Healthcare Gap in US impoverishing families

Having lived in the US for over 4 years I have come to understand several nuances of this society and culture. The infrastructure such as roads, parks, libraries, sporting arenas, etc are astounding and accessible to everyone. These are important amenities for the citizens but there is one more important need that remains largely unfulfilled is healthcare. There is pretty much no government hospital in the US. If you are one of the 50 million odd people who don't have health insurance then god help you if you fall sick. A simple emergency room visit could run into couple of thousand dollars and that is serious money for the average middle class family in the US.

While browsing the internet I came across an article titled Iconic skier’s death points out U.S. health gap which gives some hard facts about the health gaps in the US. According to the article over 700,000 families file for bankruptacy in the US every year because of healthcare bills. This includes several senior citizens who don't have any income other than social security and savings, they end up having to sell/ mortgage their homes to pay medical bills.

When I studied psychology we were taught the Maslow's hierarchy of needs in which the most basic need for every living being is physiological needs and then followed by safety. The safety is addressed pretty good with a efficient law enforcement and defence sectors. But the physiological needs unfortunately is not being addressed by the society in the US. If you don't have money and/ or insurance you are simply doomed to lose everything in case you have a health emergency.

Free Healthcare & Housing in the US for Bank Robbers

When I was in middle school I had read the story about a homeless man in New York who tries to go to jail so he can spend the winter away from the biting cold. His rationale that he would be indoors, provided with a warm bed and hot food during the period of winter and then he could come back and live off the streets of New York. I had laughed off the story then, but now I realize that this is precisely what happens to people who end up in prison in the US. They get free housing, food and healthcare. After coming to America few years ago I am reading more and more news reports of actual people employing this method to get their basic needs fulfilled.

The latest example example is a 59-yr-old man from North Carolina, who made headlines on MSNBC recently. According to the news report this guy robbed a bank of $1 and waited patiently in the lobby for the police to arrive and arrest him.

Why did he do that? So that he could get his health problems taken care of and then have a roof over his head for the next couple of years. The man with no job, no insurance and dwindling savings and increasing age decided to commit a crime and get arrested. This way the state/ nation/ government will take care of him for the next couple of years by which time he will be eligible for social security/ old age pension of the federal government.

This is bound to happen in the exploitative capitalistic society that the US has evolved into. Where hardworking employees get 3-6% annual raises while CEOs get at least 24% raises and millions in bonuses. The employees, driven by poverty and desperation when they get old and infirm will resort to this kind of practices in order to barely stay alive.

I wonder if American society will ever change....

Real Life Sleeping Beauty in Britain

How would you like to sleep for 13 days at a stretch??? I am quite sure lot of us would like to get some more sleep than we are getting now, but 13 days... that sounds a tad too much. I read about and watched a video about this British girl who is afflicted with a rare medical condition that makes her sleep for days at a stretch. It is so rare that only about 1,000 people in the world of 6 billion could have this condition.

Online Knowledgebase

The internet is a huge repository of information. How much of it can be considered knowledge is a big question. General searches will throw up millions of websites that contain related data. It is very difficult to find authentic, relevant and correct information/ data/ knowledge on the subjects we are searching for. Looking at this chaos entrepreneurs have come up with their solutions. One of the recent developments is the springing up for websites which contain articles on various subjects.

For example a search on Health Weight Loss would yield thousands of responses on a search engine. But by visiting this dedicated site which contains articles by experts on the related subject it would be lot easier to find the information we are looking for.

One might argue that there are so many websites that contain articles on all subjects, what is the big deal about another one that is joining the web. Well I agree that there are several websites that features articles on various subjects but how many of them feature articles that are written by experts? How many feature articles with references and further reading on the research?

These are some of the things one needs to look for while looking up for an article base on the internet.

Affordable Weight Loss Surgery in Mexico

One of the biggest obsessions, especially of women, in America is to look young, beautiful/ sexy and desirable for as long as one lives. There is nothing wrong with the desire to look good and feel beautiful. In fact this entire culture of wanting to look young and beautiful has spawned a whole new industry in the healthcare field: surgical weight loss and body enhancing programs. The exorbitant cost of these surgeries have kept people away from them. There is hope now with clinics in Mexico offering low cost of lap band surgery.

This is a great opportunity for those wanting to lose weight but who don't have the time to exercise or the inclination to diet. The cost of a lap band surgery in Mexico is now affordable and easily accessible. In the US it costs around $14,000-25,000 for a lapband surgery. The same procedure would cost less than half the price in Mexico and other countries. Surgery prices start from $5,000-$7,000 and this is all inclusive.

I would say this is a great opportunity with several benefits. You could travel to Mexico, get a surgery done and with the money saved you could take a relaxing holiday and come back home feeling completely rejuvenated. That would be a great holiday gift for yourself wouldn't it?

Possible Causes of Swine Flu

Since we are talking about Swine Flu I thought it would be pertinent to discuss how and why this disease might have entered the human domain. Reportedly the first instances of the outbreak was found in Mexico from where it spread to US and then to the rest of the world. It is common to have pigs as pets in the US and I guess in Mexico too. People in the west are more demonstrative in their affections than those in the east. Hence the pictures below which received as an e-mail forward show how much love people give to their pet pigs. The mail lead me on a thought process and then I wondered if the excessive love for animals displayed by caring humans, especially the overwhelmingly affectionate westerners is one of the prime reasons for humans contracting Swine Flu??

I am no expert on veterinary science or in medicine and hence there is no technological thought or scientific inquiry for this analogy. This is just a thought which came into my mind after seeing the pictures on the forwarded e-mail.

Whether it provides a solution for understanding Swine Flu or not, the mail definitely brings a smile on our faces. The ultimate reason for life is happiness and jokes is one way to be happier than we are.

Mask Scarcity leads to innovative solution!

It is often amidst extreme adversity the most creative ideas flourish. I guess the latest pandemic to hit the world, Swine Flu has also spawned few innovative ideas. The Pandemic sweeping across the world is leading to a massive spurt in sales of surgical masks. Markets are sold out of masks and there is a growing demand for this protective gear. This couple obviously couldn't buy a pair of surgical masks because they were sold out. But being ultimately creative people they arrived at a unique solution and made up a pair of masks out of a single garment. Check it out...