OPINION: We don’t have a health care problem in this country

Frank Gillispie

OPINION: We don’t have a health care problem in this country

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Tuesday, January 26. 2010

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No matter how much the politicians rant and rave about it, we do not have a healthcare problem in this country. We have a big government, bumbling bureaucracy problem. Government has totally fouled up the way we pay for health care, but in spite of that, we still receive the best care in the world.

In the past three years, I have discovered just how good that care is. In that time period, I have been attacked by two different cancers. The first one is in complete remission, and we appear to be making good progress at defeating the second one. That is because in both cases, we found the cancer early and had the full range of treatments available.

The first cancer was very common. I had a stage two colon cancer. Following surgery and a recently developed chemo therapy, the cancer was gone.

The second cancer was a very different experience. I had been experiencing sinus pain and a sensitive spot inside my nose. When an obstruction started developing in my nose. My GP suggested a specialist, so I made an appointment with an ear, nose and throat surgeon. Within seven days I was in his office. He took a look and said that the growth had to be removed. Four days later, he removed the growth at a local hospital’s outpatient surgery suite. The hospital’s pathology lab sent back a report that said I had an extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma.

This is an extremely rare and potentially dangerous cancer. My oncologist subjected me to every test in the book. I was PAT scanned CAT scanned MRI’d EKG’d x rayed several times, blood sampled and biopsied twice including a bone marrow sample. Three different hospitals took part in the testing and returned their findings. The rare cancer was confirmed. Again we caught it early. It was localized and had not started to spread.

Because of its location in my nose, the surgeon was not able to remove surrounding tissue as is normally done in the case of cancer. So my doctors suggested, and I agreed, that radiation was the best treatment to kill any cancer cells that might have escaped into nearby tissue. I am undergoing those treatments now.

As I said, we do not have a health care problem. We have a health financing problem, and a 2,000-page long government takeover of health care will not solve a financing problem. Typical of all such government projects, it can only add a giant surcharge to the cost of my treatments. If we can just get government out of the way and let the marketplace regulate the cost of health care, the problem will solve itself.

As for my future, I intend to keep harassing Yankees and politicians for many more years before I am finished.

Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/gillispieonline.

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#1 Anon E. Mouse on 01/27/10 at 06:09 AM [Reply]

"As for my future, I intend to keep harassing Yankees and politicians for many more years before I am finished."

Glad to hear it! Good luck to you, Frank!

#2 Bill on 01/27/10 at 11:11 AM [Reply]

Ah, Frank, how did you pay for this? Was it Medicare? Was it a business paid insurance? Boy, I wish I had one. No wait, I used to but my place of business closed. Now the ONLY job I can get is an $8/hour job with no insurance. Not bad for a middle aged man with a college degree who has been working for over thirty years. Sorry Frank but this is the most cruel and stupid article you have written. Thinking like yours, the "I have mine so the hell with everyone else" is what is causing the rift within this country. Bless you for your luckiness but many, many people do not have what you do but I am sure this fact doesn't bother you.

#3 Anonymous on 01/27/10 at 11:56 AM [Reply]

Glad you are getting good treatment and wish you continued success.

But, you neglect to say how you obtained and paid for your successful treatments. Medicare is pretty good, eh?

You think dealing with govt. is tough. Try dealing with Blue Cross or other private insurers. It's a nightmare. Their strategy is to deny and use their lawyers to basically wait you out, knowing that dead folk file no claims.

#3.1 E.J. on 01/31/10 at 05:35 PM [Reply]

And if you have an individual policy like I do because I am self-employed, they don't have to wait until I'm dead. They just cancel me immediately when I call for pre-certification after I have been paying through the nose every month for years. What's the point in my paying $555 a month for just me for coverage that won't be there when I need it? This is extremely poor value!

#4 anonymous on 01/27/10 at 12:56 PM [Reply]

My brother is 52 and no health insurance company will cover him, that is until he is 62 and eligible for Medicare. Enjoy your Medicare, Frank.

#5 hmm? on 01/28/10 at 07:04 AM [Reply]

I certainly agree with anonymous. Hey Frank would these have been you're views 40 years ago before you have you're medicare which us taxpayers are now paying for? I don't think so. I agree I am glad everything worked out with your illness, my 2 sisters and my dad weren't so lucky with their cancers.

#6 Bill on 01/28/10 at 08:14 AM [Reply]

I also would like to add that, Frank, I am glad that you are healthy as can be and hope you have continued good health. I may not agree with everything you say but I pray you are well. I am happy that we can still disagree on topics.

#7 Anonymous on 01/28/10 at 09:25 AM [Reply]

There is a typo. The article states, "...we do not have a health care problem." and "We still receive the best health care in the world."

Clearly it should read, "...I do not have a health care problem." and "I still receive the best health care in the world."

#8 Anonymous on 01/28/10 at 10:12 AM [Reply]

How very Christian of you.

#9 tom pain on 01/29/10 at 07:28 AM [Reply]

Sorry to hear about the cancers Frank. In your article you did not mention if you had private insurance or Medicare to pay for your treatments. If you have private insurance, do you worry that your insurance company will drop you now? And if Medicare paid for your treatments, why would you say government fouled it up. Eitehr way, you got a good deal. There's 30 million + Americans who only dream that they could get the coverage you have.

#10 Laurie on 01/29/10 at 01:49 PM [Reply]

Frank was right- we do not have a healthcare problem. NO ONE is turned away for care they need. Yes, you might have to pay for it but hospitals do not turn you away and most doctors will work with you on payment plans. Medicare is NOT free. Those of us who work, spend years and years putting money into Medicare so that we are afforded coverage in our retirement years.

If you want health insurance go buy a policy. Yes that might mean you have to give up your cell phone,your cable TV and maybe even your internet service. But you can get a policy to cover expenses. In the state of Georgia every car has to be insured. Don't you find a way to pay for your car insurance?

I have a job that does not offer healthcare. So, I sacrifice the things I might WANT to have a policy. I don't have cable TV, I don't have a cell phone. I don't eat out or go to the movies BUT I have my priorities straight.

#10.1 Anonymous on 01/29/10 at 06:23 PM [Reply]

I had a policy. But the insurance company canceled me when I got sick and actually used it! All those years of paying premiums down the drain!

Now I would like to buy another policy. But I can't. No one will write me a policy no matter the price because now I have a pre-existing condition.

I tried what Laurie said and went to try to get my treatments anyway. Laurie is lying. THEY DO TURN YOU AWAY. The turn you away and send you to the ER. At the ER, they say it is for emergencies only, so, no treatments, no payment plan, no nothing.

The insurance company got all my money, and now I can't get a policy, treament, anything.

Laurie is full of crap. Don't believe her lies. Or Frank's. Americans are dying by the hundreds of thousands because of no health care, and that's a helluva lot more than any "terrorists" Frank is always whining about.

#10.2 WTF on 01/29/10 at 07:31 PM [Reply]

AMEN Laurie,I have a hard enough time paying for what I have,much less what everybody else has!!!!

#10.3 Anonymous on 01/30/10 at 06:08 AM [Reply]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Medicare is insolvent (they have more liabilities than assets).

You want roads? Go build them. Sacrifice. Don't go out to eat at the mexican restaurant once a week. But don't tell me I have to pay for your roads.

Apparently you haven't been paying attention to the actual issues at hand. Controlling costs is exactly what we (the people) are trying to address. No, you'd rather regurgitate what you hear on Fox News.

You hate America, don't you?

#10.4 I have Healthcare on 01/30/10 at 10:16 AM [Reply]

i agree with you Laurie when did it become the tax payers of america to provide healthcare. Oh that's right we have welfare. Healthcare has to be a number one in your life, not beer, lottery or having babies you cant afford. I for one worked for pennies on the dollar many years ago to have healthcare. Today i am retired and have healthcare that i have to pay for.

#10.4.1 Bill on 02/01/10 at 06:38 AM [Reply]

How dare you to assume that all people who are struggling today is doing so because they have too many things. Please don't go telling people that you are a Christian too. I too have been working hard for over 30 years and due to situation beyone my control (see above comment) I have nothing to show for it. I haven't had TV for over two years, no cell phones, a 25 year old car, wood stove to heat my litle 600 foot place, one pair of shoes that are worn thin, not many clothes, no washer/dryer, get paid once a month so many time the last week or so of the month I have very little or no money, and here you are, knowing all about me. Putting me and people like me into your little prejudiced peghole. You know what, the hell with you and people like you. I am not asking for anything and but your un-Christian, mean-spirited, petty thinking is a shame and belittling. I am just tired of people shouting how American is a great Christian Country and than act like they are listening to another voice in their thick heads.

#10.5 E.J. on 01/31/10 at 05:54 PM [Reply]

I recently attempted to see a primary care doctor in a group practice in Athens who was accepting new patients. I was simply looking to get established as an general patient. I was told none of the doctors in the practice wanted me as a patient because I have chronic Lyme Disease. I am shocked! Do I go to the emergency room for primary care? As I am self-employed and have had to aquire individual medical insurance I have had to battle these evil businesses my whole life. They come up with the flimsiest reasons to not cover me and when I do get coverage and pay through the nose every month they still force me to fight them on nearly every claim. If and when I get seriously sick they will immediately cancell me when I comply with their requirement that I get pre-certification for treatment. What am I paying for?! I feel rejected by the entire medical industry.

#11 Hmm? on 01/29/10 at 05:52 PM [Reply]

I agree and disagree. Alot of doctor offices will not see you if you do not have the money, some won't even take some of it. The emergency room may see you, but if you don't have insurance and you need further testing they will not assist in making that happen. I agree that you have to work to pay into the system. You take a person with good insurance and a person with nothing and they go to the doctor with the same ailment and watch and see that the person with insurance gets better treatment and the one who doesn't will get a bandaid and a map to the door. See its not about values its Val-U. You got white collar, blue collar and no collar. you got surgery, outpatient surgery and out of luck surgery. so when you say do without other people are doing just that.

#12 Robert Fanning on 01/30/10 at 05:29 PM [Reply]

Medicare has no assets. Monies paid into Medicare are not put into a 'Medicare Bank', but into the Federal Treasury from which Medicare bills are paid. If more costs are billed to Medicare from treatment of Medicare patients than was paid in, the Treasury makes up the difference.

Nowhere in our constitution is it said that indigent or the poor shall receive the same health care as those with money to pay for it. One can argue that we can ask the government to level that playing field, however, without constitutional amendment the legality is shaky.

#12.1 anonymous on 02/01/10 at 04:08 PM [Reply]

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

What part of "Justice" and "General Welfare" do you not understand?

#12.2 Bill on 02/03/10 at 11:49 AM [Reply]

Where in the Constitution does it say we require paved roads, a school system, Fire Departments, Police Departments, Park Departments, etc that is paid for by government money? That "where does it say in the Constitution" just doesn't hold water, if you know what I mean.

#13 mao on 02/01/10 at 10:37 AM [Reply]

Insurance is SOCIALISM!

#14 Ben Had on 02/13/10 at 07:12 AM [Reply]

Laurie sounds like she is probably just young and naive.
Or, old and naive.

I've had people who can't afford insurance tell me the "public option" was a bad thing, or even communist.
HOW STUPID IS THAT!

Turn off the FAUX news. It's dumbing down America.
Better yet,turn it ALL off. Think for yourself.

(that little voice in your head should sound like yours,not Rush's)

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OPINION: We don’t have a health care problem in this country

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