Tag Archive: medical


OMG! A “Labeled Leftist” with questions about the ACA!

Filed Under: Health, Philosophy, Politics by Lord Andrei — 2 Comments
2013.10.02

hc-questAs 10 minutes have just opened on my schedule and I didn’t get lunch, I’m taking 10 minutes of a philosophical smoke break. Here is my question:

Obviously I am in support of the ACA from what would be viewed as the left side because I believe in universal healthcare. I’m even more of a socialist here as that I don’t believe that healthcare should be a for-profit business but that is a larger issue. We live in a capitalist society where health care is for the most part for-profit. Doctors pay to be educated (at great expense), Medical innovations cost money, blah blah blah.

Many uninsured folks who had held off medical care until begrudgingly (and without insurance) would resort to emergency rooms will now have insurance so they do not have to wait until emergency care is needed. The offered solution there is to go to a PCP who they are now insured to see.

The statistic I am now seeing is that we as a nation have a dearth of PCPs. In general Primary Care doesn’t pay as much as specialization and even doctors are having problems covering medical education costs as PCPs and thus are choosing specialization.

So even though you now have insurance, there aren’t doctors available to take you on as a PCP and you are left still needing to use the emergency room as a first line of medical care.

While the long range fix I see is like the Peace Corps or the GI Bill where if you do service as a PCP in conjunction with being a specialist, the gov’t pays some of your medical education.

So… My questions to my other “labeled leftist friends”:

Are these statistics and observations accurate or merely more ‘Anti-Obamacare’ rhetoric?

Does this actually form the grounds of a problem with the ACA that does require further intelligent investigation and legislation? (Yes, don’t say it… I’m thinking it too)

Does this run the risk of the ACA actually causing problems that even the left can say, “We need to fix this, too”?

Of course this is a deep post and even putting it on FB and Twitter isn’t likely to get anyone to read or respond to it.

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Okay. How about something actually about me.

Filed Under: Uncategorized by Lord Andrei — 4 Comments
2007.03.09

I actually very rarely post nowadays about ‘my life’. I think I should… but in general most of my posts are about my opinion or things I interact with… Media for example.

Some may know that I have been on maintenance allergy medicine for about 10 years. The process begun over a decade ago. I was regularly doing English Folk dancing. (Yes.. SCA… thus the username)

After one dance session I’d perceived that my arches had fallen. The soles of my feet were very swollen. It turns out that it was the start of a a bunch of un-fun allergies. I was about 26-28.

My body began to randomly swell. My feet, my hands, my lips and in some cases my eyes. I remember going to an origami class on a day that my eyelids had swollen. People though I was actually Japanese. (It was actually really cool and I wish I could do it manually)

Testing was difficult because these episodes wouldn’t last long enough to get to an allergist. There seemed to be no clear cause.

Then there was the day I turned the corner. I call it “The Phantom” day. I woke up in the morning and was blind. My eyes were swollen shut. I called my (then) gf and calmly asked her to come over and explained the situation. I also put on a mask because I couldn’t tell how horribly disfigured I was.

By the time she got to the apt I could see minimally out of one eye. She prodded me to remove the mask so she could see. After much cajoling I displayed my Chaney-esque visage (which in horror terms in the 90s meant Lon not Dick). She told me that I didn’t look nearly as horrible as I thought. (She was an excellent liar. She later told me that it was really bad)

I go in for scratch tests. They come up negative. But they put me on the meds. And that’s where I stay for about 10 years.

Today I went in and got a broader sweep. Basically you are pricked with allergins. 10 years ago it was about 15-20. Today it was 40-60. A broader base to get a better idea of what’s causing this.

I started typing this when they pricked me. There were so many they actually had to do them on my back not my arm. (shudder)

The result. Nothing came up positive except the control. The control is ‘histimine’ the stuff that sets off an allergic reaction. When you have an allergy your body produces histimine which your system then combats. Unfortunately, the other 39-59 had no reaction. Not nuts, pollen, berries, mellons, animals… nothing.

So now I wait for the allergist to touch base on what’s next. The hope is that maybe I can stop taking the allergy meds if they really aren’t doing much in the long run.

(pause)

(An hour later and back at the office)

So, the good news is that I’m off the maintenance meds. Zyrtec and Ranitidine… buh-bye. (Unless I have an outbreak)

I am now on Nasonex for a trial run because they detected some allergin in my nose. That may be from the bug going around or it may just be the family breathing issues. We’ll see how it does.

So.. not completely off the meds. But much better. I think I’m gonna have honeydew for lunch 😀

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