Breaking Bad

I have lots of time on my hands waiting for my new knee to heal enough to allow me to get out and about.  I've been reading and thinking, playing my guitar, and watching TV.  Actually, I'm watching Netflix TV shows on my laptop.  I'm about 10 episodes into Breaking Bad, which I never got around to on regular TV.  For those of you who are not familiar with the show, it's main character is a high school chemistry teacher, who upon discovering that he has lung cancer, begins a second career of making Methamphetamine to pay for his treatments, and to provide for his family after his demise.  It's a really good show, gritty and seemingly realistic, and it allows me to segue into what I really want to talk about, which is health care.

I've heard a good deal of talk about an article in Time Magazine by Stephen Brill entitled "Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us".  This article came out in the March 4, 2013 edition of the magazine, and is a long 38 page expos'e of hospital costs.  The article follows the experiences of six patients faced with understanding and coping with their medical bills.  Stephen Brill certainly deserves a Pulitzer Prise for his work on this article, and the article should be a must read for everyone in the country.  I urge you to find a copy, read it, and pass it on to someone else.

The article exposes the absolute evil of hospital chains like the one here in our town, which, while providing good health care on the one hand, is administratively bent on wringing every penny possible out of each and every patient with the other.  This system is not free market based, it is out and out extortion.

Surprisingly, while exposing the medical care industrial complex, the article provides the best explanation I  have ever seen of how well Medicare works , and how it can be improved.  The article would be  well worth  reading just for it's insight into medicare.

After reading the article, you might understand how a show like "Breaking Bad" could almost be true.