In article , Charlie wrote:

Worried Sick: How Vulnerable Are You Really to Heart Attack, Stroke or
Breast Cancer?
By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat
Posted on November 27, 2008, Printed on June 18, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/108867/

Assume that you are a 40-year-old man. What do you think the chances
are that you will die of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10
years? (Please forgive the morbidity of the question; there is a
purpose to this pop quiz.) The answer: just 4 out of 10,000 according
to Drs. Steve Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz, authors of Know Your
Chances. The chances that you will die in an accident before reaching
your 50th birthday are 50 percent higher: 6 out of 10,000.

"Worried Sick: How Vulnerable Are You Really?"
I figure I'm 100% vulnerable, really. When I stop being vulnerable
I'll stop worrying about it. Meantime, it's not too much saturated
fat, stay away from white flour (especially bleached), take the salt off
the table, buy organic when I can, eat 5 servings of fruits and
vegetables every day, and (sigh) seriously cut back on alcoholic
beverages. But then I'm 66 and I just want to push this wreck down the
road a little bit further.

The article sort of sounds like my HMO. "Raise your arms. Turn your
head. How does this feel? Do these exercises. No need for expensive scans
at your age."

Lovey-poo's aunt, 90, hell on wheels, diagnosed with cancer in a 1/3 of
her left lung, is told (by the same HMO that I belong to) that at her
age, the operation could kill her. "Oxen shisten" she replies,
and 5 months later is scabed-up, and just as mean and nasty
as ever.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for cost/benefit considerations, just
not at my cost for their benefit.

http://www.boston.com/news/health/ar...ng_in_the_way_
of_a_doctor8217s_calling/

ELLEN GOODMAN
Getting in the way of a doctor¹s calling
By Ellen Goodman *|* June 19, 2009
THERE WILL BE time to talk about costs and coverage, about public and
private plans, about reasoning and rationing in healthcare reform. So
the president began this week speaking to the workers in the system:
doctors.

At the meeting of the American Medical Association, Barack Obama tackled
the model ³that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession - a
calling - to a business.¹¹ He reminded doctors: ³You didn¹t enter this
profession to become bean counters and paper pushers. You entered this
profession to be healers. And that¹s what our healthcare system should
let you be.¹¹
------

Of course it won't do any good, but write to your Congressional
representatives and tell them we want single-payer health care.
For good measure, you might tell them to screw the insurance companies
while they're at it. Turn about is fair play.
----

If you haven't seen it, see the movie "Sicko" for a superficial
comparison of American health insurance compared with Canada's and
France.
--

- Billy

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who
learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and
find out for themselves.
Will Rogers

http://green-house.tv/video/the-spring-garden-tour
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn