Toss 'Em Back Across the River

Written Aloud

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Toss 'em back across the river

Controlling anger has become a major problem for me in the face of all of the media hype about the immigration issue. It is difficult to accept the fact that there are so many insensitive, calloused people in this country. Look at the recent story of the high school student in New Mexico who was deported during her senior year. Her family had been residents in this country for years, had been law-abiding, with family oriented values and exemplary work ethics---then to have everything they had worked for destroyed ... inexcusable in this nation.

When posts and comments related to the immigration crisis are read, one wonders how many of the authors of those statements have ancestors who were immigrants once. Our immigration laws should be enforced: I think everyone will agree to that. But let's face it. They haven't been adequately enforced for over a half-century. Working alongside immigrants has been a way of life n this country for years. These people didn't wake up some morning and decide to break the law--laws that they didn't even know existed. They simply came here to work and make a few dollars to support their families.

There are many options for dealing with the immigration problem. Building walls that intimidate our neighbors is not an acceptable solution. It creates ill-will that will, in the future, be far more costly than the immigrant problem. For the immediate future we should use our resources to document illegal and legal immigrants; develop programs with an emphasis on overcoming language barriers and furthering individual educational needs. We can filter those individuals who have shown sincere intention of achieving citizenship and offering them a fast-tract to becoming legal citizens. For the others: either make an effort to be good citizens or face deportation. Does this equate to the so-called "amnesty" approach? I don't know, but my experience with immigrants has been that they are not criminals. They want a better life and we should do everything we can to assist them in achieving their dream. Otherwise, maybe we should tear down the Statue of Liberty

Posted by charlesclarknovels at 5:15 PM 0 comments

Subscr

Healthcare System Overhaul

I support Senator Obama for president because of his realistic and reasonable views of the important issues of today: the Iraq war, education, economy, human rights, and healthcare to name a few. My interest is in healthcare inasmuch as I have been involved in both primary care and in medical management for over four decades.

Sadly, I have seen the deterioration of health care in this country--the erosion of quality, the abuse of the reimbursement system, the decay of integrity throughout the provider community, and the escalating costs from medically unnecessary utilization of services

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My heart goes out to those individuals who are turned away because of their inability to pay. Sure, they can flock to emergency rooms where, unless they present with a life-threatening condition, they receive only cursory evaluations, become indebted from the unreasonable charges, and are sent away with no hope of receiving adequate follow-up care.

Our healthcare system needs drastic reforms, and it is possible if we deny reimbursement for medically unnecessary surgical procedures and medically unnecessary diagnostics (laboratory, x-ray, nuclear imaging, etc.) And deny reimbursement to providers who self-refer to facilities in which they have a financial interest.

The dollars expended for health care today are more than adequate to provide care for every single person in the United States if those dollars are allocated appropriately.

I am convinced that Senator Barack Obama will back and endorse strenuous measures to reform healthcare and maitain the premise that healthcare is a right.

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Deportation Threat Spin-off

An Associated Press article in the Corpus Christi Caller today tells the story of immigrant parents taking their children out of Irving, Texas schools over fears that they will be deported. There is concern by the Irving School District that those parents will not enroll their children anywhere now because of fear. Irving police have turned over 1600 people to immigration officials since the crack-down on immigrants started last year.

It's hard for me to comprehend such a blatant disregard for immigrant's efforts to afford their children opportunity for education. These are parents who should be offered a fast-track to citizenship even if they are here illegally. These are parents who have already shown that they can be assimilated into communities and can contribute to our culture.

Is this same scenario being repeated all over the country? If so,our global reputation for being a nation of compassion that shows the highest respect for human dignity and human rights is being eroded to a dangerous degree.   

CHIPS

The furor over the president's veto of the CHIPS legislation passed by Congress grows in intensity daily. Imagine deniying healthcare to children! The CHIPS bill is another example of multiple proposed measures to protect the health of residents of the country without the least concern over the cost and the medical necessity for those healthcare services. Unless you read carefully to see who the CHIPS bill would protect, you are lead to believe that millions of children would suffer or die for lack of health care. Doesn't Medicaid protect the children of indigent parents? CHIPS raises the eligibility for health related services for children of parents whose income is up to $80,000 at a cost of an estimated cost of $34 billion.

Sure, children need to be protected, but so does everyone in this nation. One of the pressing problems in our healthcare system is the millions who are not protected by any insurance coverage. That should be the first priority. That need is real and requires no debate.    

Universal Health Care

I have reproduced here a blog that I submitted recently in response to a negative article on Universal Health Care . Some might find it abrasive, but I stand by my opinion.

charlesclarknovels  

September 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

First, I disagree with the statement that Universal Health Care is not a right and that it is not feasible.

As you said: "put the tax dollars in a pot and distribute it to care for the sick." We are putting money in the pot, but it is not being distributed where it is needed. Much of it is going to pay for unnecessary surgical procedures; for unnecessary diagnostics; for inappropriate utilization of both inpatient and outpatient services; for the cost of complications from poorly managed diabetes; from medication errors; and from self referrals by physicianproviders to their owned facilities (hospitals, day surgery units, imaging centers, laboratories, unregulated home health agencies). Unless providers are held accountable for over-budget expenditures, there will never be enough dollars to go around.

Our present deplorable system - that leaves millions of people uncared for - does not measure up when we look at both cost and outcome. It  is not going to improve until we face the fact that we have to look at the root cause and take corrective action.

As you stated: the Declaration of Independence guarantees life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. If you talk to some of the people in this nation who are destined to lose their lives from lack of availability of appropriate, quality healthcare, what do you think their answer will be about the guarantee of life? And liberty...? They are shackled financially to an extent that almost equals being confined to prison. And I don’t expect that you would find much happiness among them.

Get your head out of the sand and face reality. Read:  Dark Side Hospital, Suit Up in Scrubs, and CODE PINK! for a different perspective of our healthcare system.

http://www.charlesclarknovels.com/