Sell Me Something You Don't Know

I met a woman today who works at a for-profit health care insurance company. She refused to tell me for whom she worked, and said only it wasn't for "Blue."
(Glad to hear she didn't have anything to do with Joni's record.)
Anyway, she's an extortionist, however unwitting.
We started talking and I mentioned that my COBRA payment was $463.00 per month (CORRECTION: $563.00 PER MONTH) and with current prescription costs, it added up to almost $700.00 per month. I then said I was once, am now, and always will be a single-payer proponent. She laughed in my face and said, "What! Like a fucking Canadian?"
Yeah. Like that.
"Try getting an MRI in Canada!"
I told her that none of my Canadian friends seemed to be--close to 50 years of knowing them, by the way--MRI-deficient.
"Socialist!"
(Oh, and she had never met an actual Canadian.)
For-profit Polly had been drinking and was in town to meet with her "customers." Seems to me they're more like marks.
She said she has a daughter and a grandkid. When I asked her if she liked one of the benefits of health care reform that directly affects her--the ability to cover her adult daughter until age 26--she looked around, looked uneasy--then said, "yes." When I told her that I had many years of insurance ineligibility due to my self-employed status because of a pre-existing condition, she argued with me. Loudly.
She mocked me, mocked reform. She told me what I said wasn't true. I was stunned--then I asked for her card. She refused to give me one. I reminded her that a pre-existing condition as a self-employed adult wasn't just my own private Idaho for years and years; self-employed adults with such conditions are still legally ineligible for coverage--even under reform--until 2014. She didn't believe a word I said. After all, I'm a socialist!
Did I mention she sells "health care insurance?"
As I was leaving, she continued to call me a socialist. Perhaps, had I asked her to tea...
Have a safe flight home, darlin'; I hope those socialist air traffic controllers guide your sorry ass safely, securely, and straight back home.

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Remote Area Medical: L.A. Story.

I blogged about Remote Area Medical last summer.

Today, a big L.A. story was the funeral for divisive former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, dreamily eulogized with even more revisionist history than death usually spawns.

I choose to salute some real heroes instead.

From the Daily Breeze:

Caught off guard by the huge response to a health clinic in Inglewood last August, organizers of a similar event in Los Angeles this week have rallied hundreds of health workers to provide care for the uninsured.
Several South Bay dentists, doctors and others plan to volunteer at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, where as many as 8,000 patients are expected to receive treatment through May 3.
"Whatever they ask us to do, we'll do," said Dr. Jeff Goodman, a Rolling Hills Estates dentist who will volunteer Friday at the clinic. "Our focus will be getting people out of pain."
Three dentists, two dental hygienists and an assistant from Goodman's office, Rolling Hills Dental Group, will be at the event Friday - normally their day off, he said. An assistant, Leilani Marriott, volunteered at The Forum in August, and was struck by the need, Goodman said.
Hundreds of patients waited days, even camping out overnight, in hopes of receiving free medical care at the Inglewood clinic. The turnout served as a powerful visual picture of the need for health care in Los Angeles County, said officials with Remote Area Medical, which organized both events.
Nearly 2 million Californians lost their health insurance in 2008 and 2009, bringing the total number of uninsured residents statewide to 8 million, according to figures from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

More here from the L.A. Times.

Alex Chilton: Too Late For Health Care Reform.

UPDATE 7/16/2010:

I was asked to credit the photo to Philippe Brizard. Sorry I missed it originally.

I posted Alex Chilton's obit here recently, and ran across this today:

From Nola.com:

At least twice in the week before his fatal heart attack, Chilton experienced shortness of breath and chills while cutting grass. But he did not seek medical attention, (Chilton's wife Laura) Kersting said, in part because he had no health insurance.
On the morning of March 17, she went to work. Chilton called her after suffering another episode; she arrived home before the ambulance, and drove him to the hospital. He lost consciousness a block from the emergency room, after urging Kersting to run the red light.
That week, the health care debate dominated Washington D.C. But Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) took time to memorialize Chilton from the floor of Congress. Chilton, an avid C-SPAN viewer, likely would have appreciated the moment.

That sad excerpt is from an excellent piece written by Keith Spera of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Find it in its entirety here.

I Guess Sarah Palin Forgot To Mention Her Grandson's Government-Provided Health Insurance On Her Facebook Page, Huh?

Poor little Tripp Johnston. His daddy's a dumbass, he's half-Palin, he's named after either a stumble or a hallucinogenic experience, and Barack Obama is going to kill him with one of those socialist death panels.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Palin.

Shatner's "Raw Nerve": Limbaugh Compares Ability To Afford Health Care To "A House On The Beach."

You can live without the house, asshole.
(From Raw Nerve.)

The Real Criminal Got Away.

They always frame the black guy in Teabag Nation.

From TheAtlantic.com:

Thursday's annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau's principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush.

It's not a record many Republicans are likely to point to with pride.

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

The Census' final report card on Bush's record presents an intriguing backdrop to today's economic debate. Bush built his economic strategy around tax cuts, passing large reductions both in 2001 and 2003. Congressional Republicans are insisting that a similar agenda focused on tax cuts offers better prospects of reviving the economy than President Obama's combination of some tax cuts with heavy government spending. But the bleak economic results from Bush's two terms, tarnish, to put it mildly, the idea that tax cuts represent an economic silver bullet...

Of course, following the Census Bureau's severance of its association with conservative arch-enemy ACORN, the feckless, factless Obama-haters on the right will probably dismiss anything the Census Bureau reports as a left-wing smear. After all, facts really fuck up their fantasies.

Hannity Parrots Boehner's Bull.

Typically, FOX News's GOP waterboy Sean Hannity didn't bother to check the facts. Of course, "facts" are listed in the FOX News employee handbook as being against company policy.

As Media Matters points out:

A June 23 Roll Call article uncritically quoted House Minority Leader John Boehner's claim, "Today the President again claimed that the Democrats' government takeover of health care would not force Americans off of their current plans, yet independent analysts have reported that at least 23 million Americans would lose their coverage under the bill drafted by Senate Democrats." Boehner has repeatedly cited that figure, attributing it to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of draft legislation from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). In fact, the CBO calculated that with respect to that bill, in 2017, approximately 10 million individuals "who would be covered through an employer's plan under current law would not have access to that coverage under the draft legislation because some employers would choose not to offer it." But those individuals would not be left without health insurance, as Boehner suggested; the CBO stated that under the draft HELP bill that CBO analyzed -- which did not include a public option -- these individuals would have purchased private insurance offered through the government-regulated exchanges set up by the legislation.

The "at least 23 million Americans" figure Boehner used actually refers to the number of Americans currently covered under employer-provided, individual, or government-provided health insurance that the CBO determined would be covered in 2017 through the bill's insurance exchanges.

The rest is here. E-mail it to Sean.

Do You Have Your Health (Care?)

From Reuters:

Americans are struggling to pay for healthcare in the ongoing economic recession, with a quarter saying they have had trouble in the past 12 months, according to a survey released on Monday.

Baby boomers -- the generation born between 1946 and 1964 -- had the most trouble and were the most likely to put off medical treatments or services, said researchers at Center for Healthcare Improvement, part of the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.

The study (available here) found that 17.4 percent of households reported postponing or delaying healthcare over the past year.

The U.S. Congress is working on a way to cover more of the 46 million people who lack health insurance, lower costs and coordinate care better. President Barack Obama has made it one of his administration's top priorities.

Americans pay more per capita for healthcare than people in any other country, yet have high rates of infant mortality, diabetes, untreated heart disease and other conditions. Americans are often dissatisfied with their access to care.

A recent study by Harvard University researchers suggests just how tough those medical bills can become to pay.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The study found that medical bills, plus related problems such as lost wages for the ill and their caregivers, contributed to 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007. On the campaign trail last year and in the White House this year, Obama had cited an earlier study by the same authors showing that such expenses played a part in 55% of bankruptcies in 2001.

Medical insurance isn't much help, either. About 78% of bankruptcy filers burdened by healthcare expenses were insured, according to the survey, to be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

"Health insurance is not a guarantee that illness won't bankrupt you," said Steffie Woolhandler, one of the authors, a practicing physician and an associate medical professor at Harvard.

"Lots of health insurance comes with big co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services," she said. "So you can be insured and still end up with big bills. At the same time, even if you have good insurance through your employer, you can lose it if you get sick and can't work."

Most people who filed medical-related bankruptcies "were solidly middle class before financial disaster hit," the study says. Two-thirds were homeowners, and most had gone to college.

The study does not suggest that medical expenses were the sole cause for these bankruptcies, but it does identify them as a contributing factor. The increase in such filings occurred despite a 2005 law aimed at making it more difficult for individuals to seek court protection from creditors.

And the latest study probably understates the current burden of medical expenses because it is based on bankruptcies filed before the recession hit.

We Want A Public Option.

Yesterday's Whine.

Sorry, Willie...

Yet Another Reason To Be Thrilled That Grandpa Simpson Is Not President.

Should Democrats Be Sent To Reform School?

Democrats control Congress, right? They are supposed to be able to ram through their agenda, right? So--WTF?

From the Washington Post's Ezra Klein:

Health reform is, I think it fair to say, in danger right now. The news out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee was bad. The Congressional Budget Office had scored a partial bill and the result was a total fiasco. But the news out of the Finance Committee is much, much worse.

Put simply, the Finance Committee wanted its bill to cost $1 trillion over 10 years. The CBO returned an early estimate to the panel on Tuesday night: $1.6 trillion over 10 years. The specifics of the estimate have not been made public. But the final number changed everything. Max Baucus, the chairman of the committee, pushed markup back behind the July 4th recess. He has promised to get the bill below $1 trillion over 10 years.

That's very dangerous.

It is, for one thing, an arbitrary target. Why $1 trillion? Why not $1.3 trillion or, for that matter, $700 billion? And it's an arbitrary financing target. It's not $1 trillion with coverage expanded to 40 million people. Just $1 trillion.

There are two ways to make a $1.6 trillion bill a $1 trillion bill. The first is to do less reform. The second is to do more reform. That sounds confusing. But it shouldn't be: In health care, the less you change, the more it costs.

The rest of Klein's piece is here.

What about a public option, you ask? Sam Stein on HuffPo reminds us that if President Obama pals around with friends like Tom Daschle, does he really need GOP Confederates as his enemies?

The man once slated to head Barack Obama's health care system overhaul is now coming out against one of the chief components of that effort.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Wednesday that the Obama White House would likely have to scrap a public option for health insurance coverage if it wanted to get the votes needed to pass systematic change.

"We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue," the Senator and one-time HHS Secretary nominee said, according to ABC News.

In coming out against a public plan, Daschle adds kindling to an already roaring debate on health care reform. On Thursday morning, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean repeated the mantra that you cannot have effective legislation if it does not include a public option. At the White House on Wednesday, several state legislators who had met with current HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius argued the same point.

Certainly, the public seems to be weighed in Dean's favor. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted on Wednesday night showed that 76 percent of respondents wanted a choice between a public option for insurance coverage and private providers.

So are Democrats going to shy away from the bold action--and, yes, initial expense--needed to reform the most wasteful, least-comprehensive health care system in the industrialized world? Are Frank Luntz's talking points helping GOP Confederates control the debate? Will a public option be on the table or out the door? Will insurance companies, Big Pharma and the AMA get their way, yet again?

There are almost 50 million of us anxiously awaiting answers to those questions, and we are sick of D.C. sell-outs.

UPDATE: According to this, Tom Daschle might be the biggest sell-out of all.

If You've Got The Money, Honey, We've Got The Lie...

The R-Word.

From David Leonhardt in the New York Times:

More to the point: Rationing!

As in: Wait, are you talking about rationing medical care? Access to medical care is a fundamental right. And rationing sounds like something out of the Soviet Union. Or at least Canada.

The r-word has become a rejoinder to anyone who says that this country must reduce its runaway health spending, especially anyone who favors cutting back on treatments that don’t have scientific evidence behind them. You can expect to hear a lot more about rationing as health care becomes the dominant issue in Washington this summer.

Today, I want to try to explain why the case against rationing isn’t really a substantive argument. It’s a clever set of buzzwords that tries to hide the fact that societies must make choices.

The rest of Leonhardt's column is here.

As mentioned in several previous posts here, GOP strategist and FOX News word-twister Frank Luntz designed the talking points that Republicans are currently parroting ad nauseum. And Luntz loves him some r-word...

A Senator Points Out An Unhealthy Debate.

I posted GOP strategist and FOX News go-to guy Frank Luntz's talking points designed to demonize health care reform back in early May.

Thumbs-up to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley for taking to the Senate floor to point out that Republicans are heeding Luntz's suggestions for the use of cynical scare tactics and outright bullshit in their attempts to sabotage reform.

Hopefully Merkley's fellow Democrats will remember that they control the House and the Senate and that elections are supposed to have consequences.

You Bet Your Health.

Click here to play (wait for page to load.)

Sink Or Swim.

Bernie Sanders has a good post here, and Robert Reich here.

We Can't Afford To Get Sick.

From the Los Angeles Times:

President Obama's push for healthcare reforms gets a boost today from a new study by Harvard University researchers that shows a sizable increase over six years in bankruptcies caused in part by ever-higher medical expenses.
The study found that medical bills, plus related problems such as lost wages for the ill and their caregivers, contributed to 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007. On the campaign trail last year and in the White House this year, Obama had cited an earlier study by the same authors showing that such expenses played a part in 55% of bankruptcies in 2001.

Medical insurance isn't much help, either. About 78% of bankruptcy filers burdened by healthcare expenses were insured, according to the survey, to be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine.
"Health insurance is not a guarantee that illness won't bankrupt you," said Steffie Woolhandler, one of the authors, a practicing physician and an associate medical professor at Harvard.
"Lots of health insurance comes with big co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services," she said. "So you can be insured and still end up with big bills. At the same time, even if you have good insurance through your employer, you can lose it if you get sick and can't work."

Most people who filed medical-related bankruptcies "were solidly middle class before financial disaster hit," the study says. Two-thirds were homeowners, and most had gone to college.

In a letter Wednesday, Obama made another push for a healthcare overhaul, reiterating his concern about the financial burden the current system places on families and businesses.
"Soaring healthcare costs make our current course unsustainable," he wrote in the letter to Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who are leading efforts to develop healthcare legislation. "It is unsustainable for our families, whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy and forcing them to go without the checkups and prescriptions they need."

Sickening, isn't it?

Urgent Care.

From the AP, via HuffPo:

Fixing the economy requires overhauling the U.S. health care system, a White House report concludes--just the message the administration needs to help implement a sweeping new social welfare program during a recession.

The report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers says that health care costs--now about 18 percent of the gross domestic product--will rise to 34 percent in 30 years if left unchecked, wreaking havoc on the federal deficit, businesses and working Americans.

Obama administration officials, urgently seeking to build momentum for health care legislation, planned to discuss the report's findings at the White House on Tuesday with leaders of the key Senate committees drafting bills.

"Health care reform is incredibly important not just for the American people but for the American economy," said Christina Romer, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers. "Good health care reform is essentially good economic policy."

Critics were quick to dismiss the report.

"Everyone agrees that reducing the cost of health care would benefit our economy, but the administration hasn't offered a credible plan to do so without raising taxes or rationing care," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

(Editor's note: Boehner's crack about "rationing care" is one of the many lies opponents of health care reform routinely trot out in an attempt to blow smoke up your ass. See McCaughey, Betsy.)

President Barack Obama and his advisers have consistently sought to link health care and the economy but they're turning up the volume as Congress returns from a weeklong recess and turns its attention to health care.

Later Tuesday, Obama was set to meet at the White House with Senate Democratic leaders to "discuss the urgent need to get rising health care costs under control," according to a White House advisory.

On Monday, a coalition of industry groups submitted proposals to the White House they said would reduce the growth of their own costs by 1.5 percent a year, consistent with Obama's goals.

Obama wants legislation that would hold down costs, guarantee choice and extend coverage to the 50 million Americans who don't have it now.

Two Senate committees are crafting legislation: the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee led by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The Democrats on Kennedy's committee were meeting Tuesday for a first look at an outline of Kennedy's plans. It wasn't clear if Kennedy, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, would be present.

Neither committee has released a full bill yet. Both have circulated proposals and differences have emerged, leading Kennedy and Baucus to issue a joint statement over the weekend promising to work together.

Majority Democrats in the House and the Senate want to bring the legislation to the floor by August.

Run For Coverage.

If you don't think that the for-profit health care system in the United States needs reform, you probably don't have a preexisting medical condition.

I do, and so does Maggie Yount.

From David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times:

San Marcos resident Maggie Yount wasn't surprised when the letter from insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross arrived the other day. Yet she couldn't help but be frustrated.
"Some medical conditions, either alone or in combination with the cost of medication, present uncertain medical underwriting risks," Anthem informed her. "In view of these risks, we find we are unable to offer you enrollment at this time."

In other words, no health coverage for you.

Yount, 24, finds herself in that cloudy area in which a "preexisting condition" makes her too great a risk in the eyes of money-minded insurance companies. And so she's being excluded from the system.
"It looks like I'll just have to be very, very careful about everything," Yount told me. "But what kind of way is that to live your life?"

Great question.

Read the rest here.