;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 18, 2013
** Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.) & Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Conn.), in a Washington Post op-ed: "In our states ... the Affordable Care Act, or 'Obamacare,' is working. Tens of thousands of our residents have enrolled in affordable health-care coverage. Many of them could not get insurance before the law was enacted. People keep asking us why our states have been successful. Here's a hint: It's not about our Web sites.... The Affordable Care Act has been successful in our states because our political and community leaders grasped the importance of expanding health-care coverage and have avoided the temptation to use health-care reform as a political football." ...
... The Best Health Care in the World. Is Someplace Else. New York Times Editors: "Even as Americans struggle with the changes required by health care reform, an international survey released last week by the Commonwealth Fund..., shows why change is so necessary. The report found that by virtually all measures of cost, access to care and ease of dealing with insurance problems, Americans fared poorly compared with people in other advanced countries.... The [ACA], however imperfect, is needed to bring the dysfunctional American health care system up to levels already achieved in other advanced nations." CW: This isn't news to Reality Chex readers, but it bears repeating. ...
... ** NEW. T. R. Reid of "Frontline" on the four basic healthcare systems established in various nations around the world. If you were wondering why ours is such a mess, Reid's brief post addresses that. Thanks to contributor Whyte O. for this illuminating link.
Julie Pace of the AP: "... the president is fighting to regain trust and credibility with the American people. Those are the same qualities that helped keep him afloat during those earlier battles.... As bad as things are for Obama, they may be worse for many members of Congress. Democrats in both the House and Senate worry the health care problems could dim their re-election chances next year. Republicans are saddled with historically low approval ratings and an internal debate over the direction of their party, though the heath law woes have proved a lifeline following the GOP's much-criticized handling of the government shutdown." ...
... Ed O'Keefe & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The recent debacle over HealthCare.gov's rollout may have narrowed whatever perceived advantages Democratic candidates may have had over Republican opponents. In some minds, the health-care law's flubs have merged with the government shutdown to render an unfavorable verdict on all of Washington." ...
... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "New Hampshire may be ground zero in the political war over the Affordable Care Act, a state where the three Democratic members of the congressional delegation are under serious threat because of the fumbled rollout of the health care law. Suddenly they must balance their loyalty to the White House with the needs of an angry constituency that has had to absorb some of the worst problems with the new law. The problems are many." ...
... Evan McMurry of Mediate: "'The political notion that next year's election, or 2016, the Republican platform is going to be getting rid of health care?' [David] Plouffe[, a former advisor to President Obama, said on ABC News's 'This Week.'] 'Millions of people will be signed up. It's an impossibility.'" ...
... David Morgan & Deborah Zabarenko of Reuters: "Two days after 39 House Democrats joined Republicans on a bill aimed at undermining the law known as Obamacare, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi denied that Democrats have lost confidence in Obama's ability to overcome a botched rollout of his signature domestic policy achievement." ...
... Greg Clary of CNN: "House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday neither she nor President Barack Obama misled the American people when they said, during the run-up to the passage of Obamacare, that people could keep their health insurance plans. Pelosi clarified their remarks, saying they only meant people could keep their plans if they had already signed up before Obama signed the bill in 2010." ...
... Ashley Killough of CNN: Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), "the No. 3 House Democrat, on Sunday blamed a culture of sound bites for President Barack Obama's reneged promise that Americans would be able to keep their existing health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.... Clyburn, the House assistant Democratic leader, said Obama relied too heavily on a sound bite-friendly selling point, rather than spelling out that he was only referring to plans in place before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010 and hadn't changed since." ...
... Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "A day after he questioned President Obama's decision to unwind a major tenet of the health-care law and said the nation's capital might not go along, D.C. insurance commissioner William P. White was fired. White was called into a meeting Friday afternoon with one of Mayor Vincent C. Gray's (D) top deputies and told that the mayor 'wants to go in a different direction,' White told The Washington Post on Saturday.... White's statement was removed from the department's Web site sometime before Friday morning." ...
... The New York Times "The story is here. "Mr. White's statement took direct issue with Mr. Obama's decision, saying the president's policy reversal to allow the continuation of canceled policies 'undercuts the purpose of the exchanges, including the District's DC Health Link, by creating exceptions that make it more difficult for them to operate.'" ...
... Update. Aaron Davis: "A fuller accounting of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's (D) firing of the city's insurance commissioner is coming into view. Documents and interviews show that criticism of William P. White was immediate and fierce inside Gray's office last week when White issued a statement critical of President Obama's proposed fix to part of the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act.... White spent Sunday polishing his résumé."
... A Cautionary Tale. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Angry Americans voice outrage at being asked to pay more for health coverage. Lawmakers and the White House say the public just doesn't appreciate the benefits of the new health law. Opponents clamor for repeal before the program fully kicks in. The year was 1989, and the law was the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which was supposed to protect older Americans from bankruptcy due to medical bills. Instead it became a catastrophe for Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who learned the hard way that many older Americans did not want to be helped in that particular way. Seventeen months after President Ronald Reagan signed the measure with Rose Garden fanfare..., it was unceremoniously stricken from the books by lawmakers who could not see its demise come quickly enough." ...
... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "... there ... appears to be little factual basis to make the hair-raising claim that, by launching the Web site on Oct. 1, the administration as putting the 'millions of Americans' personal information at risk,' as [Rep. Jim] Jordan [R-Ohio] put it, or that [R-Calif.] 'people who knew or should have known, in fact, just simply ignored it,' as [Rep. Darrell] Issa asserted.... Issa and Jordan certainly have the right to express opinions, but they can't tie their opinions to information that has already been disproved. ...
... Today's Munch Prize goes to Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "Obamacare is on life support. Democrats may begin calling for repeal if the law's problems don't get resolved soon.... Would President Obama sign a death warrant on his own signature legislation? That's almost impossible to imagine, but it's entirely reasonable that he may not have a choice in the matter." Kraushaar argues that there may soon be enough votes in Congress to override a presidential veto. ...
What are we here for? Did we come here to just put our approval ratings up on a shelf and admire them? Or are we here to try to make a difference -- to actually start solving some of the problems we've talked about for so long? -- President Obama, November 2010, after his advisors told him not to pursue healthcare reform because it could hurt his re-election chances ...
... Jon Favreau of the Daily Beast writes a full-throated defense of President Obama's efforts to reform the healthcare system. Since it's Favreau, Obama's former speechwriter, it's beautifully wrought. ...
... Elizabeth Bradley & Lauren Taylor, in the New Yorker, on yet another, more effective way, to save some lives & healthcare costs. They met a man who had no shoes, and soon he'll have no feet.
** Voter Suppression, Now & Forevah. The New Juan Williams in the Hill: "Last week, 20 House Republicans, including Louie Gohmert (Texas), Ted Yoho (Fla.) and Michele Bachmann (Minn.), took the first step to impeach Attorney General Eric Holder. They introduced articles of impeachment that target Holder for failing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act and other sins, including not enforcing federal marijuana laws.... But there is a bigger story here. Having twice failed to defeat President Obama, the GOP persists in defying the will of the voters by making it difficult for this president to lead the government. That strategy includes blocking nominees to the cabinet, blocking nominees to the judiciary, shutting down the government and endless charges of scandal that result in hyper-political oversight hearings."
** Paul Krugman: "... the case for 'secular stagnation' -- a persistent state in which a depressed economy is the norm, with episodes of full employment few and far between -- was made forcefully recently at the most ultrarespectable of venues, the I.M.F.'s big annual research conference. And the person making that case was none other than Larry Summers.... If Mr. Summers is right, everything respectable people have been saying about economic policy is wrong, and will keep being wrong for a long time." ...
... CW: See Julie Pace's AP story above. If you want to know why Americans are disgusted with Washington politicians, Krugman describes the real reason: it's the economy, stupid. When people are doing everything they can, are "playing by the rules," yet still can't make ends meet, they looks elsewhere for the reason. And Washington is a good place to find the culprits. ...
... Another Plan to Sabotage the Economy. Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: "Congressional Democrats and the White House, pointing to the sluggish recovery and the still-high jobless rate, are pushing once again to extend the period covered by the unemployment insurance program. But with Congress still far from a budget deal and still struggling to find alternatives to the $1 trillion in long-term cuts known as sequestration, lawmakers say the chances of an extension before Congress adjourns in two weeks are slim. As a result, one of the largest stimulus measures passed during the recession is likely to come to an end, and jobless workers in many states are likely to receive considerably fewer weeks of benefits." ...
... Peter Eavis & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "The push to reshape financial oversight hinges on negotiations in the coming weeks over the so-called Volcker Rule, a regulation that strikes at the heart of Wall Street risk-taking. The rule, which bans banks from trading for their own gain, has become synonymous with the Dodd-Frank overhaul law that Congress adopted after the financial crisis. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has strongly urged federal agencies to finish writing the Volcker Rule by the end of the year -- more than a year after they had been expected to do so -- and President Obama recently stressed the importance of the deadline."
Jay Newton-Small of Time: "The first congressional hearing on how to regulate virtual currencies will take place on Monday afternoon before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Called 'Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats and Promises of Virtual Currencies,' the hearing comes six weeks after federal authorities took down the Silk Road, known as the 'Amazon for drugs,' and arrested its alleged founder, 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht.... Though the session promises to look at all virtual currencies, it will primarily focus on bitcoin, the cryptocurrency used by the Silk Web, according to advance testimony given to Time."
Peter Wallsten & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose record-breaking campaign spending in 2012 made him an icon of the new super-donor era, is leveraging that newfound status in an escalating feud with industry rivals over the future of gambling. Adelson, best known for building upscale casino resorts in Nevada and more recently in Asia, wants to persuade Congress to ban Internet betting. He says the practice is a danger to society and could tarnish the industry's traditional business model. Nearly all of his competitors ... disagree. They say regulated Internet gambling can be done safely and can boost the industry."
Ed O'Keefe: "Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) are leading opposing sides of a months-long disagreement over how the Defense Department should handle the reported rise of sexual assault in the ranks. An emotionally-charged debate is expected to play out on the Senate floor in the coming days as the Senate begins considering the annual defense authorization bill that sets military policy and pay levels." ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Brass slow-walk President Obama's marching orders on sex assault. President Barack Obama set a high bar for the Pentagon's civilian and military leaders in May when he delivered marching orders on sexual assault.... [Secretary of Defense Chuck] Hagel and [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin] Dempsey have been ... writing new rules on troop harassment, checking in on progress every week and pretty much prodding everyone, civilian and enlisted, to pick up their game. But privately, military officials also are trying to be realistic about what they can do -- and the rhetoric they're using and the policy prescriptions they're advocating fall well below the goals set for them by their commander in chief."
Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed profiles attorney Mary Bonauto, who has been instrumental in bringing about marriage equality.
** Edward McClelland, in Salon: "George Washington ... and Abraham Lincoln ... are the twin icons of [the American presidency].... Yet they represent different visions of an American economic order, differences that persist to this day. Washington stood for a system in which one man enriches himself by skimming off the excess value of his underlings' work. Lincoln stood for the principle that every worker is entitled to the full value of his own labor. Call it the battle between Washingtonomics and Lincolnomics. From the founding of this country up until the Civil War, Washington's order was dominant. It's been dominant in our era, too, ever since Washington's native South regained control of the federal government in the 1970s." CW: if there are any American historians among you who think McClelland's thesis is bull, please share.
Congressional Races
What amazes me is that she says she's running to be a new generation of leader. I'm not sure how sticking to the positions of the last 20 or 30 years is the best way to do that. -- Mary Cheney, on sister Liz Cheney's U.S. Senate campaign slogan ...
... All in the Family. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Mary Cheney, a daughter of the former vice president, and her wife, Heather Poe, sharply criticized on Sunday a comment by by Ms. Cheney's sister, Liz Cheney, a candidate for the Senate in Wyoming, that they disagreed on the issue of same-sex marriage. 'Liz -- this isn't just an issue on which we disagree, you're just wrong -- and on the wrong side of history,' Mary Cheney, who is gay, wrote on her Facebook page." Update: Martin has expanded his story. ...
... Mark Stern of Slate: "This sleazy, rotten mess is the race that Wyoming GOP voters deserve.... In an intensely homophobic state like Wyoming, where the vast majority of GOP voters oppose marriage equality, any Republican primary is fated to be a grotesque pissing contest of anti-gay animus. That's why pro-Enzi SuperPAC ads slamming Cheney as a covert gay rights supporter are inundating Wyoming's airwaves: They work, appealing to voters' basest bigotries and helping Enzi open up a 52-point lead over his opponent."
Steve M. of NMMNB reflects on the election of Vance McAllister, a Republican who bested a crazier "establishment" Republican in a Louisiana special Congressional election. McAllister said that the ACA could not be repealed & that the state should accept Medicaid funds. See also yesterday's Commentariat.
The Assassination of President Kennedy
** James McCauley, in a New York Times essay: "... without question..., the remnants of the environment of extreme hatred the city's elite actively cultivated before the president's visit -- have left an indelible mark on Dallas, the kind of mark that would never be left on Memphis or Los Angeles, which were stages rather than actors in the 1968 assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. For the last 50 years, a collective culpability has quietly propelled the city to outshine its troubled past without ever actually engaging with it.... [There have been] transient triumphs in the face of what has always been left unsaid, what the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald once called the 'dark night of the soul,' on which the bright Texas sun has yet to rise."
More on the "Wanted for Treason" flyers from Slate's Rebecca Onion.
Canadian News
News Ledes
AP: "The unusually powerful late-season wave of thunderstorms brought damaging winds and tornadoes to 12 states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and western New York.... Illinois was the hardest struck with at least six people killed and dozens more injured." The Chicago Tribune's main story is here.
Reuters: "Russian President Vladimir Putin told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday there was a 'real chance' to resolve the international standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. The Kremlin said Putin and Rouhani had spoken by telephone at the Russian leader's request, two days before negotiators from Iran and six global powers hold their next talks."
AFP: "Nelson Mandela remains in a 'stable but critical' condition, but 'continues to respond to treatment', the South African government said in its first update on his health since September."
AP: "A retired Minnesota carpenter, shown in a June investigation to be a former commander in a Nazi SS-led unit, ordered his men to attack a Polish village that was razed to the ground, according to testimony newly uncovered by The Associated Press. The account of the massacre that killed dozens of women and children contradicts statements by the man's family that he was never at the scene of the 1944 bloodshed.... On Monday, the prosecutor leading Germany's probe revealed to the AP that he has decided to recommend that state prosecutors pursue murder charges against 94-year-old Michael Karkoc."
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Reader Comments (26)
Well, well. The Chaney tribe's squabble over sexuality is certainly more interesting than the Wyoming senate race. Can't wait for the next episode.
Geezy Peezy! I HAVE HAD IT! NYT's comparing Obama's disastrous rollout of ACA with Bush's disastrous handling of Hurricane Katrina is so beyond crazy! Is this NYT's version of "fair and balanced?" I think they need to be hustled to the ER for a shot of Thorazine. And a few sessions of ECT--none of it covered by insurance, because they have a pre-existing condition. Called "Stupid and Shallow--terminal" It is embarrassing how miserable and meaningless MSM "journalism" has become. What a buncha evil dunces. And, of course, Faux News will play it up so the Tea Party can hate more on Obama. Read John Cassidy in The New Yorker below for a dose of sanity:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/11/six-reasons-the-affordable-care-act-isnt-hurricane-katrina.html
@All. In a sincere effort to be less difficult, I'm going to suggest that I am writing about human awareness, and more importantly, human receptivity. And a little about what makes it, what breaks it, and most importantly, why it is so vital to us as individuals, societies, and as a population which is substantially enthralled by it's ride on a big ball in space--whatever you may think space to be. The story of that ride has changed over countless years, and the wars of definition with them, but the ride itself is, and has been to a large extent, always thus. It is we who change most, as individuals and then groups of individuals. We then, in turn, change the face of things. The face of things then changes us.
I am much more an observer, to the extent that I am worth a listen, than an opinionator. Observation, when combined with receptivity, can make for insight. Insight can make for wisdom, and wisdom can make for true human genius. Some people think knowledge is built on knowledge, and it just grows into a bigger house, and for such people, life takes shape along that pattern of thought. Genius, no matter how it is regarded (and as it appears to me), is something which occurs spontaneously among a rather smaller group of individuals, or in a dispersed pattern, sometimes affected by associations, and always liable to attract funding, with notable results.
Curiously, many of our cultural icons whom we take to be geniuses attribute much of their value not to the work of others, but to the depth of their seeing. They, in a sense, are better able to hear the music, see the beauty, and divine the essence of the wonders (and the "issues") of the universe. They incite all kinds of technical innovations which then inspire and enthrall, but they come, in their most noted moments, as if from nothing.
We as societies are, in key ways, as we are as individuals. We have our own immunity to disease, and a variety of ways to augment that, with varying degrees of success. Some of us are tied to a very short arc. We also have social immune systems. And they, too, have a kind of coherence and autoimmune functions which can go terribly awry. As doctors owe much to the advances of "battlefield medicine," and population growth owes so much to observations about public health, physicians are often heard to say that our bodies become at war with themselves. So do our minds. And so do our societies, with equally predictable consequences.
The value of genius comes from taking the time to look and to listen in a way that is at once something entirely new under the sun, and yet has always been. The weaponizers then quickly follow with offers of funding. Sometimes we get a net lasting benefit. Because we are human, substantially lost in paradox, we often get a new round of war. War does, I'm sorry to say, suck it out of you.
The genius, inherent in each of us, which Marie might refer to as credibility, is a form of immune response, capable of escalating to a state of war. How we happen into genius, as distinct from being merely purveyors of knowledge, is a question akin to having a healthy life, however brief or blessed by years, or one of incalculable suffering. And there will always be someone taking a really big profit on the conflict.
That simple fact makes depth of insight and freedom from conflict a very cost effective first step, while genius is--sometimes tragically--the goose with the golden egg. War, of course, is a gift to the profiteers. Something we all know. Best wishes to each of us on our quest for functioning relationships, on all levels, and for becoming adept at telling shit from Shinola.
We really need the immune response right now. The rest, I suppose, is politics.
@Todd K.: Yesterday you asked me to define the "rules" for Reality Chex comments. I did my damnedest to explain the parameters, which, BTW, other commenters have no trouble following -- without instruction.
Maybe you didn't read my explanation. At any rate, your comment above falls into the My Pet Gerbil category (and you didn't even call the little rascal Gohmert or Michele-with-One-L).
The next rambling of this nature will be deleted. I'm leaving this one up in case others want to know what not to write.
In short, cut it the fuck out. I don't enjoy being the goddamned hall monitor.
Marie
@ Todd: As interesting as I suspect your philosophical meanderings might be may I suggest you start your own blog site where you attract like minded commentators. You obviously have a lot to say and you should create a space to say it.
Why am I getting the distinct feeling that some Insurance companies are putting the screws to the ACA. The story above in N.H. is pretty devastating. How does one explain this to people with cancer who can no longer go to a nearby hospital, can no longer see doctors that have treated them, and have to travel two hours or more to a different hospital and be seen by new doctors. And why in the world wasn't this kind of situation taken care of before hand? N.H. has only ONE carrier? huh??????
@P.D. Pepe: Like you, I was nonplussed to learn that New Hampshire had only one carrier to "compete" on the exchange. I nosed around the Web a little last night, & it turns out the story is sort of complicated.
For one thing, even before the ACA was a gleam in Obama's eye, Anthem Blue Cross carried the vast majority of New Hampshire individual policies, so it's being the only carrier now isn't a huge change.
For another, it isn't at all clear that Anthem decided to eliminate coverage for treatment at the 10 hospitals because of the ACA. Anthem cited those hospital's high charges for certain procedures, but I didn't see any evidence that the ACA had an effect on that, tho I suppose it could have. In addition, Anthem will cover emergency treatment performed at the 10 outre hospitals. Still, that's cold comfort for a cancer patient living in Laconia.
The head of Concord Hospital, one of the Anthem-cancelled hospitals, said he was confident his hospital would be back in the Anthem package by 2015. It wasn't clear from the report exactly what the basis was for his confidence.
Also, Weisman should have reported -- and didn't, as I recall -- that New Hampshire state law requires insurers to continue the policies currently in effect for another full year. Nobody in New Hampshire is getting cut off January 1, so the hysteria shouldn't hit the fan just yet.
Finally, the feds are supposed to set up multi-state exchanges next year -- which could, but won't necessarily, include New Hampshire. Those multi-state exchanges would offer coverage from more than one carrier.
As is not entirely evident from the Times report, the ACA is complicated, & what complicates it is often state laws which protect consumers but make entering a state's market unappealing to greedy insurers. To those of you yelling at the top of your lungs, "Single payer!" I'm with you.
Marie
P.S. Sorry not to give you citations on my assertions above, but I did my sleuthing in the middle of the night, & I'll never find the stories again.
PD, I noticed your post and was willing to reply, with specific permission from Marie. I got on to request that permission, and then noticed Marie's comment. It is her site. I have enormous respect for the project and her work, and will continue to. But I am flagged. I don't have an intention to put up a site or a blog. Marie, you are the boss and I am sorry to run afoul. Thanks again.
What gives in NH? Hmmm, I live next door and tend to regard NH as the South Carolina of the northeast! (Though someone from Maine with a governor like LePage probably shouldn't be so snippy).
When I saw (much to my surprise) who had voted YES on 'keeping your health care plan', i.e., Carol Shea-Porter who said, “I voted for a bill that helps consumers in New Hampshire and those around the country to make sure they have the insurance that they want.”
ON THE OTHER HAND, SHE COVERS ALL THE BASES...
"Even so, Shea-Porter added that the plans in the new healthcare Marketplaces will provide better coverage than those noncompliant plans she voted to extend." (from http://nhpr.org/ New Hampshire News).
Translation: "...as in in, I want to have it both ways because I'm up for a tough re-election."
@Marie: Thanks for your middle of the night sleuthing––cookies and milk to help it along? You've come up with some interesting facts. I've contacted my good friend in N.H. who is a clinical psychologist in one of their hospitals and is very active in local politics––sits on one of the democratic committees in her district. She may be able to shed some more light on this subject.
@MAG. Thanks. Apparently Shea-Porter didn't take into account the fact that her neighbors in New Hampshire will not be subject to insurance cancellations for a full year, during which time we can hope the kinks are worked out & New Hampshirites who must purchase individual plans will have more choices. But, yeah, Shea-Porter was right thoughtful in her effort to give everybody a chance to keep plans even she acknowledges are junk. We in the Lower 47 sometimes have difficulty understanding Mainers, so your translation is much-appreciated. And no doubt spot-on.
Marie
@Medical care: Instead of Medicare for All, I propose a similar VA Healthcare for Non-Veterans. I know there are lots of stories about vets trying to get into the system, but trust me, once you're, it does a great job. My primary care GP used to be in private practice, but she likes the VA system much better. She can spend more time with each patient, and she's a salaried employee--no more worrying about the bottom line. The Emory ALS Clinic and VA Neurology share my neurologist. She's brilliant.
What does the VA System remind you of? If you guessed the UK's NHS, you're right. Horrors! Socialized Medicine! As far as I'm concerned, bring it on! Right now, only Bernie Sanders is the only MOC, who would support such an idea. Is the VA perfect? No, but what is?
Just think how much easier it would be for all to have the insurance companies out of the picture. They have plenty of other ways to separate you from your money without being in the health insurance business.
A dream? Perhaps. And it won't happen in our lifetimes. But it could eventually happen
To quote John Lennon: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."
@Barbarossa: Your comment reminds me of a story last year about Mitt Romney's attempting to convince some (presumably) Republican veterans that privatizing the VA would be a great idea. Funny thing, these conservative veterans said, "No way." Even conservatives prefer socialism to rank capitalism when they're the beneficiaries of "socialistic" programs. "Keep the government's hands off my Medicare."
It's useful to remember that what the individual policyholders are really complaining about today, even if they don't know it: it's not the government but those bastions of the capitalistic system, the insurance companies.
Marie
Especially useful (for me) links on the sad state of U.S. health insurance today. Am planning an interview on our local radio program on just this topic this week and will cite the Commonwealth study the Times references, I hope to good effect. So, thanks.
But...I live in Washington State, which despite the Right's recent call for Right to Work in the wake of the Boeing-engendered crisis remains for the time being far more Blue than Red. So...our program, which is aired in I'd guess a few more like-minded places out of state, is more often than not preaching to the choir.
Our healthcare, tho', should not be looked at in isolation. It's just another way we have skewed the way we distribute resources to serve the few at the expense of the many. Krugman devotes his column to another face of the same problem. He and others have said our new recessive normal is a function of low demand, and demand is low because the mass of folks don't have the means to create it. As some Seattle investment guru with a brain said a few years ago, the wealthy can't create sufficient demand by themselves. Try as they might, (I picture them perspiring with the effort, but can't summon much sympathy) they can buy only so many homes, Mercedes and Cadillacs.
Maybe Krugman and others might better label our economic troubles "regressive," instead of "recessive," because it is our deliberately regressive tax policies that promote ever more unequal resource distribution, whether it be food, housing, gadgets that no one should live without or--access to health care.
In many ways, we do live in regressive times and those at the top like it.
I think this has bubbled up in RC before but in light of recent comments is worth a reprise:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/models.html
Note how easy is is, even without Reid's hints, to conflate each system with one of the five we have in the USA.
Jon Favreau's piece is indeed well written and his "But Obama did not run for elected office because he needed to be loved. He has his family and friends for that, and he lacks the insecurity that lies just beneath the healthy egos of so many politicians. This president does not crave constant affirmation, which means he does not engage easily in the backslapping and glad-handling and forced emoting that comes so naturally to other elected officials[,]" should be sent to Maureen Dowd and her fellow pundits that long for a more mushy, back-slapping, hail fellow fare-well kind of guy.
There was, however, a phrase Favreau used twice that makes my skin shrink a little: "There, but for the grace of God, go I." In other words, the way I read this is God is favoring me above others. A hurricane that just wiped out the homes and some loved ones in a state other than mine is NOT under God's good graces? My kid was not one who got shot at Sandy Hook because HE WAS under God's good graces? Am I interpreting this incorrectly?
The other thought I had was how we seem to cleave blindly to the blandishments of a democratic ideology which says that all human beings are created* equal. This obviously is NOT the case. What should be the credo is that ALL human beings need to be TREATED equally in a democratic society.
* the word "created" implies a religious connotation which presents a problem–––for me.
Here's the input from my friend in N.H.:
A couple of things:
First, Anthem’s decision was made without any input from anyone. The hospitals that were excluded from the Anthem network were totally blindsided. Anthem offered no clear explanation about how or why they made these decisions. However, anyone with a current Anthem policy through their employer, or who has their own private Anthem policy, can still seek care at any hospital. It is only the folks who are going to be enrolled through the ACA who are being directed to a limited number of hospitals.
My sense was that DHMC was/is equally unprepared for what could be higher patient volumes, assuming the ACA gets straightened out and enrollments start to come in. There are many days when DHMC is at capacity, and cannot accept transfers in from other hospitals because we have no beds.
NH has only had one carrier (Anthem) for many, many years. In the last decade, Harvard Pilgrim started offering insurance in the southern part of the state, and then expanded north. Vermont only has two carriers. I don’t know exactly why, but assume it must be the size of the states?
In terms of cancer treatment, there have only been three hospitals in the state that offer radiation and specialized cancer care, so patients traveling long distances to get that care is nothing new. Dartmouth Hitchcock serves the central and northern part of the state. DHMC has many patients who drive 2+ hours. In southern NH (greater pop. density) there has been The Elliot in Manchester and Concord Hospital, Most of the hospitals who were taken out of Anthem’s network are very small community hospitals, some with less than 25 acute care beds. Concord is a pretty big hospital, so I was very surprised that they were excluded. The viability of the many small hospitals in NH and VT has been in question for a long time. Now almost all are affiliating with DHMC in some fashion, in hopes they can stay open.
The Tea Party folks who dominated the legislature 3-4 years ago (but who are now mostly out of office) were determined to do everything they could to undermine the ACA.
Now the Governor and legislature is desperately trying to play catch up and get systems in place to get people enrolled. Vermont, which supported the ACA, is having far fewer issues and is getting people enrolled. Not as fast as they want, but it’s happening. I just hope we can get past this crisis and the enrollment numbers start going up steadily.
@P.D.Pepe: Many thanks to you & your friend for the clarifications & elaborations. Very helpful.
Marie
Marie, if you please. I missed the nuance of your Pet Gerbil reference, probably because I'm stupid or distracted by the force of your renunciation. I get it now. But please be advised I am not at all in sympathy with the "Gerbil People" you allude to. Not at all. I may be regarded as obtuse or crazy, but that is not my stripe. They represent the takers, who style themselves the makers, just to mess with you. It's an effective trick, sorry to say. I'd like to see it re-reversed as some kind of antidote. If you ask me straight out if I have sympathies with the right, the answer is no. Thanks for the opportunity to disclaim.
I have to say, when I read the Tea party gerbil name reference Marie used in her knuckle-rapping of my husband, I let out an "eewwww!" before I could stop myself. Not kind of me, I know. The funny thing is, he's really adept at dealing with them, which, when they constitute the majority of your wife's family, comes in quite handy, especially when there is an abiding interest in seeing the relationships grow beyond their reactionary hostility. He has been called many things, but he has never, to my knowledge, been mistaken for someone who leans to the right.
Now, before someone names my gerbil for me, I'll link to a post on the impossibility of endless domestic product growth. Pardon me if it's been linked here before, I do not have the luxury of being able to read evey RC post every day.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/how-economic-growth-has-become-anti-life
While our ultra riche corporate controllers don't want us to have affordable health insurance, at least they'll give their proletariat brethren the decency of having clean streets.
That's so much more than the morally bankrupt Israeli hardliners in collusion with the Egyptian military will allow their fellow encaged neighbors. The Israelis have stepped up their blockage of the Gaza strip and won't let in cheap energy sources, while the Egyptian military has closed off the smuggling tunnels that serve as a life line to the open air prison that is the Gaza strip. This leads to electricity blackouts up to 18 hours a day. This recent siege has shut down a main water sewage plant because the Palestinians have no fuel to run it, flooding the downtown streets with human feces.
The people of Gaza have to walk around in shit up to their shins just to buy a loaf of bread or go to school. I bet Lieberman and Netanyahoo are getting a kick out those images. Oh but the Israelis say they're ready to negotiate for peace while they green light more illegal settlements. And we blindly support this inhumane insanity. I know Kerry has been trying to nudge Netanyahoo to ease his hardline stance, but actions like this require a stiff kick to the nutsack of those racist pricks.
http://www.juancole.com/
@Todd K. I can just tell you my understanding of The Pet Gerbil reference. It may or may not help you. I'm not looking for engagement over the issue. I have an English bulldog and I could talk about her antics every day, but she's my "pet gerbil" and my musings on her don't belong here. Its a concrete example, but then we all understand things differently. I happen to lean toward concrete. I didn't take the reference as having anything to do with your political affiliation.
You said; " Observation, when combined with receptivity, can make for insight. Insight can make for wisdom, and wisdom can make for true human genius." So take my comment as a benign observation.
Musings, ramblings, meanderings. I get it. No further engagement required or requested. Marie let me have some time on the big board as a well meaning Gerbil keeper and it has been swell. My compliments to the RC community, I thought many of us had good, productive days, evident in your postings. A-okay, I'll return to my more familiar role of grateful reader. My idea of sharpening the pencil in preparation is a little different than that which is practiced here, but I will glean, nonetheless. Thank you for not mounting my head to a pike--admirable restraint.
This gerbil discussion merely proves what I speculated upon this morning: that, after asking me explain comments "rules" at Reality Chex, @Todd K. didn't bother to read my explanation. If so, he would not have been baffled -- & would not have imagined a lot of nonsense -- about the reference.
Any more word on gerbils violates the My-Pet-Gerbil rule, & will be deleted. I'm really sick of this.
Marie
Pro Publica today; "Crossroads’ Tax Return Shows Big Donors, But Doesn’t Name Them" Worth a read. Info from 2012 tax return.
http://www.propublica.org/article/crossroads-tax-return-shows-big-donors-but-doesnt-name-them
I defy anyone to tell me what the fuck this means: "My idea of sharpening the pencil in preparation is a little different than that which is practiced here, but I will glean, nonetheless."
@Diane: Good cite. As usual, ProPublica does good work.
@safari-
..."And we blindly support this inhumane insanity."
I don't agree! I think most progressives are furious at Israel, the Likud and AIPAC for their abuse of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip--thank you Bibi. However, the Neo-Con/AIPAC element in our guvnmint is still very strong, and would like to see the Palestinians annihilated. I belong to J-Street and APN, both of which have a very different philosophy, and have long championed a two-state solution. Problem is: AIPAC has the money, honey and most of the support! J-Street is up and coming, but it has a long way to go!