Tag: Insurance Reform

I was supposed to begin the long-delayed series of PTSD stories I’ve been planning, but before we begin, I need to tell y’all about something that just happened in my house.

For us it wasn’t a matter of life or death, but it is the kind of story that explains, perfectly, why we need to reform the health care system we have today-and for that matter, it’s also a great explanation of why a single-payer system would be a giant step forward for everyone in this country, whether you’re insured today or not.

It’s also hilarious and sad and frustrating, all at the same time-which makes today’s story a pretty good allegory for the current American way of doing health care.

So follow along, have a good laugh…and at the same time, take a minute to consider what could be, and how much less irritating things should be.

FDL’s Slinkerwink has an action diary up on the rec list now at the orange with a new idea inside it. Cool idea. Slinkerwink plans to create a youtube slideshow.

I’ve got plenty of real estate left (especially on my left cast)!

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Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, interviews Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, regarding a Robust Public Option:

AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Grijalva, I also want to ask you about Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and his close ties to the healthcare industry. […]

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA: I think the product that has come out from his committee and himself, I really believe that it has no legitimacy in this debate. It’s an insider product. It’s there to protect the industry. It is not there to try to look for that middle ground. He is key in holding up deliberations, has been key in trying to work on a consensus, but everything you see in his legislation had to be approved by the industry before it became part of the plan. So I don’t think it’s legitimate.

[…] I consider Senator Baucus’s proposal to be essentially an insider trader move to protect an industry and really doesn’t have validity at all, both political validity or content validity.

SurveyUSA conducted a Poll in Mid-August — prior to Obama’s well-received Speech in September — and they found that across the spectrum of Demographics Groups, a majority of Americans thought it was Extremely Important to have a Choice of a Public Option!

SurveyUSA Poll

Here is the Question which was asked, in a Survey of 1200 Americans, from all around the Country:

In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance — extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?

All Groups

Margin of Sampling Error: ± 2.9%

Survey by SurveyUSA

Geography: USA 50 States

Data Collected: 08/19/2009

Release Date: 08/20/2009

Sponsor: MoveOn.org PAC

Well according to this former HMO Medical Director, she traded Necessary Patients Care, for Career Advancement and a 6-figure Salary:

Linda Peeno MD, testifies



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Question: Are the Patients, who are Denied Care, to save the Insurance Companies Money — DO those Patients have a RIGHT to their Health Care?

Or are Those Patients simply a Commodity — a “Cost Center” — that must be constantly constrained?  

Doctor Linda Peeno, a renown expert in the field of “Managed Care”, explains to Congress the dirty little secrets behind the Business of Health Care Denial:

Doctor Linda Peeno, a renown expert in the field of “Managed Care”, explains to Congress the dirty little secrets behind the Business of Health Care Denial:

THE REAL DEATH PANELS: Insurance Companies That Deny Care



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Linda Peeno, M.D.

In the spring of 1987, as a Physician, I denied a man a necessary operation, that would have saved his life. And thus caused his death. And I’m haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper, on which I have written that deadly word: Denied.

Barack Obama , Feb 19, 2008

Well, The System’s Broken […] Certainly I don’t accept, in the richest county on Earth, that we should have 47 Million people without Health Insurance, and Millions of more people being bankrupted because of a Medical Bill.

[…]

As President of the United States, what I’ve proposed to do, is to make sure that we got a plan that covers ALL Americans.

[…]

The key to making this happen, is to overcome the resistance we’re going to see from Drug Companies, Insurance Companies, HMO’s. Over the last 10 years alone, Drug and Insurance Companies spent over $1 Billion, in preventing Health Care Reform from happening. That’s going to require then, a mobilization of energy among the American People, to insist on a Congress and a White House, that are actually going to deliver this time.

[…]

What would Jesus Do about Health Care?

Good Question.

Well it sounds, like he understood how Sick People need Doctors:

Mark 2:17 GWT

When Jesus heard that, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; those who are sick do. I’ve come to call sinners, not people who think they have God’s approval.”

(emphasis added)

GOP Health Care Obstructionists, are you Listening???

The Pharisees, thought they were doing God’s work too.

Imagine their surprise when this upstart Carpenter, from the old neighborhood, dared to stand up to their blatant self-righteousness … and dish back to them some cold, hard truth …

Those “death panels” really do exist

MediaMatters — August 20, 2009

To date, the media have debunked the “kill granny” lie more than 40 times. The nonpartisan FactCheck.org says the claim of mandatory counseling on ending seniors’ lives is “a misrepresentation.” ABC’s chief medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, said “the idea about death panels” is “not at all legitimate.” PolitiFact.com has called “death panel” claims “a ridiculous falsehood.” When the Associated Press conducted a fact check of the bogus charge, it reported, “No ‘death panel in health care bill.’ “

After former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claimed that “Obama’s ‘death panel’ ” could decide the fate of her parents or her son who has Down syndrome, conservative radio host Larry Elder aptly called her comments “over the top.” […]

It seems Sarah’s still leading that pied-piper Twitter Parade …

Since the GOP is fond of saying that “the USA has the Best Health Care System in the World”, I decided to do a little Fact Checking. … And according to the World Health Organization:

Health Performance Rank By Country

United States of America:

Performance: On level of health : 72nd

Performance: Overall health system: 37th

Health expenditure per capita in international $’s

Country Rank:  USA: 1st

http://www.photius.com/ranking…

We’re Number One! alright — BUT only in terms of HOW MUCH WE PAY PER PERSON, for our Health Care! (1st in the World, in terms of Cost)

That’s sounds like a contest, that we just don’t want to keep winning!

If you’re lucky enough to still have Insurance —

1 in 7 Americans Don’t have that Luxury, by the way —

Well you might not feel so Lucky, after learning how much more of the Insurance Premium tab, you have been picking up, over the last several years.

Health Insurance is a “Benefit” of Employment — yeah Right!

A Benefit to the Employer, to keep you locked in your lousy Job.

A Benefit to the Insurer, who has a guaranteed source of Income, every time you get a paycheck!

That “Lucky Insurance Policy” has been to costing you more and more, each year, while promising you less and less, in terms of coverage … this squeeze has been happening for years!

Something is seriously wrong with this Nation’s Broken Health Insurance system …

Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies

By Theresa Tamkins — CNN, June 5, 2009

This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.

Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

1.5 million Americans x 60% = 900,000 Americans

that’s about 2500 more people per day

… going bankrupt from medical bills, which were NOT covered by our broken Health Insurance system