>I still think you guys should spend and spend and then inflate your $ hard. It may happen anyway, so you might as well do it now while you still have control. ;-)


I don't believe our costs should be that high. I think there is plenty of room to cut in the medicare/medicaid area. There have been thousands of examples of fraud, waste and abuse in out system. In my own case, here are a few experiences that I think point out some "issues" that need to be dealt with.

1. Last year I went to the emergency room with chest pains. (If you ever need to get into the emeregency room, in America, in a hurry, just tell them you're having chest pains) They whisked me into the triage area and started putting monitors on me, checking vitals, giving me a patch, etc. Within an hour, I was in a room. The next morning, I had a heart cath done and the test came back negative. No blockage. They released me that afternoon. The hospital bill was $35,000.00 ! Someone/s should go to prison over that!

2. About 5 years ago, as I was getting ready to retire from the Sheriff's Office, I decided that that left leg that kept going numb and I was having to drag was going to need some medical help. It turns out that the doc decided I need a fusion of L3,L4 and L5. I stayed in the hospital for one week and was off work for a year. The hospital bill for the one week was $100,000.00. Again, there should be several cell mates involved in that.

The next time I have to go to the hospital, I'm just going to book a room at the best hotel in town and order room service and save several thousand!