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After Reform, Are We Out of Allies?

Recently I had the opportunity to trash one of our old home computers, and not a moment too soon, for this one's hard drive held tons of incriminating evidence. My children, generous to a fault, let their friends download CDs, though calling them friends might be going a bit too far. The neighbor in "Love thy ..." might be more specific than the universe defined by the anonymous camaraderie of a network connection. These so-called friends were also generous with their music files, so we ended up with a drive full of the red-hot goods, and me wondering how to plead when caught with a few old cuts from Al Kooper and the Blues Project.

Then, one day, to my great relief, the downloads stopped. No longer needed I fear the cyber snoops tracking us down. As lawful days turned into months, I cautiously interrogated the youths. Was guilt, or perhaps the tug of ethics guiding their good hearts? "Heck no!" was the amused response. It seems instead that Paul the Younger had written, recorded and copyrighted some tunes of his own, and if by chance they became hits he didn't want any free sharing going on. Honesty was driven not by his mom's good example but by facing an economic reality: If you steal from others, others might steal from you.

The mutual deterrent against cross thievery requires that the thieves be roughly equal in ability. A pro stealing against an amateur is no contest. Such it is in the music business, and so also in the medical.

At Least Medicare Had Patients in Mind

In our little world we pair off against the insurance companies, and we know victory is rarely ours. Successful skirmishes against them are rare. If we somehow manage to gain a foothold, they can unilaterally change a contract and kick it away. Now it appears that the most fair-handed of the bunch, Medicare, is headed for some degree of privatization, thanks to recently approved reforms. Will we be able to play fairly with the new entities, or will they hog the ball? That remains to be seen.

I used to think that insurance companies and doctors were partners in the health needs of patients until a friendly executive straightened me out. "Insurance companies are not in the business of providing benefits," he explained. "We're in the business of collecting premiums." Now enlightened, I think I'll miss traditional Medicare. While it may not have been a close friend, or even a cyber friend, at least we were on the same side.