Issue 403 Obama Care byproduct: Micro Clinics August 25, 2014

Continuing from a week ago, we have a byproduct of the Obama Care fiasco.  In this case it is small clinics and doctors’ offices staffed not be doctors, but by Nurse Practitioners.

What is it?:  These clinics are set up by companies looking to offer cheap healthcare to their employees and to the public at large.  So CVS, Walgreens and others will set up these small miniature doctors’ offices to see patients.  However, they are not staffed by doctors, but by Nurse Practitioners.  I know what you are thinking, "Who wants to see a nurse" when you can see a doctor.  Well, the position of Nurse Practitioner was created by the medical industry as an answer to the costly training to be a full-fledged doctor and that many doctors were training to be specialists (where the money is) rather than a general practitioner.  As such, these Nurse Practitioners has the same knowledge as a doctor when it comes to medicine, but with less years of schooling.

Advantages of the smaller clinic:  The main advantage is that it is cheaper.  Because you generally will not be seeing an actual doctor, the cost is roughly half of what it would be without insurance (estimated to around $60 to a normal $120.  Also, the Nurse Practitioner is the same as a regular doctor when it comes to general medicine, so there is no loss in quality of care (this is because like regular doctors, the nurse practitioner gains experience in the same way, but with a condensed amount of schooling).  Also, these small clinics may be set up in more convenient locations like in a mall, a store like CVS and Walgreens or even in a supermarket.  Cost and convenience all rolled into one.

Conclusion:  With Obama Care making everything cost more, everyone looked to do less with what they had to save money, but at the same time stay competitive.  So they created these cheap clinics to make it cheaper for their customers and so that employees can even see a doctor for free without employers providing insurance for the lower end of the healthcare spectrum (aka, they will only need to cover catastrophic care instead).  This also gives Nurse Practitioners a chance to show their metal as they have also begun to replace doctor in offices around the country already (not to mention giving an alternate cheaper route to being a doctor minus the title).  So while Obama Care made costs rise, everyone has been busy innovating to make it cheaper everywhere else.

On Vacation!!!

So I will be on Vacation the week of the 18th....I'm going to Disney World!!! (and Universal etc.)   So I will not see any of you all till Monday the 25 where I will resume my regular schedule of blog posts.  Please use this time to catch up on past issues and maybe comment so I can answer questions and be inspired on other topics to write about.

Anyhow, thanks for reading and see you all in a week.  Happy reading. :)

Issue 402 Obama Care Byproduct: Tele Doctors August 15, 2014

So with Obama care making healthcare more expensive, the healthcare industry has been racing to cut costs.  One of those measures is some doctors getting rid of their brick and mortar offices to practice medicine via video conference.  Let's discuss.

How it works:  Basically, the doctor sets up a hotline to perform a video conference with his/her patients.  The doctor through the screen can look at the patient to see any abnormalities in skin color or in the eyes.  Do it yourself kits like blood pressure monitors take care of the general checkup needs.  From there the doctor simply diagnoses the patient and then sends a prescription to the pharmacy for the patient via phone, fax or email.

Simple right?:  This allows doctors to see hundreds of patients from around the country in a short period of time and without the cost of maintaining a healthcare facility (which eliminates most regulatory costs).  In addition, due to the cost savings involved, the tele doctor charges anywhere between half to a quarter of the typical doctor visit ($120 without insurance on average, last I checked).  As such, this becomes an attractive option to mothers who cannot or are unwilling to drag their sick children to a doctor’s office full of other pathogens, or for patients who are too sick to drive and cannot acquire transport.  Therefore it fills a useful niche in the healthcare industry.

Hurdles:  One of the hurdles to this form of medical practice is government regulations.  Some State governments require the patient be seen in person to be treated (this is the same requirement in some States for tele care veterinarians).  So in these States, the doctor cannot practice.  Also, only truly experienced doctors can give the best results (which is true of the entire healthcare industry).  This means reputation is everything and so you will have to find an established tele care doctor to get the best healthcare out of one of these tele doctors (which you want to do anyway whether it is a tele doctor or even a regular doctor).  Beyond this, I cannot see many problems that do not already exist.

Conclusion:  I first learned of this through a commercial on one of the many news networks I watch.  The tele doctor in this case treated children and was originally retired but came out of retirement once the start of the doctor shortage hit.  He felt (if I remember correctly) that these children need access to healthcare and thus restarted his practice via video phone.  So this is a great option for those who want cheap healthcare at cost.  Obama care made health care worse for everyone, by making it more expensive, creating larger deductibles and higher copays, this tele doctor solution answers the call for cheaper and equally effective healthcare.

Issue 401 Why Tesla never got his free energy. August 14, 2014

It is sad to say, but mans greed is what prevented Tesla's idea of free energy from ever coming true.  Let us discuss.

Free energy:  As you know from the previous article that Tesla coils can send electricity through the air.  It is these same coils that would have generated free electricity to America and eventually the world.  But business had other ideas.  While Westinghouse wanted to embrace Tesla's ideas, J.P. Morgan would eventually get Tesla and shut the idea down.  Reason was due to maneuvering by these giants of industry to one up one another.  So when Tesla placed a light bulb in the ground and it lit up due to his Tesla coil power station, he was asked how do we charge people for its use by Morgan.  Tesla's answer was that you don't.  And that spelt the death knell for free electricity around the globe.

Last laugh:  Today we have an energy crisis.  We need all the options we can get in order to survive in the current century.  Innovation is key to our survival and Tesla's coil may just help us do that.  It still has the ability to give out free energy through the air in the same way as radio waves, that we are bombarded with every day.  All we have to do is build one again.  On top of this, inventors will not let the idea of the Tesla coil go, and have thus continued to improve upon it and even find other uses such as in the realm of photography, music and of course electricity generation.  So we can do it again, we can have free electricity that everyone can enjoy.  Just got to figure a way around the big utility companies and their political supporters in government.

Conclusion:  Yes, we can make Nikola Tesla's dream come true.  It is possible as we are already expanding this free wireless energy concept to power all our home appliances and more. There will be no need to fear a downed tree or power line ever again.  So let us make it happen, the free electricity the world has always dreamed of. 

Issue 400 What is a Tesla Coil? August 13, 2014

Nikola Tesla was a competitor to Thomas Alva Edison and won. Tesla invented light bulbs, and other inventions that would leave their mark on history and would have his Alternating Current surpass Edison's Direct Current electricity. One of these many inventions was the Tesla coil, a magnificent device that could generate and send electricity through the air.  So what exactly is it?

A Tesla coil:  This device is a type of transformer for electricity.  The idea was to send electricity through the air to power electrical devices.  So here is how it works complements of: www.realclearscience.com (web address to article:  http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2014/01/29/how_tesla_coils_work_108474.html )

"The power of the Tesla coil lies in a process called electromagnetic induction, i.e., a changing magnetic field creates an electric potential that compels current to flow. Conversely, flowing electric current generates a magnetic field. When electricity flows through a wound up coil of wire, it generates a magnetic field that fills the area around the coil in a particular pattern, shown with lines below:

Photo modified from Los Alamos National Lab.

Similarly, if a magnetic field flows through the center of a coiled wire, a voltage is generated in the wire, which causes an electrical current to flow."

"The electric potential (“hill”) generated in a coil of wire by a magnetic field through its center increases with the number of turns of wire. A changing magnetic field within a coil of 50 turns will generate ten times the voltage of a coil of just five turns. (However, less current can actually flow through the higher potential, to conserve energy.)"

"The Tesla coil requires ......... a capacitor to store charge and fire it all in one huge spark. The circuit of the coil contains a capacitor and a small hole called a spark gap. When the coil is turned on, electricity flows through the circuit and fills the capacitor with electrons, like a battery. This charge creates its own electric potential in the circuit, which tries to bridge across the spark gap. This can only happen when a very large amount of charge has built up in the capacitor.

Eventually so much charge has accumulated that it breaks down the electrical neutrality of the air in the middle of the spark gap. The circuit closes for a fleeting second and a huge amount of current blasts out of the capacitor and through the coils. This produces a very strong magnetic field in the primary coil.

The secondary wire coil uses electromagnetic induction to convert this magnetic field to an electric potential so high that it can easily break apart the air molecules at its ends and push their electrons in wild arcs, producing enormous purple sparks. The dome on the top of the device acts to make the secondary coil of wires receive energy more fully from the first coil. With some careful mathematical calculations, the amount of electrical energy transferred can be maximized."

Conclusion:  This is how it works in the most basic of ways.  We use systems based on this for Tesla's alternating current in our transformers outside our homes.  Though they are not sending it through the air in this case, just converting electricity to a more manageable level for our homes.  But Tesla's Coils are now being used as wireless chargers for phones and is predicted to eventually replace all electrical wiring in the home at some point in time when it is deemed cost effective to be in the home.  So Tesla, thank you for your hard work.

Issue 399 Eating oneself to death!!! August12, 2014

Ok this one is similar to the previous, the only difference is that instead of drugs we are talking about another medical condition that we ourselves place ourselves in.  In this case becoming overweight and obese due to our eating habits.  Time to discuss again.

Government should not pay!!!:  Here we go, the government should not pay a single cent toward your health care if you get a disease due to you over eating.  We again must be responsible to ourselves and pay our own way for something that is our own fault.  Government should thus, not pay a single dime while compelling taxpayers to meet the costs. You can have your private healthcare pay for it, a charity, or yourself, no one else.

Splitting hairs again:  As I stated, Libertarians believe in personal responsibility.  And getting fat and needing a forklift just to escape your house is the same as committing slow suicide. You should not have others obliged to pay for your own faults and mistakes in life.  Sure there are exceptions, like those predisposed to diabetes and thus cannot help their condition, but the rest are a nonstarter.  Basically, you must have been born with the disease or genetically predisposed to get the disease to get any aid as this is not a life choice in this case.  Those who become overweight and obese by choice due to their eating habits will not get a thing for they made a choice (in this case it must be directly linked to their physical condition from overeating).

Conclusion:  This again is about making people uncomfortable in their own shoes.  How are we supposed to pay for the life choices of others when we ourselves are struggling?  Government has no right to tax us to help those who place themselves into harm’s way.  Again, I am sorry for being harsh, but you made the decision to make yourself unhealthy, so you have to fix it and hope that someone is charitable enough to possibly help you.     

Issue 398 Government should not help addicts August 11, 2014

I am going to sound harsh, and very callus here.  In truth I am only saying this because this is how libertarians in general believe about people who are addicted to drugs.  We should not have government spend a single penny to help these individuals.  Allow me to explain.

Reasoning:  Libertarians believe in personal responsibility.  As such, we believe in legalized drugs.  How do these two thing go together you ask?  Simple, if you take an illegal drug that is harmful and get sick from it then it is your responsibility for making yourself healthy again.  Basically, you break yourself, then you got to fix yourself.  

Splitting hairs:  While we believe in personal responsibility, we also believe in being charitable.  As such, if any help was to come from anyone, it will be 100% voluntary out of the goodness of their own hearts.  So there will be no government aid of government footing the bill for your health care if you get sick because of an illegal substance.  Sure a church or other charity can, but government no.  Reason being is that government uses force, and forcing you to give up tax dollars to pay for someone’s mess is just plain wrong.  In addition, if you are on an illegal substance, then the government should deny you any health, and welfare benefits.  So no unemployment, no Medicaid, not a thing until you test clean.  It is not the government’s job to pay for your food and shelter if you waste your actual income on trash.

Conclusion:  Benjamin Franklin once said "we must make them uncomfortable in their own shoes" (I paraphrased here).  He was referring to welfare and charity as a whole.  This concept was so that the kindness of strangers was not to be taken advantage of (and also why many of the founders argued for any aid from government being at the local level exclusively).  We are now at a time where people will take advantage of government for free stuff and thus we must pull back from our over generosity.  Florida has taken the first step with their welfare system and we need it copied and expanded.  Libertarians are done paying for people's bad habits.  You put yourself into the health situation, now embrace the consequences.  Sorry, but it is your responsibility, if you get any help it will be out of the kindness of others hearts, not out of the hands of a massive government who knows not generosity but human greed and manipulation.