Here's a painful and personal example of the dysfunction one can experience in our broken medical system.
My mother is dealing with stage four pancreatic cancer. She has done OK but, of course, there is no stage five for a reason.
She is currently in the hospital (I was with her yesterday; I typed my prior comment from the hospital) with some complications. Doing OK, we think.
Here's the bullshit: Her oncologist can't go see her at the hospital because he is not in the system. The best they can do is consult with him over the phone for his opinion and then make their own decisions. Yes, she is on the ACA.
The sheer lunacy of this scenario is hard to describe with words. Screaming is more in line with a proper description.
I am not going to blame government for this. I have no clue how this situation is so other than to understand that it is about money, about who gets paid for what. And yet, our government makes the laws and rules that govern such industries. They have fucked up healthcare beyond what any objective observer would, I suspect, think is a good system that serves patients as first class citizens in a healthcare system.
Even in third world countries your doctor can come see you at any hospital. Here, in the US. Not so.
If you were wondering why I am so down on what our politicians have done (or not done) over decades, it comes from far more than an academic thought exercise.
Really sorry to hear about your mom. I wish her the best.
I'd been meaning to write a more substantial reply to your last comment, but I've been underwater at work and haven't had the time; maybe this weekend. But I do think we have a lot of common ground, and you certainly won't hear me defending our current healthcare system or many of our current politicians.
No problem. Part of life. She is doing fine and out of the hospital for now. Thanks.
One of the issues I have with trying to have longer discussions on HN is that there are a lot of non-participants who have nothing better to do than to downvote rather than participate. I don't care about the little karma counter, could not care less. What I do care about is being able to have reasonably intelligent discussions where people might not necessarily agree without using karma violence to silence one or more participants by eventually having posts flagged, etc.
HN, for the most part, is a decent community and they have done a great job of maintaining order. As someone who has been participating on discussion communities since the days of USNET I am equipped to fully appreciate the effort that has gone into HN.
That said --and I know this is hard-- I wish they could figure out a way to eliminate what I perceive as sophomoric punitive down-voting that is generally devoid of any substance and has, from my perspective, no value at all.
The only way we learn anything is to engage in substantive conversations where we openly explore ideas we might necessarily agree with. Canceling those we might not align with serves nobody, does not lead to anyone learning and all sides of an argument lose.
Yes, I know this is a hard problem.
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My general view of what government can accomplish and how tends to be very negative because I have seen them muck-up just about everything they touch. People will demand more from a fast food restaurant than the politicians they elected. It's crazy.
For example: Why is it that politicians suffer absolutely no consequences for lying to us? None. In fact, as a matter of law, if you or I lie to the federal government we go to jail. They can lie to us on a daily basis without consequences. How is that possible. You lie to a police officer and, same thing, the consequences to you are severe. The opposite is not true.
This asymmetry is very, very wrong. And yet, as I mentioned, we demand more of a fast food eatery than the politicians we elect. How does that happen? Lack of education? Lack of information? Indifference?
Same with the freedom of the press. Do we really think the bill of rights created this protection to include lies, fabrication and manipulation? I know this isn't an easy problem to solve. Sure. Well, how many centuries do we need to sort it out?
Oh, wait, these are things that require politicians to do their jobs. Never mind.
Yeah, the idea of having these people have full control of healthcare terrifies me.
My mother is dealing with stage four pancreatic cancer. She has done OK but, of course, there is no stage five for a reason.
She is currently in the hospital (I was with her yesterday; I typed my prior comment from the hospital) with some complications. Doing OK, we think.
Here's the bullshit: Her oncologist can't go see her at the hospital because he is not in the system. The best they can do is consult with him over the phone for his opinion and then make their own decisions. Yes, she is on the ACA.
The sheer lunacy of this scenario is hard to describe with words. Screaming is more in line with a proper description.
I am not going to blame government for this. I have no clue how this situation is so other than to understand that it is about money, about who gets paid for what. And yet, our government makes the laws and rules that govern such industries. They have fucked up healthcare beyond what any objective observer would, I suspect, think is a good system that serves patients as first class citizens in a healthcare system.
Even in third world countries your doctor can come see you at any hospital. Here, in the US. Not so.
If you were wondering why I am so down on what our politicians have done (or not done) over decades, it comes from far more than an academic thought exercise.