Something is really wrong in our country when clinics that serve the poor

[question everything]

close for lack of funds - as detailed yesterday on "60 minutes" -

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/03/60minutes/main4917055.shtml

and a movie pulled in more than $70 million in just one weekend.

a link to the video, too

http://www.veoh.com/collection/CBS-60-Minutes#watch%3Dv18156419KWYpfwpd

[Mike 03]

1. They are running out of money.

Forty thousand families thrown into poverty in Contra Costa County, where there used to be mostly wealth.

The well is running dry.

[CAG]

2. Wonder why those "great 'murkins" Hannity and O'Leilly don't do stories

like these....

[question everything]

4. They probably blame the victims

Those conservatives always think that people should take care of themselves, should purchase their own insurance, that it will never happen to them.

[napi21]

3. I anticipate a lot more suicides & shootings in the near future.

I watched 60 mins too, and I told my son "People wonder why so many people are turning to desperate things." I never thought I'd be glad to be old. I don't have much money, and the small 401K we had is worth about 1/2 of what it was, but we are able to live ok on our SS checks, and at least I don't have to worry about getting layed off. I worry a kit aboyt those younger who have to live in fear every day of what the next day will bring.

[BeFree]

5. Thought....

...There is a whole lot of money being spent on research and developing new health care technology.

Maybe we should halt all that jazz and put the money where it is needed most?

[Lisa0825]

6. I worked for a teaching hospital that has historically been the source of care

for a multi-county indigent population. It has been getting systematically starved by our rethuglican state government because 1) they resent giving anything to poor people and 2) considering that those here illegally don't have insurance since they are employed under the table, the rethugs would rather they died than let them have a dime of health care. The hospital leadership dragged it out as long as possible, going deep into the red, but eventually had to start turning people away.

I don't like the word "hate," but I have come to HATE people who have no human compassion.

[girl gone mad]

7. The cost of medical care needs to come down.

$50K for one chemo drug is insane.

[question everything]

8. It is proably a biotech drug which targets the tumor

and is more efficient with lesser side effects.

The problem is that it takes about 10 years to bring a drug to the market, and only one out of 100 (I think) ideas ends up being viable. So the companies have to charge high price to cover all those years and false attempts.

In the old days, many of this basic research was done in universities supported by grants so at least the initial costs were not so high.

At some point we will have to realize that all of us are paying for health care cost - one way or the other.

There was once a story about attempts to treat autistic children at an early age, some kind of very intense one on one teaching. And the state in the story was considering mandating coverage of this treatment and the insurance companies were campaigning against it. And I was thinking that if we could not treat autistic children early on, so that they could be well functioning adults, eventually we will have to support them through special programs and welfare.

So it was either the insurance company or us - the tax payers.

[lonestarnot]

9. K & R

[newtothegame]

10. Yeah but Hollywood votes Democratic so it's ok.

:sarcasm: