Mornin’, BT

One good vid deserves another

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, Don’t Give Up

I guess the pollsters have decided that fogies with land lines are the only people that matter.

Does anyone hear Laura Ingraham? As part of her rant against the health reform/coverage discussion, she has chosen to leap on the end of life topic. Disastrously and dishonestly, she is portraying hospice services, that are covered by Medicare-Medicaid and many private insurance cos, as assisted suicide. Her remarks are hateful and wrong.

I hope you can let her know, especially if you have had any direct experience. Hospice is a remarkable, caring service that eases the death experience for patients and their families. There are no efforts to speed death; every effort is geared to what the patient wants/needs. Her cruel characterizations are shameful.

Dr/Gov Dean needs a little work with the names of guests. Wendell Phillips and Michael Potter are actually one and the same.

What does Ms. Laura offer as an alternative? Opening her home so she can care for the patients herself?

Part of what she is railing against is encouraging people to prepare a living will. She is describing it as encouraging euthanasia counseling. This is totally bogus.

When one of Laura’s relatives goes into hospice I can imagine her making it a most horrible experience for that person.

I thought Dr. Dean did a creditable job, given his inexperience hosting a show like this. I cringed when he misused Wendell Potter’s name, but I think he had it right by the end of the segment. Maybe someone behind the camera set him straight.

I was curious what he was going to say about the health coverage for congress, which he was casting as single-payer (unless I misunderstood) — although Federal employees have great employer-provided health insurance, it is mostly still INSURANCE and not single-payer like Medicare. I think our congresscritters still have to pay a share for themselves and their families.

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.

Thanks for the song, brother, I needed that. Keep fighting for what you think is right.

Yesterday in Raw Story. Our Department of Justice hard at work.

Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania admitted last February to having accepted 2.6 million dollars from private prisons in exchange for giving juveniles sentences that were disproportionate to their offenses.

Ciavarella and Conahan have filed a petition seeking the dismissal of lawsuits seeking damages, citing “the doctrine of judicial immunity.”

Among those sentenced by the judges was a young man who received nine months for having stolen a jar of nutmeg worth four dollars, and another juvenile who was sentenced to three months for stealing some change from a car.

Mr. Potter spoke from the perspective of a past inside insurance guy!!!

He spoke of for profit insurance corporations. Never once did Mr Potter or Mr Dean mention health insurers which for tax law purposes are considered public charities???

Blue Cross Blue Shield a public charity???

Banner… a public charity?????????

Kaiser…. a public charity?????

this is a scam!!

Hey what is the percentage of state incorporated “public charities” in healthcare vs for profit corporations????????????

Sen Kerry has proposed taxing corporations in health insurance to effect change of their behaviors. Question is how does that work for tax exempt corporations insurers who are considered public charities and have no tax status, like the rest of us have??? Any taker to this qquestion????

A living will simply specifies what you want when you near “the end” and that can be heroic measures to keep you alive OR no heroic measures, or something in between. I have a living will, prepared with the help of an attorney (it’s a separate document attached to my “last will”) and it lays out several end of life situations and how I want my care handled if they occur.

I also am paying into long-term-care insurance (pretty expensive — $300 a month) and when I retire one of these days soon, I probably will buy a Medicare Advantage policy. Neither would be necessary if we had single payer.

Urban Institute’s center for charitable statistics is an eyeopener to those ignorant of the underlying tax structure in healthcare!!!!

http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/P…..search.php

Do a little digging folks…………..

Quote from this morning’s WSJ:

Anjelica Journagin, 27 years old, working the phones at DNC headquarters one recent evening, said the most common fear she heard from the liberals on her call list was that Mr. Obama would negotiate away the public plan.

Now why would they think that?

Shades of “Les Miserables”

It’s regular ol’ employer based health insurance. There’s what is called “Open Season” each year for all federal employees, including our congressmorons. Employees are offered a large number of plans and providers to choose from. They can change plans, whatever. Even when I worked at VA I couldn’t afford anything but the most basic plan and it pretty much offered nothing. I didn’t buy into them and just hoped I didn’t get sick, although bein’ a vet I tentatively had the VA as a backup if I was seriously ill.

Tax exempt corporations??? Check out the 990 form of Banner ????

2007 – Banner Health (450233470)
2002 – Banner Health Arizona (860957500)
2007 – Banner Health Foundation (942545356)
2007 – Banner Health System Group Return (900054273)
2002 – Banner Heart Hospital (861035549)
2002 – Banner Home Care Arizona (860657319)
2002 – Banner Home Care Spearfish (911843760)
2002 – Banner Home Care Sturgis (911843764)
2002 – Banner Home Care Wyoming (840865719)
2002 – Banner Home Medical Equipment Colorado (841324428)
2002 – Banner Home Medical Equipment Fmh (450450967)
2002 – Banner Home Medsolutions (841483458)
2002 – Banner Hospice Hospice (460447933)
2002 – Banner Lassen Home Care (680422621)
2002 – Banner Lassen Medical Center (680422620)
2007 – Banner Learning Corp Dba Banner Prep School of Milwaukee (261086124)
2006 – Banner Los Robles Corporation (510525247)
2002 – Banner Mesa Medical Center (860394149)
2008 – Banner Mutual Insurance Company (370165660)
2008 – Banner Neighborhood Corporation (521336621)
2008 – Banner of Christ Ministries Inc (753227607)
2007 – Banner of Faith Ministries Inc (204261504)
2007 – Banner of Hope Inc (860921313)
2002 – Banner of Jubilee World Outreach Inc (113634085)
2007 – Banner of Love (470814878)
2008 – Banner of Truth (231672774)
2006 – Banner Pharmacaps Educational Found Ation Inc (562241813)
2002 – Banner Physician Hospital Organization (860956182)
2008 – Banner School Inc (521254968)
2008 – Banner School Parent Organization Inc (521637245)
2007 – Banner Supply Co Inc Veba (590685264)

Lessening the burdens of government while making Americans broke!!!

The other message I took from the song was that when everything else is gone one realizes what’s really important in life. The lyrics are here.

Federal employee health insurance is not completely provided by the employer. It includes a market, where employees pick among various insurance, HMO, PPO, offerings for the one which suits their needs/budget. The government pays about half of the premium,and the employee pays the rest. People keep making the mistake of saying that Congress and the civil service get free health care. I certainly have no complaints, but in the dark ages, when I worked in a General Motors warehouse, it was fully paid by GM.

I’m just wondering what good being in a coop is if there is only one HMO or insurer in the region? Just who are they supposed to take their members to if the Health providers say “no deal”?

2007 – American Legion 0092 Post Clay Kaiser (460276898)
2006 – Betty E and George B Kaiser Foundation (731363237)
2008 – Bill Kaiser Ministries Inc (751513781)
2007 – Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions Afl CIO (522360920)
2006 – Donald P Kaiser Educational Tr Wojtal E J and Mercer J P Co Ttees (396750498)
2007 – Doris Smith Scholarship Fund Kaiser Suzanne A Ttee (256825757)
2007 – Frank and Gertrude Kaiser Foundation Gabriel Stephen F (010669086)
2007 – Frederick J and Susan R Kaiser Foundation Inc (223591756)
2008 – Friends of Kaiser Park Inc (200763333)
2007 – George Kaiser Family Foundation (731574370)
2005 – H J Kaiser High School Kick Off Club (330874959)
2007 – Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation (946064808)
2008 – Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation Retiree Medical Plan Trust (205827180)
2008 – Herman Kaiser Foundation (510173653)
2007 – Hopestream Foundation Eric Thomas Kaiser (330938303)
2007 – Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia Inc (581592076)
2007 – Kaiser Aluminum Salaried Retirees Association (680165262)
2007 – Kaiser Aluminum Salaried Retirees Veba Tr Perry David L Ttee (686244507)
2005 – Kaiser Aluminum Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plans Master Tr (911909234)
2007 – Kaiser Aluminum Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plans Master Trust (946063445)
2007 – Kaiser Borsari Educational Foundation (911749100)
2002 – Kaiser Catamount Pride Booster Club (330870378)

[Edited by Mods. In order to save the server hamsters, please make your sample/example shorter and include a link. Thank you.]

Aw, man, can’t you do links instead of these long ass lists?

Actually I think the government pays about two thirds depending on the plan selected. Also they have the option to switch plans once a year.

And the judges feel they’re immune from prosecution for damanges. Not a consideration that what they did was illegal and immoral (what’s that?).

Are you not familiar with Ulysses? The poster of #20 needed to write a novel to describe the activities of a single day.

i think maybe the long ass lists are for lazy ass people like me. If not, I sure do appreciate them.

The government portion does differ according to plan and it is an amazing benefit in that they continue to pay that portion,so long as you don’t drop it, when you are retired. Most of my career, the government portion was equal to about half, and the plans still include co-pays. Every year there is an “open season”, which allows employees to change. I found that necessary a number of times, because it seemed that the most reasonable choices all went up in cost within a couple of years, or dropped out of the program altogether.

Most plans included high and low options, which related to cost and extent of coverage. I think that fact serves as a fine example of “rationing” in even the best of for-profit systems.

Lessening the burdens of government while corporations are bleeding America…… The American way protect slave owners and shareholders, now corporations to the detriment of the governed. What a deal for America???

Seems corporate identity and profit have trumped the individuals rights to Life and Liberty just as Dred Scott was denied protection of law for the benefit of slave owners What a fucked up situation Corporate servitude enabled under the color of law????????????

I’ve tried to read it I don’t how many times over the last 40 years. May be a great piece of literature but is so boooooooorrrrrrring.

On edit: Had a friend tell me once it was a lifelong adventure to get through it.

My SIL works for FAA and they are on the govt. plan. But I don’t know the specifics of their plan. My ex was a govt. employee and we had BCBS thru the govt. and had to pay co-pays.

And by the government paying half (actually I think it’s more like 2/3rds but no matter) – you mean the taxpayers. Us. You. People like me and my husband who pay our taxes but who, once COBRA is over for us will not be able to afford health insurance. I’m glad I’m able to provide it to Congress though. I sure wouldn’t want them to be without. Me? I obviously don’t matter. I’m just a taxpaying citizen.

That is so totally over the top! For real? Because I am here to tell you that David’s living will had zip squat nada to do with euthanasia, and it was invaluable to us and to him when he was dying. Spit!!

There’s really no difference between the govt and other large employers other than more plans are offered and it’s done in a month-long window each year.

Last screed I read on this was an LTE in Newsweek (this week), following the edition with Ted Kennedy on the cover. Writer ranted about the hypocrisy of TK positioning himself as health care reform advocate while he accesses experimental and highly priced treatment at the expense of taxpayers. I tried really hard to guess the political persuasion of the writer, but darn it, I just couldn’t figure it out.

What’s 76% of the American people and a few disappointed Democrats compared to three satisfied Republicans?

Small edit to reflect the current situation as I understand it.

I’m retired from the FAA. You’re right about the generally .65 percent gov’t portion now, but the portion increased during my 37 year career. During that period, I had BCBS, Kaiser, Aetna, and others. The only one I changed from disatisfaction, rather than increasing cost or they bailed from the program, was BCBS which, during the 70’s, just made claims disappear. We ended up paying the whole thing repeatedly and they would just say send it again, over and over.

Your friend is correct, although there is a group of people who have created an industry surrounding Ulysses (English professors, etc.).

My friend Michael was as big a reader as I am and we talked books at work all the time. Unfortunately Michael succumbed to an AIDS-related lymphoma just before I left VA to return to school. I still miss those discussions.

My daughter and SIL switched from BCBS due to dissatisfaction.

Yes, that’s typical lying and dishonesty. It does remind me however, when I was a kid and Truman first advocated public healthchare. Eisenhower campaigned opposing it, and I remember my dad spitting that, “Eisenhower never had to pay a doctor bill in his life.” That was the case with active duty and retired military personnel.

Cobra payments per month to a “”"”tax exempt public charity”" $480.00 a month for a single person? Go Figure………….

Do you know the corporate tax status of BCBS?

umber found: 21 – Click on any line in the list of results to view the return.
2006 – American Institute of Graphic Arts Blue Cross Blue Shield of S Carolin (141918417)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (135656874)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Long Term Disability Trust (510245316)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Retiree Benefits Trust (364018700)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield National Retiree Health Benefits Trust (367008317)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation Inc (203085640)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation (721232379)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Hmo Blue Inc (043362283)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation (382338506)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation (200471034)
2005 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri Retirees Club (431583373)
2008 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation (562226009)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont Caring for Children Foundation Inc (651249139)
2007 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of West Virginia Inc (311071217)
2007 – Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation on Healthcare (237164980)
2007 – Blue Cross Blue Shield Kc Credit Union (446012917)
2007 – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation for Expanding Healthcare Access (043148824)
2007 – Blue Cross Employees Association of Rhode Island (050380370)
2007 – Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health (260024334)
2007 – Colorado Group Insurance Assoc Inc Blue Cross and Blue Shield (841116759)
2006 – Maryland Blue Cross and Blue Shield Caring Founda

http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/P…..search.php

Also in those days all veterans were treated by VA without the distinction between service-connected and non-service connected conditions. If you were a vet you got treated, period. Now NSC vets go to the bottom of the list except in emergencies.

True. Regarding Ulysses, I think Palin speeches serve as a kind of sampler of the dumb person’s stream of consciousnesss style. If you really like her thought process, you might go on to Joyce or Faulkner. :)

No thanks, although I did buy a hardcover from Modern Library a few years ago when they reissued it. Reading Marx’s Grundrisse is hard enough but I learn a lot more.

THE HEALTH ENTITIES TAX ACT with THE HEALTH STANDARDIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION ACT. Use tax incentives and disincentives to control the behavior of all corporations in healthcare and control cost with incentives!!!

PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS THE DRAFT. Please enlighten American’s to the underlying tax structure in healthcare………. Please!!!

Look at the 990 form submitted to the IRS as required by law. Look at the billions of dollors collected by corporation that because they are exempt pay……..no property taxes, no excise taxes, no corporate income tax! No tax liability except for payroll taxes????????????

SO who has been subsidizing the tax exempt health insurers and providers in America for decades????????????????????????????????

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

This is getting really OT, but I think stream of consciousness really works in Faulkner’s short stories “Pantaloon in Black”, and “The Bear”. Okay, I’m through.

Or Ogden Nash.

So how does this work for Congress (if you know). I assume all is gratis for PBO and who else? Cabinet? I think it’s important for us to know this. “Us” as in everyone.

Go through the comments, it’s been discussed. ALL govt employees are under private insurance plans like any other employer based health insurance. It’s NOT provided to them at no cost.

Yup, I read. But want to be sure this applies to all, everywhere, all the time, irrespective of place on the hierarchy.

My understanding is that members of the House and Senate, and White House staffers, cabinet officers, are participants in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, just like civil servants. The President and VP get complete government provided health care involving the best facilities/doctors available. I’m not sure what kind of care former presidents and VP’s get.

Glad Wendell Potter got some MSM time. I hope we can have him visit here or produce a video with Mike.

Jane, if you had any influence in getting him on Hardball, thank you.

BRISTOL, VIRGINIA

The acceptable standards of health care in southwest Virginia and East Tennessee.

http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62

Clearly in TN & VA profit care comes ahead of patient care.

We thought my father had good insurance and was going to the best health care provider. His care was rationed. He died.

Hey Rev, To be honest, when I’m terminal let me die and save my money for my children vs giving it to tax exempt insures and corporations who feed off of my misery and end of life. In fact a close friend just lost mother. His mother refused all treatment because being a health professional she did not want the corrupt system to take her money and squander it on life perpetuation in the face of eventual death. I consider my friends mother an astute hero who in death recognized the systemic racket imposed on Americans and made her choice…………………

BTW why are so many corporations in healthcare considered public charities for tax law purposes?

http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/P…..earch.php/ Silence is cancer!

Did you understand me to say I was opposed to universal health care, preferably a single payer system, but in its absence a robust public option? If so, you misunderstood me. Otherwise, I have no idea what career paths you and your husband chose, and what options or alternatives were open to you at the time. I did choose mine, both with it’s benefits and its liabilities. Whatever salary and benefit you earned, if you had a career in the private sector, it’s likely I or mine directly or indirectly contributed to it. I hope we got as good a value as air traffic control gave.

Congress does get a choice of different plans from private insurance. But their premiums are subsidized by taxpayers. In addition, they don’t have to worry about pre-existing conditions or rescission. And their families are covered by the taxpayers as well. No copays. No deductibles. I’m not sure if all Congress gets it for life or if you have to have served for a certain number of years – but certainly a great majority of present-day Congress doesn’t have to worry about losing it when they are kicked out of Congress for denying the rest of us care.

Nope didn’t misunderstand you. Just emphasizing that by “government” paying – it was actually us. You and me. As a small business owner, our insurance was covered through my husband’s job and he was recently laid off. Pre-existing conditions make it unaffordable for us to obtain coverage once our COBRA runs out. Not sure what the rest of your post relates to but I have a feeling we’re actually on the same page.

Fine, I took your initial tone to be a bit snarky regarding civil service career. Civil servants, military people, teachers have generally spent a lifetime hearing how everyone paid our salaries and the luxurient benefits we received. On the other hand, if we were real red-blooded Americans, we would have jumped into Wall Street, or selling insurance, or something. We usually hear it from conservatives. Maybe we can get Obama to invite you and I to have a beer.

I’m sorry,of course about your situation and was glad to hear Obama mention that part of the stimulus was used to supplement individual COBRA payments. I know COBRA is otherwise out of the question for most.