Tag: lobbyists

I’ve finally getting some late season head-way on my organic garden. I was pretty much out of it from the end of April to the beginning of July with pneumonia. Add in underlying lifelong asthma and it really slows you down. Today’s the 25th and I’ve had a full eighteen days in a row of health. It feels good.

The increased garden work has allowed me time to follow up on some blatant fraud being committed on me, Jordan Hospital (Plymouth, MA) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston). United Health Care is committing clear and open fraud in refusing to honor their contract with the hospitals and me and my wife’s employer (our health care insurance source).

A big H/T to D Wreck for the post a few days ago on UHC, the Heritage Foundation, the Lewin Group Study and Ingenix. I had no idea how incestuous the corruption circle can be. I’ve been on the phone to my congressman’s office four times this week wrt the Universal health Care bill. The following is a letter to William Delahunt (D-MA) with some short stories of my plight (only a very small part of it wrt UHC) and some observations from past managerial experience a IBM/Lotus and a look at the opportuinty cost to our national productivity and GDP that is lost to time spet dealing with these intentional fraud artists who claim to be honest corporations offering reasonable health care coverage at competitive prices.

The lies and corruption are beyond comprehension. The letter follows after the jump. Feel free to cut and paste from it, forward it or cross-post it. It is Now or NEVER. I hope you are all doing what you can this week before the bozos go home for vacation. Also, track down any pubic appearances they make in August and be sure to show up and let them know just how you feel. Call their local offices and ask for some face time. Remember, they work for you. They are the paid help. You are the boss. Don’t let them intimidate you.

Change harder! Yell louder! Get right up in their faces! Make it happen! Do not wait for someone else to do this for you! Get off your butts!

We the Lobbyists of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Profit, establish Pay-to-Play, ignore domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Media, promote the general lack of Welfare, and secure the Extractions of Payments to ourselves and our Clients, do now usurp and re-establish this Constitution for the United Elites of America.

Curious about who those lobbyists were with whom Obama has been meeting? First a quick rant and then we can look at who these people are and what they are all about after the fold.

Too often, we see the word “lobbyist” and reflexively think “bad,” “evil,” “spawn of Satan,” and “lower than the poop I stepped in while walking in the park the other day.”

While that may be true for some of them, like this guy, there are some “good” lobbyists, too. Organizations like the American Cancer Society, Sierra Club, and Human Rights Campaign are just as much lobbyists as PMA Group. Furthermore, every time you call your Senator or member of Congress, you are a citizen lobbyist.

It’s simply amazing, how Obstructionists operate

Step Right Up!

This magic elixir, will solve everything —

It’s called “More of the Same”

(aka “Private Insurance knows best.”)

It’s simply amazing what Paid Shills will say

to keep their Wealthy Patrons rolling in clover.

A Day In The Life Of A Georgia Lobbyist

Her phone rings. It is another board member, and he is at the Capitol.  We are off to the third floor and a day that accelerates from 0 to 60 very quickly.  Among the sea of suits, we find her guest and connect him with Rep. Stephens, who will escort him onto the floor of the House for a visit.

Immediately thereafter, we meet up with the lobbyist for the Department of Economic Development, which houses the tourism budget and serves as the state’s marketing apparatus for the industry. They discuss the House budget cuts, pending legislation and chart strategy.  During that conversation she is approached by another lobbyist from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia who relays concerns over a hotel tax bill introduced a day earlier.  Joy assures her the bill is a temporary bill and that a substitute is coming.  […]

Not much later, the lobbyist for the Georgia Municipal Association approaches Joy expressing similar concerns.  Joy again explains a substitute is coming.

Shhhh! it’s a secret!

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

— William Shakespeare

Court Jesters In societies where freedom of speech was not recognized as a right, the court jester — precisely because anything he said was by definition “a jest” and “the uttering of a fool” — could speak frankly on controversial issues in a way in which anyone else would have been severely punished for. Monarchs understood the usefulness of having such a person at their side.

“Welcome To The Machine”

— Pink Floyd

This just in! … an urgent,

Breaking, Non-News Announcement!!! — Listen up consumers!

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

crossposted on Daily Kos

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!  

Breaking Non-News Announcement!!! — Listen up consumers!

Court Jesters In societies where freedom of speech was not recognized as a right, the court jester — precisely because anything he said was by definition “a jest” and “the uttering of a fool” — could speak frankly on controversial issues in a way in which anyone else would have been severely punished for. Monarchs understood the usefulness of having such a person at their side.

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, TX

DEMOCRATS

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.

cross-posted on the kos

About.com — Health Insurance

Question: What is a pre-existing condition exclusion period?

Answer: Insurance companies try to discourage people from waiting until they get sick in order to purchase health insurance. One way in which they do this is to impose pre-existing condition exclusion periods. This means that if you have a medical problem which exists at the time you enroll in or purchase your health insurance, the insurance company will deny all claims pertaining to this medical problem for a certain period of time.

(emphasis added)

http://healthinsurance.about.c…

So there IS Hope —

Just Stay at that Job Forever —

Or NEVER get Sick —

And NO Problem!!!

They got you covered!  (as long as you can live with “Job Lock”)