The medical-pharmaceutical complex snared another golden goose. Me. More precisely, my body. I could leave my soul at home and they wouldn’t care. It’s my body they covet.
They leave the soul to priests and preachers, who back in the day made a fortune, the way the medical industry makes a fortune these days. Scare people enough, and they’ll pay most anything.
Back in the day, people would pay most anything (Donate to the new cathedral? You bet!) and do most anything (Penance, groveling, lashes, fasting? You bet!) to save their immortal souls. Visions of hell scared the bejesus out of people.
Back then people trusted the clergy the way we, more or less, trust doctors. Back then everybody believed souls were damned from birth (original sin). But fortunately the church had the cure (baptism), which could be administered only by its own agents.
(See how that works?)
Thank god those superstitious days are over. We’ve seen through the scam. We’ve flipped our values. Life here and now means more to us than life after death. We’ll pay most anything and do most anything to keep our mortal bodies humming as long as possible.
Few of us fear death itself. But most of us fear dying. The medical-pharmaceutical complex knows this.
In January I got a physical from my new doctor. My PSA (prostate-specific antigen) was a little high. That instilled a little fear. I got a biopsy. And like countless other men, I waited on pins and needles for the results. Negative. No cancer. But fear of it had entered my body. And fear can metastasize too. Worry spreads.
This past Wednesday I got a stress test, which wasn’t as strenuous as the 25-mile bike rides I go on regularly. But then, who knows? I now fear I may not be as healthy as I look or feel. A-fib, after all, is a “silent killer.” What else is? Can it be found and stopped in time?
My copay for these visits and tests is minor. Negligible. But then I notice my health insurance has been charged tens of thousands of dollars. And to think I’m fairly healthy. I’m in and out of appointments in less than 30 minutes.
Ka-ching.
Here’s your next appointment, sir.
Now that I’m in the system, I shouldn’t worry anymore. After all, no one lets a golden goose die.
I’m glad to hear you’re ok. I just had a bit of a health scare myself and am feeling grateful to wonders of modern medicine. Universal healthcare should be a right not a privilege. That’s where our country gets it wrong.
Dabney Miller used to say, “the coming attraction” in reference to growing older. I kinda liked the phrase, makes it sound a little better than it is.
I’ve become a bit leery of medications for everything that comes up. Because there often seem to be side effects, which require more medications. So I’m cautiously moving towards a more wholistic approach. Fewer pills; greater emphasis on lifestyle and alternatives such as acupuncture.
A resounding “Amen” to your blog! As one who has had cancer twice and is now facing multiple health challenges, I resonate to your experience. I, too, am a part of the System, one that values money and profit over care and people. To borrow from Martin Buber, it is tragic and unjust that our “I-It” system has turned humans into objects. A universal health care system would affirm health care as a right and not a privilege as well as our common humanity. Our “Golden Goose” system worships the gold and does not value “I-Thou” grace and compassion. We can do better!
Thank goodness you’re carrying on. I’m crazy grateful for care that keeps me on my feet, full of life. But there are some social needs that shouldn’t be driven by profit including healthcare, law enforcement and monopoly utilities. Thanks for your thoughtful musings.
You have highlighted a problem which is compounded by the influence of lobbyists on our government. There is a strong disconnect between service, price, and access. The root problem never seems to be addressed. The government and I pay the same monthly amount for medical insurance (hundreds of dollars) in my retirement, despite the fact that Medicare A and B pick up the vast majority of any tab, so the provider rakes in an immense profit for services that it does not need to provide. Plus, eye and dental are a completely separate cost. Think of those millions and millions of people who cannot afford the luxury of good medical coverage.
We paid off thousands and thousands of dollars in school loans for my daughters for an undergraduate education and still one of my daughters were faced with loans of well over a hundred thousand dollars that she paid off. Yet, we are doing nothing about the cost of education. When I attended Cornell University (Land Grant School) tuition was $500 a semester.
We need to address the disconnect between service, cost, and access. After all healthy bodies and well-educated minds are the best and most cost-effective investments one can make in the future of this grand country. Capitalism may be the best economic system but it does not mean it can’t be improved.
If you’re growing wise to the racket that is the health care industry these days, you should see Florida. Every few miles there springs up a Publix grocery store with accompanying amenities (pharmacy, bank, Panera, dry cleaner, etc…) to service the retirees of the surrounding, newly-built neighborhoods. Next door is the sprawling medical park: optometrist, urologist, dermatologist, proctologist, cardiologist, neurologist, dentist, physical therapist, and more. Every malady, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, is made to sound life-threateningly serious, and always requires a “procedure” or surgery. “Don’t wait to address this!” the doctors say. On those rare occasions when you’re given a temporarily clean bill of health, follow-up appointments are necessitated. “We must keep an eye on this, something could develop! We’d like to see you back here every 6 months!” You can hear the gears of the billing infrastructure constantly grinding away in some back room of the practice. Your primary care physician is nothing but a source of referrals, who sees you once annually for a physical; otherwise you’re scheduled to see a Physician’s Assistant or Nurse Practitioner (“the Doctor is booked through next April,” or “the Doctor is out of the country for 6 weeks”). If you’re a little thin on finding hobbies to occupy your free time in retirement, or the already busy schedule of a working parent isn’t overwhelming enough already, fear not! The constant shuttling about from one needless appointment to the next will fill your days and leave you awake nights, worrying about your mortality! I think maybe I better see a sleep specialist…
Amen!
It’s all about instilling fear — $$$. Too depressing!
Stay well & bring back the Witch Doctor. “Oo ee, oo-ah-ah, ding dang, walla-walla bing bang”
Well said. Thank you.
Today’s gift “hit the jackpot!”
Imagine my consternation when i hit 65 and was told I really didn’t need an annual gynecological exam. After all ovarian cancer is slow growing so it’s u likely that you will die from it. Having lost friends to ovarian and uterine cancer and had friends who endured horrific operations and much chemo/radiation and are still around I say bunk. Do get your checkups, exercise, eat well and what an earlier response noted -don’t just jump on the “take a pill “ wagon but see if lifestyle changes could help. thanks for sharing another “spot on” posting.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be the food.” Hippocrates.
I wish it was that simple.
Ka-Ching indeed – it is ridiculous the prices, expense to insurance, and to the un-insured. Then there is the COST of medicine for ailments … shaking my head.