" ON THE WAY TO SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, WE'VE STOPPED OFF BRIEFLY AT HMOS"

I quoted that Insurance executive in an article I wrote for a regional business magazine in Phoenix about 30 years ago.
     It took me that long to find out - he was right. As a free-lance reporter for a half dozen business magazines and feature publications in the four state area, I wrote and followed up on trends like this one. Strangely, I would live long enough to suffer under the consequences of his predictions.
     We are currently being nagged to death about "HEALTH CARE' at the Federal Level. PAY ATTENTION, FOLKS.  As a young adult, I remember a visit to a family doctor cared for my young wife, talked with us for a half hour, implanted a Lanteen Cap, (you figure it out) chatted some more about the 1918 flu and pocketed the $10 fee he charged.
      Today, the HMO I belong to shuffles me off to a Nurse Practitioner (plays at Doctor) who takes no chances, refers out to "expert MDs" who can, and that is like pulling horse teeth, while telling me that I don't have something, not that I do.
       The real Docs are stretched so  thin, they dump  routine stuff on the nurses (ear wax, sore throats, minor cuts and abrasions, skinned egos, etc) and I find, as a result, the NPR - the lady Nurses subbing for the docs, are overwhelmed.
        They say they work 13 hours a day, are given their own assistants and their next door offices are filled with people who last names are " Narwal, Deepa, Castenada, and Yongho."  More girls than guys are in college today, population trends are down in the USA, there are no masses of kids in our streets anymore, but our ladies are active, trying to get a better education, better future.
         We are importing more foreign doctors, so look for the stranger in your future. And LONGER WAIT TIMES, both for appointments and in their office. PS, ever wonder why Canadians come down here for medical treatment? If we keep this HMO/Socialized medicine March toward the sea going, we may go north. They sometimes have to list their appointments 8 or 9 months in advance.
          Let's hope our new foreign doctors learn English real, faster and " better-ist."
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