Obamacare Nearly Repealed & Replaced! 2+2 =7!

Everyone likes R & R. In fact, I’m enjoying some R & R right now as I sit lounging on the backyard deck. I have a full frontal of 3 birdfeeders who are all being attacked by avian assaulters. It’s a microcosm of society – Lord of the Flyers, if you will. The hummingbirds are working their wings off for a sip of nectar. The finches politely share space on the feeder. The male and female cardinals hang together – true love birds. The blue jays bully all the other birds away. And, the lazy squirrels simply hang out below capturing seeds that the birds above spill to the ground.

The Bully

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying hard to get some R & R also. Doesn’t he look like he needs it? Poor guy. The R & R on his agenda is not exactly like my backyard, bird gazing Rest and Relaxation. The senator from Kentucky’s R & R is Repeal and Replace!

The senator is a trained lawyer and must be skilled in logic, reasoning and interrogation techniques. I have a sense that mathematics was not one of the senator’s stellar academic disciplines.

Here’s the situation:

There are 52 Republican senators
Two Republican senators are on the record as unwilling even to let the bill proceed for consideration. (52 – 2 = 50)
Within the past week, 10 Republican senators have raised serious concerns about the senate’s health care bill. (50 – 10 = 40)
None of the 48 Democratic senators will support the bill.
Any Democratic senator who uses the word ‘repeal’ even by mistake will be sent to GITMO by Senator Chuck Schumer.
The bill’s public approval rating is a whopping 17%. Great political cover for legislators who vote Aye!
Senator McConnell needs 50 GOP votes so Vice President Pence can push the bill into the end zone.

Can any of my brainiac readers with mathematical acumen show us simpletons a pathway to 51 votes?

Comments

When Should Doctors Retire?

I am asked with some regularity whether I am aiming to retire in the near term. Years ago, I never received such inquiries. Why now? Might it be because my coiffure and goatee – although finely-manicured – has long entered the gray area? Could it be because many other even younger physicians have given up their stethoscopes for lives of leisure? (Hopefully, my inquiring patients are not suspecting me of professional performance lapses!) Interestingly, a nurse in my office recently approached me and asked me sotto voce that she heard I was retiring. “Interesting,” I remarked. Since I was unaware of this retirement news, I asked her when would be my last day at work. I have no idea where this erroneous rumor originated from. I requested that my nurse-friend contact her flawed intel source and set him or her straight. Retirement might seem tempting to me as I have so many other interests. Indeed, reading and studying, two longstanding personal pleasures, could be ext

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier. There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform. Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele. It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance. For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings? If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits? The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform. Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat. The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families. Indeed, even today

The VIP Syndrome Threatens Doctors' Health

Over the years, I have treated various medical professionals from physicians to nurses to veterinarians to optometrists and to occasional medical residents in training. Are these folks different from other patients? Are there specific challenges treating folks who have a deep knowledge of the medical profession? Are their unique risks to be wary of when the patient is a medical professional? First, it’s still a running joke in the profession that if a medical student develops an ordinary symptom, then he worries that he has a horrible disease. This is because the student’s experience in the hospital and the required reading are predominantly devoted to serious illnesses. So, if the student develops some constipation, for example, he may fear that he has a bowel blockage, similar to one of his patients on the ward.. More experienced medical professionals may also bring above average anxiety to the office visit. Physicians, after all, are members of the human species. A pulmon

MD Whistleblower

Search This Blog