Tag Archive 'health care reform'

May 02 2010

kymberly

LameAssed Mentality of Anti-Healthcare People

Filed under WTF?

My best friend is taking a class on “critical thinking”, and the topic du jour is “health care”.  Read her classmate’s logic (and my responses, which are afterwards, in bold).  Tell me if you think he is projecting his self-loathing onto others (which might be symptomatic of our nationwide sociopathy and is therefore scarier than being Dick Cheney’s buddy on a hunting trip).
 
He writes -
 
Um…, we are going to have to do some “tweaking” here.  I feel the main issue with government health care reform is that it will increase taxes on the wealthy.
 
As well it should.  When you live in a country that allows you the breathing room to do well, then you have the responsibility of giving back - yes, even to illegals, who help feed your family for cheap. 
 
The majority of citizens believe that it is unfair to increase health care cost to those who have earned well paying jobs and pay for good  medical coverage.
 
“Earning” a well-paying job has nothing to do with it.  I know people who earn 44.00 an hour and the job doesn’t come with health care.  I know people who get 10.00 an hour and it does come with health care.  It has nothing to do with “earning” a well paying job and everything to do with getting a job at a place which offers health care. 
 
I can understand where they are coming from because there are many citiznes of the United States who have basically under achieved in life.
 
What does under-achievement have to do with it?  Most SELF-EMPLOYED people with homes, businesses, and the mental fortitude to strike out on their own are far from “under achievers” - yet do a count - most of these people are un-insurable.  
 
Another issue, is that under government health care reform, illegal immigrants who defect to the U.S. are entitled to healthcare coverage. That doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. 
 
It also doesn’t sit well with a lot of people that a hard-working, successful, small business person can lose his / her entire life’s savings due to illness - because some other people don’t want illegals getting health care (news flash - they already do, it’s called “Medicaid”).
 
Your statement about persons receiving free health care from the military opposing healthcare  government healthcare reform isn’t exactly true. There are many Department of Defense, Government Specialists, and military personnel who side with the new healthcare reform, I being one of them. Mainly because we understand that not having reform actually drives healthcare costs up.
 
The costs go up in direct relation to how much privately-owned Medicare Advantage can wrangle out of the government.  Refer back to the”donut hole” and the lost rights of Medicare to price-bargain with Big Pharma. 
 
The costs of medicines, utensils, equipment and surgeries increase across the board each year. The main contributing factor to that is providing healthcare to patients without medical coverage. So providing healthcare to everyone (even the under achievers), assists with driving costs down (through time). 
 
It’s like he’s making the point FOR health care, here.  He lost me. 
 
My issue is giving healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants.  
 
The real issue is - which strategy will make the US a more competitive, co-operative force in the global economy.  Feeling angry about illegals getting health care is not reason enough to deny it to tax-paying, hard-working citizens who have the “American Dream” guts enough to strike out on their own, work diligently, and achieve.  They are currently being punished for the sake of illegals.   
 
***
 
This guy said he is “for health care, but only if illegals aren’t allowed to get it.” 
 
Illegals ALREADY HAVE HEALTH CARE.  It’s investment-holding citzens who are tax-paying and hard-working who lack the damned stuff and desperately need it. 
 
Duh.
 
Saying, “I’m for health care, but only if illegals aren’t included”, is like saying, “I’m for gay rights, but only if the gays who want to adopt aren’t included.”  Or, “I’m for women’s right to vote, but only if the women promise to vote the way their menfolk tell them to.”  How about, “I’m for abolishing slavery, but only if any new cargo of captives that comes from the Congo aren’t included.”  Let’s punish all gays because some want to adopt, let’s crush all women’s votes because some won’t do as they’re told, let’s smackdown all blacks because new ones are arriving to our shores daily…let’s deny health care to all Americans because illegals are hopping across the border.
 
And by all means, let’s ignore the fact that America is as much to blame for sad state of Mexico’s economy since we made an under-handed trade deal with their government three generations ago.
 
Bah.  People are stupid.  PEOPLE ARE STUPID. 
 
I’m in a mood to be anti-stupid people today.  None better cross my path or it’ll get bitchsmacked with kym’s ultra-snarky, mean and menacing, evil wicked clue-by-four.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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Mar 26 2010

kymberly

Washington’s Mandatory Gun Law

Filed under National News

Some people are like the leaky spigot on our house.  The faucet can’t be shut down without super-human strength, but if it spews with careless abandon, the thing will flood our foundation.  So, I finally got smart and brought a wrench to the fight.
 
With that in mind, here’s my wrench with the latest fight (people Who Just Won’t Think Things Through).
 
When they argue, (and I quote) -
“the new law’s provisions that require individuals to carry health insurance violate the Constitution because “at no time in our history has the government mandated its citizens buy a good or service”
- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
 
- then we can argue what the First Father of our Fine Country wrote -
 
That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder
 
From The Militia Act of 1792.
 
So, yeah, the government HAS mandated its citizens buy a good or service.  Or, if you’re really clever (or like my exboyfriend the mountain man) you can build your own.  But, even if you build your own, you still gotta buy the parts somehwere.  They didn’t have ebay back in ye day, but I bet they did have a corner blacksmith.
 
As for the Tenth Amendment Argument, if I didn’t live in a red state, it would be spiffy to see the end result of that one.  Can you imagine the “rebel” state people watching the other states around them achieving health care opportunities across state lines…while those that bullied their way out of the law are now going to look REALLY bad for accepting any kind of government help (Medicaid, Medicare, Farm Subsidies, money for road / school / hospital upkeep, HUD assistance)?
 
Note - the Tenth Amendment was ratified in May 1791, which is clearly before The Militia Act (of 1792).  That’s worth consideration for these anti-healthcare arguers.
 
Last -
 
Health Care reform was designed for responsible, working people who, due to employment restrictions or pre-existing conditions, are left with no financial protections when it comes to illness or injury (I know a bit about this one - as everybody who reads the newspaper in Idaho Falls now knows, lol).  This bill does not “pay for people to be lazy“…if we’re not lazy NOW (without health care) what makes you think we’ll up and quit our jobs when they DO provide health care?  Just something to think about. 
 
This bill is not socialistic.  It’s corporatist.  It’s what people like me have been fighting AGAINST (ironically) since the dawn of the Reagan Administration.  What We The People really deserved was single-payer, but that was deemed too “socialist”. 
 
So then we asked for a public option, which was quickly thrown under the bus as “unfair to private health care companies which have to make a profit”.  (Seriously?  The inept, wasteful government, which is horrendously expensive and can’t do anything right, is a competitive threat to a million dollar industry?  Wow…huh.) 
 
So then we settled for what we now have…a corporatist plot to get YOUR tax dollars into THEIR CEO’s (off-shore, tax evading) pockets. 
 
Told you so (says my alter-ego, Cassandra).
 
Now, nobody’s happy…except those CEOs. 
 
Deal with it, and try to change it for THE BETTER.  We live in a community.  We are in a nation that has, as part of its laws, a grant to ensure the Welfare of the People.  Health care IS Welfare.  Look it up in the dictionary if you doubt it.
 
Do I like this bill?  Helllllllno.  I dislike the idea of my tax dollars feeding the Evil Corporate Beast.  But, this is what we are left with when people so fear the government that they are willing to cut off their own nose to spite their face.  I said it before and I’ll say it again.  When the new Hitler tromps up to take control, said tyrant will not be sporting a Presidential seal and dark skin. 
He will be getting paid by FOX News and his skin with be whiter than a dollop of Non-Dairy whipped topping atop Mom’s Apple Pie.
 

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Mar 24 2010

kymberly

Vacation

Filed under Author's Page

Don’t expect writing genius, I wrote this in a half hour, but here’s a short, short story to share.
 
 
Somewhere between the mouthful of potato salad and a scoop of ice cream, the pain began.  At first, I thought it was heartburn.  After all, my family and I were on vacation, I had sloughed my healthy diet for the week.   
 
 
But the pain worsened, even after I took antacid.  Then anxiety hopped on board, as did a seering pain in my left arm and jaw.  My daughter Sarah grabbed her computer and searched out “heart attack symptoms”.
 
“Dad!”, she cried.  “You have to get to a doctor!”  My cheeks felt icy, I wondered if the color had drained from my face just like it had from my wife’s.  I wondered if my eyes held the same panic as hers.  It was an unmistakable look…the same one Sarah got as a toddler when she experienced that terrible nightmare.  I don’t remember what the nightmare was about, but when I’d burst into her bedroom to stroke her hair and rescue her from the monster, Sarah had been propped on the bed with her legs curled under her, clutching to that ragged teddy bear she lugged around everywhere she went.  I had said I’d never forget the panic in Sarah’s eyes that night, and I hadn’t.  My wife’s eyes held that look when she leaned down, touched my cheek and murmered, “It will be all right”, over and over.  
 
But I couldn’t assure Janie that she was right.  I couldn’t assure my daughter that we’d get me to a doctor.  After all, did I really want to risk it?  Was it worth it?  What if the pains were just heartburn?  What if I did go to the doctor and demand a bunch of tests and all they found out was, “It’s heartburn, stop eating so much spicy food”? 
 
I held out an open palm toward Janie.
 
“Give me another Tums.”  Janie’s lips pressed together tightly, she did as I asked.  Then she said it.
 
“Sam, what if it IS a heart attack?”
 
“Stop saying that.  You’ll scare Sarah.”
 
“I’m already scared.”
 
I scoffed despite the pain.  “It’s nothing.  Just heartburn.”
 
“Heartburn doesn’t usually make you sweat like that, Dad.”  Sarah frowned at my right hand, which gripped so tightly to my left arm that fingernails were piercing the flesh.  “And heartburn doesn’t usually make your hands so shaky.”
 
Janie swallowed hard, her brow furrowed.
 
“Sarah, go get the car keys,” she instructed, without once removing her gaze from me.  Sarah remained motionless, watching me through squinted eyes.  “Go!”  Janie pointed toward the cabin.  Sarah ran.
 
“Sam,” Janie’s icy hand was on top of my shaking one.  “Sarah’s right.  You need a doctor.”
 
“No,” I shook my head, knowing she was right. 
 
“But I don’t want you to die.” She whined just like Sarah did when she couldn’t have what she wanted.  Had the mother learned from her offspring? 
 
“I have life insurance.  That will pay off the house.”
 
“You’re missing the point, Sam.  I don’t want you to die!” 
 
“I don’t want to live with more medical bills than I’d be able to pay off in the rest of my lifetime.  What about Sarah’s college fund?  She’s only three years away!”
 
“It doesn’t matter,” a tear trickled down Janie’s cheek.  “I don’t want you to die.”
 
I reluctantly agreed.  I didn’t particularly care to die, either.  I wished my pre-existing condition hadn’t made it impossible for me to obtain insurance. 
 
So the girls helped me to the car then Janie drove us to the nearest hospital after asking directions from the kid at the convenience store.  She drove fast, braked hard, and dashed in through the er doors with the same quick stride that had been her hallmark all through high school track.  My smile was weak because the pain was deep.  How lucky I was to have made her fall in love with me.
 
Janie came back out moments later, but no orderly, no rolling bed followed.  Only terror on Janie’s face.
 
“They don’t take uninsured people here.”  She gasped between sobs.  “But they said there is a county hospital over there,” she pointed north.  Or maybe it was west.  Either way, the scent of her favorite perfume wafted at me when she threw herself into the driver’s seat.  Without clipping her seatbelt, she was off, tearing through the parking lot, swearing up a storm. 
 
“How do we get OUT of this place?” she screamed.  Sarah, in the back seat, kissed my neck, whispered in my ear.  “It’ll be okay, Dad.”  Her voice was shaky.
 
Somewhere between that parking lot and the one at the state hospital, I died.  But my kid got her college degree and my wife got to keep the house.  All in all, not a bad deal. 
 
On further thought, I don’t want to sound selfish, but I’d have loved to stick around and join them.

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Mar 24 2010

kymberly

Stupid Should Hurt

Filed under National News

Somebody somewhere at some point (rather brilliantly) told me,
 
“stupid should hurt”,
and while I am sure I laughed and agreed, I never thought I’d see it in action. 
 
Until now.
 
Oh yeah, and except for on that show “1001 Ways to Die”. 
 
They’re spitting mad that health care will be mandated and we’ll be forced to buy from a private company.
 
And I’m splitting a gut over the irony.  The comfortably-numbed millions click on thier FOX News channel, listen to their pundits, and never once stop to ponder which corporations are funding their favorite programs (advertising - paying the bills).  But if the millions did bother to rub a few brain cells together, they’de see companies parented by Regence (Blue Shield), GE (They bring expensive hospital equipment to life), Medicare “Advantage” (the advantage is clearly to the CEO which runs this shamefully abusive corporation - there’s nothing “Medicare” about it). 
 
So now, instead of Medicare for all…with private supplemental available to those who choose it, we now get a gun held to our head, and the placated masses think the GOVERNMENT has its finger on the trigger.  They are so ironically wrong.  If they simply follow the yellow brick road to its conclusion behind the curtain, they will not find a government grunt.  They’ll find an obscenely rich CEO (who is about to get richer because we just gave them all a government-mandated guaranteed pay raise). 
Single payer would have stopped that, but, single payer smells too much like “government in my health care”, so…we got this instead. 
 
Go ahead and sue, Butcher.  It will only serve to ensure a PUBLIC OPTION (which was the second best choice for a better, healthier America).

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Mar 03 2010

kymberly

It’s Citizens’ Arrest Time!

Filed under Community Issues

or as I am now fond of saying, “Let the internet be the horse you ride in to town, and let your signature be the six-shooter that returns the place to order.”
 
It’s time to deputize yourself and prepare to fight for a healthy, sexy America that’s free like a unbridled Mustang, not one that’s held at gunpoint by an evil band of insurance lobbyists. 
 
The scoop…
 
Blue Cross (and others) has the “right to vote”.
 
That means We The People have the right to demand accountability for the crimes commited by your bad asses.  
 
 
Join today.  
 
Day of action - next Tuesday.
 
PS - dugski and I have (so far) received amazing response to the story about us in yesterday’s Post Register (front page, above-the-fold - we’re famous!). Thanks to Dan Henry for leading us to Clark Corbin who did a wonderful job of condensing my emotive verbosity into something resembling cohesive thought.  (Hug a writer today, because the good ones really do deserve it.)
 

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Jan 11 2010

kymberly

Do the Math

Filed under WTF?

In past years I have gone to various drs. for my annual mandatory thyroid tests.
 
When I had health insurance, I ended up paying nothing on the tests (which I thought was SWEET), my co-pay, the portion of the vist not covered by my deductible, and the lab potion not covered by insurance.  
 
That total was right around 110.00 , not including my monthly premium of three hundred dollars.
 
Without insurance it was about three hundred dollars, because I had to pay for it all out of pocket. 
 
I just got all those EXACT same tests done (including labs, office visit, tests) for 68.00.

WITH insurance I was paying more than that.

 
How’d I do it?  I visited a local dr. who REFUSES insurance and who will NOT partake of the Great American Health Business Scam.
 
And he does house calls too.
 
If anybody needs proof of how deliberately screwed up the health business is for INSURED people, I now have a paper trail worth of evidence.  If you’d like to borrow it to show your disbelieving friends, I’ll happily make copies and pass them out.
 
We’re so missing the boat on health care reform, people.
.

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Sep 24 2009

Liz

Is the Public Option Doomed to Fail?

Filed under National News

I go occasionally to the local Drinking Liberally group that meets at the Idaho Brew Pub by the river in Idaho Falls.  Drinking Liberallin in Idaho Falls is run by a nuclear engineer named Dan Henry.  People from Idaho Falls will recognize his name from frequent commentary in the Post Register, and his face from frequent attendance at various liberal type protests and rallys held in the area. 

I have only come to know this man in a small way, but I’ve seen enough to know that he’s very engaging and very smart, and he’s fiery and passionate about his beliefs (he and kymberly are friends and they both light up a room).  He can be antagonizing and will attack if he feels you are not being truthful in a discussion, and like a bulldog he doesn’t let go easily. 

That can be offputting if you’re used to getting in your slings and arrows to a willing and like-minded audience without being called on on your shit.  But if you don’t mind a little verbal sparring, this man will gladly take point and educate you and if you’re open minded, you’ll be glad you listened. 

So this post is not about Mr. Henry.  It’s about a newsletter article he wrote for the Drinking Liberally group.  When I read it, I was very crestfallen because he made some very good points about the future of the so-called “Public Option” in the Health Care Reform debate.    His final words were chilling:

Many of us favored a health care reform plan with single-payer or a more comprehensive universal coverage.  Then we sort of settled on the compromise of a public option.  Now it looks like we may be demanding a program that will fail and may set back the cause of universal health care by decades.

On our sidebar we link to his website where he posts these articles.  You can sign up for the weekly newsletter (you’ll be glad you did, he’s a tremendous and prodigious writer).  Be sure to read the article about the Public Option.  Then help us figure out how to actually realize what we’re trying to accomplish with health care reform! 

Oh, yeah…and I’m sure that Dan wouldn’t mind it much if you started attending Drinking Liberally meetings and helped broaden the discussion!  8)

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Aug 27 2009

administrator

Ted Kennedy RIP 1932 - 2009

Filed under Quote of the Day

A particularly poignant quote, from a man who could afford to buy his own hospital if he so desired.  Knowing he had vast wealth it makes it all the more wonderful that while he didn’t experience the perils of the poor and middle class with health care woes, he still felt compelled by compassion to find ways to alleviate those issues.  In 1994, when health care reform was first being considered, he said:

What we have in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.

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