Persnickety

"Is everybody all right?" These were Bobby Kennedy's last words after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Now these words are beginning to resonate with the American people as his brother, ailing from a brain tumor, hopes to finally see his own efforts at championing national health care for everyone come to fruition. Is everybody all right? Everybody? OK, you, the guy working the union job at the Ford plant in Atlanta. We all know you're fine with it. You got all the bells and whistles. When you step up to the pharmacy counter you don't expect to see any $50 copays. So you're happy. Right? Well maybe you shouldn't be. Maybe you should have a little more concern for those of us who are unemployed. Or working in a small business that doesn't offer health insurance. Or even those of us who have that $50 copay when you get to pay next to squat. Maybe, just maybe, this isn't about you . Maybe it's about somebody else. Maybe it's about everybody else...

  What is currently wrong with the pharmacy/health care picture is still a nonchalance and "so what?" attitude by so many people. Even when it directly concerns people, when they are even pissed off at the insurance companies (which might—Oh My!—go out of business if we have a public plan). A customer getting some morphine—long term customer, not an addict trying to get a fix—couldn't get the insurance company to go along with the dosing. Had to get a prior authorization. Well, obviously this was needed NOW because the guy was in some serious pain, but he didn't have the $57 to pay for it. He assumed—never assume this people—his insurance company ("his insurance company": Why do we say this like they are a member of our family?) was going to pay for it and he'd have to pay about $5. So he got pissed at me and stormed out. Later he came back and apologized. I got talking to him, and basically stated that until Obama gets backing from people like him, peop...