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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
SAN FRANCISCO — When John Battelle's teenage son broke his leg at a suburban soccer game, naturally the first call his parents made was to 911. The second was to Dr. Jordan Shlain, the concierge doctor here who treats Mr. Battelle and his family. "They're taking him to a local hospital," Mr. Battelle's wife, Michelle, told Dr. Shlain as the boy rode in an ambulance to a nearby emergency room in Marin County. "No, they're not," Dr. Shlain instructed them. "You don't want that leg set by an E.R. doc at a local medical center. You want it set by the head of orthopedics at a hospital in the city." Within minutes, the ambulance was on the Golden Gate Bridge, bound for California Pacific Medical Center, one of San Francisco's top hospitals. Dr. Shlain was there to meet them when they arrived, and the boy was seen almost immediately by an orthopedist with decades of experience.
For Mr. Battelle, a veteran media entrepreneur, the experience convinced him that the annual fee he pays to have Dr. Shlain on call is worth it, despite his guilt over what he admits is very special treatment. "I feel badly that I have the means to jump the line," he said. "But when you have kids, you jump the line. You just do. If you have the money, would you not spend it for that?"
Increasingly, it is a question being asked in hospitals and doctor's offices, especially in wealthier enclaves in places like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and New York. And just as a virtual velvet rope has risen between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else on airplanes, cruise ships and amusement parks, widening inequality is also transforming how health care is delivered. Money has always made a big difference in the medical world: fancier rooms at hospitals, better food and access to the latest treatments and technology. Concierge practices, where patients pay several thousand dollars a year so they can quickly reach their primary care doctor, with guaranteed same-day appointments, have been around for decades.
But these aren't the concierge doctors you've heard about — and that's intentional.
Dr. Shlain's Private Medical group does not advertise and has virtually no presence on the web, and new patients come strictly by word of mouth. But with annual fees that range from $40,000 to $80,000 (more than 10 times what conventional concierge practices charge), the suite of services goes far beyond 24-hour access or a Nespresso machine in the waiting room.
Indeed, as many Americans struggle to pay for health care — or even, with the future of the Affordable Care Act in question on Capitol Hill, face a loss of coverage — this corner of what some doctors call the medical-industrial complex is booming: boutique doctors and high-end hospital wards.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 05 2017, @11:05PM (3 children)
Hate seems to be the prevailing sentiment for just about everything these days.
Hate allows you to scream things like "Kill 'em All!" And mean it.
First hate, then action. The rich are the reason you don't have anything. Take their stuff. Make them work for once.
I believe every despot uses this to control their population.
See that Jew over there? He has money, He has food and your kids are starving . . . .
Hate.
Besides, Do you really believe the government can improve things if you gave them all the money? I don't.
I've been mulling over this hate thing for a little while now. We're being brainwashed to hate, which allows us to hurt other folks, destroy property and perform vicious and evil acts because hate the other side.
Why hate the rich? Because you don't have what they have?
News Flash: Most of us aren't good enough to create wealth, we ride the coat tails of the rich to survive.
In looking at the wealthy, the truly wealthy, they toss their money into investments and pay someone to manage that investment. They toss money into the stock market, lots of it and spread it out all over the place. When the market crashes they lose some money but it always bounces back and they win in the end.
They buy buildings and rent them out, or land an build a building on it, someone manages all that stuff for 'em.
We can't do that, so we work for the guy paying the rent.
Do you hate trump? I read that his daddy gave him 200K to start a business. He became uber wealthy with it. Very few of us could do that. If you hate trump this means nothing to you, it'll just fuel your hatred. Just mentioning his name will piss you off. If you dislike him (for good reason) you can take the info as part of the message.
Hate will allow you to believe anything and start supporting or even performing actions that are unforgivable.
You should not hate someone that is lucky enough to be wealthy in this life. You should probably try to figure out how he got that way and copy his act. And then spend your wealth helping the rest of us out.
As I read this, it sounds a bit religious. I'm part Ojibwe indian. My grandfather was a pure blood. . I'm more spiritual than religious. I believe that there is a spiritual right and a wrong in this universe.. How do you tell the difference, you ask? Unfortunately my grandfather wasn't very clear about it, but it's a path. A fuzzy path that you tiptoe through by instinct.
But I really believe that hate and hurting folks is definitely the wrong path.
Apologies for the long post.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @12:45AM
Here is the key to not hate. Do not worry about others money. Worry about how you spend yours and what you invest it in. They may be making their money in a bad way but that does not affect you. Only you affect you. Jealously breads hate.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Tuesday June 06 2017, @12:54AM
No mod points left, but I'd mod this Insightful.
(Score: 1) by remoteshell on Tuesday June 06 2017, @01:44AM
Hmmm ...
Pure blood?
A right or wrong in the universe?
Fuzzy paths?