Is There A Nurse In The House?
Just some food for thought here:
Not long after his election, President Barack Obama made a choice to pursue health care reform, part of which would provide most citizens with some type of medical insurance coverage. Reform of America's "health care system," a "system" where various figures suggest "the health care system" makes up something like one sixth or even one fifth of the American economy, was/is a daunting task.
To tackle that system, the President decided to use a general blueprint taken from Republicans, especially one Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts, but also commented upon by none other than Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. These two Republicans were left with much lying, I mean, "explaining" to do to the conservative base of the Republican Party, as well as to the country, not long thereafter. Be that as it may, the President chose a VERY difficult fight, if for no other reason than how so many lives are touched in some way by "the health care system," and I don't just mean by the care or non care they get, but also how the "system" affects the economic interests of so many lives; thus, there are many "interest groups" involved in this very complicated system. Once the president made the decision, however, he could never really put into simple words what he wanted to do to this highly complex system. The reason is very simple: it is a highly complex system with many different interest groups. Let's see, did I already say that? A change that might benefit one group, might tick off another group. Republicans gleefully rubbed their hands together as they attacked, and sowed doubts about, the President's reform attempts.
Last summer I had to have some medical tests done and I was talking with one of the nurses. Actually two of the nurses were talking about the changes coming to the health care system and I chimed in, not that I have many opinions. To be honest, I really didn't express my opinions, rather I asked a couple of questions of the more talkative nurse, including what she thought should be done about "the system." She replied that she really didn't know, but that the reforms were not going to totally work, and that neither would "socialized medicine," citing Britain as her example.* She said our system was "corrupt"** and that it really needed to be completely overhauled, because it was so out of whack. She noted how there are so many interest groups involved and proceeded to make that point very clear, as she said in the socialized medicine system in Britain, nurses only make $11 an hour, and that she would never work for such a small salary,*** and I don't blame her, since we've heard so much how the wealthy have to make a gazillion bucks on most projects, or it isn't worth it to them, although cutting workers' wages and benefits is somehow supposed to inspire workers to work until they pretty much drop dead, less they be called "lazy" or "moochers." And people thought slavery was over.
* It is only to fair to note that Britain's medical system is highly supported by the public there, although there are also specific criticisms.
** I don't recall why, but I failed to have her explain what she meant by "corrupt," although you must remember, she and the other nurse weren't just sitting twiddling their thumbs, they were taking constant readings of my blood pressure, my heart rate, looking at screens and computers and other such things, sometimes requiring them to tell me I had to be still for a period, a difficult thing for me to do, except they successfully enforced it by telling me I wouldn't get a lollipop for good behavior, which made me clam up tighter than super wealthy employers when employees ask for a ten cent an hour raise.
*** For a regular 40 hour week that translates to a little less than $23,000 a year. I checked the $11 an hour figure for Britain, but I really could not confirm that amount, as for one thing, there are many classifications of nurses, with different salaries, but as I recall, the lowest figure I could find was something more like $14-$15, when calculated as an hourly rate, which, again based upon 40 hours a week, comes to about $29,000 to $31,000 annually. Again, just some caveats: I "assume" most nurses commonly work more than 40 hour weeks in Britain (and in many countries, including the U.S., for that matter). Further, I'm not certain how many nurses actually work for an "hourly" wage, but rather more likely under some salary guarantee, although I could be wrong. Then also, how many nurses, even as a percentage, actually make the lowest amount, I do not know, but I saw figures for some types of nurses which equated to annual incomes of more like $40,000-$60,000. As I recall, American nurses do seem to make a bit more, but not a great deal more, unless they are in the upper echelons. Also, where the nurse got the $11 an hour figure, I do not know; after all, I didn't exactly ask her for references, but I'm NOT saying she is wrong, but I didn't get the impression from my checking that British nurses "typically" make amounts less than the "14-$15" figure I mentioned above.
WORD HISTORY:
Well-This is the word generally used as an adverb meaning "in good condition, very satisfactory." I'll cover the noun/verb word of this spelling soon, as it is a different word. This word, closely related to "will" ("to wish, to desire"), goes back to Indo European "wel/wol," which had the idea of "desire, wish," which led to the extended meaning, "pleasing" (if you have desires/wishes, they are what "pleases" you). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wela/wola," with the same general "desire, wish" meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wel," which meant "very much, completely, abundantly," with the notion of "abundance, totality = being pleasing." Old English "wel" then became "wele," before the modern form. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "wohl," Low German has "woll," West Frisian "wol," Dutch "wel," Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic have "vel," and Swedish has "väl. All of these Germanic forms mean "well," but in both German and West Frisian the words also means "probably."
Not long after his election, President Barack Obama made a choice to pursue health care reform, part of which would provide most citizens with some type of medical insurance coverage. Reform of America's "health care system," a "system" where various figures suggest "the health care system" makes up something like one sixth or even one fifth of the American economy, was/is a daunting task.
To tackle that system, the President decided to use a general blueprint taken from Republicans, especially one Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts, but also commented upon by none other than Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. These two Republicans were left with much lying, I mean, "explaining" to do to the conservative base of the Republican Party, as well as to the country, not long thereafter. Be that as it may, the President chose a VERY difficult fight, if for no other reason than how so many lives are touched in some way by "the health care system," and I don't just mean by the care or non care they get, but also how the "system" affects the economic interests of so many lives; thus, there are many "interest groups" involved in this very complicated system. Once the president made the decision, however, he could never really put into simple words what he wanted to do to this highly complex system. The reason is very simple: it is a highly complex system with many different interest groups. Let's see, did I already say that? A change that might benefit one group, might tick off another group. Republicans gleefully rubbed their hands together as they attacked, and sowed doubts about, the President's reform attempts.
Last summer I had to have some medical tests done and I was talking with one of the nurses. Actually two of the nurses were talking about the changes coming to the health care system and I chimed in, not that I have many opinions. To be honest, I really didn't express my opinions, rather I asked a couple of questions of the more talkative nurse, including what she thought should be done about "the system." She replied that she really didn't know, but that the reforms were not going to totally work, and that neither would "socialized medicine," citing Britain as her example.* She said our system was "corrupt"** and that it really needed to be completely overhauled, because it was so out of whack. She noted how there are so many interest groups involved and proceeded to make that point very clear, as she said in the socialized medicine system in Britain, nurses only make $11 an hour, and that she would never work for such a small salary,*** and I don't blame her, since we've heard so much how the wealthy have to make a gazillion bucks on most projects, or it isn't worth it to them, although cutting workers' wages and benefits is somehow supposed to inspire workers to work until they pretty much drop dead, less they be called "lazy" or "moochers." And people thought slavery was over.
* It is only to fair to note that Britain's medical system is highly supported by the public there, although there are also specific criticisms.
** I don't recall why, but I failed to have her explain what she meant by "corrupt," although you must remember, she and the other nurse weren't just sitting twiddling their thumbs, they were taking constant readings of my blood pressure, my heart rate, looking at screens and computers and other such things, sometimes requiring them to tell me I had to be still for a period, a difficult thing for me to do, except they successfully enforced it by telling me I wouldn't get a lollipop for good behavior, which made me clam up tighter than super wealthy employers when employees ask for a ten cent an hour raise.
*** For a regular 40 hour week that translates to a little less than $23,000 a year. I checked the $11 an hour figure for Britain, but I really could not confirm that amount, as for one thing, there are many classifications of nurses, with different salaries, but as I recall, the lowest figure I could find was something more like $14-$15, when calculated as an hourly rate, which, again based upon 40 hours a week, comes to about $29,000 to $31,000 annually. Again, just some caveats: I "assume" most nurses commonly work more than 40 hour weeks in Britain (and in many countries, including the U.S., for that matter). Further, I'm not certain how many nurses actually work for an "hourly" wage, but rather more likely under some salary guarantee, although I could be wrong. Then also, how many nurses, even as a percentage, actually make the lowest amount, I do not know, but I saw figures for some types of nurses which equated to annual incomes of more like $40,000-$60,000. As I recall, American nurses do seem to make a bit more, but not a great deal more, unless they are in the upper echelons. Also, where the nurse got the $11 an hour figure, I do not know; after all, I didn't exactly ask her for references, but I'm NOT saying she is wrong, but I didn't get the impression from my checking that British nurses "typically" make amounts less than the "14-$15" figure I mentioned above.
WORD HISTORY:
Well-This is the word generally used as an adverb meaning "in good condition, very satisfactory." I'll cover the noun/verb word of this spelling soon, as it is a different word. This word, closely related to "will" ("to wish, to desire"), goes back to Indo European "wel/wol," which had the idea of "desire, wish," which led to the extended meaning, "pleasing" (if you have desires/wishes, they are what "pleases" you). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wela/wola," with the same general "desire, wish" meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wel," which meant "very much, completely, abundantly," with the notion of "abundance, totality = being pleasing." Old English "wel" then became "wele," before the modern form. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "wohl," Low German has "woll," West Frisian "wol," Dutch "wel," Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic have "vel," and Swedish has "väl. All of these Germanic forms mean "well," but in both German and West Frisian the words also means "probably."
Labels: Barack Obama, British health care, English, etymology, Germanic languages, health care reform, nursing, President Obama, Republicans
posted by Randy at 8:44 AM
4 Comments:
Always been my impression the Brits like their medical system. So many interests entrenched in this country like the nurse said, they will do everything or anything to keep single payer system, lots of lies about other countries included.
the insurance compnies will never let major change in health. only let change now because they get more business. rich control everything in america
Johnnie, I assume you mean "they will do anything to keep single payer OUT."
U R right Randy, my mistake. Glad you corrected me.
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