That’s about the only good thing that will result if the conservatives in the Supreme Court invalidate the new health care law: it’ll mean we get a single-payer system in, oh, say 8-10 years, after health care causes the next Great Recession here in the US.
Sad thing is I agree with this. I despise the milquetoast half-baked compromise they came up with, and accepted it only because I was tired of seeing nothing done as an alternative.
But if nuking it means stirring up enough people to get the support for a system that would actually work, then I say “no pain, no gain … hit me!”
People here in US don’t want free health care because the general population has the misconception that the more money you pay, the better health care you get. And God forbid everyone get the same health care as poor people.
Because everyone knows that free health care is just one more step toward Godless Communism. Am I right?
@bucc-i no your not right, and yes it is a step towards communism; i’m not into that whole eagles versus reds deal that caused the better part of the cold war but i will say that trying to introduce socialist ideas and policies in a mostly capitalist environment is downright financial suicide. we do have a general belief that if something costs more then it is automatically worth more the basis stands that a person’s money belongs to the person.
to be completely honest it is not the governments job to even go as far as to help the poor and destitute, it’s the public’s job to do that. but thankfully we live in a country where we aren’t idiotic enough to actually rely on the public to be moral so we do take care of the disabled but it is my belief that we simply don’t need the governments help in medical aid as well as other aids and we are suffering because we are trying to.
“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” Preamble to the Constitution
Seems like we don’t have too much trouble funding the part right before the bolded portion, but tend to count an awful lot on bake sales for promoting the general welfare. I, for one, would like to see little more attention paid to that ideal.
Well, that and the “establish justice” part, too. We made a lot of progress toward that in 1964. 🙂
Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. (Knocks wood.)
Nice points but you’re overlooking the ignore em factor. A large percentage of the US just want the government to leave them alone and not butt into their lives. The forced healthcare is such a move. Others as well. Mostly if the government would just stop all these attempts to manage everything as a response to anyone with a loud voice screaming about a problem it would be spending half the money. Case in point is public land management. In my town we have a federal, state, county, and city public land management offices and they all manage the same lands and argue about who gets to do what. Sounds like make work to me with 75% hired just to create jobs. It’s been that way for 25 years I know of. We need less government, not more.
Yeah, well, when there’s as much of the population that seems to feel we need “more” when it comes to the bedroom and religious “morals” and “less” when it comes to anything that actually benefits a huge section of the population, I have to say I’m not impressed by the “less not more” argument. Sorry.
@dadman
I think you’ve got a slight misread. “Promote the general welfare” — if you’re promoting it, it’s more like advertising, such as “Uh, you guys, it would be really good if you’d stop smoking”, as opposed to what the current philosophy is, such as “You bloomin’ idiots can’t even punch your way out of a paper bag, we’ve got to do everything for you so stop thinking and just do like we tell you to do”. The former is “promoting the general welfare” — the latter is, well, not. See the difference?
1. Further the progress of (something, esp. a cause, venture, or aim); support or actively encourage.
2. Give publicity to (a product, organization, or venture) so as to increase sales or public awareness.
@waldosan I don’t get why some Americans keep clinging to the notion that enacting some “socialist” policies is going to turn you into “COMMIES!!! OH NOES TEH COMMIES!!!1!” as a Canadian, where we have had socialized medicine since the 1960’s I have to say that I am no more a ‘communist’ than you are, and I don’t have to die in bed having never seen a doctor because I was terrified an illness would bankrupt my entire family. At least until our current Governments completely sabotage Health Care so that your American Vulture medical corporations can move in and take everything over.
Socialism and Communism are NOT the same thing… Socialism is an economic system while Communism is a political one. The Communist party in the USSR did have Socialist policies, but they were NOT run properly, and nobody has said your entire economic system should be transformed into Soviet style Socialism as that wouldn’t work anyways, but there ARE aspects of modern society that would benefit from PROPERLY applied socialized policies and health care is chief among them… there’s an interesting article on the differences between Socialism & Communism over at : http://www.romm.org/soc_com.html which I found just before posting this.
To be fair, a lot of people have overdosed on their meds or sold them then said that they lost them. It’s usually the doctor rather than the insurance company that makes the call. Doctors can be fined or lose their license for handing out too many drugs. Except in Florida. That’s what happened to me when my Ferret Gildenstern hid my bottle of prozac under the couch.
Here’s a point: Since Americans (sorry; I meant to say Republicans) will be in charge of the House and Senate and probably the Presidency in ’12… that means WE will be in charge of YOUR healthcare: how much of it you “need”, how long you’ll wait for it, what you’ll pay for it. Total control of your medications and your lifestyle. Groovy!
And before you can moan about “Keep your laws off of my body”, jsut remember: YOU PUT MY LAWS THERE.
That’s totally cool with you, right?After all, you voted for it.
My two cents – People want and don’t want things based on how you put it to them. So republicans can point to polls that show Americans don’t want government in healthcare where the questions have phrases like government takeover, socialism/communism, Obamacare, etc. but democrats can point to polls where when people are asked if they like closing the donut hole, having insurance companies not drop you for pre-existing conditions, allowing kids to stay on parents’ plans longer, they like those things.
As for not liking socialism, you’re living in the wrong country – American has plenty of socialism, and for the most part it does pretty good.
Why can’t we just get back to Nixon’s price controls.
Phase One worked like a charm. True story.
…
As for the ‘fairness’ of people ‘deliberately’ losing their meds… well, Tina can tell Becky is telling the truth. And while Becky’s insurance company doesn’t have paranormal powers, it is being a dick about it because its motivation is not Becky’s well-being.
An implied assumption by many here is that a government program *would* be administered with the health of the citizenry in mind.
I don’t buy that.
A government program is administered for the benefit of the government currently in residence, whatever benefit that needs be.
This is why social governments are big, expensive, inefficient and drag down both the national economy. The soviet Union is merely an extreme example. Forget ideology: In pure practical terms, central government control of the economy is destructive.
Socialism only works in small countries with small populations that can run an entire economy off a lucrative niche market.
Universal healthcare boils down to nothing more than the “bread” half of the bread and circuses Rome used to placate its people. It’s an old game. Just a whole lot more expansive. To some like myself, prohibitively expensive and massive destroyer of the dreams and ambition needed to maintain a dynamic economy.
As opposed to what we have now? The death panels certain people were trying to scare us with aren’t in the government plan but already part of the insurance companies’. Sometimes you want the evil you know. Me, I wouldn’t mind the “evil” I don’t when it comes to choosing between the two right now.
Reality check right now- the instant the Obamacare bill passed through both houses, my health insurance for my family of four near tripled. Supply and demand, very simple- once a service/material/whatever is mandated, the price goes up. If lemonade is mandated in every house, it will get expensive. Period. And do not try to tell me the bill has not had any effect yet- to insure myself, my wife and my two boys NOW costs over half of my paycheque. How many of you could afford that? Oh… that’s right… there’s still the $1500 deductable before anything gets paid on my behalf. That’s per incident, after I shell out $1475 per month. I am crrently on VA benefits only while my family is on a magional care plan that terminates once $1500 has been spent on the family this year. As I am writing this, I am suffering an incarceated inguinal hernia. I am in intense pain, but cannot take time off because I cannot afford it and my job cannot spare me unless I have the surgery (which means I will get better and CAN come back to work). So I will have to go 3.5 hours to Spokane next week, to the VA center, to have their surgeon verify that I have a hernia. I’ve had this hernia for over a month. It’s been confirmed by two doctors here. They need to re-confirm before they decide when to do the surgery. Welcome to socialized medicine at it’s finest.
Here’s the REAL punchline- if I quit this job and take something minimum wage, my health care becomes free, paid for by those who unwillingly pay outrageouse amounts for healthcare.
I am a surgical tech.
I am in the trade.
I will get better healthcare and bring home more money if I flip burgers at McGreasy’s.
Be careful what you ask for.
the Old Disgruntled Sgt.
@Sgt. Howard
your healthcare rising had more to do with the provider’s greed then the healthcare plan passing. Bills take years to take effect, as of this today I don’t believe over half of the healthcare bill hasn’t even enacted.
You say once something becomes mandatory it get more expensive, but it health care isn’t mandatory yet even now years later. The CEO of your provider was just greedy and saw a chance to frag people over.
This is the problem I have with arguments like yours.
Instead of blaming the people who did what hurt you, you instead transfer that to someone on the other side of an imaginary political idea. The facts are we use a “free” market system and that system fails everyone but the richest few in this country. But this is the flaw in all “Free market” systems only the rich matters and the poor get exploited (go look at apple). There is no free market solution to fixing healthcare because there’s nothing wrong in their view.
But seeing that would cause you to question your unfounded belief that the free market is always right.
It’s easier to block it all out then to see all systems failed, that the world is far too complex for any one system to work alone. It gets worse when you hear buzz words like socialism which you’ve been taught to foam at the mouth at without truly knowing anything but the propaganda you were told to hate it. Balance is the only workable answer, one were every system is only used where it works best to help the whole prosper.
Now I wouldn’t say this healthcare bill was perfect by any stretch of the imagination but “free market” health care has failed us it’s time to try something new.
I am fully aware of the fact that my insurance was not directly madated by the OC bill passing- yet it was directly related. Had the bill failed to pass, I would not be in this quandry. Any first-year buisness major could have predicted this outcome- somehow, our leadership cannot grasp the fact… or care. Regardless, I’ve been in healthcare since 1977. Every major ‘reform’ of healthcare at the federal level left things worse than before. Medicare re-embursment has dropped to a level that many surgeries are not paid enough to cover the secretary’s hours of filling out the paperwork. Name any trade where top profesionals LOOSE 40-50% of their income over a 5 year period (as I have seen) that can still recruit replacements. If we continue, we will see certain diagnosis’ at a given age to be a death sentance… as it is in Canada right now. We will see a SEVERE drop in the quality of care … as it is in Canada right now. In time, the only way to get somebody into medical school will be if the judge offers it instead of penitentary time.
Let things continue in this direction and see how long it takes for my words to come true (BTW- I live walking distance from the Canadian border- we see ‘cash and carry’ patients all the time who would die with American treatment)
the Old Sgt.
“for example, health care providers are forbidden from doing business across State lines. So they have to set up shop, over and over in every state to get to play in that state, adding greatly to their costs.”
So you think the solution is to allow them to sell across state lines? Brilliant! Then it will be like what happened with credit cards – the company moves their HQ to the state that has the lowest requirements for care and licensing plus lowest tax base, selling that same crappy policy to everyone even in states where supposedly due to higher costs they have to charge more.
More money for them, same (or higher) costs for us, same (or less) actual health care for the customers.
Next time, try to think it through. 😉
The actual answer is this: I only need a healthcare insurance provider in the same way I would need a pimp. The insurance companies aren’t my actual providers, they are the go-between. I say get rid of the middleman, or at least hold them to a common standard and not every business has to be for-profit. Our healthcare should not be one of them.
Nonprofit doesn’t mean the people doing the work can’t make money and even be paid well. It just means there’s no motive for squeezing out every friggin dime so some stakeholder can pump their portfolio. You charge what it actually costs, no more and no less.
STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! This is why political statements should NOT be a part of this forum. They should be removed when they first appear or they go on uselessly (llike this one). Obamacare is not at all germaine to the comic. It’s not even speculation. I’m so tired of good forums going to hell when this crap gets started. Just stop it! Exercize some self control and leave your politics at the door.
The political discussion was civil and respectful; moreso than your yelling at them to stop it. If you don’t like reading about such things, scroll down. There’s plenty of comic-related discussion on this page too. 🙂 I don’t think Paul needs to be moderating his comic comments in such a way. He’s busy enough and the readers are respectful enough.
You don’t understand. Once this sort of thing gets going it’s like a cancerous tumor. Small and not too bad at first, but all too soon gets out of hand. It NEVER stays at the civil level. If not snuffed out quickly, it will get worse and worse as people take sides and blame this or that party for all the worlds ills. If that’s what you want, fine, then this forum can go to hell with all the rest. You’ve been warned.
This isn’t bad. It’s a civil disscussion. And when the comic updates on Monday and Paul gives us a shiny new comic to play with, we’ll move on to something else.
“You don’t understand. Once this sort of thing gets going […]”
You do realize, right there, you’re using the “slippery slope” argument, right? If it degrades to the sort of thing you are alluding to, then I would agree, and would stand right by you in calling for it to be shut down.
But until then, my older reflex serves true: I react to what people do, not what they “might” do, since the latter is based on my own perceptions and bias, rather than reality.
On that, SWM, we do agree. The Social Security system, in it’s original format, was only intended as a failsafe to prevent aging widows from living on dog food.
But …
That was also back in the day when it was considered a standard for a company to have their own pension plan and some semblence of loyalty to their workers.
If you want to return SSI to its original form, then something would have to be done to return the rest of the system too … bring back pensions and either bring back company loyalty or hang a Federal Sword of Damocles over their heads to motivate them.
Reboot SSI but leave it the way it is (put YOUR money in a 401k and hope it doesn’t die in the market before you can spend it) and you might as well say “have fun working that construction job til you DIE, which won’t be long since you are trying to run a forklift at 65 with an eye disorder!”
Quite a lot of American people want a real, functioning health care system – you know, like pretty much every other first-world nation has managed. What we’ve got is politicians who make health care a political issue, thereby allowing attacks on anyone who tries changing anything. Even such a ‘solution’ as passing a law that people should have to buy something that isn’t pulling its weight on the open market.
We have lots of socialism in the US, and it’s generally of the bad sort (including a healthcare system that will give free treatment to anyone in a critical situation, but not to prevent that critical situation, thus being expensive and inefficient). It gets there because it’s fairly hidden and it benefits powerful groups. I would much prefer a single-payer medical care model to the system of Romneycare that the current administration and the (somewhat) current congress has passed (particularly the notion of the slow phase in so that it can be brought to a sudden stop with a change in administration; “luckily,” at this point, Obama is more likely to get shot than lose the election). But every first world healthcare system has developed on its own based upon the conditions attendant prior to universal healthcare’s establishment. In the US with approximately one in five of all dollars spent being spent on healthcare, socialized medicine could result in a twenty-percent reduction of the entire economy. That’s a hell of an “OUCH!”
Sure. But as long as people will get wound up with buzzwords like “Socialism” and “[whoever]care” we’re not going to actually get a less screwed-up medical system. There does not seem to be any easy answer.
The thing I find truly ironic is the number of current and retired millitary that I know who are opposed to “socialsim”. They work for an orginazation that feeds, clothes, houses and provides medical care for them. But they don’t believe in socialisim. No sirriee.
And still we have a two-class healthcare in place here… so while you are being cared for, you are not treated equally from people who insured themselves privately.
To be fair, there have been a lot of people who took too many of their meds, or sold them, then claimed that they lost them to get more. It’s usually the doctor, not the insurance company, who nixes these extra prescriptions. The doctors fear they can be fined or lose thier license for being a drug pusher, except in Florida. Anyway, that’s what happened to me when my ferret hid my pill bottle under the couch.
Back on topic….. Tina is both disturbing and hilarious in these last few episodes. Hilarious eyes, she’s (they, them, most of them) as near the edge as her employee is.
“HIiiiiii! I’m trying to run this puppet with the help of some friends but we’re just not off on the right side of the bed today! Teeheee… oooooh o.O”
Sit down sometime and read one of the summary collections of the Federalist Papers, the papers written by some of the same voices that wrote our Constitution, back when there were people who didn’t like the idea of the country we now live in and had to be convinced this new concept was a good one.
Alexander Hamilton (sure you know of him) made several arguments in those papers about how it is necessary for a joint body in some areas, to ensure that states that don’t need something will pay for it anyway, and get similar benefits in return. His example was why else would Pennsylvania pay for a navy, something areas on the coast were VERY concerned about but Pennsylvania couldn’t possibly care for. And the coast states couldn’t afford, it would have to be a group effort.
In return, the coastal states would have to care about issues closer to home for Pennsylvania.
Hence why I clench my teeth every time I hear someone griping about “I don’t want it, why should I pay for it”. I didn’t want their stupid war, but I paid for it (and I am a *proud* U.S. veteran, so do NOT go there, it won’t end pretty, I promise you that).
This is also the reason for regulation – companies don’t want to spend if they don’t have to, it’s their nature, that’s how they make money – not good or evil, just the way it is. Government is the counterbalance, they (supposedly) work for *us* and apply pressure the other way.
Capitalistic principle only applies so far. Saying “vote with your feet” makes for a nice slogan, but until I can quit my job to get a new one without being told that I am now out of luck because I have effectively changed health providers and am now chock full of “preexisting conditions” that they will not pay for then I want health care reform in a BIG way. Otherwise I am effectively a 21st century equivalent to a slave. Period.
And saying you don’t like the country, so just leave? Makes a nice bumper sticker, but I was BORN HERE. Going somewhere else is impractical, and why should I “let them win” that easily? Instead, I will fight to change the system. That … is winning.
To clarify, at a couple points, it may sound like I am attributing things to you specifically (Waldsosan) such as in the last paragraph – in actuality when I say “you” I mean a “collective you”, such as a narrator would mean to an audience. My apologies for any confusion.
trouble is, all the above is a waste of time.. go check out our UK health service… and then lobby your politician, who has most likely never heard about this place, or even what the ‘internet’ is….
(his PA does all that for him..) 🙁 🙁
and a bit less paranoia please.. I’m afraid that the mention of USA thinking the UK free health service is communism would only get a chuckle, and lower the USA’s reputation..
… *blink blink* Geez, I leave you guys alone for a measly two weeks and look what happens. 😉
1. Political-ish comment: I have state health care. I need a dentist. State health care gives me one dentist a long way off who only pulls teeth out or does basic cleaning, and there’s a two-year waiting list. The center is staffed by volunteer dentists-in-training who may or may not have their DDS degrees. So I’m saving up to pay for a dentist out of pocket. Meanwhile, my busted tooth might be infected… if it is, and it gives me a bad fever, I can go to the ER and get the infection fixed, but as for the tooth, I’m screwed.
2. Comic-related comment: I will now seriously consider moving my meds to the next cabinet over. I need my tylenol.
I live in the southeastern U.S. and for the last six and a half years I’ve had a job with a good insurance plan that includes medical, dental and vision care. Our premiums actually went down a few percentage points last year, mostly due to an agressive health and wellness program enacted by the company. It’s a union shop and foreign owned. Before this job, for ten years I was on the Hope and Pray system. You know, hope I don’t get sick, and if I do, Pray it ain’t too bad.
I suppose if worse came to worse, I could fall back on the VA, but after being told my “minor nureological symptoms” weren’t due to low level sarin exposure and that my developing respritory issues after being exposed to oil smoke was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with Desert Clusterf**k, I think I’ll pass.
She’s been running Mucho Mocha for years… probably knows quite a lot of her customers well enough to know their professions. It’s possible she knows a doctor, or a pharmaceutical company rep, who would be able to authorize a “sample” supply enough to tide Becky over until next month.
Also – note she said the insurance company “is being a dick”, not the pharmacy. The pharmacy would have no problem filling the prescription especially if the doctor signs off.
But if the insurance company says “nope, not gonna pay it” and Becky is just a lowly pastry chef who probably can’t afford the unadjusted price out-of-pocket …
Good on you Tina. I was already smitten, but you just got cuter.
It says something, for sure, when a pack of demons act more humanely than a bunch of human bureaucrats. Although, I’m not sure “bunch” is the right group term… flock? school? gaggle? cohort? murder? sneer? pride?
well maybe a good term would be a ‘murder’ of bureaucrats. Since like a murder of crows they sit around and make noise all day but accomplish nothing of any worth. Plus for some reason the word ‘murder’ and ‘bureaucrats’ seem to illicit such good feelings in me.
Ooooh, maybe Tina’s kind of like the Godfather (Godmother?) of their neighborhood, where she’s helped out enough people, she’s seen as the go-to person for certain kinds of problems, and everyone owes her a few favors. 🙂
I think that strip can be attributed to one of 2 things:
1) Tina was messing with Monica or
2) It was before Paul decided to take his characters in the directions he has and did not want to retcon them.
Past dialogue points to no. Tina 2.0 doesn’t remember anything prior to waking up in the morgue (for helping a past cycle’s Brandi cause harm to a mortal, aka Monica and Tina 1.0).
Tina 2.0 is only aware of Tina 1.0’s memories due to inheriting her belongings (example: the newspaper clippings she had posted on the wall next to her bed regarding 1.0’s life).
At least a few of those clippings were collected by Tina 2.0 because they refer to the death of Tina 1.0. She might not remember everything about 1.0, but there is some connection.
Compulsive Disorder, Obsessive. As it should be. Mine is mostly managable, although I do tend to sort outgoing mail by city and state alphabetically if I have time and want to press crosswalk buttons in multiples of threes.
I once read a book where the author spent three chapters explaining why and how everyone ever should learn to spell all words alphabetically. It was… um, unique…
funny, the ex (who is also chris) just snarled at me when i made that joke. 😉
on the other hand, him needing an OUTLET for his disorder means i have a sparkling clean kitchen every monday. yep, my ex comes over to clean for me. i told him he should be doing it shirtless, in leather chaps and for some silly reason he doesnt go for that. (i’m allowed to poke fun. we’ve known each other over 20 years now.)
And not necessarily “Black Market” meds. For all we know Tina has an ‘ins’ with the insurance company or the drug company. In fact some drug co’s have programs to get people meds that might not be able to afford them. She could easily hook her up through that system
I get my meds sent from the manufacturer through a compasisonate care program because I can’t afford them. My grandfather was a travelling salesman for Wyeth’s way back when. Just because Tina has contacts who can supply emergency meds doesn’t mean they are “black market.” She might just know a clinic that can see Becky on short notice & provide a week’s worth of meds until she can get to her doctor.
I had not even known that webcomic existed before you posted that link. I just read it.
It’s wonderful. You’re right about Hanna and her OCD. When she was first introduced, her malady was terrible. Now, thanks to Marten and company’s patience and friendship, she has pretty much come to terms with it.
It is rather interesting the only ‘person’ who could communicate with her during her childhood was the station’s AI, but it was her own decision to move down to earth.
Now, that decision has allowed her to return to the station and give her father the best present he ever wanted… and he feared to never receive from her… a hug.
damnit Wyvern now you got me hooked! Do you have any idea how much more space in my book marks another webcomic is going to take up? Now i actually have to use the little arrow at the bottom! ARGH! *ocd showing* =P
that’s for dang sure. There ain’t many psychological disorders that are fun; but OCD definitely isn’t one of them.
There’s only two good things about OCD. the patient tends to be in truly fine physical condition and their surroundings (such as their home) tend to be VERY clean.
Well, it would explain why she’s such an excellent purveyor of baked foodstuffs… lots of attention to detail… but it’s a shame it comes at such a cost.
Beat me to it. OCD is the ability to focus turned into over focus. Attention to detail and routine become obsessions that must not be disturbed. Perfection is the requirement, not the goal. There is no relaxation, only review and confirmation of what was done to prepare for what will be done — and any interruptions cannot be tolerated!
If you can separate the obsession from the compulsion, you can do great things with speed and precision. If the compulsion takes over, it’s and endless loop.
Guys, I did not know the Questionable Content webcomic existed before that link was posted last friday.
Now, I’ve read the entire story. It is wonderful. I agree Hanna is handling her OCD wonderfully. There were many times i had to lay down and simply laugh at the many jokes in the dialog.
If it hadn’t been for the need to play CoH and WoT, I’d probably go back and read the series again.
Yep, I have to take meds for OCD. Prior to being medicated and when I was very stressed, I got stuck in my bathroom for around 15 minutes struggling with the light switch.
I friend's daughter had a bad case of OCD (as a teenager, which is worse). It was 'activated' when she hit puberty.
He had to take the door off his bathroom so she could be 'rescued' when she was 'trapped washing her breasts'.
Many times, the girl couldn't go to school because her OCD (even with POWERFUL meds) got so bad she couldn't stand to wear clothing. Those times were noted to be at the same time in her 'cycle' and finally reasoned to be when she was ovulating (also known as PMS).
After about four years (to about age 15 or 16), her hormones settled down to a more manageable scale and the problem basically 'deactivated'.
She is now the happily married mother of four bright children and taking no meds.
There are medications out there for a number of mental health issues… the big trick is finding the right diagnosis/medication/patient combination. Mental health is still strife with missed diagnosies, and even when the dx is correct, the Doc will essentially experiment with one drug after another until they get it right… or close to right in many cases. Seldom do they hit it on the first try, causing many mental health patients to give up on meds as they feel like an experiment (which for all practical purposes they are). That Becky has a working Rx going on is a credit to determination on her and her therapist’s part
Medications work in complicated ways and are frequently useful for things you’d never expect. I was put on extremely low doses of antidepressents for a chronic headache condition. I had to stop taking them because when you added high stress to the mix you get rare side effects of tachycardia and pseudoparkinsonism. You wouldn’t think headaches, depression, heart attacks and Parkinson’s would have much in common, but there you go.
And medications that influence brain chemistry doubly so. I’ve recently started taking an anti-depressant, and the list of potential side effects is unbelievable. Thankfully, I seem to have none at all.
Reason for that is that neurochemistry is still a map with *lots* of white areas. And the brain rules all, so…
For instance, people with ADHD are routinely put on stimulants, and it almost always works, because one of the things that gets stimulated is the production of certain neurotransmitters.
My hubby is ADHD, dyslexic, and mildly OCD. We’ve been fitfully married for just shy of ten years. As of this discussion, I’ve suddenly realized there are about a hundred things I should’ve looked into to be more helpful and never did. Now I’d better.
this actually makes sense. Anti-depressants are often prescribed for epileptics for much the same reasons. Both epilepsy and many psychotic maladies are suspected to be caused by (for lack of a better term) ‘overvoltages’ running unchecked in the effected patient’s brain.
This ‘overvoltage’ is also thought to be responsible for savants (especially ‘idiot-savants’), adhd, OCD, and a variety of seemingly unconnected maladies.
and anti-seizure meds are prescribed for diabetic neuralgia (loss of sensation/pain/twitches) in the extremities AND for fibromyalgia. anti-depressants are also often perscribed for fibromyalgia, but they havent worked for me. (side effects of unending headaches and increased depression, oddly enough!)
the list of ‘occupations’ taken up by OCD patients ‘looking for something to do’ is truly frightening in length and some of those occupations makes the OCD’s attention to detail terrifying… like ‘paid-for-hire assassin’.
As a currently medicated person with OCD, I must say I was somewhat scared of “brain altering pills.” But please don’t rule it out completely. Talk to your doctor or psychiatrist about starting with a super low dose and move up as you feel comfortable.
Wow, I didn’t expect to start a topic. Hey, thanks for your advice, but I’m fine. It’s not a serious thing with me. I only have minor impulses which I can ignore with a little effort. Thanks again, though, I appreciate the advice.
I did not see the OCD angle coming. In the real world it would be a blessing to work with a person (or persons) that likes to help people they work with.
Oh. Poor Becky. Don’t personally know anyone with OCD myself, but I know enough about it to have sympathy for people who do have it. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be.
I can’t imajine what that must be like… I’ve seen descriptions on Tv ans stuff but to actually not be able to stop doing somthing when you so want to and while screaming at your self interally, and quite losibly out loud, is utterly beyond my comprehention.
My best understanding of OCD is from Micheal J Fox’s character on scrubs. while the show is mainly about the funny I got the feeling they represented it well, respectfully and truthfully. (but i could be wrong…)
If you have managed to tame that, apparently, maddening condition I can only aplaud.
now on to the slightly inapropriate comment. 🙂
How hard was it to stop adding clicks to that last pannel?
the sad thing is, Micheal J Fox wasnt acting that much… Parkinsons, but still a great actor.. 🙂 http://youtu.be/nXJXNus-_Kg
I think the only thing *more* frustrating must be ‘time based’ OCD.. there was an episode of ‘doc martin’ that had a girl who could not do anything, unless it was on the ‘quarter hour’.. 🙁
This is actually kind of scary. I’ve not been diagnosed with OCD, but it sure sounds like I have it. I’m a half hour guy myself – I like everything on the hour or the half hour.
There are benefits to OCD. Like my ability to focus on something and not release it until it is finishes.
For instance, I just read the entire ‘Questionable Content’ webcomic in one sitting.
There are consequences, though. After reading that webcomic, I had to check to see what time it was (and what day). Then I had to remember I had not eaten during that entire 22 and a half hours.
I don’t have OCD myself, so I can’t claim to have a true feeling of what people like Paul or Maark go through, meds or no. But I do have some quirks, almost a mini-OCD of a type – little things, like it always irks me to have the volume set at an odd number, unless it’s a multiple of 5. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I am a math geek, I dunno.
So I take those little things and try to imagine what they would be like ramped up a hundredfold.
Then my brain whimpers and shuts down.
Anyone who has to deal with that … my heart goes out to you, it really does. I am not sure I could cope with that, and those that do have my complete admiration.
I think we all have a little OCD, but the things are so minor compared to what Becky (and Paul) have gone through. As a child, I tried as hard as I could not to step on the grooves between sidewalk slabs and knew which foot to start on for every staircase in my 4-story middle school so that I would end with my right foot (going up or down). Even now I still like ending with the right foot but as an adult, I’m more physically capable of adjusting for the last few steps (taking two at a time, etc.) to do so. I also understand how the guy in this comic feels: http://threepanelsoul.com/comics/2011-09-19-209.png
But like I said, it’s nothing compared to full-blown OCD, which if you don’t have it, I’m sure it’s difficult to understand how crippling it can be.
Let me say it this way. If you don’t have and have no experience in dealing with it… don’t meet anybody with a full-blown case unless you have been fully prepared.
That first meeting could give you MANY sleepless nights.
Hanna’s many phobias, her desire to ‘stay alone’, her excessive cleanliness, and her 72-96 hour sleepless nights is almost standards for OCD.
In fact, the lack of even one of these ‘standards’ could (in the early 60’s to 70’s… when I was diagnosed) prevent the diagnosis of OCD. Now, just the presence of one of these can bring the diagnosis.
I’m trying to remember some of Tina’s past interactions with Becky, but I’m not sure how far back in the archives to search. Can anyone help me out? I enjoy the rich tapestry of characters in Wapsi, but the sheer multitude of background characters is becoming hard to keep up with. (Not that I’m complaining mind you.)
Yeah, I wondered that, too. It’s not “Tina” talking, but one of her demons. So Becky’s gonna get a demon’s advice… those tend to be a bit less then altruistic…
Not in Tina’s case. She has stated before that she honestly likes to help people, She gets no thrill from committing acts of evil like some other deamons
Tina reads aura’s. That is why she is always tells her customers what they should order before they can tell her what they want. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/your-auras/
Tina also is a former psychologist. I can imagine some residue of her personality lingered around between her “death” and “revival through demon interference”, and got incorporated into the collective.
The fact that she can read aura’s could be the unforeseen side-effect of the melding of these vestiges of Tina’s original soul, and the demons.
I’m kinda suprised I’m the first to mention miss Hannelor Ellicot-Chatham from over at Questionable Content. Go have a look; Jeff will be happy you came.
What? Just because her name is an anagram of “Can her mental health cool it?” or “Hot mental catchall heroine?” Okay, it’s also an anagram of “Mechanical heathen to troll,” but that’s everyone’s interactions with Pintsize.
I’ve always wanted to have sex with a girl that has OCD. The kind of OCD were you can’t stop doing something until you’ve done it mutliple times, if you know what I mean! 😉
Eh, knowing my luck it would probably be a nightmare. But I can dream can’t I?
It’d probably involve getting up every three minutes twenty-three seconds and touching every doorknob in the house, then screaming “Ravioli-o’s!” when retuning to bed.
My advice to you is to date someone whose job has something to do with psychology/psychiatry and take your chances that’s what you’ll get. Three girlfriends in a row had ties to that vocation; the last two being psychologists of some type, and all admitted to me that most people who become psychologists do it because there’s something, “wrong,” with them, and they want to understand it to help themselves and others with it. The middle one said she had OCD, but I didn’t see anything that really constituted it, but she may have been on meds, just had a mild case, or I was too young to recognize anything.
I’d like to add that in no place was it more obvious than what my girlfriends told me about psychologists having something “wrong” with them than when I went to the middle one’s department Halloween party, where several of her colleagues dress up as their childhood neuroses year-after-year – the Good Humor Man with the evil clown face was very frightening, and I felt bad for the guy if that’s how he actually saw the ice cream man as a kid.
“Wounded healers” is how my wife describes the psychotherapy clan (including herself). It seems that experience in wrestling with your own demons, is an important part of what equips you to help other people face their own. The paradox and price, of course, is that those clients whose problems a therapist understands best (and can provide the best insight) are those whose issues push the therapist’s own buttons hardest. Transference and countertransference are always a concern.
I sometimes hated doing things with her department as a couple of them were married with kids, and they subscribed to the, “A 2-year-old understands how to act like an adult and can be logically reasoned with,” school of thought. Biggest fight we ever had was after a party at her place where a couple’s 2-year-old ran wild, broke a glass, almost broke the coffee table (and could have killed himself doing so), made a mess, and was generally the biggest brat in the world. After the party, I offhandedly said, “If I had acted like that, my parents would have smacked me,” which prompted her to lecture me about current psychological thinking on how to deal with kids, which I cut her off by telling her, “Obviously whatever they’re doing isn’t working so the current psychological thinking is wrong. Instead of trying to be the kid’s friend they should try being his parents. They don’t need to smack him, but introducing some discipline would be nice.” I was in the doghouse for a while after that. 🙂
My wife’s training and experience as a marriage/family therapist boils down to “Children do better in life, and are actually happier along the way, if their parents set clear and fair limits on what is and is not acceptable behavior”. That’s what she encourages her clients to do.
Not harsh limits, or cruel, or arbitrary limits… but ones which help kids stay safe, and learn how to respect other people as they would want to be respected themselves. As children grow older, and their brains mature enough for them to truly understand the consequences of their actions, they can then take responsibility for setting their own limits.
Probably the best, and of course the most difficult to properly execute, advice in establishing discipline for a child was practiced by my wife’s mother.
Very early on she associated a flick on the top of the head at the very instant of the offense and the word no.
In no time at all she didn’t need the flick.
I agree with Dave about setting fair and known limits in the rules. No matter where the limits are, kids WILL test them. And, if they are firmly held, will come to respect them.
I’ve even known kids who prefer to be punished when they did wrong–they needed to know the problem was behind them and done with.
Being a wee bit touched myself by the OCD fairy. I have to say bless you! To Tina and her infernal collective for being so caring to the girls plight. I hope they’re able to help her.
Most days I’m fine, but there are those odd moments where I suddenly hit by this niggling doubt as to whether or not I did something before I left home and it can be maddening at times.
Been there. I’m pretty sure everyone has something like that, anyway. Sometimes I leave the house and I have this terrible feeling that I left a door unlocked or the oven on. I used to need to get reassurance that this isn’t the case before I could move on, but I’ve learned to just listen to music to drown out the thoughts.
The fact that I can will myself out of the compulsive part of OCD means I don’t actually have it. I take consolation in that.
That happens to me a lot as well when it comes to locking doors and closing garage doors. I’ve developed a system where when I do secure one of these doors, I look at it then at my phone and say, “I locked the door at so-and-so time.” That cements it in my memory, and I don’t have a need to go back and check.
I feel your pain, that’s one of my other quirks. Going to work, or going to bed, if I can’t remember for sure if I locked the door, it will drive me NUTS. If I am going to work, I have to turn around and check. Going to bed, I get up and go look.
I finally figured out a cure of sorts for that, for me anyway. I just need what I call a “definitive memory event”. Our memories don’t have time stamps, we use association to remember when a memory happened, that’s why you can confuse what day something happened in your memory.
So I try to do, think, see or say something unique each time I walk in or out the door – that way there is a unique facet of the memory that will clue me in that yes, that is today I remember me locking the door, not yesterday or the day before. The door is fine, you’re not getting robbed, get your eyes back on the road and get to work! 😀
I still recall sitting there late at night, hunched over one of my pcs at home. Rain was pounding on the windows outside and distracted me from my work. So i desided to go grab a cup of tea. Got up and about 10 seconds into the room there was earthshattering “bang” and i was suddenly standing in complete darkness .. and a stong thick smell of burned eletronics.
Lightning had struck the neigbours house and i guess i was lucky in 2 ways .. that i wasnt sitting at the pc at the time and that i was only looking at the damages of the aftereffects.
Anyways i called the insurance company and got a complete workaround by about 6 people. Problem was they couldnt get their story straight. Kept saying “if you had our additional electrics insurance we could pay you” and at some point the 4th person got confused at thought that i already had the additional insurance but “The lightning struck by using the cable tv/internet cables and not the electric grid so we cant pay .. but if you get our other additional expensive electronics insurance you ..” and so on and so on.
Seriously .. if Godzilla had flattened my house and it had been recorded on national tv .. they would still have found a way to weasel out of it.
Funny enough that company still keep sending me letters about “our records show you have shown interest in our electrics insurance would you like ..” thus reminding me to save up some cash myself for a rainy day.
yeah, insurance.
Recently, an idiot crashed my car from behind. The insurance company agreed to pay for it (there’s compulsory responsibility insurance for cars in my country), it cost them an arm and a leg.
Then they said that I had to pay half of the cost for painting the new rearguard (rear bumper?), because it had a scratch on it before the accident. The whole bumper had to be changed, for chrissakes! They were able to make a claim on a theoretical, non-existent damage.
Even the garage guys (who were dealing with the company) were so embarrassed about it that they gave me the extra things I asked for as a freebie…
My car got flooded a while back and state law says it has to be declared a total loss. While my insurance was going to give me much more than I thought it was worth, they bitched that since I opted to leave some damage from an old accident instead of filing a claim, they were going to double my deductible and take it from the car’s value.
It was bulls***, but I still got a decent price out of it, and it made me glad that I’d never told them that the water pump was going out($1000-1500 fix)
We had a huge windstorm at a home I owned once, and it collapsed a shed and caused some roof leaks. I didn’t discover the leaks until the next week (when it started raining), and the insurance company made me pay a second deductible because they insisted it was a second claim. It was Prudential, by the way – and they suck massive horse balls. I would never *ever* use their company again. Yarg!
Interesting idea. But I am not sure that is the case. Tina may not want other demons to know that Tina 1.0 is no longer there. That the demons are running the show now. I don’t know if it is against demon law. Then again the demons may not care.
So here’s my question. When Tina 2.1 gets fully “booted,” does she have a single consciousness? It seems that the demons act individually before the machine gets started, but then function as a collective afterwards.
And for what it’s worth, Tina is still awesome. A few random tentacles wouldn’t squick me out too bad… 😛
Bah didn’t work. Replace any > with a greater-than and < with a less-than, and you should see what it is. Wish these forums had a preview button, heh.
Don;t want to break the boards messing around … somone refresh my memory how you can do that? Just adding a space do it?
I see today is OCD confession time. Never been diagnosed, but I may have a few such quirks–very mild, like counting things, wanting times to be “even”, trying to get everything just right, and so on.
Oh, and there is the compulsion to check out Wapsi Square and some other web comics. Frequently.
That compulsion to check Wapsi? It’s not just a compulsion, it’s a full-blown addiction. But it’s ok, we have it too, and we brought cookies and kool-aid! 😀
hey its not that unusual to enjoy stimulating conversation on many diffferent things… 🙂 🙂
I only wish this could be a *proper* forum(with various different threads, etc…) linked from the strip, so that the more ‘wordy’ subjects can be carried on separately for days/weeks, for as long as there is interest…. 🙂
or it could be an example of Parkinson’s Law of Custom Built Head Offices, which alludes to the way that the process, first of deciding about the new building and then of getting settled into it, takes the attention of the people who matter away from the real job that they are supposed to be doing, and towards their own, as it were, domestic arrangements.
Further, the original building, with it’s inconveniences and odd corners and suchlike creates the random encounters that foster actual work and inspiration, while the designed building is too efficient for such meetings.
Just thought up an interesting twist on OCD and Tina’s “connections”.
In Wapsi terms: could Becky’s OCD be a result of her having a Doubt demon “running amok” rather than something purely medical? In a sense, that’s what OCD is like… a constant overwhelming doubt that you’ve done something correctly, so you have to go back and do it again and again… lather, rinse, repeat.
Tina’s “connections” might be more of the paranormal sort… someone who could tell/compel a Doubt to back off.
This makes me want to cry. Never had the light switch thing – most of my compulsions are internalized. OCD is a monster. Not to mention usually comorbid with other things like bipolar I and II, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders of other types…vicious.
Even now the meds I take don’t “cure” me. They just make it easier to control. And the cognitive-behavioral therapy was brutal but incredibly useful.
My OCD was “cured” when I had the brain damage from the truck hitting me and the subsequent PTSD. Truth be told I would rather have the OCD because it helped me in my job, I used to get awards for “attention to detail”, raises, promotions, etc. Brain damage and PTSD doesn’t get you shit except a bad time.
The third book in the Ender’s Game saga, Xenocide, has a planet who’s secret is that the government has genetically manipulated it’s people to have OCD to varying degrees. What they would do to find out if ‘God talked to you’ was to stick your hands in filth and see what you did to cope with not being able to clean them.
I just finished reading that. They did it to incapacitate the populace who were also genetically manipulated to be geniuses who could solve problems for the rest of the planets but also not rise up and rule over them.
This is kinda similar to the ‘Focused’ in Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. The bad guys infect people with a virus that allows them to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. They then use these people to solve all sorts of problems.
I have a friend who’s been fighting OCD for longer than I’ve known her, only she calls it “CDO” — that way the letters are in alphabetical order. (She also taught me the term “AD-OLS”)
D I C K, Noun, Synonym=Insurance Companies, suffer from OCD, usual symptom is the continued accumulation of money while never being satisfied even if they get it all.
I find it interesting how many people are so eager to call health insurance companies the devil, when the same restrictions on usage/pre-existing conditions/etc are used by ALL insurance companies…and I never hear anyone calling their auto-insurance carrier a dick. Insurance companies are always the bad guys until they serve their true purpose and make life less expensive.
That said, I easily get frustrated by health insurance as well. There are a fair number of prescriptions that work for me that aren’t covered at all or are in the expensive tiers of meds…and I also have controlled substance meds…so prescription time always sucks hardcore. I’m just glad that my disorder is ADD and not OCD…I’m probably a lot more functional (if not effective) off my meds than an OCD individual.
When we’re talking about people who don’t buy insurance until they are 40 because they chose not to (not because they were unable to) and get sick at 41, I agree with you, Julie.
But have you been watching the news?
A few insurance companies, for a while, were trying to classify pregnancy as a preexisting condition! That’s right, the cervical cancer you get when you are 50 was probably caused by getting pregnant back in your 20’s! You should have thought ahead, you naughty naughty girl, this cancer is your fault and since we weren’t your carrier back then we aren’t paying for it.
THAT is the sort of thing some of us are screaming about and trying to put a stop to. And don’t get me started on a certain dead young woman (in Chicago, wasn’t it?) who dies because her insurance company didn’t approve her organ transplant … until several hours after she died.
Place any bets on whether her premiums were refunded? Further, bets on whether even if they were refunded this matters at all to her loved ones?
That’s because if I don’t get the door ding on my car fixed, there’s pretty much zero chance I’ll die.
I once got denied long-term disability insurance because I had am MRI done – not because the MRI found any defect, but merely for having the procedure due to vertigo.
That’s like refusing to cover a broken leg because I twisted an ankle and needed a cane for two days.
A) What exactly does a pre-existing condition mean in the context of auto-insurance?
B) You can live without a car (or part of one, depending on whatever the answer to A is). Try affording healthcare when the major issue you need help with is off the table.
C) Denying people access to a car isn’t nearly as heartless as denying them access to being healthy/alive.
A) i would imagine that they would use it as a means to NOT payout for something… eg. if you ever had a “dizzy- spell” and years later you got into an accident they could come back and say that you had oh, Narcolepsy or something like that because you “must have known, but didn’t tell us…” and because it was pre-existing, they won’t pay.
have you ever gone in to the hospital or dentist office and noticed the WAY they ask certain questions? “do you have NOW, or have had IN THE LAST 30 DAYS condition XYZ” then later down the page they ask a similar but different question: “have you EVER HAD condition 123” the difference is not just for medical reasons, it’s also there for legal/insurance reasons.
B) one of the things that made me go Hmmm, when i heard about it was, that i heard from a friend that used to work for an auto-insurance co. is that all the insurance co’s keep data on all customers and share it between the other companies that has your ENTIRE driving record, NOT “JUST” the last 7 years worth as per the gov… if you go to the DMV to get a transcript of your driving record hey go back a max of 7 years for commercial driving checks, and 3 for standard, non commercial background checks, ie for “normal” car insurance quotes… BUT… since they have your whole background in a shared C.L.U.E. database (he told me but i forgot what it stands for) they can get more data than they are supposed to use in order to charge more for your premiums vs someone that has had a clean record even longer than yours. lets say you and another person who, both of you for the last 7 years have had identically perfect driving records and are otherwise the same, same time driving, same age, ethnicity, gender, heath factors, etc… but you had an accident 10 years ago, and the other has never had one at all… you would still get charged more for your insurance than the other person even if everything else was identical, because even though the insurance companies aren’t legally supposed to use or even keep data more than seven years old, they still do, and it DOES affect your premiums.
C) true, while you aren’t legally REQUIRED to have a car to LIVE, there are some persons that cannot afford NOT to have one, ie. they can’t afford to move closer to their job, in order to not NEED a car in the first place, and if mass-transit doesn’t service their area, in order to get a paycheck to pay those pesky things called BILLS, they NEED a car… therefore if they don’t have access to reliable transportation (yes mass-transit, counts for this purpose) they cannot work there, therefore they can’t get paid, therefore they can’t pay the bills etc… and if they are in a job field that just isn’t hiring, in order to stay employed, well… catch 22 huh. yes, i know this doesn’t apply to a vast majority of people, but there ARE some out there that is DOES apply to… it would still suck if the insurance company messes with you over a pre-existing condition, and that prevents you from getting a car.
A man who was my friend back in college recently died of OCD. He had always had a problem with getting “caught” in doorways – he’d have to turn around, some number of times, before he could go through.
Not a good thing when you need to exit a tunnel because of an oncoming car.
I had a friend of mine that was working in the back yard. His wife called out the kitchen window wanting to know if he wanted a steak or peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Jeff answered “Yes!”
He told me later that a peanut butter and steak sandwich was one of the worst things he had ever eaten.
TheEngineer has hearing issues from too many years in machine shops with unprotected ears. he’s decided the safe answer when i speak to him in the car is “i love you too, baby!”
…which often leads to such responses as “that’s nice dear, but the dog wants to know if we can go to pick up stinkyfood after we go to the bookstore.” 😀
I seem to remember in the older strips where we first saw Becky she practically stood eye-to-eye with M, who’s already established as kinda short – while the only one I’ve seen tower over Tina was Phix.
So yeah, I think it’s a David/Goliath kinda pairing.
Well i’ll be honest and say this. Did no one bother to even notice what Becky said happened to her meds? They fell down the sink when the disposal was running. BS! As a person who i has been taking meds since childhood that happening is so rare. I think Becky decided to stop taking her meds and then realized
Oops! Hit the wrong button. I think Becky got rid of her meds in a fit of pique, which happens to people who need medication to help control behavioral problems. It’s frustrating when you feel you have to have this something or somethings just to live a normal life, and sometimes to restore your sense of control you stop taking your meds or dump them. It’s a bad idea but for whatever few moments or days you have before you realize how dumb you were you feel like a human being again.
Can go either way, I could see it happening like Becky said, but you have a point – she might have just gotten frustrated and is now realizing the impact of her error.
But then … this might be why Tina is so cagy? It’s happened before and she knows Becky just needs a guardian once in a while?
Beinmg out of your meds is a bitch. Having a friend to help you get them is a blessing.
Amen to that
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is not a fun malady for the patient or the people who care for them.
Good thing she came to Tina when her insurance company disregarded her need.
It also shows that Tina is a good employer if she pays enough to cover health-insurance and a normal living.
🙁 i am lucky enough to have public funded healthcare here in Germany, wouldnt want to change place with Becky. Many Meds cost a small fortune.
That’s about the only good thing that will result if the conservatives in the Supreme Court invalidate the new health care law: it’ll mean we get a single-payer system in, oh, say 8-10 years, after health care causes the next Great Recession here in the US.
Sad thing is I agree with this. I despise the milquetoast half-baked compromise they came up with, and accepted it only because I was tired of seeing nothing done as an alternative.
But if nuking it means stirring up enough people to get the support for a system that would actually work, then I say “no pain, no gain … hit me!”
People here in US don’t want free health care because the general population has the misconception that the more money you pay, the better health care you get. And God forbid everyone get the same health care as poor people.
Because everyone knows that free health care is just one more step toward Godless Communism. Am I right?
@bucc-i no your not right, and yes it is a step towards communism; i’m not into that whole eagles versus reds deal that caused the better part of the cold war but i will say that trying to introduce socialist ideas and policies in a mostly capitalist environment is downright financial suicide. we do have a general belief that if something costs more then it is automatically worth more the basis stands that a person’s money belongs to the person.
to be completely honest it is not the governments job to even go as far as to help the poor and destitute, it’s the public’s job to do that. but thankfully we live in a country where we aren’t idiotic enough to actually rely on the public to be moral so we do take care of the disabled but it is my belief that we simply don’t need the governments help in medical aid as well as other aids and we are suffering because we are trying to.
@waldosan
“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” Preamble to the Constitution
Seems like we don’t have too much trouble funding the part right before the bolded portion, but tend to count an awful lot on bake sales for promoting the general welfare. I, for one, would like to see little more attention paid to that ideal.
Well, that and the “establish justice” part, too. We made a lot of progress toward that in 1964. 🙂
Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. (Knocks wood.)
Nice points but you’re overlooking the ignore em factor. A large percentage of the US just want the government to leave them alone and not butt into their lives. The forced healthcare is such a move. Others as well. Mostly if the government would just stop all these attempts to manage everything as a response to anyone with a loud voice screaming about a problem it would be spending half the money. Case in point is public land management. In my town we have a federal, state, county, and city public land management offices and they all manage the same lands and argue about who gets to do what. Sounds like make work to me with 75% hired just to create jobs. It’s been that way for 25 years I know of. We need less government, not more.
Yeah, well, when there’s as much of the population that seems to feel we need “more” when it comes to the bedroom and religious “morals” and “less” when it comes to anything that actually benefits a huge section of the population, I have to say I’m not impressed by the “less not more” argument. Sorry.
@dadman
I think you’ve got a slight misread. “Promote the general welfare” — if you’re promoting it, it’s more like advertising, such as “Uh, you guys, it would be really good if you’d stop smoking”, as opposed to what the current philosophy is, such as “You bloomin’ idiots can’t even punch your way out of a paper bag, we’ve got to do everything for you so stop thinking and just do like we tell you to do”. The former is “promoting the general welfare” — the latter is, well, not. See the difference?
pro·mote/prəˈmōt/
Verb:
1. Further the progress of (something, esp. a cause, venture, or aim); support or actively encourage.
2. Give publicity to (a product, organization, or venture) so as to increase sales or public awareness.
@waldosan I don’t get why some Americans keep clinging to the notion that enacting some “socialist” policies is going to turn you into “COMMIES!!! OH NOES TEH COMMIES!!!1!” as a Canadian, where we have had socialized medicine since the 1960’s I have to say that I am no more a ‘communist’ than you are, and I don’t have to die in bed having never seen a doctor because I was terrified an illness would bankrupt my entire family. At least until our current Governments completely sabotage Health Care so that your American Vulture medical corporations can move in and take everything over.
Socialism and Communism are NOT the same thing… Socialism is an economic system while Communism is a political one. The Communist party in the USSR did have Socialist policies, but they were NOT run properly, and nobody has said your entire economic system should be transformed into Soviet style Socialism as that wouldn’t work anyways, but there ARE aspects of modern society that would benefit from PROPERLY applied socialized policies and health care is chief among them… there’s an interesting article on the differences between Socialism & Communism over at : http://www.romm.org/soc_com.html which I found just before posting this.
To be fair, a lot of people have overdosed on their meds or sold them then said that they lost them. It’s usually the doctor rather than the insurance company that makes the call. Doctors can be fined or lose their license for handing out too many drugs. Except in Florida. That’s what happened to me when my Ferret Gildenstern hid my bottle of prozac under the couch.
Thanks for volunteering to pay for my healthcare for the rest of my life!
Here’s a point: Since Americans (sorry; I meant to say Republicans) will be in charge of the House and Senate and probably the Presidency in ’12… that means WE will be in charge of YOUR healthcare: how much of it you “need”, how long you’ll wait for it, what you’ll pay for it. Total control of your medications and your lifestyle. Groovy!
And before you can moan about “Keep your laws off of my body”, jsut remember: YOU PUT MY LAWS THERE.
That’s totally cool with you, right?After all, you voted for it.
My two cents – People want and don’t want things based on how you put it to them. So republicans can point to polls that show Americans don’t want government in healthcare where the questions have phrases like government takeover, socialism/communism, Obamacare, etc. but democrats can point to polls where when people are asked if they like closing the donut hole, having insurance companies not drop you for pre-existing conditions, allowing kids to stay on parents’ plans longer, they like those things.
As for not liking socialism, you’re living in the wrong country – American has plenty of socialism, and for the most part it does pretty good.
Why can’t we just get back to Nixon’s price controls.
Phase One worked like a charm. True story.
…
As for the ‘fairness’ of people ‘deliberately’ losing their meds… well, Tina can tell Becky is telling the truth. And while Becky’s insurance company doesn’t have paranormal powers, it is being a dick about it because its motivation is not Becky’s well-being.
It’s as simple as that.
An implied assumption by many here is that a government program *would* be administered with the health of the citizenry in mind.
I don’t buy that.
A government program is administered for the benefit of the government currently in residence, whatever benefit that needs be.
This is why social governments are big, expensive, inefficient and drag down both the national economy. The soviet Union is merely an extreme example. Forget ideology: In pure practical terms, central government control of the economy is destructive.
Socialism only works in small countries with small populations that can run an entire economy off a lucrative niche market.
Universal healthcare boils down to nothing more than the “bread” half of the bread and circuses Rome used to placate its people. It’s an old game. Just a whole lot more expansive. To some like myself, prohibitively expensive and massive destroyer of the dreams and ambition needed to maintain a dynamic economy.
As opposed to what we have now? The death panels certain people were trying to scare us with aren’t in the government plan but already part of the insurance companies’. Sometimes you want the evil you know. Me, I wouldn’t mind the “evil” I don’t when it comes to choosing between the two right now.
Reality check right now- the instant the Obamacare bill passed through both houses, my health insurance for my family of four near tripled. Supply and demand, very simple- once a service/material/whatever is mandated, the price goes up. If lemonade is mandated in every house, it will get expensive. Period. And do not try to tell me the bill has not had any effect yet- to insure myself, my wife and my two boys NOW costs over half of my paycheque. How many of you could afford that? Oh… that’s right… there’s still the $1500 deductable before anything gets paid on my behalf. That’s per incident, after I shell out $1475 per month. I am crrently on VA benefits only while my family is on a magional care plan that terminates once $1500 has been spent on the family this year. As I am writing this, I am suffering an incarceated inguinal hernia. I am in intense pain, but cannot take time off because I cannot afford it and my job cannot spare me unless I have the surgery (which means I will get better and CAN come back to work). So I will have to go 3.5 hours to Spokane next week, to the VA center, to have their surgeon verify that I have a hernia. I’ve had this hernia for over a month. It’s been confirmed by two doctors here. They need to re-confirm before they decide when to do the surgery. Welcome to socialized medicine at it’s finest.
Here’s the REAL punchline- if I quit this job and take something minimum wage, my health care becomes free, paid for by those who unwillingly pay outrageouse amounts for healthcare.
I am a surgical tech.
I am in the trade.
I will get better healthcare and bring home more money if I flip burgers at McGreasy’s.
Be careful what you ask for.
the Old Disgruntled Sgt.
Of course, they have already found a $17 trillion funding hole for Obamacare for the first 10 years. http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/another-17-trillion-surprise-found-in-obamacare/
@Sgt. Howard
your healthcare rising had more to do with the provider’s greed then the healthcare plan passing. Bills take years to take effect, as of this today I don’t believe over half of the healthcare bill hasn’t even enacted.
You say once something becomes mandatory it get more expensive, but it health care isn’t mandatory yet even now years later. The CEO of your provider was just greedy and saw a chance to frag people over.
This is the problem I have with arguments like yours.
Instead of blaming the people who did what hurt you, you instead transfer that to someone on the other side of an imaginary political idea. The facts are we use a “free” market system and that system fails everyone but the richest few in this country. But this is the flaw in all “Free market” systems only the rich matters and the poor get exploited (go look at apple). There is no free market solution to fixing healthcare because there’s nothing wrong in their view.
But seeing that would cause you to question your unfounded belief that the free market is always right.
It’s easier to block it all out then to see all systems failed, that the world is far too complex for any one system to work alone. It gets worse when you hear buzz words like socialism which you’ve been taught to foam at the mouth at without truly knowing anything but the propaganda you were told to hate it. Balance is the only workable answer, one were every system is only used where it works best to help the whole prosper.
Now I wouldn’t say this healthcare bill was perfect by any stretch of the imagination but “free market” health care has failed us it’s time to try something new.
I am fully aware of the fact that my insurance was not directly madated by the OC bill passing- yet it was directly related. Had the bill failed to pass, I would not be in this quandry. Any first-year buisness major could have predicted this outcome- somehow, our leadership cannot grasp the fact… or care. Regardless, I’ve been in healthcare since 1977. Every major ‘reform’ of healthcare at the federal level left things worse than before. Medicare re-embursment has dropped to a level that many surgeries are not paid enough to cover the secretary’s hours of filling out the paperwork. Name any trade where top profesionals LOOSE 40-50% of their income over a 5 year period (as I have seen) that can still recruit replacements. If we continue, we will see certain diagnosis’ at a given age to be a death sentance… as it is in Canada right now. We will see a SEVERE drop in the quality of care … as it is in Canada right now. In time, the only way to get somebody into medical school will be if the judge offers it instead of penitentary time.
Let things continue in this direction and see how long it takes for my words to come true (BTW- I live walking distance from the Canadian border- we see ‘cash and carry’ patients all the time who would die with American treatment)
the Old Sgt.
er… WHITHOUT American treatment
@SWM
“for example, health care providers are forbidden from doing business across State lines. So they have to set up shop, over and over in every state to get to play in that state, adding greatly to their costs.”
So you think the solution is to allow them to sell across state lines? Brilliant! Then it will be like what happened with credit cards – the company moves their HQ to the state that has the lowest requirements for care and licensing plus lowest tax base, selling that same crappy policy to everyone even in states where supposedly due to higher costs they have to charge more.
More money for them, same (or higher) costs for us, same (or less) actual health care for the customers.
Next time, try to think it through. 😉
The actual answer is this: I only need a healthcare insurance provider in the same way I would need a pimp. The insurance companies aren’t my actual providers, they are the go-between. I say get rid of the middleman, or at least hold them to a common standard and not every business has to be for-profit. Our healthcare should not be one of them.
Nonprofit doesn’t mean the people doing the work can’t make money and even be paid well. It just means there’s no motive for squeezing out every friggin dime so some stakeholder can pump their portfolio. You charge what it actually costs, no more and no less.
Whilst I do prefer the UK (Single Payer) system I understand that every way of organising healthcare has flaws.
First a quick look at how some systems are organised:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8201711.stm
A look at how healthcare is rationed in different healthcare systems:
http://www.world-science.org/podcast/medical-rationing-health-care-disasters-zambia-india/ (also includes the US)
Has all the other countries in the series
Becky’s only a part-timer with Tina, remember – she’s also pastry chef for some fancy joint in town.
STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! This is why political statements should NOT be a part of this forum. They should be removed when they first appear or they go on uselessly (llike this one). Obamacare is not at all germaine to the comic. It’s not even speculation. I’m so tired of good forums going to hell when this crap gets started. Just stop it! Exercize some self control and leave your politics at the door.
The political discussion was civil and respectful; moreso than your yelling at them to stop it. If you don’t like reading about such things, scroll down. There’s plenty of comic-related discussion on this page too. 🙂 I don’t think Paul needs to be moderating his comic comments in such a way. He’s busy enough and the readers are respectful enough.
You don’t understand. Once this sort of thing gets going it’s like a cancerous tumor. Small and not too bad at first, but all too soon gets out of hand. It NEVER stays at the civil level. If not snuffed out quickly, it will get worse and worse as people take sides and blame this or that party for all the worlds ills. If that’s what you want, fine, then this forum can go to hell with all the rest. You’ve been warned.
This isn’t bad. It’s a civil disscussion. And when the comic updates on Monday and Paul gives us a shiny new comic to play with, we’ll move on to something else.
“You don’t understand. Once this sort of thing gets going […]”
You do realize, right there, you’re using the “slippery slope” argument, right? If it degrades to the sort of thing you are alluding to, then I would agree, and would stand right by you in calling for it to be shut down.
But until then, my older reflex serves true: I react to what people do, not what they “might” do, since the latter is based on my own perceptions and bias, rather than reality.
Think about it. 😉
On that, SWM, we do agree. The Social Security system, in it’s original format, was only intended as a failsafe to prevent aging widows from living on dog food.
But …
That was also back in the day when it was considered a standard for a company to have their own pension plan and some semblence of loyalty to their workers.
If you want to return SSI to its original form, then something would have to be done to return the rest of the system too … bring back pensions and either bring back company loyalty or hang a Federal Sword of Damocles over their heads to motivate them.
Reboot SSI but leave it the way it is (put YOUR money in a 401k and hope it doesn’t die in the market before you can spend it) and you might as well say “have fun working that construction job til you DIE, which won’t be long since you are trying to run a forklift at 65 with an eye disorder!”
There HAS to be a better answer than that.
Quite a lot of American people want a real, functioning health care system – you know, like pretty much every other first-world nation has managed. What we’ve got is politicians who make health care a political issue, thereby allowing attacks on anyone who tries changing anything. Even such a ‘solution’ as passing a law that people should have to buy something that isn’t pulling its weight on the open market.
We have lots of socialism in the US, and it’s generally of the bad sort (including a healthcare system that will give free treatment to anyone in a critical situation, but not to prevent that critical situation, thus being expensive and inefficient). It gets there because it’s fairly hidden and it benefits powerful groups. I would much prefer a single-payer medical care model to the system of Romneycare that the current administration and the (somewhat) current congress has passed (particularly the notion of the slow phase in so that it can be brought to a sudden stop with a change in administration; “luckily,” at this point, Obama is more likely to get shot than lose the election). But every first world healthcare system has developed on its own based upon the conditions attendant prior to universal healthcare’s establishment. In the US with approximately one in five of all dollars spent being spent on healthcare, socialized medicine could result in a twenty-percent reduction of the entire economy. That’s a hell of an “OUCH!”
Sure. But as long as people will get wound up with buzzwords like “Socialism” and “[whoever]care” we’re not going to actually get a less screwed-up medical system. There does not seem to be any easy answer.
The thing I find truly ironic is the number of current and retired millitary that I know who are opposed to “socialsim”. They work for an orginazation that feeds, clothes, houses and provides medical care for them. But they don’t believe in socialisim. No sirriee.
And still we have a two-class healthcare in place here… so while you are being cared for, you are not treated equally from people who insured themselves privately.
To be fair, there have been a lot of people who took too many of their meds, or sold them, then claimed that they lost them to get more. It’s usually the doctor, not the insurance company, who nixes these extra prescriptions. The doctors fear they can be fined or lose thier license for being a drug pusher, except in Florida. Anyway, that’s what happened to me when my ferret hid my pill bottle under the couch.
Back on topic….. Tina is both disturbing and hilarious in these last few episodes. Hilarious eyes, she’s (they, them, most of them) as near the edge as her employee is.
“HIiiiiii! I’m trying to run this puppet with the help of some friends but we’re just not off on the right side of the bed today! Teeheee… oooooh o.O”
@Waldosan
Sit down sometime and read one of the summary collections of the Federalist Papers, the papers written by some of the same voices that wrote our Constitution, back when there were people who didn’t like the idea of the country we now live in and had to be convinced this new concept was a good one.
Alexander Hamilton (sure you know of him) made several arguments in those papers about how it is necessary for a joint body in some areas, to ensure that states that don’t need something will pay for it anyway, and get similar benefits in return. His example was why else would Pennsylvania pay for a navy, something areas on the coast were VERY concerned about but Pennsylvania couldn’t possibly care for. And the coast states couldn’t afford, it would have to be a group effort.
In return, the coastal states would have to care about issues closer to home for Pennsylvania.
Hence why I clench my teeth every time I hear someone griping about “I don’t want it, why should I pay for it”. I didn’t want their stupid war, but I paid for it (and I am a *proud* U.S. veteran, so do NOT go there, it won’t end pretty, I promise you that).
This is also the reason for regulation – companies don’t want to spend if they don’t have to, it’s their nature, that’s how they make money – not good or evil, just the way it is. Government is the counterbalance, they (supposedly) work for *us* and apply pressure the other way.
Capitalistic principle only applies so far. Saying “vote with your feet” makes for a nice slogan, but until I can quit my job to get a new one without being told that I am now out of luck because I have effectively changed health providers and am now chock full of “preexisting conditions” that they will not pay for then I want health care reform in a BIG way. Otherwise I am effectively a 21st century equivalent to a slave. Period.
And saying you don’t like the country, so just leave? Makes a nice bumper sticker, but I was BORN HERE. Going somewhere else is impractical, and why should I “let them win” that easily? Instead, I will fight to change the system. That … is winning.
To clarify, at a couple points, it may sound like I am attributing things to you specifically (Waldsosan) such as in the last paragraph – in actuality when I say “you” I mean a “collective you”, such as a narrator would mean to an audience. My apologies for any confusion.
trouble is, all the above is a waste of time.. go check out our UK health service… and then lobby your politician, who has most likely never heard about this place, or even what the ‘internet’ is….
(his PA does all that for him..) 🙁 🙁
and a bit less paranoia please.. I’m afraid that the mention of USA thinking the UK free health service is communism would only get a chuckle, and lower the USA’s reputation..
and THINK before you flame… :/
… *blink blink* Geez, I leave you guys alone for a measly two weeks and look what happens. 😉
1. Political-ish comment: I have state health care. I need a dentist. State health care gives me one dentist a long way off who only pulls teeth out or does basic cleaning, and there’s a two-year waiting list. The center is staffed by volunteer dentists-in-training who may or may not have their DDS degrees. So I’m saving up to pay for a dentist out of pocket. Meanwhile, my busted tooth might be infected… if it is, and it gives me a bad fever, I can go to the ER and get the infection fixed, but as for the tooth, I’m screwed.
2. Comic-related comment: I will now seriously consider moving my meds to the next cabinet over. I need my tylenol.
I live in the southeastern U.S. and for the last six and a half years I’ve had a job with a good insurance plan that includes medical, dental and vision care. Our premiums actually went down a few percentage points last year, mostly due to an agressive health and wellness program enacted by the company. It’s a union shop and foreign owned. Before this job, for ten years I was on the Hope and Pray system. You know, hope I don’t get sick, and if I do, Pray it ain’t too bad.
I suppose if worse came to worse, I could fall back on the VA, but after being told my “minor nureological symptoms” weren’t due to low level sarin exposure and that my developing respritory issues after being exposed to oil smoke was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with Desert Clusterf**k, I think I’ll pass.
I joked about obsessive/compulsive disorder yesterday.
Little did i realise where this was going.
Got more than a touch myself.
“Connections”? Is Tina 2.0 in touch with someone from Tina 1.0’s life?
She’s been running Mucho Mocha for years… probably knows quite a lot of her customers well enough to know their professions. It’s possible she knows a doctor, or a pharmaceutical company rep, who would be able to authorize a “sample” supply enough to tide Becky over until next month.
She probably helped that person succeed in their business with her sage advice over the years.
There are protocols for loss by which a pharmacy can supply a duplicate prescription. (I work for a pharmacy; it happens once in a while.)
Thank you! Logic and facts over political partisanship.
Also – note she said the insurance company “is being a dick”, not the pharmacy. The pharmacy would have no problem filling the prescription especially if the doctor signs off.
But if the insurance company says “nope, not gonna pay it” and Becky is just a lowly pastry chef who probably can’t afford the unadjusted price out-of-pocket …
Good on you Tina. I was already smitten, but you just got cuter.
It says something, for sure, when a pack of demons act more humanely than a bunch of human bureaucrats. Although, I’m not sure “bunch” is the right group term… flock? school? gaggle? cohort? murder? sneer? pride?
Dead on, Dave. It’s kinda like the old (real old) joke about the shark that refused to eat the drowning lawyer out of professional courtesy.
Demons look at bureaucrats (especially insurance boards) and take NOTES.
@Dave: committee or council might be a good one.
Insurance councils are quite the little monarchies, internally. Often headed up by a woman, known as “Cleopatra, Queen of denial”.
*clink*
How about an aggravation of bureaucrats? Others prefer a shuffle of bureaucrats. A quagmire of bureaucrats?
I like “a shuffle” of bureaucrats, and “a frustration” of insurance adjusters.
well maybe a good term would be a ‘murder’ of bureaucrats. Since like a murder of crows they sit around and make noise all day but accomplish nothing of any worth. Plus for some reason the word ‘murder’ and ‘bureaucrats’ seem to illicit such good feelings in me.
Wasn’t “Tina 1.0” the daughter of a drug lord? Would Tina 2 have the memories?
I believe it’s an unkindness of bureaucrats.
Ooooh, maybe Tina’s kind of like the Godfather (Godmother?) of their neighborhood, where she’s helped out enough people, she’s seen as the go-to person for certain kinds of problems, and everyone owes her a few favors. 🙂
She usually knows her customers’ professions…
I think that strip can be attributed to one of 2 things:
1) Tina was messing with Monica or
2) It was before Paul decided to take his characters in the directions he has and did not want to retcon them.
Maybe she usually does–but anyone can have an off day.
Look at the Chicago Cubs. 103 years and counting.
Tina 1.0 had major drug connections and Tina 2.0 might know someone she can go to.
Wasn’t “Tina 1.0” the daughter of a drug dealer? Does Tina 2 have access to her memories?
Past dialogue points to no. Tina 2.0 doesn’t remember anything prior to waking up in the morgue (for helping a past cycle’s Brandi cause harm to a mortal, aka Monica and Tina 1.0).
Tina 2.0 is only aware of Tina 1.0’s memories due to inheriting her belongings (example: the newspaper clippings she had posted on the wall next to her bed regarding 1.0’s life).
And we’re up to Tina 2.1 now anyway.
At least a few of those clippings were collected by Tina 2.0 because they refer to the death of Tina 1.0. She might not remember everything about 1.0, but there is some connection.
I was skimming through these comments and had to reread yours after seeing the phrase “touch myself”.
Does that mean you will repeat that comment each day for the next week?
I don’t have OCD. I have CDO. It has to be in alphabetical order.
Compulsive Disorder, Obsessive. As it should be. Mine is mostly managable, although I do tend to sort outgoing mail by city and state alphabetically if I have time and want to press crosswalk buttons in multiples of threes.
Do crosswalk buttons use “elvacceleration” too? (defined as the belief that an elevator will come faster the more often you push the button)
LOL
Now that’s a good one ….
I once read a book where the author spent three chapters explaining why and how everyone ever should learn to spell all words alphabetically. It was… um, unique…
funny, the ex (who is also chris) just snarled at me when i made that joke. 😉
on the other hand, him needing an OUTLET for his disorder means i have a sparkling clean kitchen every monday. yep, my ex comes over to clean for me. i told him he should be doing it shirtless, in leather chaps and for some silly reason he doesnt go for that. (i’m allowed to poke fun. we’ve known each other over 20 years now.)
Am I reading this wrong, or is Tina really about to hook Becky up with black market OCD meds?
Not Tina as such – one of the Collective, acting alone.
And not necessarily “Black Market” meds. For all we know Tina has an ‘ins’ with the insurance company or the drug company. In fact some drug co’s have programs to get people meds that might not be able to afford them. She could easily hook her up through that system
Or Tina is going to hook Becky up with some “alternative” medication – from one of the paranormal contacts.
Hard to say – will wait and see.
I get my meds sent from the manufacturer through a compasisonate care program because I can’t afford them. My grandfather was a travelling salesman for Wyeth’s way back when. Just because Tina has contacts who can supply emergency meds doesn’t mean they are “black market.” She might just know a clinic that can see Becky on short notice & provide a week’s worth of meds until she can get to her doctor.
If Becky finds out too much, she may need some of Hanners’ special anti-weirdness-awareness drugs.
I would love to have some of those pills sometimes.
Perhaps a pair of Peril Sensitive Sunglasses? 😀
I had not even known that webcomic existed before you posted that link. I just read it.
It’s wonderful. You’re right about Hanna and her OCD. When she was first introduced, her malady was terrible. Now, thanks to Marten and company’s patience and friendship, she has pretty much come to terms with it.
It is rather interesting the only ‘person’ who could communicate with her during her childhood was the station’s AI, but it was her own decision to move down to earth.
Now, that decision has allowed her to return to the station and give her father the best present he ever wanted… and he feared to never receive from her… a hug.
HAH! Sucked you in!
damnit Wyvern now you got me hooked! Do you have any idea how much more space in my book marks another webcomic is going to take up? Now i actually have to use the little arrow at the bottom! ARGH! *ocd showing* =P
Oh dear. I hope she doesn’t go too far with this hook up. I wouldn’t want her addicted to anything.
…addicted to a drug, or addicted to flicking a light switch on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off…
OCD sucks do-honkey wheenis. >_<
that’s for dang sure. There ain’t many psychological disorders that are fun; but OCD definitely isn’t one of them.
There’s only two good things about OCD. the patient tends to be in truly fine physical condition and their surroundings (such as their home) tend to be VERY clean.
Unless their OCD causes them to be a hoarder or have an eating disorder that is.
Well, it would explain why she’s such an excellent purveyor of baked foodstuffs… lots of attention to detail… but it’s a shame it comes at such a cost.
Beat me to it. OCD is the ability to focus turned into over focus. Attention to detail and routine become obsessions that must not be disturbed. Perfection is the requirement, not the goal. There is no relaxation, only review and confirmation of what was done to prepare for what will be done — and any interruptions cannot be tolerated!
If you can separate the obsession from the compulsion, you can do great things with speed and precision. If the compulsion takes over, it’s and endless loop.
I hear ya Becky — and PW!
Baking is Science for Hungry People!
Also: “I’m OC-Delightful!” – although I’m not sure he still sells that one….
I think you meant to link this one.
She has more on the ball, than most “normal” people.
For a moment I thought you meant this one but I think you’re right. I’d forgotten that punchline.
Yeah, I did… I copied the link from the wrong comic (Sheesh).
Nope, this one: http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-BAKING-APRON&Category_Code=QC
Guys, I did not know the Questionable Content webcomic existed before that link was posted last friday.
Now, I’ve read the entire story. It is wonderful. I agree Hanna is handling her OCD wonderfully. There were many times i had to lay down and simply laugh at the many jokes in the dialog.
If it hadn’t been for the need to play CoH and WoT, I’d probably go back and read the series again.
“Hanners” is her diminutive name.
“Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham” is her full name.
And practically everyone – including the author – adores her.
Wait, they MAKE STUFF for that?
Oh, it doesn’t matter. I’d never take them anyway. Medication scares me.
Yep, I have to take meds for OCD. Prior to being medicated and when I was very stressed, I got stuck in my bathroom for around 15 minutes struggling with the light switch.
>>>nods<<<
I friend's daughter had a bad case of OCD (as a teenager, which is worse). It was 'activated' when she hit puberty.
He had to take the door off his bathroom so she could be 'rescued' when she was 'trapped washing her breasts'.
Many times, the girl couldn't go to school because her OCD (even with POWERFUL meds) got so bad she couldn't stand to wear clothing. Those times were noted to be at the same time in her 'cycle' and finally reasoned to be when she was ovulating (also known as PMS).
After about four years (to about age 15 or 16), her hormones settled down to a more manageable scale and the problem basically 'deactivated'.
She is now the happily married mother of four bright children and taking no meds.
There are medications out there for a number of mental health issues… the big trick is finding the right diagnosis/medication/patient combination. Mental health is still strife with missed diagnosies, and even when the dx is correct, the Doc will essentially experiment with one drug after another until they get it right… or close to right in many cases. Seldom do they hit it on the first try, causing many mental health patients to give up on meds as they feel like an experiment (which for all practical purposes they are). That Becky has a working Rx going on is a credit to determination on her and her therapist’s part
Yeah. If I remember correctly, they usually use anti-depressants. If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you’re not alone, but they seem to work.
Medications work in complicated ways and are frequently useful for things you’d never expect. I was put on extremely low doses of antidepressents for a chronic headache condition. I had to stop taking them because when you added high stress to the mix you get rare side effects of tachycardia and pseudoparkinsonism. You wouldn’t think headaches, depression, heart attacks and Parkinson’s would have much in common, but there you go.
And medications that influence brain chemistry doubly so. I’ve recently started taking an anti-depressant, and the list of potential side effects is unbelievable. Thankfully, I seem to have none at all.
Reason for that is that neurochemistry is still a map with *lots* of white areas. And the brain rules all, so…
And every white area is labeled “Here Be Monsters!”
For instance, people with ADHD are routinely put on stimulants, and it almost always works, because one of the things that gets stimulated is the production of certain neurotransmitters.
My hubby is ADHD, dyslexic, and mildly OCD. We’ve been fitfully married for just shy of ten years. As of this discussion, I’ve suddenly realized there are about a hundred things I should’ve looked into to be more helpful and never did. Now I’d better.
Thanks.
OCD can present as Bi-Polar condition
this actually makes sense. Anti-depressants are often prescribed for epileptics for much the same reasons. Both epilepsy and many psychotic maladies are suspected to be caused by (for lack of a better term) ‘overvoltages’ running unchecked in the effected patient’s brain.
This ‘overvoltage’ is also thought to be responsible for savants (especially ‘idiot-savants’), adhd, OCD, and a variety of seemingly unconnected maladies.
and anti-seizure meds are prescribed for diabetic neuralgia (loss of sensation/pain/twitches) in the extremities AND for fibromyalgia. anti-depressants are also often perscribed for fibromyalgia, but they havent worked for me. (side effects of unending headaches and increased depression, oddly enough!)
If your OCDs are bad enough…it’s scary NOT to take medication. : \
in deed.
the list of ‘occupations’ taken up by OCD patients ‘looking for something to do’ is truly frightening in length and some of those occupations makes the OCD’s attention to detail terrifying… like ‘paid-for-hire assassin’.
Funny thing about that is I believe that someone wrote a story about an OCD assassin years ago.
As a currently medicated person with OCD, I must say I was somewhat scared of “brain altering pills.” But please don’t rule it out completely. Talk to your doctor or psychiatrist about starting with a super low dose and move up as you feel comfortable.
Wow, I didn’t expect to start a topic. Hey, thanks for your advice, but I’m fine. It’s not a serious thing with me. I only have minor impulses which I can ignore with a little effort. Thanks again, though, I appreciate the advice.
I did not see the OCD angle coming. In the real world it would be a blessing to work with a person (or persons) that likes to help people they work with.
Whahahaha- *pfrtsj* Wha..hic..hic.. Whahahaha!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀
Thnx for the laugh on this boring morning ! 😀
PS.. I got mý share of psychiatric problems, and it’s pharmaceurical “solutions”, but even there is humor to be found…
Of course there is, otherwise we wouldn’t have Dr. Sheldon Cooper! 😀
This explains the odd emphasis on need, which caught my eye yesterday.
you and many others. i even mentioned it in my post.
Light switch rave time.
Hopefully she doesn’t use CFL bulbs. Those things HATE being turned on and off a lot.
We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off.
Not so you could throw lightswitch raves.
The Cheat is grounded!
The system is down.
It shows as a link but doesn’t work as a link … just me?
What was that a link to, Danzier?
Aw for pete’s sake….
Here’s the link again. I think I forgot the close quotes. My status as Internetz Breaker Extraordinare still, unfortunately, stands.
That worked! Good ol’ Strongbad, haven’t checked that site out in a while.
Oh. Poor Becky. Don’t personally know anyone with OCD myself, but I know enough about it to have sympathy for people who do have it. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be.
I can tell you personally that OCD is very frustrating.
I agree with you there. Thank G-D for meds (made my life livable).
I can’t imajine what that must be like… I’ve seen descriptions on Tv ans stuff but to actually not be able to stop doing somthing when you so want to and while screaming at your self interally, and quite losibly out loud, is utterly beyond my comprehention.
My best understanding of OCD is from Micheal J Fox’s character on scrubs. while the show is mainly about the funny I got the feeling they represented it well, respectfully and truthfully. (but i could be wrong…)
If you have managed to tame that, apparently, maddening condition I can only aplaud.
now on to the slightly inapropriate comment. 🙂
How hard was it to stop adding clicks to that last pannel?
the sad thing is, Micheal J Fox wasnt acting that much… Parkinsons, but still a great actor.. 🙂
http://youtu.be/nXJXNus-_Kg
I think the only thing *more* frustrating must be ‘time based’ OCD.. there was an episode of ‘doc martin’ that had a girl who could not do anything, unless it was on the ‘quarter hour’.. 🙁
This is actually kind of scary. I’ve not been diagnosed with OCD, but it sure sounds like I have it. I’m a half hour guy myself – I like everything on the hour or the half hour.
There are benefits to OCD. Like my ability to focus on something and not release it until it is finishes.
For instance, I just read the entire ‘Questionable Content’ webcomic in one sitting.
There are consequences, though. After reading that webcomic, I had to check to see what time it was (and what day). Then I had to remember I had not eaten during that entire 22 and a half hours.
I don’t have OCD myself, so I can’t claim to have a true feeling of what people like Paul or Maark go through, meds or no. But I do have some quirks, almost a mini-OCD of a type – little things, like it always irks me to have the volume set at an odd number, unless it’s a multiple of 5. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I am a math geek, I dunno.
So I take those little things and try to imagine what they would be like ramped up a hundredfold.
Then my brain whimpers and shuts down.
Anyone who has to deal with that … my heart goes out to you, it really does. I am not sure I could cope with that, and those that do have my complete admiration.
I think we all have a little OCD, but the things are so minor compared to what Becky (and Paul) have gone through. As a child, I tried as hard as I could not to step on the grooves between sidewalk slabs and knew which foot to start on for every staircase in my 4-story middle school so that I would end with my right foot (going up or down). Even now I still like ending with the right foot but as an adult, I’m more physically capable of adjusting for the last few steps (taking two at a time, etc.) to do so. I also understand how the guy in this comic feels: http://threepanelsoul.com/comics/2011-09-19-209.png
But like I said, it’s nothing compared to full-blown OCD, which if you don’t have it, I’m sure it’s difficult to understand how crippling it can be.
Let me say it this way. If you don’t have and have no experience in dealing with it… don’t meet anybody with a full-blown case unless you have been fully prepared.
That first meeting could give you MANY sleepless nights.
Hanna’s many phobias, her desire to ‘stay alone’, her excessive cleanliness, and her 72-96 hour sleepless nights is almost standards for OCD.
In fact, the lack of even one of these ‘standards’ could (in the early 60’s to 70’s… when I was diagnosed) prevent the diagnosis of OCD. Now, just the presence of one of these can bring the diagnosis.
I’m trying to remember some of Tina’s past interactions with Becky, but I’m not sure how far back in the archives to search. Can anyone help me out? I enjoy the rich tapestry of characters in Wapsi, but the sheer multitude of background characters is becoming hard to keep up with. (Not that I’m complaining mind you.)
Becky was actually introduced BEFORE Tina.
wow that was waaaaayyy back, pauls first month of strips!!!
brink back darin pleeeeeease… 🙂
And Shelly met Tina first.
And suddenly, understanding.
Though never saw this coming, so her meds must really help her out as there didn’t seem any hint before.
I wonder which one of the Collective is talking in today’s strip?
Yeah, I wondered that, too. It’s not “Tina” talking, but one of her demons. So Becky’s gonna get a demon’s advice… those tend to be a bit less then altruistic…
Not in Tina’s case. She has stated before that she honestly likes to help people, She gets no thrill from committing acts of evil like some other deamons
now there a thought.. could a demon ‘occupy’ her to help out????
No. If Tina hurts anyone, really bad things happen.
I can’t figure out how Tina realized that there was a problem. Then again, I am a slow person and tend to miss the obvious… for about two weeks
then its, “Hello, Megan!”
Tina reads aura’s. That is why she is always tells her customers what they should order before they can tell her what they want.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/your-auras/
And read the encounter starting here, where Bud’s lack of human aura very much confuses Tina.
Tina also is a former psychologist. I can imagine some residue of her personality lingered around between her “death” and “revival through demon interference”, and got incorporated into the collective.
The fact that she can read aura’s could be the unforeseen side-effect of the melding of these vestiges of Tina’s original soul, and the demons.
That’s my theory, and I am sticking to it! 😛
I’m kinda suprised I’m the first to mention miss Hannelor Ellicot-Chatham from over at Questionable Content. Go have a look; Jeff will be happy you came.
My bad; he spells his name Jeph.
Which, of course, is the first mistake newbies make when reading Questionable Content.
The second is, “What do you mean, the cute OCD blonde ISN’T the main character?”
Not actually a newbie – just forgetful. X3
What? Just because her name is an anagram of “Can her mental health cool it?” or “Hot mental catchall heroine?” Okay, it’s also an anagram of “Mechanical heathen to troll,” but that’s everyone’s interactions with Pintsize.
Since you mention Hanners, I’ll point folks at the strip featuring her OCDelightful shirt.
That’s because there’s a link to QC under the friends menu on the left. So yeah, we pretty much already know about it.
I’ve always wanted to have sex with a girl that has OCD. The kind of OCD were you can’t stop doing something until you’ve done it mutliple times, if you know what I mean! 😉
Eh, knowing my luck it would probably be a nightmare. But I can dream can’t I?
It’d probably involve getting up every three minutes twenty-three seconds and touching every doorknob in the house, then screaming “Ravioli-o’s!” when retuning to bed.
My advice to you is to date someone whose job has something to do with psychology/psychiatry and take your chances that’s what you’ll get. Three girlfriends in a row had ties to that vocation; the last two being psychologists of some type, and all admitted to me that most people who become psychologists do it because there’s something, “wrong,” with them, and they want to understand it to help themselves and others with it. The middle one said she had OCD, but I didn’t see anything that really constituted it, but she may have been on meds, just had a mild case, or I was too young to recognize anything.
I’d like to add that in no place was it more obvious than what my girlfriends told me about psychologists having something “wrong” with them than when I went to the middle one’s department Halloween party, where several of her colleagues dress up as their childhood neuroses year-after-year – the Good Humor Man with the evil clown face was very frightening, and I felt bad for the guy if that’s how he actually saw the ice cream man as a kid.
“Wounded healers” is how my wife describes the psychotherapy clan (including herself). It seems that experience in wrestling with your own demons, is an important part of what equips you to help other people face their own. The paradox and price, of course, is that those clients whose problems a therapist understands best (and can provide the best insight) are those whose issues push the therapist’s own buttons hardest. Transference and countertransference are always a concern.
Oh, you are not kidding. My mother took her degree in psychology, and the most memorable people I met were colleagues not patients.
Not that I could say so at the time, as one of Mom’s buttons was anyone saying anything questioning psychiatry.
I sometimes hated doing things with her department as a couple of them were married with kids, and they subscribed to the, “A 2-year-old understands how to act like an adult and can be logically reasoned with,” school of thought. Biggest fight we ever had was after a party at her place where a couple’s 2-year-old ran wild, broke a glass, almost broke the coffee table (and could have killed himself doing so), made a mess, and was generally the biggest brat in the world. After the party, I offhandedly said, “If I had acted like that, my parents would have smacked me,” which prompted her to lecture me about current psychological thinking on how to deal with kids, which I cut her off by telling her, “Obviously whatever they’re doing isn’t working so the current psychological thinking is wrong. Instead of trying to be the kid’s friend they should try being his parents. They don’t need to smack him, but introducing some discipline would be nice.” I was in the doghouse for a while after that. 🙂
You were right, though, or so I believe.
My wife’s training and experience as a marriage/family therapist boils down to “Children do better in life, and are actually happier along the way, if their parents set clear and fair limits on what is and is not acceptable behavior”. That’s what she encourages her clients to do.
Not harsh limits, or cruel, or arbitrary limits… but ones which help kids stay safe, and learn how to respect other people as they would want to be respected themselves. As children grow older, and their brains mature enough for them to truly understand the consequences of their actions, they can then take responsibility for setting their own limits.
Probably the best, and of course the most difficult to properly execute, advice in establishing discipline for a child was practiced by my wife’s mother.
Very early on she associated a flick on the top of the head at the very instant of the offense and the word no.
In no time at all she didn’t need the flick.
I agree with Dave about setting fair and known limits in the rules. No matter where the limits are, kids WILL test them. And, if they are firmly held, will come to respect them.
I’ve even known kids who prefer to be punished when they did wrong–they needed to know the problem was behind them and done with.
Sheik, I’ve heard that’s how you also train everything from dogs and cats to ferrets. 🙂
Being a wee bit touched myself by the OCD fairy. I have to say bless you! To Tina and her infernal collective for being so caring to the girls plight. I hope they’re able to help her.
Most days I’m fine, but there are those odd moments where I suddenly hit by this niggling doubt as to whether or not I did something before I left home and it can be maddening at times.
Been there. I’m pretty sure everyone has something like that, anyway. Sometimes I leave the house and I have this terrible feeling that I left a door unlocked or the oven on. I used to need to get reassurance that this isn’t the case before I could move on, but I’ve learned to just listen to music to drown out the thoughts.
The fact that I can will myself out of the compulsive part of OCD means I don’t actually have it. I take consolation in that.
That happens to me a lot as well when it comes to locking doors and closing garage doors. I’ve developed a system where when I do secure one of these doors, I look at it then at my phone and say, “I locked the door at so-and-so time.” That cements it in my memory, and I don’t have a need to go back and check.
I feel your pain, that’s one of my other quirks. Going to work, or going to bed, if I can’t remember for sure if I locked the door, it will drive me NUTS. If I am going to work, I have to turn around and check. Going to bed, I get up and go look.
I finally figured out a cure of sorts for that, for me anyway. I just need what I call a “definitive memory event”. Our memories don’t have time stamps, we use association to remember when a memory happened, that’s why you can confuse what day something happened in your memory.
So I try to do, think, see or say something unique each time I walk in or out the door – that way there is a unique facet of the memory that will clue me in that yes, that is today I remember me locking the door, not yesterday or the day before. The door is fine, you’re not getting robbed, get your eyes back on the road and get to work! 😀
I still recall sitting there late at night, hunched over one of my pcs at home. Rain was pounding on the windows outside and distracted me from my work. So i desided to go grab a cup of tea. Got up and about 10 seconds into the room there was earthshattering “bang” and i was suddenly standing in complete darkness .. and a stong thick smell of burned eletronics.
Lightning had struck the neigbours house and i guess i was lucky in 2 ways .. that i wasnt sitting at the pc at the time and that i was only looking at the damages of the aftereffects.
Anyways i called the insurance company and got a complete workaround by about 6 people. Problem was they couldnt get their story straight. Kept saying “if you had our additional electrics insurance we could pay you” and at some point the 4th person got confused at thought that i already had the additional insurance but “The lightning struck by using the cable tv/internet cables and not the electric grid so we cant pay .. but if you get our other additional expensive electronics insurance you ..” and so on and so on.
Seriously .. if Godzilla had flattened my house and it had been recorded on national tv .. they would still have found a way to weasel out of it.
Funny enough that company still keep sending me letters about “our records show you have shown interest in our electrics insurance would you like ..” thus reminding me to save up some cash myself for a rainy day.
yeah, insurance.
Recently, an idiot crashed my car from behind. The insurance company agreed to pay for it (there’s compulsory responsibility insurance for cars in my country), it cost them an arm and a leg.
Then they said that I had to pay half of the cost for painting the new rearguard (rear bumper?), because it had a scratch on it before the accident. The whole bumper had to be changed, for chrissakes! They were able to make a claim on a theoretical, non-existent damage.
Even the garage guys (who were dealing with the company) were so embarrassed about it that they gave me the extra things I asked for as a freebie…
My car got flooded a while back and state law says it has to be declared a total loss. While my insurance was going to give me much more than I thought it was worth, they bitched that since I opted to leave some damage from an old accident instead of filing a claim, they were going to double my deductible and take it from the car’s value.
It was bulls***, but I still got a decent price out of it, and it made me glad that I’d never told them that the water pump was going out($1000-1500 fix)
We had a huge windstorm at a home I owned once, and it collapsed a shed and caused some roof leaks. I didn’t discover the leaks until the next week (when it started raining), and the insurance company made me pay a second deductible because they insisted it was a second claim. It was Prudential, by the way – and they suck massive horse balls. I would never *ever* use their company again. Yarg!
Light, light, light.
Belly, belly, belly.
Light, light, light.
Belly, Belly, Belly.
I see you’ve now met Tentacle #23.
I wonder if Tina demons will have a chat with Becky demons.
Interesting idea. But I am not sure that is the case. Tina may not want other demons to know that Tina 1.0 is no longer there. That the demons are running the show now. I don’t know if it is against demon law. Then again the demons may not care.
Oh, and yay! Tina has those cute bangles(?) in front of her ears again… 😀
I call the tiny, thin hairs that hang in front of my ears whispies.
I would love to see Tina’s demons go all medieval on Becky’s insurance adjusters. Yes, I would. She’s looking rather… potent.
So here’s my question. When Tina 2.1 gets fully “booted,” does she have a single consciousness? It seems that the demons act individually before the machine gets started, but then function as a collective afterwards.
And for what it’s worth, Tina is still awesome. A few random tentacles wouldn’t squick me out too bad… 😛
Obviously, you haven’t seen enough hentai. (Yay for internet memes)
Or maybe they HAVE seen enough!!
Tina gets in loads of trouble if she hurts somebody, right? In fact, her present circumstance is because she did so.
What would happen if somebody needs protection… lethal protection… and only Tina is available to offer it?
Now that is a very interesting question. Maybe Tina has a guardian watching from the shadows so she does not need to ever find out.
She’ll “Talk” to them she doesn’t NEED to physically hurt someone, she’ll just get them to stop, or to go away, or even to turn themselves in…
BLARGH!!!how do you get it to STOP highlighting the text as a url? i thought that’s what the ” and > was for?
you also need the [/a] in the angle braces to tell the parser when to quit the highlighted text. Like [b] turns bold on and [/b] turns it off.
what bmonk said – let’s see if I can get this to work with html tags:
<a href=”linkhere” title=”alt/tooltip text here”>Cool text here!</a>
Bah didn’t work. Replace any > with a greater-than and < with a less-than, and you should see what it is. Wish these forums had a preview button, heh.
Don;t want to break the boards messing around … somone refresh my memory how you can do that? Just adding a space do it?
Nice catch. I totally forgot about her talent for getting people to do what she wants when it is important.
I see today is OCD confession time. Never been diagnosed, but I may have a few such quirks–very mild, like counting things, wanting times to be “even”, trying to get everything just right, and so on.
Oh, and there is the compulsion to check out Wapsi Square and some other web comics. Frequently.
On the latter point, you are in plentiful company here. Don’t feel embarrassed! Besides, the coffee and scones are unmatched!
Belly
Belly
Belly
Belly
I really should have read your response before typing mine. >.<
Bad news, bmonk.
That compulsion to check Wapsi? It’s not just a compulsion, it’s a full-blown addiction. But it’s ok, we have it too, and we brought cookies and kool-aid! 😀
hey its not that unusual to enjoy stimulating conversation on many diffferent things… 🙂 🙂
I only wish this could be a *proper* forum(with various different threads, etc…) linked from the strip, so that the more ‘wordy’ subjects can be carried on separately for days/weeks, for as long as there is interest…. 🙂
or it could be an example of Parkinson’s Law of Custom Built Head Offices, which alludes to the way that the process, first of deciding about the new building and then of getting settled into it, takes the attention of the people who matter away from the real job that they are supposed to be doing, and towards their own, as it were, domestic arrangements.
Further, the original building, with it’s inconveniences and odd corners and suchlike creates the random encounters that foster actual work and inspiration, while the designed building is too efficient for such meetings.
Do we need to start a 12-step Wapsi Anonymous program??
No. Twelve-step programs are for quitters, and I’m not about to give up this addiction.
Just thought up an interesting twist on OCD and Tina’s “connections”.
In Wapsi terms: could Becky’s OCD be a result of her having a Doubt demon “running amok” rather than something purely medical? In a sense, that’s what OCD is like… a constant overwhelming doubt that you’ve done something correctly, so you have to go back and do it again and again… lather, rinse, repeat.
Tina’s “connections” might be more of the paranormal sort… someone who could tell/compel a Doubt to back off.
Good grief. I never thought of that, and it makes perfect sense.
This makes me want to cry. Never had the light switch thing – most of my compulsions are internalized. OCD is a monster. Not to mention usually comorbid with other things like bipolar I and II, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders of other types…vicious.
Even now the meds I take don’t “cure” me. They just make it easier to control. And the cognitive-behavioral therapy was brutal but incredibly useful.
Glad she’s got a boss looking out for her…
My OCD was “cured” when I had the brain damage from the truck hitting me and the subsequent PTSD. Truth be told I would rather have the OCD because it helped me in my job, I used to get awards for “attention to detail”, raises, promotions, etc. Brain damage and PTSD doesn’t get you shit except a bad time.
The third book in the Ender’s Game saga, Xenocide, has a planet who’s secret is that the government has genetically manipulated it’s people to have OCD to varying degrees. What they would do to find out if ‘God talked to you’ was to stick your hands in filth and see what you did to cope with not being able to clean them.
I just finished reading that. They did it to incapacitate the populace who were also genetically manipulated to be geniuses who could solve problems for the rest of the planets but also not rise up and rule over them.
This is kinda similar to the ‘Focused’ in Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. The bad guys infect people with a virus that allows them to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. They then use these people to solve all sorts of problems.
I have a friend who’s been fighting OCD for longer than I’ve known her, only she calls it “CDO” — that way the letters are in alphabetical order. (She also taught me the term “AD-OLS”)
D I C K, Noun, Synonym=Insurance Companies, suffer from OCD, usual symptom is the continued accumulation of money while never being satisfied even if they get it all.
I find it interesting how many people are so eager to call health insurance companies the devil, when the same restrictions on usage/pre-existing conditions/etc are used by ALL insurance companies…and I never hear anyone calling their auto-insurance carrier a dick. Insurance companies are always the bad guys until they serve their true purpose and make life less expensive.
That said, I easily get frustrated by health insurance as well. There are a fair number of prescriptions that work for me that aren’t covered at all or are in the expensive tiers of meds…and I also have controlled substance meds…so prescription time always sucks hardcore. I’m just glad that my disorder is ADD and not OCD…I’m probably a lot more functional (if not effective) off my meds than an OCD individual.
Bless Tina for her kindness and understanding!
When we’re talking about people who don’t buy insurance until they are 40 because they chose not to (not because they were unable to) and get sick at 41, I agree with you, Julie.
But have you been watching the news?
A few insurance companies, for a while, were trying to classify pregnancy as a preexisting condition! That’s right, the cervical cancer you get when you are 50 was probably caused by getting pregnant back in your 20’s! You should have thought ahead, you naughty naughty girl, this cancer is your fault and since we weren’t your carrier back then we aren’t paying for it.
THAT is the sort of thing some of us are screaming about and trying to put a stop to. And don’t get me started on a certain dead young woman (in Chicago, wasn’t it?) who dies because her insurance company didn’t approve her organ transplant … until several hours after she died.
Place any bets on whether her premiums were refunded? Further, bets on whether even if they were refunded this matters at all to her loved ones?
That’s because if I don’t get the door ding on my car fixed, there’s pretty much zero chance I’ll die.
I once got denied long-term disability insurance because I had am MRI done – not because the MRI found any defect, but merely for having the procedure due to vertigo.
That’s like refusing to cover a broken leg because I twisted an ankle and needed a cane for two days.
A) What exactly does a pre-existing condition mean in the context of auto-insurance?
B) You can live without a car (or part of one, depending on whatever the answer to A is). Try affording healthcare when the major issue you need help with is off the table.
C) Denying people access to a car isn’t nearly as heartless as denying them access to being healthy/alive.
A) i would imagine that they would use it as a means to NOT payout for something… eg. if you ever had a “dizzy- spell” and years later you got into an accident they could come back and say that you had oh, Narcolepsy or something like that because you “must have known, but didn’t tell us…” and because it was pre-existing, they won’t pay.
have you ever gone in to the hospital or dentist office and noticed the WAY they ask certain questions? “do you have NOW, or have had IN THE LAST 30 DAYS condition XYZ” then later down the page they ask a similar but different question: “have you EVER HAD condition 123” the difference is not just for medical reasons, it’s also there for legal/insurance reasons.
B) one of the things that made me go Hmmm, when i heard about it was, that i heard from a friend that used to work for an auto-insurance co. is that all the insurance co’s keep data on all customers and share it between the other companies that has your ENTIRE driving record, NOT “JUST” the last 7 years worth as per the gov… if you go to the DMV to get a transcript of your driving record hey go back a max of 7 years for commercial driving checks, and 3 for standard, non commercial background checks, ie for “normal” car insurance quotes… BUT… since they have your whole background in a shared C.L.U.E. database (he told me but i forgot what it stands for) they can get more data than they are supposed to use in order to charge more for your premiums vs someone that has had a clean record even longer than yours. lets say you and another person who, both of you for the last 7 years have had identically perfect driving records and are otherwise the same, same time driving, same age, ethnicity, gender, heath factors, etc… but you had an accident 10 years ago, and the other has never had one at all… you would still get charged more for your insurance than the other person even if everything else was identical, because even though the insurance companies aren’t legally supposed to use or even keep data more than seven years old, they still do, and it DOES affect your premiums.
C) true, while you aren’t legally REQUIRED to have a car to LIVE, there are some persons that cannot afford NOT to have one, ie. they can’t afford to move closer to their job, in order to not NEED a car in the first place, and if mass-transit doesn’t service their area, in order to get a paycheck to pay those pesky things called BILLS, they NEED a car… therefore if they don’t have access to reliable transportation (yes mass-transit, counts for this purpose) they cannot work there, therefore they can’t get paid, therefore they can’t pay the bills etc… and if they are in a job field that just isn’t hiring, in order to stay employed, well… catch 22 huh. yes, i know this doesn’t apply to a vast majority of people, but there ARE some out there that is DOES apply to… it would still suck if the insurance company messes with you over a pre-existing condition, and that prevents you from getting a car.
OCD and flipping on and off the lights. I love it.
A man who was my friend back in college recently died of OCD. He had always had a problem with getting “caught” in doorways – he’d have to turn around, some number of times, before he could go through.
Not a good thing when you need to exit a tunnel because of an oncoming car.
You really know its a hot and frustrating subject when the computer needs time to download just the comments…
I forget — is Tina really tall or is Becky really short?
Yes.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Both… um, or Neither?
Possibly.
I had a friend of mine that was working in the back yard. His wife called out the kitchen window wanting to know if he wanted a steak or peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Jeff answered “Yes!”
He told me later that a peanut butter and steak sandwich was one of the worst things he had ever eaten.
TheEngineer has hearing issues from too many years in machine shops with unprotected ears. he’s decided the safe answer when i speak to him in the car is “i love you too, baby!”
…which often leads to such responses as “that’s nice dear, but the dog wants to know if we can go to pick up stinkyfood after we go to the bookstore.” 😀
Tina is taller than Monica, much taller than Tepoz or Dietzel, but not as tall as Phix. See?
I seem to remember in the older strips where we first saw Becky she practically stood eye-to-eye with M, who’s already established as kinda short – while the only one I’ve seen tower over Tina was Phix.
So yeah, I think it’s a David/Goliath kinda pairing.
No comments on the comments – just wanted to make sure I voted .
Huh. Each click costs a nickel, I’ve been told. That adds up.
Well i’ll be honest and say this. Did no one bother to even notice what Becky said happened to her meds? They fell down the sink when the disposal was running. BS! As a person who i has been taking meds since childhood that happening is so rare. I think Becky decided to stop taking her meds and then realized
Oops! Hit the wrong button. I think Becky got rid of her meds in a fit of pique, which happens to people who need medication to help control behavioral problems. It’s frustrating when you feel you have to have this something or somethings just to live a normal life, and sometimes to restore your sense of control you stop taking your meds or dump them. It’s a bad idea but for whatever few moments or days you have before you realize how dumb you were you feel like a human being again.
I think you’re over-hypothesizing from inadequate evidence, but it’s hard to disprove.
Can go either way, I could see it happening like Becky said, but you have a point – she might have just gotten frustrated and is now realizing the impact of her error.
But then … this might be why Tina is so cagy? It’s happened before and she knows Becky just needs a guardian once in a while?