This will only hurt a little Pt 2.

This edition of Radiovixen is very pleased to have a guest blogger. One person I consider a very informed opinion on the health care industry. My mom, MomVixen. Her thoughts on healthcare.

Radiovixen asked me, MomVixen, to write some of my thoughts about the current topic of Health care. She thought that my observations about the subject might be a little well informed because I worked in the Health care field as an operating room nurse for some thirty years.

Over that period of time I have seen the Medical field go from good to excellent. In my opinion, I think the American public has the best care on the planet. For example, when I first started working in surgery a person who had to have their diseased gallbladder removed had the procedure done through a 10 to 12 inch incision under the right rib cage. They spent several days in the hospital and needed about six weeks to recover. Today, the same procedure is done with three or four small incisions and over night stay and two weeks recovery. That procedure started in the 1980s.

Medical care today is so far advanced from when I first stared working it is like going from the Stone Age to the latest in Science fiction.
Other medical advances? Heart surgery, Brain surgery, Spinal surgery ,Orthopedic surgery , Plastic Surgery, Dental surgery, Vascular Surgery, Pediatric surgery, OB-GYN surgery, on and on.

Another small example, Cataract Surgery.

When I first began to work in surgery, a patient who had cataract surgery on the eye had to lie flat all day. They spent a day or so in the hospital and had to wear thick glasses afterwards in order to see. Today the same patient has the procedure in the morning and goes home in 2 or 3 hours. They have a lens implanted in the eye and have 20-20 vision and don’t need glasses. Having benefited myself from this Surgery, I know what a great gift good eye sight is. It is a miracle for people who have cataracts. Not only the elderly, but young adults and some children have cataracts.

At about the same time that I began working, Congress passed the Medicare program. In the beginning, Medicare seemed to be a good deal for the elderly. Over a period of time things began to change. The program began to dictate how Medicare patients would be treated. The paper work increased for the hospitals. Medicare controlled every thing from the number of days in the hospital to the amount of money that would be paid to Doctors and Hospitals. Medicare doesn’t pay the same amount as Private insurance for the same procedure. Believe me, having priced many procedures for surgery; Medicare doesn’t pay enough to cover the cost to hospitals.

What I hated the most were the regulations Medicare handed down to the hospitals about patient care. I went over the edge when as Director of Surgery Recovery Room and the One Day Surgery Say Unit we were forced to admit Medicare patients having Shoulder Surgery to the one day Surgery. We had to get elderly people out of the hospital and on their way home in one day! I remember working with the nursing supervisor to try to get an elderly man a room over night because in our nurse’s opinion he was not ready to go home. His elderly wife was unable to drive the 50 miles home because she had trouble seeing at 11:00 at night. We got a room so they could stay till morning to be observed and recover. The hospital didn’t charge the patient. Medicare would not pay to have him stay longer.

Hospitals have had to create whole new departments just to satisfy rules and regulations and paper work. They control the way a chart on a patient is put together. They control how the hospital stay is, coded, the treatment that is given, and the drugs that are given. At the same time they are taking control of Doctors and Doctors offices, reducing payments and restricting care of the patient.

A word of warning, if Congress passes and the President signs a bill modeled after Medicare, run for the hills.

While I was working and had private insurance I was covered by my employer and had wonderful coverage and paid about $90.00 a month. Now, under Medicare I pay $140.00 a month for Medicare B and D. and $200.00 a month for Supplemental insurance for everything Medicare does not cover. I also carry Dental insurance.
The cost of this government insurance goes up each year. It is not free as, some people believe. You pay for it and the people on Medicare pay for it.
Now we hear that part of the plan being considered by Congress is a panel that would required the elderly to be interviewed about end of life issues. Whether or not we should consider Hospice as a choice as we get older. Some would say that is not a bad idea.

But remember one thing is certain as the Sun rises and sets, at some time or other we all grow old. What we approve now for old people, everyone may face in the future.

Thanks Mom!