I had made an appointment to get a baseline bone scan (at the insistence of several of my women friends) and went to the front desk of the 12-person ob-gyn practice to check in.

The "receptionist" handed me a long paper form to fill out (despite the fact that I am an existing patient and they already have this information) and demanded my insurance card. I told her that it would be of little use to her since I have a $2,000 deductible; this is my first, and probably only, trip to the doctor this year, and I'll be paying cash.

"Then I have to take your Visa card or a check now. You can't go in until I have payment up front."

I suggested that this is not the way consumers are accustomed to being treated. We are people, not "billable items."

A few minutes later a nurse called me in and said she had to take my blood pressure. I said this might not be the best time to do that, but she insisted. (It was 190/90, when it is usually 120/60.)

I talked with both the doctor and his office manager about my frustrations, and they shared their frustrations with me. They said it is almost impossible to run a practice these days: Patients complain about the way they are treated at the front desk and that they get too little time with the doctor.

But they said they are paid so little by health plans that they can't hire more experienced office staff, and they have to run patients through the offices rapidly to make their numbers work.

The office manager was clearly at her wit's end in trying to train staff, (two workers hadn't bothered to show up that day) and she hadn't told the doctors yet that the practice has more than 100 babies due in the month of September alone!

And doctors are virtually being held prisoner by the system: The office manager said that if a doctor wanted to move to Boston, for example, he would have to buy a "tail" for his malpractice insurance equivalent to three years of premiums (in case of future lawsuits). Plus paying the malpractice insurance in the new city!

The practice also tried to drop several insurance companies that were paying below costs, but were told they could not drop them. (This is the People's Republic of Washington, D.C.)

I suggested they might want to consider a new way of dealing with cash customers like me, but the idea clearly instilled fear.

Physicians have been the first to lose their health care freedom to third-party payers, and it is taking a terrible toll on morale and their ability to freely practice medicine. The doctors who are happiest are those who have moved to cash practices. This is why the incentives and initiatives we support though consumer-directed health care, like funded accounts and portable health insurance, are so important. Despite what Dr. Avorn says, this is the way to get doctors and patients back in charge of medical decisions.

Firefighters Go Vegan:
The image of big brawny firefighters devouring platters of four-alarm chili, sizzling steaks and double cheeseburgers is as much a part of firehouse lore as brass fire poles and heroic Dalmatians. But not in Austin. The five firefighters of Team C at Firehouse 2 just went vegan! It happened not for their love of sprouts, but because of high cholesterol. [ more ]

Team C has put up their info on their 'Engine 2' website. Check it out. [ more ]

Soul for Sale:
A few weeks ago, a 23 year old atheist posted an unusual item for sale on eBay: a chance to save his soul. Mr. Hemant Mehta is a DePaul University graduate student who promised the winner that for each $10 of the final bid, he would attend an hour of church services. Evangelists bid, eager to save a sinner. Atheists bid, hoping to keep Mr. Mehta in their fold. When the auction stopped on Feb. 3 after 41 bids, the buyer was Jim Henderson, whose $504 bid prevailed. But Mr. Henderson wasn't looking for a convert; he wanted Mr. Mehta to embark with him on an eccentric experiment in spiritual bridge-building. [ more ]

1 : confused or meaningless talk
*2 : a complex and sometimes ritualistic procedures

A rigmarole of stuff that I am doing to get this cold off my head, nothing seems to be helping. Not the nyquil, not the tylenol or tons of fluids, soups, hot water, steam, salt water gargles. Looks like its going to take its usual life cycle. What I am trying is basically making me feel better for a little while, then its back to normal.

I worked till 2.30 yesterday then got back to the hotel room. Continued to work till 5.30 and then watched an episode of Six Feet Under and another of Sopranos. Both excellent episodes, and made my dreams much more interesting. I think nyquil really messes with your sleep, you end up dreaming even if you dont want to.

What I am listening to: Black Eyed Peas: Like That

Wow, we in stereo?

Question for the ages
What’s going on with my rap pages?
Rappers wanna be down, but listen listen
You got to feel it within your body and your spirit
When you listen to the rhythm [come on]
It’s the abstract Wil is on the beat
Women all around the globe, the world
You got to follow me
Change your history, categories
Different people in the same territories
Hip-hop in here for my Black Eyed Peas
So watch it watch it be mindful of the speakers please
Coz they gonna rumble and shake the ground
Break addles breakin sound
Fill the embraceful pound
Treat all the things profound
If you wanna dude to help you out
Make it cool around your friends without smoking now
Play the song kinda loud, it could help you out
And you could work it out, yeah you could work it out
It’s like that, and a

[Chorus]
And we got it like that [like that]
You know we got it like that [like that]
Y’all we got it like that [like that]
It’s like that, like that [like that]
Y’all we got it like that [like that]
You know we got it like that [like that]
Yeah we got it like that [like that]

more...

Interrleated Structures of Reality:
Cameron Sinclair is co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit that seeks architecture solutions to humanitarian crises and brings design services to communities in need. For the last six years his team has initiated and implemented many programs including housing ideas for returning refugees in Kosovo; mobile health clinics to combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa; and mine clearance programs and playground building in the Balkans. In his words, his challenge is "to encourage the design profession to respond to the 98% of the world that do not benefit from our services and to foster public appreciation for the many ways that architecture and design can improve lives." [ more ]

What can I do?:
Support Cameron Sinclair's public wish: to create a community that actively embraces open source design to generate innovative and sustainable living standards for all. [ more ]

Imperishable Body of a Russian Monk:
Hambo Lama Itighelov, a spiritual Russian Leader, passed away in 1927. Per his request, he was first exhumed in 1955. When after the third exhumation in 2002 after 75 years since the Lama's death, his body still showed no signs of decay, medical experts decided to examine the miracle. The grave contained a wooden box and there was a sitting Buddhist lama in a 'lotus' position; researchers reported that his joints flex, the soft tissues were elastic just like a living person, and there was even a pleasant fragrance upon opening the 75-year old grave! [ more ]

Inspiration of the Day:
For 24 years, National Award Winning teacher, Rafe Esquith has continued to work at Hobart Elementary, an inner-city school in Los Angeles. Hobart is the second largest elementary school in the country and 90% of its students live below the poverty line. Esquith's unorthodox teaching methods push these kids past their limitations: His ten-year olds volunteer to show up at 6:30 in the morning, not to mention Saturdays, lunch breaks and vacations. They read Twain, play classical guitar and study algebra. They've even performed Shakespeare at the Old Globe in London. Esquith took on extra jobs and went into debt to pay for the supplements -- the pay-off? His students consistently rank among the top five to ten percentile in the country. [ more ]

Pros Work with Cons:

When she chanced upon a tour of the Texas prison, venture capitalist Catherine Rohr soon discovered a surprising pool of entrepreneurial talent right there in the prison. Chucking her VC job, she started the Prison Entrepreneurship Program that uses Fortune 500-type business executives as volunteer mentors, harnesses the entrepreneurial skills inmates had demonstrated while running the successful, albeit illegal, enterprises that landed them in prison and teaches them how to put those abilities to use running legitimate businesses. [ more ]