Comments by Let_us_think
Page 1 of 4 | Next
Posted on August 26 at 7:27 a.m.
The present health care system is akin to selling seats in a lifeboat. Those who can afford health care get it; those who can't don't. The death rate for female breast cancer is 25% higher for those women not having health insurance compared to those who have insurance. If our education system were run like health care then only those children whose parents could afford private school tuition at Trinity, Cathedral and ACCS could have an education. The other children would just have to do without. We have a better society when everyone is literate; the same is true for health care coverage. Think about epidemics where some can get care and others can't and who then contribute to the spread. Think of the lost work time and productivity of those sick whose illnesses could have been prevented with regular evaluations. Think of the ocean of uninsured people in our area. One of our two hospitals is in bankruptcy because of the mass of uninsured who in desperation finally just show up exhausted at the door of the emergency room. Think of the flood of money coming to this area after passage of the health care bill--we have much more uninsured than most areas. It might, and probably would, be enough to get Natchez Regional out of its hole. I'm speaking as a physician who sees the misery and who has to participate in the desperate choices of patients who have no coverage.
Posted on January 6 at 8:27 a.m.
This process does not have to be secret, even to get the most money. Wachovia and Wells Fargo can negotiate with the principal players announced in the news. We don't have to know all the details of the negotiations, but someone serious in buying isn't going to mind their name in the paper as an interested party. Who we invite into this city to handle our health care is too important to leave to Mr. Phillip's judgement. It's hard for me to fathom the supervisors sitting still for this process. We all have to live with this system long after Mr. Phillips is back home by the fire. I've come to think the secrecy aspect is all to do with Mr. Phillips making his job easier for himself.
Posted on December 18 at 7:54 a.m.
Had a tornado come over my house in the Hills in about 1982. Another came a couple of hundred yards away from my office a few years later (Jeff Davis Blvd.) Another came through downtown 7 or 8 years ago a few blocks from my house. And now this one, about 800 yards from where I sat eating dinner. The air raid sirens didn't go off for any of them (or, at least, I didn't hear them.) It means that the NWS radar isn't worth a damn at detecting tornados. It sees them when they aren't there, and doesn't see them when they are there. So now I don't pay any attention to the sirens. I guess one day there really will be a meltdown at Grand Gulf or a sure enough Russian bomber attack, but I'll still be at my desk working.
Posted on December 15 at 8:15 a.m.
It's not laying in the bedroom--it's lying in the bedroom. A person lays his glasses down, but he himself lies down. Mr. Hogan must have been sleeping through English class, but on the other hand, if you're going to write for a living maybe you should review the textbook.
Posted on November 8 at 7:15 a.m.
Was at a medical lecture two years ago in Albuquerque (sp?). The doctor lecturing on stroke prevention was asked by a physician in the audience whether exercise helped prevent stroke. The lecturer said yes, and it didn't take much exercise. A thirty minute walk three times a week drops the risk of stroke by 40%. If the walk is done every day the risk of stroke drops by 70%. Gospel. I'm a physician and tell my patients this regularly. They're as taken aback as I was when I heard it. Also, realize stroke and heart attack are two different results of the same disease. The physician lecturer (I can't recall his name) didn't speak to heart attack, but it's the same process.
Posted on September 6 at 8:08 a.m.
Published studies in medical journals have shown a 25% higher mortality rate for breast cancer patients without medical insurance compared to other patients with insurance. I'm a physician here in Natchez, and I read these journals. When medical insurance doesn't cover everyone the situation is tantamount to selling seats in a lifeboat. At one time, before most people had medical insurance, the present situation could be tolerated. Now that 80% of people do have insurance, the array of treatments available for various conditions assumes one has insurance. Those without insurance find they can't pay for available treatment. Health care should be no different than education--a certain level of care should be available to everyone. Imagine if the only available schools in town were Trinity, Cathedral, ACCS, and Holy Family. Those who couldn't afford these schools would go uneducated. We can have a better society if education and health care are available to everyone.
Posted on March 27 at 1:54 a.m.
It's hard to get loans now with a credit crunch going on, especially for this kind of project that only works when the price of oil is at a high level. I suspect the problem is lack of definite financing. About 12-18 months ago the Wall Street Journal printed a long article, mentioning Rentech and other similar companies working with this kind of fuel. These companies were trying to get Congress to guarantee a floor under the price of their product in the event oil prices collapsed. To my knowledge they've never got that guarantee. The lack of this guarantee may be hurting their ability to get the financing they need.
Posted on March 20 at 7:50 a.m.
Hate to be the pessimist but the story in the New York Times this morning is how 12 inches of rain got dumped in the last couple of days across the entire midwest and Ohio River valley. Everything's flooded up there, and it all comes down here.
Posted on February 29 at 3:32 p.m.
An idea--close the emergency room. This is the highway into the hospital for those not insured. Without the ER the admissions would come from the doctors' offices, the vast majority insured or of some ability to pay something. Uninsured coming to an ER are entitled to treatment under U.S. law.
This sounds hard, but life without NRH is not good for us. Adams County did not create the problem of the uninsured, but we do have to have adequate health care here. There's another emergency room in town. When NRH is in better shape the ER could be reopened.
A lot of money comes into our economy from NRH, money from Washington DC (Medicare), Blue Cross, and other insurances--money that stays in the county. Contrast this with a business like the casino--the money collected from this area leaves immediately for Las Vegas. The same holds for Walmart, by the way--the cash collected is deposited every evening in a bank in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Page 1 of 4 | Next
Posted on September 1 at 8:15 p.m.
Charm, from the Castle Pub I congratulate you. Really fine work is so seldom recognized. Your enthusiasm is infectious.
On West PE teacher chosen Teacher of the Year