The only exceptions will be members of the Congress who are on the best private insurance plans money can buy, paid for at taxpayer expense. In other words, don't live as I do, take the leavings that Congress gives you and be happy that out of the goodness of their hearts they are bothering to cover you at all.
If you don't want to endure long lines, and health care service rationing, as in England and Canada, or a decrease in your benefits similar to what Medicare will and won't pay for in the future, you had better scrounge up the small fortune it's going to cost you to get a Congress type health care plan. If you don't, your current doctor will no longer be able to treat you. He or she can't afford to treat you or spend time with you at the rates the government will eventually dictate they be paid for their services.
There won't be enough doctors left to treat the general population, who haven't opted out of the system, so we will probably have to outsource patient care to India, Mexico or Thailand as we currently do with telephone customer service responses for major corporations and some cosmetic surgery operations.
In the future, do it yourself operations in the comfort of your own home will probably be available in kit form as long as you can read the instructions in your Electronic Medical Record. That's assuming the government allows you to view your personal information, and hasn't sold all the pertinent parts to telephone marketers trying to sell you over-the- counter drugs and herbal remedies that promise to cure what ails you in pill popping form. Don't believe in miracle cures from telephone marketers or painkillers from members of Congress or the Administration instead of needed operations for you and or the elderly. There is a cost to everything. In this case it may be your good health.
Please be sure to keep a ready supply of sharp knives, painkillers, and surgical gloves on hand in case you need to give yourself an emergency operation, especially if the alternative is getting on a long, around the block, line at the hospital emergency room.
I almost forgot to mention, sooner or later Congress is going to have to form a bipartisan committee to determine if your do-it-yourself medical emergency treatment can be assisted by the support of a spouse, loved one, or significant other. I suppose a lot of thought will have to be given by the committee to what constitutes a loved one or significant other, and whether or not your spouse might have a hidden motive or agenda in volunteering to assist in your self-help operation. Please have your affairs in order before you attempt any of these proposed procedures.
Don't be upset by any of the aforementioned. This is not a false scenario of the Martians landing. This is simply a warning of what may actually happen in a new health care system if Congress has its way.
If worse comes to worse, you can treat most of your ailments yourself with information gleaned from the Internet. The most important thing to keep in mind is the best plan is to prevent disease before you get it. That way you are safe from any medical malpractice you may foster on yourself or your loved ones while attempting to cure yourself from what ails you. No wonder a big part of the Administrations plans for a new and improved health care system are centered on Disease Prevention. It's probably the only hope we have left to live a long, happy, and healthier life at practically no cost. You don't want to be a burden to the government, do you?
Otherwise, I think we are going to have to let Congress form another committee to decide how long it is economically viable to allow you and I to live. Strange, I thought they were doing that already. Maybe they are, and no one has had the time to read the four thousand page document that will, or has been supplied to members of Congress as an amendment to the new proposed health care bill twenty-four minutes before the final vote is taken, or was it taken or agreed to behind closed doors already. I get confused.
But this is no time for you to get confused. Sometimes I find all this so frightening that I wonder if any of it is really happening. I think that is what members of Congress are counting on: that you and I are weak and confused, and won't do anything to protect our rights. You know what to do. Voice your opinion. Get out and vote for people that will represent your individual rights. We want the same type of insurance policy that members of Congress have, or we want Congressmen to have to convert to the same national health care plan they offer us. We want freedom of choice. Tell Congress and the Administration to stop trying to control our lives. We want our constitutional freedoms preserved.
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Hi, this is Arthur Levine, private citizen. I am also the author of the novel Johnny Oops about a young man who doesn't know whether he is a prophet or a charlatan or if in fact if he is real. Read more about Johnny at http://johnnyoops.blogspot.com.
