6-12-24

10 years ago, the average family paid $6,000/year for health insurance.

Today, the average family pays $12,000/year for health insurance.

It's estimated, at the current rate of increase, that in 10 years, without reform, the average family will pay $24,000/year for health insurance. 

The poverty line has been defined as $20,000/year.  This hasn't changed in a very long time.  If no health reform is passed, or even worse, if something like the Baucus Bill is passed that does not control costs or provide a public option, and requires every citizen to buy private insurance under penalty of fine, well… do the math.

People who make $30,000 a year or less will have to decide, give all or most of their income to health insurance or face a fine of up to $3,800?  Unfortunately, breaking the law will become the economical choice.  At least until somebody becomes sick.

If you oppose reform, do the math.

The way things are now…

Even Fox News reported this one.  Surprisingly they even reported the fact that their previous insurer raised their rates 40% for the audacity of having a baby.  Then the new insurer denied the baby health coverage.  

17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat - Children's Health - FOXNews.com

I find it amazing that they can report a story like this, yet continue to defend a system that treats Americans this way.  Would the insurer have reversed their decision had the dad not been a local news anchor?  Not likely.  You can almost hear the "oh shit!" when they realized who they had screwed.  They're expected to not cover their child.  This kind of insanity only occurs in this country, and the right wing continues to call this the best health care system in the world despite mountains of facts to the contrary, and endless stories just like this one.  Nearly everybody has a health insurance horror story.  I have more than one.

I just heard today about a friend of my wife's, who had lost their insurance because the father had become unemployed (a fairly common occurrence these days), and now their baby has a serious condition.  They'll never recover from this.  You have to wonder how they're going to send children to college when they'll most likely be paying for saving their child's life for the rest of their lives. 

That's all it takes to destroy a family here.  Lose a job, get sick. 

The right-wing takeaway: If your child is careless enough to develop a serious condition, let 'em die.  Serves them right for being so thoughtless.

My takeaway: This is like living in a George Orwell novel.  If our elected leaders can't take this seriously and put a stop to it, vote them out. 

I'm making a list of politicians who A) support real reform, B) oppose any reform, and C) are pretending to care about reform but really trying to fuck it up as badly as they can (i.e. Max Baucus).  I will post this if reform fails.  I may post it anyway.  I'm going to use it as my voting guide in the next election.  I hope you do too.

Obama Derangement Syndrome?

I was as shocked as anybody that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.  I didn't know he was nominated.  Now that the surprise has worn off, I'm proud.  The leader of our nation has won the Nobel Peace prize.  That doesn't happen very often. 

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The right is angry.  They think he didn't deserve it.  They think he should give it back.  They think the world will view this as a huge joke. 

I have two questions for them.  Answer these, and we can talk. 

1) Is the Nobel Peace Prize awarded by an American institution or an international one? 

2) Why has no Republican president in recent memory won the Nobel Peace Prize?  I say recent memory, but I'm not sure ANY Republican has won one.

Should Bush have gotten a peace prize?  I don't think they award it for starting pre-emptive wars on false pretenses.  In face, things like that usually lead to war crimes trials. 

Rachel Maddow cited a right-wing viewpoint from the beginning of the decade called Bush Derangement Syndrome.  It goes something like this: we hate Bush therefore he can do nothing right.  I guess that means that being opposed to two ceaseless wars, torture, ignoring the Constitution, undoing the Constitution, warrantless surveillance, and other things along those lines is only because I didn't like Bush.  This is an interesting viewpoint, since I actually liked Bush until I found out about those things.

This viewpoint in interesting, though, because it seems that no matter what Obama does, they hate him for it.  Even on issues that should not have a political slant, they boo his successes and cheer his failures.  I don't think Obama is perfect, in fact I'm keeping a running list of things he's done (or not done) that upset me, but compared to Bush, he's fuckin' Jesus Christ. 

I don't understand the hate that leads someone to cheer America's loss regarding the Olympics.  This is from the same party that said "Country First".  I don't understand the hate that leads someone to be angry that their president earned the Nobel Peace Prize.  This is also from the same party that said "Country First".  Apparently "Country First" really means Republicans First. 

Well, that's not entirely fair, apparently John McCain had nice things to say.  I may not agree with his viewpoints, but at least he's capable of showing tact. 

America… WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?

Message to Max Baucus: FUCK OFF AND DIE!

 

Max Baucus has introduced legislation that is basically a handout to the private insurance companies.  This legislation cannot pass.  It will bankrupt millions and make billions for the insurance companies in the process.  In other words, the rich getting richer off the misfortune of the poor. 

Fuck off Max.  You may be a Democrat, but you're a fucking corporate stooge.  You might as well be George "I represent the top 1% of the rich in this country and the rest of you losers can fuck yourselves" Bush.  Jay Rockefeller is trying to get anything even remotely resembling something good for the people in this bill, and you stump him at every turn.  I hope they're paying you well, fucker.  If there's a Hell, I hope you like it warm.