I typically browse the messages and delete them.  On rare occasions I save them as material for this blog.  When I read the letter that follows I was so infuriated that I had to spend a few minutes on this post.

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Good morning,

Six months ago, Gail O’Brien didn’t know whether or not she would be able to treat her cancer.  Betsy Burton wasn’t sure if she could afford to keep paying the skyrocketing premiums for her employees’ health insurance. Paul Horne was struggling to make ends meet after his prescription drug coverage hit the “donut hole.”

The thing about these stories is that they could happen to anybody.  Millions of Americans — maybe even you or someone you know — have been struggling for years with our broken health care system.  These stories are what inspired me to fight for the Affordable Care Act and made me so proud to sign this landmark legislation into law six months ago.

Every day, I hear from Americans like Gail, Betsy and Paul, and a few of these folks have stepped forward to bravely share their stories with the entire country. Take a minute to hear what they have to say:

The Affordable Care Act is already making a difference in the lives of millions of Americans.  And starting tomorrow, the Patient’s Bill of Rights goes into effect, ending some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry and putting you, not your insurance company, in control of your health care.

Here’s what the Patient’s Bill of Rights means for you:

 No more discrimination against kids with pre-existing conditions.  Insurance companies can no longer bar families from purchasing coverage because of a child’s pre-existing condition.

No more lifetime coverage limits. Insurance companies can no longer put a lifetime limit on the amount of coverage you can receive. 

Young adults can now stay on their parent’s plan.  Young adults can stay on their parent’s health insurance plan up to age 26 if their job doesn’t provide health care benefits — a huge relief for many parents and recent college graduates.

Free preventive care.  If you join or purchase a new plan, the insurance company will be required to provide preventive care like mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, pre-natal and baby care without charging you any out of pocket costs.

Freedom to choose your own doctor. If you purchase or join a new plan, you have the right to choose your own doctor in your insurer network.

No more restrictions on emergency room care. Insurance companies will not be allowed to charge you more for out of network emergency services if you purchase or join a new a plan.

This is a long-overdue victory for American consumers and patients.  For years, millions of Americans have been at the mercy of their insurance companies as they jacked up rates, denied coverage or dropped patients all together.  

Now, some opponents of this reform have pledged to “repeal and replace” all of the progress we’ve made over the past six months.  But I refuse to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny a child health care due to a pre-existing condition or impose a lifetime limit on care for a cancer patient.  Those days are over.

The Affordable Care Act provides basic rules of the road that make our health care system work for consumers.  It cuts costs and will help us begin to get our fiscal house in order.  And most importantly, it provides Americans with the peace of mind that their insurance will be there for them when they need it.

To learn more about the Patient’s Bill of Rights and the Affordable Care Act, visit:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform

Sincerely,

President Barack Obama

P.S. Last week, I surprised Gail O’Brien by calling her at home.  You can see what happened here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform

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The salient points of the letter are in bold.  Lets take a closer look at them and comment.

No more discrimination against kids with pre-existing conditions

Try getting insurance with pre-existing conditions not only for your kids but also for yourself.  The costs are exorbitant.  What this CHANGE implies is that any Naïve American is now able to go somewhere (who know where) and purchase based on their income (currently many Naïve Americans have a very limited income because they are unemployed) and purchase a healthcare plan without any issues regarding pre-existing conditions.  If you believe this is true you must have been drinking the Obama / Democratic purple Cool Aid.  Just go ahead and try changing insurance company.

No more lifetime coverage limits

This is a great idea.  I would like to know which healthcare company offers such a plan based on the current income of Naïve American families.

Young adults can now stay on their parent’s plan. 

This is great.  It used to be that while your kids were in college your healthcare company would cover them for a fee.  With most insurance companies there has always been a reasonable age limit, which I believe was 26 years of age.  Once again, what is the cost of such benefits because young adults are finding it harder and harder getting a job after finishing college?  The economy issues must be addresses.

Free preventive care. 

This sounds good.  Not sure what it means.  I have never felt inclined to stop by my family physician to say hello just for the fun of it.  What this implies is that every Naïve American can now stop by a get a yearly physical at no additional cost.  Which tests are included and how much is the premium for the healthcare plan is a different issue.  Dental insurance, which very few Naïve American can afford, tends to include free checkups once or twice a year.  Cleaning is typically included.  What this CHANGE implies is that Naïve American with affordable healthcare benefits may now get free healthcare checkups no matter which policy they have.  If you believe this is true you must have been drinking the Obama / Democratic purple Cool Aid.  Just go ahead and try changing insurance company (I felt compelled to repeat this statement).

Freedom to choose your own doctor.

What kind of a moron believes this?  If you are enrolled on most healthcare plans you have to see any physician in that group.  It typically takes an act of God to get to see a specialist from a different organization.  What this CHANGE entails is that any Naïve American with healthcare insurance should be able to see a physician at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  The reason I am using Mayo as an example is because it is close to where I live and they have a very well trained staff.  Sorry … If you believe this is true you must have been drinking the Obama / Democratic purple Cool Aid.

No more restrictions on emergency room care.

I fully understand that career politicians have a special platinum healthcare package and do not stop by emergency rooms that see typical Naïve Americans.  Any emergency room in the USA will see any Naïve American.  Just stop by any emergency room and they all have a policy / disclaimer.  This is nothing new.  Emergency rooms do not take care of any non-critical issue.  They just make sure the patient is kept alive.  After addressing any life threatening issue patients are referred to their family physician.  What this new right should imply is that with or without healthcare insurance all Naïve Americans will be referred and treated for no additional cost even if the issue is preexisting.  For the last time … If you believe this is true you must have been drinking the Obama / Democratic purple Cool Aid.

The letter from president Obama just reminded me that elections are coming and given the failure of his first two years in power he needs to trick Naïve Americans in believing that things are changing for the best due to the work of Democrats.  Hopefully Naïve Americans will think and take the necessary measurements / actions to induce real CHANGE (not what Obama promised during his presidential campaign).

The Naïve American

Not sure the exact current state of the healthcare bill that you and most Democrats are promoting but it appears that it might be enacted into law very soon unless most Republicans can manage to stop it.

I have to congratulate you and the Democratic Party for the effort of recognizing the need for a healthcare reform.  Many Naïve Americans, including myself, are convinced that healthcare reform is needed but what is being done might not bring the desired / expected results.  Being a computer scientist I have to think in a rational way.  I fully understand we all make mistakes.  The problem is that the USA since the 1950’s has been in a downward spiral (i.e., economy, education, healthcare, manufacturing, immigration, science, politics, etc, etc) and cannot afford additional fatal mistakes.

I would like to briefly explain how proper software is developed so we (most important you and the democrats) can draw analogies and check if the proposed healthcare reform bill makes sense.  The beauty is that we do not need to look at the actual bill because we are just talking in an abstract and logical way.

When a project / product is proposed, time is spent in defining the problem(s) / situation(s) that need to be address with the resulting software.  After the goals have been put in writing the next step is to propose an initial design that will logically address the problem(s).  The team then moves into a set of phases (in my opinion only three) of design, implementation, and testing.  After the first pass a review of the requirements and design is conducted.  That helps clarify the goals and design, which leads to some changes in the implementation and testing.  Software projects should take about a year.  Enough said about this software development methodology.

Getting back to the main subject of healthcare reform, have you and your advisors figured out what the healthcare issues are?  Have you and your advisors figured out what the goals are?  Have you and your advisors figured out the exact cost of the project / bill is going to be?  For the time being lets assume you have (The Naïve American does not believe you have gotten close).

Today if any person (not just Naïve Americans) in the USA gets ill and needs medical attention they can go to any emergency facility and will receive urgent care.  If the person does not have insurance coverage the city, county, state, country, and finally Naïve American tax payers get the bill in the form of taxes.  This last statement is 100% correct and any somewhat intelligent individual should accept it.  The issue here is preventive medicine, which hopefully should be addressed by the bill.

The bulk of current medical expenses are in:

So, is your healthcare bill going to address the issues listed in the table and at what cost.  Please remember that the US has a deficit in the trillions of Dollars and there is no sign in the future that the US economy is going to pick up.  As a nation how are we going to pay an additional trillion Dollars in the next ten years?  As I mentioned before, I do not care and Naïve American should not either.  We elected you and the career politicians you are surrounded by.  All what matters is that you Mr. president and the career politicians (mostly democrats) who support the healthcare bill that have signed on the dotted lines are going about the issue following a logical and scientific approach.  God bless America (I am a Deist) !!!

What Naïve Americans need is a FREE basic healthcare system, which includes prescription drugs.  This is the goal, which you and your team of career politicians have not figured out.  How to pay for it is relatively simple and requires Medicaid and Medicare reform and budget cuts for so many programs all over our nation that are used as paybacks to career politicians.  Perhaps some taxes might be required.  If so most Naïve American will agree given that the proposed plan / bill makes sense and is for the good of the many.

To complete my suggestion, I would like to ask you Mr. president and democrats, what happens when a company in the so call free market that we tent to promote fails to develop products and services to support their existence?  The worldwide answer is, the company goes out of business, unless in the USA the company gets bailout money and continues to exist getting their way until the entire country collapses.

Given that career politicians have it made because they are not responsible or accountable for what they do, the Naïve American suggests something quite simple.  For any failed bill all career politicians that sign it MUST go to federal prison for a period of time that is a function of the cost of the failure.  Specifically, if and when the healthcare bill fails, all involved parties might (will) end serving life time terms in prison.

So Mr. president, and all politicians that support the healthcare bill, are you ready to put your mouth in prison?  If so then lets move forward with the current healthcare reform bill.  If not, stop, think, change the bill, and then move forward.  YOU wanted CHANGE.  How about this proposed CHANGE?

Yours truly,

The Naïve American

PS:           Mr. President, do not feel bad, Republican career politicians would NOT go with the prison incentive either.  America needs a CHANGE and career politicians will never make any positive changes for America.  PLEASE prove me wrong!!!

As the news have been reporting in the past few days, you and the Democratic Party are back attempting to resuscitate your pathetic plan to reform healthcare.  I believe that most Naïve Americans believe that there is a need for healthcare reform, but how and when it is going to be implemented are the key issues.

Allow me to give you an example of the urgency to act immediately.  This past week my wife and I spent the day at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  My wife needed a surgical procedure, which was performed brilliantly by a consultant surgeon.  Mayo Clinic uses relatively unique (at least for me) titles for their exceptionally well-qualified medical staff.

After the procedure was completed and my wife was in her recovery room, to speed up the discharge process and shorten the time to get my wife back home (over an hour drive) I went down to the main pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions, which had been sent, by the nurse station.

The process is quite simple.  There is an electronic board, which displays the names of the people whose prescriptions are ready.  When your name appears to get in a short line and wait for your turn to pick up your prescription.  You pay for the deductible, if any, and the process completes.

Typically, towards the end of the workday, there are dozens of people sitting down waiting for prescriptions to be filled.  Around where I was sitting (got luck and got a chair) there were several older couples.  I would assume that the average age was around 80 years old.

One of the couples was from Iowa.  For what I overheard they are (probably were) farmers.  You know, the people that grow plants (mostly corn) or raises animals (mostly hogs) to feed Naïve Americans, and in some cases the world.  The woman had a portable oxygen generator.  Besides an obvious hearing issue, they did not exhibit other medical conditions.  At some point in time, a clerk approached the woman and told her that her insurance would not cover her insulin prescription.  The gal was asked if she had additional coverage from other providers.  The couple looked in their belongings and came with a second card.  A few minutes later, the same result.  The situation was quite simple, the woman needed a special kind of insulin (about $200 US) and the couple could not afford the prescription without being covered by their insurance.  I overheard that they typically get their medicines at a Walmart pharmacy.

By then my blood was boiling.  I was looking at a couple of retired farmers that apparently have worked for decades to get to a point in life when they need some medicine and are not able to get it.  The couple was called to the pick up counter to continue the process of figuring out how to get and pay for the insulin.

While this was going on, my wife’s name popped up on the display.  Got in line and after a few minutes reached the pick up counter.  For privacy reasons, thick Plexiglas separates each window.  In a very low and discrete voice I asked the clerk if I could speak with the person helping the elder couple.  I then asked if I could anonymously pay for their prescription.  The clerk graciously thanked me but told me not to worry that they (Mayo Clinic) was going to take care of the situation.  Not sure what that meant but made me feel better.  I just took care of the co pay for my wife’s prescriptions (under $5.00) and left the pharmacy.

Two things came up to mind.  Apparently Mayo Clinic via some not disclosed mechanism which might include plans from pharmaceutical companies was going to provide the medicine at a discounted price or for free.  Given this set of events and information that I have gathered from the news and talking with people, it seems that most of the times healthcare and medicines are provided to all people (not just Naïve Americans) that need it.

The question is, how is this being paid for?  I guess that in some cases, the healthcare provider (i.e., Mayo Clinic), the pharmaceutical company, the county, state, the US and finally tax payers (back to Naïve Americans) pay for it.

So the question is not the fact that people in the US gets or does not get healthcare.  The issue is better management so people without the means (are you listening Mr. President) are not faced with a bill (or insurance costs) they cannot afford.  One way or the other not paying for insurance or for healthcare when needed produces the same result.  Taxpayers get the bill.  So what needs to be reformed is a method for all Naïve Americans to have basic and FREE healthcare benefits that include prescription medicines.  If your staff of advisors and politicians cannot come with something simple to address this, move over and let others do the job.  A healthcare bill should fit in a dozen pages written with standard font.  You have to stop playing politics and drop the current bill that is written on more than a thousand pages and contains exceptions and payoff for special interests and politicians.

It appears to this Naïve American that you will never be able to fulfill the CHANGE promise that elected you to public office.

Yours truly;

The Naïve American

Upon arrival at the clinic I had to check in to see a physician.  The receptionist asked if I would like to see a specific doctor.  I told her that any physician would do.  I did not feel I needed to see a specialist for my irritated eye at that point.  Handed my driver license, insurance card and a $20 bill for co pay fee.  Got my documents and a receipt back.  We were then asked to wait until called.

Around the suggested time for the appointment (09:00 AM) I was called in.  A nurse escorted us to a small examination room.  The nurse took my vitals and asked me for the reason I wished to see a doctor.  After she got all the information the nurse told us to wait for the physician.  It would be a few minutes.  Considering that it was a Friday before a long weekend (Labor Day) the 45-minute wait was kind of expected.

The physician that we saw was in his mid sixties.  A very pleasant individual.  Chatted about what brought us to see him.  Explained the situation and after an examination of ears and eyes he figured out that some drops with an antibiotic would do the trick.  He handed me a prescription and immediately started chatting about healthcare reform.  I mentioned that two of my sisters are schooled as physicians.  It appears that my statement made him comfortable and opened up somewhat.

The analogy that he used was rather interesting but perhaps not quite correct or complete.  When he was young he bought a Chevy car for about $2,000 US dollars.  Today he has to pay for a much better and improved Chevrolet automobile around $30,000 dollars.  No one has much to say about the price increase in a car, why should people complain about healthcare.  My wife and I were not in the mood to take up a healthcare discussing that early in the morning but in general we agreed with the statement.  Some of the costs associated with healthcare are valid but many are due to concessions made by politicians to health insurance companies, law firms and medical and pharmaceutical companies.

The point I wish to make is that it appears that many physicians are not in agreement with the health plan proposed by Mr. Obama.  It appears they believe it will also affect their source of income.  I am not sure it would.  It all depends on how reform is done.  It is natural for people to react when threatened.

When thinking about healthcare reform Mr. Obama needs to address the important issue of special interest companies that deal with healthcare.  They are the middlemen who make huge amounts of profits and do not deliver services.  The issue with them is that they have lobbyists that control a vast majority of politicians.

At this point it appears that according to different polls most Naïve Americans are not satisfied with the way Mr. Obama is handling healthcare or any other topic.  So much for the promise of CHANGE.

I have two sisters.  Both are physicians so I always get comments when the subject of healthcare is discussed.  In this case the surgeon that performed the original procedure might have not been too competent.  An example cannot be taken out of context and generalize it to the entire Canadian healthcare system.  I agree with this but on the same hand I have heard several stories from my wife’s nice and other Canadians and none promoted socialized healthcare.

Due to work and pleasure I have had the opportunity to travel in Europe several times.  Healthcare in England and France are not on the top of anyone’s list.  The main reason is due to the fact that (any) government has never and will never be able to compete with the private sector.  The reason for this is lack of competition and accountability.  Government operations are not for profit and most workers do not care about providing better service.  They just want to keep their cushy jobs and hope for an early retirement.  This is similar to union workers in the private sector.  Because of complacency manufacturing is almost gone from the USA.  In general Naive Americans demands high wages and only want to meet their job description.  I fully understand this does not apply to every single worker, but it does apply to a huge percentage.  If this would not be the case then the US economy would be great and most (quality) products would be labeled “Designed and manufactured in the USA”.

A few days ago some politician finally stated something the Naive American has been saying for a while.  Healthcare reform is good and we should move forward with it but not right now.  We cannot afford it.  The issue is that if we continue the path we have in the past fifty years we will never be able to afford it.

Let’s be realistic.  Healthcare will have to come with additional taxes.  That is fine if our economy is booming.  The fact is that our economy will just continue to shrink due to lack of quality good and services desired by people all over the world.  Our automobile industry just gave us a good and costly example of what has and is happening in the USA.

Changes need to be made in order to provide every single Naive American with universal healthcare.  On the other side our current healthcare system from physicians to laws need to be revised.  But before we do this we need to build on education, science, engineering and manufacturing.  Those are the skills and jobs that will enable our society to be able to provide universal healthcare, universal housing, and universal nutrition.  Hopefully any of those plans will not work as poorly as universal education K-12 has.  The US is currently ranked 15^th worldwide in K-12 education.  Our government with our career politicians is just doing great.

In reality we live in the United States of America were our career politicians just want to enjoy power and money and work as little as possible.  Our politicians are not accountable of their actions.  This is similar to our legal system in which innocent people are routinely affected by decisions of jury, lawyers and judges.  By the way, we called the jury a jury of peers but that is seldom the case.

So lets get down to the simple facts regarding healthcare.  I believe that all Naive Americans regardless of age and sex should have healthcare benefits.  This would make for a better and happier society.  Is this simply attainable?

Allow me to make an uncomplicated analogy disregarding the actual huge deficit that our nation has.  An individual with a steady income (which is not the case with the US, the us GDP is currently and constantly shrinking thanks to globalization and the greed of many Naïve Americans) of $1,000 Dollars per week may spend no more that $1,000 dollars per week.  If the person spends more then a deficit will be incurred.  Sooner or later credits will dry up and that person will go through tough financial times.  Believe it or not, the US has a deficit in the trillions of Dollars and we continue to spend and borrow what we do not have while reducing our manufacturing and development.

If the individual in our example does not have healthcare benefits and is currently spending his entire $1,000 Dollars per week, how can he or she purchase something else?  It is not possible.  The same holds true for the US.  President Obama and any of his advisors can tell you different stories, but at the end if we do not have enough money we cannot pay for such benefits.  The only way is to raise taxes.  This may be fine when the economy of the country is growing.  The fact of the matter is that our economy has been shrinking for about fifty years now.

The economical crisis created by the US earlier this year affected the entire world.  AT this point in time the US is still in crisis.  Take a look at Asia.  They went into a recession, which was lighter than the one in the US, and they are almost out of it.  We cannot do this because we have no means to produce goods and technology that other countries desire.

In conclusion, universal healthcare is a MUST in this country.  The issue is how to pay for it.  The government does not produce a single thing.  All the money comes from taxes and borrowing.  The credit sources for the US are drying up.  One way or another we will have to pay for the loans we are getting today.  The only way is for the US government to raise taxes.  If there are very few people contributing it does not take an individual with more than elementary education to figure out that the suggested approach it not going to work in the near or foreseeable future.

So before we talk about healthcare and other reforms lets make sure we can pay for them.  The CHANGE that Mr. Obama was talking about is in education and industry.  Not sure Mr. Obama, his advisors and most Naive Americans understood what CHANGE meant.

Given that it has been so long since our last dental visit, I checked with one of my sons, which now lives in Indiana who stopped by a dentist not long ago before moving out of town.  My wife made an appointment and last week off we went to the dentist.

The office is in the city of Eagan, Minnesota.  We currently live in Apple Valley but have spent about twenty years in Eagan.  Eagan is a neighboring city of Apple Valley.  The drive took under 15 minutes.

After filling several forms we got to see two dental assistants (one for my wife and one for me).  Given that we have not been to a dentist in so long, they suggested a base x-ray.  Apparently the insurance covers a base x-ray every five (5) years.  Instead of getting a panoramic capture, each of us got 14 separate x-rays.  According to the technicians they work best that a single panoramic view.  Cannot argue because I am not versed in the field.  Not sure how cost compares in getting a single x-ray to getting 14 separate ones.  All we know is that the insurance should cover.

We both received a test that concluded that we are in desperate need for deep cleansing.  I brush my teeth twice a day with a Crest electric toothbrush.  Use mouthwash after brushing.  On average I use dental floss a couple times a week.  Have no bleeding in my gums and my teeth look quite clean.

After spending over an hour with the technician, the dentist came in and took a look at my teeth.  He found many issues and recommended capping four of my teeth.  My wife only needed three caps.

After all was set and done, we sat down with a clerk and she gave us estimates on what was needed.  Deep cleansing with antibiotics and nitrous oxide gas, caps and perhaps fillings, etc, etc, etc.  The estimate was in the thousands of dollars for each.  Mine was a few thousand over my wife’s.  So lets get some appoin6tments and start with the process.  Given that insurance just covers $1,500 per year they would be glad to extend the treatment over to the next year to get that benefit.

We did get new toothbrushes.  This time we got Phillips Sonicare.  After using them for a few days, the results are noticeable, cleaner and whiter teeth.

My wife and I are debating how to approach the plans provided by the dentist.  We do have insurance but the insurance falls short from what is required.  On the other hand, without a set of x-rays it might be hard to get a second opinion.  Perhaps healthcare reform should also include dental and vision.

We are going to request the bill for what was done during or first visit in order to keep costs under control.  Just because we have insurance we cannot get everything done, especially when we have to pay a considerably large amount of out of pocket costs.

More to follow after our next cleaning visit…