My 4 year-old Caden tested positive for H1N1 in August.  He subsequently spent 6 nights in the hospital with pneumonia. Since then he has never really shaken the pneumonia and is on oxygen at home (o2 only when sleeping) after another 6 more nights at the Medical University of South Carolina this past week for pneumonia.  His flu test was negative this time. Since August we have had him in and out of the pediatrician’s office and the emergency room with high fevers and trouble breathing.

During one emergency room visit the nurse caring for my son began to “educate” me on H1N1.  The nurse tried to convince me of how much more dangerous this flu was for children.  I asked her if she had actually read any of the statistics and she said she had not.  I went on to explain that the majority of deaths were in the young adults age range.  Children and elderly were actually fairing the best in this strain of flu.  She seemed a little shocked because that was not what she had heard.  I suggested that she take a look at the CDC statistics for herself rather than going off of what she was being told.

Today my wife ran into a nurse from my son’s pediatrician’s office.  The nurse asked if we were going to the H1N1 shot.  My wife responded by saying that we had some concerns.  The nurse then said that every staff member in the practice had declined the shot for the same reason.

During our hospital stay this week our son was put on contact precautions.  This meant that every person who entered his room had to wear a disposable gown, gloves, and of course a mask.  This was even after my son tested negative for everything contagious that they tested him for.  The staff said it was hospital policy for any person coming in with respiratory problems.

The moral of this story is that there are some serious inconsistencies in messages depending on where you go even within the medical community.  How will things change with the announcement of the National Emergency for H1N1?

Also posted on my Wellsphere Page

“The idea of universal health care for our family is SCARY! At least we would still have Medicaid for Caden but who knows how that would change!”

While the Medicaid program that Caden is on works well for us college educated middle class folk…I seriously don’t know how uneducated (illiterate) people get it for their children.  The red tape and paperwork processes to get approved are horrendous.  You not only have to be able to read and comprehend the applications, but you have to have good records.  I was told to expect it to take 4-6 months to get Caden approved.  I had good records and followed the instructions and got the approval back in a few weeks.  The paperwork was heavy on the front end but has been almost non-existent on the back end.  These government run programs like Medicaid don’t provide specific benefit information like private health care.  You never get an explanation of benefits (EOB) from medicaid and from what I have seen there are no processes for reimbursement if you do pay for something out of pocket.

Caden has been covered by Medicaid (Katie Beckett – TEFRA program) since birth which was almost five years ago.  Children who qualify for TEFRA Medicaid are defined as follows:

These are children age 18 or younger that live at home and meet the SSI definition of disability for a child and meet the level of care required for Medicaid sponsorship in either a nursing home, ICF/MR or an acute care hospital. The parent’s income and resources are not considered in determining eligibility… Source

That definition gives me a reality check on how serious Caden’s conditions have been since birth.  What they are basically saying is that if the family is not willing or able to care for the child then they would likely be institutionalized if a suitable home could not be found.

This medicaid plan has worked for us but it has had some bumps in the road.  Beginning in 2008 the state of South Carolina began outsourcing Medicaid to private industry (HMOs) so this particular “GOVERNMENT” health care is no longer run by the Government in most cases.  We opted out of the HMO choices which were offered through SC Healthy Connections Kids and went back to fee-for-service Medicaid after being forced into an HMO that did not even provide coverage for most of Caden’s care.  The HMO we were auto enrolled into has only one participating hospital within 100 miles and it is not the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children’s Hospital where ALL of Caden’s inpatient, outpatient, and surgical work has been provided since birth.  As a matter of fact MUSC is the only hospital in the state that performs pediatric cardio-thoracic surgery. So why they choose an HMO for Caden, a child with congenital heart defects, where the only hospital in the state that can provide care is a non-participant in the HMO is completely illogical?

The scariest part of government run health care for me is the lack of equal value on life.  Many health care professionals believe that kids like Caden are a burden on families and society.  For instance, the women’s clinic where Mrs Ozz got most of her prenatal care went out of their way to make sure that we knew that we “had choices” during the pregnancy.  They made sure that we understood how difficult it would be to care for a special needs child and that we did not have to put our family through that.  Never mind that a life is a stake here.  They were basically saying that our family could have lived an easier life if we had chose to end our baby’s life at approximately 26 weeks in the pregnancy.

The mentality behind government health care is similar in that there seems to be no regard for the life of the patient if cost high and end of life are possible anyway.  You may remember that President Obama has made it pretty clear that some life saving procedures may not be worth performing on some patients.  I see this attitude held by some politicians along with their lack of value for all life to be the precursor to a slippery slope into situations like the one Dr. Bernhard Moeller faced in Australia.  The doctor was denied a visa because his son had DOWN syndrome and that would have caused a drain on taxpayers through the Australian government health care system.  And where does it all go from there?  When does the government decide to stop prenatal care or even force abortions on women who are carrying babies with known life threatening conditions that will almost surely put a drain on the taxpayers if the child is allowed to become a citizen?

The assessment of Dr. Moeller’s family medical needs were likely accurate if his son’s care cost anywhere near as much as my son Caden’s care.  Our family takes out at least twice as much benefit from the health insurance system as we put in during an average month even when there are no major procedures or extended hospitalizations.  Major surgeries along with associated hospital stays are particularly draining on the insurance system when they do occur.  Let me provide some personal details to clarify by using the first two months of Caden’s life.  I stopped adding the bills when the total passed $330,000 so we will use that number as a reference since we know that the first two months was at least $330K for Caden’s care.  My current insurance plan premiums are about $13,445 per year for our family coverage for Blue Cross Blue Shied Standard (non-postal rates).  While I was not a government employee at the time of Caden’s birth my plan was similar in benefit and premium costs so the example here is fairly representative.  Like most plans I pay a portion and my employer pays the remainder of the premiums to the insurance company.  At $330K in bills for those two months of care that means that it took more than 24 employees worth of yearly insurance premium contributions to cover the first two months of Caden’s hospital care after birth.  Caden has also had several other major surgeries since birth so these first two months is only a small example of what health care costs for a child with complex medical conditions.  For example Caden’s regular ongoing care today totals in excess of $2,000 per month due to tube feeding supplies, therapies, medications, specialist visits, and associated tests.  That is nearly double the monthly premiums ($1120) being paid in total for my family between me and my employer.

So the scariest part of the government run health care model is brought to light in Australia’s denial of Dr. Moeller’s visa.  If that example runs it’s course in the United States then Caden’s care might be categorized as too costly and the system might have to drop him from coverage if the politicians and burracrates get too involved in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueRRN8O2NX4

I assume that you Christians will return any money that will be sent to you per the stimulus bill. it only right that you do not accept this money but rather send it to a a person in need. Your gift will help those in need may the good lord bless you kind republicans.

In response to Bill I would argue that “you Christians” are already personally giving more to those in need than President Obama.

Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227). RealClearPolitics

Most of us are already giving to the needy and will not be hurt by giving back just one weeks’ worth of what the average American is going to see from this stimulus in tax credits.  Join me by mailing a $13 check or money order to your Senator or Congressman within the next week.  We need to make sure the checks are made out to someone who can actually see that the money is used for those in need of help.

Stand by for more information.  Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog by email or RSS feed for further instructions.

UPDATE: Obviously Senator Jim DeMint and his aids are too busy to respond to constituants.  I did try to contact him to see if such an effort as mention above would do any good? While Senator DeMint has been on the right side (no pun intended) of all the spending bills, he has done a poor job on constituant serviecs.  He must be thinking more naitonally in terms of the 2012 presidential race.  It should not be too hard to give Obama a run for his our money in 2012 since he barely beat McCain and is not fairing so well out of the shoot.

As the news slowly trickles out of Washington on how the stimulus/bailout/rescue will actually be spent, we are learning more every day that very few politicians expect this bill to create or save a mass of jobs within the next two years. As a government civil service member I can assure you that major infrastructure projects will not translate into jobs very fast. The programs have to be staffed and then the contracts have to written and then the contractors have to develop plans, etc, etc. Most of the benefit of this stimulus will likely begin to be realized in U.S. economy in about three years as admitted by most of Washington. Yes that is very convenient timing for a presidential reelection bid but I think the economic problems could correct themselves in about that amount of time even if congress does absolutely nothing. But by doing nothing they will not be able to claim credit for casting a vote for “something” which they think “is better than nothing”.

The disturbing reality of the state of the U.S. economy came to me in a headline titled Visa Reports Profit Rose 35% with Increased Use of Cards. The NY Times did not explain this news in the same way I perceived that headline at first glance. The first thing I thought was that record job losses plus lower retail spending equals a high likelihood that folks are using their Visa credit cards and “convenience” checks to pay their mortgages, utilities, and car payments. So the “Increased Use” of Visa is probably not good news for our economy if you get down in the weeds of how that credit might be being used. Since the magic carpet (stimulus) from Washington is not expected to land in a neighborhood near you any time soon to create or save jobs this makes for the perfect storm. The more jobs that are lost the more likely we are to see non-traditional expenses put on credit credit cards. Then when the credit limit is reached before the new jobs reach the unemployed credit card owners, well you get the picture I am sure. The exact timing of when this storm will hit hardest is dependent on the amount of credit the average jobless head of household has available after the loss of their job. Once the income stops and the bottom is reached (top of credit card limit) then there will be no ability to get refinanced and you might start seeing homeless rates rise like only a small sample of the U.S. population is old enough to remember from the 1930’s. The notion that fixing the housing market will solve all the problems is a fantasy. A borrower without a job is not going to be able to pay mortgage payments even at 0% interest. No amount of mortgage system overhaul, tax cuts, or infrastructure projects are going to solve the rapidly rising unemployment numbers.

The stimulus programs implemented by President Bush did not prevent this economic meltdown and the stimulus being sold by President Obama and his friends in congress will not fix the economy. What exactly this country will look like once the perfect storm comes ashore is impossible to forecast but you should prepare to witness some extreme damage.

Higher unemployment + increased use of credit = more foreclosures to come

Gingerbread Train 2007

We are building our shopping list for our annual Osborne Family Gingerbread Train. You can see the 2006 Gingerbread Train on Grill’n Time. I realized tonight that I never uploaded pictures of last year’s train. You will have to follow me on Twitter or Facebook to see more detailed pictures of last year’s train.  I will be posting them later tonight.