I'm Just Saying.....

If our current, (somehow) elected Congresspersons and Sentaors can not read or choose to get their information about H.R. 3200 from a forwarded chain email (I'm talking to you Rep. Curtis Blackwood of North Carolina), then we have a major problem. Rep. Blackwood took criticisms, that originated from God only knows where, and put them in a newsletter to his constituents telling them that they would find some "interesting facts" regarding the "Democrats' big health care bill". I don't even know how to properly speak to this. I mean. Really? You really sent an email filled with misleading information and lies that have been debunked on numerous occassions by a number of individuals and non-profit organizations? And you sent it in the form of a newsletter from your office? I mean. Wow. I...well I'm just stunned actually. What a gross misjustice you have done and you should be ashamed of yourself.

And to quickly address the insulting display of disrespect from Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina (another congressperson I'm sure has not read the bill or has read any law whatsoever). It is currently ALREADY UNLAWFUL FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS TO RECEIVE GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE. This bill does nothing to change that policy. Folks are taking out of context in Section 152 on page 50. Coming to you, directly from the bill:

"[e]xcept as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services."

The last time I checked, "personal characteristics" was not a synonym for "illegal aliens", but what do I know? I would actually take that to mean that you can not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender, age....you know, actual characteristics of a person.

I would also like to reiterate that on page 143 of the bill, it states:
"Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."

I'm beginning to think that people who claim to have "read" the bill are either lying and propogating the BS they hear on Fox News and other ridiculously conservative media outlets or they are just incompetent and do not understand plain English. I would venture to guess that these are the same people that send me emails about how people need to learn to speak English or get out even though the United States does NOT have a national language. Hmmm. I wonder how many of these folks had ancestors that didn't speak English. Including Native Americans. Who are the only true non-immigrants. I'm just staying. And I digress.

To make the point I was beginning, this is a website that came up as a legitimate Affordable Health Care source on the homepage of Google: http://www.sdc.com/swingers-blogs/Proposed-Health-Care-Bill-Blog-35030.html

W.O.W. A quote: "Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession."

How many times do these outright lies need to be debunked? A thousand times? Would that be enough? Here is a thought, crack open the bill and take a gander for yourself instead of trusting a complete stranger who has claimed to read it. But like most things, you see what you want to see instead of being objective. And, I simply can not WAIT to see how many free "forced participation in abortions" we have coming our way. I'm trying to contain myself from falling off of my chair and laughing about this absolutely ridiculous claim. But, I can keep myself seated because some people actually believe this is true. And the saddest part, is that this is bill would probably help those people the most.

I will have to save my outrage towards Sarah Palin for another day. I just don't have the energy.

Read it for yourself:

http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

Back in Action

I tend to only blog when something is important to me. This time around - its the debate surrounding health care reform. A close family friend recently told me that her six-year old child hasn't been covered in three years because she has acid-reflux and there isn't a health insurance company that would insure her. They won't insure a 3-year old because of heart burn??? WTF! God forbid something terrible happen to her. Their family could be bankrupted if she falls off of the monkey bars and breaks her arm - perhaps requiring surgery to the tune of 10's of thousands of dollars.

Which brings me to my next point. Close to 60% of the 1.5 million bankruptcies being filed this year are due to medical bills. 75% of thoes people HAVE insurance but claims were denied. One crucial talking point of the right wing is that having the government involved, that you would be letting beauracrats make medical decisions for you......NEWSFLASH: THEY ALREADY DO. They are just subsequently lining their pockets with our premiums. There is one health insurance CEO that is making $150 million per year. And my friend's chid can't have insurance because of heart burn.

"Among those whose illnesses led to bankruptcy, out-of-pocket costs averaged $11,854 since the start of illness; 75.7 percent had insurance at the onset of illness."

The average bankrupt person surveyed had spent $13,460 on co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services if they had private insurance. People with no insurance spent an average of $10,893 for such out-of-pocket expenses. How can it cost MORE to be insured than to not be?? I'm sorry if this makes no sense to me....

Don't buy into the BS that the media is trying to sell you. Do some research and read the bill as its being presented. The goal is not to eliminate private insurance, its goal is to try to make health care accessible and affordable to every single American by offering a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete.

People fail to realize that they pay for those who are uninsured anyways - through the form of their health insurance premiums. You are also penalized if you get sick. I had knee surgery this year, now next year when our company goes in for coverage review, they are going to come back with high rates, because of me. And my company and/or co-workers will have to foot the bill. The bill that insurance companies should pay for since we pay so much in premiums.

More facts and figures:

• The United States has the 2nd most costly health care.
• We rank 37th in the world for quality of health care.
• The insurance companies retained a surpluss of over $600 billion by the end of 2006, which is higher than the GDP of 193 countries.
• If you are a woman, you pay more for health insurance.
• Right now, providers in Illinois lose over $2.1 billion in bad debt which often gets passed along to families in the form of a hidden premium “tax”.
• In IL, the largest insurer carries 52% of the insured population....where is the competition for quality health care at an affordable rate?

This is just the beginning......pay attention and don't be caught buying into the big "town hall" uprising crap. There are actually groups out there that are teaching people how to disrupt a town hall meeting that state representatives are hosting to make it look like tons of people are up in arms over health care reform.

Toni