Asthma statement from Obama
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Asthma statement from Obama
| Tue, 10-21-2008 - 9:52am |
I am beside myself with anger over the statement Obama made about treatable illnesses!
| Tue, 10-21-2008 - 9:52am |
I am beside myself with anger over the statement Obama made about treatable illnesses!
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"I am really trying to see your objection to the Obama quote and I get that he was generalizing but wouldn't you agree that in general, we do want to reduce the number of ER visits that could have been prevented?"
KAREN
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"That just makes my stand AGAINST him even stronger."
KAREN
He never said anything was pointless. He said that asthma is treatable, which IT IS. He said that people with treatable illnesses (like asthma) should not be taking up hospital beds. People with treatable illnesses (any treatable illness) should not be going to the ER unless it is an emergency. If you kept your illness under control there would be no need to go to the ER except for emergencies. That is why it is called an EMERGENCY room, it is for emergencies! If you are having an asthma related emergency than of course you should go to the ER but the ER is not the place to go for regular preventive care.
Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
There's nothing to assume, it's easy enough to interpret what he was saying.
Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
"Ok, let's go this way then. who is going to pay for his healthcare plan so these people (who may be hypochondriacs) can go to the doctors office everyday whether they need it or not. And I have a good friend who works at a med. clinic, she sees the same sorry hypochondriacs everyday, are we going to have to pay more out of our pockets so these people can keep taking up truly sick people's time?"
I don't know how many hypochondriacs there are but for arguments sake, let's say there are a lot. I think one of a couple of things would happen: 1. They would be referred to a psychiatrist for a psychiatric disorder because they possibly have a chemical issue leading them to imagine illness - in which case, they would hopefully get the treatment they need; or 2. They would have to wait to see doctors like everyone else and maybe spread their business between a few to be able to be seen regularly, all the while having to pay their premiums and co-pays.
"The same thing goes, why should I have to wait for weeks to see a doctor because someone is taking up appt. time because of something insignificant? I don't want them taking up room in the hospital or at the doctor's office! There, does that seem fair? I mean people can treat a cold with OTC medicine, why take up a general MD's time with something so trivial that can be treated at home?"
Busy doctor's offices are not nearly as expensive to the taxpayer as uninsured people using the ER and doctor's office visits won't drive up the costs of insurance premiums as do ER visits. The imminent health threat of having a doctor's office be clogged is also not likely to be as serious as it is to have an emergency room be jammed with people. The idea, in the end, is to reduce the number of people that need serious interventional care through prevention. Health insurance makes prevention possible and a lot more likely.
And, I would say that in general, people with colds shouldn't be consistently using up an MD's time in a doctor's office. But, by seeing a doctor to understand how to appropriately treat their cold, a person is more likely to know how to prevent that cold from developing into a secondary bacterial infection (pneumonia, say) that would require more serious intervention. They are also more likely to recognize the symptoms in the future and self-treat. Inconvenient? Yes. As big a deal as over-used ERs? No. Not IMO.
Would you want someone with a less serious case of asthma that could have been treated with regular medical care (but wasn't because the person didn't have medical insurance) to be in the ER when your brother (for whom preventative care doesn't work) goes in, in serious need of emergency services? I think that's the trade-off we're talking about.
One other question since you bring up health care plans - how does McCain's plan serve your concerns any better?
"Ok, let's go this way then.
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