The Right would have you believe that ‘mandates’ are just the most horrible thing since Joe Stalin when it comes to insurance. The fact that most of us are required to carry homeowners insurance to obtain a mortgage (that’s the lender calling the shots, not the government) or car insurance (that’s the state, but I don’t hear too many folks complaining that they got hit by an uninsured motorist) seems to escape them.
Mandates are what government does. The government insists that things be done according to rules that are debated and then mutually agreed upon.
Would you really want market forces to decide whether or not the meat you buy in the supermarket was safe? Get rid of government interference and mandates on clean drinking water?
If you are totally against mandates then to fly without a parachute on a lot of things that have kept you and your family safe and healthy.
Did you know that when Lance Armstrong received his cancer diagnosis 13 years ago, he didn’t have health insurance? No one should have to battle cancer while worrying about health insurance coverage. That’s why I just signed the LIVESTRONG Action petition, to tell our leaders in Washington that any health reform bill must include two principles:
No American should be denied health insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
No American should lose their insurance due to changes in health or employment.
Pass this along… Max Baucus is a paid shill for the insurance industry and it’s time to stop his efforts to join with Republicans trying to stampede confused American health insurance consumers into a bill that’s designed to benefit the for-profit health insurance companies.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid will be hosting a tele-conference for everybody - including the media - interested in making their voices heard on health care reform.
The online registration for this tele-town hall on health insurance reform is now available at http://reid.senate.gov/. This call will be toll-free and open to any Nevadan who would like to participate in the September 24 discussion.
Nevadans from all parts of the state and all political affiliations will receive a phone call inviting them to join Senator Reid’s live tele-town hall meeting, including those who register online. After clicking the town hall button on Reid’s website, users will then be asked to provide their name, number, and email. Only those with Nevada numbers will receive calls to participate in the tele-town hall. The deadline to register is Wednesday, September 23, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. PT.
This is your opportunity to express your support, objections and concerns, while getting sound, accurate information on what the Obama administration and Congress hope to achieve.
“Our work to reform America’s broken health care system has been many months in the making and has involved input from thousands of people in Nevada and millions around the country,” Reid said. “As Congress gets closer to passing health insurance reform, it is important for me to continue getting input from Nevadans to ensure the final product represents their needs.” said Reid.
It’s also an opportunity to shed the mis-information, rumors and lies so we can move forward toward real action.
I would like to suggest a couple of things: if you are opposed to the current reform measures being floated, try to - just for a few minutes - reframe the debate vis a vis how ‘broken’ the current ‘system’ really is …. we can’t go on like this as individuals or as an economically strong nation. Secondly, please remember that this debate is about health INSURANCE reform, and NOT about how you and your doctor address or carry out your or your families health care needs.
The tele-conference is scheduled for Thursday, September 24th at 1:00 p.m.
The time for health insurance reformis now. Why are Senate Republicans putting insurance company profits over people? http://democrats.senate.gov…
BTW: on a late breaking, sort of, note. Sen. Max Baucus went back to the drawing board on the health insurance reform proposal from the Senate Finance Committee, and came back with some more sensible language in regard to Medicaid … courtesy of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Following efforts by NevadaSen. Harry Reid,Senator Max Baucus revealed his updated health insurance reform proposal with major improvements for Nevada. The state will receive a full 100 percent match for those added pursuant to the Medicaid expansions for five years. Furthermore, federal funding for Medicaid increases by 30 percent while Nevada will only have to increase funding 1.6 by percent.
As I say, it’s not perfect but it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Bill Moyers on who is behind the teabaggers marching against health care reform … Dick Armey, of Freedom Works.
Armey has never known a day of his entire adult life that wasn’t covered handsomely by government sponsored health care, by the University of Texas system or the federal employees system that he has until he reaches age 66.
He so loves his current government sponsored health care program that he has gone to court to keep it - to resist taking Medicare and still draw social security benefits.
What a week. I thought we’d never get home last night, getting stuck in Salt Lake City from about 4ish to well after nine-ish, when the flight pushed back from the gate. The good news: liquor is now available in the Salt Lake airport. I never would have guessed it could happen. No more of that old sneaking around, paying $5 for a ‘private club fee’.
I’d been down to Houston, Texas and the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for my annual cancer check up. Everything seems to be good, but under the heading of “be careful what you say” when the the worlds best cancer doctorsask “do you have any other issues?”, I have to go back down there next month for an MRI or CT of my brain.
We just want to make sure that my brain - such as it is - doesn’t have cancer colored brain cells. Silly putty colored brain cells are acceptable, as are Martini colored brain cells.
But first, I need to call the insurance company to see whether or not I’ll get stuck - like the last time - with a very expensive test that they refuse to pay for. Hmmmm. Does that sound like health care rationing to you? It does to me.
And, on that note …
There’s another deceptive, fear mongering ad by The League of American Voters to derail health care reform. Watch ‘Leading the Fight to Stop Obama Care.’
This is purely a case of the Obama administration backing away in a lame and desparate attempt to make nice and keep peace among fueding kinfolk.
Within both houses, fortunately, there is continuing support for the only thing that makes any sense: a ‘public option’ for health insurance.
In the Senate, where negotiations are now focused, John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.) said that a public option, as the plan has become known, is “a must.” Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.) said that “without a public option, I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”
Whoa boy, were the naysayers as happy as pigs in shit when the Congressional Budget Office came out with a less than happy forecast on the cost of the proposed healthcare reforms. You could just hear the cheering from across this great land of ours.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’ll cost another $1.6 trillion to the already ballooning federal budget.
As John Packham points out in yesterdays Reno Gazette-Journal, that is only about 1 percent of the projected total gross domestic product over the same time span, expected to be $187 trillion.
Context is everything in a debate like this. When you cherry pick numbers - out of context - they either become meaningless or fodder for those who only get their news from talk radio.
Let me give you one reason that initiating universal coverage will be so expensive:
We had a wonderful little dinner party here this evening, at my sister-in-law, Joan’s home in Ft. Meyers, Florida. The guest for tonight is a local friend from the French Sector of Berlin, Germany, Klaus. Of course the dinner conversation made the rounds of all the normal topics of discussion, from Obama’s chances of straightening out the fine mess we’re in to the current state of the state in the DDR ( … that’s Germany ).
Capitalism or Socialism? Isn’t there a middle ground? Do we have to keep thinking in extremis?
As you might have noticed, my blogsite includes a special page dedicated to breast cancer - since I am now a six year survivor of Stage IIIa breast cancer. However, my interest in health topics has always been far more wide ranging and I’m always finding new and fascinating articles that I’d love to include here but don’t wish to create another page - which I think would be confusing.
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 20:16 
