Jul 04 2010
“This is an impressive crowd: the Have’s and Have-more’s. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base.”
“It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.”
“Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.”
lest we forget …
Feb 26 2010
With all the other HCR news, you may have missed this important tidbit. (I know I did.)
House Votes To Repeal Antitrust Exemption for Health Insurance Firms
Thursday, February 25, 2010
On Wednesday, the House voted 406-19 to end a 65-year-old antitrust exemption for health insurance companies, part of Democrats’ broader strategy to revive their health reform efforts ahead of Thursday’s bipartisan health care summit, Roll Call reports (Dennis, Roll Call, 2/25).
The bill (HR 4626) would amend the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts insurers from federal antitrust law if they are regulated by the states.
http://www.californiahealthlin…
Granted it’s NOT the Public Option, BUT still it’s important to finally putting the brakes on the run-away rising costs of Health Care, hopefully …
Oct 19 2009
Crossposted at Daily Kos
War is Peace.
The Military Industrial Complex meets the Terroism Industrial Complex.
In his widely reported London speech earlier this month, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, described how people constantly offer him ideas for fixing that country’s problems. One of the more unusual recommendations, he suggested, came from a paper that advocated using a “plan called ‘Chaosistan.’ ” McChrystal said it advised letting Afghanistan become a “Somalia-like haven of chaos that we simply manage from outside,” but there was no further explanation of its origins.
Bold added by diarist
Much more below the fold
Oct 06 2009
Rep Alan Grayson’s Apology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Well, I would like to Apologize —
I would like to Apologize to the Dead.44789 Americans die every year because they HAVE NO Health Insurance,
according to this Harvard Study. http://grayson.house.govThat is more than 10 x the number of Americans who’ve died in the War in Iraq
It’s more than 10 x the number of Americans who died in 9/11
but that was just once.
THIS IS EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
Take a look at this — read it and weep.
and I mean that Read it and WEEP!
Let’s remember we should ‘care about people’ — EVEN after they’re born.
Oct 01 2009
Finally a Democrat, willing to fight Fire with Fire — I mean extreme Rhetoric with Rhetoric!
Kudos to Alan Grayson who has the guts to dish back to the GOP, the same “strong language” — that they’ve been dishing out for months!!!
Whose Side Are You On? by Alan Grayson by Alan Grayson:
Last night, I went onto the House floor and did something that the Republicans aren’t used to. I told the truth about the Republican health care plan. The plan is simple:
1. Don’t get sick.
2. If you do get sick…
3. Die quickly.
Sounds about right! The Party of No, Knows one thing — How to say NO!
It’s not like Grayson didn’t use any Facts to back it up …
44789 / 365 = 122.7 people per day
Die for “Lack of health insurance” …
What does 120 People a Day look like, anyways?
That about what it takes to fill up 2 city buses …
Sep 23 2009
Wyden amendment gaining support
By Tony Romm, The Hill – 09/22/2009
An amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare bill that would permit employees to shop around for health insurance policies is slowly gaining momentum on the Hill.
The idea, pitched by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last week, would open the proposed “insurance exchange” — where consumers can compare and purchase insurance plans — to Americans who already receive coverage from their employers.
…
What has made Wyden’s proposal especially appealing today, however, is the Congressional Budget Office’s recent cost estimate. By their math, his amendment would reduce the bill’s impact on the deficit by about $1 billion over the next 10 years.
Sep 20 2009
Health Reform’s Missing Ingredient
By Ron Wyden, Senator D-OR, NYTimes Op-Ed
September 17, 2009
The various bills making their way through Congress would, as the president explained, provide some consumer choice by establishing large marketplaces where people could easily compare insurance plans and pick the one that best suits their needs.
[…]
The problem with these bills, however, is that they would not make the exchanges available to all Americans. Only very small companies and those individuals who can’t get insurance outside of the exchange – 25 million people – would be allowed to shop there. This would leave more than 200 million Americans with no more options, private or public, than they have today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09…
Wait a second, I thought the Public Option, would give us a Choice —
give US ALL a Choice?
The Insurance Exchange will be closed to “more than 200 million Americans”?
that must be a typo!?!
Sep 16 2009
Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option
by Joseph Shapiro, NPR — September 14, 2009
When polled, “nearly 3/4 of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options,”
[…]
Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.Most doctors – 63 percent – say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance.
[…]
another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they’d like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent.
http://www.npr.org/templates/s…
Hmmm? I wonder if Doctors, know anything about our Broken Insurance System?
Ya think!?
Jul 18 2009
There is a bit of a Cold War of sorts, raging between Private Insurance “providers” and your neighborhood Health Care professionals (and it’s NOT the Govt getting in between the two.)
It’s the battle over Claim Denials. It’s an “arms race” that just keeps escalating …
DMI: Denial Management, Inc — The Claims Solution People
The Problem:
One in seven claims are denied by insurance companies. This can cost your clinic or practice thousands of dollars every year.
http://www.claimsmgt.com/produ…
That’s about 15% of Claims, Insurers choose NOT to pay. So, Doctors need all the help they can get, to stay focused on Healing, NOT Bill Collecting!
Denial Management Services
Problem: Most Health Systems lose between 3% and 5% of net revenues as a result of payment denials.
Solution: Outsource your denied claims to DMI, the foremost industry leader in capturing additional revenue.
Jul 09 2009
We learned last week from LA Times reporting, and from Congressional Hearings, that Insurance companies routinely try to drop your Insurance policy, if you happen to get one of their “Hot List” illnesses.
Getting any of these illnesses, can Trigger the Insurance Company’s “Cancellation Police”, into action.
Denial Specialists scour your medical history, and cross-check that against your application, looking for any reason to Cancel, or rescind, your Insurance policy, thus saving the Insurance Company untold thousands in future payments for your expected Care. Denial Specialists, of course, earn bonuses for each Policy they cancel. What a system!
Those 4 illnesses (out of the 1000+ such Triggers) previously disclosed are:
breast cancer, high blood pressure, lymphoma and pregnancy
Well thanks to the tough questioning of the Oversight and Investigations Sub Committee, at least 2 more Triggering Illnesses have been disclosed, as indicated in the video and transcript of the Hearing:
The 2 other newly disclosed “Drop List” illnesses, include:
ovarian cancer, and brain cancer
Jul 07 2009
White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan
By LAURA MECKLER and JANET ADAMY – JULY 7, 2009 – WSJ
WASHINGTON — It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.
[…]
One of the most contentious issues is whether to create a public health-insurance plan to compete with private companies.Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama’s goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.
Mr. Obama has pushed hard for a vigorous public option. But he has also said he won’t draw a “line in the sand” over this point.
http://online.wsj.com/article/…
OH NO! Not that stupid Trigger Option again!
Enough Already!
Jul 01 2009
Have you met your Senate Finance Committee?
Give em a call because your Future Health Care, or lack thereof, is in their hands.
Senate Committee on Finance
Members
REPUBLICANS
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TXDEMOCRATS
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ
THOMAS CARPER, DE
http://finance.senate.gov/site…
Chances are, these good Senators, while they hear us, have some other Constituents, always on their minds.
