On Lawsuits and Healthcare

I heard this week that a women in Carmel, Indiana has filed a class action lawsuit against Toyota because she is afraid to drive her Prius it might go out of control. This may be the first case in history of somebody suing for what might happen and not what actually did happen. On the upside this may open up a whole new door of income opportunities for those of us on the bottom of the economic totem pole.

I have already started compiling my list of those I can sue. I think it is time to reopen the case against McDonald's and their hot coffee because each time I go in there I am scared someone else will spill it on me and I will get burned. There is an endless list of drivers who pass me each time I want to cross a busy street and am frozen with fear they might swerve onto the sidewalk and make me tomorrow's road kill. And as summer approaches I am agonized every day in anticipation of the distress to be caused by the ice cream headache I am sure to get with my next Blizzard from DQ.

Seriously this case should be dismissed before the ink dries and the lawyer should be taken outside and summarily shot on the town hall lawn.

While we are talking about stupidity, this is it. President Obama has called for an up or down vote on the biggest entitlement legislation in American History before the end of the week. First he wasn't going to delay his trip to Asia and now he is. All so he can help politic to wreck the world's greatest health care system. Yes, I feel extremely sorry for those whose insurance is expensive or whose medical bills are out of control. Being self employed I know insurance is outrageous. We just had to switch ours and to get something affordable we had to settle for a ten thousand dollar deductible. As long as we don't have any problems this will be great as we were able to settle in at just over four hundred dollars a month for a family of 4.

However, blaming insurance companies for making less then a 4% profit is not the answer. Most people who have IRA, Mutual Funds or other retirement packages have some investment in these companies. They just probably don't know it. Would you be willing to accept less then a 4% return on your investment if you owned a business? I don't think so. Instead we need to be looking at why health care is so expensive.

We prohibited drug companies from sending promotional items to doctors but let them advertise unlimited amounts on TV. How much less expensive do you think Viagra would be if they didn't spend millions on commercials and print advertising just so we would go to our doctors and demand our little blue pills.

Additionally, any doctor will tell you the biggest over head expense they have is malpractice insurance in case they accidentally put 6 stitches in instead of 5 and the lady from Carmel sues them for emotional distress because her scar is too big. They also have to perform 4 times the number of tests to cover there rear in case somebody sues. Yes I do think gross negligence should be punished. A drunk doctor should lose his license and the people he damages should get justice. However, in this sue crazy country we are feeding injury lawyers more then we are helping people. Do you think Doc Baker in Walnut Grove had to worry about malpractice insurance? Just watch TV any night and you will see the lawyers advertising for people who have had "complications" from any number of drugs and sometimes they even combine 5 or 6 drugs into the same commercial.

Do you want healthcare reform? Then lets stop blaming insurance and trying to get the Government involved in providing it and instead lets attack the areas that actual cost money.

Teaching!

Here I sit in a hotel room in New Albany watching what has somehow or another become appointment television in NCIS. It is extremely sad when you rush around to leave home just so you can make it to the hotel to watch a television show but this is my life. Grab a piece of sanity and hang on to. I am here tonight because tomorrow I have the pleasure of doing what I truly love to do in teaching adults. Our topic for tomorrow is using the DiSC Personality system to become a better leader. It is the first of four sessions for future leaders at Floyd Memorial Hospital.

Now don’t get me wrong there is certain rushes when you close a sale or find a solution for a customer but nothing really matches seeing the proverbial light bulb go off above the heads of engaged students. Little did I know when I spent four years muddling through the IU School of Education in my pursuit of teaching US History that my real calling was teaching to adults? Of course had I paid any attention in High School I probably would have realized just how few seventeen year olds qualify as an engaged student (except of course the pregnant few in a rush to find love and happiness with a zit faced and perpetually horny classmate.)

So, here I am a couple of hundred of miles away from home working one of my, count em, four jobs yet still quite content. Although I never enjoy being away from the family and especially sleeping in a separate bed from my fantastic wife it is good to know that God is giving me a chance to use my talents and also earn a few bugs and continue to climb out the financial hole that is now my life.

Life is GOOD!