McAllen the Medicare Capital: Obama puzzled!!!

President Obama is intrigued by the article chronicling McAllen's notoriety as the Health care consumption capital of the country. I think there is nothing intriguing about it. It is overuse, abuse and outright fraud, plain and simple. I know parents on Medicaid who send their kids to "therapia" just because of the free transportation for themselves. They are clueless as to what therapy the child is getting (if he is actually getting some therapy), but they don't mind, as they don't have to foot the bill. Same story with Medicaid giving away free diapers to incontinent 3 year olds. For the record, urinary incontinence at 3 years age is perfectly normal. Yet, DME companies call parents, give them Title 19 forms to be signed by the MD. Parents get some diapers (I doubt if they get all that was billed to medicaid), sell it in the flea market. It is a win-win situation for the DME company and the medicaid parent. Let us see if Obama is smart enough to break this little mafia!

Yaksha Prashne

My last blog entry was washed out in a power cut due to heavy rains. I will attempt to resurrect it in this entry.
A few nights ago, as I was tossing and turning in the middle of the night, not unusual for me because of my profession as a doctor taking calls in the hospital. I am not sleep deprived either.
Anyway, as I was tossing around in the bed, I remembered the story of "Yaksha Prashne" (Yaksha's questions) from the epic Maha Bharatha. I had read it long time ago, as a child.
For those who are not familiar with the Hindu mythology, Maha Bharatha is the story of cousins fighting over land and woman, but it is also the story that encompasses the Hindu thought on right and wrong, good and evil and most importantly, one's carrying out his duty without regard to the results. I feel that the stories of Maha Bharatha, while part of Indian life, haven't received enough credit or publicity in the western world. It is a shame because the stories are as intriguing and fascinating as the greek mythology.
I couldn't remember the story in detail. All I could remember was the last question, where, the Yaksha asks Yudhishtira, "what is the greatest surprise of all in the world? " Yudhishtira answers, "People see others die each and every day, yet they wish to live forever (or they think they would live forever)".
So, I woke up googled "Yaksha Prashne" and spent the next hour reading about it.
Stories like these give me perspective. When I see others going crazy with the building of their little empires (I am referring to some physicians I know in the valley), and comparatively, I am taking it easy and sometimes worry about it, I recount these stories to reiterate the silliness and fleeting nature of life.

Mike Tyson tragedy

When I read the tragic story of Mike Tyson's little child's death, there was a moment of pause in my mind. Just to think of all the money (140 million at one time) he had earned and lost.... I mean how could one spend/lose that kind of money!. he claims he was cheated. could be true.
This also brought to me memories of some time I had spent in a tribal hill station in India, "Bili Giri Rangana Betta" as a part of my internship training in 1991-1992. One of the resident doctors there had a collection of books which I had borrowed. One of the books was a collection of short stories from the US, all written I believe in the beginning of the 20 th century. One of the stories was of a boxer, who much like Mike Tyson, boxes, earns and loses money, beats up his mother etc. I gusess names and circumstances may change but the core story doesn't change?

I have been having fun all morning today reading Atul Gawande's article on my little town in McAllen. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande
Ever since I moved to RGV nearly 5 years ago, I have watched physicians building their own little empires, almost forgetting their primary profession and instead behaving like real estate tycoons and hedge fund managers. Their affluence and the gaudy showmanships are just astounding against the rest of the community. No wonder those chickens are going to come home to roost one day!, of course, not today. So, let me partake in this gravy train until it keeps chugging!!

Reflections from the cool confines

My first and foremost passion has always been following politics, having been raised in a journalist's family. After moving to the states from India in the mid 90's, my attention naturally turned to US political scene. I have spent countless hours and nights, much to my wife's chagrin, browsing through and reading multiple newspaprers and magazines. I also enjoy watching the Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart shows, they are hilarious yet insightful.
My wife has been telling me for a while to put my "wide and shallow" knowledge, which I have put to use to lose friends in my community, to better use and blog about it. I didn't take it seriously as I have a private blog that I use as my personal diary and didn't want publicity for it. So, here I go, starting a new blogpost. Hope to write at least on a weekly basis although my second most passion is just being lazy!