FeedIntermediate
Wednesday, July 18 2007
I am not in a full blog mode at the moment. During the day, a thought of blog post pop ups and then it fades away.
It is a strange mix with being busy of everyday things and nothing exciting happening.
Our new apartment is soon(-ish) in order, finally getting the furniture and sorting the place out. The moving boxes are just, well, dull and we have had them around for several months. This place is getting nicer 
There was some unforeseen moving out expense, like we got slammed with a expense for 6 hours painting the wall. WTF? I think that came after I went down and talked to the manager about not-mentioned carpet cleaning expense. *Ugh* so glad to be out that place now.
Also, an hour a day goes to watch UK’s Big Brother – this is another super good year. I saw a few episodes of the US version, and that was baaaaad. I can see why that show is not big here. UK: extrovert nutcases US: scheming players
Last week, I saw Sicko. I had whole blog post in my head but … but anyway, my take is that the US system has forgotten all about the human care. Like volunteers in 11 Sept aftermath not getting the proper health care – absolutely no excuse for that kind of treatment. This film is more then not-suitable health system, it is also showing the official representation of the US’s ‘enemies’. The film scratches the surface and the baddies are not 100% bad as they made out to be. Who gains from that? It is a film worth watching.
I have also seen Bruce Will’s film Live Free or Die hard and learned a new expression “Jumping the shark” when Mr Hero is walking on a flying F15. Good action film, though
In the intermediate, I still do some twittering.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:26
Don’t forget though Lizzie,The UK National Health System is not perfect.
This last few years, an orginisation ( quango )called NICE ( National Institute for Clinical Excellence)has dictated just who can be treated for what!, and it is all about saving money, than treating people in need.
How shocking some of their decisions are,
Let old people go blind in one eye before commencing treatment.
Refusing hip transplants on the basis that an old person doesn’t have long to live anyway, so surgery would just be a waste of money.
Refusing treatment for the early stages of Altzheimers disease, again to save money.
Refusing treatment to people who are overweight, or who smoke.
These self-righteous decision makers have a lot to answer for!!
July 20th, 2007 at 17:38
With all the problems we have in the UK, it is so much worse here in the US. In the UK, you don’t have to get the insurance companies pre-approval for any medical aid nor will you get rejected for emergency aid either. The US’s hospitals are profit-making as is the insurance companies.
Certain chronic diseases, if not recognized by the American Medical board, will go untreated and uncovered, like lyme disease.
If you get an procedure covered for by the insurance companies, it can be revoked if the insurance companies find something wrong -small or big, related or unrelated – in the application form.
We are looking to get some insurance, and the amounts are around $200 per month to get some sort of decent cover. However, the co-dependent charges might only be covered by 60% … and since the hospitals are profit making they will do their utmost to charge the patient as much as possible.
Also, in an emergency, we might not be able to go to the closest hospital and have to go to a designated hospital by our insurance company. This can take time, unnecessary in my view, and life might be at stake at the extra taken.