A very personal take on Obama's health care speech last night

from a good friend in illinois...

I thought he delivered well on a complex issue. The Repubs. I felt were an embarrassing lot - or you can drop the "embarr" part. I do think that BO should refrain from hinting at dubya's faults though as he goes forward. That tain't going to play in Peoria too much longer. Let history speak for itself now - that will show George's incompetence soon enough. Liked how he ended it in speaking about how this issue defines our character.

I have a BIG stake in this. I lose my health coverage at the end of Oct. I've already tried to get it through AARP and Aetna. Told them I had RA [Rheumatoid Arthritis] and the person read a speech off a card how they were sorry, but they could not offer me insurance without an explanation. I told her to stop reading the speech and asked her if I was being denied due to my RA. She simply said "yes". So that means I'd have no access to the vital drugs I need in 6 weeks if something doesn't change and I'd be in severe pain that would eventually cripple me. Doesn't matter if I could afford to pay or not. And that's why these kind of changes are needed.

as a side note of interest, this is from a guy who voted for mccain...

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Alex Gibney and Bill Moyers on "Money-Driven Medicine"

as always, bill moyers manages to burrow in to the guts of what's really happening in contemporary issues...

here's a trailer for the documentary, money-driven medicine, that was offered on bill moyers journal in shortened form...



a snippet from the documentary's producer, alex gibney...

The fact is that, in a mixed system where private enterprise and public monies inhabit the same space, inefficiency and extravagance are profitable. Remember the military industrial complex? Private contractors make profits by charging the government for cost overruns. Defense contractors call this "cost plus." Pharma calls it "No Public Option."

Why is it that free marketeers are so afraid of competing with a government program which, in their religion, is inherently inefficient? Well who wants to compete with a public option that won't take 10-20% in overhead, lobbying costs, administration costs and profit? That's my bonus, dude. Whoops, I mean, I have a fiduciary responsibility to deliver the highest possible return to my shareholders.

watch it... read it... it's some truly infuriating stuff that unsurprisingly validates most everything we already know...

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The health care public option for dummies

i just ran across this on daily kos...

thanks to engio and andy lubershane at youtube via tunesmith at daily kos...

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Is "the purpose of the corporation to harness private interests in service to the public interest?"

one would think that any organization that requires state approval to operate would also be required to serve the common good...

one would think...

it's pretty evident that, in the united states, in particular for the u.s. health insurer industry, that's not the case...

from business week...

The industry has already accomplished its main goal of at least curbing, and maybe blocking altogether, any new publicly administered insurance program that could grab market share from the corporations that dominate the business.

maybe all of us should start thinking more in terms of the common good...

[S]ix propositions from Allen White, co-founder of Corporation 2020, an organization formed in the United States to “rethink corporate purpose, rights and obligations”.

1. The purpose of the corporation is to harness private interests to serve the public interest.

2. Corporations shall accrue fair returns for shareholders, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.

3. Corporations shall operate sustainably, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

4. Corporations shall distribute their wealth equitably among those who contribute to its creation.

5. Corporations shall be governed in a manner that is participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.

6. Corporations shall not infringe on the right of natural persons to govern themselves, nor infringe on other universal human rights.

whaddaya think...? personally, i like 'em... i like 'em a LOT...

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Watch the Senate shrug off and laugh at those who came to the hearing to support a single-payer health plan

it's pathetic how casually our leaders can totally ignore the people to whom they are supposedly answerable...

from the real news network...

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The myth of thinking you're safe if you get sick and have health insurance

half the families that filed bankruptcies last year did so because of health-related crises... 75% of the families that filed bankruptcies had health insurance at the onset of the health crisis that precipitated bankruptcy...

elizabeth warren, a harvard law professor in a very interesting piece from the deleted scenes of michael moore's movie, "sicko"...



from brasscheck tv...

The All-American Scam

More than half of bankruptcies in America are the result of medical bills.

A full 75% of those had health insurance!

In Canada, the UK, Japan and Western Europe, an outcome like this is impossible.

Americans are told they have the best health care system in the world and if they pay thousands of dollars a year for health insurance they'll be protected.

just more major stuff that manages to stay under wraps in our highly propagandized news media...

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Insurance company rules...

from true majority...

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Barbara Ehrenreich: "In the case of health care, we have identified the enemy, and the time has come to crush it"

barbara ehrenreich has the right idea... let's wage war on the REAL enemy... now, THERE'S a concept...!

The private health insurance industry is not big because it relentlessly seeks out new customers. Unlike any other industry, this one grows by rejecting customers. No matter how shabby you look, Cartier, Lexus, or Nordstrom’s will happily take your money. Not Aetna. If you have a prior conviction -- excuse me, a pre-existing condition -- it doesn’t want your business. Private health insurance is only for people who aren’t likely to ever get sick. In fact, why call it “insurance,” which normally embodies the notion of risk-sharing? This is extortion. [emphasis added]

Think of the damage. An estimated 18,000 Americans die every year because they can’t afford or can’t qualify for health insurance. That’s the 9/11 carnage multiplied by three -- every year. Not to mention all the people who are stuck in jobs they hate because they don’t dare lose their current insurance.

Saddam Hussein never killed 18,000 Americans or anything close; nor did the U.S.S.R. Yet we faced down those "enemies" with huge patriotic bluster, vast military expenditures, and, in the case of Saddam, armed intervention. So why does the U.S. soil its pants and cower in fear when confronted with the insurance industry?

And what about the two to three million insurance industry employees whose sole job it is to turn down claims? Well, I have a plan for them: It’s called unemployment. What country in its right mind would pay millions of people to deny other people health care?

I’m not mean, though. If we had the kind of universal, single-payer, health insurance Kucinich is advocating, private health insurance workers would continue to be covered even after they are laid off. As for the health insurance company executives, there should be an adequate job training program for them – perhaps as home health aides.

Fellow citizens, where is the old macho spirit that has sustained us through countless conflicts against enemies both real and imagined? In the case of health care, we have identified the enemy, and the time has come to crush it.

isn't it way past time to start waging war against our REAL oppressors...?

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