The spoken rhetoric on healthcare sounds so humane and so decent, but read carefully, and you’ll see the blueprint that puts patients in a worse position than ever – and protects competitive interests above all else.

Look at just one section of the White House agenda (and I captured a print screen of the pages so I have my own record of the plan as stated on January 22, 2009, after all those in-home healthcare discussions promised some measure of responsiveness from this administration):

“Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in: Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs, and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market.

Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data.

Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.

• Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.”

Look at that… think it through.  What is it saying?  It is signaling to the American public and to the big money interests in healthcare that the insurance markets and industry will fare just fine, thank you very much, as the “anticompetitive activity” that is patients who actually need and use healthcare are removed from the private, for-profit health insurance markets and “taken on” by someone else — like the public plan option. 

That will do two things.  First, it will make insurance companies more profitable than they already are, and second, it will make the government or public plans more costly and ultimately unsustainable.

Cancer patients like me?  We are “anticompetitive activity.”  Patients with chronic illnesses?  We are “anticompetitive activity.”  You get the picture.  The Obama-Daschle plan will not only allow cherry-picking of the healthiest among us by the profit-takers, it is going to solidify the cherry-picking by the for-profit, market drive interests into national policy.  It may as well be called the “survival of the fittest” for healthcare reform.  And I’m not sure that’s the way a basic human right like healthcare can ever be codified.

How will they sell this under the guise of healthcare as a “basic human right?”  They won’t need to do that.  This administration will use ever available PR tool in the book to make the American public buy into thinking about saving money through streamlining medical records and health information technology and finally by “mandating” or forcing every person to buy private insurance or be lumped and dumped into the “anticompetitive activity” pool of undesirables to be included in some public option.

I have heard long-time Obama followers describe him as “scary smart.”  And when I saw myself listed in his White House reform plan as “anticompetitive activity,” I knew exactly why.  My neighbors and friends won’t even know how they are bailing out the for-profit private insurance industry because they’ll be told that down the road they’ll get some sort of tax credit or other concession if they are not one of the undesirables.  The vast majority of Americans will see the plan as a way to “cover” everyone and won’t know until they face the need for care in some of life’s most vulnerable moments that they have bailed out an industry so rotten to its core that many of us already avoid using the healthcare system (and our defective product that is health insurance) even when it puts our own health in peril.

I know Sen. Daschle knows that some of us are smart enough to question the plan.  My hope is that he also knows many of us are committed enough to make sure Americans do indeed understand the reality of what is being drafted and crafted so carefully protecting the same industry that has only one true interest and that is to make money  – not healthy citizens or a healthy nation. 

We also may need a more direct effort to expose all the money ties to those drafting our health reform policy.  If we but "follow the money," we will almost always find out what we seek to know — who are the ultimate masters of our fate and who are their servants?  I suspect we while we won't be surprised we may be even more angry. 

As a former journalist, I used to love “sunshine laws” and freedom of information efforts that upheld the idea that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” to flush out those who would do the public’s business behind closed doors and often without the best interests of the public at heart.  And this administration is talking a lot about transparency.  But I am afraid that it’s time for those of us from outside the administration to make sure the light shines very brightly indeed on this health reform process, including all the slick, policy wonk language that hides the agenda of the profit mongers and the politicians that benefit from keeping us ill-informed.

So far the plans may be elaborate in terms of the appearances of "stakeholder involvement," but I think we all need to ask more and more questions and never mistake kind words for real policy. We will have to keep our interests and our health front and center in this debate or we will be left behind in the weakened position of being labeled as "anticompetitive activity."

I may be “anticompetitive activity” in some markets but rest assured I am one of the committed souls who stood many hours in freezing temperatures for just a moment to witness history this week – I’m not likely to shy away from this battle. I didn't work this hard to lose what matters to me.  And justice in this nation's healthcare policy is my agenda. 

See the White House website (I captured the page on January 22, 2009, below):http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external

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Sometime it is not how save you can drive.
It is more how people think that they are in control.
Are drivers thinking of safety?
Think again.

Making turns like this:

This is not going to make you safe on the roads….
Getting Car Insurance is just an alternative?

car insurance
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Author: Shay West

Article:
Choosing the best auto insurance policy for ourselves may prove
to be a challenging task since this is an investment that is not
just required by law, but also has very high influence in the
finances of any household here in the country.

With the dawn of the computer age, the Internet has been very
useful in providing us lots of information which we would
otherwise acquire in a longer period of time. Now, we could surf
the internet and ask for instant auto insurance quotes from auto
insurance companies’ Web sites which render this service for
free. The only thing on which we have to focus our attention now
are the factors that we should consider in choosing the best
auto insurance policy to satisfy our needs.

For the information of the readers, the prices of auto insurance
coverage vary from company to company and because of different
things. But what exactly are these things?

Some auto insurance policies cost high, some cost low. This all
depends on important details in our profile that we give to the
auto insurance providers.

For example, for beginner drivers or teen drivers, auto
insurance premiums are really expensive. Why? Because they are
considered by auto insurance companies as high-risk drivers that
would possibly make frequent claims. Making claims often
translates to the companies losing money, and this is bad
business.

However, there are ways to reduce what we have to pay for
beginner or teen driver auto insurance. We could have the
beginner or teen driver enroll in basic or defensive driving
courses that are available in high schools and other private
establishments all throughout the country. If the driver is a
student, we should make sure that he or she acquires good grades
in school. Enrolling the beginner or teen driver in basic or
defensive driving courses gives auto insurance companies some
form of assurance of the beginner or teen driver’s good driving
skills and knowledge, whereas a student having good grades
reflects how responsible he or she is going to be on the road.

Also, the type of vehicle going to be insured highly affects
what we have to pay for our auto insurance coverage. Sports cars
have high rates, unlike older and slower vehicles, because of
their speed, making drivers more possible to be involved in car
accidents. Expensive cars also have high rates because they tend
to attract thieves. On the other hand, vehicles with more safety
features have lower auto insurance premiums because safety
features mean that we would have fewer injuries if we do get
into a vehicular accident, therefore, less medical bills.

We must also take advantage of the different discounts offered
by auto insurance firms. They give discounts for senior
citizens, military personnel and female drivers. Those that have
multiple cars, multiple drivers and multiple policies with an
insurance company may also be eligible for some discounts. It is
just up to us to mix and match these discounts in order to
further reduce our auto insurance premiums.

Maintaining an impeccable driving history is also very important
if we want to pay less for auto insurance. Traffic offenses such
as DUI (driving under the influence) contribute significantly to
the amount of time, effort and money we invest on our auto
insurance policies.

The important thing is to be educated with the dos and don’ts
when it comes to auto insurance. We must know everything that we
have to know like state requirements and the maximum coverage
that our auto insurance covers. After all, the reason behind
availing of any form of insurance is to protect ourselves, our
properties and our finances.

About the author:
Paying to much for auto insurance is aweful! Is there a way to
get cheaper Car
Insurance in Texas online? Visit our site today
http://www.freecarinsuranceintexas.com/ for a free rate quote
and to learn more.

auto insurance, car insurance
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Last week Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD of Emory University released the Roadmap to Health Project report to the West Virginia Legislature’s Select Committee D on Health. The Roadmap to Health Project is an initiative by Select Committee D. The full report is titled, “West Virginia Health Care Reform - Roadmap to Health Project: Final Recocommendations to Select Committee D.”

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Motorcycle awareness and your driving priviliges.

Please watch for the sake of riders everywhere

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WASHINGTON, DC — At the posh Willard Hotel here in Washington, Minnesota Senator-elect Al Franken hosted a brunch attended by not only his family, friends and supporters but also by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.  Franken said when he is seated in his Senate seat, he will talk more with Sanders about a Wellstone-like health reform bill in the Senate.  The late and much beloved Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone favored an approach to single payer healthcare that would allow individual states to develop single payer systems rather than reforming on the national level first.

But first, Franken must be sworn into office.  He has survived a recount and his election was certified by election officials in Minnesota, but his opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman, has filed suit in Minnesota District Courts to challenge the results of the recount.  Franken expects to prevail, but the Senate has yet to allow him to take the oath of office which would officially install him as Minnesota's junior Senator.

Members of the Grateful Dead also performed at the brunch in Franken's honor, as he told the crowd it's the only music he ever listens to.  As he thanked everyone for coming, one friend thanked Franken and said as a Senator he might be able to make C-SPAN worth watching.  The crowd found ample opportunies for laughter during the program.  Franken closed his remarks by saying, "I just want to do the best that I can as your U.S. Senator."

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My husband and I have been through this battleground before, and we have been scarred by it forever but we learned.  We learned it might be better to risk death than re-enter the fray.  It’s a strange form of post traumatic stress at the hands of my healthcare system.  Odd stuff.

I waited.  After what seemed an endless few minutes, my hand just started to work again.  All at once.  I was so grateful.  Not that my hand worked, mind you.  I was grateful I had not started in motion the horror of the healthcare system in this nation for me and the inevitable bills that would have followed.  I was grateful I cheated the cycle for now even if I will never know what caused that temporary paralysis.  At least not until the next time, if there is one, and maybe not until it manifests in a very different way. 

My decision in those 60 seconds was no different than what millions of Americans go through every single day.  Some are lucky like me.  The symptom subsides or the virus wanes and life goes on.  But for thousands of others, the grim truth is they wait themselves right to death.  And I have insurance just like so many of us do.  Beyond the immediate concerns, I wait for check-ups, for cancer check-ups, for meds and for regular care by doing the same – though calmer – calculations.

The reality is we know having health insurance is not being protected in this nation.  It is simply a hedge against being turned away at the door or labeled less worthy of the best care because our financial standing does not hold us in the best stead with our providers.   Having health insurance doesn’t protect us from financial ruin or even from being denied a life-saving treatment.  It is a business arrangement in which we are in a weakened and disadvantaged position.

Yet, some of our less courageous leaders would have us believe that forcing us all to buy more of this defective product that is health insurance will actually give us “universal healthcare.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Forcing us to buy for-profit health insurance simply forces us to build the profit margins for the insurance giants — and the campaign coffers for those political leaders who support them.  It is that simple and that horrific… else I would not have sat waiting alone and frightened in the night with my hand paralyzed being willing to risk whatever the next few moments brought or even far worse.

My husband always reminds me that often the simplest answer is the best one.  That the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  But doing what is simple is not always what is easy.  In this case, the simple beauty of a publicly funded health system for this nation – everybody in and nobody out – is the simple and right move.

And what was I writing about when my hand froze?  I was writing about the 2.6 million jobs that would be created by converting to single payer.  I was celebrating the wonderful study released by the California Nurses Association telling the nation that doing the right thing in healthcare is also one great way to do the right thing for the nation’s economy.  I wanted to tell the world that single payer – publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare – is not only politically feasible it is politically necessary.

I was helping to make the money argument that we seem to need so badly in this nation before we accept higher moral ground.

Our elected officials have a chance to be leaders or they can leave millions sitting alone in the dark doing the horrific calculations like I did.  What is a life worth?  We have to force ourselves to answer that question justly and humanely by passing single payer.

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Yesterday I did a presentation for the West Virginia Healthcare Financial Management Association on Social Media, Consumer Driven Health Care, Health 2.0 and the Legal Implications. Today I see friend and creative guru, Jeff James’ post on Begin With PowerPoint in Mind which highlights how NOT to use PowerPoint and links to a Top 10 Best Presentations Ever.

The how NOT to use PowerPoint is a must see for anyone who uses PowerPoint. I have yet to watch the Top 10 but plan to go back and check them out to see how I can improve my skills. Thought others might be interested in checking out this top 10 list.

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Single payer = 2.6 million jobs — $317 billion in new business and public revenues — $100 billion in wages

Just this week, we learned from news reports out of New York that United HealthGroup, the darlings of the AARP insurance system, have been bilking their policy holders out of millions of dollars as they used tainted figures to pay claims and left patients to pay out-of-pocket costs higher than they should.  United HealthGroup will be fined $50 million but they aren’t the only insurance giant bilking the public.  A representative of the American Medical Association even admitted this case was only the tip of the iceberg.  Insurance companies are not there for the good of the insured – they are there to make big bucks. 

So, why in the world would any President interested in the human right to healthcare want citizens to suffer under these unscrupulous and greedy companies?  The reality is, it will take courage and great leadership to truly address the special interests that play in healthcare funds just like they did and do in hedge funds and sub-prime mortgages and other risky financial instruments.  As the nurses studied how to make the system better and revitalize the economy in the process, the financial giants are embracing the health insurance giants and developing all sorts of financial tools to capture the amazing gift of forced consumption of their products that passage of a flawed healthcare reform measure would deliver.

Single payer = 2.6 million jobs — $317 billion in new business and public revenues — $100 billion in wages

It’s hard to imagine the big players on Wall Street would be giving so generously to the inaugural celebration, as reported in the Wall Street Journal  this week, unless they remained perfectly confident of the promises made to them.  Healthcare reform is being drafted and planned and vetted through carefully edited listening instruments aimed at enrichment of the power brokers who will sell the insurance and the financial tools from which they will profit wildly.  The costs of this sort of effort will be enormous – subsidies from taxpayers to purchase private, for-profit insurance?  That’s a chunk of change.  Another chuck of our change going to people who don’t operate in our best interests.

But single payer reform, the nurses explained to the listening Obama team members, would make a huge and positive economic impact for all Americans… well, perhaps except for the CEOs of those insurance and financial industry giants salivating so anxiously as they watch their multi-billion dollar bail-out take shape framed as healthcare reform. But there is another way. 

"Through direct and supplemental expenditures, healthcare is already a uniquely dominant force in the U.S. economy," said Don DeMoro, lead author of the study and director of the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, the NNOC/CNA research arm.

"However, so much more is possible. If we were to expand our present Medicare system to cover all Americans, the economic stimulus alone would create an immense engine that would help drive our national economy for decades to come," DeMoro said.

Single payer = 2.6 million jobs — $317 billion in new business and public revenues — $100 billion in wages

So, the nurses cared enough to look at the whole reform picture, and they have found an amazing and exciting result.  Doing the right thing for one another will also be doing the right thing for our nation.  We need not sacrifice our human rights any longer in order to keep a flawed and dangerous insurance industry making huge profits. 

And the really good news?  The nurses were welcomed as healthcare policy “stakeholders” by the Obama team and the study is in their hands.  Surely, the chance to do what is right and what is just will prove an attractive choice for a President who has seen what injustice has done to so many people and who tells us he understands.

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