"Frog Hospital's" Fred Owens And "Pax On Both Houses" Discuss "Medicare For Everyone"

Abomicare: Trump's Titanic Failure

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/abomicare-trumps-titanic-failure_25.html

7 Years' Bitching About Obamacare While Continually Touting Their "Terrific, Low-Cost Replacement" And The GOP Produces Nothing But Flatulence, Excrement And Anguish For 25 Million Americans, Simultaneously Tranferring Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars To The 1%

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/7-years-griping-about-obamacare-and-its.html

What's Missing From This Photo of Politicians Deciding the Future of Women's Health? Anyone?

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/whats-missing-from-this-photo-of.html

Alan: See the second section of Frog Hospital, "Thanks For Asking About My Annual Physical." 

Like Fred, I ask, "Why not have Medicare for everybody?

Fred Owens	Apr 2, 2017
to bcc: me

FROG HOSPITAL -- April 2, 2017

By Fred Owens

The Barista is Always Right

I once worked as the substitute barista at Cafe Culture in LaConner. I had steady customers and got good tips, but I had a way of dealing with people. Like this -----

I wish I could discriminate. When I was the afternoon substitute barista at Cafe Culture, I served everybody equally. I fixed them a hot steaming foamy latte, one and all. But there was one group coming in the place, I wanted to shut the door when I saw them.

Decafs! You wouldn't believe this, we ran an honest coffee place, and these people came in and ordered decaf! I gave them the long stare, the long pause, thinking, but of course not saying, you want decaf? What is the point?
I never got used to it.
The soy latte people were not easy to like either, but after a while I got used to them. One day I even tasted a soy latte and it wasn't half bad.
I had no quarrel with the Chais. It wasn't my thing, but what the heck, they tipped as well as anybody.
Otherwise all were welcome, Democrats, Republicans, the employed and the idle, the rich and the poor, the religious and the scandalous, the happy and the depressed. It takes all kinds.
But the decafs, no.

Thanks for asking about my annual physical.

There has been a lot of talk about the merits of the Affordable Care Act and the Republican effort to repeal or replace it. I cannot present an opinion here with any authority. But I can report on my own success with health care  --- I just had my annual physical. I get Medicare. It works for me. Why not have it for everybody?

Santa Barbara is a great place for health care services because of all the affluent and educated people who demand it. Doctors want to work here. I go to the Sansum Clinic, which is the major clinic affiliated with Cottage Hospital, which is the major hospital.

Sansum Clinic is first class and friendly. My doctor is Bryce Holderness, from the University of Southern California medical school. He is a handsome young man right out of central casting.

I see him every March for a physical. Overall I did fine this year. My prostrate level is so low that I will not even need to be tested again, he said. My cholesterol is well within range, but I will be taking a new blood test in a few days. Hopefully it is still good. Same with sugar level, and other indicators from the blood test.

I have taken Lisinopril for the past ten years, a mild drug for hypertension. A lot of  people my age take this medication and it costs $8 for thirty pills. The drug slightly loosens the blood vessels and improves the flow.

I take Lorazepam, or Ativan, in a small dosage, as needed, for occasional anxiety. I have also had this same prescription for ten years.

The current problem is sciatica, a constant but not severe pain from my right hip to my ankle. Eight weeks now and not going away. X-ray reveals stenosis of the lumbar vertebrae. They took an MRI and will give me the results shortly.

Physical therapy is the preferred method. I do my exercises three times a day, and go to PT twice a week. Other options are to be avoided, the doctor said, unless absolutely necessary. Other options are more powerful pain medication, or surgery. Right now I take Alleve twice a day. I sleep well and the doctor told me to continue gardening work because the mobility is good for it.

Cataracts. I have them. They make night driving difficult. All the lights glow. Many people my age have them. A simple surgery some time next year will fix it. Next year because they wait for it to get worse so that they don't have to fix it twice.

Finally, there is a benign nodule or growth on my thyroid, the size of a walnut. It may have been there for years. If it gets any bigger it will be removed by surgery, but the doctors are not over-excited about this, having scheduled the next appointment for thyroid ultra sound in December.

Besides that, I told Dr. Holderness my life was good and I was not especially irritable or depressed. I sleep well, eat moderately, get exercise, have a nice girlfriend, etc.

I get Medicare and I pay $135 per month for Medicare supplement insurance. I do not have coverage for prescription medicine. In alternative medicine I have sometimes chosen acupuncture and hypnotherapy. I avoid the chiropracter, I think he promises too much.

Any questions?

Pax On Both Houses: Blog Posts About Canada

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/compendium-my-blog-posts-concerning.html

Alan: I am an American citizen and, like Fred Owens, I am a proud graduate of the University of Toronto where I received world-class education at the same steeply subsidized cost as Canadian citizens. 

While a Toronto undergraduate from 1965 - 1970, I received free healthcare.

My five years in Canada taught me the difference between Civilization and Barbarism.

Alan: I posted this Mother Teresa meme just after Devious Donald's inauguration.

"Republicans Finally Admit Why They Hate Obamacare"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/republicans-finally-admit-why-they-hate.html

"GOP's Anti-Medicaid Expansion Body Count, By State"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/gops-anti-medicare-expansion-body-count.html

"Why Are Murderous GOP Governors Protected By The Press?"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-are-murderous-gop-governors.html

The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism

The hard, central "fact" of contemporary "conservatism" is its insistence on a socio-economic threshold above which people deserve government assistance, and below which people deserve to die. 

The sooner the better. 

Unless conservatives are showing n'er-do-wells The Door of Doom, they just don't "feel right." 

To allay this chthonic anxiety, they resort to Human Sacrifice,  hoping that spilled blood will placate "the angry gods," including the one they've made of themselves. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/harvard-study-45000-americans-die.html 

Having poked their own eyes out, they fail to see that self-generated wrath creates "the gods" who hold them thrall.

Psychological Projection

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/projection-psychology.html

Psychological Shadow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)

The Evangelical Persecution Complex (Projection's Finest Hour?)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-evangelical-persecution-complex.html

Almost "to a man," contemporary "conservatives" have apotheosized themselves and now -- sitting on God's usurped throne -- are rabid to pass Final Judgment. 

Self-proclaimed Christians, eager to thrust "the undeserving" through The Gates of Hell, are the very people most likely to cross its threshold. 

Remarkably, although they are prone to believe all manner of Trumpeted nonsense, none of them are tempted to believe in their own spiritual peril. 

The Pharisees Are Always With Us. Here's What They "Look Like" Today

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-pharisees-are-always-with-us-heres.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts Concerning Trump's Habitual Lying

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/02/compendium-of-pax-posts-concerning.html

VIDEO: Trump Tells More Lies Than Any U.S. Politician. Why Do Patriots & Xtians Believe A Liar?

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/video-trump-tells-more-lies-than-any-us.html

28 Enormities That Prevent Conscionable People From Hoping Trump Is A Successful President

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/28-enormities-that-prevent-conscionable.html

Donald's Doozies: A Yuge (And Yugely Incomplete) Compendium Of Trump's "Pants On Fire" Lies

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/donalds-doozies-yuge-and-yugely.html

Updated Compendium Of Pax Posts About Donald Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/01/donald-trump-paranoid-style-in-american.html

Millions Of Deplorables Voted For Trump Because He Was The Only Candidate Who Was As Crazy As They Are

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/millions-of-deplorables-voted-for-trump.html

Donald Trump: A Man So Obnoxious That Karma May See Him Reincarnated As Himself

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/donald-trump-man-so-obnoxious-that.html