Mind boggling questions on COVID-19

COVID-19 Common Sense Questions

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 22, 2020

There are just way too many claims about COVID-19 that are made by people who cannot back it up with facts all over social media.

What troubles me the most is there are too many who do not even bother to ask questions to clear things up.

My first question deals with the protestors. Do protestors know any facts at all?

Take North Carolina and the protestors who apparently have not heeded any of the warnings or recommendations from the experts, taking to the streets in large crowds without bothering to cover their own faces so they do not spread the virus to all the other strangers near them.

Hundreds gather in North Carolina and Missouri to protest stay-at-home orders

It isn't as if they are able to prevent the spread enough that they should even be talking about this, but they have not bothered to learn how to prevent it, thus preventing their fellow citizens from going back to whatever "normal" was for them sooner.

If masks are to prevent the wearer from spreading the virus, what good do they do to protect the healthcare workers from getting it from patients?

This is from last month but explains the point of this question.
In the area of Seattle that’s been hardest-hit, some nurses in emergency departments are washing and reusing surgical masks, gloves and gowns. They may work on a patient for hours or more before learning they tested positive for COVID-19.

“I’ve got a two-day supply of masks, so we’re trying to be conservative,” said Dr. Stephen Anderson, an emergency physician at the MultiCare Auburn Medical Center in suburban Seattle. “You get one in the morning. You clean it and reuse it.

The intent of the face masks to prevent the person wearing it from infecting someone else. That is why they wear them in operating rooms. The patient does not wear it to protect them!

Why aren't healthcare providers and responders given face shields to protect them from patients?

Police in NJ Town Wear Special Suits, Face Shields to Stave Off COVID-19

Why do some people pass off the pandemic as nothing more serious than the flu? When you look at the numbers consider that here in the US, CNN reported "New autopsy results show two Californians died of coronavirus in early and mid-February -- up to three weeks before the previously known first US death from the virus." But these are the numbers now.

Deaths COVID-19: Approximately 178,371 deaths reported worldwide; 45,075 deaths in the U.S., as of Apr. 22, 2020.*

Flu: 291,000 to 646,000 deaths worldwide; 12,000 to 61,000 deaths in the U.S. per year.

When will people understand that we only know a fraction of the people hit by this?

Is The U.S. Testing Enough For COVID-19? As Debate Rages On, Here's How To Know

Nationally, testing has increased in recent weeks. According to the CDC, nearly 700,000 tests were completed last week. But the U.S. is not yet near the 10% positive benchmark.

Considering we have not managed to answer the more obvious questions on this, getting real answers to stop the poor attitude spreading out across the country will have the same odds that are not good.

VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform

VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 15:12:28 EDT

The commander of the nation’s largest organization for combat veterans has issued an unusual apology for stating that President Obama’s national health care reform initiative is “betraying” veterans.

Thomas Tradewell Sr., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, issued a written apology for his earlier criticism of Obama and Democratic leaders for failing to include language in the final health care reform bill that specifically exempts the veterans health care system from its effects.

Just as the House of Representatives was about to vote on the final national health care reform package March 21, Tradewell issued a statement that read: “The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America’s veterans, and and what makes matters worse is the leadership and the president knows the bill is flawed, yet they are pushing for passage today like it’s a do-or-die situation.”

In a March 25 statement, Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, said he “apologized for using too harsh of a word. But I did not apologize for our strong advocacy on the issue.”
read more here
VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform

Who lied to veterans over Tricare?

Most of this week there have been several posts on this issue. What it boils down to is that when politicians decided to lie to veterans and the troops to scare them, they betrayed the men and women risking their lives as well as the veterans of combat for the sake of this country. This betrayal requires they be held accountable. If they lied because "they didn't know better" it was their job to know what the hell they were talking about. Vote them out because they have proven they are not interested in working for the people. If they knew they truth but lied anyway to score political points, then they should be kicked out of office. We all need to stop letting politicians get away with telling us lies but it is more disgraceful when they use the troops and veterans to get what they want.

Dems: Health reform threat to Tricare overblown
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, March 27, 2010
Republican lawmakers raised the specter of military families and survivors of veterans seeing health care costs rise as a result of the national health reform law that President Obama signed March 23.

But the threat was never more than a notion and it is fading away. That’s the consensus among most military associations and veterans groups, as reinforced by statements from the secretaries of defense and veterans affairs, the White House and chairmen of key congressional committees.

White House officials were angered, and some veterans groups perplexed, by press releases issued last Sunday from Republicans on the House armed services and veterans’ affairs committees, and by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, hours before the House voted to approve the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The VFW said "the president and the Democratic leadership are betraying veterans" by not adopting a Republican amendment that explicitly would list Tricare and VA survivor health benefits as meeting the health reform bill’s minimum essential coverage standard.

Without that status, ranking committee Republicans Howard "Buck" McKeon (Calif.) on armed services and Steve Buyer (Ind.) on veterans’ affairs, argued these beneficiaries and even some veterans’ children could be forced to pay a penalty or buy extra health insurance.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=140&article=68932

Homeless veterans hearing ends due to GOP grandstanding

What has happened to these people? Do they care about anything other than just trying to stop what they can? Now they hurt homeless veterans waiting for someone to step up and take care of them? Is this going to end up like healthcare insurance reform and they leave behind hatred against other people waiting for some kind of help? For heaven's sake! I just got back from a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran! (read post later today)

Are level headed Republicans going to take back their party and restore common sense and common decency? Will they set aside their differences to get something done? Their opposition is hurting homeless veterans!

Senate veterans hearing shut down due to partisan obstruction

MEDIA RELEASE

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a hearing Wednesday, March 24 on VA’s plan to end veteran homelessness in the next five years. It is estimated more than 100,000 veterans – including at least 800 in Hawaii – are homeless in the United States on any given night.

The hearing ended abruptly at 11 a.m. after opponents of health insurance reform objected to allowing most committee hearings, including the Veterans’ Affairs hearing, to continue. Senate rules require unanimous consent on the Senate floor for committees to meet two hours after the Senate convenes. Objections to the routine procedure are extremely rare.

“The Senate should be a place for debate, but I cannot imagine how shutting down a hearing on helping homeless veterans has any part of the debate on the health insurance reform. I am deeply disappointed that my colleagues chose to hinder our common work to help end veteran homelessness,” Akaka said.

The hearing included witnesses from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as community providers who help homeless veterans, and a veteran in transitional housing.

Chairman Akaka was forced to gavel the hearing to an end in the middle of testimony from witness Dr. Sam Tsemberis from Pathways to Housing, a service provider with hands-on experience helping homeless veterans, particularly those with psychiatric disabilities and addiction disorders.

“With a growing commitment from Congress, the federal government, and community providers, we are on track to end veteran homelessness in five years. We must stay focused and work together to accomplish this important and ambitious goal,” Akaka said.

VFW vs VFW Tradewell

If you ever want to know the truth when people say terrible things, always check the record.

VFW Officer Hits VFW’s Tradewell in Testimony on Health Care
March 25, 2010 by Michael Leon
U.S. Rep Chet Edwards (D-Waco), member of the House Appropriations Committee and Chair of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, slammed the Veterans for Foreign Wars’ (VFW) discredited attack on Health Care Reform as a “betrayal” of American veterans in a Congressional hearing as a VFW witness refused to defend his own national commander’s “betrayal” remarks.

The line of attack against health care reform pushed by Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., national commander of the Veterans for Foreign Wars’(VFW) and a political opponent of health care reform, has been buried by a mountain of criticism as the VFW’s political credibility has been in free fall since Thomas J. Tradewell penned his screed over the weekend that that Health Care Reform harms Tricare and betrays veterans.

Edwards who voted No on Health Care Reform and Rep Sam Farr (D-CA) fairly humiliated the VFW’s Eric Hilleman (deputy director-VFW National Legislative Service) in Congressional testimony Tuesday appearing as a witness before the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee.

Hilleman repeatedly refused to defend Tradewell’s “betrayal” remarks, stating to the Committee in his sworn testimony that “(t)here is clear demonstration that this Congress and the administration has put forward an incredible effort on behalf of America’s veterans” in direct questioning on Tradewell’sremarks, and refering the Committee to the “the commander (Tradewell) on his own actions” and “remarks.”

A remarkable exchange among Chairman Edwards, the VFW’s Hilleman and Rep Sam Farr (CA) is below. Looks like Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. has been thrown under the bus and then backed over. The only question is how quickly the VFW will push out the discredited Tradewell.

.....in the last 3 years that I have chaired this subcommittee and Democrats have been a majority in the House, we have increased funding for veterans by more funding levels by higher amount, probably by a huge magnitude, in fact, than any other 3-year period in Congress.

read more here
VFW Officer Hits VFWs Tradewell in Testimony on Health Care

Vietnam Veterans of America Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”

Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”
March 23, 2010 by Robert L. Hanafin


Despite the media spin and scare tactics of opponents of health care reform as reported in previous articles on Veterans Today, Sec Def Gates Knocks Down Fox/VFW Report on Tricare, AND American Legion Says Health Care Reform Won’t Harm VA, DoD


Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) has joined in chorus with the American Legion, Pentagon officials, and Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees to reassure Veterans, our troops, and military retirees that health care reform will have no impact on Veterans benefits or TRICARE the health care plan covering active duty and military retirees.

Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News


Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Applauds Passage of Skelton Bill Ensuring Protection of TRICARE, VA health care, and CHAMPUS; Decries “Scare Tactics”

“We thank and applaud passage of H.R. 4887 yesterday in the House of Representative, by a vote of 403-0. Passage of this bill ensures that health care programs for veterans, active duty military, retired military, and their families/survivors will not be affected negatively by the pending health care reform legislation.” said John Rowan , National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). .

“It is unfortunate that some continue to raise what is now even more clearly a false alarm that is apparently meant to frighten veterans and their families in order to prompt them to oppose the pending legislation. While there is legitimate debate as to whether or not the pending health care measures should become law, VVA does not appreciate spreading rumors that are not accurate by any political partisan from any point of the political spectrum.” continued Rowan

“Last summer there was a similar incident, also involving partisans in the health care reform debate that VVA soundly condemned. We said then: “It is our hope that sane minds reject fear-mongering, and that veterans recognize these scare tactics for what they are.”

Rowan concluded by saying: “VVA has always worked hard for justice for veterans of all generations, and their families. We have always, and will continue to, work with public officials representing all political parties and points of view. Issues affecting veterans and their families are not, should not, and must not become partisan footballs to bat around. VVA decries any effort, by anyone, that would do just that.”
read more here
Health Care Reform Scare Tactics

VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care

When I did this post earlier today, Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE
I didn't think the answer would come so fast as to who is behind the lies being told. I'm heartsick. The VFW does great work for our veterans. The members of the VFW, at posts across the nation are dedicated. They are Republicans. They are Democrats. But above all, they are our American veterans of foreign wars. The political action committee however must be answering to an agenda that is not about veterans or taking care of them. Had this been the case, when the Bush Administration had two wars going on, producing more and more wounded, they would have been shouting as loudly as possible that the troops were not being taken care of.

Most of the members of the VFW were not told the truth about this. Most of the members of other service organizations had no clue the Gulf War had more doctors and nurses employed than were employed with Iraq and Afghanistan returning wounded at a higher rate than during any other war. We look at the fatalities, but while those numbers are lower than other wars, the casualties are higher. Battlefield medical advances have saved the lives of soldiers that would have died of their wounds before. This meant there would be a greater need for doctors and nurses working for the VA along with case workers, claims processors and mental health professionals. No one put the needs of the troops we sent into combat before paying contractors.

The lines grew and the claims piled up higher and higher as wounded, disabled veterans were forced to suffer while waiting. For the most part the PAC of the VFW was silent. When some in congress began to scream about the failings of the VA, others in congress were complaining there were two wars to pay for and they couldn't afford to increase funding for the VA. You'd think the VFW PAC would have been screaming about this, but the ones calling for increasing the VA budget were Democrats and the Republicans were saying there wasn't enough money to do it. It's doubtful the VFW PAC watched CSPAN.

While the members of the VFW expect to be told the truth their leadership has let them down. Having legitimate disagreements about what politicians do is part of what makes America work but when politics come before the truth, the veterans are the losers in the end. Once they discover their leadership has lied to them, they leave the VFW and other organizations. That's the greatest loss of all because these members are more interested in the troops and other veterans than anyone else in the country.

Posts have been taking the lead on helping combat veterans heal from PTSD and find the support they need. They have been doing great work but if they keep allowing some in their organization to betray the members with political games, the veterans they have been trying to help will lose.

I go to a lot of veterans functions and hear them talk about what they heard here and there or read in some kind of viral email. What they say is just repeating what they heard instead of knowing the facts. Their hearts are deeply committed to caring for the troops and other veterans but when they are mislead, when they are not told the truth, they feel betrayed by the people they trusted. All organizations need to be aware of what the truth is and what the spin is.

VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care
Richard Allen Smith
Editor of the VoteVets.org blog VetVoice
Posted: March 21, 2010 04:41 PM
Among all of the Congressional elections in 2006, there were two that were particularly interesting. In Virginia, an incumbent Republican Senator who received a deferment from service in Vietnam was endorsed by the VFW's political action committee over a former Navy Secretary who was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as a Marine Officer in the conflict. Also, in a House race that same PAC endorsed a Republican candidate with no service record over an Iraq Veteran who left two legs on the battlefield.

Surprising? Shouldn't be. VFW PAC operates as little more than a subsidiary of the Republican Party, as does the leadership of their parent organization.

Today, that organization issued a statement toeing the GOP line on the health care vote. Of course, in order toe to that line, the VFW had to make things up:

"The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America's veterans," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., who leads the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.
click link above for more

Family health insurance premiums $13,375

I did accounting for a small company back in Massachusetts. Part of my job was the arduous task of negotiating the health insurance coverage for the employees. Each year we had to take a look at what companies were offering, what it would cost and what the employee would have to do without. It was never a matter of searching for better plans as it was searching to save what we could for the company and the employees.

Each year we had to tell them how their raise was going to have to pay for the increase the company had to make and then tell them they would have to pay more out of their paychecks for their share as well. A pay raise they were used to making ended up being a pay cut over health insurance. I have a problem with calling it healthcare coverage since it is not about taking care of their health, but about addressing an insurance company. They had no problem getting their doctors paid since they really liked their doctors, but making sure the insurance company was paid by eating away their raises, well, that was a different story.

This is something a lot of people just never stop to think about. It's not just a matter of the health insurance companies making a profit, they end up making a killing when you get right to the bottom of what's been allowed to happen.

Family health insurance premiums $13,375

MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- An annual U.S. survey of non-federal private and public employers indicates most employers and employees are paying more for health insurance.

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust survey found in 2009, the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance were $4,824 for single coverage and $13,375 for family coverage. Premiums for family coverage are 5 percent higher than last year, but there was no statistically significant growth in the single premiums.

Since 1999, average premiums for family coverage increased 131 percent while the average worker increase was 128 percent for the same period.
read more here
Family health insurance premiums

One couple's health care story

You can try to pass off my feelings, my words, what I post, as just being about a Chaplain, but you'd be wrong. I felt this way long before I became one.

I felt this way when my brother was still alive and each time he lost his job, he had to worry about healthcare for his family. The last time he lost his job, it cost him his life. Less than a week after he was let go, he died of a massive heart attack. He was 56.

I felt this way when my Mom, after spending most of her life working and saving, ended up seeing most of what she earned gone to pay for the nursing home she would spend the last months of her life in.

I've felt this way all my life, that this is wrong when some people can get the medical care they need to stay as healthy as possible but others can't even afford to go to the emergency room when something minor turned into something deadly.

Here are some stories.

Maxed out: One couple's health care story
'Nothing's in my hands. Nothing.'

Helga Kenny and her husband John spent half a century planning for retirement. Now he's had a stroke, and she's left to figure out how to care for him — they had health insurance, but his benefits ran out. First in a series of three stories.
Special report: Maxed out — insured, but not covered
PolitiFact: Keeping the health care plan debate honest

Now we can all stay angry, then end up putting ourselves in someone's place. We can keep saying we have it and their on their own, until we end up turning into "them" suddenly and wondering how the hell we're supposed to pay for an operation we didn't expect or for pills we can't afford. We can all keep shouting but in the end, the people making the money off our suffering are the ones we end up taking care of instead of each other. They won't care if you're the one standing in line for help next year. Plus one more thing is that while we work hard for our pay, we end up seeing raises go to pay for heath insurance and not real healthcare. When you look at it the way it really is, defending companies against humans needing medical care, just doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Study: 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of insurance

My friend Jen was one of them. She died of cancer. She was more afraid to get better than she was to die because she didn't have insurance. A nephew of mine, had an infection in his jaw because of a bad tooth. It got into his brain. He almost died because he didn't have insurance. Now this study makes even more sense. Most of us understand what it's like to do everything right but end up wondering what we did wrong.

Study: 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of insurance

Harvard researchers published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health a study which reveals roughly 45,000 American adults die every year because they are not covered by health insurance.

Researchers specifically noted that lack of health insurance now kills more adults than kidney disease.

The American Journal of Public Health is a subscription-only service. Physics.org reported:

Lead author Dr. Andrew Wilper, who worked at Harvard Medical School when the study was done and who now teaches at the University of Washington Medical School, said, "The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease - but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications."

The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking education, income and many other factors including smoking, drinking and obesity into account. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.

Previous estimates from the IOM and others had put that figure near 18,000. The methods used in the current study were similar to those employed by the IOM in 2002, which in turn were based on a pioneering 1993 study of health insurance and mortality.click link for more

AARP scolds Ginny Brown-Waite for 'misstatements' on health care reforms

AARP scolds Ginny Brown-Waite for 'misstatements' on health care reforms
By John Frank, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, September 6, 2009


BROOKSVILLE — The AARP has sent a scathing letter to U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, criticizing her for promoting mistruths in the debate over health care reform.

"On such a critical issues, there should be little or no room for misstatements … that frighten vulnerable older Floridians or cloud this important debate with misconceptions," wrote Lori Parham, the Florida director for the 40 million-member advocacy group.

The three-page letter, faxed to Brown-Waite's office Tuesday, first thanked her for "putting principle ahead of partisanship" when she corrected myths about end-of-life counseling in an August interview with an Orlando radio station.

But it then proceeded to scold the Brooksville Republican for misrepresenting numerous elements of House Bill 3200 in a flier labeled "Ginny's Prescription," which was distributed at her August town hall meeting on health care. Brown-Waite voted against the bill as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which drafted the legislation.

The congresswoman's flier warns of spending cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage and invokes the concept of rationing, a persistent, yet misstated, scare tactic employed by opponents.
read more here
AARP scolds Ginny Brown-Waite

Veterans Issues



2007-2008 In 2007-2008 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Representative Brown-Waite a grade of B.

2006 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 66 percent in 2006.

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Representative Brown-Waite a grade of C.

2006 Representative Brown-Waite sponsored or co-sponsored 86 percent of the legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006.

2005 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2005.

2004 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2004.

2004 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the The Retired Enlisted Association 33 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 50 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the American Veterans 100 percent in 2003.

2003 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 50 percent in 2003.

2003 Representative Brown-Waite supported the interests of the The American Legion 80 percent in 2003.
Veterans Issues

Factory employees left without healthcare while company still took funds

If you still think that you want the government out of your way when it comes to health insurance, think of this. You go to work, you see deductions coming out of your pay for your premiums, believe you have coverage, then find out, you don't have it. We hear all the time people saying that people without coverage have only themselves to blame, but never do they mention people like these factory workers, or people with coverage but end up having supposedly covered treatment denied. I really hope you never find out you trusted the wrong people with your life because this is not a matter of deciding your own health, it's about greedy companies deciding who gets to pay and who gets denied.

McCain campaign-stop factory ceases paying health premiums, tells no one
By Daniel Tencer

Published: September 6, 2009
Updated 29 minutes ago


When then-presidential candidate John McCain declared Pennsylvania’s Turbine Airfoil Designs an example of “both the opportunities and the challenges that face our manufacturing base,” he probably had little inkling that one of those “challenges” would be the company’s decision to stop paying the premiums on its employees’ health care — without telling the employees.

Until they received a letter from Capital BlueCross in March of this year informing them that their insurance had been canceled, employees at the aircraft parts manufacturer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, thought their insurance policies were valid, because their insurance cards continued to be accepted.

But, in fact, TAD had stopped paying health insurance premiums in October, 2008, even as employees continued to see health premiums deducted from their paychecks.
read more here
McCain campaign stop factory ceases paying health premiums

Clergy discuss health reform

Clergy discuss health reform
By Mindy Rubenstein, Times Correspondent
In Print: Saturday, September 5, 2009


CLEARWATER — Eileen Jacobs of Clearwater drew applause and cheers as she pointed out Friday morning that one of the nation's largest health insurers took in a $5 billion profit this year and asked, "Why are we so afraid of government? … The government is us."

Her husband, O'Neal Jacobs, 87, is a World War II veteran who receives health benefits from the Veterans Affairs Department, including $4,400 worth of eye medicine each month. She pointed out that the VA system is one of the best.

When people say, " 'get government out of my health care', I am appalled," she said.

Eileen Jacobs, 80, was not alone in her pleas. The passions were overflowing Friday morning during a public forum that included about eight clergy from different faith traditions, who came together to discuss health care reform.

"We were a little nervous about opening it up to people, but something told us that we needed to," said the Rev. Abhi Janamanchi of the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater, which co-hosted the forum with Hammock's Unity Church of Clearwater. "The stories that followed were very powerful."

He said the goal was threefold: to urge people to respect the democratic process and respect each other's opinions; to engage in the process, including contacting their elected representatives; and to remind people that we have a moral obligation to speak up for those without health care.

"In this crisis, we have an unprecedented opportunity" to create a fair system, he said.

read more here

http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/clergy-discuss-health-reform/1033889

You should also read this.

Know the facts before taking stance on health care
By Jan Glidewell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, September 6, 2009

Things didn't really get better until 1972 when Congress decided to fund dialysis through Medicare (a, ahem, government program).

Today, some 345,000 Americans, including a dear friend of mine, are being kept alive by dialysis.

At the risk of hammering home a point too hard, it wasn't medical corporations or insurance companies that saved all of those lives, it was government realizing that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness works better for those who are actually alive.

And trying to make an issue of end-of-life counseling is obviously being ballyhooed by those who have never had to make that decision.

go here for the rest of this

Know the facts before taking stance on health care

Healthcare supporter bites off opponent’s pinky

Not only were the people shocked, this has gotten way out of hand and totally ironic when you think the man that was against public healthcare, used it to get his finger put back on.

Healthcare supporter bites off opponent’s pinky
By John Byrne

Published: September 3, 2009

According to reports, the man then picked up his finger and promptly walked to a nearby hospital for treatment. Neither individual was identified.

The altercation took place outside at a rally sponsored by MoveOn.org.

The news comes just a day after a man was reportedly punched in the face and knocked to the ground by a supporter of the public health insurance option in Miami.

An Associated Press report published Thursday afternoon indicates that the protester had successful surgery on his finger, and was covered by a government health plan.

“A hospital spokeswoman says the man lost half the finger, but doctors reattached it and he was sent home the same night,” the AP reports. “She says he had Medicare.”

read more here

Healthcare supporter bites off opponents pinky

Do our elected deserve better healthcare than us?

UPDATE, Looks like we now know why


Six lobbyists per lawmaker enough on health care?
Posted: 01:09 PM ET
FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Want to know why they’re having trouble getting health care reform passed in Washington? Consider this: There are six…. count ‘em — six, lobbyists for each of the 535 members of Congress.

This translates to 3,300 lobbyists working on health care — or three times the number who lobby on defense. These groups reportedly spent more than $263 million on lobbying during the first six months of this year — with drug makers alone spending more than $134 million.

One expert tells Bloomberg news: “The sheer quantity of money that’s sloshed around Washington is drowning out the voices of citizens and the groups that speak up for them.”

And let’s talk about that money for a minute. According to The Center for Responsive Politics, health-related companies gave almost $170 million to federal lawmakers in 2007 and 2008.


It's really amazing the same people saying government healthcare is no good, are also the same people thinking private healthcare is not good enough for them. Why do you think that is? Could you imagine if we told them that they have to give their's up and live like the rest of us?
Six lobbyists per lawmaker enough on health care

GOPers Decrying "Socialized Medicine" Go To Govt. Hospital For Surgeries



By The Huffington Post News Team, Huffington Post
Republicans in Congress have raised the specter of a bloated, "socialized," bureaucrat-run nightmare of a health care system as a means of undermining the White House's effort at a systematic overhaul. And yet, as Democratic sources are now pointing out, when medical crisis hit close to home, many of these same officials turned to a government-run hospital for their own intensive care and difficult surgeries.

Take, for instance, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who warned that "a government takeover of health care" would "take away the care that people already have [and] are perfectly satisfied with." In its place, the senator said, would be "a system in which care and treatment will be either delayed or denied."

That was July 2009. In February 2003, McConnell actually went to one of those government-run institutions (where treatment is, apparently, "either delayed or denied") for a procedure of his own. The Kentucky Republican traveled to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to have an elective coronary artery bypass surgery after it had been revealed that he had arterial blockages.

Also known as Bethesda Naval Hospital, the National Naval Medical Center is the premier branch of the United States Navy's system of medical centers -- as in, the government runs it. It's also the place where elected officials of all ideological stripes and political branches often go get surgery performed. Indeed, members of Congress pay an annual fee for the privilege of getting treatment at Bethesda Naval Hospital or, for that matter, Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It is, as longtime Democrat Martin Frost wrote for Politico, "like belonging to an HMO." Only, in these cases, the surgery is conducted at a public facility.
read more here
GOPers Decrying Socialized Medicine

Healthcare? Thou shall not lie

Yes I know President Obama said the same thing yesterday and I wonder what took so long to just say it like it is. The cool thing is that a politican is being a human and saying things the rest of us have been saying. But I wanted to update you on this from CNN.

UPDATE

Debunked health care rumors live on
Rep. Allen Boyd was asked at a health care town hall if reform would let the government access bank accounts. "That's not true," the Florida Democrat responded. "When someone sends you something on the Internet that sounds crazy, how about just checking it a little bit?" The CNN Truth Squad has debunked that rumor. Yet other dubious claims keep coming up. full story

It is time to stop calling it being misinformed. It is time to stop calling in rumors. They are out right lies and anyone that believes lies when the truth is available to find is committing a sin especially when they push lies. There is no excuse.

This healthcare reform will not fund abortions.
This healthcare reform will not take care of people here illegally.
This healthcare reform will not take anyone off Medicare, Medicaid or the VA

Cuts to the budget for Medicare will be achieved by cutting out waste, like making elderly people go for the same blood tests by different specialists for the same problem. This used to drive my Mom nuts. She often wondered if there was any blood left in her body and had to deal with large bruises on her arms. X-rays, already paid for on a body part, were retaken by a different doctor. This made no sense at all. It will not take people off of Medicare. It will not pull the plug. End of life talks with a doctor are about taking care of what people want and not about the "government deciding who lives and who dies" as the lie goes.

Everyone concerned about healthcare reform has the ability to read and listen. If they are too damn lazy to learn what the truth is and then decide if they still have concerns as informed people, are still committing a sin.

When God formed the universe He placed the sun at the center of it, yet many, especially misinformed people believing a lie, said the people telling the truth were committing a sin. They were wrong and God's perfect design with the sun placed right where it was, was attacked when the truth was there.

When it was said the world was round, but others believed it was flat repeated the lie, but the world was still just as round as the day God created it.

When God blessed you with a fully functioning body, working together in harmony with the brain controlling all of it, He expected you to use your mind to learn and let your conscience guide you. If you are more interested in what sounds like the truth than finding out what the truth is, they you are not using your brain and again, you are committing a sin.

What is worse in all of this is you are ignoring the millions of people in this country without what they need to live, their health. When people are not as much afraid of dying as they are being sick, that is a sin. My friend died of cancer but when she first found out about it, she was terrified of not being able to afford getting well. People have to keep spending more and more of their hard earned money to pay the premiums when they are lucky enough to have insurance and then are told they cannot get what they need or lose it as soon as they lose their jobs.

Does anyone think of premiums going up but paychecks don't while the healthcare companies make huge profits off your back?

This is a big deal for this country and the people behind the lies should be called what they are and then pay the price for their lies. If they are on cable news, they should lose their jobs. If they are paid by the insurance companies against reform, they are not thinking about you at all and considering we're talking about your health, that makes it even more outrageous.

Stop sinning and start listening to what the truth really is.

Here's an update,,,,,

August 19th, 2009
Obama appeals to faith-based groups for help on health care
Posted: 06:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama appealed Wednesday to faith-based groups for help in gaining support for his plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system.
“I need you to knock on doors, talk to neighbors, spread the facts and speak the truth,” he told religious leaders and reporters on a conference call that was streamed over the Web at faithforhealth.org.
“This debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people,” he said. “I believe that nobody in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks health insurance.”
Obama urged the listeners to reject misinformation about his plans, noting, “There are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness.”
He referred to some assertions as “ludicrous,” and cited as an example rumors that the government is planning to set up “death panels” to determine the fate of the nation’s elderly.
“These are all fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation: that is, that we look out for one another; that is, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper. And in the wealthiest nation in the world right now we are neglecting to live up to that call.”

Here's one more for you.

A Jewish man is talking to reporters about socialized medicine in Israel. He talked about how they honor their soldiers there with healthcare and not leaving them on the streets. Then he said that when they have Memorial Day, it's to honor them and not have a mattress sale.

A woman standing off camera says "Heil Hitler" to the man talking. Then he pointed out that she should be ashamed of herself.

When the man was talking about having to go the emergency room and having to pay $8,000 for two hours, she made the baby whine cry. Now this is a woman we are supposed to respect the opinion of? I don't think so!

AARP feeling heat over healthcare reform from Medicare Generation

AARP losing tens of thousands of members over support for health care overhaul

By Associated Press

7:07 p.m. CDT, August 17, 2009


WASHINGTON (AP) — About 60,000 senior citizens have quit AARP since July 1 due to the group's support for a health care overhaul, a spokesman for the organization said Monday.

The membership loss suggests dissatisfaction on the part of AARP members at a time when many senior citizens are concerned about proposed cuts to Medicare providers to help pay for making health care available for all. But spokesman Drew Nannis said it wasn't unusual for the powerful, 40 million-strong senior citizens' lobby to shed members in droves when it's advocating on a controversial issue.

AARP is strongly backing a health care overhaul, running ads to support it and hosting President Barack Obama at an online forum recently to promote his agenda to AARP members. However, the group has not endorsed a specific bill and says it won't support a plan that reduces Medicare benefits.
read more here
AARP losing tens of thousands of members

Medicare.gov - The Official U.S. Government Site for People ...
Medicare.gov is a consumer beneficiary Website that provides access to information about Medicare, Medicare health plans

Healthcare debate, Use your brain for a change

My Mom was 85 when she passed away. She had AARP, Medicare and the VA's CHAMPVA. I can tell you right now, she'd be more than willing to smack some people over their heads to get their ears working.

First, to all the Senators and Congressmen out there saying that government should never be involved in healthcare and that socialized medicine is wrong, please explain to all the seniors out there why you don't think they should have it either? Then maybe you can explain it to the veterans why they should have it. After all, if it's bad for everyone else, then you must not think the veterans or the elderly should have it either.

I heard people complain about socialized medical coverage screaming they didn't want it followed by they didn't want their Medicare touched, as if that makes any sense at all.

One more thing that no one seems to be thinking about is that considering the price of private healthcare keeps going up, your paycheck isn't. The amount your boss pays for the share of the burden is not going into your paycheck at the same time you are taking home less because your share goes up as well. I know because I used to pay the bills for a company and faced having to search for healthcare options every year to make sure they were plans our employees could live with.

I had private healthcare thru my husband's job and then the VA too. I got a raise because I was not costing the company more money paying premiums for me.

See that's the biggest problem out there today is that no one seems to be thinking about what they would want if they were without healthcare. I heard one woman on TV complain she doesn't want healthcare and does not want to be forced to get it. I wonder if something happens to her and she ends up in the hospital, how she is planning on paying the bill? Does she expect the rest of us to pay if let's say she ends up with some kind of serious illness? Then why wouldn't she expect that we would be saying we don't want to pay for her because she was irresponsible? She said she could afford it but didn't want it. That's irresponsible.

Too many others don't have a choice. They just can't afford it or they cannot get it because they have some kind of pre-existing condition that the insurance company will not cover. Others lose their jobs and end up working a couple of part time jobs to make up for the lost income and part time workers don't get health insurance. We expect drivers to have vehicle insurance in case they hit us, but because some people decide they don't want it, it drives up the premiums we pay. It works the same way with healthcare but drivers decide to drive without insurance, they don't have to drive. No one gets to decide if they live in a body or not.

Temps don't have health insurance.

Now I'm also sure you've noticed we all have the same body parts that need to work right and when they don't, they need to be taken care of. Our bodies don't know the difference if we have healthcare or not, they just know they need medical help when accidents happen, when illnesses come and when they just don't work right. Since everyone has the same body, why should anyone be treated any differently? Where you live is a choice. What you do for work is a choice. What your soul lives in is not a choice because this body has had the same design since the beginning.

If we don't all have healthcare, the links in the chain keep getting out of control. Aside from it's the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do. Use your brain and wonder who gains if there is not healthcare reform? Is it the insured or the companies? What do Senators and Congressmen have to gain by standing in the way of something that is needed for every American citizen in this country? Donations from rich companies. Anyone saying that socialized medicine is bad, needs to say that to someone on the programs we already have and then explain why one body is worth more than someone else's body just because they can afford to pay for healthcare.

By the way, I'd also like to hear them tell a veteran they are under socialized medicine and should give it up because it's wrong for them to have it. After all, they offer the same argument they used when the VA began and when Medicare began too.

Police Called To Health Care Reform Meeting
Monday, August 17, 2009 9:09:20 PM

Reported By Adam Longo

ORLANDO -- Hundreds of people showed up up Monday night, trying to get into a town hall meeting on health care.

Congressman Alan Grayson is hosting the meeting at a union hall on Virginia Drive as part of a series of informational events on the health care reform proposals out there.
read more here

Police Called To Health Care Reform Meeting

HR 3200 Health care reform may hurt vets, groups warn

Health care reform may hurt vets, groups warn

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 31, 2009 13:16:44 EDT

Six major veterans groups have warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that they will oppose a national health care reform bill unless major changes are made to protect veterans and their families.

In a July 30 letter, the groups said that HR 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009, could increase veterans’ health care costs, limit their treatment options, deny coverage to their families and “threaten the quality of health care offered to veterans through the VA health care system.”

A spokesman for Pelosi’s office did not comment on the specifics but said nobody was trying to hurt veterans. The Democrat-controlled Congress “is committed to our nation’s veterans,” said Nadeam Elshami. “We will continue to work with all stakeholders as the legislation moves forward.”

The concerns are not new. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed concern about the health reform bill’s possible unintended consequences for active, reserve and retired military members, as well as veterans and their families.
read more here
Health care reform may hurt vets, groups warn

Kissimmee doctors prove, it's not always about money

Kissimmee free clinic helps working poor, homeless
Kissimmee doctors care for uninsured, homeless
Mari Robyn Jones Special To The Sentinel
May 18, 2008

KISSIMMEE - They're called the working poor.

They have jobs but lack medical insurance. It's either too expensive to purchase through their company, or their jobs don't offer coverage.

Just a doctor's visit without insurance could cost them at least $100.

At the Osceola Christian Ministry Center, residents can step through the doors of its medical clinic and find four doctors and about a half-dozen nurses waiting to help them.

For free.

With just one doctor, the medical clinic began in a small room at the center at 700 Union St. Since then, three more doctors have volunteered their time, and two years ago the center added about a 1,000 square feet to its building, giving the clinic three exam rooms and a dispensary.

"It's a big benefit to everyone here in town," said John Cimermancic, who needed to use the clinic after feeling intense stomach pains. "If I hadn't gone in there, it might have been very severe. I would have ended up [needing] surgery."

Last year, more than 600 visits were made to the clinic, which the center's assistant director said is equivalent to $120,000 in medical care.

To qualify for help, patients cannot have insurance and must earn less than double the poverty line, or $41,300 for a family of four, assistant director Richard Burton said.
click post title for more