Henry Says We're Screwed

Says Henry Blodget:

In the past few weeks, members of both political parties have finally introduced plans to save America.

And it's about time.

Because the country's finances are a horrowshow.

Unfortunately, because our leaders are still pretending that we can have it all, Americans haven't yet clued into the fact that the only answer is BOTH higher taxes AND less spending.

Look at the below pie charts:



One thing that jumps right out at me is that the cost of healthcare(22%) for seniors is higher than their Social Security(20%).

Ok, why have we not looked into what doctors are charging nowadays?

True story:

My wife had a medical condition/situation in which she was sent to a neurologist for examination for what turned out to be compressed nerves in her spine. It's a long story not needed to be told here, but the neurologist was never needed and never did anything useful. She was sent to him several times before we realized he was doing nothing but prescribing pills that were not working.

As I later went through the bills, Medicare receipts, etc., I discovered that what this dude was charging Medicare for his services was literally astounding.

The longest visit my wife had with this "specialist" was 26 minutes. during this time, he attached what amounted to a multimeter to various appendages and did the expected "hmmm, hmmm" crap, and then prescribed more powerful and more expensive pills that eventually made my wife very ill.

Looking at his bill for those 26 minutes it broke down thusly:

Wife's office visit copay: 30.00
Office visit charged to Medicare: 1,700.00
Multimeter test charged to Medicare: 400.00
Physical examination charged to Medicare: 300.00

Total for 26 minutes and a prescription for more pills: $2.430.00

Now, tell me that this "doctor" is not a chiseling crook ripping off the government. He charged more for those 26 minutes than we both get for our Social Security in a month.

After I looked at that particular bill, we refused to see him any more.

We Americans have the unfortunate tendency to pay anything demanded for medical care, and most of the medical profession is riding that horse to death. It's a sweet racket they have, and none of them are going to fess up or change their ways without some electrical wires being attached to their privates.

I have no doubt whatever that we need to seriously look into medical fraud. If this small-town rube is raking in this much on a regular basis for doing little to nothing, imagine what's happening across the nation.

To hell with raising taxes, that's not the answer. It's governmental spending that's the problem. And one thing we can do about that is nail these cheats bilking the government and the taxpayers.

And that reminds me...

I went to a local dentist awhile ago for a teeth cleaning job. He wanted $460.00/quadrant and four separate office visits ($75.00/visit) just for his "assistant" for a cleaning job.

That's $2,180.00 just to clean my teeth! I remain totally amazed that the man is still in business.

I found out later he was a private pilot, owned a Cessna 185 and his wife drove a Porsche.

All he got out of me was the first visit cost, $75.00.

You see my point? Dentists and doctors are bilking Medicare for what has to be billions and billions for literally nothing but lip service consisitng of fine-sounding medical terms and phrases.

Now, not all doctors and dentists are thieves, just most of them. Our primary care physician we now have is one of the finest and we were fortunate indeed to have found her. Those honest few - like her - will need to be protected when the hammer finally does fall.