I was talking to an old timer, Clel Sexton. He asked me if I knew about the battle of the bogal? I said that I did not. He the explained to me that the battle of the bogal, back in the 20’s, started when the coal mining executives decided that they were going to import cheap labor from Hungary. These imported Hungarians were referred to as “Hunkies”. The Hunkies had established a shantytown at the edge of Jasonville, In. This stirred up the local miners who gathered at the edge of this shantytown with guns. The miners asked them to come out and talk the situation over. I do not know what type of talking we were going to do with all these guns, Clell chuckled. Clell said, suddenly, guns blazed. During the gunfire, I reached up and wiped my head. It was blood. I made a quick trip to the doctor. The doctor told me mot to worry. A bullet had evidently hit the tree beside me and the bark flew up and grazed my head. Unfortunately, others were not as lucky. The aftermath resulted in seven killed and 14 wounded.
Clell described how about 10 years later, I met one of these Hunkies in Terre Haute, In. He said, “You are one of he Sexton brothers, aren’t you?” We ended up going out and having coffee and enjoying ourselves. It was all about jobs.
The problem we now have is that today’s laborer is not aggressive about jobs. I do not advocate violence, however I do advocate aggressive voting at the polls regarding jobs. The politician promised that NAFTA would reduce the lower paid jobs and bring in higher paid jobs. I have not seen this. I have seen NAFTA being responsible for the area loosing thousands of jobs. There has little or no jobs brought in. Howard Dean has he right idea about NAFTA and jobs, however he does not go far enough. Doctor Dean’s solution is to allow NAFTA only after the playing field is fair. China has unfairly devalued their currency, which makes their job hourly rate a bargain. Furthermore, foreign countries do not abide by the same labor practices or environmental concerns that our country has. Howard Dean’s proposal is to require the same labor practices in foreign countries as this country has; other wise tax the goods that are imported. I myself, in addition, would like to require a trade balance. That means that if we import one billion in goods and services, China has to do the same. Otherwise we tax on an escalating basis. This will not only help our deposit, but will also help the farming industry. That means that the more imbalance the trade is, the more we tax. In addition we still need tax incentives to locate manufacturing plants in the United States. The Toyota plant in Princeton Indiana is an example. The bottom-line that with tax incentives etc. It is more profitable for the Japanese to manufacture cars in the United States.
Tax refunds proposed as incentives do not to do this country a lot of good when about 80% of it ends up in either China or Japan. Mean while we are saddled with a escalating sea of debt which will hinder us for years to come.
We need to volt for smart politicians who know how to bring jobs into this country. We need to vote for politicians who will do what is good for America and not the ones who are bribed with campaign funds for the benefit only of corporations. The question remains, will the voters be smart enough to separate the politicians with selfish desires and the ones who do what is good for America and the worker? So far this has not happened.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Email to Senator Lugar
Dear Senator Lugar:
Did I understand your email correctly, that since our country is so bad off financially, your proposal is to do nothing about health care?
The reason our country is in such dire straights financially is that our Congressmen and Senators allowed the free market to go wild. They essentially did nothing. They made loan derivatives possible by overriding President Clinton's veto and the out of control irresponsibility and greed that followed brought our financial institutions to their knees. We even went to war with Iraq and what did our Senators do? They jumped on the war bandwagon which further drove our country into financial ruin lost thousands of our soldier’s lives and accomplished nothing. We now have a heath care dilemma which causes our factories to be noncompetitive, drives up our country debt, causes people to die by the tens of thousands, and is a basic reason why over 60% of our countrymen loose their homes while some senators do nothing but collect or have collected millions for the health insurers. Your idea to do nothing while our country suffers is a poor and pathetic excuse especially when the public option will save the tax dollar, reduce how much we pay individually and even allow every citizen in this country to have heath care. Do not expect the American public to buy your defective reasoning for doing nothing about health care. I know I do not!
Did I understand your email correctly, that since our country is so bad off financially, your proposal is to do nothing about health care?
The reason our country is in such dire straights financially is that our Congressmen and Senators allowed the free market to go wild. They essentially did nothing. They made loan derivatives possible by overriding President Clinton's veto and the out of control irresponsibility and greed that followed brought our financial institutions to their knees. We even went to war with Iraq and what did our Senators do? They jumped on the war bandwagon which further drove our country into financial ruin lost thousands of our soldier’s lives and accomplished nothing. We now have a heath care dilemma which causes our factories to be noncompetitive, drives up our country debt, causes people to die by the tens of thousands, and is a basic reason why over 60% of our countrymen loose their homes while some senators do nothing but collect or have collected millions for the health insurers. Your idea to do nothing while our country suffers is a poor and pathetic excuse especially when the public option will save the tax dollar, reduce how much we pay individually and even allow every citizen in this country to have heath care. Do not expect the American public to buy your defective reasoning for doing nothing about health care. I know I do not!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
I had an impossible dream, Peace.
I had the honor of attending a dinner celebrating the Jewish New Year. I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere where we were free to exchange ideas. The idea most noteworthy was the Golden Rule,"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This rule cited by Christ and in other religions was proposed to be the solution for World Peace. How would the Golden Rule apply to Israel and Palestine? I heard Prime Minister Netanyahu describe how nice he was reducing the number of road blocks in Palestine territory. If you were a Palestine, would you not want all the road blocks removed and Israel to stop building Israel settlements on Palestine land? Could Prime Minister Netanyahu have enough heart and be bold enough to not only stop the Jewish settlements but build housing for the Palestine people? If Netanyahu was bold enough to commit to such an action, would the Palestine people respond by not hating the Jewish population and reciprocate with a greater deed of joining together to build a Peaceful Palestine community? Is it not time for the Palestine and Jew to join together in harmony as brothers and build countries that share in peace and prosperity?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Act of Terrorism?
We heard President Jimmy Carter cite the right wing as depicting President Obama as reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and they should have buried Obama along with Kennedy. President Carter referred to this rhetoric as being racist. I have even noted that Obama has been referred to as Stalin. This not only appears to be disrespectful of our President but isn't this dehumanization of President Obama? Is not this type of dehumanization the type of action that Hitler took prior to the holocaust to dehumanize the Jewish population? Has not this type of speech crossed the bounds of freedom of speech and should not this rhetoric be regarded as an act of Terrorism? I haven't heard of such inflammatory rhetoric come from Hamas which is classed as an terrorist organization. Does not this type of rhetoric increase the probability that some fruitcake or emotionally unstable individual bring great harm to the President?
Friday, July 24, 2009
France's health care
-
- Doctors in France are self employed and free to prescribe what they want
- French can choose their doctor are free to see any doctor or specialist they want
- World Health Organization rates France first in health care and US and 37 th.
- France’s infant rate is 3.9 per 1000 compared to 7 in U.S.
- France life expectancy is two years more than US.
- France has more hospital beds and doctors per capita than U.S. and far lower rates of death from diabetes and heart disease.
- Deaths from respiratory disease, an often-preventable form, are 31.2 people per 1000 in France and 61.5 in U.S.
- 65% residents in France are satisfied with their health care compared to 40% US residents.
- France spends 10.7 % of their gross domestic product compared American which spends up to 16 % more than any other nation.
- France has no deductibles for the chronically ill.
- Almost all Frenchmen buy supplemental insurance which covers extra expenses such as private hospital rooms, eyeglass, and dental care
- In France, the sicker you get the less you pay. There are no deductibles
- Chronic diseases such as diabetes and critical surgeries such as coronary bypass are reimbursed 100%
- Cancer patients are treated free of charge. For example patients suffering from colon cancer can receive Genentech Inc.s (DNA). A patient in US may pay 48,0000 per year.
- French doctors are reduced at a lower rate than doctors in U.S., however French doctors do not have to pay back their student loans and the French Government pays the doctors social security tax which is typically 40% of their income.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Obama's Health Plan
Regarding healthcare-
The news says that we have an escalating un-sustained health care cost and the worst heath care than most other nations. We are evidently not getting our moneys worth. Most of our health care dollar appears to be a scam and not used to promote health. This is an attempt to describe this apparent scam and wasted dollar with the hope that our nation will do better in the future.
Overpayment. We pay 50 percent more for health care than other industrialized countries, including those with universal care. Because health care expenses are so high 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance1. We do not get what we pay for. We rank among the lowest in the health outcome rankings of developed countries, and on several major indices rank below some third-world nations. We are paying a lot extra and since it is not in healthcare, where is it going?
Health care money. Some of this extra money is going to the Insurance companies. Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. Insurers go to great lengths to avoid responsibility for sick people, use deliberately incomprehensible documents to mislead consumers about their benefits, and sell "junk" policies that do not cover needed care. Rockefeller said he was exploring "why consumers get such a raw deal from their insurance companies." "The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent and accountable -- publicly accountable -- health-care option," said Wendell Potter, who until early last year was vice president for corporate communications at the big insurer Cigna.4
Total spending was for health insurance of $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. In 2006, the six largest insurance companies made $11 billion in profits even after paying for direct health care costs, administrative costs and marketing costs. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 2 How many policies for the uninsured would this CEO money pay for?
Health care expense. Health care insurer has their expenses. Part of the pay out for some of the CEOs health insurance industry listed as follows:
Ron Williams – Aetna – Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway – CIGNA – Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly – WellPoint – Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf – Coventry Health Care – Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff – Centene – Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson – AMERIGROUP – Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister – Humana – Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert – Health Net – Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch – Universal American – Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley – UnitedHealth Group – Total Compensation: $3,241,042. 3
Bribing Congress. What about bribing Congress in escalating hundreds of millions of dollars so that that perhaps they may continue ripping people off is routine business. Indirectly this money comes from your health care dollar?
The amount of Campaign contributions from the health care industry for the years from 1998 through 2008 are listed as follows: 1998-$168,248,133; 1999-$189,369,414; 2000-$200,073,421; 2001-$217,878,463; 2002- $259,931,873; 2003- $277,570,278; 2004- $305,105,133; 2005- $347,545,104; 2006- $378,247,8656; 2007-$418,182,780; 2008- $483,934,321.5 Since they do not give this money away without expecting a return, I categorize this as corrupt money. How many uninsured would up to 500 million, insure each year. The organization moveon.org has been sorting out who gets how much and for what and advertising it. This embarrasses some congress members. I say good for them keep it up. Perhaps we could abolish this type of money in the future altogether.
Rip-off Artist Hospital. Illicit charges are some of the reason for the extreme cost of healthcare. American hospitals are fleecing patients out of billions of dollars annually, and experts say that while some of the overcharges are honest errors, many are deliberate.
That's because hospital bills are next to impossible for consumers to understand, which means hospitals can hide improper charges behind mysterious medical terminology and baffling codes. $129 for a box of tissues, newborn tests and a crib for male patient, $90 for a 70-cent IV are some of the examples. "Hospitals are huge moneymakers, their executives enjoy big bonuses."
And, according to a 1998 study of hospital billing procedures, they go to extraordinary lengths to discourage patients from delving too deeply into their bills. "Citizens are becoming more educated about hospital billing and taking responsibility of ensuring that their charges are correct," said the study's principal author, Dr. Kimberly Elsbach, of the University of California, Davis. "Hospitals are countering that with their own efforts to discourage people from becoming involved with challenges or audits because it costs them a great deal of time and money."6 And they waste no time turning accounts over to collection agencies or filing liens.
Socialism. Is not the one payer system socialism? The idea is no more socialized than our public school system. Why not capitalize our public school system where only those who could afford the over $10,000 could pay for it. Our nation would then be more illiterate that we are now. Our society is diverse in culture and ideas and that is what makes it great. China is even finding out there is a benefit to capitalism.
Saving money. Medicare has administrative costs far lower (four times lower) than any private health insurance plan. The potential savings on health insurance paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, is enough to provide comprehensive coverage to every uninsured American. Only a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan can realize these enormous savings and provide comprehensive and affordable health care to every citizen. I support President Obama’s heath care plan because it is the closest to a plan that will literally save this country. The idea tells the industry that if they have a better plan than the single payer system then produce it.
Contact Representatives. Call or write your congressmen or senator and tell them you want him to get more bang for the dollar by voting for the President Obama’s Health Care Plan because if you do not some very stingy selfish greedy people who regard greed above life, will have their way. This will cost you dearly out of the pocket and our nation will be less than it could be.
References:
1. http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
2. http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml
3. http://girldujour.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/health-insurance-executive-compensation-will-make-you-sick/
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062401636.html?hpid=topnews.
5. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indus.php?year=2008&lname=H&id=
6. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhealth/P74840.asp
The news says that we have an escalating un-sustained health care cost and the worst heath care than most other nations. We are evidently not getting our moneys worth. Most of our health care dollar appears to be a scam and not used to promote health. This is an attempt to describe this apparent scam and wasted dollar with the hope that our nation will do better in the future.
Overpayment. We pay 50 percent more for health care than other industrialized countries, including those with universal care. Because health care expenses are so high 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance1. We do not get what we pay for. We rank among the lowest in the health outcome rankings of developed countries, and on several major indices rank below some third-world nations. We are paying a lot extra and since it is not in healthcare, where is it going?
Health care money. Some of this extra money is going to the Insurance companies. Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. Insurers go to great lengths to avoid responsibility for sick people, use deliberately incomprehensible documents to mislead consumers about their benefits, and sell "junk" policies that do not cover needed care. Rockefeller said he was exploring "why consumers get such a raw deal from their insurance companies." "The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent and accountable -- publicly accountable -- health-care option," said Wendell Potter, who until early last year was vice president for corporate communications at the big insurer Cigna.4
Total spending was for health insurance of $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. In 2006, the six largest insurance companies made $11 billion in profits even after paying for direct health care costs, administrative costs and marketing costs. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 2 How many policies for the uninsured would this CEO money pay for?
Health care expense. Health care insurer has their expenses. Part of the pay out for some of the CEOs health insurance industry listed as follows:
Ron Williams – Aetna – Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway – CIGNA – Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly – WellPoint – Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf – Coventry Health Care – Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff – Centene – Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson – AMERIGROUP – Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister – Humana – Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert – Health Net – Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch – Universal American – Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley – UnitedHealth Group – Total Compensation: $3,241,042. 3
Bribing Congress. What about bribing Congress in escalating hundreds of millions of dollars so that that perhaps they may continue ripping people off is routine business. Indirectly this money comes from your health care dollar?
The amount of Campaign contributions from the health care industry for the years from 1998 through 2008 are listed as follows: 1998-$168,248,133; 1999-$189,369,414; 2000-$200,073,421; 2001-$217,878,463; 2002- $259,931,873; 2003- $277,570,278; 2004- $305,105,133; 2005- $347,545,104; 2006- $378,247,8656; 2007-$418,182,780; 2008- $483,934,321.5 Since they do not give this money away without expecting a return, I categorize this as corrupt money. How many uninsured would up to 500 million, insure each year. The organization moveon.org has been sorting out who gets how much and for what and advertising it. This embarrasses some congress members. I say good for them keep it up. Perhaps we could abolish this type of money in the future altogether.
Rip-off Artist Hospital. Illicit charges are some of the reason for the extreme cost of healthcare. American hospitals are fleecing patients out of billions of dollars annually, and experts say that while some of the overcharges are honest errors, many are deliberate.
That's because hospital bills are next to impossible for consumers to understand, which means hospitals can hide improper charges behind mysterious medical terminology and baffling codes. $129 for a box of tissues, newborn tests and a crib for male patient, $90 for a 70-cent IV are some of the examples. "Hospitals are huge moneymakers, their executives enjoy big bonuses."
And, according to a 1998 study of hospital billing procedures, they go to extraordinary lengths to discourage patients from delving too deeply into their bills. "Citizens are becoming more educated about hospital billing and taking responsibility of ensuring that their charges are correct," said the study's principal author, Dr. Kimberly Elsbach, of the University of California, Davis. "Hospitals are countering that with their own efforts to discourage people from becoming involved with challenges or audits because it costs them a great deal of time and money."6 And they waste no time turning accounts over to collection agencies or filing liens.
Socialism. Is not the one payer system socialism? The idea is no more socialized than our public school system. Why not capitalize our public school system where only those who could afford the over $10,000 could pay for it. Our nation would then be more illiterate that we are now. Our society is diverse in culture and ideas and that is what makes it great. China is even finding out there is a benefit to capitalism.
Saving money. Medicare has administrative costs far lower (four times lower) than any private health insurance plan. The potential savings on health insurance paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, is enough to provide comprehensive coverage to every uninsured American. Only a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan can realize these enormous savings and provide comprehensive and affordable health care to every citizen. I support President Obama’s heath care plan because it is the closest to a plan that will literally save this country. The idea tells the industry that if they have a better plan than the single payer system then produce it.
Contact Representatives. Call or write your congressmen or senator and tell them you want him to get more bang for the dollar by voting for the President Obama’s Health Care Plan because if you do not some very stingy selfish greedy people who regard greed above life, will have their way. This will cost you dearly out of the pocket and our nation will be less than it could be.
References:
1. http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
2. http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml
3. http://girldujour.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/health-insurance-executive-compensation-will-make-you-sick/
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062401636.html?hpid=topnews.
5. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indus.php?year=2008&lname=H&id=
6. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhealth/P74840.asp
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