by Lj Jaime Cordle

Created on: July 19, 2009

HEALTH CARE IN THE UNITED STATES

As noted elsewhere, I am an international person. I do have a USA passport and I do have children who were born in the United States.

There are many magnificent aspects of the USA. Health care is not one of them.

I don't hear arguments of substance from any of the parties discussing this issue. But the fact is that health care in the USA is pathetic. Were one of my kids ill, I would take them to Europe, or Cuba, or even another third world country such as Honduras.

The problem begins at very primary levels. One of those levels is medical instruction. Only the children of relatively wealthy parents can study medicine in the USA. Very few of these young people seem to have a calling for helping people. THEY WANT MONEY. THEY ARE SELFISH AND OBLIVIOUS TO HUMAN NEED AND SUFFERING.

Even before Cuba, there were countries which favored bright but poor students. I was in Bolivia in the early 1960's. In those years a poor kid who was an exceptional student could study medicine essentially free of immediate cost. The catch was that he or she had to devote a certain amount of time to the treatment of poor people.

The system functioned well. Many of the doctors who went through the government program were exceptional.

Selfish American doctors are a very large part of the problem here. They are not happy earning two, three, four, ten times or even more of the average earnings of Americans. THEY WANT MORE. They are greedy sociopaths.

Consider Bill Frisk. How much of his considerable fortune is derived from Medicare fraud. How many people understand that this person is a criminal. He should be in jail.

Americans are, in many respects, honorable and brave. But when it comes to health care they are cowardly sheep. Many U.S. doctors should be in jail.

This is not merely an intellectual question for me. I have had first hand experiences with a few doctors here in the good old U.S. of A.

I have experienced two minor health difficulties. The first involved an ulcer. I visited a doctor and he recommended a certain medication Tagamet as I recall. I did some due diligence and decided that I did not want to take Tagamet because of some of the possible side effects. This first doctor seemed honorable to me. His fees were reasonable. I paid him.

Well he told me I would like for you to see one of my colleagues. He is an expert. He will give you helpful guidance.

I visited the second doctor at his office in Miami Beach. His receptionist asked me how I intended to pay. She told me that the doctor would accept only cash or a major credit card. Darn! I gave her my credit card information. I spent 15 minutes listening to this quack. He charged me $300. He was useless.

The second experience was just as bad. A doctor in Key Largo billed me $250 for a conversation that lasted five minutes.

I called my credit card company. Don't pay those two charges, I told them.

One of the rip off doctors threatened to sue. I told him that I would countersue. He disappeared.

My children are very healthy. Thank goodness. I am very healthy. If we have serious medical difficulties in the future, we won't look to the USA healthcare system for solutions.

In no other country with which I am familiar are doctors as incompetent, greedy and unpleasant as they are in the United States.

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