Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
I was very moved by Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in 1957. I reread it in the late 1990’s. I listened to it on tape in 2000. Each time I read the book I saw more similarities to the events going on in our world today. I believe Ayn Rand recognized patterns very astutely. Her teachings are equally as fresh and pertinent today as in 1957. Societies have doers and moochers. Industries have been built on taking advantage of our current system of bureaucratic public administration.
Let us assume that the government is for the good of the people and directed by the people. Let us also assume that the current process oriented public administration of our healthcare system has mutated into an inflexible system on the brink of bankruptcy. One can not make minor modifications to marginally improve the system. Minor modfications can make the system a little better or a lot worse. The pressure to sustain the status quo by the bureaucracy, the advantaged stakeholders and the media is overwhelming. Change only occurs when we are all overwhelmed by the burden of the status quo. In healthcare we are almost at that point. Presently, all the stakeholders are hurting as medical care charges and prices are spinning out of control and out of the reach of all of the stakeholders. Even the moochers are hurting.
My son, Brad Feld, said to me a few months ago; “Dad if you think you have something to say then say it though RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and create a blog.
Songwriter Kris Kristopherson wrote in “Beat the Devil”: “he has a stomach full of empty and a pocket full of dreams” An old man at a bar buys him a beer and borrows his guitar. The old man then sings this verse;
“If you waste your time a talking to the people who don’t listen to the things that you are saying who do you think is going to hear. And if you should die explaining how the things that they complain about, are things they could be changing, who do you think is going to care. There were other lonely singers, in a world turned deft and blind, who were crucified for what they tried to show. And their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time because the truth remains that no one wants to know.”
Kristopherson goes on to say: “When no one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor.” “Lonesome is more than a state of mind.” “I didn’t beat the devil but I drank his beer for nothing and then I stole his song.”
He concludes:
“And you still can hear me singing to the people who don’t listen to the things that I am saying , praying someone is going to hear. And I guess I will die explaining about the things that they complain about are thing they could change hoping someone is going to care.
I was born a lonely singer, and I am bound to die the same, but I have got to feed the hunger in my soul. If I never have a nickel, I will never die ashamed because I don’t believe that no one wants to know.”
Kris Kristopherson’s song explains why I am writing this blog. I believe people want to know. I want to get the people “madder than hell and not take it anymore”. The BIG IDEA is people taking personal responsibility for their medical care and medical care dollar. I want the people to direct their leaders to develop effective system, and not a series of patches that do not work.
Thank you Brad.
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