They say you dream about the subconscious, that may be true and if so perhaps very telling. My dreams of late are much like the one I'm about to describe and that is certainly very telling.

Having now to deal with a persistent, chronic illness last night's dream starts in the office of a specialist physician. The physician begins telling us excitedly, about new research and how the latest technology is creating huge advancements in the area of our specific condition. This certainly piques our interest as we listen intently for more detailed information, which we quickly learn is dependent on one specific thing. That one very specific detail, our physician informs us is that we must maintain our premium payments otherwise for certain we will be excluded from the benefits of any advancements in the area of our disease management or cure.

WTF! Did we just hear that right? Our physician goes on to explain that yes indeed we did hear him right and that everything regarding our future health and general well-being will be dependent on our willingness and/or ability to pay out!

I finally awake from this nightmare realizing that the possibility of its reality is all too close.

We are not too far off from this ‘nightmare’ - with boutique and concierge physician practices and future predictions of shortages of general practitioners we seem to be heading full speed towards a system of healthcare that is wholly dependent on a patient's ability to ‘pay’!

Greed is the new ethics, the new morality.  The robber barons are nothing new nor is  greed for that matter. We are perhaps experiencing the back swing of the pendulum by repeating our mistakes and proving our inability to learn well enough from history.