The Empty Soda Can

About four years ago, my doctor put me on a new maintenance medication and some Vitamin D3 to help with its absorption. Over the next few months, we tweaked the dose a bit, but I’ve been on this combo ever since. I’ve compared my results to others on the same medication but without the D3, and my results have been much better than theirs Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago: after some 3½ years without changes, I noticed that the meds didn’t seem to be working as well. I wondered if it might be time to up my dose, but then something occurred to me: the last time I picked up my prescriptions, the Vitamin D I usually take was out of stock, so they substituted a different kind. Could that be the culprit? I called my pharmacy and asked if there was any significant difference between what I currently have and what I usually get. They transferred me to the actual pharmacist, who looked it up and responded in the negative: they’re the same dose; they’re from the same manufacturer; they p...

For those that don’t know, my sister is permanently disabled. She has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome , which basically means that untreated, she’d experience pain, 24/7, to the tune of 10% worse than natural childbirth. In fact, RSD patients—who are overwhelmingly female—often report that pregnancy decreases their pain level, so while most pregnant women are complaining that their back hurts, the RSD patients are rejoicing that their arms and legs don’t. Thankfully, my sister has been blessed with amazing health benefits. Until their retirement, a few months ago, my parents were both middle-school teachers in New Jersey, which basically means that their insurance is phenomenal compared to just about everyone else’s. (Case in point: growing up, my sister and I took prescription chewable vitamins because our $1 copay was cheaper than over-the-counter Flintstones vitamins. True story.) While many insurance companies won’t even admit that RSD exists , let alone cover it, I’m not a...

Now here’s a fascinating turn of events: we were having lunch at McDonald’s yesterday, and the TV was showing CNN’s live feed of Obama addressing a group of Pennsylvania union members. In the course of his remarks, Obama used the opportunity to once again drum up support for his health plan. As I listened to our illustrious president speak, he came to part about how’s he’s going to pay for all this, and I was flabbergasted. It was Romneycare! Now, don’t get me wrong: there are still plenty of differences between Obama’s plan and what Romney pushed through, in Massachusetts. However, the main sticking point—that the government stop paying doctors to treat the uninsured, then turn around and use that money to insure the same people they’re no longer paying for—was there. Frankly, I don’t know if this has always been a part of his plan (and don’t really care), but I do know a good idea when I hear it. It made sense when Romney suggested it, and it makes sense when Obama suggests it....

So last night, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina spoke out in an unbecoming outburst, during the President’s speech before Congress (not that he was really addressing Congress, but that’s not Obama; that’s presidents in general). In case you’ve been in a cave this morning, Obama claimed that his health care plan—which he has now essentially vowed to push through, no matter what, and if the Republicans don’t like it, that’s just because they’re stupid whiners—would not apply to illegal immigrants. Representative Wilson yelled out, right then and there, “You lie!” (Nancy Pelosi was not amused.) So here’s the problem: Wilson’s outburst was inappropriate, but not necessarily inaccurate. And even if one does believe that Wilson is wrong, he spoke his beliefs, which last I checked, was still okay in this country. So the question now is: how does Wilson—a virtual unknown, until last night—turn this into a positive? Wilson has been apologizing (through his people, of course) almost since...