Tag: health insurance

I can’t believe he said that.

By now I think everyone knows that Haiti had a truly horrible earthquake. Perhaps you have also heard that Pat Robertson said it’s their own damn fault.

How’s that? Did they have substandard building codes that led to needless deaths? Perhaps they didn’t heed some geologist’s warning? Perhaps corruption prevented people from reaching assistance?

No, they “deserved” this earthquake, this unimaginable destruction, because they allegedly made a pact with the Devil in 1804 to obtain their liberation from France.

Now, just so there is no confusion here, I do not want anything to do with a deity who kills innocent children because of something their forebears allegedly did 205 years ago! Maybe such a wild tale would be credible if this earthquake happened in 1805, maybe even 1810. But we are talking about divine retribution for rumored events of over 2 centuries ago. It seems to me an omnipotent God could have arranged a more timely comeuppance. After all, He destroyed Sodom within hours of confirming that the natives would rather gang-rape a couple of visiting men than a pair of underage virgins.

But here is my question. Where is the outrage from Christians?

Back in 2001, moderate Islam figures were encouraged to denounce the kind of extremist thoughts and behaviors that led to 9/11. Why aren’t we demanding that moderate Christian leaders denounce Pat Robertson as the lunatic he is? Can’t the United Methodists make a statement more official than a blog post? Can the Southern Baptist Conference do more than ask for money? Where is the outrage from the Episcopals? Whither the Church of England? Has the Greek Orthodox Church nothing to say? Christian Scientitsts? The Mormons? The Lutherans? How can the Pope remain silent about this inflammatory and theologically dubious rambling?

While I see much talk of help for the people of Haiti — which is both very Christian and very much needed — there is near silence of the issue of Mr. Robertson.

At least the Ambassador from Haiti has his head screwed on straight.

In closing: paid to be stupid; Americans are stupid part 2, many of us think airport security should involve profiling (I guess nobody remembers that Tim McVeigh was a white guy); conservatives and trade policy; real unemployment needs real solutions; with the money they spent on negative ads, the insurance companies could have provided health insurance to 3000 families; Junk Insurance Tax; a picture worth a thousand words on checked baggage fees (between the airlines and the TSA are they actively trying to get me to avoid flying??).

The Violent Shorties

Obligatory Health Insurance Reform front and center: Health care and the denial thereof as a way to control the masses; the good, the bad, and this POS reform bill (no, doesn’t mean “point of service” in this context, sorry).

Not as overt as Quiverfull: religion and women is an interesting read. And I don’t know what to make of this.

Study confirms what most of us knew: When Wal-Mart comes to town, the number of low-wage jobs they create are roughly equal to the number of decent jobs they destroy.

Most Americans are Idiots: Most approve of the use of full body scanners. These scanners are much like a virtual strip search with a side order of radiation. Oh, and they would not have found the Undiebomber‘s stash. Pfeh.

On Employment: America’s Low Wage Future; Are the Baby Boomers starting to retire?; Who are the unemployed?; 6.4 job seekers for every open job.

Mighty Joe Rollino: how many people can lift 635 pounds with one finger? The answer is now zero. Joe has passed away at the amazing age of 104 (insert obligatory comment about fitness and long life here).

Conan is classy: (No, not this Conan). Conan O’Brien’s resignation letter.

This is not news: I seriously do not give a shit where Bill Clinton hides his sausage. I can think of few bigger wastes of journalist time. Enough already!

And one last thought: Airplane accidents.

4 Thoughts on Health Insurance Reform

Notice I never call it health care reform? That’s because it isn’t. Very little of what is being discussed will change what happens between you and your doctor beyond how (and how much) he* gets paid.

As I see it, there are 5 points of view on the bill currently being rammed through the Senate:

1. It goes too far. This point of view has a problem with anything that might be called “socialized”. They are barely able to tolerate the idea that their tax dollars go towards schools where the people who will eventually sack their groceries attend; subsidies for buying insurance is way out! Let them get jobs that have decent benefits!

2. It does some important things, even if it’s a little too liberal. Hey, at least it’s making those lazy bastards buy insurance so they can go to a doctor instead of just sneezing their germs on me! In other words, it’s better than a lot of things and the bad things can be fixed later. Some people I generally respect hold this position.

3. It does some important things, even if it’s a little too conservative. Or, the Ezra Klein position. Hey, we’ll take out that Stupak thing in conference or something. At least there is some money set aside for subsidies to help people afford the overpriced and underfeatured health plans they will soon be forced to purchase. In other words, it’s better than a lot of things and the bad things can be fixed later. Huh, where have I heard that before?

4. It does almost nothing — except give favors to Big Insurance and Big Pharma. Or, the Howard Dean position. Progressives didn’t get anything they wanted or needed out of this bill. No public option. Pre-existing conditions can still be used to set rates. Corporations are still in charge, and because we are legally obligated to do business with them — that’s what mandatory coverage or “the coverage mandate” is about — there is no incentive for them to chance their ways.

In short, two points of view say “It’s better than nothing, and far better than it could have been,” and two points of view say “This is worse than nothing and should be scrapped.” While I appreciate where the others are coming from, I generally hold to view 4. What we wanted and needed was a short laundry list that included getting rid of abusive practices such as use of pre-existing conditions for coverage or pricing, rescission, and constantly rising prices, maybe 10 pages of law. What we appear to have is a legal requirement to bend over and take it, a law so long that the Republicans are threatening to make them read the whole thing out loud in open session.

And nobody is talking about not just the elephant in the room, but a veritable zoo: obesity rates raising the amount we spend on health care; baby boomers who will soon be on Medicare; obscene insurance company profits; a looming shortage of primary care physicians and experienced nurses to assist them.

* Um Yeah, that’s right, I said “he.” Not “he or she”, not “she.” Politically correct horsehockey aside, odds are very good your doctor is a dude. Don’t like it? Encourage women in your life to go to medical school. Just don’t get them any books on the subject like House of God. I can’t find the book that made me decide I wanted no part of medical school on Amazon, but this looks like similar content.

The Shorties Saga: New Moon

Merry Zappadan: It has been brought to my attention that Zappadan began last night. Felicitous greetings those who celebrate, and of course the admonition to dance like a fool and not eat yellow snow.

Can’t He Eat Dinner in the Toilet? Geez!: That is what some ignoramuses are really saying when they tell a lactating mother to go nurse in the bathroom. Get over your bad selves; the original purpose of breasts — God Given if you believe in God — is to feed babies. Why don’t you go eat dinner in the toilet?? Now that being said, most mothers try to be discreet: they nurse at home before going out, they use modesty covers, they pump. But **** you if you disagree, anyplace it’s ok for a baby to have a bottle, it’s ok for him to eat the all natural diet that was intended for him.

Banks do as they please, we pay the fees: 6 more bank failures yesterday. That brings us to 130 for the year and no sign of slowing down in 2010. But the surviving banks aren’t accountable to their customers — an obvious breach of free market thinking, wherein banks that screwed customers should be the first to fail as we take our business elsewhere. Instead, they have to be “pressured” to do the right thing, and “regulated” to keep them from screwing us harder. We can’t just take our business elsewhere because either our small local bank will fold and be sold off to Faceless Conglomerate Bank Co or our mortgages will be bundled and sold piecemeal to them. And while it’s easy to say “I’m not doing business with Chase, close my credit card account and move my checking account”, it’s hard if not impossible to control who owns your mortgage. How nice that B of A suddenly has the money to rid itself of its largest and most meddlesome investor. Since when doesn’t the Fed have the ability to regulate them anyhow?

Say goodbye to all this, and hello to oblivion: (obligatory) Escalation in Afghanistan is teh win… for the bin Laden anyway. Heaven forbid we should learn from those who tried to fight “the good war” there before us.

It’s the Jobs, Stupid: The people want to go to work. They want to work more than they are worried about the deficit or much of anything else, and that’s actually kind of smart: you see, working people pay more taxes than those who don’t work! If we don’t get these people jobs, we risk losing the middle class altogether. (Yeah, I know I swore off HuffPo, but it’s Elizabeth Warren). Here’s a handy fact sheet.

Obligatory Health Insurance Reform Roundup: Remember, if the insurance companies want it, it’s probably bad for consumers — and that’s what Forbes says! Women have unusually high stakes in this thing. Poor Aetna having to cut all those customers so they can remain fabulously profitable! And remember that when they talk about “cost controls” they aren’t talking about controlling your premiums, but rather what your doctor and hospital gets paid. Oh, and this clip, wherein Shatner wishes the Vulcan neck pinch and mind meld were real… and that Nimoy were standing behind his guest.

Why Police Confiscations Must Be Further Regulated: “We think your passenger is a hooker so we’re taking your car… Oops we’re mistaken, you owe us $1400 to get your car back!”

And Last: A handy Wall Street to English translator.

Thankful

From the Economic Policy Institute. See also, half of teachers report buying food for students with their own money.

We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet obesity is a huge problem. We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet Congress wants to force them to buy insurance. We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet we dare to call ourselves the greatest nation on earth.

I am so thankful I could cry.