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Fix and then Pass the Healthcare Bill
I have my personal opinion about how "great" this healthcare bill is (for the insurance industry, that is), but the truth is, this the best thing we got going in the direction of changing anything. Lets not let our best shot in 100 years pass by without giving an honest effort.
Me, I call my congress critters probably once a week during heated policy processes. they are on my contacts list in my cell phone. But if you need to find out who yours is, just go to this website below, or whitehouse.gov (I believe) http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Calling is better than signing a petition. Writing a letter is best, but will take too long right now. A receptionist will answer the phone and/or you can leave a message. Please be polite to the receptionist, they are not your congress critter, they are working a job. But there is a push for "Pro health Care Reform" people to make 1 Million calls by next Friday. We have heard (and seen - thanks 'liberal media') from the Tea Baggers, we need to seriously get our message through. Here is the million phone call website http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/59...t.jsp?key=3380 And here is from that website: A million calls on February 24th and 25th! We're organizing a call-in effort to Congress on the 24th and the 25th to make a HUGE push to fix the Senate bill via reconciliation and to pass it! We need to finish the job on health care reform, and it's time to give Dems a spine on this one. When you join our 1,000,000 million call effort, please invite your friends to join as well! What Are We Aiming For In Fixing The Bill And Passing It? What are we aiming for in the reconciliation fix package to the Senate bill? We are aiming for these items below: * Inclusion of the public option * The Medicare buy-in * Fixing the excise tax * Getting rid of the Nebraska Cornhusker Kickback deal * National exchange * Drug re-importation * Drug price negotiation in Medicare Part D * Increasing subsidies. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/59...t.jsp?key=3380 |
today -
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thank you, key. a moment of time is all it takes. :hanging: http://www.ncsl.org/Default.aspx?Tab...116,86,507#507 http://www.opencongress.org/ http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h956/show [supporting/opposing health bill] http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=18906 |
Thank you!
While I admit to being deeply dissapointed in what the legislation is turning out to be, I do understamd that something is better than nothing and will continue to make calls. |
I watched this comment from Keith Olberman with tears in my eyes. How many times have I heard from scared Americans "We don't want socialized medicine because Obama wants to create death panels that will kill us"?? How many MORE times have I witnessed and been a part of the exact SAME sad scenario that Keith describes happened to his father. I'll tell you.....too many damned times. Here's the comment. Make up your own mind.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWtwvFc842A&feature=sub"]YouTube- Keith Olbermann Special Comment on His Father and Death Panels[/ame] Reform health care NOW!!! :| ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
It's an awesome piece by Keith. I like his "life panels" description and it seems more apt.
I'm watching Rachel Maddows right now and she showed a political ad by Anne Louden (sp?) is claiming that the Health Bill is wrong because it's government health care and she believes it will weaken programs like Medicare and "government health care is wrong". :| Uh.. whut?! |
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How incredibly POWERFUL and MOVING!!! Thank you Theo. I wasn't "allowed" to have a Life Discussion with my mother's doctors... but thankfully, she is better now than a year ago. |
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I am so frustrated with this whole process. I honestly don't believe that our congressional system will be effective until we have publically funded elections! Every move made, and word said in congress hasn't a thing to do with legislating. It is all about re-elections and which party will be in control. I'm sick of all of them. And now we will be dealing with election contributions from corporations as people! I'm disgusted with the health care fiasco. Yes, pass it, but it isn't really much of what is really needed. But, I guess a start. But, the insurance corporations will be throwing mega-bucks after it to render any beginning null & void in the mid-terms and in 2012. I don't think I have ever been this disillusioned about our system ever before..... I thought Obama could make some changes. I am not seeing him as being effective as a leader. I still support him, but the on-the-job training and his delutions of non-partisanism is not cutting it. We need a public health care system and the health-care carriers must be subject to anti-trust rules!!! |
Lots of political fluff going on about "Reconciliation" being used to pass it. What's interesting is depending on who's doing it, the net result was most a plus for government as it meant costs went down (I doubt it will for this one). Interesting chart from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...t_graphic.html
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If I get one more email forward from my Dad or stepmother about the evils of healthcare reform and how we're going to end up with a horrible system like Canada or Great Britain I swear I am going to go over there and take a hammer to their computers!
I have reminded my Dad over and over that I was treated under the British healthcare system and everything was just fine. Then he goes off on government health insurance and its evils and I have to remind him about the many times he commented during Mom's illness and after her death about how not having Medicare would have bankrupted them... I've also reminded him that unlike him, I have been without health insurance including the 10+ years I worked for my own Mother! I had to go without treatment for things because I could not afford to pay for it myself. I've taken jobs with lousy employers just to have insurance. Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
I'm in the same boat Ms Scarlett
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But, we have the best Health Care in the world the tv tells us! So I focus my efforts to educate towards people who may get it but just don't feel empowered to do anything about it. Seriously, if everyone we knew just called their congress critters once a week, we would make a huge impact. They really do take their constituents voices into consideration. And now more than ever we have to be a heavier counterweight to the lobbyists that are surrounding them everyday. Just a 30 second phone call to each rep and senator's office makes an impact. |
Fear is the biggest, most effective weapon in the GOP's arsenal, and yes, the Republican party is the pawn and legislative arm of Corporate America. Actually, both the Democratic and Republican parties are really all about the same thing, so we really cannot fault one without faulting the other, to be fair. The reality of the situation is that we don't have Democracy in this country, we have CORPORATISM.
Michael Moore brought this out in his latest movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story".....People who are sick, fearful, hopeless and demoralized DON'T VOTE. They do what they're told and "hope for the best". The VOTE is the one thing that "We the people" still have that is the greatest counterweight to this political culture of "I got mine, so screw you." If I've said this before, I'll say it one thousand times......it all depends on whose ox is getting gored. Make it theirs. VOTE. ;) ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
Isn't it ironic that those that espouse that the US has the best healthcare in the world... are members of congress! Hell yes, they have fantastic healthcare and it is publically funded!!!
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It is really ashame that a world leading country can't move past this bill. Ugh! I also don't see Obama as being an effective leader. He is just a figure head. |
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It's not too late to fix this bill, please call
40 Senators have signed a letter saying they will support the public option if it is introduced through reconciliation. But I read yesterday that Sen Durbin is urging Senators to not support ANY amendments to the bill. (Durbin BTW, signed that letter of support)
Believe it or not, Senators and Representatives do feel the pressure from their constituents. If enough of us call and simply tell the receptionist (or leave a message) that you want your Senator to support the public option through the reconciliation process. The call can (and should be) short and sweet, taking just 30 seconds to a minute of your time. Give them your name (or make one up) and your zip code or city/state. Please take a moment today to call your congress critters. We are down to the wire here and need to keep the pressure up on them. If you need to know your congress critters number go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ or call the Whitehouse switchboard and they will put you through. 202 225-3121. |
I am very bitter and angry right now...
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After getting a call in the middle of the night from Gramma; having to listen to her heart shatter and her sobs as she told me that my dad had just died... I am very bitter and angry at "The System" now. Very bitter indeed. And very angry with many Government Officials - those same Gov Officials that have their healthcare, and that of all their dependents, FULLY PAID FOR and who have AMAZING "Access to Care". Angry and Bitter because these Gov Officials have the POWER to change things for the better benefit of THE PEOPLE and FOR THE PEOPLE... but they choose to...CHOOSE TO, mind you, coddle and cozy up to the "big businesses" (Such as Highmark Blue Shield in Pennsylvania and any other Insurance Company looking to make a buck instead of serve the people), their lobbyists, the pharmaceutical companies and any other "Agency" that seems to have the Government Officials' full attention because of their "pull" in Congress and their "BIG money"...instead of DOING WHAT IS RIGHT and what they have the POWER to do!! I wonder what these same Government Officials, or their "buddies" in the big businesses which they seem to be in bed with, would do if their father (or other loved ones) died a needless, helpless death because they HAD NO INSURANCE and very very poor Access To Care?? I wonder what they would feel when they had to listen to their 80 year old Gramma sobbing as she said she didn't know how she could afford the hospital bills or a funeral? I wonder how helpless and heartbroken they would feel when the doctor told them that this "death could have been PREVENTED if the illness had been treated earlier." I wonder how hard they would push for changes in "the system" if their partner of 20 years lie dieing of bone cancer in the hospital but they were DENIED to be by her side in her last moments because they were "not related or married" and they were a gay couple?? (like my Aunt's partner of 20 years had to endure.) I wonder HOW FAST THEY WOULD CHANGE "THE SYSTEM" after being faced with the needless loss of a loved one because of LACK OF INSURANCE AND POOR ACCESS TO CARE. My father worked, yet had no health coverage and no death benefits. He should have received Disability for his bad heart and lungs, but had been denied time and time again. My youngest son passed away 16 years ago... I had NO INSURANCE and EXTREMELY SUBSTANDARD ACCESS TO CARE... I had tried to work, but my kidneys were in bad shape, yet I was denied Medicaid over and over for various reasons (reasons I didn't know, until I became a caseworker, were BOGUS B.S. because someone at the Assistance Office didn't do their job.) I will never know the color of my son's eyes because he died a needless, preventable, helpless death at 9 months term, with no insurance. I gave birth to him at 4 in the morning, held him in my arms and kissed him goodbye, then the hospital discharged me at NOON that day because "ma'am, you don't have any insurance to pay for an extended stay". Right before they discharged me, I had to endure a nurse's question "Are you ready to nurse your baby?" because she didn't know he had passed away. I had to tell her "no thank you, I already said goodbye." I did not get to say goodbye to my daddy... he died in the Emergency Room of pneumonia which made his heart and lungs fail. Had he had ACCESS TO CARE - the same kind of Access to Care that these Government Officials have - and ACCESS TO HEALTH COVERAGE, I am very certain that he would have sought treatment for his "chest cold" before it cost him is life. How many more needless, painful, preventable deaths must loved ones face for the Government to make changes for the better benefit of THE PEOPLE and FOR THE PEOPLE??!! This is a plea, dedicated to my father Jerry and my son Dustin, to FIX AND PASS Health Care Reform that will serve the NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE. (Not those damn big businesses that keep their pockets padded and their private jet planes well fueled while people suffer.) Please forgive my rant and my anger. I am very bitter and in much grief. Especially for my dear Gramma, who was faced with loosing yet another child, in addition to her Great Grandson 16 years ago. (I have every intention of sending this same letter to every Government Official I can possibly think of. MAYBE my voice will be heard this time, over top of the lobbyists?) |
I'd like to add, if I may...
Within 7 years in my career in Health Care and Human Services Management, I WORKED for Highmark Blue Shield, Medicare and then the Office of Medical Assistance Programs (Medicaid)...as well as working as a Department of Public Welfare Caseworker. I tried sooooo hard at my personal level to make positive changes in "The System". Especially in the childrens' preventive health program that I managed for two years. "E.P.S.D.T" = Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Program. A Preventive Health Program for ALL CHILDREN who are eligible for Medical Assistance in every State in the Nation. (Each State may call it something different...) I must be honest, I got very burned out... not because of the patients or clients I was there to serve... but because of Congress, our State Government and anyone else involved in Health Care Policy and Laws... I got sick of beating my head against a very solid brick wall, when all I was trying to do was "FIX THE SYSTEM" that was intended to SERVE THE PEOPLE. I was a "High Level" Manager who wrote the health care policies AFTER the laws where passed. I drafted and submitted Legislative House and Senate Bill Analyses on health care related Bills and draft legislation/regulations... but I know that time and time again, the Government Officials chose the side of the Big Business instead of the People and they didn't give a Rat's A** what my Analysis stated...they were going to do what best served them, not the People. Things have got to change. I wish I had the courage and strength to take them on in person in a Legislative Hearing and testify on how "The Broken System" has affected my family. I wish I had the strength and voice like Diane McGowan, who regrettably lost her 15 year old son to a PREVENTABLE, TREATABLE disease....Influenza!! She created the M.A.R.T.I.N. Foundation and testified to get the immunization requirements changed for ALL children in the United States...http://www.martinflufoundation.org/martin/about.cfm |
What is very clear to me is that this bill is critical to me (and so many others, not just a few of which, are members right here!). However, I honestly don't think it amounts to much without a public option and disalowing insurance companies their exemptions from anti-trust provisions.
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Without campaign finance reform......our choices are as follows (pick all that apply):
If you think big pharma and big health insurance will loose this battle......I would suggest you look at how we finance elections......money talks.... The first change to be made is how election campaigns are financed. All political campaigns should receive the exact same amount of exposure, head to head. Unless we change election financing we are pissing in the wind..... |
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I agree! And now we have the Supreme Court decision that is going to give corporations MORE power over elections! I am so damn tired of politicians running for re-election the day after they are sworn in! And elections being over a year long! The money that is spent in this process is crazy and could go a long way in health care and education. and, and.... What is amazing to me historically is that a single-payer system was initially part of the New Deal and was the final portion that FDR wanted to produce along with Social Security. this was not realized, unfortunately. Big business health care companies as we know tyhem today would never have formed if it had been. The SS Acts under Roosevelt were engineered by Francis Perkins, the Secretary of Labor (first woman to serve in a cabinet). |
have you called your congress critter today?
Bumping this thread to remind everyone, calling your congress critter really is the only way to let them know how you feel right now. Time is running out and (as usual) the reich wing has their ignorant minions out in force in Washington today to protest against everyone in America having health insurance. And as usual, the "liberal" (Military Industrial Media Complex) media will be covering these reich wingers as if they speak for all of America.
Please please please call your congress critter and Speaker Pelosi and tell them/her that you want all Americans to have decent affordable health care that does not go away if they get sick and actually need it, and does not force them to go bankrupt in order to pay for it. That is what the current bill does. It eliminates pre-existing conditions and rescission (dropping you when you get sick) and it puts a cap on out of pocket expenses so people do not have to sell their homes to get health care. The bill ain't perfect but it is a heck of a lot better than what we have now. To find out your congress critter's number go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ or just call the whitehouse 202-555-1212 and they will out you through. PS do not be surprised if you get a busy signal....for a long time...People are calling, lets just make sure that the majority of calls are in favor of the bill. |
Don't know how many folks know about these free health care clinics, but I heard about them on Keith Olberman's show the other night when Michael Moore was guesting. I think it's a great thing and I contributed $100 to it. This is what health care in America should be......NON PROFIT!!! http://www.freeclinics.us/index.php And this is what Michael has to say about the proposed passage of the current health care bill: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Ek2bd6jq8"]YouTube- Michael Moore on Countdown With Keith Olbermann (Guest Host Lawrence O'Donnell) - Part 2[/nomedia] My thoughts and prayers are with Keith Olberman and his family for the recent loss of Keith's dad. Rest in peace, Mr. Olberman. (f) ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
Those free health care clinics made me think of what it's like in Canada (at least for what I had experienced from growing up and living with for 37 years of my life). While the health care system still has things to fix, I think it'd be nice to have this kind of system here (or something similar -- even just the most basic health care covered to ALL).
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I was tempted to post this in Dreadgeek's Dark Ages thread but will post it here:
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It's curious to see this. Is this bill really that bad? I really do think a simplier bill of a single payer for basic health care and forcing health care organizations to limit their premiums would be better. Of course, the question becomes "what is basic health care?" |
thoughts...randomly
Agreed! Health Care should not be an "industry" it should not be for profit.
"Congress Critters" is one of the funniest things I can remember thinking. Thank you Key! Keith Oberman rocks as does Michael Moore! Linus, I think the Bill falls way way short of where I think it should be, but even as it is many people are freaked out at the very idea. They are led to believe and vote against their best interests by huge campaigns led and paid for by the insurance companies themselves. I am very disheartened by the whole thing. |
You know, I don't see why we can't pattern a national health care system after the VA. I'm going to toot my employer's and my health care provider of choice here and say (again, because I've posted in these threads repeatedly about this)...that the VA has consistently, CONSISTENTLY ranked #1 NATIONWIDE, in patient satisfaction.
Now, that said, what I'm about to say is only my take, my opinion, from my own experiences with VA, both as a Disabled Veteran and a VA employee of nearly 15 years. I have worked in 2 VA health care systems (VA Northern California HCS at Sacramento, CA, VISN 21, and currently in the VA Southern Nevada Health Care system here at Las Vegas, NV, VISN 22) in my career. I also worked (as a civilian) in the DoD system for the US Navy at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, CA. Most VA medical centers are located in large urban areas and are associated with the big state medical schools. Because of this, Veterans are given access to top of the line, cutting edge treatment. Many of the treatments and medications used to treat serious injury and disease were developed with the partnership that exists between these big educational/research institutions and the VA. On the whole, I have always gotten top notch care. The only reason I'm a little skiddish about having a surgical procedure performed where I work now is because the VA here in Las Vegas has no proximity to a state medical school. The University of Nevada School of Medicine is actually located in Reno, which is quite a ways from here, in northern Nevada. That being as such, VA has to farm many of its patients requiring specialty care to the private sector. For that reason, and that reason alone, I keep my employer based insurance through the FEHB (Federal Employees Health Benefit) plan. I would only use my health insurance plan in a situation where I needed a complex surgery or procedure. It makes perfect sense to maybe either expand VA to cover every American and perhaps evolve it into a "Federal Health Care System". VA has repeatedly been held up and touted as an example of cost effectiveness successfully blended with cutting edge technology and top notch patient care. Our CPRS (Computerized Patient Records System) links each VA facility with another and enables us to pull up any Veteran's VA medical records from anywhere in this country. That alone saves us a lot of money. VA's buying power consistently drums down drug costs just by sheer volume. Unless a Vet holds a high disability rating (over 50%), is not being treated specifically for a service related injury or illness, or his/her income falls beneath what is called a "means threshold" (in which case, that Veteran is exempt from ALL copays), he/she pays a copayment of $8 for a 30 day supply of medication. If we expanded the VA into a federal health care system, and covered every American under a similarly funded system, think of the costs that could be saved!! Think of the access there would be for everyone!!! We could drive costs down even further with the additional number of patients served. In such a system, we could even keep the private insurance system, employing it to cover nominal copays for services, treatments and medications. The big insurers wouldn't be making humongous profits, but providing decent care for a reasonable cost would require putting a certain amount of money back into the system. The VA does this by the employment of 3rd party billing. Those Veterans (even those like me, who are exempt from copays because of high disability ratings, yet who have private insurance through employers, etc.) are billed for services/treatment for conditions not related to our service connected disabilities. So, yes, money is put back into the system to help to pay for the treatment of other Veterans who fall beneath the "means threshold" and cannot afford to pay anything. It's all for the common good, really. I don't mind that they bill my insurance company for this. It helps other Vets and that's a good thing. I still maintain that TRUE reform in health care cannot and will not be achieved unless you take the profit incentive out of the equation. Therein lies the problem. When it comes to money and prying it out of cold, dead, greedy hands, you're almost trying to achieve the impossible. I truly believe that it is do-able. Respectfully, ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
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I agree 100%, health care does not need to be a money making operation. |
I so agree with Theo...........
I get my care at the SF VA Medical Center and I could not be happier with the cutting edge care I get. Same was true at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center. The Women's Clinic at both places is fabulous. The VA is really pushing to provide quality care for women veterans. The care I got at a rural VA Clinic was lacking in many areas, particularly women's health and mental health. VA..........single-payer .............definitely 'socialized medicine' ..........and I would rather have single-payer and have advocated that since the early 90's. |
Make sure that your Congress Critter (I LOVE that) has signed on to Alan Grayson's Medicare You Can Buy Into Act, HR 4789.
Also, you can sign the petition: http://salsa.mydccc.org/o/30019/p/di...?action_KEY=17 |
Yes, the VA!!! We already have the right kind of public option right under our noses! this is why the GOP makes me so damn mad when it refers to Obama's plan as a socialist plan!! Which is a scare tactic.
Yes, there have been problems with the VA and I remember being very upset with this in terms of our service women and men. But, it could so easily be adopted and adapted for public health-care in the US. This is such political and corporate welfare bullshit!! |
If you can stand watching it...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pilG7PCV448"]YouTube- THE TEA PARTY & THE CIRCUS - Final Healthcare Reform Protest[/ame]
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I want to find all their cars and put on bumper stickers that say "I'm stupid and I vote".
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Truly Amazing Video
I kinda don't blame these people as much as I blame Fox News. These people want desperately to believe that they are free, that they are valuable. They have the same desires in life that we all do. They just lack the quality of discernment. they honestly do not realize that their "News" could be lying to them, could be using them.
Thomas Jefferson knew it way back when he said the only way a Democracy will survive is with an informed electorate. This is why he started America's first public University. Jefferson was more proud of this accomplishment than of being President, chose it for his tombstone. These people on this video are sadly a product of what our country passes for education and information. It really takes work to find the truth, and because so few make that effort, the ones who speak these truths are often scorned as outsiders. Anyway. Great video. BTW, did you call your congress critter today. This is it, the last chance to speak up about this bill. |
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I'll help... let's go!! When I used to live right by a huge Christian center/church in Sacramento, some friends and me did do this with NO on 6 bumper stickers! Thousands of cars in the parking lot and it was spread out, so we could slap those puppies over the existing yes On 6 stickers without detection!!! You guessed it, security and cameras were then installed and given little electric rent-a-cop cars!!! Prop 6 passed, but, I did feel some joy! :ohm: |
Tea party folks get even more disgusting, as if that were possible:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0...16.html#s74976 |
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Uh.. huh? What is this referring to: Quote:
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I'm not from the United States--shrugs. |
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