Ahh it's been awhile since I last posted, but I'm here today to start a new series of articles called, "What If?" I kick it off with this question. "What if, the rest of the westernized world imposed an embargo on the US over our lack of health care?" Why would they do this you ask? Well for the sake of argument, let's say it's because the rest of the west sees health care as a fundamental human right, and their reason for the embargo is because they see any nation with 50 million uninsured, and 100 million under-insured, as needing a swift kick in it's ass to get it's act together, and to fix it's problems.
Unpossible you say? Where too economically, and militarily powerful for that to happen you say? Are you sure? While we are the richest nation in the world our GDP is $5 trillion less than the EU, and the EU doesn't including Japan, Canada, or Australia, just to name a few. Additionally we are in the midst of our most economically vulnerable state since the great depression. As for our military it's a little busy right now with two other wars. What are we going to do? Bomb Toronto? Assassinate the Queen of England? Re-nuke Hiroshima, and Nagasaki? Yeah, I think not. What would we do? Well at first I think our government would panic, then blame across the aisle, then blame the rest of the world, then it would pass health care reform for all.
It would be like an intervention. EU is a friend we made when we backed them up in a bar fight, Canada is our sister country from mother England, and we helped Japan kick that nasty imperialism habit. They all really love us, and that's why they want to help us kick our own addiction, predatory capitalism. While they all enjoy capitalism in their own right, we enjoy it a little too much, like Barney Gumble and Duff Beer. It's getting in the way of what's really important to a country like ours, the welfare of it's people. I'm not saying the US needs to give up capitalism, just switch to a non-predatory, alcohol free kind. Of course like any addict we will swear up and down that we don't have a problem. We will curse out and threaten anyone that tries to confront us about our problem and help us. But in the end, after 90 days in rehab, we will come out stronger, more confident, and healthier, and we will thank everyone that helped us get there.
In any case that's just my 2 cents on the question, what if, the rest of the westernized world imposed an embargo on the US over our lack of health care? What do think would happen in this hypothetical situation?
iReporting
Keith.J.Lemire
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
August 26, 2009
August 10, 2009
Dear Sarah Palin; The Death Panel Already Exists and People Have Already Been Judged, an open letter.
On May 30, 1996 Linda Peeno testified before congress that she was responsible for the death of a man by denying him life saving care. She testified that no one held her accountable, and instead, she was rewarded with a six figure raise.
How dare you Mrs. Palin, how dare you accuse a possible solution to this problem with the monstrously sick crime that is already taking place. Everyday your fellow Americans are being put before panels that will decide their fate. Only they never get to see the faces of the people that hold their fate, and they get no appeals. They are powerless, vulnerable, and they need our help. They are, our neighbors, our friends, our lovers, and our children, and we the people, that are stuck in this broken system demand to be given a way out. Obama promised us change to a broken health care system, and we yelled, cheered, and with the power of our vote put, not only him, but his entire party into majority power status. They know what we want, they know that we put them there, and they know we can replace them. They answer to us, we the people.
However you are lucky, or rather your son is. If tragedy should take you, and your husband away from this world, and from Trig, he would be taken care of. His food, shelter, cloths, and medical expenses would all become covered under social security, and medicare. He would most likely spend the rest of his life in a group home with people much like himself, and a 24 hour nursing staff who will not only take care of him, but will spend time with him, play with him, and laugh with him. Social security is the safety net for all people like Trig, and it is a government run, publicly funded, system that has lasted 74 years. Would a private, or public enterprise whose sole purpose is to make a profit take care of Trig? Or would they put him before a panel? I think we both know the answer to that question. So why are you advocating in favor of the death panels, that really do exist, for so many of your fellow Americans?
iReporting;
Keith.J.Lemire
How dare you Mrs. Palin, how dare you accuse a possible solution to this problem with the monstrously sick crime that is already taking place. Everyday your fellow Americans are being put before panels that will decide their fate. Only they never get to see the faces of the people that hold their fate, and they get no appeals. They are powerless, vulnerable, and they need our help. They are, our neighbors, our friends, our lovers, and our children, and we the people, that are stuck in this broken system demand to be given a way out. Obama promised us change to a broken health care system, and we yelled, cheered, and with the power of our vote put, not only him, but his entire party into majority power status. They know what we want, they know that we put them there, and they know we can replace them. They answer to us, we the people.
However you are lucky, or rather your son is. If tragedy should take you, and your husband away from this world, and from Trig, he would be taken care of. His food, shelter, cloths, and medical expenses would all become covered under social security, and medicare. He would most likely spend the rest of his life in a group home with people much like himself, and a 24 hour nursing staff who will not only take care of him, but will spend time with him, play with him, and laugh with him. Social security is the safety net for all people like Trig, and it is a government run, publicly funded, system that has lasted 74 years. Would a private, or public enterprise whose sole purpose is to make a profit take care of Trig? Or would they put him before a panel? I think we both know the answer to that question. So why are you advocating in favor of the death panels, that really do exist, for so many of your fellow Americans?
iReporting;
Keith.J.Lemire
August 8, 2009
United We Stand, Divided We Fall Flat On Our....
And make no mistake about it, trusting the health insurance industry, is the equivalent of trusting Lucy van Pelt, to hold the football.
Health care CEO's really do smile when they do this,
after all they make billions of dollars this way.
And yes, America is Charlie Brown in this analogy. It's a pretty fair, and simple one too. Lucy is a health insurance company, and the foot ball your policy. Lucy promises to hold the foot ball until Charlie Brown kicks it, just like a health insurance companies promises to, hold in trust, the policies we buy. Lucy tells Charlie Brown that she will hold the foot ball in place when he comes in for the kick, just like a health insurance company will tell you your policy will be there when you need it. Now we both know Lucy isn't going to let Charlie Brown kick that foot ball, she is going to pull it away for her own sadistic amusement. Insurance companies do this for profit. When ever they deny a claim, cancel on a policy holder, or purge an employer's policy from their coverage, they pull the foot ball away from someone they made a promise to, and another fellow American lands on their back.
Let us examine how they convince people that they are the only ones who should be allowed to hold the foot ball of health insurance, despite the bad habit of pulling it away when we need it most.
Argument 1: Government will ration care.
This is different from insurance companies how? At least we can hold government accountable with our vote. And where did the idea come from that the government would ration health care? Canada, France, Great Briton, and Japan certainly do not. Any party in a free nation like ours would quickly be removed from power if they started killing grandma, and while health care companies haven't started euthanasia of old farts yet they do dump them at homeless shelters, other hospitals, and even at the homes of total strangers.
Argument 2: Government will choose your hospital, and your doctor.
Again this is no different than the way things are now. Your insurance provider chooses which hospitals you can, or can not go to, and who your doctors can, or can not be. They even have their own claim review doctors who decide, weather or not the treatment plan, or specialist recommendation of the doctor you did see, is "medically justifiable", and when that review doctor's bonus depends on denying a certain amount of claims, you can bet plenty of people will have that foot ball pulled away at this point too. Would this same problem exist in a government plan? Maybe it would in an American run system, who knows? What I do know is that it's not a problem in any of the above mentioned countries. All those Canadians that come to Minnesota to see a specialist still have that care paid for by their government. All those specialist are there, right by the boarder, because working with the Canadian government is easy, and profitable. That might not always be the case as doctors here are increasingly buried by insurance paper work, and insurance red tape, that takes up to %40 of their total time, and forces them to watch people suffer while they stand by helpless. Would you want to stay in a system, or a country, that forced you to do that? In the future, Canadians might not need to leave their country to see an American doctor.
Argument 3: A Government bureaucrat will stand between you and your health care.
I'm starting to see a patten here, because we already have corporate bureaucrats standing between us, our doctors, our drugs, and our care. It seems the overall strategy here is blame the reform for what the health care industry is already guilty of. Again I will point out the difference between a corporate bureaucrat, and a government bureaucrat. A corporate bureaucrat is paid, by their company, to prevent cost by denying care, and you can't do anything about it. A government bureaucrat is paid, by your tax dollars, to provide you with efficient health care, and if your not happy with it you can get his supervisor, the governor of your state, voted out of office. If the problem is with the whole party we can vote them into minority status. Remember how everyone was pissed off at the republicans by the 2008 election season, yea democracy at work right there.
Argument 4: It's socialist!
So? If your argument is socialism is evil your wrong. Only human beings, are good, or evil. Socialism is just an idea, it's inanimate, and is only as good, or as evil as the people who wield it. Religion can be used for good, or evil. Weapons can be used for good, or evil. Law enforcement can be used for good, or evil, and in fact, our law enforcement is socialized. If your argument is because Hitler was a socialist, wrong again. He was a national socialist, and a dictator. One of the first things the nazis did was force democratic socialist to wear red triangles, and they were some of the first sent to the concentration camps. So if your going to compare a group of people that wants democratic social reform, at least have the decency to compare them to this guy, and not the guy with the funny mustache that tied to kill all the democratic socialist in his own country.
I could go on, and on, but I don't feel like it any more. Having a battle of the wits with the neo-cons out there is like playing chess with a 7 year old that knocks over all the pieces when you declare checkmate, and then declares him self the winner. Tho at least in a chess game you can reach over the table, and clock the ass hole. At least that what I did when my brother tried that crap.
Keith.J.Lemire,
iReporting
P.S.
For all your Christan right wingers out there.
"Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I did hunger, and ye gave me to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye received me;naked, and ye put around me; I was infirm, and ye looked after me; in prison I was, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, and we nourished? or thirsting, and we gave to drink? and when did we see thee a stranger, and we received? or naked, and we put around? and when did we see thee infirm, or in prison, and we came unto thee? And the king answering, shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] to one of these my brethren -- the least -- to me ye did [it].Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers; for I did hunger, and ye gave me not to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me not to drink; a stranger I was, and ye did not receive me; naked, and ye put not around me; infirm, and in prison, and ye did not look after me.Then shall they answer, they also, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in prison, and we did not minister to thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of these, the least, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during."
-- Matthew 25: 34-46 Young's Literal Translation
Health care CEO's really do smile when they do this,after all they make billions of dollars this way.
And yes, America is Charlie Brown in this analogy. It's a pretty fair, and simple one too. Lucy is a health insurance company, and the foot ball your policy. Lucy promises to hold the foot ball until Charlie Brown kicks it, just like a health insurance companies promises to, hold in trust, the policies we buy. Lucy tells Charlie Brown that she will hold the foot ball in place when he comes in for the kick, just like a health insurance company will tell you your policy will be there when you need it. Now we both know Lucy isn't going to let Charlie Brown kick that foot ball, she is going to pull it away for her own sadistic amusement. Insurance companies do this for profit. When ever they deny a claim, cancel on a policy holder, or purge an employer's policy from their coverage, they pull the foot ball away from someone they made a promise to, and another fellow American lands on their back.
Let us examine how they convince people that they are the only ones who should be allowed to hold the foot ball of health insurance, despite the bad habit of pulling it away when we need it most.
Argument 1: Government will ration care.
This is different from insurance companies how? At least we can hold government accountable with our vote. And where did the idea come from that the government would ration health care? Canada, France, Great Briton, and Japan certainly do not. Any party in a free nation like ours would quickly be removed from power if they started killing grandma, and while health care companies haven't started euthanasia of old farts yet they do dump them at homeless shelters, other hospitals, and even at the homes of total strangers.
Argument 2: Government will choose your hospital, and your doctor.
Again this is no different than the way things are now. Your insurance provider chooses which hospitals you can, or can not go to, and who your doctors can, or can not be. They even have their own claim review doctors who decide, weather or not the treatment plan, or specialist recommendation of the doctor you did see, is "medically justifiable", and when that review doctor's bonus depends on denying a certain amount of claims, you can bet plenty of people will have that foot ball pulled away at this point too. Would this same problem exist in a government plan? Maybe it would in an American run system, who knows? What I do know is that it's not a problem in any of the above mentioned countries. All those Canadians that come to Minnesota to see a specialist still have that care paid for by their government. All those specialist are there, right by the boarder, because working with the Canadian government is easy, and profitable. That might not always be the case as doctors here are increasingly buried by insurance paper work, and insurance red tape, that takes up to %40 of their total time, and forces them to watch people suffer while they stand by helpless. Would you want to stay in a system, or a country, that forced you to do that? In the future, Canadians might not need to leave their country to see an American doctor.
Argument 3: A Government bureaucrat will stand between you and your health care.
I'm starting to see a patten here, because we already have corporate bureaucrats standing between us, our doctors, our drugs, and our care. It seems the overall strategy here is blame the reform for what the health care industry is already guilty of. Again I will point out the difference between a corporate bureaucrat, and a government bureaucrat. A corporate bureaucrat is paid, by their company, to prevent cost by denying care, and you can't do anything about it. A government bureaucrat is paid, by your tax dollars, to provide you with efficient health care, and if your not happy with it you can get his supervisor, the governor of your state, voted out of office. If the problem is with the whole party we can vote them into minority status. Remember how everyone was pissed off at the republicans by the 2008 election season, yea democracy at work right there.
Argument 4: It's socialist!
So? If your argument is socialism is evil your wrong. Only human beings, are good, or evil. Socialism is just an idea, it's inanimate, and is only as good, or as evil as the people who wield it. Religion can be used for good, or evil. Weapons can be used for good, or evil. Law enforcement can be used for good, or evil, and in fact, our law enforcement is socialized. If your argument is because Hitler was a socialist, wrong again. He was a national socialist, and a dictator. One of the first things the nazis did was force democratic socialist to wear red triangles, and they were some of the first sent to the concentration camps. So if your going to compare a group of people that wants democratic social reform, at least have the decency to compare them to this guy, and not the guy with the funny mustache that tied to kill all the democratic socialist in his own country.
I could go on, and on, but I don't feel like it any more. Having a battle of the wits with the neo-cons out there is like playing chess with a 7 year old that knocks over all the pieces when you declare checkmate, and then declares him self the winner. Tho at least in a chess game you can reach over the table, and clock the ass hole. At least that what I did when my brother tried that crap.
Keith.J.Lemire,
iReporting
P.S.
For all your Christan right wingers out there.
"Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I did hunger, and ye gave me to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye received me;naked, and ye put around me; I was infirm, and ye looked after me; in prison I was, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, and we nourished? or thirsting, and we gave to drink? and when did we see thee a stranger, and we received? or naked, and we put around? and when did we see thee infirm, or in prison, and we came unto thee? And the king answering, shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] to one of these my brethren -- the least -- to me ye did [it].Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers; for I did hunger, and ye gave me not to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me not to drink; a stranger I was, and ye did not receive me; naked, and ye put not around me; infirm, and in prison, and ye did not look after me.Then shall they answer, they also, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in prison, and we did not minister to thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of these, the least, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during."
-- Matthew 25: 34-46 Young's Literal Translation
August 3, 2009
Anthony Weiner is my kind of democrat
This is only my fifth blog post but I think it would be safe to say, that if you read my past posts I have shown my self to be an in your face, kick your ass, kind of commenter. I appall hypocrisy, demand "facts" come with supporting evidence, and my only true ideal is rationality. This is why I like Anthony Weiner of New York's ninth district. He's young, has good ideals, polite, and apparently, really pissed off. I can't really blame him for being mad, because not only is his last name a euphemism for penis, but he is also an idealist in non-idealistic times, and that is why I like him. He is idealistic, and pissed off. If this was the 1830's I'm convinced Anthony would have kill off half of the republican house members in duals, Andrew Jackson style.
Case, and point.
Since we don't have duels anymore people like Anthony need to get creative.
Here we see Anthony offering the republican party a gun, and daring them to step out side with him so they can put this issue to rest in a nice gentlemanly style. Of course since republicans are a bunch of hypocritical, cowardly, clowns none of them take him up on his offer.
Anthony Weiner represents what I hope the future of the democratic party will look like. A party of rational people willing to put their boot up the ass of irrational, hypocritical, fear mongering, cowardly, dullards, who claim to be the moral authority, that have the welfare of the whole country at heart, all the while only doing what is only good for the top 5 percent. If more people like Anthony were around to chastise, challenge, and call out people on their nonsensical bull shit, then we would have a lot less fools in government. They would be a lot easier to spot, and it's a lot harder to get elected when you have been proven a fool. No party would want these fools as members because if your party is proven to have too many of them time, and time again then your party will be labeled as a party of fools, and your party's agenda would become a fool's agenda, and that would lead to your agenda being marginalized by the voter.
And that is why Anthony Weiner is my kind of democrat.
Case, and point.
Since we don't have duels anymore people like Anthony need to get creative.
Here we see Anthony offering the republican party a gun, and daring them to step out side with him so they can put this issue to rest in a nice gentlemanly style. Of course since republicans are a bunch of hypocritical, cowardly, clowns none of them take him up on his offer.
Anthony Weiner represents what I hope the future of the democratic party will look like. A party of rational people willing to put their boot up the ass of irrational, hypocritical, fear mongering, cowardly, dullards, who claim to be the moral authority, that have the welfare of the whole country at heart, all the while only doing what is only good for the top 5 percent. If more people like Anthony were around to chastise, challenge, and call out people on their nonsensical bull shit, then we would have a lot less fools in government. They would be a lot easier to spot, and it's a lot harder to get elected when you have been proven a fool. No party would want these fools as members because if your party is proven to have too many of them time, and time again then your party will be labeled as a party of fools, and your party's agenda would become a fool's agenda, and that would lead to your agenda being marginalized by the voter.
And that is why Anthony Weiner is my kind of democrat.
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