These Aggressions Cannot Stand

Recently, I was the victim of racism. Ok, maybe not racism. But definitely discrimination. The worst kind. Someone discriminated against me in a way that hurt deep down to my core. They assumed that I wouldn't try to smuggle drugs into a Modest Mouse concert. See, Sara and I had to wait in an extrodinary line to go through security to get into the The Murat. They were basically giving everyone the third degree. They made people take off their shoes. They searched peoples hats. They made people take their cigarettes to out of the package so they could search both of the cigarettes and the package. Then it was my turn. They took one look at me and my J Crew sweater and just told me to go right on through. I even had everything ready to take out of my pockets. Don't they know. I'm from the suburbs. I could have had a meth pipe or some coke in my pocket. I mean I didn't. But I COULD have. Don't they know what the drug lords look like. They don't look like dope slingers. They look like CEOs.

As you know, this past summer I worked at Humana (I know you know because as a loyal reader, I know you probably know everything about me). Anyway. The entire time I was there, consumerism was preached upon me. Consumerism is the education of the consumer so can make educated choices when it comes to healthcare. The belief is that the educated consumer will cost less to the healthcare provider, thus lowering costs (which raises net income for the same level of revenue, inflating the stock price, making the everyone happy). So, as an employee of Humana, I should know that being an educated consumer is important. I should ask questions. Well, a recent trip to the doctor showed that this was infact not the case. Not only did I chose the an expensive specialist(the premium for having the best), but whenever the doctor said he was going to give me a cortizone shot, I was all about it. An informed consumer would have asked how much that shot cost. An informed consumer would have asked what alternatives were available. An informed consumer would NOT have just said, "Ok." So what does this prove. It proves that converting people to be informed consumers is much more difficult than just tell them they SHOULD be informed. That they SHOULD ask questions. It isn't even enough to tell them the benefits of being informed. Imagine if the doctor told you that you should have a shot. You're probably going to get the shot. That's the state of healthcare today. Maybe the fundamental change in the industry needs to be more transparency between doctor and patient. Maybe that is where insurance companies should be making their efforts. I don't know. I don't have the answers. I'm just an uninformed intern.

Song Recommendation - Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn, and John