raving lunacy - oxymorons for the 21st century

Mythbusting Canadian Health Care
Across the browser over the weekend came these two gems:
Mythbusting Canadian Health Care — Part I | OurFuture.org
Mythbusting Canadian Healthcare, Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers | OurFuture.org
Hattip to Shelley Powers

One of the tactics used by Health Insurance Companies and their Sock Puppets in fighting Universal Health Care is that having a single payer system will drive us into the arms of the dreaded scourge of ’socialism’. ‘Socialism’ is of course being a system that is applicable to everyone, which is a strange argument to be making in the 21st century, especially in a Democracy, where Equality for everyone is the bedrock principle. So naturally they use Canada as the evil argument against Universal Health Care.
95% of the current Debate surrounding Privacy of Personal Health Records is directly related to Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt over getting and affording coverage.

Shopping While Hospitalized
This morning, this nugget showed up on my radar:
Even if You’re Ill, You Can Still Stay Connected |NY Times
Here is one pithy nugget;

“Just like they would with a hotel, patients expect a degree of connectedness when they’re in the hospital,” said Timothy Zoph, chief information officer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “And for ones that do it well, like we think we do, it’s a differentiating experience.”

Northwestern Memorial last year spent an undisclosed amount to install 42-inch flat-screen televisions and Internet connections near each of the 200 beds in its new women’s hospital building. The screens are big enough, and close enough, for patients to read the text on Web pages, which patients click through with a remote-control keyboard and mouse. They may also zoom in on certain parts of a page.
Link

That’s Right Kids! While you are in the hospital, you have the ability to shop your ass off, while the hospital is filing a medical lien against your assets for payment, the insurance company is figuring out how to deny your claim, shift the cost, and beat the hospital out of reasonable and customary payment for services rendered.

Welcome to Health Care Bankruptcy! In with a life, out with a cardboard box.