bill passes Senate

The Senate passes health care bill.

Except that, having removed the public option to appease conservative Democrats, it is now just a regulatory/oversight thing - a police action.

And as various examples in society demonstrate --- the economic mess on Wall Street and main street, the mess on the fronts of two foreign wars --- our government does a piss-poor job of policing and regulating.

It is essentially rewarding the insurance industry for a badly done job by forcing millions of additional Americans to purchase coverage from those same "health care providers" who have showed a knack for murder and financial profit.

A public option would have helped to keep insurance companies in check by allowing market forces to have a balancing effect. If a public plan can run with about 10% or less administrative costs, private insurance would have to stop ripping off consumers and compete on a value basis.

Not unlike TARP, another victory of Socialism for the rich.

A more in depth rundowm here.

Joe Lieberman: Fiscal Conservative... Responsible American

Joe Lieberman was one of the most vocal Senators in support of the Iraq War... i.e. - chasing down Saddam Hussein and creating a Civil War in Iraq as punishment for the actions of Saudi Arabian Nationals.

So spending over 11 million dollars an hour, every hour for the past 6 and a half years blowing stuff up is good and "fiscally responsible".

But he doesn't want to expand Medicare because that's "fiscally irresponsible".

Killing people overseas at 11 million an hour is "fiscally responsible". Saving lives at home at the same burn rate is "fiscally irresponsible."

yeahhhhh.

how to destroy health care reform, alternate perspective

1) establish unbeatable majority

2) use shortsighted appeasement tactics: spinelessly give away concessions during committee phase to opposition forces who don't intend to vote for the Bill no matter what form it takes.

3) having given away those concessions, let grandstanding attention-hungry munchkins of your own super-majority break rank and torpedo your semi-crappy non-reform-oriented "reform" legislation BY GIVING EVEN MORE AWAY and shifting the tone of the Bill to anti-reform.

4) watch as the fallout of your own incompetence swings majority the other way to a Party that knows how to get things done.

how to fuck up health care 101

1) Confirm that the existing methods are broken and in need of attention.

2) Put Congress in charge of fixing it.

3) Sit back and watch as they make the situation much worse.

Joe Lieberman is a fucking cuntbag

Years from now when you are driven to bankruptcy by excessive health care costs... or MORE LIKELY: murdered by your "health care" insurance carrier, you can point directly back to this week's shenanigans by Joe "cunt bag" Lieberman who shilled for Big Insurance, nullified  his own parties *  majority force controlling TWO OUT OF THE THREE BRANCHES of our Federal government with his (Cunt bag Joe Lieberman's) weak argument of abstract future fiscal discipline, effectively destroying the potential for health care reform.

That 18%+ that the private "health care providers" are pocketing at the expense of your physical and financial well-being. Yeah, that extortion continues thanks to royal assclown cunt bag Joe fucking Lieberman.

to reiterate: Joe Lieberman = cunt bag

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UPDATE:
* - claims to be an "independent". though we all know he's a Dem who is so quagmired in his cuntbaggery that he can no longer admit it to even himself anymore.

Map your entire DNA sequence

Two months ago the cost of Personal Genome Sequencing dropped to $50,000 (from a high of $300 million.)

The cost has now dropped below 10,000.

Democrats continue to proclaim their impotence and incompetence despite having a Super-Majority

Harry Reid announced the Public Option is still on the table.

But over a dozen of his own party's Senators aren't on the same page yet.

Why can't the the Dems unwedge their collective heads from their ass and close ranks?

You know: like what the GOP does when it wants to pursue an ill-conceived war or chaos-inducing deregulation maneuvering.

Health Care Reform update

Congress is still creeping slowly "forward" on the health care bill.

The 800-pound gorilla, a Public Option, is still not an option as Republicans want to protect the Health Insurance Industry Death-Quickening-and-leading-cause-of-personal-bankruptcy-sucking-away-at-the-life-essence-of-our-Nation Industry in our "free market".

Protect Insurance Company Profits

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Retainer Practice, membership healthcare

Because the system is broken, some doctors try a different approach.

Robery Reich on the Public Option

Mr. Reich sounds as if he's addressing 2-year-old children. Which is sort of accurate.

The HR676 petition is here.

choose death

Republicans still blocking each and every health care reform bill in congress.

How is it that Republicans find it easy to spend money on War, but difficult to correct the horrific overspending-and-under-service of the health care system?

The GOP's new Motto should be: "When in doubt, choose death"

Big Time Big Pharma smackdown

2.3 Billion dollars in combined penalties.

"Pfizer Inc agreed on Wednesday to plead guilty to a criminal charge relating to promotions of its now-withdrawn Bextra pain medicine and will pay a record $2.3 billion to settle allegations it improperly marketed 13 medicines."

I wonder if the lawyers at the U.S. Attorneys office were giving each other high fives.

Next up: Personal Genome Sequencing

Latest advances from Stanford:

Genome Sequencing Gets 99.9833% Price Cut

With the cost currently at $50,000 (down from $300 million), it's an official Tech Race.

The cost-efficiency target is $1000 and under one month. At that point it will enter into widespread usage. Checking a person for genetic markers as a normal diagnostic tool and for preventative medicine will be a reality.

1/2 of current health care costs are wasteful

This is the broken system that certain conservative party-liners seek to preserve with crass smoke and mirrors disinformation tactics.

swimming with sharks

At MoveOn.org: Sign the letter calling for a real public option.

Health Insurance as Investment

If you viewed health insurance through the eyes of a finance professional, what kind of investment would it be?

Felix Salmon, in his blog post Conditional probabilities and evil insurers, sees it as a risky one... you have about a 50% chance of collecting (and a 50% chance of getting nothing) if you get really sick.

"if you’re making a series of small payments now on the grounds that you will be paid a large sum of money if something bad happens, you’re running some large and unhedgeable counterparty risk"

The Taunter article (unconscionable math) which he refers to is a clear analysis of health insurer's rescission methods. ie - real and sad and borderline criminal.

The simple numbers of Universal Health Care

The real numbers here: Healthcare costs in U.S. vs. rest of world.

UK, France and Germany... all have universal health care, the "European-style Socialism" feared by U.S. Conservatives.

Those nations pay less than $4000 per capita for health care. In the U.S. it's nearly $7000 per capita (with over 40 million people falling through the big "not-covered" crack.)

Conservatives in Europe look at America's health care shenanigans and wonder what brand of crack we're all smoking. Universal health care doesn't appear to be offensive to even the most conservative of folk on the other side of the pond.

Let's review:
1) Twice the $$$ per capita goes into the U.S. health care system, but many citizens aren't given access to that health care, and those that do have access/coverage can have it rescinded for any odd reason.

2) Universal health care (UK/France/Germany) costs half as much per capita than the U.S. and no one is refused care.

Now... how exactly is Universal Public Health Care worse?

How does universal health care work?

In Europe, Health Care is a basic human right.

In America, Freedom of Speech and the right to bear arms is covered. We got that whole "life, liberty, pursuit of happiness" thing... whatever that means.

But Health Care is a commodity in the U.S., not a basic human right.

What America doesn't want but desperately needs is Universal Health Care. Hear David Sedaris on French health care (Real Audio File). A view from the inside. From NPR's Morning Edition - August 15, 2000

Sadly, the Asshole Health Insurance Cabal and it's 30% skim will likely continue, except with a new infusion of funding from your tax dollars. Thanks Obama. More Socialism for the Rich.

doctors within borders

They call themselves Remote Area Medical . They are a lot like Doctors Without Borders except instead of going to far flung areas of the planet, the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps stays right here in the United States providing health care to Americans in the poorest, most remote regions.

So what backwoods distressed region of disease and pestilence are they flying to next?

To Los Angeles on August 11-18, 2009.

That's right. Los Angeles (County) ranks as the 16th largest economy on planet earth with a GDP larger than all but 15 nations. Just to be clear: L.A. County's GDP is bigger than Russia, Taiwan, Argentina, Switzerland and France.

The Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps is going to L.A. to "provide free MEDICAL, VISION, and DENTAL care for uninsured, underinsured, unemployed, under-employed persons".

Not sure if they're bringing The Four Horsemen with them.

AUGUST 11 - AUGUST 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
at
THE FORUM in INGLEWOOD
3900 W Manchester Blvd

beginning at 5:30AM daily

Info HERE

and the horse you rode in on

Nancy Pelosi tears the insurance industry a new one .

“They are the villains in this. They have been part of the problem in a major way. They have been doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening. The public has to know that. They can describe their arguments any way they want, but the fact is they don’t want the competition. They don’t even want anti-trust laws. They have had a good thing going for a long time at the expense of the American people and the health of our country. Our members have to go out there ready to take on a big special interest that has not made our country healthier and have made our cost spiral upward and for whom that is coming to an end.”

minute clinic at CVS pharmacy... the 99 cent model begins

It's just basic screening and prevention at affordable rates. Seems simple enough.

They accept most insurance. If the procedure you desire isn't covered by your plan you just pay with cash/credit card. But if your insurance doesn't cover these simple things, you gotta ask yourself: "Why exactly am I footing a monthly bill for health care that doesn't cover my health care?"

A fully transparent rate card reveals their list of services. The easy things at the low-risk and low-end.

I clicked around the site and under the basic Health Screening (for heart disease, diabetes and stroke) I found this:

"Service available in all states except: Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania."

Why, because 66 bucks is too low to charge? What? I don't understand.

The $30 Hypertension screening not available in Massachusetts. Again... why? There are a lot of sausage-chomping angry dudes there; they could use some help.

Not a new idea. It's a growth market: Med-Basics is in the game. Wal-Mart contracts various regional health care companies. Rite-Aid in California has Lindora for Weight Loss and Wellness services. Walgreens has Take Care Clinic .

Everyone and their Mom is doing it.

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  UPDATE - July 30, 2009 :
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Took my girlfriend to a Minute Clinic today to see about her chronic allergies.

health care deal imminent

The Senate version of health care overhaul according to this Reuters article is nearing it's August deadline and it looks like business as usual.

By "Health Care Reform" what they actually mean is "same shit, different smell".

No public option to the Medical-Insurance Cabal, maintaining their 30% private "tax" on all medical transactions. I wonder whose palms are being greased on Capitol Hill to keep the bullshit parade afloat.

Obama is in the South today selling his 8 leftover Action Items:

"no discrimination for preexisting conditions, only reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, no dropping of coverage for serious illness, no gender discrimination, no annual or lifetime caps and extended coverage for young adults"

...which all sounds very inspiring and affirmative.

Seeing as it is likely these reforms will be enforced on the existing Vampiric Money Bleed System of private profit-based underwriters, it begs the question: How will this be paid for?

"The Senate panel also is likely to back a tax on high-cost insurance policies to raise revenue and keep costs down."

Not unlike the Wall Street multi-trillion dollar bailout, the shape of health care "reform" looks to be another victory for Socialism for the Rich.

And I thought Dubbya was a money funneling greed-head with his private contractors in the War on Terror. Dubbya was an amateur. We're dealing with professional grifters here.

Rein in insane health costs

Former U.S. controller general David M. Walker says, "Rein in insane health costs" before dumping more money into a broken system.

"If there's one thing that can bankrupt our nation, it's health care costs. Health care reform must do more than add a wing on a house that is structurally flawed"

"Rein in insane health costs" - NY Daily News

HR676, the red-headed step child health plan

"Support a Real Public Option" by Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich advocates HR676 which calls for a "universal single-payer health care system in the United States, Medicare for All". He argues that HR 3200, "America's Affordable Health Choices Act", still feeds billions into the wasteful and expensive for-profit insurance infrastructure.

"four percent of Americans trust insurance companies"

Ok, what percentage of Americans trust Congress not to fuck it all up? Will the layers of government bureaucracy required to administer any of these plans mash it into an incomprehensible mess like everything else the Fed touches?

Weigh in with your opinion: feedback[at]kucinich.us

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UPDATE: follow the action on HR676 at DAILYKOS.COM

why Obama's 10 trillion dollar boondoggle isn't the only game in town

Why look to the top of Supreme singular hierarchies for answers?

In its initial stages, the Healthcare X PRIZE.

Private initiatives can accomplish with scraps what a bloated and corrupt central government cannot achieve with brute force stupidity.

flat rate health care illegal in New York

Not-overcharging for primary health care is apparently illegal in the state of New York. At least that is what State Insurance Regulators say.

Reuters article here

I guess they didn't get their  bribe  cut of the profits.

When things like this happen, the words "conspiracy" and "monopoly" and "asshole health insurance cabal" come to mind.

I don't see the problem. It clearly states on AMG's website: "this is not insurance".

Stick that in yer pipe and smoke it, ya overreaching bureaucratic dinosaurs.

$79 unlimited preventative care in NYC: AMG Medical Group

medical marijuana on demand

one day in the not-too-distant future, these machines will be on street corners everywhere.

not.

noninsurance clinics... the Subsrciption Health Care alternative

This Reuters Article details a Seattle clinic that costs $99 to join and a flat rate of $39 to $119 per month. quit anytime, no one is rejected for pre-existing conditions.

For that you get "unrestricted round-the-clock primary care access and 30-minute appointments".

While Congress bickers over how to pay for the trillion dollar national health care plan, Seattle doctors are actually doing something.


Qliance Medical Group in Seattle.