Why the Most Dangerous Thing You Can Have is Good Medical Insurance

[jts]

[Brant Gaede]

Medical insurance is too much "yes" to everything covered and too soon for many to get treatment that might be profitably deferred. I once had my tonsils removed because they were "infected." There was no symptomatic improvement. What has happened was I had developed a mild allergy to milk and milk products which caused some sinus clog up that dripped down on my tonsils. That was the carrier. What was carried therein was the acidity from the vitamin C I was taking every day, irritating and inflaming the tonsils. That surgeon convinced me of that operation. Another surgeon looked at some Xrays--the Xrays caused my primary doctor to refer me to the specialist--and told me, yes I had a cyst in my sinuses and that it wasn't any cause of any of my symtoms and he would never operate on the basis of what the Xrays revealed regardless of those symptoms.

After about six different doctors over, say, two or three years, I was able to self-diagnose it correctly. Usually I don't drink milk with coffee but once I was offered some and almost as soon as I drank it my sinuses swelled up and I could hardly stand it. Being dumb I thought it was the coffee, so I stopped drinking it for a year. Since my condition was livable (and I had already had the surgery and one or two antibiotic regimes) I wasn't terribly motivated to get to the bottom of the situation. My life was going on and I wasn't suffering too much. Finally I got a thought: IT'S THE MILK--STUPID! The vitamin C role soon followed into my feeble mind.

The problem went away and never came back. I drink milk in moderation. I stopped mega-dosing most vitamins in the 1980s for several reasons: I'm genetically primed to live well into my 90s; vitamins don't make balding men grow hair; I had mega-dosed my Father on beta-carotene for several years to keep him from getting a smoker's lung cancer and he got and was killed by lung cancer anyway (a few years later I found out the beat-carotene could have been the catalyst); cost; I didn't know what the pluses and minuses would really reveal themselves to be 10 - 30 - 50 years down the road; I had stopped smoking in 1969; moderation and a healthy diet seemed to be great alternatives; etc. (I'm still working on the diet. I'm likely killing myself with coffee, but who knows? Sugar either causes adult onset diabetes or prevents it????? I'm drinkin' a lot of Kool Aid these days in spite of the Rev. Jim Jones.)

I know--you know--I'm a real man because I drink my coffee black, no sugar. True, I sometimes slip in a candy bar or a sweet treat.

--Brant

a macho man's macho man, not a wanna be a macho man like these twirps:

https://youtu.be/AO43p2Wqc08

[moralist]

At 67 years old, I have no health insurance because it's completely useless in keeping me healthy. Only I have the power to maintain my own health, so that's what I do.

Health insurance is, however, quite useful for addressing the symptoms of unhealthy living. So I highly recommend it for everyone who chooses to delegate the personal responsibility for their own health to others.

Greg

[Mikee]

Sometimes the unexpected happens. I've had a healthy lifestyle and been very fit almost my whole life. It turns out the high volume endurance exercise I did from my teenage years into my forties is associated with a 5 times greater chance of heart arrhythmia's. At 67 I've now had 3 RF ablations for atrial fibrillation. At ~$100K a pop, I'm glad I had health insurance through my work. I tried all of the natural cures, diet and supplements, breathing exercises and meditation. Paleo diet, fasting, weight loss, ketogenic diet, works for some, not for me. Out of desperation I finally opted for the procedures.

[Brant Gaede]

If I had this heart problem, I'd probably supplement with vitamin E. I have no known heart problems and take potassium. Bananas are a great source, but I take it in a capsule.

--Brant

[Brant Gaede]

The video is much too simplistic, whatever truths there are therein.

--Brant

[moralist]

I've found that truth is always simple direct and straightforward...

...and it's always the lies that are complex complicated and convoluted.

So whenever anyone says...

"It's complicated."

... they're lying to you and are trying to hide the truth from you that they're lying.

Greg

[Brant Gaede]

That's what most people think.

--Brant

politicians love them

[turkeyfoot]

I somewhat agree with the ops op. But from the stand point of economics not poor diagnosticians. A policy runs $15k per yr. Last yr my COBRA benes ran out. I opted out of major med and put savings towards future needs. Im working on clearing up taxes so theres no refund for the IRS to pull the penalty from.

I use a service that runs diagnostics, blood tests etc for most everything under the sun and exercise regularly, with no health problems at 62.

The running joke over having accidents at the house is if Im injured drag me to my motorcycle, where I can get coverage.

My wife, oth, has CML. The street price for Novartis Gleevec is in excess of $300 per pill, one every day forever. The non deductible policy she has pays for the otherwise hefty expense. It goes generic next yr although we dont worry about the cost but whether her system will tolerate the cocktail recipe.

Never say never. )

[moralist]

Brant writes:

politicians love them

Lying politicians LOVE liars who believe them

when they tell them the lie

that their problems are so complicated

only the government can solve them...

...just as the liars who elect them

LOVE hearing that lie.

Each DESERVES the other.

Greg

[Brant Gaede]

Brant writes:

politicians love them

Lying politicians LOVE liars who believe them

when they tell them the lie

that their problems are so complicated

only the government can solve them...

...just as the liars who elect them

LOVE hearing that lie.

Each DESERVES the other.

Greg

You don't answer me. You merely snip off what you like and use it for a soapbox. This happens much more often than not.

--Brant

I take it as a complement, but it bores me--it's more fun to deal with stomping and romping or read about you, your septic, electricity, money, home, whiskey and guns

[moralist]

I responded to your comment by describing how lying politicians love the liars who believe their lies.

That's how liars get elected... by liars.

Greg

[Brant Gaede]

I responded to your comment by describing how lying politicians love the liars who believe their lies.

That's how liars get elected... by liars.

Greg

You didn't respond to the simplicity and truth theme. You just repeated what you've said hundreds of times already on OL.

--Brant

we get it!

there is another, broader theme: where do the liars come from and why?--the lying starts when very, very young

[Peter]

If right to die laws are enacted will insurance policies opt out of life extending and life saving remedies and opt in for the cheaper remedy, death? If the insurance is private, then we have a choice. If the insurance is Medicare we have no quick choice, just the vote the bums out, choice or the protest choice.

Peter

[moralist]

Brant writes:

You didn't respond to the simplicity and truth theme

I did.

In my view the truth is simple.

In your view the truth is complicated.

We each expressed our views.

Greg

[Brant Gaede]

Brant writes:

You didn't respond to the simplicity and truth theme

I did.

In my view the truth is simple.

In your view the truth is complicated.

We each expressed our views.

Greg

I didn't say truth was complicated. Basically I said some truths can be rendered too simple. What you are proposing is a bastardization of Occam's razor with absolutism creating a working, guaranteed, on-going fallacy. If you weren't so crude with your ground-scraping abstractions, you'd be an ideologue. You'd need to shovel a lot more ideas as coal into your firebox to make that kind of steam. At least you're a lot more valuable than a preacher for your preaching is essentially secular. You are not a man educated enough to know you can't fly an airplane because you can drive a car, but you lecture pilots, telling them to go up you pull back on the stick and to go faster push the throttle in, confusing primary with secondary control inputs and effects.

--Brant

[Brant Gaede]

I've found that truth is always simple direct and straightforward...

...and it's always the lies that are complex complicated and convoluted.

So whenever anyone says...

"It's complicated."

... they're lying to you and are trying to hide the truth from you that they're lying.

Greg

It's true it usually isn't complicated.

For the record.

They're the priests who want to keep you out of their temple, from which they rule. They may be the only people in that temple and likely are.

When someone says, "it's complicated," tell them that's interesting; keep on talking. You're all ears. Then they'll tell you they haven't time, but here's a reading list of a dozen books. Then you ask why Adler's How to Read a Book isn't one of them. (If it is, ask if there's a book on how to read How to Read a Book.)

--Brant

[Peter]

On 9/12/2015 at 1:52 PM, Brant Gaede said:

Medical insurance is too much "yes" to everything covered and too soon for many to get treatment that might be profitably deferred.

Holy crap Batman@!

From ABC News: . . . One of the largest insurance agencies in the country will no longer accept applications for home and business insurance in California due to wildfire risks and the cost of rebuilding. State Farm has ceased new applications, including all business and personal lines property and casualty insurance, starting Saturday, the company announced in a press release . . .