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Everything posted by plain
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Beth, I just don't believe your story. I'm afraid I'm going to need pics and contact info for your daughter to verify this. You (and more importantly, your DD) can trust me. :blushing:
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I guess we are both pretty dug in our respective positions. Only time will tell who's right. I sure hope you are!!
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Whew! It was so foreign and weird, I thought maybe it was just our backwoods store's strange ritual Admittedly, I've never had access to corporate culture, unless you count my experience as chairman of the "Redneck Drankin' Club". But don't let that scare you away from facebook, tap! Ah! Good times. Good times. Holy. Moley. I LOVE your house. It could go one of two ways, D.....either your current manager wants you gone and will give you a decent recommendation, or she dislikes you so much personally that she'll trash you (although this is kinda cutting off her nose to spite her face....she might succeed in keeping you from a new job, but she'll have to spend more time with you). Are you aware of the reference policy where you work? Here at my hospital, they have a policy where the supervisor can only confirm that the employee was employed when they say they were, and if the employee is eligable for re-hire or not (but my work is very afraid of any litigation).
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What specifically is not working, BJean? I agree that insurance is expensive. I agree that not all people can afford insurance. Is that your only gripe with healthcare, though? The insurance? Ok, name one country. Are you, for the record, claiming that Sweden has better health care than the United States? Or Switzerland? Mexico? Name one! I want to hear your pick. Hmmmm....a more cynical person might think you asked my opinion on how to overhaul healthcare just to poke holes in my ideas. Luckily, I'm giddily optimistic! So here's the deal: Yes, private insurance needs to be more regulated. Yes, even in a semi-rigged game like insurance, competition keeps prices lower and quality higher than they would be if there were only one giant mega company (like, say....the government). I'm not really business-minded, but I know that monopolies tend to not be so magnanimous with their pricing. Ok, I think either you believe in capatalism, or you don't. I personally do. Sure there needs to be some tweaks.....but competition beats the alternative. I think that's fair, if Wootsie is trying to get into the debate. She's kinda new to the show though, so maybe she doesn't know about my fetish for facts, vs. opinion (although opinions are fine, it's hard to support a debate on them, Wootsie). You could say the same about our system. I think it's fair to ask why President Obama wants this legislation rushed through so quickly. He knows what single payer will do to the system long term, and they want to sneak the particulars by the public while his opinion ratings are still high. Well, that may be a little disingenuous. You make it sound like the homeless are having AMI's in the street, while the hospital just watches them die. The fact is, you'll see lots of people come to the ER because they think they can get their minor complaints treated for free. I will say this: I don't think President Obama is trying to get single payer passed with any malicious intent. I don't think he's crooked, or wants to drive the country into the ground. I think he really believes this is the socially correct course to take. I happen to disagree. And I think the American public will disagree when they get the whole story (thus the huge rush to get this thing passed).
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You guys are LIARS!! lol, j/k guys.
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Hi there fan. I was driving within 4 days (that's when I went back to work). Sex took a little longer (i think maybe I went 1-2 weeks). My doc told me to let my body be my guide.
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Hey man, welcome to Lapbandtalk and the men's room. I'm almost 17 months out from being banded, with over 90 lbs lost. I have been managing my band / fills very conservatively. I would do it again tomorrow, if I had to.
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Why do women have anal sex?
plain replied to Oregondaisy's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Fanny, I literally am ROF-crying!!! -
In Atlanta, Texas, Wal-Mart is the socioeconomic hub. Also, they're slashing already low, low prices. BTW, periodically, my Wal-Mart has live music inside. I sh*t you not. Also, since I've been a night worker for many years, I go in Wal-Mart at odd times. Sometimes, the manager and workers of my Wal-Mart engage in this weird group "pep rally" thing where they get in a circle and do these cheers. Again, I sh*t you not. I tried to slowly sneak into the group and do the cheers, but an "associate" told me it was for employees only.
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Full disclosure: I just listed the things that I personally used to think of during school.
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Now think how it will be if single payer goes through. The government will effectively be capping the reimbursement that doctors get (salary control). Now, take that concept and apply it to hospitals and you've got why single-payer is a horrible idea. I don't get it. How is big insurance affecting the quality of medical students? I call bullcrap! There is no country with better medical care. Even if you attempt to argue Sweden (which doesn't have as good technology as America has), it's such a small country that it can't really be compared with large nations. nope. It is a very important end product (people's lives). But in the end, healthcare has to be run like a business. Either that, or we'll be continuously "bailing out" healthcare forever I'm going to ignore what might be sarcasm, because I'm clearly an awesome mind. For Medicare / Medicaid, I would crack down on fraud, beef up whistleblower protection for those that expose it, and......well, I don't know what else. For private insurance, I'd tighten up on their abuse of the "pre-existing condition" clause and make it easier for appeals and grievances to be settled in a court. It's not a comprehensive overhaul, but it's a start. Maybe I'll run for congress. May I count on your vote, BJean?
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Oh, almost forgot....by popular demand: Pwn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Man, it's a burden on me that I have to be the hip, young cool dude dealing with all you fogies.:wink2:
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Hey, me too! Where in Florida will y'all be? We're going to a little town called "Seagrove Beach" Glouc, please refrain from sharing details of our personal conversations with the rest of LBT. Thanks. Well THAT's a bit of a "teaser" post!! Woot!! Join the procrastination club.....tomorrow. HF, that is blasphemy. You can actually be jailed for saying that where I live. Hey, tap's back!! WTF?!? What is wrong with people? Hells yes!! Now you're speaking my language! Lawra's back!! Hooray!!
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Cool. Now, next time hit 'em across the face and say "Oops, sorry....I'm blind, ya know".
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Oh, come on now. I was trying to keep it light. And I was specifically speaking of schools. That's what I wanted to know. I agree. I was speaking specifically of schools, BTW
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Uh, I guess not. You do realize that, for the most part, country of origin = race, right? BTW, you support all immigrants coming to this country being forced to learn and speak English? Again, did not expect that from you. There are plenty of foreign doctors here. They are mostly from India / Pakistan. Yes, sometimes they are hard to understand. It's frustrating. But still, why do you think there are so many foreign doctors in America these days? It's because they buckle down and study while American kids are partying. There is so much wrong with this statement, I almost don't know where to begin. How will single-payer attract a better quality of doctors? The product that hospitals sell is EXTREMELY important, but it's still a business. People pay for a service. Without money, it all comes crashing down quickly, like any other business. If the hospital does well, it expands service, like any other business. Who has better medical care than us? Cuba? But back then the care was very basic. Most doctor's offices didn't even have xRay machines. Now, you'd be hard pressed to find a single hospital that doesn't have a CAT scan machine. Most podunk backwoods hospitals even have a MRI. To compare medical care today with medical care in the past is comparing apples and oranges. But I still don't think the solution is to abolish private insurance. I think there's a lot that could be done, regulation wise, within the current system.
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Right....but what about a time dedicated to silent prayer or meditation, where an individual could pray to any god they wanted, or if they are an atheist, think about homework or clowns or sex or whatever. Would you be against something like that?
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Thanks for clarifying, Debbie. If it was your opinion that the van incidents were racial, then they were. None of us were there, so we have to go by what you say. I don't think there's any harm in anybody questioning if you might have misconstrued that, do you? Oh, almost forgot to add: There is no need for personal attacks. Please stop now and get back on topic.
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Nope. I'm strictly a worker bee. But, will you continue to offer a medical plan if the government has a plan for your employees too? Because you'd be paying twice, in a way, for medical insurance. well....."at length" is subjective. I have a working relationship with many docs and see them everyday. We don't have a whole lot of time to chitchat about non-medical issues, but sure, the topic has been exhaustively discussed, lol. Well, yeah. There needs to be some refinement and oversight. But the current plan is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Woah there! Although I don't know you IRL, I think I know you well enough to say that you're not a racist. But.....the above sounds extremely racist. I would postulate that the reason there has been a large influx of foreign doctors is that foreign parents actually pressure their kids to study. I think by and large, the children of American have a blase' attitude toward education. Or are you saying that medical schools are accepting foreign students because of some kind of affirmative action quota? As a committed liberal, I'd think you were all for that :wink2:. Nope, that's true. I might lie about my genital size, but I actually live and work near Texarkana, Texas. [/quote=BJean;1248052]I would imagine that you have it better than in most large cities with regard to the medical care and doctors who treat you. But in many large cities, it is true. How many large cities have you lived in? How many doctors have you seen who specialize in one type of medicine? Well, again, "better" is pretty subjective. I think the medical care here is pretty good. How many large cities have I lived in? A lot.....and none. We moved extensively when I was a kid (lived in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Little Rock), but I've only lived in East Texas my adult life. How many doctors have I seen that specialize in one type of medicine? The simple answer is....all of 'em. Medicine is far too complex today for any one doctor to know more than one or two fields. The days when you went to one doctor for everything from stomach ache to setting broken bones to gall bladder surgery are long gone. The doctors I interact with as a sleep therapist are pulmonologists, cardiologists, and the occasional neurologist. Every now and then I get an internal medicine referral. But.....what does this have to do with single payer system? It's not a matter of me thinking that big insurance is compassionate enough to make the right decisions involving medical care....it's a matter of me thinking that, with a lot of insurance companies competing with each other, pricing and decisions are kept in check. With single payer, ONE entity holds all the cards. With single payer, there will be no competition.....and that's not good. Huh? What insurance was meant for everyone to cover everything? Are you talking about medicare / medicaid? And your assertion that America has inferior medical care to anywhere else is laughable....except to Michael Moore. Nope. How is that germane to this discussion anyway? Are you seriously saying that "I liked nationalized care in country X, so I will like it here". That's a fallacious argument on two different fronts. So your parents are first generation immigrants? Or did they choose to move off later? How many years did you spend in the other, better, medical system? BJean, medicine is really no different from any other business. I don't know exactly what your small business is, but surely you can see what would happen if the government decided to go into that line of business. Do you think your small business would be able to compete against the governmental juggernaught? I think maybe you need to see what the AMA is doing. They don't support Obama's plan. To try and rally their support, Obama is pledging lawsuit protection......and they STILL aren't behind him. So, the "several doctors that you talked to at great length".....they are uniformly in favor of single payer?? Really?? Because, honestly, I find that pretty hard to believe.
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Respectfully, I disagree. The point of our country is that everybody's god has a place in the public. There's a big difference.
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I was going to post that racism sucks, and fatism sucks, and homophobia, etc....but that maybe the flaw is with us as human beings. It seems to me that as humans, we have a tendency to group ourselves into little cliques, whether that sorting is done by weight, religion, sexual orientation, gender, cartoon preference, whatever. Of course, that doesn't make it right, but it does make me wonder if, as people, we'll ever truly be cohesive. I was going to post that, but BJean proved my point brilliantly by attacking somebody that was looking at the OP in a different way. From what I read, Beth wasn't being negative towards Debbie, or accusing her of lying.....just posing a question. BTW, what does it matter who's black and who isn't? Don't you think empathy is possible between people who don't have anything in common? If we can relate only to those who are like us, we are doomed.
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Finally the answer I was looking for......
plain replied to DenaBug's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
Hi Dena, welcome to lapbandtalk. Sounds like you are doing great so far. Keep up the good work! -
Oh BJean.....I was hoping you'd open the door for this one, because you, as a small business owner should be the first one to see how this will play out. Do you offer any insurance to your employees?Typically, the business pays a portion of the premium, and the employee pays a portion. If the government puts out a national plan for free, then there is a huge financial incentive for the employer to not even offer private insurance. I mean.....why cut company profits for a benefit that employees can get for free from the government? Heck, it'd be cheaper for the employees too (well, not counting the real price, which will be taxes, taxes, taxes). Wouldn't you be tempted to do that, as a business owner? I would. The thing is, as the government plan swells, it will become increasingly expensive for anybody to have private insurance. Why can't private insurance compete, like in the free market now? Because they'd be trying to compete against the government. The government is the body that tells hospitals and doctors what they'll be getting paid. It is impossible to underbid the body that makes the rules of the game. Eventually, it will get so expensive to have private insurance that it will not be feasable for a company to underwrite premiums. *boom* private insurance is dead. Now everybody HAS to go through the government. So how will Obama handle all the new demands that universal healthcare will deliver? Rationing. He's already tipped his hand by commissioning a group to explore "most efficient health practices". What that means is that this group will determine who gets what care: My 80 year old grandma needs dialysis? Sorry, it becomes inefficient for anybody over the age of 78 to recieve dialysis. I need to repair my torn ACL. I'm approved? Cool!! Now I can get that surgery in 8 short months! But don't take my word on this. Ask any medical person. Anybody. If they have an optimistic take on this, I'd LOVE to hear it.
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Most of Medicaid is used for nursing home care. What would you do for people who need 24/7 care and can't care for themselves or have the resources to pay for outside care? It also pays for health care for poor pregnant women, the disabled and many other categories. Sure, there are some legit uses. I just don't know if it's been worth the cost. On the whole, I think SS and Medicare are the most salvagable. Last time I checked the private industry was doing a pretty poor job of handling things. What with Enron years ago all the way up to AIG, Countrywide Mortgage, Lehman Bros., etc.. today- and their overpaid, overstuffed CEO's and their golden parachutes. Paid for by stockholders money. Right. That's how the whole stock market system works. You invest your money, gambling on the ability of the CEO and company to use your money to grow the business. If anybody thought the CEO salary was a dealbreaker, they didn't have to invest with that company. Will it be any better when the government sets salary limits (don't think it will be JUST CEO salaries, either)? So, I'm willing to give the government a shot. They can't do any worse that the private industry honchos did. Ok, if you feel comfortable with the government running more stuff than ever, cool......but don't delude yourself that you haven't lost more freedoms than you did under Bush. And we trust government to run our military, I'm pretty sure they can handle a health program. The private health insurance industry needs the competition. I say, bring it on! Everyone has a right to have health insurance. Period. Competition? Single- payer system will totally abolish private insurance. Who can compete with the government when it comes to negotiating contracts, or buying power? Single-payer will end private health insurance and Obama knows it. That's why he slyly says that people can opt to keep their private insurance, and they won't be forced into the national plan. Almost every day I read in my local paper about some project that is being funded by stimulus money. That saves jobs and creates jobs, too. So at least the money is getting to the people where it can do the most good. I guess....but I think it might have been better in the long run to save some of that money so we wouldn't have to buy our own debt (in the form of treasury bills. In other words, we're printing more money like crazy, and inflation is gonna eat us alive. Just like President Carter's administration)