Decolonization now simply means “imposing the far-left dogma on everything”. This is why I blame Timothy Snyder for his efforts to connect this term to Ukraine. Ukrainians don’t know any better but he should.
I also absolutely hate the phrase “amplify voices”, and it’s another horrible, left-wing expression that a bunch of useful idiots are trying to connect to Ukraine.
Thank you for making me smile. 🙂 It’s a really great way to put it and, hey, after COVID I’m not surprised at anything our healthcare system does.
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” “decolonization” … can’t wait to see what that means in the medical system…”
They only draw attention to things before destroying them. I’m assuming large parts of the medical establishment are about to go bye-bye…. Routine and maybe even emergency healthcare will be gate-keeped out of most people’s reach.
“We have not seen a doctor or dentist in years”
Huh? I thought your husband was in the medical field? If even family of those in the field can’t get healthcare…. that’s a system that’s completely broken.
I remember years ago there was a legal problem with foreigners in Poland (they passed a badly written law too quickly) and although foreign teachers were by no means the target… we were hit too until things could be amended a few months later.
I remember an angry meeting the university called for foreign employees and all the the Europeans were super angry because their health insurance was (temporarily) invalid.
I was sitting there thinking: “Huh…. health insurance….. what’s that?” for years and years previously I had never even considered going to a doctor (even with a horrible flu that lasted and lasted and lated) because doctors were not part of my reality…
Since then I’ve needed and used the healthcare system and while there are serious problems, I’m generally happy with it because I have nothing to compare it with.
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\ “Huh…. health insurance….. what’s that?” for years and years previously I had never even considered going to a doctor
That’s horrible and makes one think of living in a third world country rather than of USA golden image America projects to the world.
Both in Ukraine and in Israel my family has always had access to health care. One could criticize the quality of it in Ukraine, but my relatives did get treatment.
In Israel , adult dental care “is not included in the basic Israeli health insurance plans” (children and teens are covered till the age of 18), but still there are options. Middle class people are fine; working class struggle more but still most go to dentists imo. In 2022 we had “the low-deductible dental treatment reform within the health package for seniors aged 72 and over.”
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My Ukrainian refugees in Spain have been waiting to see a doctor for a pretty severe and urgent condition for months. Still, in Canada it would be much longer, so it’s not all bad.
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He does work in a hospital. But he’s a lowly RT, not a doctor. If you ever need to have mucus mechanically suctioned out of your lungs, he’s your guy! But no, we can’t actually afford healthcare, as modern America defines it (i.e. regular checkups, a GP that you know). If it’s not life-threatening, we don’t go to the doctor about it. I have two children with desperately crowded teeth, and I am slowly trying to come to terms with the fact that… we may just have to let them stay that way. I’ve acquired a set of dental picks, and am learning to clean the plaque buildup off, myself (toothbrushes don’t work well with teeth that are practically on top of each other). Orthodontics were just assumed when I was a kid. But at min. $10k per kid… that’s not happening unless their grandparents want to pay for it. Medicaid might’ve covered it two years ago, but we’ve finally cracked the magic ceiling of the Federal Poverty Limit, and no longer qualify, I think.
We do have catastrophic insurance through a religious organization, but it does not cover routine checkups, dental, glasses… any expenses under the $5k deductible, we pay cash for. So I lied about not seeing a doctor– I broke my foot a couple months ago, and went to a walk-in clinic for an x-ray and a walking boot. Paid cash for both. Thought I was all set at a little over $200– the clinic assured me we were all paid up– but then got a surprise bill a month later from the radiology dept of the affiliated hospital, from whoever looked at the xray to say “yep, it’s broken”. Another forty bucks, IIRC, that nobody told me about. And that is a big part of why we don’t mess around with doctors. Half of them don’t even know how much their services cost, because they’re so used to getting blank checks from insurers, so every time you walk in the office, it’s a roll of the dice how much you’ll end up paying! What other business operates this way?!? How is it even legal to say: oh, sure, come to our office. We can’t actually tell you how much it’ll cost, you’ll find out when we send you the bill… whenever we get around to it. Even in an office that can find you a price, you’ll often get a promise of self-pay discount… but then they send you a bill for the full amount anyway, a month or two later, from a billing contractor who doesn’t give a sh*t what the people in the doctor’s office promised you, because they want their cut. I can get it eventually, but if I wasn’t broke, the hours on the phone with billing reps would not be worth it. I think they count on that.
So yeah. Even though that industry supports my family, most days I can’t wait to see it all burn down.
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// Something I just saw on twitter suggests this is partly about giving ‘traditional’ medical systems more prestige than western medicine
Cliff, this reminded me of :
[March 2019] Chinese traditional medicine is rapidly expanding worldwide as a key pillar of the country’s Belt and Road initiative, but conservation groups say demand for treatments using animal products is driving a surge in illegal trafficking of wildlife.
…
China’s State Council has outlined a multi-decade plan to promote traditional medicine, including setting up hospitals, museums, medicinal zoos and botanical gardens in countries involved in its Belt and Road infrastructure rollout.
[2020] A law proposed by the Beijing municipality could criminalise statements critical of traditional Chinese medicine, at a time when China’s government is claiming, without clear evidence, that many traditional medicines are effective against covid-19.
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“Chinese medicine”
Years ago in the US I was complaining of chronic headaches at work and a Chinese co-worker gave me a handfull of Chinese pills…. super effective. I was so curious that I broke one open and beneath the pale green western looking cover was some kind of ugly dried plant… didn’t stop me from taking the rest.
I definitely think there are elements of Chinese (and other medical traditions) that are very valuable and I think there are large parts of it that are total and/or dangerous nonsense.
I’m all in favor of (cautiously and reasonably) traditional forms of medicine… but I bet that ‘decolonization’ will make a return to leeches and humors look good by comparison….
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All my Viet friends go to the western doctor for a diagnosis, and then go to the Chinese doctor for the treatment. I sort of wish that was available here.
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Hah! I mentioned the “traditional Chinese medicine” before I read this comment. This is exactly the voodoo method we are supposed to embrace.
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Oh yes. Like the famous “traditional Chinese medicine” that’s a scam of the century.
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There are also rumours Putin ‘favours folk remedies’ such as bathing in blood extracts from severed deer antlers. I bet leaders of democratic countries prefer real medicine.
// elements of Chinese (and other medical traditions) that are very valuable
Yes, but haven’t they already been incorporated into medicine? If not, they should be.
We’ll eat pangolin before anything useful gets incorporated.
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“haven’t they already been incorporated into medicine?”
Not so sure… you’d think so but western medicine itself (esp in the US) is now largely about IP rights and so there’s little/no interest in finding treatments that don’t pad the bottom line.
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