Comments on: Fear and Loathing In Las Healthcare

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:50:35 +0000

Loved reading the article and all the comments! We must take the good with the bad unfortunately. Luckily it looks as though some of our government leaders are coming together regardless of party affiliation to address this issue. Thanks for this post!

By: Fred H. Schlegel

Fred H. Schlegel — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:06:25 +0000

Hi Bill, I’m hoping to chime in as we go forward, but I’m still feeling a bit like a ping pong ball. My Capitalistic tendencies are struggling with my concerns that the system is devastating as many lives as it is helping. I would love to see a system that improves competition and care but the transition to that could be horrifying.

By: Terry Heath

Terry Heath — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:24:51 +0000

As well you should.
.-= Terry Heath´s last blog ..Hardboiled Crime Fiction =-.

By: Rick Hamrick

Rick Hamrick — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:23:59 +0000

Fred–I was less interested in solutions than I was in framing the issue not only with what we fear will come about, but also with what we envision as our hopes for the reform.

Fears often result in irrationally expressed opinions which still have, at their core, an important message for those in charge.

Hopes often result in unrealistic expectations, yet they offer a balance to the fear-based concerns and need to be aired so that those in charge are helped toward perspective.

So, no solutions! It is too soon. Instead, let’s complete a framework which balances what we fear with our dreams. It offers a far better starting point to begin constructing proposed solutions than do fears alone.

Thanks, Fred!
.-= Rick Hamrick´s last blog ..Staying is okay, too =-.

By: Fred H. Schlegel

Fred H. Schlegel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:15:21 +0000

And that I take as high complement from one such as yourself. Thank you.

By: Fred H. Schlegel

Fred H. Schlegel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:14:53 +0000

Ah Terry, I didn’t mean to depress. And you’re not alone in your situation. I think movement on healthcare has started simply because so many of us are realizing how easy it is to be stripped of the basics. When care works in our society it works very well. When it doesn’t it really doesn’t. Seems that a flip of the coin mentality towards a system so basic is not the way one would design it from scratch. There is something very primal about our emotions concerning health that are not dealt with well when talking about cost savings and allocating care. Thank you for sharing such a personal picture here.

By: Fred H. Schlegel

Fred H. Schlegel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:54:07 +0000

Hi J.D., The value of opinion leaders is so high and so effective that it’s easy to overlook what happens when they get to work. Ben Franklin was the master at this. Ideas for needed services would come up in various organizations that he participated in — kind of men’s clubs if I’m remembering correctly. He would encourage the idea without seeming to control the idea. Call for its implementation under various pseudonyms in his papers. Work behind the scenes and ‘tada’ you end up with libraries, fire departments and post offices. While he was a genius at creating inventions that sold in the free market, he was also quite happy to utilize other means for services that didn’t fit so nicely into the evolving capitalist system. Good point and I think a think tank could be productive.

By: Fred H. Schlegel

Fred H. Schlegel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:24:23 +0000

Hi Rick, Fair point. Before offering solutions, my thinking was to see if anybody else was trying to understand the problems we face from the same perspective as I am. Truth is there are solutions galore being presented and all will probably fix various problems that folks are focused on. I’m just not sure we’re all talking about the same things and in some cases that means your solution might exacerbate my problem. I find defining the question being asked sometimes takes me a long way towards structuring a solution that balances competing interests hopefully in a win-win scenario. You seem to agree to a certain extent with the problems outlined, so in the next post we’ll solve the worlds problems! Thanks for adding to the conversation Rick, I appreciate your contribution.

By: Bill Welter

Bill Welter — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:58:46 +0000

Fred,
Your “four fears” brings the message home for me. And, like Rick above, I’d love to hear your ideas. Keep ruminating — your thinking helps me think.
Bill

By: Terry Heath

Terry Heath — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:12:36 +0000

By the way, Fred.

Maybe it was the cold medicine, but your writing has taken on a very Raymond Chandler tone. Perhaps you should try your hand at writing hard-boiled crime fiction a la “The Maltese Falcon.”
.-= Terry Heath´s last blog ..Two Ways to Laugh, Two Ways to Live =-.