Thursday, September 29, 2011

The USA's DONT-CARE healthcare

Yes, it's amazing. I keep thinking of the inane things this so called professional said....

such as...

When I asked if there might not be community programs to aid the elderly that I was unaware of,
her answer,

"The best thing would be to go through your church...."

My church???!!! And what if I have no church? What if I am either an independent or an atheist?

So church membership is now necessary for medical care?

What kind of insane country is this?

bythe way

In the past I have commented on the fact that Milan Kundera, author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" was unhappy with the film adaptation of his book.
In Květoslav Chvatík's The World of the Novels of Milan Kundera (Svět Románů Milana Kundery), she summarizes the author's complaints:

1. Tomas, the character in the novel is an adult, a surgeon. (Indeed, all of the principal characters in the book are adults.) In the movie, he is a young man, a medical student.

2. In the novel Sabina is an intellectual painter, obsessed with her art. In the film she is changed into a hysterical erotomaniac.

3. In the novel there is a meaningful parallel between the two couples: Tomas-Tereza::Sabina-Franz. This does not exist in the film. Instead, there is merely a traditional lover's triangle.

4. Meditative passages from the novel are eliminated/suppressed ("potlačena") in the film.

5. The philosophical eroticism of the original novel was transformed into conventional pornography in the style of "Playboy".

In addition there have been successful film adaptations of Kundera's works. One characteristic of Kaufmann (in contrast to J. Jires's filming of "The Joke") is that instead of achieving a unique film language of his own, Kaufmann was satisfied with the most common Hollywood commercial phraseology.

The above is largely paraphrase, partially translation from Chvátik. p. 146. Her source is an interview with M. Kundera ("It's not my film") which appeared in "Lidove Noviny" in 1990.

I am not a professional translator or a Slavicist--as will be obvious to professionals. I have taken the time to write the above only because it seems worth making it common knowledge....


The Dog's Breakfast which is In Home Care for the Elderly

In what sense are these people professionals?

Possibly in the context of a FOR PROFIT medical system, "professional" should be a dirty word.

in my experience, genuine human warmth and sympathy (on the whole) diminishes with years of education, elevated pay, and titles....

They guy who gives my guy a shower has more real warmth and sympathy, and is more human than ANY doctor or nurse I have met.

And another feature of this in-home care is the CHAOTIC nature of the visits.

A nurse suddenly phones up one day (and may or may not identify herself) asking for my mother....

AND THEN UNSCHEDULED she shows up and disrupts my life, forces me to engage in a heart-rending discussion about the very real health needs of my parents--EXPLAINING FOR THE N-TH TIME, AGAIN TO A STRANGER who knows nothing....

starting from zero again with an uninvited stranger who calls at a time and a day convenient for her!!!!!

that's rude.

And we are supposed to say what? Thank you?

ON THE CONTRARY, we deserve better, much better.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

a bad situation: The Miserable Situation of In Home Care for the Elderly in the USA

I have now given up my life for more than two years in order to help my parents.
I used to have a job. I used to have friends. And, I even had health insurance.
I used to live in a civilized city where it was possible to rely upon a convenient
and efficient public transport system. My monthly ticket for public transport was about the same as what I currently pay for gas for one week. (Actually it would be more expensive if I were driving to work every day.)[corrected 20 Feb. 2012]

I used to live in a civilized country. Today I do not.

Moreover, I am subjected to the tender mercy of what passes for a "health care system" in the country which spends more on weapons than anybody else, the country which has pioneered the use of nuclear weapons to kill civilians.

Even worse, I must listen to professional "care givers" who come into my home, and intrude upon my privacy, tell me that if I misbehave they will have to report it, make various vacuous comments and generally waste my time.

I am caring for my mother and father--the only mother and father I have. I have sacrificed more than you can imagine and more than these officious nurses or any doctor can imagine, and it is really a case of adding insult to injury when I have to listen to threats.

I shouldn't have to do this. There should be a public system of care for the elderly just as there is a public system of care for children. But, whoops! I forgot where and when this is.

Today the public education system is under attack in the USA.

Every day, in every way, things are getting worse and worse and worse.

There is a real class war, a real revolution--and it is not a socialist revolution, it is a purely
capitalist revolution----by the capitalist class. and the target is ordinary working people.
Everything useful to them, everything that they rely upon (such as Social Security, Medicare, and Public Education) is under attack.

A bad situation, and it is getting worse.......

Post-script from an email to a friend in which I try to explain the situation...


The system I"m up against here is bad, degrading, and insulting. --I mean the so-called system of 'in home'
care. I am getting sick of the sheer number of people who have come trooping through this house...
And I always try to talk to the nurses. I try to speak to them as an equal.....but...
But it's like students who don't come to class or don't study. They listen with one ear, and they have their
own agenda.

And what makes me most angry is that their agenda includes their institutional role which includes overseeing me.
And they hold on to that. No matter what I say. It is exactly like the boss who doesn't care if I have a superior
education or if they cannot do the job I do, they still hold on to that idea of their superiority.


My god! they actually are nurses! They had an education I didn't have, but it is rare enough that it actually translates into any help. The best thing they can do is change a bandage--but that happens rarely enough, and often it's just a lot of hot air.....( so much for their superior medical knowledge; when there's a real problem, they are not here anyway....)---what a pathetic joke. It's really an insult more than anything else....

LET'S BACK UP A MINUTE AND RE-PLAY THAT;

Here is a woman (who I never met before)----and she is the third one in as many months----
who comes into my home to check everything out (and that includes checking me out to see
if I am behaving)....but IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, SHE WON'T BE HERE AND I WILL HAVE
TO DEAL WITH IT.
and, by the way, I am telling her the same story I have already told the other two in the past two months an the other N in the past two years.....I am getting sick and tired of telling the same story to a stranger who is "professionally" (excuse me while I puke) caring.....

Something is wrong with that picture....

Monday, September 26, 2011

a vision

WATER BOARDING IN SUBURBIA


I had a vision of America:

A Man and A Woman,

Mr. and Mrs. America,

fully clothed in red, white and blue.


First, he knelt over her,

then, she knelt over him,

Pouring something down the gullet

of his or her mate,

who waited patiently,

expectantly like a chick about to be fed.


And then I looked at the mixture inside:

Cut Green Grass, Water, and Fertilizer.


I hope they tell the truth:

Many Lawns could be Saved!


Friday, September 23, 2011

draft of a letter-"Estate Recovery"

This is a draft of a letter I may write to the TExas Department of Aging and Disability.
Then again I might not send it...

Let's be quite clear about what's going on here.
My mother and father have worked hard all of their lives.
In my mother's case, she is working hard today.
Despite painful arthritis, a degenerative condition in her spine which makes walking difficult and painful, and despite the tender mercy of doctors who performed an operation on each of her hands (eliminating the pain of carpo-tunnel, but also making her hands virtually useless to perform ordinary tasks like opening a bottle or jar), my mother works every day.
She cooks. She washes. She cleans. And she attends to the needs of my father,
who is eighty-six years old.

And despite a lifetime of work, my mother is not getting the sort of help she needs.
And she will not get the help she needs from you.

Why not?
Because a small, but unfairly privileged group of mostly men, and a few women,
sitting on their asses in Austin, Texas and Washington DC have decided that
my mother and father are too rich to deserve help.

This is obscene. My parents are in no shape to actually pay for the sort of help that they need.

Instead of helping them, the small group of beneficiaries of unearned privilege who call themselves "lawmakers" would rather spend money on foreign wars of aggression and new aggressive technologies. They would rather kill brown people half a world away than help their own citizens right here.....

It makes me want to throw up.

That's what I think of the Texas Department of Aging and Disability.

But it is not your fault--of course. And it's not my mother's fault either---but she is the one who is really suffering from monumental disrespect.....while you are part of a system which makes less than a half-hearted attempt to do what it should do.

But you must follow orders. You should be called the Texas SAD department, not the texas DAD department ---because it is pathetic and sad that you pretend to do what really you never do......
you pretend to help people who need help, while in actuality you help only a small number of people, and even the help you give is probably inadequate.....

sad
disgusting
abominable
intolerable
execrable

Thursday, September 22, 2011

sophisticated theft

There is something called "Estate Recovery" whereby government bill dead people for services they received while elderly, frail, and not working.

I think it may be a form of what David Harvey has called "accumulation by dispossession".

But I am not sure.

I am sure, however, that it is an abuse of state power, and not much more than theft.

More bad words could be use to describe this shameful activity, but I've not got time now.

Official state info cut and pasted below:

Does MERP affect you?

This program will affect only long-term care services you receive after the age of 55 and only if you first apply for these services after March 1, 2005. If you applied for and received these services before March 1, 2005, MERP does not affect you. If you were on an interest list for services before that date but did not complete an application for services until after March 1, 2005, MERP does affect you.

The following services and programs are affected by MERP:

· Nursing Facility Care (nursing homes)

· Intermediate Care Facility for Persons with Mental Retardation (ICF/MR)

· The following Medicaid Waiver Programs:

o Home and Community-based Services (HCS)

o Community Living Assistance and Support Services (CLASS)

o Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities (DBMD) Waiver

o Consolidated Waiver Programs (CWP)

o Community Based Alternatives (CBA)

o STAR+PLUS Waiver (SPW)

o Integrated Care Management Waiver (ICMW)

o Community Attendant Services (CAS)

MERP also affects the costs of certain hospital and prescription drug services you receive. Primary Home Care (PHC) is not affected by MERP.

If you are not sure whether MERP applies to the services you will be receiving, you should ask your Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) case manager. If you are a Medicaid managed care enrollee, you should ask your service coordinator with the health plan from which you receive your services.

Are there any times when the state will not ask for money back?

Yes, the state will not ask for money back after you die if:

· Your spouse is still alive.

· You have a child under age 21.

· You have a child of any age who is blind or permanently and totally disabled.

· Your unmarried adult child lives full-time in your home for at least one year before you die.

· The value of your estate is $10,000 or less.

· The amount of your Medicaid costs was $3,000 or less.

· The cost of selling your property is more than the property is worth.

What happens if I give away or transfer my assets before moving into a nursing home?

Giving away resources for no compensation, or refusing to accept income, or reducing income you could receive before moving into a nursing home may result in:

· a penalty against you for not paying for nursing facility or ICF/MR facility services when you were able to do so, or

· a decision by the state that you are ineligible for waiver program services or state supported living center services.

The state may "look-back" up to 60 months before you applied for nursing home, ICF/MR or waiver services to determine when your income was reduced and resources were transferred. To determine how long you may be penalized (or prevented from receiving nursing home care paid for by Medicaid), the state will divide the value of your transferred assets by the average cost of nursing home care paid for by a private-pay patient. The state will calculate the penalty period in terms of how long ago you transferred assets and how long you refused to accept income or reduced your income.

How can I get more information on Medicaid estate recovery?

For more detailed information on this program, call the agency’s toll-free number at 1-800-641-9356. This line is answered from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Voicemail is available 24 hours a day.

You may also e-mail your questions to merp@dads.state.tx.us.

You may also visit the DADS website at:
www.dads.state.tx.us/services/estate_recovery/.

I have received and understand the information about MERP.

My trials and tribulations with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability

I have just sent the following email:

Hello XXXX,
Thanks for writing so promptly.

Unfortunately, what you have written/what you say you remember is inaccurate.
My parents do not receive Medicaid.
Note: you have written:
.....from what I remember your parents were receiving Medicaid ...

That was cut and pasted from your message below.
Your words above--cut and pasted from the message below--are not true.
My parents are NOT receiving Medicaid.

So, once again the question becomes: Is there something like "Estate Recovery" for Medicaid?(correction: should read : Medicare)
(You could answer that "yes" or "no"--couldn't you? I mean without sending me a bunch of attachments?)

A second, related but different point.

Someone in your office spoke to my mother on the telephone.
Although I did not hear the conversation, I do know what message was
communicated to my mother.

My mother was told something like the following--a remark in defense of "Estate Recovery":

It makes sense to have "Estate Recovery" because it's like a credit card... you pay it back...

I have written to you before about Estate Recovery.
I believe it is nothing but an abuse of state power.
but forget that for now....

What is Social Security? Social Security is not a credit card. It is not about borrowing money.
IT is an insurance system.
Young healthy people pay into the system when they are working.
When they are older and can no longer work, they get paid back in the form of assistance.

Social Insurance (Social Security is a form of Insurance) is not a credit card.

If anybody should be paying back, it should be DADS or the Social Security System,
but not my parents.

Please share this point with your colleagues. It is in fact shameful that anyone involved
with Social Security should fail to understand the most basic facts about what it is!

If you don't believe me, look at the article in Wikipedia about Medicare.
There is a pretty clear explanation of this point.

My parents continue to need more help than they are receiving.
So, one day I or they may need to contact you again.

In the meantime, I hope that you will read and understand what I have written.

Very best wishes,
Mark Lovas

Monday, September 19, 2011

fragment of a conversation

(context: I had said to a friend that I find work degrading. He was surprised. He said--roughly--but Leftists--and yes I am a Leftist---are supposed to think that work gives a person dignity. My brief answer is that work should give us dignity, but under capitalism it rarely does. Below I go into detail about my personal experiences.....)

--only one example--but I could find more... When I worked at Institute CEF, for the first six months or so, I was scrupulous about arriving early for my lessons--even when I lived in Bratislava and had to travel for more than an hour. However, I soon found that it did not always pay to arrive fifteen minutes early, say to Uniqua. Often the classrooms were occupied when I arrived, and so I was forced to wait out in the hall. That meant that I could not do any sort of preparation or arranging of papers anyway. Nevertheless, I do find, in general, it is useful to be a bit early. But I am smart enough to know that sometimes, when I've got a good idea of what I am going to do, and am well prepared, it is really not necessary to arrive fifteen minutes early. Five minutes or less will do. Moreover, often students are late, and some classes were always predictably late. Now, when I was planning to return to the USA on account of my father's health I had a conversation with the manager at CEF. It went something like this. I told her that since she did not pay teachers for anything outside of the exact teaching time, she could not, strictly speaking or legally speaking, require teachers to be fifteen minutes early. She became outraged. Her attitude could be expressed in English by saying: How dare you say such a thing? In fact, what she said was: If I knew you thought like that I would have never hired you. In other words, if I knew that you had the ability to think about whether my rules and commands are fair or right, I would never have hired you....That is insulting, demagogic, fascistic or totalitarian....and it is insulting. But that is what one must endure in order to have a job.

And, now that I'm thinking about it: There is a further question about the money which was taken out of my paycheck, ostensibly for "taxes". I wonder if it was actually paid to the state. I never say any documentation verifying that it had wound up in the right place.....This is a doubt in my mind which is not in any way conclusive. However such things have been known to happen as that money does not wind up where it is supposed to....

LINK:

Saturday, September 17, 2011

to my older sister

To my dear, sweet, older sister:

In this house I see a good deal of chaos,
at least forty years of accumulated junk:
mail saved for no clear purpose--but only, just in case--
bottles and jars that serve no obvious function,
a surfeit of clothing,
typewriters which have not been used for a good twenty years,
and other miscellaneous items,
all of which apparently have sentimental value for our parents.
--And all that is just inside the house:
Let's not talk about the miscellaneous pieces of wood,
painted and unpainted,
rotting and not,
defective machine parts,
and other junk,
that our father has been saving outside,
because he hates to throw anything away.
(Thank god his bathroom habits are an exception to the rule,
although he does enjoy gazing German-style into the toilet bowl,
in order to survey his accomplishments there,
bidding farewell to the products of his healthy digestive system.)


And you expect me, somehow, to bring order into this mess?!

I think that perhaps you don't understand that our parents are mostly happy about the things they have saved, and are in no hurry--whatever they may happen to say (actions speak louder than words)--to get rid of anything.....

I wanted to say that you are mad, insane, verrückt, šiši, loca....

But let's imagine you mean it as a compliment.

Well, flattery is not appropriate here.

So, maybe you should reconsider...

After all, I really am not Hercules.

groundless speculation and an observation

The language spoken around me--in eptx, in tx, and in the usa--is not my own.

The sentences and half-sentences I hear are like bushes with thorns and odd-shaped fruit.
I recognize the outline as that of a thought/bush, but so much of what I see/hear is
strange to me and resonates like an out of tune guitar.

A question I can't answer is: how much of this weird language is generated top-down?
How much is generated by the needs of people? How much is imposed by those
at the top of the social hierarchy? That the situation is complicated is shown by
sociolinguistic studies which have suggested that teenage women play an important role
in influencing the language of their peers.

At any rate, Chomsky seems spot on when he suggests that the term "special interests", in political discussions, is used precisely to refer to people without power......

What particularly troubled the Trilateral scholars was the “excess of democracy” during the time of troubles, the 1960s, when normally passive and apathetic parts of the population entered the political arena to advance their concerns: minorities, women, the young, the old, working people . . . in short, the population, sometimes called the “special interests.” They are to be distinguished from those whom Adam Smith called the “masters of mankind,” who are “the principal architects” of government policy and pursue their “vile maxim”: “All for ourselves and nothing for other people.” The role of the masters in the political arena is not deplored, or discussed, in the Trilateral volume, presumably because the masters represent “the national interest,” like those who applauded themselves for leading the country to war “after the utmost deliberation by the more thoughtful members of the community” had reached its “moral verdict.


Thanks to Professor Leiter for drawing my attention to this essay.

Friday, September 16, 2011

USPS

The United States Postal Service is in trouble? Because of the internet?

Solution: Make mail delivery and the Internet a Public Utility--a Monopoly...

Then make the internet available for free at all post offices....

The internet should never have been placed in private hands. It was created with public money.

The internet and mail service are too important to be turned over to the madness of the
capitalist system...

(so, too health care...)

Recommended Reading:
Link: "Death on the Job at UPS"

Thursday, September 15, 2011

middle-class theology

Saint Peter said,
"And did you keep your lawn tidy?--Did you exhaust the maximal quantity of the water allotted to you in the desert city where you dwelt?"

--Or did you lose the desire to have a beautiful home?"

And, he continued,
"Did you think that by keeping it tidy, by employing a man who you paid poorly,
and by exploiting Mexicans, you were really going to win heaven?

Did you imagine that it is saintly to ignore the suffering around you
and indulge in your own petty pleasures?"

The joke was on the tidy ones,
Because they were the ones he sent below to a special level of hell,
with a sign in front:

"Reserved: for the Tidy and Smug Bourgeoisie".

And a smaller sign was hung below:

No Dogs or Philosophers Allowed.


hearing voices

how nice that you are helping your parents!
No, not nice
A disaster
A life-destroying mistake
Ruining my own life
in this wretched hole
in the only country which has actually used nuclear weapons,
and used them against a civilian population,
and, even, their own citizens.

Nothing nice about it.......

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

child labor

Did Uzbeki children pick the cotton which was used to make the t-shirts I purchased recently in Wal Mart?

There is no way of knowing....

See the link below:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

bastards....mostly

Doctors are bastards--though there are exceptions.

What the fuck is wrong with them? They expect you to wait two hours so you can talk to them for fifteen or twenty minutes?

Does it not occur to them that something here is wrong? Is there not a certain lack of proportion?

Obviously not--in their minds. Well I say: To hell with them.

Their priorities are backwards! Arrogant assholes.

The one exception to this patients-wait-two-hours police is a man who possesses other personality peculiarities which are no less disturbing than the arrogant contempt implied by the two-hour-waiting policy.

Note: two hours is more or less an average of the waiting times of the most recent two visits I have endured for the sake of my elderly parents.

PS
what about a respectful phone call along the following lines: "Well, sorry, I know your appointment is for 2:00, but we are running late, so don't rush to get here..."
Is that really impossible?
That is what friends do for friends? --Oh, sorry, I forgot: the doctor is our superior......
(How could I be so foolish?)


Monday, September 12, 2011

memory from last week

One day last week I managed to get to the YMCA for a swim earlier than usual.
And as I walked across the parking lot, I noticed a slim teenager struggling with a large
barrel, which, it emerged, was full of garbage.

I offered to help him, and he readily accepted my offer.

We began to talk.

A week ago I could have had some chance of recalling his exact words, but the chaos of my life prevented me from sitting down to write about this incident--until now.

He was being punished. What was his crime? "holding"--that was his word.
But he did not say that he was being punished, he said that he was performing "community service".

My head spun at the implications of this bizarre situation. Here was a young man, evidently moving these barrels (there was a second one) with great difficulty. He was slim and not especially muscular.

(Here I cannot resist expressing my joy when recently I read at the site put up by the dancer/choreographer/founder of the Axis Technique (Frey Faust) an essay by a dancer
about the unnatural and unhealthy consequences of using machines to build up one's muscles.......And to that memory I should add another skill I have acquired in this desert outpost: the capacity to recognize the young soldiers who are omnipresent in El Paso. Typically they are a bit over-fed, but have over-size muscles which, I speculate, were produced by the machines criticized by the Axis teacher.....and it's not a long step from there to imagine what sorts of contracts might have been signed by members of the military and private companies.....more of the same exploitation that consists in allowing young soldiers to take out loans in order to purchase motorcycles, and placing a dealership for said motorcycles precisely on military bases....)....

Nonetheless, I wish I could describe his voice. Maybe he was a bit resigned--not angry or sad. Maybe he was matter-of-fact as he explained his situation.

I don't know at what point I let my anger escape=--anger at the stupidity of all this . Here was a young boy who smoked marijuana. He was being punished for it. His punishment was being asked to perform a useful task, an honest task, a task which must be performed if the local YMCA is to function. But that piece of honest work is regarded as low status.

What counts as high status work in this society? Mostly "work " which is much less positive, much less of a real contribution.

The youth also indicated that he had problems at home. Financial problems had forced the family to move. They could not pay their rent.

Well, I could imagine that: troubles at home, you want a release, and so you smoke a bit of marijuana.

I hasten to add: I myself don't enjoy the experience of being "high"; but I know many people who do.

Of course, there is also a nasty or cruel element of this punishment. It was just a coincidence that I was there when the youth was dragging the barrels across the parking lot. I presume that usually he doesn't get help. And, what's more, how could the adult in charge fail to notice that the young man can't really lift up and carry the heavy barrels? Isn't there a bit of sadism in this punishment?

What a sick country.

Recommended Reading
"Drawbacks to Fitness Machines as a Training Modality" by Sebastian Grubb, June 2011

Friday, September 9, 2011

why do you hate it here?

crap vegetables in Albertson's
okay, mushrooms were wrapped in plastic in SK, but they were not brown!

lettuce? fresh lettuce? ha ha ha It's either in a disgusting plastic box, and not fresh, or it's loose and brown around the edges. And why do they have to wet it? That only increases the decay!

What a joke! How dare they call this stuff fresh?!

And fresh air is just as rare.
There is air conditioning---freezing air everywhere.
But now that the temperature is no longer 100degrees FAhrenheit (37.77c) in the afternoon,
but only 90 F (32.2C.) , the AC continues to function just as if it were the height of summer.....

ycccchhhh

gmooh

Thursday, September 8, 2011

evil

It is hard for me to say what is the most evil or nasty aspect of life in the USA.
However, I just overheard a conversation between an unknown person (said to
represent a construction firm) and my eighty-five year old mother.
The person calling obviously got the name and phone number from the phone book.
He was not polite, and refused to give his full name--although he did finally say "Thank you" before he hung up.
But he called around dinner time (locally speaking). Obviously someone thought this would be clever. Instead the phone call woke both my father and mother from a nap.
It was a disturbance and a nuisance.
This is a common occurrence, and is, in fact, a form of abuse of the elderly.

Regular readers of my blog know what's coming next:
When I lived in the Czech Republic, Austria, or Slovakia, I never received that sort of phone call--never...

gmooh

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

noted in pasing

"It's no achievement to have a rich mommy or daddy."
--Sebastian Fellner

(Der Standard Comment Section, 06.09.2011; my translation)
"Ihren Staat können sich nur Reiche leisten"---INTERVIEW 06. September 2011 18:03 http://derstandard.at