Day: July 28, 2009

Should We Tweak Or Reform?

My post was originally posted on Progressive Independence, which is a good sight and all should visit and get involved…..just go to blogroll and enjoy.

Health Care….this one subject is at the heart of the country right now…..72% of the American people want reform and about none of the politicians seem to want reform…now they are playing the cowards game of tweaking the system so that it will play well in Congress.

$3.66 trillion budget deficit…..or is it a $2 trillion….or $1.2 trillion…just what is the deficit and when does it get out of control?  Or do you really care?  I mean your elected officials are telling the country that you care….but do do you?

Our country is in serious straits noe…health care needs fining…..Wall Street needs to be bitch slapped…..the environment needs fixing….lots of problems need fixing…..why?…they ALL have been ignored for decades and now it is come calling.

If you are old enough…think back to the ’70’s there were a wealth of plans to help make the US energy independent….but they were not popular with the new administrations so the problem was tweaked, if anything was done at all.  The in the 90’s health care was important and instead of refom and fixing the problem…all settled for a tweaking and the problem got worse….which seems to be a common thread to ALL Washington’s past tweakings.

Politician’s always settle for a tweaking instead of a real solution to pressing problems.  Why?  A wealth of reasons….keeping contributors happy….looking to re-election…..there is a number of reasons….and NONE of them actually helps the people they represent.  And unfortunately, all the tweaking has cost more money in the “much mentioned” long run than it would have if they had had the guts to pass real reform.

Basically all the BS about the deficit is a smoke screen to cover the cowardice of the elected representatives.  Yes, I said cowardice!  Tweaking is a coward’s way out.

If the American people truly want reform then they need to find politicians with guts and brains….two qualities that are sadly missing in the flock of cowards we now have in Washington.

I Hate A Coward!

Daily Agitation

I state it again…”I HATE A COWARD!”

But where are the cowards you ask?  That is really simple….

The “Birther” people are cowards…why?  They have locked onto something that has no relevancy whatsoever…..they are hiding behind some made up BS to hide the fact that they are RACISTS.  They are cowards because they hide behind something trivial, instead of being a man/woman and admit that they are nothing but racists.

More cowards….Blue Dog Dems…they hide behind some made up BS to oppose health care on the premise that it is too expensive…but these same “people” and I use the term loosely, are the ones that helped authorize cash for two wars without much opposition…so I guess it is somehow okay with them to send Americans to die but not help them live longer and healthier.  Their opposition has made the coalition a bunch of money..go figure.

The media is a coward because they allow such BS as funerals, arguments and car crashes and moronic politicians that have the IQ of a turnip to dominate national news.  It is easier than reporting on war deaths or deaths because of no health care or energy that is killing Americans….on and on…..we have more serious problems than what goes for major news stories.  The media is a coward…plain and simple.

There are more cowards…..governors who run and win office, that is a contract with the people of the state, and then resign to pursue a personal agenda….that is cowardice.

The there is a party of cowards, at least in a leadership position, that does nothing but attack and attack all issue proposals and offer the people nothing as an alternate…that is a coward….a mental midget of a coward.  They become a party of NO…no alternatives, no positions, no policy…..a party of NO… . .That is a coward’s way of governing.

Why Not Eliminate Fraud?

Of all the debate being spit out in Washington, of all the lies and misinformation flying out the butts of pundits….why is there very little mention to the fraud that occurs in the health care system?

In an article written in the Huffington post by Sen Bernie Sanders:

What we have seen over the last several decades is the systemic fraud perpetrated by private insurance companies, private drug companies, and private for-profit hospitals ripping off the American people and the taxpayers of this country to the tune of many billions of dollars.

The rampant fraud is another reason why our current health care system, dominated by private insurance companies, is the most costly, wasteful, complicated and bureaucratic in the world. Its function is not to provide quality health care, but to make huge profits for those who own the companies. With 1,300 private insurance companies and thousands of different health benefit programs designed to maximize profits, our country spends an incredible 30 percent of each health care dollar on administration and billing, exorbitant CEO compensation packages, advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions. Public programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the VA are administered for much less.

In recent years, not only have we seen massive fraud by the health care industry, but we also have been paying for a huge increase in health care bureaucrats and bill collectors. Over the last three decades, the number of administrative personnel has grown by 25 times the number of physicians. Doctors and nurses in Vermont have described to me in painful detail the amount of time and money they are forced to waste negotiating with insurance companies about how they can treat their patients.

Just a little fraud that has been found and prosecuted:

In 2004, Warner-Lambert, a division of Pfizer Inc., pled guilty to two felonies and agreed to pay $430 million for fraudulently promoting the drug Neurontin.

In 2003, GlaxoSmithKline paid $88 million in civil fines for overcharging Medicaid for its anti-depressant Paxil.

In 1999, Hoffmann-LaRoche paid a $500 million criminal fine for leading a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices for certain vitamins.

In 2009, UnitedHealth, a leading insurance company, paid $350 million to settle lawsuits brought by the American Medical Association and other physician groups for shortchanging consumers and physicians for medical services outside its preferred network.

On the personal side….when I had my accident that shattered my leg….I was put into an ambulance and when I got the bill I was being charged for a cervical collar and a gown…a total of $80…neither of which I got in my ride to the hospital….I informed the Insurance company of the add ons and they paid it anyway.  Now using a little math, one ambulance overcharging riders on 3 shifts a day comes to if they have the average pick up of 8 people a day, comes to $430,000 a year….and that is ONE unit in ONE town…now if you take it further to a state we are talking millions and in the country billions….maybe that should be addressed.

And let us not go into the fraud with Medicare…that would make you sick.

My point is while all the cowards are bitching about the cost of the program, the industry is fleecing the public…but to them that is somehow okay.  Fraud is rampant and for the most part accepted….maybe that should change and savings could be a boom to offsetting any expenditures.

So my question is…why do not these concerned politicians actually go after the fraud instead of looking the other way while accepting their contributions for the re-election fund?

Oh wait!  The Repubs have this idea of tort reform as a way to make the uninsured more likely to get insurance…..tort reform?  Yeah, you know those frivolous lawsuits that lead to an increase in the insurance that doctors pay for protection from malpractice?  I will agree that some of the lawsuits are outrageous, but that accounts for about 1% of the total cost of health care…I do not beliueve that controlling 1% of the costs will help anyone to get health insurance.  As Det. Joe Friday always says,  “Yes facts, sir”.

Tort reform is a typical ploy to keep everything the way it is…….