admitted to a hospital in the first place.
Also, it is possible sometimes for the patient to come home, then access at-home or outpatient therapy -- provided that the primary care physician writes the appropriate script.
At the least, being aware of admissions status could enable those who can to liquidate assets so as to pay up and not die of shock when a gargantuan bill for medical care arrives.
Perhaps most important of all, patients who are serious compromised need an advocate whom they can trust. Without such an advocate, the patient is too often taken advantage of by the system.
As you know, such an atrocity happened to one of my elderly cousins who was well off financially -- precisely because she didn't have an advocate; her brother had died a few years earlier, and she hadn't named a new one. Thank God that her longtime neighbors stepped in and brought an attorney! My cousin was able to spend her final days with good palliative care and no longer sitting in her own body waste; the latter had happened at the facility to which the hospital transferred her -- a facility run, in effect, by the D.C. Government, which proceeded to take a huge rake-off of her bank account.
FT, Though we have certainly been subject to perverse, unwholesome, degrading and degenerate influences for the past hundred years at least, what has happened is truly our own fault for succumbing to Temptation. The worst thing is that many-if-not most no longer seem to know the difference between Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Healthy and Noxious, etc.
Hello Again, AOW. As you kindly remembered, I posted the information regarding the dire financial consequences of being listed as "UNDER OBSERVATION" the other day -- the point of that particular post. I appreciate your acknowledgement, but it might have been even more helpful had you provided a hot link to the article at FreeThinke's blog.
It seems to me very much like the dope dealer in the neighborhood. First, they give out free samples, and start charging once the client is hooked. The parallel with welfare and elder care is uncannily similar. First tell people that they’ll get “this and that” when they reach age 65, tell them that’s what they’re paying for when they pay into Medicare every month. Tell them, this is their entitlement for living in the greatest nation in the world. And then, when the individual turns 65, or when they suddenly need to access Medicare, tell them the truth. It’s going to cost them a lot more money; money they don’t have. And of course, most American’s haven’t a clue because they like the notion of government taking care of them. It’s their right, you see? And few people ever read the papers at the hospital; they have no idea what all that mumbo jumbo says. This is what happens when people trust government, which is as we all know, untrustworthy.
Sam, Yes, insurance plans are loaded with mumbo jumbo.
I read well, but when I was checking Mr. AOW's policy in those first few days after his stroke in 2009, I had to read the details twice. Sheesh. As if I really had time for that!
Also ... remember that if the hospital says you were "under observation," and Medicare won't pay ... neither will your Medicare supplemental policy. It's a double whammy.
So older Americans, enjoy all your government provided free stuff. For trusting government, you deserve what you get.
Sam, remember that if the hospital says you were "under observation," and Medicare won't pay ... neither will your Medicare supplemental policy
Yes. and the same is true of many private policies and employer-based policies. I wonder if most people even read the fine print on the policies they have.
I have found through my own experience and the experience of others in my family that having our own primary care doctor having practice privileges and being the doctor of record -- preferably the doctor who signs the admissions forms -- at the medical care facility makes all the difference.
As a now-72-year-old person who has had long experience tending elderly and infirm relatives and friends over several decades, I have little but praise for MEDICARE -- at least as it it HAS been. Like Social Security, itself, Medicare is NOT as "government freebie," and is NOT a "welfare" program. All of us who worked "on the books" have paid into the system, which I have to say has worked VERY smoothly and has been exceedingly helpful in alleviating unnecessary suffering and avoiding the evil of "Medical Bankruptcy."
I am against both Social Security and Medicare in principle, but would be a foul hypocrite if I failed to admit how helpful Medicare has been to me, personally, in more ways than I care to count right now.
THE problem with these programs is their undeniable role in driving up the cost of medical care at many times the rate of inflation which is why we're in such a pickle right now.
Another of ever-so-many TWO-EDGED SWORDS out there.
We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. Comments that include any of the following are subject to deletion: 1. Any use of profanity or abusive language 2. Off topic comments and spam 3. Use of personal invective
Thank you for the "plug," AOW. I don't know what we could hope to do about all this, but it's cinch no one will be able to do ANYTHING, if they are UNAWARE of what is happening. I no longer believe there is anything to be gained by complaint, but we have lapsed i to our present sorry state, because we have been militantly DISINFORMED by the ubiquitous influence of the enemedia, by our failed system of public education, and we let our guard down, because we've been lulled into passivity by the hypnotic effect of the enemedia.
ReplyDeleteWe've grown soft, hopelessly shallow, weak-minded and devoted to little but frivolity. The nation now resembles a gigantic KINDERGARTEN.
As Ducky says so frequently, "We are a sorry people."
Though we have certainly been subject to perverse, unwholesome, degrading and degenerate influences for the past hundred years at least, what has happened is truly our own fault for succumbing to Temptation. The worst thing is that many-if-not most no longer seem to know the difference between Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Healthy and Noxious, etc. We could easily say this has happened because "we've abandoned God," but I would much farther and say we've never had a mature understanding of who and what God is. We've had a lot of childish superstition drummed into our dear little ears, which made our immature concept of the Divine vulnerable to attack by clever, unprincipled sophists.
Ignorance and Superstition create a vacuum into which vile, impure, wholly detrimental concepts rush with a vengeance -- and impunity.
Unfortunately, the Fundamentalist approach to religion keeps followers imprisoned in a state of childish, blind, unquestioning obedience to dictates they follow our of FEAR. This does NOT serve the interests of TRUTH, nor does it help one iota in spreading the Rule of Love, which is what Christ's Presence on earth was meant to do.
ALL the tommyrot that plagues us has come about because of mental laziness, militant Ignorance, and the childish desire always to be TAKEN CARE OF by a quasi-PARENTAL figure, instead of learning to take full responsibility for our actions, --0 and the (often bad) decisions we make.
FT,
DeleteThe best way to deal with this warning -- at this time, at least -- is to be aware of one's admissions status (or a loved one's admission status) at a hospital.
It is a financial nightmare for a someone to be sent to a skilled nursing facility for therapy which might well result in the patient's being able to return home without the required time of being admitted to a hospital in the first place.
Also, it is possible sometimes for the patient to come home, then access at-home or outpatient therapy -- provided that the primary care physician writes the appropriate script.
At the least, being aware of admissions status could enable those who can to liquidate assets so as to pay up and not die of shock when a gargantuan bill for medical care arrives.
Perhaps most important of all, patients who are serious compromised need an advocate whom they can trust. Without such an advocate, the patient is too often taken advantage of by the system.
As you know, such an atrocity happened to one of my elderly cousins who was well off financially -- precisely because she didn't have an advocate; her brother had died a few years earlier, and she hadn't named a new one. Thank God that her longtime neighbors stepped in and brought an attorney! My cousin was able to spend her final days with good palliative care and no longer sitting in her own body waste; the latter had happened at the facility to which the hospital transferred her -- a facility run, in effect, by the D.C. Government, which proceeded to take a huge rake-off of her bank account.
FT,
DeleteThough we have certainly been subject to perverse, unwholesome, degrading and degenerate influences for the past hundred years at least, what has happened is truly our own fault for succumbing to Temptation. The worst thing is that many-if-not most no longer seem to know the difference between Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Healthy and Noxious, etc.
Agreed!
Hello Again, AOW. As you kindly remembered, I posted the information regarding the dire financial consequences of being listed as "UNDER OBSERVATION" the other day -- the point of that particular post. I appreciate your acknowledgement, but it might have been even more helpful had you provided a hot link to the article at FreeThinke's blog.
DeleteFT,
DeleteThe hot link is there -- embedded in the words "hat tip."
I typically embed in the words "hat tip" -- unless the blog post is entitled "Recommended Reading."
It seems to me very much like the dope dealer in the neighborhood. First, they give out free samples, and start charging once the client is hooked. The parallel with welfare and elder care is uncannily similar. First tell people that they’ll get “this and that” when they reach age 65, tell them that’s what they’re paying for when they pay into Medicare every month. Tell them, this is their entitlement for living in the greatest nation in the world. And then, when the individual turns 65, or when they suddenly need to access Medicare, tell them the truth. It’s going to cost them a lot more money; money they don’t have. And of course, most American’s haven’t a clue because they like the notion of government taking care of them. It’s their right, you see? And few people ever read the papers at the hospital; they have no idea what all that mumbo jumbo says. This is what happens when people trust government, which is as we all know, untrustworthy.
ReplyDeleteSam,
DeleteYes, insurance plans are loaded with mumbo jumbo.
I read well, but when I was checking Mr. AOW's policy in those first few days after his stroke in 2009, I had to read the details twice. Sheesh. As if I really had time for that!
Also ... remember that if the hospital says you were "under observation," and Medicare won't pay ... neither will your Medicare supplemental policy. It's a double whammy.
ReplyDeleteSo older Americans, enjoy all your government provided free stuff. For trusting government, you deserve what you get.
Sam,
ReplyDeleteremember that if the hospital says you were "under observation," and Medicare won't pay ... neither will your Medicare supplemental policy
Yes. and the same is true of many private policies and employer-based policies. I wonder if most people even read the fine print on the policies they have.
The question is how to avoid being "under observation" (not the NSA type, that's impossible).
ReplyDeleteDuck,
DeleteGood question.
I have found through my own experience and the experience of others in my family that having our own primary care doctor having practice privileges and being the doctor of record -- preferably the doctor who signs the admissions forms -- at the medical care facility makes all the difference.
The above said, some of the requirements of ObamaCare may curtail what has been my experience and my family's experience in times past.
DeleteThis is what happens when you let the government pay the bills (SINGLE PAYER). Catch-22 becomes the rule, instead of the exception.
ReplyDeleteThersites,
DeleteYes, that is one of the problems with single payer. Nevertheless, single payer is often seen as "the savior."
As a now-72-year-old person who has had long experience tending elderly and infirm relatives and friends over several decades, I have little but praise for MEDICARE -- at least as it it HAS been. Like Social Security, itself, Medicare is NOT as "government freebie," and is NOT a "welfare" program. All of us who worked "on the books" have paid into the system, which I have to say has worked VERY smoothly and has been exceedingly helpful in alleviating unnecessary suffering and avoiding the evil of "Medical Bankruptcy."
ReplyDeleteI am against both Social Security and Medicare in principle, but would be a foul hypocrite if I failed to admit how helpful Medicare has been to me, personally, in more ways than I care to count right now.
THE problem with these programs is their undeniable role in driving up the cost of medical care at many times the rate of inflation which is why we're in such a pickle right now.
Another of ever-so-many TWO-EDGED SWORDS out there.