Medical Mirages

                                                                     

So last night I've got the TV tuned to one of those retro channels. At commercial break we see the beginnings of a desert sunrise. The skies are still purple as the camera pans to the rather beaten down old rural farmhouse.

As the lights come on in the house we see a Hispanic family moving about, then see their young son loaded into the ancient pickup.......en route this morning for a day of cancer treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

And I start to laugh out loud.

No way can this poor family afford medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Unless one has a "Cadillac Medical Plan" the Mayo Clinic will turn you away at the door. That is also true for Cancer Centers of America, a profitable medical firm that also produces heart touching cancer commercials.

Neither of these medical centers will accept Medicaid or Medicare. If you want holistic and focused cancer care you better be extremely wealthy....be a member of an elite government bureaucracy, or have won the Powerball Lottery.

I propose both Mayo and Cancer Centers of America start practicing a little truth in advertising. For every smiling face, happy to see their cancer in remission, let's start seeing the front desk bureaucrat, who takes one look at your Medicare or Medicaid Card (even if you have an Advantage Plan), and points to the front door while handing you a map identifying the nearest county hospital.

I'm sorry but this hypocrisy makes me gag. We all know that our health care system is largely money driven. Those teams of cancer doctors, all hovering around you, do so after taking a good look at your bank account.