Last Post...for a while at least.

This is my last post for what could be a very long time; possibly forever. You see, I may have cancer.

In September, I began experiencing a creeping numbness, beginning with my feet and eventually encompassing both legs and hips. As I type this I feel some of it in my right hand. The MRIs show a mass in the spinal cord in my neck that may or may not be malignant. There is every possibility that in order to continue living, I will have to have micro surgery. Unfortunately, my insurance may not allow me to go to the one clinic that knows how to perform the operation, the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Good doctors are leaving Nevada en mass. The primary reason is that the legal community, along with gleeful help from the insurance industry, is driving them away. The only growth industry in Nevada right now is that of the ambulance chaser attorney. Because of that, and a tendency of the courts to not want to hold anyone personally responsible for their own idiotic actions, liability coverage for doctors has skyrocketed in Nevada.

One of the first effects of the doctor exodus is a lessening of options for patients seeking medical help. When you are the only provider, customer service isn't a priority.

Health Insurance is another problem. Most coverage offered in Nevada isn't worth the time it takes to fill out the forms. HPN is the largest provider and the worst in providing coverage. The problem is that those running the company see the premiums their policyholders as a path to personal wealth rather than payment for services rendered. Unfortunately, most insurance companies have this attitude. The loser is us.

In my quest for a medical solution to my problem, I have run into incompetence, corruption, self-serving rapaciousness and laziness that, in any truly civilized society, should lead to jail time for the offenders. In this state there will be no movement from those empowered to protect the populace because they are owned by those reaping the financial rewards of corruption. Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie is chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee. During the last legislative session she prevented a bill that would have stopped hospitals from charging a patient for non-delivered products and services. Guess who donates large amounts to Assemblywoman Leslie’s campaign.

Sheila Leslie is only one example. As a Nevada State Assemblyman, I saw literally dozens. Hers is actually less hypocritical than most.

Here is a question for you. Why is it that nearly every power that be in Nevada goes out of state for medical care?