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An Open Letter On Health Care


I've posted the following comments online:

There are thousands of stories out there, of the insurance industry engaging in a pattern of denial and delay when it comes to medical services. Hey, it's cheaper if the patient dies, right? Then we don't have to pay for chemo or for a transplant - and the insurance co. board doesn't really give a shit what the insured contract says.

Just like hurricane insurance - 'we'll insure for wind or water, but not both and we'll leave the details in very fine print - and regardless of which way they are covered, their damage is not.'

THE INSURANCE COMPANY BOARD ROOM IS A DEATH PANEL

What is really interesting is the number of people who simply don't get it. We all are well aware the health care system is broken. Yet the voices of fear coupled with disinformation are rampant, and people are angry. Very angry. Which leads me to the question: How did it get like this?

Take Sara Palin's statement that we will coerce the elderly into some sort of early life termination. Could such a claim gain traction were we not engaged in some form of wide spread coercion? If we, as a nation, were not engaged in some wide spread form of denial and deception, could such a claim gain any traction among the population at all?

Is it not true to say, We Can Manufacture Consent For Just About Anything Today?

I've seen online advertisements for republican groups organizing around the basic principles of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, where the following peculiar phrase appears:

The Right To Life, Liberty, and Property.

To me that seems to suggest that if you do not own property, you have no rights. That isn't what the Constitution or the Declaration actually say.

It is my opinion that we have indeed engaged in widespread deceit and deception, and that television programming like Big Brother is little more than the sale of a level of dishonesty that is difficult to comprehend. I further believe that this leads to justification of ever more dishonesty, ever more deceit, and that much of it begins with what I have heard termed the Surviellance Industrial Complex. Because we have not been honest about the depth and breadth of all that has been done in our name, this dishonest discourse has expanded to include every topic of national debate from global warming to health care to regulation of the banking industry and on and on ad infititum.

It is my opinion that this dishonesty serves very few, a very select few indeed; and that they generally lean toward the right.

Given that health care is the current issue, I would propose a solution, framed in the context of that debate.

I propose the identification of the most egregious of those insurers who do, with regular indifference, deny their contractural obligations to their policy holders, which may and do result in death. I then suggest killing the entire board of directors in charge of said insurer, for no other reason than to drive home the point that not only is the health care system broken, but that those who have benefited from breaking it must pay.

This is only a proposal, reprehenisble at best. And yet, it seems to be past time to bring some honesty to the table of our discourse, and that it seems cannot happen while those who benefit most from the mass of lies and deceptions feel themselves beyond the reach of the people's rage.

Congress must focus with care and deliberation on this issue, if they are to arrive at the best possible solution for all Americans. This seems highly unlikely while the moneyied lobby rails with obsinate and vociferous insistence Do Nothing, and manipulates the people's rage to make it so.

Most sincerely and respectfullly yours,


D. Winter
http://zendogblog.net

Tags: american, care, dissent, health

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I thought that was clear and concise, isn't it clear and concise? What? Anybody got a problem with it?
Lord knows we could use some honesty at the table on this health care issue. All the talk about death panels, Obama being Hitler, Obama not being a US citizen, etc., being pushed by the Right Wing do nothing but create fear and rage in the population. Then they are afraid of ANY change just because it is seen as change and they think might make matters worse. I think Limbaugh, Palin, Glenn Beck, Savidge and others make the definition of "Unpatriotic" that they used on others so often very clear. If they really cared about the country I don't think they would be doing what they are doing in spreading their fear.
I almost think Palin has a point, even if it didn't apply to the, um, linguistic construct she pointed at. I also think that a big part of the problem is people know something sure as shit aint right, and they just don't know how to articulate it. It makes them angry. Given the state of the technology, that makes them useful.
ZenDog
If you remember Palin was first for then against the bridges to nowhere. Perhaps yopu would be interested in what she proclaimed as Governor of Alaska just over a year ago, as to what health care should mean to end of life discussions.

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. WHEREAS, in Alaska, Alaska Statute 13.52 provides the specifics of the advance directives law and offers a model form for patient use.

WHEREAS, it is estimated that only about 20 percent of people in Alaska have executed an advance directive. Moreover, it is estimated that less than 50 percent of severely or terminally ill patients have an advance directive.

WHEREAS, it is likely that a significant reason for these low percentages is that there is both a lack of knowledge and considerable confusion in the public about Advance Directives.

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.

WHEREAS, as a result of April 16, 2008, being recognized as Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, more citizens will have conversations about their healthcare decisions; more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as:

Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.

Dated: April 16, 2008

Really no different than what she is no calling death squads and evil.
She is just another GOP hypocrite among many such as the "family values" group who have been caught in extramarital relationships. So called Conservatives who will use taxpayer money to visit their mistress on another continent. She fits in well.
Really no different than what she is no calling death squads and evil.

Exactly.

And yet, there are those among us without conscience, who will sell anything, so long as it seems profitable. The problem, I think, is that there are too many of them, and their tools of persuasion are overwhelming . . .
You guys don't want to keep this on the front page? But why not?
LoL!
that's just fucked up.
No one thought the reference to the do nothing lobby was in the least humorous? Jeez.
Repelicans . . .
they just can't take a joke.
Oh, um, yeah-know, I think you have something there . . .

Unless of course they're NOT
Unless they're an example of
SABOTAGE
of our American system of governance and mom's apple pie . . . hee-hee.
I love pecan pie. Ya know, I've never had it with vanilla ice cream, I bet that would be delicious.

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