Medical Costs

 I have had some bad medical experiences lately that I want to share in this blog.

Before we get started there is a basic principle that most of us use before we spend our hard earned money and that is, "Is it worth it or not?"  This is what we have a brain for and that is what makes us humans.  To answer that simple question we first have to know what something costs and second we need to know what the benefits are.  With me so far on this one?  Now to my medical experience.

My first one was when I went to the doctor for a back ache.  It seemed clearly a pulled muscle from cutting firewood that turned out to be cured with two Aleve.  The doctor, however did a high tech scan that cost about $4,000.  I did not pay the bill!  Do you think that the doctor had any idea what the procedure cost or what the benefits were?  No way.

I had another problem when I went to Urgent Care for diarrhea.  The doctor had no idea what the procedure would cost, yet they ran several tests that in the judgement of doctor were "negative".  I could never find out why those tests were run or what the possible out comes were.  I know that most test results are "analog" so how sure was the doctor that the tests were negative?  Further, the doctor listened to my heart and detected a "murmur" and insisted that I see a heart specialist for which no one had any idea what the cost would be.  I still have the original diarrhea that I went in for and I got no treatment for that except that I should see my "general" doctor, whoever that is.

Now, back to basics.  Shouldn't doctors be making decisions just like we all make decisions on the basis of, "is is it worth it or not?"  I can still remember the days when doctors made house calls and you paid the bill before he left your house.  What has happened?  Now we have a bunch of specialists and there is no one minding the store.  How do we get back our medical system?  Here is what we all should start doing.

(1)  Ask the doctor what the visit is going to cost.

(2)  Ask why they are doing this or that test.

(3)  Ask what are the possible out comes and the probability of each.

(4)  Ask about the treatment if they have positive results and what the chances of a cure are?

It appears that the doctors assume that your life and health are priceless and any cost would be worth it, but we know that the world is not perfect and we have to fit it and get the value that we can afford.

It Is Not Perfect

 I have been watching the news about all the liberal District Attorneys  letting out criminals and have some comments.

Here is what I keep hearing from these District Attorneys.  They complain that "some" people who have committed minor crimes are locked up longer than they should before their trials.  This is "true" that "some" are actually held in jail longer than they should.  The problem is their choice of solutions, that is, even if there was a solution.  What they are willing to do is to let out "all" criminals charged with minor crimes.  With their solution it is clear that there are no longer "some" criminals being held too long.  They do not see anything wrong with their solution because it did exactly what they wanted.

The problem with their solution it does not consider any damage done by their solution.  To make my point clearer, what it we cut down all trees in our forests in order to eliminate forest fires?  It is true that it would solve the problem of forest fires, but  it has to be clear that the damage done by this solution is worse than the original problem.  It is the same with criminals!

I have blogged before about decisions "being worth it or not".  In the case of Covid-19 some of the actions taken by President Biden are clearly "not worth it".  I have also blogged in the past about "yes" and "no" thinking vs analog type thinking what there are degrees of yes and no, right and wrong, good and bad and worth it or not.

The problem is now do we get people to start thinking in terms of analog?  My guess is that most people do not even know what the word means.  The news people never seem to follow up in their interviews by asking about whether or not some decision or action is "worth it or not".  I guess that you and I as individuals are the only ones who can get things changed.  Why don't you start doing your job next time when you hear people talking in terms of "yes and no" and not analog and asking if it is worth it or not?

PS---I talked to some lawyers about what they thought was the right solution and here is what they said.\\

The reason that "some" criminals stay in jail so long is that the legal system is so slow. A better solution would be to speed up the legal system.  Note that they are letting illegal immigrants out with no bail with the promise that they will show up for their hearing 2 or 3 years later.  In China they have solved this problem by speeding up the legal process.   Example. a person is arrested on Monday and they have their trial on Wednesday and if found guilty they are executed on Friday.  Fear of punishment actually works in China, but not now here in the USA.