SubscribeNow that health care reform is taken care of, Obama wants to tackle immigration reform
Now that President Obama has licked health care reform, he wants to next focus on immigration reform. He must be a gluten for punishment. He wanted to ensure that every American had access to affordable, quality health care and he got compared to Adolf Hitler and called a Marxist. What will he be compared to because of immigration reform? Whatever it is, it won’t be good.
Obama is crazy for getting involved with this. With unemployment already over ten percent, does he really want to make it easier for businesses and corporations to bring more unskilled workers into the country? Workers willing to accept wages far lower than the prevailing wage?
After all, that is what immigration reform is all about.
Obama needs to let the Republicans deal with immigration reform when they are back in charge. It’s a Republican issue, not an issue for the Democrats. If Obama keeps on not doing what he said he was going to do before he was elected, that day will be a lot sooner than he thinks.
The Mexican pig flu has already killed 10,000 Americans
Federal health officials are now saying that 10,000 Americans have succumbed to the H1N1 flu. And that’s only since this past April.
That’s more Americans than Islamic terrorists have been able to kill in the last 20 years.
It’s almost unreal to think that this many people have died from the swine flu. That just goes to show you that the flu isn’t something to take lightly. To me, it’s just one more reason that we as a nation should be investing our resources into a national, universal health care system. The chances that you will die from a virus are much higher than the chances that you will be killed by an angry Muslim terrorist, yet we are more than happy to spend billions of dollars on fighting terrorism. When President Obama wants all Americans to have access to affordable, quality health care, some people say it proves he’s just like Adolf Hitler.
The current health care reform bill is a sweetheart deal for insurance companies
The Senate Finance Committee passed the health care bill crafted by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) 14-9, with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), casting the sole Republican vote.
I don’t know why more Republicans didn’t vote for this bill. If you didn’t know that it was written by a Democrat, you would think it was written by a health insurance lobbyist.
There’s no public option. There’s a mandate that everyone must have health insurance. If someone’s employer doesn’t offer health insurance, they must go and purchase health insurance on the open market and pay whatever the health insurance industry says they will have to pay. The only way this so-called “public mandate” makes sense is if people have the option of purchasing not-for-profit health insurance managed by the government.
My guess is that health insurance companies will start offering no-frills, “compliance” policies that will be health insurance in name only. They wont really help you when you or sick or injured and need medical attention, but will instead allow you to be compliant with the new requirement to have health insurance.
The purpose of a health insurance company is not to make people healthy, but to generate profit for it’s investors. Even if people have health insurance, too many times, a catastrophic health crisis will result in having to declare personal bankruptcy because of co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses not covered by their health insurance.
What’s the point of having Democrats in charge if this is the best we can do?
Teabaggers are confusing
People associated with the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) crowd held a rally yesterday morning in Washington D.C. to protest against health care reform and people were seen passing out these printed signs that referred to the recent passing of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Why do these people hate President Barack Obama so much? I just don’t get it. Is it because he raised their taxes? Unless they earn more than $250,000 a year, Obama actually lowered their taxes. In fact, nobody, even the richest of the rich, have not had their taxes raised under President Obama.
I just don’t understand these people. One minute they whine and cry about the Federal government being incapable of doing anything well, the next they are waiving the flag and demanding that everyone join them in singing God Bless America.
It gets confusing.
Harry Reid is for the public option as long as it’s not owned by the public
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants the world to know that he’s in favor of the public option. It’s where the government would offer non-profit, government run health insurance to every American to give private insurance companies some real competition. The only problem is that what Reid is in favor of are health insurance co-ops, not a true public option.
From the Reno Gazette-Journal:
“I’ve told people, whoever will listen, that I am in favor of the public option,” Reid said, adding he thinks it’s essential in order to provide competition for private insurance companies that are exempt from anti-trust laws. “We’re working now to try to come up with a program that would allow that to take place.”
Reid went on to say that most people “misunderstand” a public option as “some government run program.”
“But there are many ways we can do it,” he said. “One would be to have an entity like Medicare. I really don’t favor that. I think what we should have is a private entity that has direction from the federal government.”
Reid did not elaborate further on what that would look like.
And what’s so wrong with Medicare? I hope that I live long enough to be able to enroll in Medicare. I wish that the age requirement for Medicare would be removed. That would be the easiest and the most efficient way to reform health care.
Harry Reid is an ass. He has to remember that as the Majority Leader in the Senate, he cannot just be a crackpot from Nevada. I realize that is all he really is, but as one of the leaders in the Democratic party, he has a responsibly to help reform health care. He cannot say or do things that work against the goal of ensuring all Americans have access to quality health care.
The (serious) side effects of Enbrel
Since reading yesterday the first-hand account of someone who came down with multiple sclerosis after taking Enbrel for his psoriasis, I’ve been reading up on the drug and all of the hideous side effects associated with the drug. These include:
- Serious infections including TB.
- Nervous system problems, such as multiple sclerosis, seizures, or inflammation of the nerves of the eyes.
- Rare reports of serious blood problems (some fatal).
- Heart failure, including new heart failure or worsening of heart failure you already have.
- Allergic reactions.
- Immune reactions, including a lupus-like syndrome and lymphoma (a type of cancer).
When my dermatologist put me on Enbrel, she told me only about the increased chances of getting infections (including TB) and a higher chance of getting lymphoma. She said nothing about seizures or fatal blood problems. She didn’t say anything about heart failure or multiple sclerosis.
I guess it’s my own fault for not doing more research on Enbrel before taking it. Then again, I never went to medical school. I’m not a board certified dermatologist. I never even took high school chemistry. What do I know about drugs?
When I don’t know something, I defer to the people that do. That includes doctors. Well, not anymore. From now on I am not going to take a drug or a medication until I do my research. I am not going to simply trust a doctor.
Not anymore.
Health care reform without the ‘public option’ is a waste of time
It looks like the Obama administration is ready to abandon the idea of the public option, the creation of government-run, non-profit health care insurance that would give all Americans access to quality health care. People wouldn’t have to rely on their employers to provide access to health care insurance.
We are the only country in the modern industrialized world that does not have some form of government health care. Every other modern country in the world guarantees essential health care to it’s people. The United States does not, but neither does Mongolia.
It’s not like we are alone.
Some people like to say that we have the best health care in the world. I think when most people say this, they actually believe what they are saying is true. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the world’s health care systems and the United States came in at 37th, right below Costa Rica.
The reality is that most Americans only have health care insurance if their employer offers it as a benefit. If you lose your job, even if it is of no fault of your own, you lose your health care insurance.
In no other modern industrialized country does this happen.
To reform health care without creating a public option is worse than no reform at all. It would be a complete waste of time.
The private health insurance companies don’t want a public option because it would eat away at their massive profits. They want things to remain essentially the way they are now. They don’t want to compete against something that puts the health of the insured above everything else. Creating government-run, non-profit health care insurance would force private insurance companies to put their patients first, not their profits. Not only is it the most efficient way to enact reform, it’s the only way.
President Obama couldn’t pick a worse thing to flip-flop on.
How my former primary care doctor screwed me over
I thought I had my psoriasis licked. I was taking Raptiva, a medication I inject myself once a week. After taking it for two months, my hands were finally clear of psoriasis. It was in full remission. It felt so good to have normal hands for a change. I felt like a normal human being. No pain, no thick scaly areas, no cracks, no bleeding.
It was great.
All that changed when my former primary care doctor withheld a referral to continue seeing my dermatologist. When he originally referred me to see my dermatologist, he wrote a referral for 20 visits. Unbeknown to me, my insurance company refused to honor the referral for 20 visits. They required a new referral after every four visits. I never knew this. My dermatologist was contacting my doctor after every four visits to get another referral faxed to them.
To the best of my knowledge, the initial referral for 20 visits was still in effect.
When I arrived at the dermatologist’s for my appointment to gauge the success of the Raptiva, the person at the front counter asked me for my referral. She proceeded to tell me about needing a new referral after every four visits and that my doctor said he would no longer issue a referral over the phone. From now on, he would only issue them in person. She told me that someone from my doctor’s office should have contacted me and told me this.
Nobody bothered to tell me.
This meant I could not be seen by my dermatologist. This meant I could not continue taking the Raptiva. I needed another prescription if I wanted to continue taking it. That’s something I could not get without seeing my dermatologist.
I immediately went about looking for new doctor. One that wouldn’t screw me over like that. By the time I found one taking new patients and got an appointment to be seen and got a new referral to see my dermatologist, the psoriasis was back. If anything, it was worse then ever.
I don’t understand why I need a referral to see a dermatologist. Psoriasis is a life long, chronic condition that I will have for the rest of my life. Seeing a dermatologist is something I will be required to do for the rest of my life. My insurance company knows this.
By requiring me to get a referral from my doctor, they are in a sense having him re-diagnose my psoriasis. That’s something he is not qualified to do. If he was skilled and knowledgeable enough to diagnose psoriasis, he would be skilled and knowledgeable enough to treat psoriasis and I would not need to see a dermatologist.
It’s middle-man medicine. Putting my primary care doctor in the process adds absolutely no value. It doesn’t make for better care. All it does is drive the cost up. By requiring me to come in and be seen every time I needed a referral, he gets to charge me a $30 co-pay along with whatever he bills my insurance. It becomes an unnecessary obstacle to receiving quality medical care.
Health care in this county is ridiculous
I woke up yesterday morning with an eye infection. My right eye is red and very itchy. I called my doctor’s office to make an appointment. He’s all booked up this week. Same with the PA (physicians assistant) he has in the office. She too is all booked up. I asked if he could then call my pharmacy with a prescription for some eye drops. The woman I spoke to said she would have to ask and that she would get back with me.
I tried calling again today. I explained my predicament and that I needed a prescription for antibiotic eye drops. After telling them my date of birth, I was placed on hold. After 6 minutes, I hung up.
Why do they constantly ask my date of birth? Don’t they have it somewhere in my file? I’m always afraid I’m going to get it wrong.
Health care in this county is ridiculous. If you get sick and need to be seen by a physician, you pretty much have to just go to the emergency room. If you try to actually go to your doctor, you will have to compete with all the people that want the latest cholesterol drug advertised on the evening news. They all made appointments weeks ago. Want to lower your cholesterol?
Stop eating fried animals.
I don’t even really need to see a physician. I just need some eye drops. Being that we Americans are not trusted with purchasing antibiotic eye drops on our own, we have to go through a doctor and get his or her permission. It’s a stupid system. Why can’t I just buy antibiotic eye drops? Is there some weird recreational use for the stuff that I’m not aware of? I can buy antibiotic soap. Why not antibiotic eye drops?
The kooky wisdom of Roscoe Bartlet delivered straight to my email inbox
I got an email from my draft-dodging nutball of a representative Roscoe Bartlett last night. Evidently Roscoe wanted to explain to me why he voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs bill. Not that I needed any explanation. Of course Roscoe would vote against a law providing better health care for children.
What cracked me up were some of the reasons he came up with. Check out reason #8:
Dramatically Increases Taxes on Working Families. The Democrats’ bill hikes tobacco taxes by 61 cents per pack, once again proving that Democrats are harming low-income families they claim to want to help. In April, 15 Democrats acknowledged this fact when they sent a letter to Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) encouraging him not to raise the tobacco taxes in the budget resolution because they were not only regressive but a declining source of revenue. (Section 701)
Smoking is a disgusting and a severely unhealthy habit. I think everyone that smokes should quit, especially people in low-income families. The only thing wrong with a 61 cent per pack tax is that it’s far too low.
It ought to be at least $10 a pack.
I used to smoke. Quiting was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The high price of cigarettes was one of the main reasons I didn’t take the habit back up. I thought cigarettes were expensive when I was addicted, but I was addicted. Once I was no longer addicted to nicotine, the high price of cigarettes seemed absolutely ridiculous. It really made me stop and think.
The truth is that if cigarettes were cheap, I probably would have started up again.
If Roscoe Bartlett is going to vote against a bill that helps provide health care for children, it shouldn’t be because it would make it harder for poor families to buy smokes. Once again Roscoe Bartlett uses the power of his office to vote against the best interests of the people in his district.
The government already runs health care
Supposedly the Democratically-controlled Congress and President Bush are heading to a showdown over the future of health insurance for more than 10 million children. Not that I doubt for a nanosecond that Bush is against the idea of health insurance for poor children. I just don’t know if I’m ready to believe congress is willing to actually fight for anything unless it’s a worthless non-binding resolution.
This from the New York Times:
The president says the measure, which would renew and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, costs too much and would be “an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American.”
An incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American? The government already runs health care in America. They control everything related to our health care. They control who can become a doctor. They control what drugs or procedures a doctor can administer to a patient.
There is a reason doctors in this country cannot prescribe marijuana to their patients suffering from glaucoma. It’s not because marijuana has not proven to be highly effective in treating glaucoma. It’s because the government wont allow doctors to prescribe it.
Americans are already used to having their health care micromanaged for them. The difference is that health care in this country is run by corporations interested in profit, not in the health and well being of the insured.
There is a reason every other country in the industrialized world has national health care.
The reason Wal-Mart is declaring war on single mothers
Yesterday I posted something about how Wal-Mart is changing the way they schedule their employee’s work schedules. Why is Wal-Mart doing this? Is it really to save money on labor as they are claiming?
No. The reason they’re doing this is to purge their employment rolls of single mothers. An internal Wal-Mart memo leaked last year reveals that approximately half of Wal-Mart employees’ children are either uninsured or rely on state-subsidized programs for health care.
States are finally getting fed up with picking up this tab.
Here in Maryland, lawmakers recently enacted a law aimed squarely at Wal-Mart that would have dealt with this problem. That is until a federal judge stepped in and stopped it from taking effect:
A federal judge in July struck down the so-called Wal-Mart bill, aka the Fair Share bill, passed at the beginning of 2006 over Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s veto. The law would have required large employers in Maryland (Wal-Mart was the only company the law would have applied to) to spend at least 8 percent of its payroll on employee health care or contribute the difference to a state health fund.
One sure fire way to decrease the amount of Wal-Mart employee children that are either uninsured or receiving health insurance from state-subsidized health care programs is to simply get rid of those employees. Employees with the children without health insurance. They cannot just simply fire these employees. No, that would be illegal. Instead, they create a work environment that is all but impossible for single mothers to exist in. Such as forcing them to work “flexible” shifts.
It’s only a matter of time before Wal-Mart is forced to finally trickle down some of it’s massive profits to it’s workers so their workers can provide health care for their children.
Wal-Mart declares war on single mothers
Wal-Mart announced today that December sales at stores open at least one year would rise 1.6% instead of the 1% gain it had initially expected. They also announced that they will soon be moving all of their 1.3 million employees over to a new “flexible” scheduling system.
It will force employees to be flexible with what hours they work.
This means that a single woman working for Wal-Mart who must rely on daycare to watch her children will have a much harder time making those arraignments. They will be forced to find daycare providers that are just as flexible as Wal-Mart is forcing them to be.
This will not only adversely effect single mothers. It will throw a monkey wrench into any working family.
Wal-Mart claims to be making this change to it’s scheduling system to cut labor costs. Something I wouldn’t think would be necessary when you consider how much profit Wal-Mart makes. Whatever happened to the trickle down theory? Wal-Mart rakes in massive profits yet still comes up with new ways of paying less money to the American worker.
That’s not the way it is supposed to work. Sales are up. Higher then they expected. They still find a new way of cutting pay to American workers.
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