This is how sick Americans get help? ...

A bus rolls into town (Partnership for Prescription Assistance, sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry). The sick must go to downtown (not a good place to park for those with vehicles, but not bad for buses depending on how far away the sick person in need of meds lives). They must be there between 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. They must know they names of the medicines they need and their insurance status (oh, my).

Staffers use computers to quickly sift through 475 patient-assistance programs to find possible matches for patients, who answer about a dozen questions, including age and income.

What these people get is a match up of 'eligibility criteria.' Hallelujah!

Next they actually have to see if the wonderfully bloated pharmaceutical industry will give them some charity.

This is how we take care of the sick and needy, when we feel like it, in the country with the 'best medical care in the world.'

Last week I got an itching rash on face and neck. I got into the doctor the day I called (only because I've recently changed doctors because it was impossible to ever see my former choice of doctors and then when one did get an appoint one still hardly saw her except in passing). The itching was 'driving me crazy.' I can just see myself going downtown on a bus (I wouldn't have been able to manage parking, etc while climbing the proverbial wall) to get a match up for medications. If I hadn't had health insurance I would have been in the emergency ward, it was that bad.

Sorry if I can't get that excited at this latest example of corporate largess. What a waste we make of our resources. [But it's nice that the people driving the bus and managing the operation have jobs.]