The US Medical System -- Knee Replacement

In the USA, the average cost of a knee replacement procedure is $57,000.
In Germany it is $24,000  (Free for German citizens)
In Taiwanese hospitals supervised by the  Joint Commission International (JCI) it is $11,000.

Any justification other than "we screw them because we can"?

The sight of a needle about to pierce the skin sends shivers down many backs, enough to prevent them from going for a medical treatment, enough to block their minds from considering blood donation. According to Red Cross statistics, a mere 3% of US citizens have ever donated blood, a much lower rate than in most of Europe, and a real problem for the blood bank here in the US.

Donating blood was a regular part of my life. Since I was a teenager, I would donate blood twice a year. I the many countries I lived in, the process was nearly identical: step into a station nearby, fill in a quick questionnaire, get your arm stung, and be out with a cup of juice and a cookie in no more than half an hour. US has been the exception. Despite the big 'We need your blood' posters, the pleas and the expensive advertising campaign, donating blood in the US remained an ordeal.

When I first arrived here I thought of continuing my donation tradition and sought a place to donate. The station nearest to my place was too far to be convenient; the station nearest to my work, had inconvenient operation schedule. And when I once drove past a blood donation bus and stepped in, even though there was only a single person waiting, I was asked to arrange an appointment and come back another time. I never did.

But,as the say goes, if Mohammad is prevented from going to the mountain, the mountain will eventually come to Mohammad. After long advertising campaign, posters and emails, the Red Cross came to our office. They were not very popular, and the line was short. So, with a questionnaire in my hand, I waited for my turn.

Unlike any short blood donation questionnaire I had ever filled in, this one had seventy questions. They wanted to know if anyone I had sex with had ever used a needle (as if I'd know). They asked if, since 1977 I had ever taken money, or other payment for sex. (As if it matters). They could not answer if my wife's dinners and a nice bottle of wine should be considered 'other payment'.

But this was not the reason I failed their test. I failed because in the past 10 years I have spent more than three months in the UK, which made me a possible carrier of mad cow disease.

Next week they are coming again to my office. This time, there will be one less person in the already short line.

The solution for hard work

"If you are tired after working irregular hours, go to your Dr. You may be suffering from a shift-work syndrome."

This was an ad I heard on the radio, and I immediately went to the clinic and said: “Doctor I really feel tired. Do you have something for long working hours?”

The kind doctor, scribbled a prescription, and after a hefty co-pay bill, I am now the proud owner of green and yellow pills, that their cheaper version, bought on the street corner, would have put me in jail.

In a country that prescription drugs cost 100 times more than in any other country, can pharmaceutical companies afford not to creatively invent new diseases?

In a country where people spend the most on medical insurance, and yet, pay more for treatments than in countries without insurance, can insurance companies afford not to make us worry about health , and then sell us insurance for drugs against worrying?

In a country that does not believe that health is basic human rights, and yet spends the most per person on public medicine, our children’s lives are predicted to be shorter than ours. This is the first time it happens since the industrial revolution.

In a country that money is everything, can we stop buying health, and start living healthy life, that can achieved so cheaply.

But this is not good for the companies. And whatever is not good for companies is not good for us, and will not happen. Not in our America 2010.

American Tomatoes

Do you know what a cucumber or a tomato tastes like? This may sound like a silly question, but with the way our diet evolves, and the contemporary food industry manufactures food, many Americans have no idea what a vegetable tastes like.

Many Americans, as well as their counterparts in the developed world, have never tasted a real tomato, a cucumber or a strawberry. For many, the only encounters with vegetables have been through an industrial mock-up food, which advertising presents as the real thing.

As kids, a tomato with a slice of bread would have been a wonderful part of our diet. Sometimes, with just a little more on the side, it would make an entire meal – and a good one as well. I can still recall biting into a ripe tomato with a pinch of salt spread on it, and long forgotten tastes and aromas feel my watering mouth, as if it were the best dessert I was fantasizing about.

The tomatoes of my childhood looked nothing like those we buy today. They came in odd shapes with lumps and bumps, and could have any variation of red, yellow and green. No two tomatoes looked the same. As fruit and vegetables had short shelf life, we had to eat them within a few days. So we made them a major part of our diet, and together with all other vegetables and fruit, ate them with every meal, and between meals. They were our diet, and when we were hungry we simply opened the fridge, found a vegetable or a fruit we liked and snacked.

But these days have gone. Farming has long been replaced by manufacturing, and tastes and flavours have disappeared from our diet in favour of shelf life, color and shape. After all, it’s not the taste but the form that you see on TV, and it’s not the aroma but the color that you see through the plastic bags that separate you, the shopper, from what you buy.

While some still reminiscence of the days were our diet was full of flavour, recent generations only knows the tasteless produce they grew up with, and mistake them for the real thing. No wonder that children nowadays relate healthy to tasteless. No wonder that parents promise a treat to ‘good kids’ who eat this hated food.

By creating produce that is easy to advertise on TV, easy to store, easy to ship, we have created a corporate heaven. But what is the price we pay?

The obvious price is obesity and our health. Fruit and vegetables are hardly considered a normal part of our diet anymore, but rather a medicine one must swallow to keep healthy. But this is only part of the picture. The more subtle price is of us losing our judgment and ability to discriminate. So now, instead of manufacturers competing to satisfy our taste in food, they fight to change our taste to fit their manufacturing.

If this trend continues, we will all end up eating artificially shaped and flavoured lab-manufactured protein. Is this is the world we want our children to inherit?

Don't let them fool you!

One of the banners that seems to appear constantly in this blog space, is a survey by Newsmax.com about Obama’s healthcare plan. This is a wonderful example of how surveys can be misleading, conducted in a way that guarantees, from the beginning, that the conclusion will reflect the original opinion of the survey holder. It is obvious that Newsmax.com does not like Obama nor his healthcare plan, and uses the survey to ‘prove’ their dislike. Let’s take two questions as examples: 

Do you believe the Democratic health plan should include 45 million uninsured, including illegal aliens? 

· Yes, should include 45 million. 

· No, should not. 

Do you believe Obama’s health care plan is too expensive? 

· Yes 

· No 

Note that the first question deliberately adds the illegal immigrants as an emotional deterrent. How many of these 45 millions without healthcare insurance are illegal immigrants? Is it a big enough population to justify stopping the plan? And what happens if I support everyone but the illegal immigrants to have healthcare insurance? Whatever your view is, you are given no choice. Either you support the healthcare insurance for illegal immigrant, or you do not support Obama’s plan. 

The second question is also misleading. Do you really expect the average American, who can barely run his or her own household budget, estimate if a national plan is too expensive? How informed can any answer like this be. 

So when you read the result of any survey keep an open mind. Often what the survey tells you, has nothing to do with reality, it’s only a smart way to express someone’s opinion as if it were the public’s. 

They are the masters of crafting and manipulating public opinion, and they don’t think of YOU when they do it. So never let them full you. Think for yourself.