When The Priorities Are Screwed Up

I had my second YAG laser capsulotomy today, this one on the left eye. This was an interesting day to have the procedure: it's my Dad's 9th yahrzeit. When he passed away, he was damn near bling from macular degeneration. Same for Grandpa Moishe. In the photo to the right, he's not annoyed or pissed; he's looking right at me because only had peripheral vision. His vision loss was slowly traumatic. As was my Dad's.  Now, I have macular degeneration (surprise, surprise!) but mine is under control. In other words, it's not progressing and both my ophthalmologist and my retina guy attribute this to PreserVision, a multivitamin designed for MD. The technological advancements made in ophthalmology is astounding. Even within the course of the last 10 years, the measurement machines have changed, becoming to precise while being less invasive. Probably because these are my eyes in question, and as a writer i use my eyes a whole lot, every time there is a new scan or a new scope I wanna know about it. But I kept thinking about my dad and my grandfather, wondering if all this new tech woulda helped to keep them seeing. 

I have to imagine it would have helped. 

And I still don't know if insurance is covering it. And I won't for a while, I'm guessing. 

The more I read about the reaction to Luigi Mangione, the more I understand why some people are turning him into a folk hero. 

But before I talk about that, there's a correction from last week. At the time of publication, it was reported that Mangione was insured by UnitedHealthCare. This was incorrect.Additonally, according to his posts on Reddit, he was pleased with the outcome of the surgery for spondylolisthesis, a spinal condition. Who insured him for that surgery is unclear.

Health care is a major concern for Americans. It's in the top five for election issues. You would have to be living under a rock to think America has the greatest health care system in the world. A friend was just told she has three stress fractures in her heel... but has to wait months before she can get the appointment to see a doctor for evaluation and possibly treatment. She's in significant pain and risks doing more damage with every step. What is she supposed to do until then? I have no clue. The horror stories are endless. Some are delay-deny, others are doctors too scared of jail time for providing healthcare for women, even when the woman is in crisis. What's the point of having the latest technology when way too many Americans cannot afford the copayment?

Meanwhile, over in Wisconsin, a 15-year old girl shot up her school Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. According to some early reports, she is the first female student to carry out a school shooting since 1979.  but that's not really true.. In a blogpost on MEDIUM last March, David Riedman wrote:

How rare is it for a school shooter to be female?

Most school shooters are male and in their teens or early 20s. However, over the last 50 years, at least four planned school shootings have involved female attackers. 

Assuming male gender identity does not make someone more likely to become a school shooter because throughout history, women have also committed school shootings. School shootings are a gun violence problem, not a gender or transgender identity issue. 

In 1979, a then-16-year-old Brenda Spender shot 11 people, 2 fatally, at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She used a rifle that she received as a Christmas gift from her father. When a reporter reached her by phone and asked why she did it, she said, “I just don’t like Mondays… I did this because it’s a way to cheer up the day.”

Riedman manages a site called K-12 School Shooting Database. It's worth looking at. 

We can't get reasonable medical care for our citizens. We cannot seem to protect our kids from gun violence even in their schools. 

When do we begin, as a nation, to question our priorities? Clearly they are misplaced

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If a parent treated their child's health and safety

the same way our nation does,

that parent would be in jail.

Or not.