rip cord

It's been so long since I've bought a set of scrubs I didn't realize that one of the newer style is parachute pants that will pull up over your shoes and not drag on the floor. Eureka! It's every short person's dream. The folks at work actually had to show me how to do the cord thingy. I've ruined the hems of every pair I've ever had that wasn't super short dragging through the mud to get to my car. You know the one...the trusty old Camry that's approaching the 100K mark. With three windows. And one hubcap. And four used tires. I sure hope I don't have to haul ass to the airport or something because I'd have to hire a cab!

As I was returning the mower to my brother's care, I noticed a couple of Joey's guys picking up chunks and tossing them into the back of a huge truck. The landfill is right across the road so there ya go. My family lived off and on in the house at the end of the road and KY cousin was the first. Of course I lived in town then...go figure. After they left there were some others and then my brother. Now it's just the family, god love 'em, and their penned up bulldogs and special needs kids. One of the dogs named Scrappy got out the other day and they came up here looking for him to take him back to jail. Not cool. Also beyond my scope of changing. As long as the dad stays out of my yard and doesn't blast me out with heavy metal, I can deal with an occasional request from his poor little brainwashed wife. But I don't have to approve of the situation, just saying.

Not bad for a Monday, thank you sweet baby jeebus. We're still on survey alert but who the hell knows anymore. I do know that the trickle down in healthcare is fully impacting the market and only really sick people show up usually. Plus the GOP has everybody convinced that Obamacare is gonna break the bank when in reality? It's just a handing off to the states of the responsibility for the exchanges in order to PRESERVE federal dollars for other things like homeland security and whatnot. That and the Benghazi witch hunt have me just about ready to get a gun myself but I won't. I'd shoot myself in the eye.

You see here's the problem. In my tenure as a healthcare provider I have gone from totally free county paid health insurance to buying my own from a mega-giant insurance company of my company's choice. Historically, CMS is the branch of federal government which sets prices that the government agrees to pay for Medicare recipients. Not just old people, mind you. The disabled. And the slackers who know how to work the system. The industry thrives on people being sick and the cheapest way to care for them, according to insurance companies. Thus the DRG mentality assigning a set price for an admission with a certain diagnosis code. COPD? ESRF? Sound familiar? These are very sick patients whose care can run way above what Medicare sets as a fair price for that particular disease state. There are kickbacks galore, thus the Stark law and others prohibiting healthcare providers from accepting gifts from those with whom they do business. Honey..when every other vendor had their lunches cut, we could always count on good old Big Pharm to cater a meeting or bring doughnuts to a doc's office.

I remember when there was one bill for your entire hospital stay and it was separated out by specialty and the hospital paid a percentage for radiologists and pathologists based on the number of procedures. Now those specialty groups are their own business as well as all the other contract agencies with whom hospitals must agree on for a fee for service. It's insane and unless a patient has someone watching the paper trail, it can get nasty in a hurry. These folks don't play when it comes to payment especially when you're old and feeble and don't know Medicare part D from a hole in the ground. The other problem as I see it is the terrific number of medical malpractice claims and the industry that is fed by that shit. Corey B. Trotz my ass. We make mistakes like everybody else and unless it's negligence, get over it.

I've seen a lot of substance abuse over the years because hey...it's there for the stealing. At least it was prior to the little locked up drug thingy that must pass a count at the beginning and ending of each shift. Whenever somebody counts wrong? Mandatory screening. It's not near the problem that it was in past years but I can tell you that working with the sick and dying will make you weary after so long. Burnout, I think it's called. I even see that as a blessing though because it has given me the opportunity to realize that life is what you make it and somebody always needs an angel.

^j^