Clipmarks | masbury's 'healthcare' clips

Protesters to Rally Against Health Insurance Companies

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:45:50 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "because they profit by denying care to our patients—not by providing it" - CA Nurses Assn

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Protesters to Rally Against Health Insurance Companies

Protests are being held across the country today calling for a single-payer healthcare system. Demonstrations will target the headquarters of several health insurance companies, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna, Humana and United Health Group, as well as the annual convention of the insurance industry lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans in San Francisco. Malinda Markowitz of the California Nurses Association said, “We are calling a national protest against these insurance companies, because they profit by denying care to our patients—not by providing it."

Tags: healthcare

Why universal healthcare is a better deal for the USA

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:42:50 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Jane Bryant Quinn: And we already have a working model

Clip Source: masbury.wordpress.com

“[W]e have an excellent template for universal care right under our noses: good old American Medicare

the government pays for health care delivered in the private sector

one set of comprehensive benefits, with premiums, co-pays and streamlined paperwork

“Health insurers hate this model, which would end their gravy train

objections

costs too much. No—

United States spent 15.3 percent of gross domestic product on health care for only some of us. France spent 10.7 percent and covered everyone.

Medicare’s overhead is just 1.5 percent, compared with 13 to 16 percent in the private sector

taxes would go up!

Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office have testified that the United States could insure everyone for the money we’re spending now

We get world-class care

we don’t. International surveys put France in first place

long waiting times

Many countries that cover everyone

report no

waits at all

people get care even if they’re uninsured. They don’t. They

are sicker, suffer more

die sooner

Tags: heatlhcare

Elizabeth Edwards' healthcare questions for McCain

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:37:09 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: She writes as one with a pre-existing condition, asking for straight answers from the straight talker. Worth noting is the fact that McCain would be virtually un-insurable were he not on the government's insurance plan.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

1. Under your plan, Senator McCain, would any health insurer be required to sell you or me (or those like us with pre-existing conditions) a health insurance policy?

2. You say your plan is going to increase competition to the point that it actually lowers costs. Isn’t there competition today

Haven’t costs continued to go up despite that competition?

3. You say that under your plan everyone is going to pay less for health insurance

Are you talking about cheaper overall or just a cheap policy that doesn’t kick in until after thousands of dollars of deductibles have been paid?

4. Isn’t the type of competition you are talking about really a rush to the bottom? As long as you allow insurers to underwrite and deny access, you encourage insurers to offer plans that may be cheap, but that get that way by avoiding people with cancer or other high-cost diseases

As one of those with a pre-existing condition, I sure would like some straight talk.

Tags: mccain, healthcare, insurance

Young, American, and Uninsured: on the rise

Fri, 30 May 2008 19:20:06 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And it simply doesn't happen in most developed nations. 30% of uninsured from 17% of under-65 pop.; non-whites worse off; could easily face a lifetime of debt or denial of care; 2/3 have had trouble because of cost. And it simply wouldn't happen in most developed nations.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Young, American, and Uninsured: Number of Uninsured US Young Adults Grows

13.7 million people aged 19 to 29 had no health insurance, either public or private, in 2006, up from 13.3 million in 2005

17 percent of the under-65 U.S. population, but made up almost 30 percent of the uninsured

If you ask young adults

if you’ve ever had problems accessing health care because of cost — not filling a prescription, not seeing a specialist — two thirds of uninsured young adults say yes

23 percent of whites ages 19 to 29 lacked insurance, the figure was 36 percent of blacks and 53 percent of Hispanics

uninsured rate rises dramatically at age 19 — from 12 percent of children up to age 18 up to 30 percent among men and women aged 19 to 29

Many jobs available to young adults tend to be low-wage or temporary, the type often unlikely to provide health coverage.

38 percent of high school graduates who do not attend college and 34 percent of college graduates spend some time uninsured in the year after graduation

Tags: healthcare

KU KLUX KLAN WON'T ENDORSE OBAMA!

Wed, 28 May 2008 05:01:04 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Excellent satire - read the whole thing! Healthcare, it is assumed, is their point of disagreement. And "Noting her strength with the broad swaths of people who have no intention of actually voting for her, Senator Clinton also feels Obama's weakness with people who hate both of them with a passion should give unpledged superdelegates pause."

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Dateline - Lynchburg, Virginia

In a surprising move, which some are calling a deathblow to his candidacy, the Ku Klux Klan today decided to not endorse Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the Presidency of the United States. Seeming to validate Hillary Clinton's assertion that Obama cannot win the all-important poor white racist vote which had became the cornerstone of her support, many are now speculating that rejection by the influential domestic terrorist organization could spell the end for the Illinois Democrat's race for the White House.

At his armed camp outside of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Imperial Grand Wizard Gomer Bath explained the Klan's decision. "Our secret membership just did not feel that Senator Obama was addressing our core values." he said during press conference to a group of blindfolded reporters.

I don't know about the others," he continued, "but for myself it really came down to health care

we took a hood count, and voted unanimously against endorsement

Tags: satire, politics, obama, race, humor

1948: Struggling for national health care

Tue, 27 May 2008 21:40:51 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: President Harry Truman has national health care as part of his platform - sixty years ago!

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

Excerpts from Truman's Address to the Democratic Convention
July 15, 1948

I have repeatedly asked the Congress to pass a health program. The Nation suffers from lack of medical care. That situation can be remedied any time the Congress wants to act upon it.

Tags: healthcare, insurance, truman

7 Senators stall President's AIDS relief plan

Mon, 26 May 2008 05:12:07 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And some Democrats playing politics, reluctant to do things that make the President look good

Clip Source: blog.beliefnet.com

The president recently proposed an increase in funding for PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.) But it's not going anywhere. Why?

Seven Republican senators -- Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, Saxby Chambliss, David Vitter, Jim Bunning, and Richard Burr -- have placed a hold on the reauthorization.

The seven, led by Coburn, complain that the reauthorization is too costly.

politics is at play. Gerson writes that some Democratic senators have no interest in passing something that would give credit to the president.

[S]upporters of the PEPFAR reauthorization now estimate a 50 percent chance it will be shelved until next year. Without a five-year U.S. commitment on AIDS funding, other countries would be reluctant to put new people on treatment. And lives would be lost.

Surely this is one place where saving lives should outweigh politics. It's time for something Washington knows less and less of: bipartisan politics on key moral issues.

Tags: aids, politics, healthcare

"If Cheney were a regular American, he'd probably be dead"

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:11:27 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: despite four major heart attacks and other serious coronary issues, Cheney "can't be denied health insurance no matter how serious his heart condition is" because he is a U.S. government employee. But you'd be dead.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

The report cites the high quality, condition-free medical insurance enjoyed by the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney, who, despite four major heart attacks and other serious coronary issues, "can't be denied health insurance no matter how serious his heart condition is" because he is a U.S. government employee.

The California Nurses Association (CNA) criticizes such "Cadillac healthcare" favoritism and contrasts it to the limited options afforded to the majority of Americans. The CNA has launched an ad campaign saying that "if Cheney were just a regular American, he'd probably be dead by now."

The CNA's executive director rues the "double standard," saying, "There should be an excellence in care that applies to all people. We, as the public, pay for Dick Cheney's care. ... Why is the government not providing the same type of care to all Americans?"

Tags: healthcare, news

Nader: Pay-or-die health care - unique to the USA

Sun, 11 May 2008 04:45:47 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Insurance too little, hospital demands cancer patient pay $105,000 before being admitted. Yet hospitals making record profits.

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.org

This is a tale of pay or die that recurs again and again all over our country and only in our country in the entire western world.

Advised by her physician to go to M.D. Anderson for urgent treatment of her leukemia, Mrs. Lisa Kelly was told she had to pay $105,000 up front before being admitted. The hospital declared her limited insurance unacceptable.

Sitting in the business office with seriously advanced cancer, she asked herself – “Are they going to send me home?” “Am I going to die?”

net income per bed at non-profit hospitals tripled to $146,273 in 2005 from $50,669 in 2000.

huge pay packages awarded hospital executives.

Lisa Kelly. She and her husband returned with a check for $45,000.

the hospital oncologist urged admittance quickly.

Then the hospital demanded an additional $60,000

In a particularly grotesque incident, she was hooked up to a chemotherapy pump, but the nurses were not allowed to change the chemo bag until Mr. Kelly made another payment.

Tags: healthcare, insurance, politics, news

Gingrich warns Republicans of "catastrophic election"

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:27:32 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Time for a fresh start. May I suggest these sure-fire strategies: TAX CUTS! Blame BIG GUBMINT. Pitch TRICKLE DOWN. How 'bout that WAR ON TARA? How 'bout WE WON'T DO ANYTHING ON HEALTHCARE? Or WE WON'T TALK ABOUT RACE. If those don't bring us to our senses, bring out the deep stuff: WRIGHT! ELITIST! SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! LIBBRUL!
Oh my, he's right. All the milk's gone sour.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Saturday's loss was in a district that President Bush carried by 19 percentage points in 2004 and that the Republicans have held since 1975.

This defeat follows on the loss of Speaker Hastert's seat in Illinois. That seat had been held by a Republican for 76 years with the single exception of the 1974 Watergate election when the Democrats held it for one term. That same seat had been carried by President Bush 55-44% in 2004.

Gingrich notes that congressional Democrats lead congressional Republicans in generic polling by 18 points nowadays, "reminiscent of the depths of the Watergate disaster." And bashing Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton ain't gonna help the GOPers running for House and Senate seats:

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

Tags: republican, gingrich, elections

McCain "scare the heck out of" those with employer-based insurance

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:05:46 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Comments from Des Moines Register editorial

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

The proposal [by McCain] should scare the heck out of the millions of Americans who rely on employer-based coverage...Buying individual policies means having your health history reviewed. It means not having the bargaining power and protections that come with being part of a plan offered by an employer. And it's expensive...

The senator is correct that the employer-based system of health insurance in this country isn't working. Businesses are saddled with the high costs of coverage, putting them at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. Insurance shouldn't be tied to jobs.

But the more reasonable solution is to offer everyone what Medicare already offers: health coverage financed by a combination of tax dollars and participant contributions, thus allowing the huge bargaining power of millions of Americans to leverage down costs.

That idea is nowhere near as radical as forcing millions of Americans to shop for their own coverage in a profit-driven, private-insurance sector.

Tags: healthcare, mccain

1/3 of Americans struggled to pay for healthcare in past year

Thu, 01 May 2008 03:04:15 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: But I'm sure they're comforted by knowing that their loss is infinitely more desirable to America than a system that could be labeled "socialized medicine."

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Study: Nearly 1/3 of Americans Struggle to Pay for Medical Care, Insurance

A new study released Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows nearly one-third of Americans have faced major difficulties paying for medical care or health insurance in the past year. One-quarter of workers say they made job decisions based primarily on healthcare considerations.

Tags: healthcare

McCain healthcare proposal mirrors Bush

Thu, 01 May 2008 02:57:04 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And haven't seven years of Bushplan done us a world of good?

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

McCain Healthcare Proposal Mirrors Bush Admin

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain has unveiled the healthcare plan he’ll campaign on this November. At a speech in Tampa, Florida, McCain called for a similar approach to President Bush’s failed healthcare effort. Tax rebates would go to individuals seeking private insurance outside of company health plans. McCain says he’d promote the use of health savings accounts and grants for hospitals that cut costs. And McCain vowed to create a program to help care for vulnerable Americans but offered no details.

Tags: mccain, election, healthcare

Big Pharma spends $25,000 per physician annually

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:19:44 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And TV ads for prescription drugs are illegal in most countries. Now friends, why do you suppose they're legal in the USA? Is it because we just love freedom so much? Or is it because big business controls Congress?

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

While we've now become accustomed to the barrage of prescription drug commercials on prime-time TV, it's jarring to learn that this advertising is legal only in the United States and New Zealand. The pharmaceutical industry doesn't just target Americans directly, but also spends roughly $25,000 per physician per year. With the aid of information from data mining companies, a pharmaceutical representative knows exactly how many prescriptions for what medication a doctor has written, allowing the industry to individually target them.

Tags: healthcare, drugs

RAND Corp: 620,000 vets may have PTSD or brain injury

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:25:48 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: About half receive care, and half of those only minimally. I wonder if kids who enlist are warned of the likelihood of this happening to them - should be like cancer warnings on cigarettes.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care, an independent study said on Thursday.

The study by the RAND Corp. also estimated that another 320,000 troops have sustained a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. But researchers could not say how many of those cases were serious or required treatment.

RAND study

said that only half of troops suffering debilities receive care. And in half of those cases, the care is only minimally adequate.

"There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian, a RAND researcher

"Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation."

Tags: military, veterans, iraq, war, healthcare, politics