ZED!
Single Payer. They had their chance … screw them all to hell with their greed.
ES!

Hiya nahant..)

Beautiful song by Most Serene Republic, lovely evocation of the early 1960s…

And they wonder why many of us don’t have insurance.
Another thing about 1960 versus now-It takes two adults working full time to support a family. That is progress?

Single payer indeed! Was just reading Scarecrows summary of Obama’s appearance on a late ABC news show of some sort tonight. I didn’t know it’s was scheduled… sorry I missed it.

ahhh …. nothing like two units of blood…. still awake on the sofa…. and I can think….

btw…. Hi ES

From an earlier story…

Sung to the tune of Paul Thorn’s “Ain’t Love Strange”

A Carolina Governor got bored with his good girl
He met himself an Argentine, he thought he’d give a whirl
He tried so hard to stop himself, said he might take a hike
He got to Buenos Aries and he felt the lightning strike
ain’t love strange

Hi ES.

Wow, some woman’s head was exploding on the Ed Schultz radio show yesterday (in a righteously outraged way). She said Obama should stop it with the deadlines and start talking about how much it’s going to cost if we don’t get a Public Plan. She was en fuego. I was so impressed.

great post on comparable costs then and now. thanks.

this is the tune I thought of during his press conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTLWC1unMc

test

Hi Drew, It’s part of a new Album… coming out next month. I may have to make a purchase…)

test Eureka — joke or no?

Ya mean back in the day when Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield were truly non-profit?

When our family medical insurance actually paid for the family’s medical care?

Don’t remember my father even complaining about the price of insurance back then, including ten days in the hospital for my mother each time she had a baby (which was routine back then.)

Hospital stays for appendicitis, tonsils and so on and so forth, and none of it sent our family into bankruptcy, say what you will about healthcare back then.

Hi katymine and dosido.. Sorry for the delay.. I had a glitch on my end.

Glad you are feeling alright, katymine.

About time heads exploded, dosido (sorry I missed that).. it’s getting down to the wire!

I couldn’t comment.. said database connection error. Seems to be working now.

Cool.

My adult son’s tonsillectomy cost$22, 00.00 — one surgery and one night in the hospital when they could not release him after complications.

I was doing a quick search to try and find comparative percentage of overall insurance cost to percent of income – then and now.. and found that little snippet. had to share it tonight.

These middlemen are killing us.

A year or so ago my daughter was in a bike race, skidded out and knocked herself unconscious. The e.r. bill was $24,000.00. Since she was in a p.e.class at the time the school had to pay most of it. She was in the e.r. for about six hours.

These middlemen are killing and maiming us.

Good evening all. Back in 1965 I was diagnosed with type one, insulin-dependent diabetes. Insulin cost $1 a vial. My mom almost didn’t believe me the other day when I told her I was paying nearly $100 a vial.

Ah well, it’s only money, blood and sweat. I have to head out, but I want to leave you with something very funny: Men in Coats. Check it out if you are in need of a laugh–they are great.

btw…. have some hair growing…. very short stubble all over my head and those two points that run down my neck, have enough hair I can pinch it…… weird

If you did not hear I got my follow up brain MRI results:
One lesion went from 2.1×1.7 cm to 1.3×1.3, second lesion went from 2.1×2.1 to 1.5×1.4cm. The others are too tiny to measure and no new lesions identified.

Impression: positive response to therapy with decrease in size of known brain mets

WOOHOO

That’s great (the vid, not the insulin price /s). Thanks Votus.

Oh, katymine, that’s such good news. We are all happy for you.
And now, my eyes are closing and I’m eally off to bed.
Woohooo with you, katymine!

WOOHOO (((Katy)))… hope you have continued healing progress!!

Wonderful news!

Oh! that is awesome!

O/t I bet a lot of South Carolinas really wish Sanford would take that hike now…

Hi ES

Dear katymine – I do not know you, [new to the Lake] and am assuming you are regrowing hair from chemo treatments? If so, I have but a small thing for you; precious and positive thoughts. Nonetheless, I mean them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HUreQpJ9bE

Good evening, bigbrother

The problem is that you are comparing apples and oranges…. In 1960, insulin was made from the dessicated pancreases of beef and pork. There were a lot of issues with allergies and reactions to the insulin as incompatible with humans.

There were so many scientific advances that came out of the space shuttle program but the creation of DNA replicated Humulin insulin. I remember the switch back in the 80’s. I am glad you seem to be doing well type I DM but you cannot compare the two.

YAY Katy!!

holy skamoly mm! that’s a ton of medical moolah! Hope she is still riding?

My diehard gooper (he’s 80 and no pun intended) is complaining mightily about the cost of health care but of course it doesn’t matter that other people pay a whole lot too. It just that HIS costs so much that is the problem…they just can’t see the inconsistencies of the pretzel logic they lay out.

Actually it was whole brain radiation that made the hair fall out….. the chemo I am on now does not stop the hair from growing but does not encourage it either. I think it was 4 weeks ago that I shaved my legs and I can just feel the stubble now.

It’s why I was rather alarmed when nahant shared his call from the AARP today:

He said,

Just got a call from AARP urging that we call our congress critter and demand insurance that everyone would be covered by calling 1-800-929-4030 from there you can reach your critter FREE.. Nada and demand they support Single Payer!! Looks like all the people’s players are coming out and getting behind National Health Care as so many are denied coverage for OH some many reasons

wait, I don’t follow you. why does this alarm you? It’s late and ya gotta spell it out for me. thanks.

Katymine is a brave patient. You are a good patient too. So one day maybe you will be well enough to testify to a congressional committee. As a medical professional you really understand what is taking place. Most noy go much.
Congratulations on your recovery.

Wow – nonetheless, I hope the whole “gift” thing from that Japanese vid makes sense for you. A tiny, superficial internet offering, but the sentiment of “gift” I thought really comes through. At least I hope it did.

I don’t want health insurance. I want health care.
Just like I don’t want to shop around for annuities, I want Social Security when (if) I am old enough. Take out the middleman.

The use of the word insurance, for one thing.

Not public insurance or single payer.. OR medicaid for everyone.

What do you think anyone in DC wants to hear right now? Support of insurance (without caveat).

Just smells fishy to me.

I think I get it now. you are alarmed that so many seniors are denied coverage, not that AARP is making calls to support national health care. right?

I gtg to bed. sheesh. thanks for putting up with my slowness!

before going to bed I am going to put on my tinfoil hat (lined of course to protect my scalp) ……. Does anyone see a trend in the domino falling of all these senators?

They are all the bible pounder’s, promise keepers, condemned Clinton…. family values crazies…….. what if a group who is centrist wants to push all the fundies out of the party? Think about it, somehow there was evidence way before they announced, they have emails from somewhere and they are free to be published….. it makes me think that someone is cleaning house ….

What does everyone think?

Hey all – If you hadn’t seen this already, turns out Gov. Sanford’s trips to Argentina for booty calls were taxpayer funded

Recall that this is the same Gov. Sanford who made national headlines and garnered high praise from conservatives all around for refusing to accept federal stimulus funds for South Carolina

Such a noble man !

Sleep is coming…had a record row at sunset. The sun came down under the cloud cover to shine out the end of the day. Very warm colors and pleasant.
Bon Soir mon amies.

katy, GREAT news!

Oh. The quote seems rather ambiguous. I would look at AARP’s site directly (I’ll do it manana). But yeah, I heard that they are a big front for big med business.

also big praise for throwing stones at Clinton for his infidelity. hmm. like Vitter.

the bigger issue for me is going AWOL. totally irresponsible. and yes, I’ll read up on the tax dollars too. spit.

We do need Single Payer and they providing an easy free method to call your congress critter and tell them we must have Single Payer!! AARP is trying to help get more people health care they CAN afford without driving them into the POOR house.
They did outlaw debtor’s prisons haven’t they??

Muzzy, very nice to see you.. thought you dropped off the map or moved to Ecuador or something. *s*

nite all.

going for banana bread and vanilla ice cream….. can I bring anything for anyone?

The comparison of 1960’s health care costs, compared to today’s, is shocking. But I have long wondered what other comparisons would be. At the very least, look at one thing: the cost of a house. My parents built their house in 1962. Cost: $20,000. It wasn’t just a house, it was also an extra lot. My mother often said that the extra room they built on in 1975 cost more than the original house. That would have been a big hunk of change. But when I look at what the house would be worth today, I lose my breath. Now compare this to the average income. I can assure you that when my father retired (in 1974), his income wasn’t double what he made in 1960. And also, the job he held isn’t paying the amount more, in 2009, than that house did.

I know this is rambling, but I hope my point comes out. Income (the amount jobs pay) hasn’t increased NEARLY as much as the cost of THINGS.

This ain’t rocket science. The average American CAN understand it. We’ve been hoodwinked. Don’t put up with it anymore, folks.

it’s so easy to manipulate many elderly… elderly who probably trust the AARP implicitly. Could be worse, just bothered me a little. If you find any new info.. please share it in a Health Lobby Watch Post series I kicked off today at oxdown.. and will be running throughout this process.

I don’t know.. seems like a remodeling of sorts… a blending with indentured servitude.

I’ll buy that. The State (SC newspaper) had e-mails for a long time.

Ghod only knows what is in the hands of special friends of ATT et al. Surely contractors were involved.

Firedog Fern made a very interesting case back in ‘06. She basically figured out an early seventies minimum wage earner would have to make about 19.00 an hour today to have the same purchasing power.

That’s a big decline! 40k yr now.. was what a minimum wage earners purchasing power was in early 70’s.

But the rich get richer.

Insurance back in 1960 also used to cover a far greater percentage of treatment costs.

Nowadays, with the co-pays, deductibles, and ever expanding lists of “non-covered” procedures and treatments, even those who are lucky enough to have insurance are often choosing to forgo necessary and prudent doctor’s visits.

Thanks, ES. While I am doing well and have been very very busy, this year has ended up being a nodal point in my life in so many ways both good and bad and I’ve been focusing my energy differently. I still check in here daily (and nightly) but haven’t made the time to really know the pulse of folks here like I have for years in the past. It’s a significant but temporary break I hope. Cheers !

The last few times I shopped for insurance… the deductibles were so high.. I figured what’s the use? And i am in my early forties.. Friends ten years older.. their rates and deductables were astronomical.

Well.. I’ll keep the jukebox freshly loaded for ya…)

Yep. All that’s needed now is mandated purchase of effectively worthless insurance by those who’ve taken a pass. The insurance industry wet dream.

We’ve seen this crap before, why should this time be different?

I suspect that since you fractured your elbow/arm you are considered uninsurable….they will find some fancy name for it …….

Elmore was working in Los Angles years ago for a mobile tv company working sometimes up to 100 hrs/week. He started having an irregular heart rate with symptoms…… He had good union health insurance so he had a workup at UCLA……. they didn’t find any thing wrong with his heart, he was just exhausted….. way 5 years later after moving to Portland, working under another employee plan …… he lost that job and they were going to charge over $1000/mo for cobra……. he went looking for private insurance………… everyone turned him down as uninsurable. They can do that in Oregon…….either you qualify or you don’t…. no pre-existing times to wait out

I’m preparing to throw a big giant hissy fit… go to DC if possible.. if mandate purchase of private insurance look as inevitable in two months as it does today.

Single Payer ES you would be happy with it. You would pay a co-pay based on your income for prescriptions only between 5 to 15 per refill all else is covered by your premium. Oh yeah no such thing like pre-existing anything period you get the care you need.
That is the model we are wanting for all citizens.

Oh I am alllll for SP, nahant. I just think it’s a pipe dream at best right now. I’m going to try and stick to monitoring the PR Advertisement machine as it goes in to full tilt boogie this Summer. Try to be supportive of folks like Jane and her efforts for what blood can possibly be squeezed out of the Dem turnips.

If they don’t produce what the people want, 76% at least, we evict them from office!! Along with all rpukes who vote against Single Payer. We need to use every tool we got to let them know that there IS a price for not voting for what we want!! It will be work and if we have to do what the Iranians are doing …. welll tht is what we “The People ” must do! Of course they won’t bring out the guns against us.

Here’s a dreamy james holden remix of an early electronica tune from the 90’s for late night drifting…

It’s a Fine Day

Well here’s one sure to wake ya up!

The two systems I really like is the Canadian & the French systems. Each province has a basic level of coverage which is the same across the country. then the provinces can allow to up purchase on a private policy others outlaw the additional coverage. BC is one of those provinces. Prenium for coverage is on a salary sliding scale, usually somewhere 1-2000/year for a family of 4. And I will not get into the “wait times” or all the other myths……. btw the canadian system is NOT socialist, MD’s are in private practice, just because they work for the government does not make it a socialist system.

France is quite unique, again they have universal health coverage across the country that covers basic coverage. Citizens then can purchase up for a second level of coverage. this is optional …….then is a government funded catastrophic plan. Providers are in private practice, get paid on a fee schedule and when shit hits the fan…… the patient gets the basic coverage, if the case is catistrophic then the middle tier and the top tier work together to help the patient & family get well and cope with illness. (novel concept)

Not sure the premiums are but Jerome a Parie pays little out of pocket for care and therapy for his son has recurrent brain tumors. The state pays his wife to stay home to perform the therapy.

It’s pretty simple. We’re already paying a lot more than other countries and soon we’ll be paying one-third of everything to the health care/insurance industry.

Having to dish out so much to health has pretty much bankrupted the car companies, so think which other companies/entities are that tied to healthcare costs.

If you want to pull down costs you have to induce more competition in the marketplace. There are various ways and the public option is one. If government chose to ‘beat’ the private insurers it could, but in the current reform discussion the public option is primarily to ensure everyone gets coverage.

The Exchange is where you bring together insurers who have had semi-monopolies in some states, so they can compete directly. That has to bring down costs.

That works for me..)

I sure liked France’s system and the peoples demeanor about healthcare as presented in SICKO.

What I’ve been thinking about today is healthcare, but creeping into my awareness (largely because of news reports and talk shows) is the question of just how dangerous N. Korea currently is and might soon become.

What exactly can we do about an entire country which is that crazy?

I mean, we can’t evacuate Hawaii just because the nutty leader of N.K. says something. But, what can we do?

It revives old thoughts from the Cold War, not that I obsessed about nukes. Once the fear takes over you’re toast…just a quivering piece of meat laying on the floor with drool all over.

I think they fear a leader who would change their society. They’re militaristic — the ultimate Military Industrial Complex. Without this they all die of starvation, right? Is there any way that kind of situation can go except to gradually become more crazy until war breaks out?

We have other involvements and this is not a good time for having to deal with N.K.

it sounds like.. if a conventional conflict broke out… the best of a horrific situation would be to back off for a while, since there are so damn many weapons armed and ready to fire.

As for nukes.. it would be suicidal for NK as well, wouldn’t it?

I really don’t see how NK can win anything. They can cause great harm on their way out if they choose, but they can’t prevail.

From ABC News
Health Insurance Insider: ‘They Dump the Sick’
Retired Health Insurance Executive Blows the Whistle on His Former Industry

Frustrated Americans have long complained that their insurance companies valued the all-mighty buck over their health care. Today, a retired insurance executive confirmed their suspicions, arguing that the industry that once employed him regularly rips off its policyholders.
Retired health insurance executive Wendell Potter told Congress today that insurance companies routinely rip off customers.
Retired health insurance executive Wendell Potter told Congress today that insurance companies routinely rip off customers.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)

“[T]hey confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors,” former Cigna senior executive Wendell Potter said during a hearing on health insurance today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Snip

I think Christy quoted him today and I know I did in a post as well.

here’s an extended CJR interview link with Wendell.

Well I’ve hit the wall.

Good night firedogs..)

Night ES I am outta here also! Night Pups (:>))

me too…… sleep well, sweet dreams….. and envision all the beautiful dutch flowers being shipped around the world……. they are full of our hopes and dreams going out to the world…

Can’t sleap and have found a dormant thread. Oh well.

I don’t comment much but have been a lurker here for years. A laptop on my workbench at work keeps me connected to FDL all through the work day. The healthcare posts and threads of recent days have been both comforting and disturbing. Comforting in that I am clearly not alone in my quiet desperation. Disturbing in that I fear we are fucked again.

There have been several commenters that attempt to insist that healthcare reform is not affordable. What they all refuse to admit is that we pay twice as much as it actully costs. Already. Why is that so hard to understand. What needs to be discussed and is being ignored is how to redirect what is spent now. Why is that so difficult? Why willingly choose to put the interests of insurance companies ahead of the interests of 300 million people? Yes it is costing me sleep at this point.

I don’t understand why it has not been said out loud that any plan that is not a road map to universal care is not reform. It will be nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

33 years ago, when I became a machinist, manufacturing in America was a truely mighty economic machine. It was the very thing that our country was built on. The demise of domestic manufacturing, and the resulting death spiral of our economy, is caused in no small measure by employer based health insurance. What was once, not so long ago, a path to a comfortable retirement for a high school graduate has been destroyed.

Just a middle of the night rant to nobody in partical. Thanks FDL.