New Math

I have to be brief today because it is Sunday, not a day of rest, but is a day we try to catch up with chores and priority garden activity.I have photos but they are still in the camera and will have to wait for a rainy day. Tropical storm Danny (who is also my brother), is sending fluffy ocean clouds our way and blowing winds to hopefully dry out the garden.We want to salvage what we can of the tomatoes decimated by late blight.
What does that have to do with new math?
Well,
I contemplated what to write this week and decided the healthcare debate is still a hot topic. Getting my colonoscopy instructions drove it home.
Every time we "interface" or have an "encounter" with the healthcare system, our heart rate beats a little faster, we look around to see if anyone is watching, we make arrangements considering every possible detail and its probability.
Sort of like calculus with many variables missing.
We look at the statistics, the likelihood of something occurring.
And with the thousand page magic bill the house has cooked up with their secret recipe, we analyze the content and are not fooled by the intimidating stack of pages.
After all, they just got us used to computing in Billions and Trillions.
What is a thousand anymore??
I know the secret formula for healthcare cannot exist in a thousand page document.
The success of healthcare depends, as it always has, on the dedication of caring human beings and the detachment from bureaucracy, not the embracing.
See Herrad's story on her blog which I follow impotently.
In the US her new wheelchair would potentially take as long to order and bureaucrats would be having to approve if she were on HMO or Medicaid. But she also would have appeal rights, activists in legal aid, politicians could speak up for her.
I vote for incremental changes to the current system we have in the US.
That's where the fractions come in handy.
Have a great day wherever you are.
Mary