A return to slavery? Not kidding.

This is a rarely discussed problem with a "single payer" system.

Docs who cannot make the kind of money they want to, will opt out of the system. 

Fewer doctors. We are already experiencing a shortage of family care physicians and other docs.

Some docs are already refusing to take Medicare and Medicaid. "Only half of family doctors accepted Medicaid in 2013, down from 65 percent four years earlier, according to a 15-city survey by physician staffing firm Merritt Hawkins. About half the providers listed by privately run Medicaid managed-care plans aren’t taking new patients, according to a report published..." says the Bloomberg report.

So we're seeing a drop in the number of docs. We're also seeing more and more in med school choosing high-dollar specialities. "What the researchers discovered, however, was that over the course of their training, almost half the young doctors who began wanting to become primary care doctors changed their minds, most deciding to pursue a subspecialty career instead," says the NYT blog.


We also have a real-world indicator of what docs think of the current system, AKA Obamacare. "The New York Post recently reported on a very troubling survey from the New York State Medical Society, which found that 44 percent of New York doctors are not participating in Obamacare. Worse yet, three-fourths of those who are participating are being forced to because of existing insurance contracts. Only one-fourth of those participating volunteered to do so," says a NYT blog.

SLAVE LABOR?

This then begs the question, what will happen when doctors refuse to participate in "single payer" system?


I have heard some (usually liarberals and socialices) said doctors should be forced to accept such a system. Throw in the occasional fascist as well.

Come again?

And here's a "Carrot and Beat-You-To-Death-Stick Otherwise" approach. "States could also play a role in forced participation.  States license physicians and oversee insurance contracts.  Many Democratically controlled states are just as invested in the success of Obamacare as the president.  Thus a blue-state governor and state legislature could mandate all of the state’s doctors accept Obamacare as a condition of practicing in the state..." says the Forbes piece. Yeah, I realize this piece is 2 years old and it speaks of Obamacare and forcing docs into that, but do you really believe there is a difference between Obamacare and the two Medis?

Force a doctor to accept a payment plan? Force a doctor to work for a set amount of money? Force a doctor to work?

True, this is not quite slavery. The docs could opt out of medicine or go into a field that is not covered by mandated insurance. California is Ground Zero for cosmetic surgeons, most of whom do procedures not covered by insurance.

This is not fantasy land either. It's happening. Right now. "The researchers looked at three financial indicators — profitability, uncompensated care and Medicaid shortfalls — to arrive at their findings," this article states.
Yeah, Obamacare promised to hike Medi payments. SCOTUS ruled states can't be forced to participate the way Abominablcare demanded. Lotta people don't like this decision, but the Supremes have yet to make a decision that everyone can agree with.

Reality remains, hospitals are closing, wannabe docs are choosing specialties and we're looking at a shortage.

MONEY TALKS

You can point to the dubious successes of socialized medicine in other countries.

I point you to the fact that the US leads the world in medical research.

We can all argue the whys of this, but as a reporter in Shanghai (yes really) once told me, "I keep looking until I find the money." So I give you this quote, [T]he researchers found U.S. decline was driven almost entirely by reduced investment from industry, not the public sector. This includes support for clinical trials testing potential new therapies."

So yeah. Single payer with fewer docs already in the queue. Single payer to further limit what doctors can expect to earn. Single payer to expose docs to the same torts with no more protection, but a legal requirement that they offer services?

There is, of course, a solution. Most people will not like it. A lotta people will get quite vehement about their objections. But as I tell the people who currently live under the roof I provide, "I gotta solution and it won't make anybody happy but me."

Before the solution, one more Bakerism - If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

So my solution to this? If you are one of those demanding a single-payer system, then

Become a doctor.

If you do that, I'm going to be a lot more inclined to listen to your opinion about Abominablcare and a single-payer system. If you are not willing to become a doc and work for whatever government decides to pay you, then how do you have the right to dictate that to someone else?

Healthcare is a basic human right, you say? I repeat - Become a doctor (or a healthcare provider) or else wear your hypocrite label with pride.

Slice & dice

As the national day of overeating rapidly approaches, some people are panicking.

They do not know how to carve a turkey.

No problem. I will tell you how. This is very simple.

Get a sharp knife.

Get a turkey. I recommend a fully cooked bird, but hey, whatever floats your gravy boat.

Carve off chunks in whatever size you want.

That's all there is to it. If you hit a bone, either keep cutting through the bone or stop cutting and pull away the meat you cut.

As I write this, I have a quartered deer and a sliced hog (just needs wrapping) in the barn fridge. Tomorrow I will pick up a quartered and boned deer.

I will process these tomorrow with knives I sharpen with a plain file.

Purists are now recoiling in horror. Use a FILE on a good knife? You'll ruin it, they whine.

Cut cabbage from the stalk in a for 8 hours a day and come back to talk with me about ruining a knife by using a file to sharpen it.

I've cut up more animals from small enough to hold in one hand and almost hide it to nearly a ton than most people in the world. I've dressed enough fish to ... damfino. I have worn out a few knives and lost a lot more.

I have yet to ruin a knife by putting an edge on it with a file.

Files work. They work faster than a whetstone, sharpening sticks or anything else I have ever used. That is why I use 'em.

Your rights make a wrong

They just don't get it. Don't want it. Will throw it down and stomp on it if you try to give it to them

I refer you to some, not all, college students today. This asinine crap proves my point, but doesn't at the same time

Here is why it doesn't. The kids blocking media access to the protesting students have the right to do that. S'called freedom of assembly. The same people who bitch about these kids blocking access to the protestors glad line the streets to block Westboro Baptist Church's efforts to protest funerals.

Here's why it proves my point. These same students blocking access to protestors will cry "FOUL!" when Westboro Baptist Church is blocked off.

At least that's my short, round jaded newspaper editor's cynical (and accurate summation of human nature) guess.

What's the difference? Ain't none, except what side of the protest you happen to be on.

I say here that I like the way the Mizzou protestors handled their grievances. Rather than petition government to increase the size of the nanny state, they took matters into their own hands. This is the way things should be done. More importantly, it is MORE proof that this kind of social activism works. We do not need more f'dangin' laws when we have people who will put themselves out in order to get something done.

That said. I am not supporting the goal of these students. I am not supporting the reason for their protest. I am not supporting the protesting students. I support their action.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Evelyn Beatrice Hall

In fact, I object to what I think is the overall aim of the protesting students. As I see it, they want to shut down free speech.

One of the protestors was called "nigger." This is a quote; it is not my word.

It is a word. Using it is called free speech. If it is used with affection, it is free speech. If it is used with hatred, it is free speech.

I do not use that word and do not approve of it. However, many people do use this word and do approve of it. Well, they approve when certain people use it. Should someone else use it, verboten!

Free speech means you get to use that word however you wish. You don't like it? Neither do I. Free speech means you may be offended. Free speech means the right to use offending language.

These protestors don't like that.

These are the same people who are demanding equal treatment. Except they probably want parity. I suspect quite a few of 'em could not define parity. They definitely do not want certain words used.

That's blocking free speech.

I wonder how many of these protestors freely use that word within the protest group.

Apply daffodils. This is exactly what they DO NOT want.

Pick one. You get to do X, so do I. That means if you use that word above, I get to use it too.

If I don't get to use the word, neither do you. Period. End of sentence. Full stop.

I've written on this subject before and gotten heated replies from people who tell me how wrong I am. To paraphrase me bud Maggie, yeah, I can tell forced justification when I hear it. Gonna hear more justification I suspect.

Here's the bottom line reality.

We are all human. We need to act that way. No more division.

As long as some people insist they get preferential use of anything, words included, then divisions will exist. Parity cannot exist. Daffodils sure as hell can't exist.

If you get to call someone by that word, regardless of the connotation, then I get to do the same. If you tell me I can't use that word, then you are actually saying one of two things:

You are better than me.

I am better than you.

If you are saying you can do it, but I can't, then you are telling me that I'm better than you.

You're wrong, but if that's the way you want to see things, I'll live with it.

If you truly believe that as humans we are equal, you'll say I can use the word or neither of us can use the word.

Anything else is you trying to justify your fractured belief system.

Another modest proposal

According to a story in The York Times, suicide rates among "middle-aged white Americans" is rising and rising higher than in any other demographic group.

National Public Radio also just reported it, but I can't find the link.

Frankly, this is intolerable. It is unacceptable. This cannot be allowed to continue. People must step up and do something. I write as a middle-aged American, but not a white one. I'm rather spotted with brown freckles on a lighter brown skin. Comes from being outside and riding a motorcycle.

Anyway, this state of affairs has to be remedied. To bring about rectification, I have this modest proposal.

All the groups who continually demand equality with these so-called "middle-aged white Americans" need to put their money where their mouths are. Or more accurately, a pistol where their mouth is.

Yes indeed. If this nation truly insists on complete equality among however many genders there are now, among however many ethnic groups there are now, among however many racial groups there are now, we must have more effort on behalf of the under-represented groups. Step out on a limb and do your best.

Get busy folks.

I bring you more information from the NYT story which says that some demographics are making progress to level out overall death rates. "Middle-aged blacks still have a higher mortality rate than whites — 581 per 100,000, compared with 415 for whites — but the gap is closing, and the rate for middle-aged Hispanics is far lower than for middle-aged whites at 262 per 100,000."

Part of this is excellent. It shows true progress toward equality. This should serve as a shining example, that if we all try, we can truly live the motto of Samuel Colt, who "made all men [and women] equal."

This report also shows room for improvement. Hispanics seriously need to step up to the bucket, especially if they want true equality with the European-recent-ancestry Americans.

Taking this to the global stage, an Alternet story states very clearly the inequality that exists across the globe. "Hungary for example, where attempted suicide carries a prison sentence of five years, or Japan where it is illegal to commit suicide." Talk about an injustice. A person whacks himself in the Land of the Rising Sun and he gets arrested. There's more in the story about how various countries treat this permanent solution to a temporary condition.

Alternet also says men are far more likely to exit stage dirt nap by their own hand than women. I demand feminists around the world rise up and literally take matters into their own hands. Now is the time to seize equality in a death grip. 

No doubt this modest proposal will receive tremendous resistance, most especially from those who continually and constantly demand equality, yet will not sacrifice themselves to level this evergreen field. I urge you who read this, do not hold this apparent hypocrisy against them. They just need to see the light of reason, logic and the very application of equality applied in a truly leveling manner. 

To demand in equality every other field of human endeavor and yet leave one so glaringly out of balance is a travesty.

Educate them, my friends. Take them gently by the hand and explain, true equality means being equal in everything.

Some people will accuse me of being "white." In this case I shall not argue, but shall instead apologize on behalf of middle-aged "white Americans" for throwing this much-demanded equality out of balance. I shall do my bit to bring things back into balance by remaining alive, much to the chagrin of many people who read this modest proposal.