Big Brother
I do not have a brother to perform some of the usual family functions, so Big Brother has kindly stepped into fill the void.
I will (hopefully) have a birthday later this month and today received the following email message:
“Subject: Important Message from Medicare
Dear EDWARD A WOLFF
Happy Birthday from Medicare! We wish you well in the upcoming year. Our records show you are currently up-to-date on your preventive services. Congratulations on using Medicare to help you stay healthy. We will send you emails in the future as you become eligible for other Medicare preventive services that will be listed in the calendar below to assist you with planning and scheduling your appointments.”
It may not be polite to express disdain over an honest expression of concern for my continued well-being, but of all the people from whom I was expecting to receive birthday wishes, I must confess Medicare was not one of them. I never ascribed anthropomorphic qualities to Medicare, yet here they were graciously updating me on the status of my health as if they knew more about me than I do. As part of the Big Brother establishment, maybe they do.
Does this portend the future under Obamacare? Is this a part of the “You have to pass the bill to know what is in it” prescription?
We do not want to sound ungrateful, but how many civil servants have we hired to program the government computers to analyze citizen medical records and spit out emails to tell them when it is time to see the doctor and what they need to ask the doctor about?
We were having trouble understanding how the country could have racked up the tremendous debt it carries, but if this is an example of what the country is hiring people to do it is starting to add up.
The Postal Service is going bankrupt because, they say, they are being supplanted by email. So here is another branch of government saving money by using emails and helping the put the Postal Service under the bus.
It is time to go back and reread Alice in Wonderland and 1984.
While you’re rereading classics – also read “Animal Farm” and “We” (by Zamyatin – precursor to 1984)