The Pharmacy Chick

Much has been said on Obamacare, both pro and con.  As a pharmacist, I know it will affect me on both a professional level and (eventually) on a personal level.  As a pharmacist I can see it being a billing pain in the arse.  Anytime we have to deal with ” the guvment” nothing goes as planned. Red tape is everywhere and the only person happy is the auditor when he finds a I missing its dot and takes all of his money back.

On a personal level I do understand the concept of “mandatory coverage”.  The point is to create the largest pool of subscribers possible paying premiums to pay out the bills for those who actually use it.  The larger the pool the more the money is spread out.  The smaller the pool the higher the risk.

And why the outrage about “mandatory”?  if you buy a car, every state mandates liability coverage….if you FINANCE that car, the financier will REQUIRE comprehensive coverage…why should your inanimate object be better covered than the one driving it??

So I have devised a pretty simple answer.  If you refuse coverage then you forfeit your rights to receive health care UNLESS YOU PAY FOR IT.   Pretty simple concept.  Hospitals would no longer have to take you as a patient because you refused the mandate.  Under the current system, hospitals cannot refuse care on the basis of ability to pay.  Hospitals cost shift in order to write off the bills the indigent, uninsured or under insured currently don’t pay.

If a person is to refuse coverage, he becomes essentially a parasite…a parasite by definition is” a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without giving any useful or proper return,as one who lives on the                      hospitality of others.”   ( www.dictionary.com)   Sound familiar?  Sound much like our current medicaid system, and THAT doesn’t work very well either. Parasites, by design or intent, suck off their hosts until the host dies or it moves to another host.

My mandating the coverage for all,  the parasites can no longer suck.  they have to contribute SOMETHING to the pool.  The premiums will be tiered based on income, so I know the poorest of the poor will probably still pay what they pay now: nothing.   But even the medicaid recipients have “coverage”.   If a person refuses coverage and goes completely without insurance then by definition, they should no longer be able to demand health care if they cannot pay for it.

Like any other commodity, I cannot demand a car without paying for it, I cannot walk into a restaurant and demand food and expect the establishment to eat the cost.  Its time to realize that health care IS a commodity: services and products delivered to another that has value. It has to be paid for.

Its only fair.  And thats my oversimplified take on the subject.

So before you go any further, you should know this is NOT a post about PC going off on somebody and giving them a royal dressing down.  I might get away with that if I signed my own paycheck, but since I dont, I have to be nice!  hahaha

Everybody has a place…a “mental” place so to say that people associate each other with.  For the bulk of the people I come in contact with daily, MY place is the pharmacy…in a white coat…behind a counter, so that all they ever see of me is PC: white coat: white shirt: hair in pony tail: waist up.   My predominant places are church, golf, work, family.  When I see customers away from the pharmacy and in the community, sometimes they are confused. I get that  ” I recognize you, but where?” look.  If they have been my customer long enough, its a no-brainer.  They know me. I always try to say hello and if they seem confused I will help them out..” its PC from the pharmacy”  Occasionally I have people whose lives intersect my “places”.  I have people who attend my church and fill their rx at PC Pharmacy.  I have some that  I golf with that also attend my church.  I have a very small group that actually intersect 3 of them:  attend my church, golf with me and use my pharmacy.  Its a triple play! I have no family for a thousand miles, so nobody intersects!

Recently I attended a concert in the community where I live.  It was part of a summer concert series and featured a renowned organist and it was held at my church that happened to be about a quarter mile from my work.  It was a packed house.  As we shuffled out at its conclusion, I recognized many people, but one man came up to us and was talking to Mr Chick.  I knew this man, but my mental file cabinet was all out of whack.  He wasn’t a customer.  I had never played golf with him, and I don’t remember ever seeing him at the church….

After he bid adieu I asked hubby ” who is that?”.  He said  “That is Bill Williams”. ( uh ok…keep going)  “He is the marshall at the golf course and comes to our church, but we never see him because he comes Sundays, and we go Saturdays”.

CLICK…WHIRRR…it snapped into place.  Or more correctly, HE snapped into place.  Of course I know Bill.  He just didn’t fit into place since I had never seen him in THIS venue. Had I seen him in his golf cart, it would have made perfect sense.

Funny how our brain works.

I have mentioned that PC is an Olympic junkie.  I love watching the Olympics…mainly the Winter Olympics.  Watching somebody shoot down a mountain at 70 mph is pretty exciting,  and watching somebody fly thru the air on skis or skates is pretty exhilarating too.  Watching somebody run in circles around a track?…not so much.  I do however love the gymnastics and some of the diving events.

What I dont understand is the clamor and love affair that cities have with HOSTING the olympics. For example:http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/olympics-before-and-after-beijing-s-2008-olympic-venues-four-years-later-slideshow/bird-s-nest-2008-photo-1340387759.html

there are 25 pictures in all.

I was stunned when I saw these before and after pictures of Beijing.  wow.

No city has ever made any money from HOSTING the olympics.  Local businesses may turn a profit. Hotels, motels, restaurants etc, but the city itself that has spent literally billions of dollars building venues to host this 2 week affair usually loses money…in spades.  And then they are stuck with huge venues that they built that are sitting empty and unused.

Think of all the different places we have had Winter and Summer Olympics just in  my lifetime. I am nearing my 50th year on this planet.  Divide that by 4 and you get about 12.  That is 12 different Winter and Summer Olympics that have been held in my lifetime.  At 24 different venues.  Just in my lifetime we have 12 EACH probably perfectly good venues to RE-host an Olympics and they will never be used as such.

Maybe I am missing something, but we seem to be kinda stupid.  Using an example that I can understand, its like spending a fortune building a top quality golf course, playing golf on it for one event, then letting the whole thing go to seed and be mostly abandoned for the rest of eternity.

I dont get it.  Any of you readers LIVE in an “olympic” city?  Do you use your venues?

Enquiring minds want to know!

The earthly loves of Pharmacy Chick’s life are her husband, her dogs and playing golf.  Oh yea, there are other things, but those are the top three.  Last week I came home from work and our houseguest ( good timing) said ” boy, somebody sure has been sick outside, there is poo and vomit everywhere”.  Not having any sickness lately I had no idea what she was referring to, but of my 3 dogs, one had a more sensitive stomach than the others so I had my suspicions WHO it might be.  PLUS, being the amazing detective that I am, the one dog who was curled up on the couch ignoring all was the dead give away.

Since my houseguest was so polite and cleaned up the yard I didn’t have anything to look at so I got Dog-2 off the couch and attempted to get her to potty outside.  She wandered around a bit then obliged for me.  By then, she had no more food to poo so the shining liquid that came from her freaked me out….pure blood.  My baby girl was hemorrhaging.

To make a very long story short, we went to  our vet ( ‘sorry, we are closing in 15 minutes..go to night vet”)..the night vet ( ” we got her stable–but we are only night vet..she needs more care”) back to regular vet ( ” she needs special care..and a transfusion..send her to ICU VET”) …to ICU vet and finally back home.

Each place had a different take on why my dog was bleeding everywhere.  One thing was for sure: she had nearly ZERO platelets.  First night vet thought Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. Day vet thought poison ( which I knew was wrong..we had no slug bait or rat bat at our home).  The ICU VET nailed it after 2 days in intensive care.

ITP:  Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia.  My baby has developed an auto-immune disorder and she is attacking her own platelets.  Having had one dog with sever auto immune disorders, I can tell you that I didn’t want another one.

well, so much for that.  I have one.

Pills, bloodwork, more pills, more blood work.

The human patient you can at least explain the importance of taking all the meds.  The canine patient doesn’t understand.  She hates her pills and unless one is very creative in hiding them she can find and spit them out.  They make her feel lousy. BUT they are her live saver. ( and PillPockets are my lifesavers)

One week later she is doing somewhat better.  Still not 100% energy level, but at least her blood work is improving.  We will have a long road to recovery and I hope to get her tapered off the high doses of steroids she is on right now. Poor thing never sleeps on all that prednisone!

Thank goodness for wonderful vets!