Here’s the link:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html

This is from the Bill Moyer’s Journal. It’s about the world of medicine. It’s also based on the book by Maggie Mahar, called, Money Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much. The video is in two parts -=- and I highly recommend you watch both parts.

After you watch the video, read on — as I’d like to share my own health care story as my way of saying, “The video is right — health care is money-driven and here’s one example!”

I’m also going to send the link to this blog post to my doctors and to my Representative to Congress and my Senators.

Here’s my story:

Many years ago while I was still residing in Vermont, I went out my back door to do some cross-country skiing in the first snowfall of the season. I think this was in 2000. Cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing were two of my favorite winter sports.

As I began to “shoosh” along, I got about 100 feet or so on my way when I had to stop because I couldn’t catch my breath.

To make a long story short, I had a lung problem caused by almost 40 years of smoking. Even though this happened in the year 2000, I had quit smoking many years before that, in 1983. It just took awhile for the disease to reach the point where it began to be more apparent.

I have excellent health insurance. I’m covered under my wife’s policy and also, because I’m 75 years old, I have Medicare Plan A.

This past January I had an Open Lung Biopsy to lock down a true diagnosis of what was wrong with my lungs. Fortunately, it isn’t cancer. The biopsy showed I have Pulmonary Fibrosis. I have the “scarring” variety of this disease, so there is no treatment for it other than the use of oxygen. It is a progressive disease for which there is no cure. In addition to experiencing extreme shortness of breath, the lack of oxygen in my lungs causes rapid heart rate if I’m exerting myself, even slightly.

So, I have three doctors — a pulmonologist, a cardiologist and my primary care doctor.

My pulmonary doctor has been regularly ordering CAT scans — there’s been one each year since I’ve been seeing him. He does these for comparison. My cardiologist has also ordered stress tests and cardiac catheterizations. I didn’t object and just went along with these expensive procedures. Plus, I have good insurance, so my “out-of-pocket” costs weren’t so awful.

At my most recent visits to these doctors, they again ordered these expensive procedures. At the same time, I began to get very involved in the current Health Care Reform debate. I took some time to really think about what was going on here.

My pulmonary fibrosis isn’t curable. The only thing that has helped me, or will help me, is the use of supplementary oxygen. Oh, there is the lung transplant, but not when you’re 75 years old! None of the CAT Scans were making me feel any better — they weren’t improving my quality of life — the disease isn’t curable — so what are these CAT Scans for? They were for my doctor to look at — compare to the most recent scan and determine that the disease has progressed a bit. But, wait a minute — didn’t we already know from the diagnosis that it was a progressive disease?

Are you seeing the point here? It’s about dollars, isn’t it?

And, the Stress Tests and Cardiac Caths — same deal — we know what’s causing the rapid heart beats — it’s the lack of oxygen which we can’t do anything about. I have my own cure which is to stop, grab the oxygen and rest until the heart rate goes back down. Those tests didn’t do a thing for me — they do nothing to improve my quality of life — they do nothing towards a cure — but they did put big dollars into someone’s pocket — and it wasn’t mine.

Both doctors have told me there is nothing that can be done — I just have to learn to live with it. Yet, they keep ordering these expensive procedures.

There’s something wrong with this picture, and the film I showed you above, tells me exactly what is wrong.

I am now refusing to accept these procedures. No more “Money Driven Medicine” for me.

Metta ….May all beings be well and happy. May all beings live in safety. May all beings be healthy and strong. May all beings live with ease.

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

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Namaste!

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

http://www.buddhistbelief.com
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com

P.S. I do have a FaceBook page — if any of you partake of this social activity. Mine is:

Ron’s FaceBook Page

Ron Rink

I’ve decided to change the focus of this blog away from nutrition and weight loss and on to a place where I can write about whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment. This obviously, won’t be search engine friendly, but I’m more interested in sharing my thinking with all of you than I am with the SEO spiders.

Today, I’m very focused on the election for the Presidency of the USA. I do support Barack Obama because I believe in my heart-of-hearts that he is the person to pull this country back to it’s roots.

One of the topics both candidates are taking about is the Tax Plans. I recorded a short video which I hope will explain the difference between the two plans in language you can understand.

(If, for some reason the video doesn’t function properly, here’s a direct link to it:
Video about Tax Plans

Here the video:

Hope you were able to understand it. I haven’t done many of these videos so I’m not comfortable with them as yet.

As I said, be sure you get out and vote next week. Today and tomorrow are the last days for early voting here in Ohio, and if you can still vote early where you live, go do it. No sense in waiting until the last minute.

I’ll try to keep this blog a little more up-to-date in the future — and if this video concept works the way I hope it will, I’ll probably make more use of it.

Take care — have a great day.
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

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I meditate every day to help keep me sane in this crazy world we live in. Those glimpses we get of peace, love, acceptance and happiness when we’re meditating will soon grow into more than glimpses if we keep practicing. Keep those feelings alive. A meditation can be as simple as one, deep, conscious breath. When something happens in one of your moments to cause you to suffer, just stop and take one of those breaths and remember, “This too shall pass!” Another thing that is wonderful, especially at certain times of the year, is to have a fresh flower where you work. Just stop from time-to-time and look at it — don’t label it — don’t judge it — just be with it for a couple of moments. It really does work. I’m looking at mine as I write this.

Namaste!

I share these words for you in closing — .

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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In my meditation I often use what I believe is a powerful aide to deep meditation. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

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— The Holosync Solution
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As any of you who have read the Common Dreams News Center know, this is where you will find breaking news and views for the progressive community.

Also, as some of you may know, I follow a lifestyle of nonviolence and am a promoter of peaceful resolutions to problems. With the current controversy taking place in our Congress about matters that have an effect on our civil rights as citizens of this country, I find this article/letter to be particularly poignant and well-timed.

I’m delighted that the author, Kim Redigan, graciously gave her permission for me to offer it to you today. Thank you , Kim.

Have a good and peaceful day.

Shanti.
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Far be it from me to ask the government to take money it needs to wage war and enrich the arms industry to track down yet one more peace activist. Therefore, I consider it my civic duty to say, “Here I am, George. Come and get me.” No need to squander cash that could be spent on refining the techniques of torture or costly surveillance projects and electronic wiretaps to track the likes of me.

That overweight middle-aged woman in bifocals standing on the street corner and marching in demonstrations would be me.

Age 48, married, mother of four, high school religion teacher, Catholic, garden-variety activist.

Yes, George, I was the one standing outside the doors of recruitment stations quoting Oscar Romero, who said, “God’s law must prevail. No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God.” Not terribly original, I know, but that great cloud of witnesses that goads me on to do this work included people who were so much more articulate than I. At one recruitment center, I even quoted Pope John Paul II who told young people: “Do not listen to voices which speak the language of hatred, revenge, retaliation. Do not follow any leaders who train you in the way of inflicting death.”

The woman wearing a Pax Christi tee shirt and a green bandana at the gates of a nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee is none other than yours truly. Yes, I confess to standing in the street when ordered by police to move and, yes, I did lock the gates of the plant in violation of the law, but how could I have done otherwise? I openly admit to praying at this death site that our nation might turn away from the idolatrous belief that this nation’s stockpile of weapons can bring security. Besides, I’m a mom and a teacher and nuclear weapons are not child-friendly.

When brought before the judge, I own up to carrying a stuffed body representing the children who are dying from this nation’s use of depleted uranium in Iraq as well as the impoverished children in our own nation’s cities who are bearing the brunt of this country’s bloated Pentagon budget.

I confess, George, that I was the one whose microphone was turned off by a judge who did not want to hear about international law or the beatitudes in his court of law. While I’m coming clean here, George, I also confess to making toilet paper peace cranes with the women in the county jail and leading a recovery meeting for inmates who are offered little in the way of rehabilitation in a for-profit prison system.

Now, for those overseas phone calls that you have been illegally monitoring. In my fumbling effort to follow the instruction of Pope Paul VI who said, “If you want peace, work for justice,” my peace activism has taken me to the Occupied Territories where I have served on peace teams working for an end to the occupation and for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Since so much of my tax money is being sent to this part of the world, I consider it my duty to see for myself what the newest high-tech weaponry purchased in my pacifist name looks like.

Please tell your agents that the static they picked up had nothing to do with a bad connection. What they were hearing was the explosion of sound grenades being hurled at nonviolent demonstrators and the noise of bulldozers erecting walls and tearing down homes. Not to mention the cries of children – Palestinian and Israeli – entreating the adults of this world to put an end to the violence.

As one of those quaint Catholics who takes Jesus at His word when he tells us to put up the sword and love our enemies, I also joined an international delegation of similarly naive activists who gathered in the desert in the shadow of Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant to pray for disarmament.

As a woman of conscience who believes in telling the truth, I also feel I owe it to you, George, to explain my book-borrowing habits in order to spare some “radical, militant librarian” the trouble of having to retrieve the list of books that I have read these past few years. Regrettably, since you have seized power I have had little time for fiction. With the exception of a brief sojourn through the pages of 1984 to make sense of the strange turn this country has taken, I have spent most of my time reading books on the Middle East, cultural
trends, and the world’s religions.

Yes, I confess that I have been reading Edward Said, Arundhati Roy, Thich Nhat Hanh, and, for spiritual edification, the poetry of Daniel Berrigan and the sermons of M.L. King, Jr. As one look at the pictures taken by your agents who have nothing better to do than monitor peace vigils will show, the books I borrowed on exercise and vegan cooking went largely unread.

Regarding the films I have borrowed from my local library, allow me to recommend Control Room, a clear-headed look at the complicity of the U.S. media in selling an unjust and immoral war. And all those musicals? No subversive intent there, just a peculiar affection for tap dancing and big sets. As for Gandhi and Pay It Forward . . . arrest me, if you must.

And just to save you time, I’ll tell you exactly where to look in my bible if you want to know what I’ve been reading. Start with those lines that I’ve highlighted from the Hebrew Scripture that talk about beating swords into plowshares and then turn to the Gospel sections that talk about the preferential option for poor, loving one’s enemies, and dying rather than killing. Don’t overlook Mary’s Magnificat or the story of Jesus overturning tables in the Temple. I will save you time and tell you that I’m partial to Isaiah and Luke.

Finally, George, if you insist on subverting the law and choose to violate the Constitution by paying my home a visit, know that “Mi casa es tu casa,” but do not expect dinner. If you should drop in while I’m not at home, please overlook the dirty dishes and do not allow the cat to go near the turtle’s aquarium. You may want to check the bookcase in the living room where I have a great collection of books on peace and justice, including the Holy Bible.

Of yeah, I forgot. Reading’s not your thing.

At any rate, on this cold winter night, children across this country go without because we are spending money to kill children in faraway lands. How can I, in good conscience, allow my government to spend more money that it doesn’t have to monitor yet one more peace activist?

We all know that the cost of monitoring those crazy Quakers and Catholic Workers is bleeding this country dry. I must do my part to preserve the national budget by stepping up and saying, “Here I am, George.”

Call out your agents and surveillance squads and spies. Look for the matronly woman bearing a sign that reads, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and remember what I said about keeping the cat away from the turtle.
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Kim Redigan is an activist, writer, and teacher from Detroit. E-mail Kim at: kredigan@yahoo.com.