It All Started with Snoopy Band-Aids

I think it is time that I reveal that I do indeed know the origin of some of this country’s woes. I will focus on health care. It all started with Snoopy band-aids. Now…I have nothing against Snoopy; he’s a cartoon dog and I like all dogs, made-up or otherwise. But when folks were given a chance between a nondescript bandage or a colorful one from entertainment fame, people adopted Snoopy. It became a time for competition between good, old boring Johnson and Johnson and Charles Schulz. Then it escalated. But the bottom line was identical: cover the wound.

Have you seen delivery rooms lately? Okay…rename that: have you visited the Hospital Hilton for a stay in a suite, complete with cherry furnishings, free wi-fi, and the trappings of a vacation condo? All for what mid-wives did back in the day: catch a baby. Okay. I am being simplistic but it is true: health care has become an elaborate scheme of one-up-man-ship. I swear….if I had accommodations during labor and delivery that exist today, I would have had twelve kids instead of four. Not because I love children, but to have stayed in the Hospital Hilton. Cool digs. So what if you have to push out a baby to qualify. I did that anyway, with no drugs, and a roommate to boot. Now– that was the pioneering spirit! I mean, clean, sterile and comfortable with competent medical humans was all one really needed. Snoopy could do no better than the pink bandages of yesteryear.The only ones who are truly suffering are folks like us playing along. I opt for simple yet competent. Insurance CEO’s are lining their pockets because we are ‘wowed’ by such extravagant trappings. When I was in labor, I could have pried off one of those fancy framed portraits and chewed it in half with my teeth, my discomfort was that strong. I swear, there’s a special place in Hell for insurance CEO’s, and I doubt it will be outfitted like the Hospital Hilton, but I do suspect it will be mighty warm. I am smiling as I type this.

Oh, we can debate the Health Care dilemma until we waddle off to the nursing home. But the rising costs have to link back to the delivery of medical care in such ‘fancy schmancy’ environments. We feel we are entitled to luxury, even when puking in a basin. I don’t get it. I do not feel we need to go back to the days of nurses in crisp, white dresses with hideous shoes. All I’m saying is that we need a little less Snoopy. Go ask Lucy. She’s been seeing patients for years in a formerly occupied lemonade stand. You go girl! And when it is all said and done, we heal, get better, and go home, with  Snoopy waiting at our very ordinary doors. Health care? Let’s not be dazzled by the ‘zeal in the heal’ propaganda and let’s just settle for good care that does not hold our checkbooks hostage and dictate every job by the pox of insurance coverage. The simple band-aid has been begging for a comeback. I say its time is now. Snoopy agrees, and has traded in all of his character bandaids for the plain old pink kind. Good dog, Snoopy; good dog, indeed!