Category Archives: General Cynicism

1. How can you convince these people that global warming is a threat. Their view is that global warming, and everything else, is god’s will.

That’s probably 30% of the opposition to trying to control global warming.

2. Another 30% of the opposition comes from financial concerns. Fixing global warming will hurt their bottom line and cost them money so they oppose.

3. A third group is simply politically motivated. If there is possible political gain they will oppose anything, just on that basis. Damn the facts, it’s politics as usual.

4. The last and perhaps most damning group is the “it’s a conspiracy” crowd. Who simply don’t believe what’s happening in spite of clear documentation. They buy disinformation, believe there is a conspiracy to take their “freedom” to do whatever they please. They are the rebirth of the Know Nothing movement and believe in American exceptionalism. We should be able to do what we want because of who we are. How do you argue against “it’s my birthright”? It’s not!!

Medicynical note: How does this relate to health care? These is great overlap between the groups opposing the notion of global warming and those opposing health care reform.

More here in this worldwide editorial

The Catholic Church likes to lecture on morality and thinks for some reason that abortion in any form is immoral, even in cases of incest and rape. Rather than lecture others they need to review their own sordid history. As noted here:

• “ROMAN Catholic archbishops in Dublin obsessively covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests until the mid-1990s, a report commissioned by the Irish government and released today found. ”
• “One priest admitted abusing more than 100 children. Another said he had abused children every two weeks for more than 25 years, it said.”
• “All archbishops in charge over the 1975-2004 period covered by the inquiry were aware of some complaints and the archdiocese was pre-occupied with protecting the reputation of the Church over and above protecting children’s welfare, the report said.”

Medicyical note: Religious hypocrisy is not an oxymoron.

This from McClatchy (Seattle Times). More in the NEJM here.

Note the increase in prescription spending between 1999 and 2009; their excess profits; and contributions to political campaigns.

Drug companies spend more on marketing and advertising than research the result is price increases:

• “By the end of 2005, the cost to taxpayers for a Plavix prescription filled by a Medicaid patient rose 25 percent beyond the more modest rate of inflation that would have been expected before advertising began.”

Medicynical Note: Only the U.S. and New Zealand allow such ads. They should be stopped as they are misleading and costly. Alternatively, advertisers should disclose all side effects and costs/month of the medication along with a standardized disclosure of efficacy and the fact that alternative approaches are available.

In a world that by nature favors fact over fiction we are showing signs of a nervous breakdown. It’s not enough to be assaulted with a recently retired policitian’s inarticulate ignorance about health care but we also have to deal with the notion of pay for prayer.

• “She doesn’t see most of the patients she treats. That isn’t necessary, she said, for her prayers to be effective.”
• “Each prayer is a cerebral search for resolution to the patient’s problem. And the answer often comes in the form of an idea or feeling: “God is here,” “God is life,” “We are created in God’s perfect image.”

Medicynical Note: Is it Christian to charge for prayer? Would you think that prayers that you pay for are more effective than free ones?

In nearby Seattle Swedish Hospital, the largest private hospital system in the area is in a dispute with Regence Blue Cross. Without getting into who’s right or wrong consider the magnitude of rate increases:

• “According to Regence, Swedish is seeking rate increases totaling 32 percent (Medicynical emphasis) over three years. That’s nearly double the rate increases that it has received in recent years and more than the rate of health-care inflation, said Rachelle Cunningham, a spokeswoman for Regence.”
  

Medicynical Note: In near depression times health care cost increases march on. Note that while Swedish’s increases are excessive, health care costs are increasing across the board in the range of 10%/year.

Providers are unwilling to become efficient; insurers lack leverage and motivation to control costs; and suppliers (PhARMA and other patent holders) continue to overcharge for their advances. In the end we all pay.

Health care is a business, that’s the way we appear to want it. One of the consequences is that if you don’t have the money you don’t get the care.