Sunday, July 18, 2010

Health Care Update

As time passes, we slowly but steadily learn what's in the bill. By 2014, all health care records will be in electronic form. Presumably the job of converting all that data into electronic format will be given to a union based company who will farm the job out to the Chinese.
If you want to know what's in your record, and the U.S. server is down, you will be able to get your records from the Great Wall Software Services Co. in China.

Of course anyone else will also, so expect your e-mail spam to begin including snake-oil remedies tailored specifically to your ailments. Since your body mass index is in there too, expect a lot of weight-loss junk along with.

My approach is to have my doctor enter me as a new patient with no past history into the new database. That way I have no pre-existing conditions, and the Chinese have no useful information. BMI is a calculation based on your height squared divided by your weight, plus a bit of a fudge factor. At 5'8" and 170 pounds, my BMI is 25.8, and I'm considered a bit overweight. The obvious solution is to enter your height in hands, and your weight in stones. This will get you down a couple of points, and might make the difference in the decision to cut off your food allocation.

2 comments:

Brad K. said...

I wouldn't be surprised is the Rationer-In-Chief doesn't require restaurants to color code their menus.

To buy alchoholic beverages or tobacco in most states, you have to meet a certain age limit. To order off the 'red zone' of the menu, you might need a BMI less than 24, the yellow zone less than 22. A BMI over 28? You cannot eat at a restaurant (you are living an unhealthy life style). The will likely make Wal-Mart and the Farmers Market do something similar. Next to the UPC code will be a "raw veggie" code for anyone, and a "no fatties allowed" code for the ice cream, sausage, and salad oil.

They will likely forbid anyone with a BMI over 25, unless card-carrying union member, to see a doctor, apply for work or a loan, or vote. Look at the (wasted) appearance of Rahm and think, "National Standards!"

Billll said...

"Yon Cassius hath a lean and hungry look. Such men are not to be trusted."

J.Caeser