The Sick O'Clock News..
As age, gravity, and abuse take it's toll on my mortal body, I'm forced to think more about the healthcare mess in the US of A. It's hard to avoid if you watch the evening news with Walter Cronkite. Er, well that dates me.....I guess it's Peter Jennings now. Each evening there is a piece on healthcare, usually involving the increasing cost thereof. It is a mess. My parents are requiring a few more medications these days, for various ills, which they can afford but, while at the pharmacy yesterday my Mother reported that the bill for the lady ahead of her came to a staggering $1500. For one month's worth of prescriptions. And that the lady looked like she could barely afford to buy a new pair of socks, much less pay this sum.
The real dichotomy of the evening news, the lunacy, if you have noticed, is that the evening news is brought to you almost entirely by the drug industry.
Peter Jennings: "it's shocking to most Americans, the cost of prescription drugs! While a recent report by Cornell University says Americans visit doctors far too often and take many medications they don't need. And when we come back...prices are going higher and Doctors are quitting."
TeeVee Ad: "Have you heard about the Purple Pill?"
I'm going to need medication if I hear anymore about the Purple Pill, or Claritin or Allegra, or Mrs. Smith's Bowel Cleaner and Breath Freshener. In the main I have to believe that the drug industry and TeeVee have talked too many people into being sick. When I was a child, we had Aspirin and Mentholatum. If you had allergies and your head hurt, you took an aspirin and then went out back and blew snot out of your nose. That took care of that. Now, you have your choice of a plethora of prescriptions for allergies. I have allergies, I know how much these TeeVee drugs costs. The cheapest is around $50 per prescription..which might last a month. Back in the good ol' days, if you had the first signs of arthiritis, you smeared the joint with mentholatum, took aspirin and you moaned alot. Now..well some of the arthritis drugs cost hundreds of dollars a month...and you still have to moan at your own expense.
I bring this subject up because it's important, but not because it applies to me. Me, I go to the Veteran's Administration and get any prescription for $7 bucks. A benefit of military service. And I deserve it, I contracted Jungle Rot under my toenails, while in unclean foreign lands. My self worth has suffered all these years, I drank too much because of it. Now, with a $7 Jungle Rot prescription, I can feel much better about myself and I am clean and sober. I learned that I was a worthless wretch after seeing a Jungle Rot medication ad on TeeVee.
{Editors Note: If the Armed Services are smart, they'll stop advertising things like the educational and training benefits offered by military service and hit the $7 per prescription benefit really hard. If you are a forward thinking young person with allergies, toe nail rot, arthritis or a bad stomach this could be worth millions to you in the future.}
As age, gravity, and abuse take it's toll on my mortal body, I'm forced to think more about the healthcare mess in the US of A. It's hard to avoid if you watch the evening news with Walter Cronkite. Er, well that dates me.....I guess it's Peter Jennings now. Each evening there is a piece on healthcare, usually involving the increasing cost thereof. It is a mess. My parents are requiring a few more medications these days, for various ills, which they can afford but, while at the pharmacy yesterday my Mother reported that the bill for the lady ahead of her came to a staggering $1500. For one month's worth of prescriptions. And that the lady looked like she could barely afford to buy a new pair of socks, much less pay this sum.
The real dichotomy of the evening news, the lunacy, if you have noticed, is that the evening news is brought to you almost entirely by the drug industry.
Peter Jennings: "it's shocking to most Americans, the cost of prescription drugs! While a recent report by Cornell University says Americans visit doctors far too often and take many medications they don't need. And when we come back...prices are going higher and Doctors are quitting."
TeeVee Ad: "Have you heard about the Purple Pill?"
I'm going to need medication if I hear anymore about the Purple Pill, or Claritin or Allegra, or Mrs. Smith's Bowel Cleaner and Breath Freshener. In the main I have to believe that the drug industry and TeeVee have talked too many people into being sick. When I was a child, we had Aspirin and Mentholatum. If you had allergies and your head hurt, you took an aspirin and then went out back and blew snot out of your nose. That took care of that. Now, you have your choice of a plethora of prescriptions for allergies. I have allergies, I know how much these TeeVee drugs costs. The cheapest is around $50 per prescription..which might last a month. Back in the good ol' days, if you had the first signs of arthiritis, you smeared the joint with mentholatum, took aspirin and you moaned alot. Now..well some of the arthritis drugs cost hundreds of dollars a month...and you still have to moan at your own expense.
I bring this subject up because it's important, but not because it applies to me. Me, I go to the Veteran's Administration and get any prescription for $7 bucks. A benefit of military service. And I deserve it, I contracted Jungle Rot under my toenails, while in unclean foreign lands. My self worth has suffered all these years, I drank too much because of it. Now, with a $7 Jungle Rot prescription, I can feel much better about myself and I am clean and sober. I learned that I was a worthless wretch after seeing a Jungle Rot medication ad on TeeVee.
{Editors Note: If the Armed Services are smart, they'll stop advertising things like the educational and training benefits offered by military service and hit the $7 per prescription benefit really hard. If you are a forward thinking young person with allergies, toe nail rot, arthritis or a bad stomach this could be worth millions to you in the future.}
