Hawaii residents feel effects of widening drug coverage gap - H...

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realmerv wrote:

Does anyone know whether Medicare beneficiaries had any prescription drug coverage prior to President Bush coming up with the prescription drug program that has this doughnut hole in it?
If there was no prescription drug coverage, I wonder how the Medicare beneficiaries were paying for their drugs? Were they doing without drugs if they didn't have the financial resources to buy their own drugs?

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LLJD wrote:

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I work in healthcare, and one of the most unfortunate thing that i saw happening was the people who didn't have medical coverage (especially the elderly) just didn't take their medications. It was coming to a point where some would have to make decisions about paying the rent vs medications; paying for food vs. medications. Some patients would ration their medications for example, they would take half the pill one day and take the other half on another day. There are no easy answers on how to fix this but you can't simply tell an elderly person to go get a job.....i can see a young abled body (who plays the system) being told this but an elderly person?. There are a lot of sad situations such as these....i see it all the time.
I've also seen hard working people that have retired, with just medicare; very sick but afraid to go to the hospital because they can't afford it and when they finally make it to the hospital....they are dying.
Here we talk about laziness, obesity etc. but there are other situations that people forget and need to be aware of. It is painful when you really see actual cases. I just hope people are aware of this, or perhaps nobody cares?

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

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For the most part, if you avoid processed foods, you will avoid most of the stuff you talk about - trans fats and huge amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. In addition, you will avoid high-fructose corn syrup, excessive sodium, and highly-refined carbohydrates.
fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fresh water should be the main constituents of the human diet.
However, look at what the typical Hawaii resident consumes: Spam, white rice, Aloha Maid drinks, Mac salad, vienna sausage, shoyu, corned beef, May's hamburgers, manapua, fried noodles, etc. All part of a crappy diet

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

What many people don't realize is that many of the medications that people take for high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure can be reduced (or totally eliminated) if one follows a sound eating pattern and a regular exercise program.
In the Waianae Diet Program, Dr. Shintani showed that many medications for chronic conditions can be reduced (or even eliminated) in just 3 weeks. Unfortunately, many people rather swallow a pill to control their conditions, so they can continue eating all the nasty "foods" that local people can't live without - canned processed meats like Spam and Vienna Sausage.
Just watch when a store has a big sale on canned meats such as Spam. The amount of people that rush to the store is, literally, astounding. They bring their entire ohana (including infants), and each person buys the per person limit. Many often come back later in the day (again with their entire family), and buys the per person limit again. Only in Hawaii does one witness something like this. A person from the mainland simply cannot understand the frenzy that a Spam sale can cause.

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

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You make some excellent points, and what you said is all true; however, what we must realize is that, overall, healthcare it isn't THAT BAD in the U.S. What I mean by this is that, in the U.S., if I had no money, and I walked into ANY emergency room complaining of chest pains, they WILL treat me. If you go to many other countries, and if you walk into a clinic or emergency room, and you ain't got money, they ain't even gonna touch you.
My friend lives in a rural area of the Philippines. I asked him, what will happen if you're a insulin-dependent diabetic in the Philippines, but you don't have any money for insulin and no family to help you pay for medicine. His answer was:
"You will die in a few days. Simple as that."
This would never happen in the U.S. You go to a clinic, and you need insulin, and you ain't got money, you will still get your insulin. Nobody is gonna let you die simply because you can't pay for insulin. So we got it really good in the U.S. In other places, you will just die. No if's, ands, or buts.

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

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For the most part, if you avoid processed foods, you will avoid most of the stuff you talk about - trans fats and huge amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. In addition, you will avoid high-fructose corn syrup, excessive sodium, and highly-refined carbohydrates.
fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fresh water should be the main constituents of the human diet.
However, look at what the typical Hawaii resident consumes: Spam, white rice, Aloha Maid drinks, Mac salad, vienna sausage, shoyu, corned beef, May's hamburgers, manapua, fried noodles, etc. All part of a crappy diet

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

All seven of the above posts FAIL to address the TRUE cause of all of this. A LACK OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE'S HEALTH. All of you bring up politics - blaming Bush, democrats, talking about socialized medicine, Obama, etc.
The reason we have a health care crisis in America is simple: TOO MANY OBESE PEOPLE!! Nearly 70% of our population is overweight or obese!! THINK ABOUT THAT - 7 out of 10 people are too fat!! People want good health, yet they still want to eat like hogs. Youth obesity is already a huge problem, with kids as young as 10 years of age being diagnosed with type II diabetes and high cholesterol.
I don't care what we do on the political front. Even if we develop the greatest health care system in the world, Americans will still continue to be fat, to suffer from poor health, and to die prematurely. Stop eating those Costco hot dogs, get off the damn computer, the PlayStation, and the PSP.
Eat an apple and go for a damn walk for Christ's sake!

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Grinchie wrote:

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Diet may not cure you of Type 1 diabetes, but you can use it along with exercise to slow it down, and nearly stop it.
There are certain herbs that will help diabetics maintain an adequate level of control along with diet and exercise. Cutting back on the Food Pollutants is important, such as HFCS, "Natural Fruit Flavors", which are extracted with solvents, and contain trace amount of solvents as well, and "Spices" which actually is such a broad term that it contains raw chemicals of a synthetic nature.
Many pregnant women commonly become Diabetic during their term, and then spontaneously recover after child birth. If this is so common, then how did the people of antiquity handle it? They didn't even know how to test blood sugar until recently, so one has to open their eyes and look past the fear and see what is reality. What may be a normal blood sugar for one, may be too low for others. We are not machines.

freedom man wrote:

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I agree.
"The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog." -- C. K. Chesterton

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bjreed wrote:

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I totally agree. It requires a cultural change, but if you can eat little processed foods, but many fresh fruits and vegetables, your health problems should even out a bit. It will not happen overnight, but it WILL happen. I was forced into such a diet because of illness, and now, I do not even want to look at fatty foods. If I have chicken fried steak at a restaurant, I only eat a quarter of it and freeze the rest. Same with all side dishes; I eat about half and take home the rest for another meal. After a while, you find that you have absolutely no desire for a heavy meal. In fact, it would make you sick.

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

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... look at what the typical Hawaii resident consumes: Spam, white rice, Aloha Maid drinks, Mac salad, vienna sausage, shoyu, corned beef, May's hamburgers, manapua, fried noodles, etc. All part of a crappy diet

Oahu Portagee wrote:

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.... as a kid, I ate more junk food than almost anyone I know. This was a typical day for me:
Breakfast - Fruit Loops or Frosted Flakes
Recess snack - potato chips and soda
Lunch - School Lunch
After School snack - Fried noodles and soda from the manapua truck
Dinner: Spam and rice with kim chee, Medow Gold Guava Nectar
Night time snack: Ice cream, Oreo cookies, or pie.
Terrible, terrible, terrible way of eating.

Grinchie wrote:

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... I've been to Japan, England, France, and Germany, along with having friends in Canada, and they are quite content with their Universal Health Care.
Just take a look at the average population of those countries walking down the streets. Instead of seeing a bunch of morbidly obese, wheezing, red faced and ill specimens of human beings like you see in America, you see that the majority of people in those countries can Walk down the street without losing a gallon of fluid, sitting down very 150 feet, or dropping dead from a coronary.
......

LLJD wrote:

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"socialized" medicine means different things to different people, meaning the definition is different depending on what party you belong, and what socioeconomic class you belong to. You should define the "health proposal" that your talking about, and site your sources. Medicare is a form of socialized medicine which is important to elderly and the disabled or handicapped. I would find it hard to believe that you would think the elderly and the disabled don't deserve any healthcare. But I don't know...you didn't define your stance.
Your statement regarding, when reaching a certain amount you are capped off.....we already have that type of insurance which is in the form of managed care....If you want extensive converage you you have to switch to a different plan; and some drug coverage have caps.....once you reach it, you pay out of pocket.
Healthcare reform is a big topic that need to be discussed in an intellegent manner, which also deserves a forum that would involve people in healthcare.
Whether or not you are a democrat or a republican or whatever party, the main point is that it is being addressed. The democrats had the courage to bring up the topics and suggestions........the republicans were too busy criticizing any healthcare reform but offered no solutions or suggestions, but I did notice that some supports were very vocal about healthcare being a privilige not a right.
Blaming "democraps" ---a party i guess you made up, or blaming anybody for that matter is not the answer. Healthcare reform topics has been continously debated for decades......blaming will not get one anywhere which seems to be going lately. Topics such as healthcare will never be solved in this lifetime, but is an ongoing issue in this continuum with call life.
Would appreciate other comments from healthcare providers and goverment workers.

Laie Born wrote:

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Maybe if you one portagee -- but the stuff you mention isn't the "typical Hawaii resident diet".

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Laie Born wrote:

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Maybe if you one portagee -- but the stuff you mention isn't the "typical Hawaii resident diet".

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Laie Born wrote:

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Better strike Germany from that list. They might have universal health coverage, but they have just as many porkers as the US does. Many countries arrange their cities so that people can walk and ride bikes without getting run over by cars. Kids can bike to school -- what a concept! I think outdoor exercize has as much to do with good health as diet. Europeans absorb major amounts of fat, sweets and processed meat.

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Oahu Portagee wrote:

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Spam, Vienna Sausage, shoyu, and mac salad not typical foods in Hawaii?????? Are you kidding me?? Are you sure you were born in Laie?? Maybe you were born there, left when you were 1 month old and never returned.
Did you know that, per capita, Hawaii is the largest consumer of Spam in the WORLD?!?!??? Go to ANY restaurant in Hawaii, and what do you find sitting on the table or at the counter?? Shoyu.