"DESCHUTES PAID $136K LAST YEAR FOR MASSAGES: The county says the massage benefit for employees aims to reduce costs by keeping health issues in check..."
Oh, that's just too easy.
Still.
How can you argue with that? It's undoubtedly true!
Massages do make me so much more relaxed.
But why stop there?
I find that paid two week vacations to Hawaii also reduce stress! A nice car -- say a Mercedes -- that is smooth and reliable, does wonders for my mood. Maybe you could pay for the gas, too. Really a bother to have to fill it with gas all the time.
You know, my house could be a bit bigger. I'm sure that stretching out my living quarters would do wonders to my productivity.
Oh, and say 100K in my savings, so I don't have to worry about my bills so much.
Thank you, Commissioners. I'll be ever so loyal and helpful.
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9 comments:
Actually I think the Bulletin's article is just one more step in their campaign against public employees. When I read the headlines I thought...wow...County employees going to massage parlors or something...but after reading the article I find out that massage (along with chiro and acupuncture) is part of their health plan...and they had the audacity to use it! Guess what...these same things are part of a lot of health plans...even ones provided by private employers or individual plans (though how much will vary naturally). In fact Clear One is advertising a bunch for their "Natural" health plans that includes...massage. Look...if public employees benefits are overly generous then there is good reason for discussing it....but employees (public or private) should not be trashed because they are using part of their benefit package. What next...will they be so bold as to get their prescriptions filled. I am sure we will read all about it in the Bully!
Perfunctory snark. I've gotten a bit lazy in my blogging in the last couple of days. Good points, Steve.
Though I grew up in a doctor's family and chiropractory was not much more than witch doctoring to my Dad.
But the headline provided such an easy target.
I need to calibrate my 'outrage' meter, and only write my snarks when I'm truly offended, not when it's easy....
Duncan, what's so wrong with massage as a health benefit? And I don't mean a benefit's package, either. You jumped from a natural treatment for a number of health issues to driving a Mercedes and a two week vacation in Hawaii rather easily...it's almost as if you're hoping to get hired by the local paper. As a former employee at a local government institution, let me tell you clearly: Most of these folks have very, very stressful jobs. If the county has massage as part of their benefit package, more power to them, and to the folks there that are wise enough to use that benefit. Someone, probably you, Duncan, needs to find out if the local paper has massage therapy in the benefit package for their employees, and if so, how much that cost. You know, for journalism's sake.
Well, since you ask. No, I don't think massages or chiro, should be covered by health plans. Acupuncture, maybe.
If my private health plan is covering such things, I'd rather pay lower premiums without....
Since you asked....
Remember, the human goal is always to get SOMEONE ELSE to pay.....
In this case, it's the other health-plan members, the young & those who don't utilize the all the services.
Don't forget the taxpayers...the public employee unions are on to that game in case you haven't noticed.
"Guess what...these same things are part of a lot of health plans...even ones provided by private employers or individual plans (though how much will vary naturally)."
My health insurance (Lifewise) doesn't cover massages but it does cover acupuncture, chiropractic care and treatments by naturopaths. The reason insurers are starting to cover those treatments is that they're a hell of a lot cheaper than going to an orthopedic specialist.
You're right about The Bull trying to stoke resentment of public employees. That has become a basic right-wing strategy -- pit union workers (including public employees) against non-union workers by making the latter resent the former's better wages and benefits. The old divide-and-conquer routine. Look how the right tried to make the UAW the scapegoat for the failure of GM -- a failure that was due to inept management.
Instead of getting angry at union workers, non-union workers should join a union and try to win better wages and benefits for themselves.
"No, I don't think massages or chiro, should be covered by health plans. Acupuncture, maybe."
Acupuncture never did shit for me, but chiropractic treatments helped with back and neck problems I occasionally had. My orthopod charged several hundred bucks per visit and prescribed some pills that didn't do anything.
"Well, since you ask. No, I don't think massages or chiro, should be covered by health plans. Acupuncture, maybe.
If my private health plan is covering such things, I'd rather pay lower premiums without....
Since you asked...."
A balanced piece of journalism by the paper would have shown side by side comparisons of plans, and then show people how the county is not utilizing tax dollars effectively because the plan with the massage costs X dollars more, and then the article would provide evidence that massage has little or no health benefits. Maybe they did that - I did not read the original article.
I do believe there is evidence out there that the alternative practices such as massage, acupuncture, etc. actually save the insurers money. Methinks there's no way insurance companies would include them in the packages if it hurt their bottom line. That, I think, we can all agree on, yes?
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