Category: Health

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I remember the good old days when I drank fluids without the foggiest notion of where the restroom was. I could reasonably gauge when I needed one and had a good fifteen minutes or so before I needed one. Not any more. If I start drinking, I need to know that a restroom is nearby because I have lost any excess time to go searching for one. Once I feel the need to pee, I desperately must reach that toilet within seconds. At night, this is particularly dangerous for my poor toes as I groggily race from my sound sleep to the bathroom for relief. For some reason, probably the not unreasonable fear that I am about to pee my pants, my toes bump into anything that might be in the way — slow moving cats, cabinet feet, improperly stored shoes — all become obstacles in my desperate journey to the bathroom.

Don’t drink before bed, you say. This would have been an option say 10 years ago, however, I am a man of a certain age when keeping the body together requires a certain amount of medication. Some of those pills need to be taken before bed, some of these prescriptions even advise a full glass of water with the pill. How do you hydrate and not urinate, I ask you?

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I am about to turn 65 and I will finally get socialized healthcare (otherwise known as Medicare). Yeah.

Except the insurance companies are involved and everyone (otherwise known as people already in Medicare) says you have to choose the right program. Grrrrrr.

I thought I was done with the yearly Hell of medical elections but it seems that the insurance companies have found a way to stay in the game after we turn 65. At this point, I am not going to complain. One, it does absolutely no good because there is no way, outside of rewriting of the American Constitution. And two, all it does is raise my blood pressure which is now something I need to watch.

I do however have a suggestion on the names that might help someone like me choose the write program. Gold, Silver and Bronze are meaningless to me. I know the Olympic medal system and get the idea of Best, next best, and least best but, for some reason, that doesn’t necessarily apply here or, at least, not always. Which means I have to go in and spend some of precious few years of life parsing Health Plans.

Instead of the Olympic medal description, I suggest:

Rich and Hypochondriac

Just Pay the Damn Bills

Poor, young (read here 65 to 70 years of age) and careless.

If would be invaluable aid to someone like me and would also insure that my eyes will be relieved to skip the insurance fine print. This is important because Medicaid does not automatically cover eye care. Grrrrr.

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Medicare is socialized medicine. I think it is important to note this. Every American 65 years and older gets their healthcare paid for by the government.

A lot of people, particularly on the Right, hate socialized medicine but like Medicare. In their misunderstanding of what Medicare is they trick themselves into believing that Medicare is a uniquely American idea of healthcare. It isn’t. It is socialized medicine for every American 65 and older pure and simple.

I think if people would start calling Medicare socialized medicine, some opponents of socialized medicine just because the word socialized is in the phrase would see it for what it is — a government run program designed to control the costs of healthcare. And, as far as I can tell, people actually like Medicare, which is the same feeling that most of the citizens of other countries who have socialized medicine have about their healthcare system.

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Why are we still debating about vaccinating people who have already had COVID? It is a small point but someone like Rand Paul harps on it anytime he gets a chance to spar with Dr. Fauci.

Sen Paul’s point is that someone who has had COVID has antibodies to COVID thus erasing most of the danger of getting COVID.  Antibodies are antibodies. Public Health officials go through horrible gyrations in their explanation of why people who have recovered from COVID still needs the COVID vaccine.  They give it the old college try and it is painful to see. After watching these people squirm I realized that Sen. Paul must be right.

So why argue about it? It is a  losing battle? More importantly, it isn’t going to have any impact on bringing down deaths from COVID.  If a person has had the disease, can prove it with an COVID antibody test that person is considered vaccinated. This would eliminate opposition from some of the people who are presently fighting vaccination.  Public Health officials then can focus on a much different group – people who have no antibodies to COVID. They are, after all, the people who need to get vaccinations.  And, as an added benefit, the government is giving them a choice about how they get their antibodies – they can either get COVID or get the vaccine.

To continue to argue about is insanity. Let’s save our time, energy and money for something that really matters.  This would save Public Health officials from looking like sputtering fools defending the indefensible and we shift the focus back to the problem – how to keep people who don’t have antibodies from getting the disease. It is a very small bone to throw to anti-vaccers. But a bone is a bone.  It would have little impact, if any, on the spread of COVID. So why argue about it. What worries me is that the pro-vaccinators have lost their patience with anti-vaccers to such an extent that they continue to fight a losing battle because they now want submission . They want everyone vaccinated and that is that. I understand the frustration but it seems to me a stupid battle. A hill not worthy of dying on.

Let’s choose our battles wisely.