On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:35:00 GMT, Mark & Steven Bornfeld
<bornfeldmung@dentaltwins.com> wrote:
> Do I have to stand up as the only lefty in this group? I don't see
>many patients on public assistance, but I see plenty that I truly
>believe cannot pay for anything like comprehensive dental care. They
>don't walk in here wearing Manolos, either.
> Yeah, many of them have made mistakes in life. Some are lazy, some
>just unlucky. I figure I'm no one to judge. I've also seen children
>with severe dental and other problems, and public assistance has failed
>them.
> I haven't seen the news clip, so I can't comment. In New York state,
>welfare rolls are way down. Dentistry is expensive. I try not to hold
>myself out as some moral paragon because I floss my teeth. And I don't
>do full mouth reconstruction in a filthy mouth. But if you see oral
>health care as part of health care and not in the same category as a
>manicure, I don't think you can rationalize the situation as merely
>badly set priorities (though that is certainly out there too).
> I know enough about your history that I'm sure you didn't mean to leave
>that impression.
>
>Steve
Thank you Dr. Bornfeld for standing up for the libreal side, and thank
you Bill for helping those in need.
1st of all, what do you expect from a news report? TV news in general
is biased and superficial, about entertaninmnet not information. Call
it "infotainment".
Dental insurance as it exists today is more of a detriment to the
patient than it is a help, and let's not pretend it's "insurance"
anyway, it's a pre-paid plan that covers your cleanings and exams and
then the [unscrupulous] dentists up-sell you things like "deep
cleanings" for extra profit and hopefully they also find enough
legitimate fillings and such to cover their expenses and turn a little
profit as well.
I have seen plenty of these Delta HMO and CIGNA HMO dentists to know
that 90% of them at least where I live are so desperate to make money
off "insurance" patients, they will lie and say you need work you
don't need. I've been told I need "deep cleanings" by 2 different
dentists only to go to a more upright dentist (including a dentsl
school) who confirmed my gums are fine and I did not need it. I told
my dental school prof, "If I do need it, please, let's do it now that
I have the money" (this was a year after I'd been told I needed it by
the CIGNA dentist) and he said, "No, you really don't need it." This
upsell crap happens all the time around here, I've talked to several
friends who've been told they "need" the deep cleanings as well. Maybe
some do but I've seen it often enough to know that a lot of the time
it's a lie, plain and simple.
So dental insurance as it is known today is 1) not insurance and 2)
encourages lying and cheating on the part of the dentist in order to
make a profit.
That said, I do think we need a government assistance plan to help
those who are truly down and out and do not have the money for dental
work, just as we need a medical plan for those who are not insured.
On the other hand, I agree that many people do not take care of
themselves even when they can. They see dental care as optional and
something they cannot afford. I was one of these most of my life and
thus I recently completed 6 dental implants and root canals and
fillings. I wish I'd have learned to take care of my teeth, but I
never did.
I take full responsibility for not going to the dentist often enough
in recent years .
However, there were also many years in the past when I truly could not
afford dental work and I let things go because of the money. I was
told by some dentists "you need bridge work" and then another dentist
would say that I would be okay without it. But the bottom line was I
couldn't afford the bridge work; I was only working enough to pay
bills and no savings, no extra for bridgework or anything else.
As for a national health plan, we CAN create one that works, and we
CAN afford it if only we stop spending billions on wars and things
that do not benefit the citizens of this country. Note that I say
"CITIZENS", not those who are here illegally.
How does the war in Iraq help us, again? Well, let's make that another
thread...
I just lost my job after 12 years through no fault of my own.
I will be losing my medical insurance in August unless I find another
job that offers benefits, which is getting increasingly harder to find
because greedy corporations prefer to hire you only part time so they
do not have to pay benefits. Can't blame the corporations since they
are operating under a mandate to make the maximum profit. Who I can
blame is the American people for allowing this type of system to
propagate and flourish - a system where all that matters is profit,
not people. And yes, both Democrats and Republicans are part of the
problem.
So what do I do if I need a major surgery, or get cancer or something
like that while I don't have insurance? Please tell me because I am
very stressed out about what will happen if I don't get health
insurance with a new job in the next couple of months. (By the way I
am in an industry that is laying off people all over the place and I
don't expect to find a job soon that pays anywhere near what I've been
making, for this and other reasons.) Shouldn't there be a system in
place to give hard working people like myself health insurance in the
interim?
So dental care is not my major concern, right now, but the above
scenario points up the reason why we do need a government assistance
plan for people who are not insured - especially people who have been
gainfully employed but lost their job.
But certainly children of poor or even stupid or irresponsible parents
need to be taken care of, and people who are out of work or unable to
work, elderly, etc. also need to be taken care of.
We are a rich enough country to take care of our citizens. All we need
is the will to do it, making that more of a priority than killing
people and controlling governments in foreign wars, loaning money to
other countries, and so on.
I'm stepping down off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.
Bill
Mark & Ste…
