bizarreville

As the health care debate continued in Bizarreville, the discussion eventually turned to Tort Reform.  Truth is, the people of Bizarreville were definitely sue-happy…it was almost an official pastime where the mayor would throw out the first whiffle ball at the opening of sue season.  Seems everybody would look for any excuse to sue their friend, neighbor, or (especially) doctor in order to get something for nothing:  “Why work and slave when you can just sue your buddy, get a rich out-of-court settlement, and kick back on the back porch with with a pitcher of margaritas?”  Made sense.

But, in spite of this seemingly ideal state of things, there was a semi-lunatic fringe element bellowing about how all this was causing Health Care costs to skyrocket.  Malpractice insurance was getting so high that many doctors just said Screw It, and bailed.  One doctor got sued for $1 million because some lady’s hang nail got infected, causing her months and months of mental anguish.  The doctor replied, “I was treating you for a swollen ankle!”  But the lady said, “You should have noticed the hang nail.  That’s the trouble with you so-called ‘specialists’.”

The Legislators tried to put an Amendment on the Health Care bill to place limits on malpractice claims, which also included strict guidelines on what was/wasn’t covered.  It would no longer recognize pain/suffering claims, would limit coverage to out-of-pocket expenses, and put strong burden of proof on the claimant to show cause that a case was truly malpractice.  It would save hundreds of gazillions of dollars in phony baloney claims and bogus legal proceedings.

The legal lobby strongly objected.  The powerful Ambulance Chasers International (ACI) decried that this would give doctors free-rein to run rough-shod over our poor patients, do slip-shod meatball surgery at will, forget to take the forceps out of grammaw’s tummy after her gall bladder-ectomy.  They rolled-in poor Mr. Shlumbunk to the hearing who had gone to the hospital for a skin irritation, and ended up mistakenly getting his full package cut off by some renegade doctor, whose only comment was: “Ooops”. 

“Patients need to have recourse on these mavericks.”  And there were boatloads of hound dog lawyers ready to sniff out any crevice to make a case.  And sniff they did.  Sniff, sniff, sniff…

Meanwhile, the Doctors were appalled by these ACI loudmouth charges, and sued the lawyers over defamation of character.  But they couldn’t get any lawyers to try their case, so they filed another suit about restraint of trade/monopolistic practices.  The lawyers counter-sued when the doctors threatened: “Yeah, well, in the unlikely event that you can find an MD who will treat you, better be prepared for a full body cavity examination.”  Ouch.

The Legislators dropped Tort Reform amendments.  They realized that suing each other was just too central to the Bizarreville culture.  Plus, the lawyers were such great contributors to their political campaigns…much better than those stingy old penny-pinching doctors who threw quarters around like they were manhole covers.

Yesterday, during the mayor’s speech on the new Health Care program, there was wild cheering and booing in the crowd.  The mayor would talk about so-called Death panels for old codgers, and the young people would cheer.  He would mention free, assembly-line vasectomies, and the ladies would cheer.  He’d mention that there would be a public option, that it would only be an “option” so you could keep your current health plan, and there would be much booing among those with at least 2 licks of common sense.

But the mayor knew there was much concern about the cost of the program among the non-lobotomized fringe.  This fringe element worried that a major expansion of who gets covered and associated bureaucracy would bust the budget big time.

The mayor wanted to hit this issue head-on.  So, he stated unequivocally that, despite rumors to the contrary, there is no truth to the rumor that the program will include coverage for your pets…no cats, no dogs, certainly no hampsters or cockatoos.  No colonoscopies for your shitzus, no liver transplants for your schnauzers, no waiting in line in the ER behind a cat having a hairball incident.

But Joe Average, fuming in frustration from the mayor’s blathering, finally blurted out:  “You’re Lying!  The bill does offer coverage for pets.  I’ve read the darn thing.  There’s even funding for little bitty CAT-scan machines, new miniature gurneys, and scooper sterilization equipment.”

The mayor was a bit flummoxed, and looked puzzlingly at his aides with that “What the F@!*!” look.  Aides shrugged their shoulders, but deep inside, knew they had been caught trying to sneak one in.

Joe later apologized to the mayor for calling him a dirty rotten unscrupulous liar.  The mayor said:  “That’s all right.  Don’t worry, son, I’ve been called a liar by far better people than you.  Besides…how long have you been around involved in the political world?  You certainly must know that it is a defacto part of my job description to lie about stuff.  C’mon, don’t be so naive.  People are gonna start laughing at you behind your back if you keep showing off your greenness.  Brown-up, man.”

Joe was hounded by news reporters asking what made him decided to de-pants the mayor in public.  He thought about relaying the mayor’s job description comment, but decided to stick with the issue of how we can’t afford pet health care:  “I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t want to subsidize old Rover’s erectile dysfunction meds with my hard-earned tax dollars.”

Bizarreville is about ready to offer a Public Option (PO) to its citizens so that everyone has some level of health insurance.  Leaders would really like just a single payer government-run system, but since that is not palatable with 93% of the people who are already happy with their health care, they decided to call it an “option”.  That way, you have a  choice of keeping your beloved plan, or going with the PO…or so goes the theory.

The Bizarreville leaders would normally listen to their citizens.  But in this case, the Leaders clearly know best, so they have invoked issuing the dreaded Official Bizarreville Brush-Off Proclamation, which reads:

The major businesses in Bizarreville love the PO concept.  In public, they say they love Choice, because choice/options/freedom is what has made Bizarreville great.  But in private, they laugh and laugh.  They laugh as they plot-out quickly dumping their Health Care plan, and telling their people they must go with the PO.  The cost savings are so huge that the execs are hiring new janitors just to swab-up their puddles of drooling-at-the-mouth.  One exec was quoted saying: “Yeee hawwww.  Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop…uh huh, uh huh, uh, huh,”  before he collapsed in shear excitement.  An unnamed manager from one of Bizarreville’s largest companies, The General Deflabenator Company, said that the firm has already started processing cancellation notices with its Health provider, in anticipation of quick passage of the new bill.  “We were wondering how to get out from under these spiralling health care costs, and now the Leaders have handed us the solution on a silver platter.  Yeah, baby.”

When asked about the fact that their employees might not get as good health service, have to wait in lines, be denied certain medical treatments, etc., he responded:  “Pffft…hey man, ain’t my problem no more.  Here’s a quarter.  Go call your caring Leader.”

There have been a few protest gatherings, but they have fizzled out after Leaders started calling them Commies, Anti-Bizarros, and Kids who just need their diapers changed.  The Leaders also started taking down names, and that pretty much freaked-out the rest of the protesters.  “Guess we’ll just have to be sure and stay healthy,” said one of the citizens as she headed home.