Supreme Court Votes 5-4 That Universal Health Care Is OK

[ripster]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/28/politics/ ... ?hpt=hp_t1

Oh wait.

This is old news for you Europeans.

And Canadians.

And most other developed countries.

Nevermind.

Obama looks happy on TV.

[itlnstln]

I like how the backdrop says "winning."

This is a great day.

[ripster]

Damn, I like these Supreme Court Rulings that help my pocketbook.

[itlnstln]

The best thing about the ruling is that it is a conservative court.

[TexasFlood]

I like how the backdrop says "winning."

This is a great day.

Hope it doesn't mean he's going to go all Charlie Sheen tiger blood on us.

Roberts better lay low so he doesn't get "pelican brief"ed.

[off]

Soon you'll find out what an awesome excuse TM this makes to make healthcare both more expensive and more crappy. GL!

[itlnstln]

Roberts better lay low so he doesn't get "pelican brief"ed.

No shit.

And this, folks, is why there are lifetime* appointments to the Supreme Court. No term limits or election politics that drive court decisions.



*It's not technically "lifetime," but for all intents and purposes...

[itlnstln]

Soon you'll find out what an awesome excuse TM this makes to make healthcare both more expensive and more crappy. GL!

Dude, you don't even know.

The best healthcare my mom ever received was from doctors in the UK. The US doctors couldn't help her with a back condition she has, so they gave her an option of never walking or seeing if the UK health system could help (we lived in the UK at the time).

That was 1986. She's still walking.

[ripster]

I hear The Netherlands has the best.

[hoggy]

Wasn't there some scare story a while back that if Stephen Hawking lived in the UK he'd have died years ago...?

[ripster]

He's not dead?

I think of him like Schrodinger's Cat.

And having two wives. Man, is that about Einstein and Physicists dumping their first wife?

[off]

Dude, you don't even know.
That was 1986.

Shit happened in the meantime.

[TexasFlood]

From wikipedia:

Stephen Hawking
Born Stephen William Hawking
8 January 1942 (age 70)
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Residence United Kingdom
Nationality British

[off]

allright, so maybe it wasn't the universality but the privatisation that made it horrid.
But then, isn't everything already privatised across the pond?

[hoggy]

Another to look at is that the private medical companies are going to get some fierce competition especially the rubbish ones. They can either go under, market aggressively or do a better job.

[TexasFlood]

This is a great day.

Tell that to "the private sector is doing fine" Mitt, maybe he can come up with some new ad material now?

[off]

Yes, theoretically.


Doesn't the Isle of Man have the same crapshoot system we have?

A small example:
Dentists. They used to take time to diagnose and chitchat, and clean etc: about 5-15minutes total for a regular checkup.
Nowadays, they're like factory workers at the meatgrinder; they look, once (10 seconds), then walk off to the next patient in another room, and have the assistant clean (if needed) and the rest: about 10-20 minutes total.
Difference, most assistants so far are way less professional in their treatment, though the net cost might have come down (not that that is at all evident on the account of the person being treated though); plus, you and your dentist no longer 'know' eachother, you're just a package waiting to get shipped asap.
Imho, a nett loss.

[TexasFlood]

Used to work with a guy who grew up on the Isle of Man

"Quocunque jeceris stabit"
"whichever way you throw, it will stand"

[ripster]

I always wondered where they put the women.

Is there a "Kitchen Isle"?

[TexasFlood]

Probably, they don't have a third leg to balance with so need to lean on the kitchen counter to keep from falling over.

[hoggy]

Yes, but sadly the economies of scale don't exist here. One good thing is that prescriptions are £3 odd an item over here.

Dentists are strangely placed in the NHS. Almost all of them are contractors to the local PCT - and in quite a few cases, more than one PCT. A few years ago they persuaded the NHS to offer a new type of contract so they could get off the 'treadmill'. I think they've failed totally on that one. Shame, really as they seemed to be the best bit of the NHS - striking a good balance between prevention and cure. \

However, I feel the same way about doctors as you feel about dentists. Okay, I don't get processed by an assistant, but my doctor doesn't have the time to get to know me and remember me each time. She picks up from the notes she made last time.

[off]

processed

The one word that describes how this New Health System feels. This is what we get.

[hoggy]

That feeling of being 'processed' is so in right now. It's the new customer service, and not just in the health care system.

[off]

Like the good little sheep we are (supposed to be)!

[hoggy]

We at deskthority should join forces and write some kick-ass customer processing software. Not sure what would happen to the money we could make, though.

[webwit]

The earnings should be used to hand out bonuses to deskthority management.

[hoggy]

That's the other thing that's so 2012.

[TexasFlood]

I have a buddy from my GDS days who works in healthcare now who tells me Epic is the big software growth company. That reminds me, I intended to do some networking over there, a growth area for I/T isn't something to sneeze at, or overlook, these days.

[hoggy]

The NHS has been a great pillar of support to the IT world over the past decade. Hopefully it'll work out over there.

[ripster]

My local hospital has a hospital wide system called EPIC. What is so funny is the computers sit unused because they haven't implemented it yet with pieces of paper saying EPIC taped to the blank screen.