Parkinson's Disease Tulip


advertisement
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-06-2007, 05:04 PM #1
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Thumbs up Americans are you tired of our horrible health care system? * link to freedom!

http://www.hook-a-canuck.com/

as seen in the credits of Michael Moore's film~
__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote

advertisement
Old 07-08-2007, 07:52 PM #2
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
Default opening up pandora's box

Dear Fellow Parkinson's patients...

I usually try to stay out of political preferences, but this one is near and dear to my heart. The difference (I hope!) is that when I say something, I am open to differing opinions. This probably should be held through a PM instead of on this site, so I'll leave that one up to the moderators. (That's why they're paid the big bucks ... LOL)

First off, I truly believe that someone needs to PERSONALLY experience a situation before deciding if that system is better. This is no exception. If Canada's healthcare system is so much better than ours, the person touting such should be required (perhaps too strong of a word) to LIVE that system, first ... and I mean more than a day!

As most of you know, I am an American and was born here in the USA. Because my husband works for an oil company, our family was sent to Europe for nearly six years. Therefore, although I don't know the Canadian health care system, I do feel qualified to comment on at least one country's socialist health care system. (I prefer not to name the country, as to unduly pit that country, and the beautiful people, against the U.S.A. because of my simple observations and opinions).

The accounts that I name are first-hand, not something that I either read or didn't experience:

#1 - yes, everyone is entitled to health care in a socialist country but it comes with a price:

- Our babysitter needed knee surgery. She was 13 years old when we moved there and 19 when we left. She is now in Florida attending an American university.

- She had to wait FIVE years to have corrective knee surgery because the infirm, the truly desperate, and the children are given priority. Try telling THAT to an athlete.

- Our next door neighbor's son had a lump in his groin. It was dx as a hernia and surgery was set. Before the day of surgery, however, John now had a lump in his swollen glands. Back to the doctor they go. He was now dx as having cancer. They were going to biobsy the lump, send it off for the results, but insisted that they start John on chemo immediately, before the results of the biopsy. Joan (mom) came over in tears, truly believing said diagnosis, never questioning for a moment that they were wrong. Only at the last moment did they decide to take John back to the U.S. to be treated, simply because of the language barrier. Low and behold, had the doctors started John on penicillin immediately, he would have been fine.

Our family had a bout with Scarlet Fever. Our youngest at the time was only 9 months old when we moved there. I was forewarned ahead of time to bring penicillin. My daughter had a rash in the groin area, I had a rash under my arm, and two of our sons had a rash as well (for the life of me, I can no longer remember where). Off to the doctor I go with the youngest.

Because this was our baby, I started penicillin on him immediately. I did not take any myself.

At the time, I didn't know this, but scarlet fever is always accompanied by strep throat. As such, when the doctor was going to perform a strep test on our youngest, I fessed up and said that his results would be negative because I had already started him on penicillin. The doctor was not too pleased, but I tried to smooth things over by saying ... "I'm an American ... I'm sorry ... we do things like that." I did convince him to do a strep test on me which came back positive.

The doctor then gave ME penicillin but refused to even consider that I had two more children at home with it, let alone our youngest.

All I can say is thank goodness we had a stash of penicillin on hand.

- A friend's 12 year old daughter was sick and EXCESSIVELY thirsty. Off to the doctor they go. They send both child and mother home, telling them that it's a virus. (Again, I was forewarned that "everything" is a virus). A few days later, the daughter had to be carried into the doctor's office by the mom. I am not a medical doctor, by any stretch, but I do read Reader's Digest and other family magazines. HELLO!!! Excessively thirsty!!! And, yes, the daughter was minutes away from being in a diabetic coma. They took one look at her, and said to my friend ... "Don't you know that she has diabetes and is minutes away from a coma ... take her immediately to the hospital." Knowing that she was so flustered, that she couldn't think, let alone drive to the hospital, she was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

- A family was involved in a huge, major traffic accident. One mom and one child died instantly. The other mom was rushed to the hospital where she eventually died. A second child was examined at the scene and not having anything apparently wrong, was sent home. She was eventually rushed to the hospital for internal bleeding and died at the hospital. But that's not even the end of the story ...

One year later, I saw the father at the baseball fields and talked to him. The trial was coming up for the accident. In tears, he told me that he found out (in the NEWSPAPER) that the driver was not being indicted for the murder of his wife because they had determined that it was the HOSPITAL that had killed her by putting the intubation tube in incorrectly). To say that his life was a living hell would be an understatement.

A good (American) friend was in my weekly Bible Study. I knew her for FIVE years! She was having such horrible dermatologist problems with her hand that simply was not being helped by doctors. Unlike me, she didn't have the funds to fly to the U.S. for treatment, although that was her dreams and desire.

- I took our oldest son to the ORTHO. His teeth truly were in bad shape. He has congenital defects inherited from yours truly. He had a "stub" of a tooth instead of a whole tooth, was totally missing one tooth, and had a baby tooth with no adult tooth to replace it. They took one look at him, kept looking at him, and then told me that they needed to transplant teeth but it could not be done until he was 18 years old and considered an adult.

Needless to say, we took him for a second opinion to an ortho in the U.S. He took one look at him; said ... "we fill this in, we move that, (voila!) a normal day's work!"

Lastly, and this may come home to roost. Because we are discussing socialist medicine, I simply cannot ... in good conscious ... stop at just the medical implications of socialism.

- My husband worked with an employee whose property was next door to a farmer. The farmer was getting older, didn't want to farm that many acres, and offered to sell part of his farm to his neighbor. Guess what? The government declared that the employee's property was large enough and stopped the sale. (Remember, everyone is "equal" in a socialist system).

- The government can (and does) prevent college students from entering a said discipline ... "say teaching" ... if THEY feel that the field is already saturated.

- Enrollment in universities is shrinking, not only because of the above, but because it doesn't matter if you get an education ... "the government will take care of you!"

- We could not find ONE decent mechanic shop to take our car to be serviced. (And, yes, we tried several). The reason ... there is absolutely no incentive to be the "best" mechanic. Everyone, again, is "equal".

- Government rules were being changed all the time. One day "vitamin fortified" products were taken off of the market. This is only a guess on my part ... but I do believe it was their way to control the importation of American products. Not that I blame them, but it is disconcerting that a government can (and does) make decisions so profound. I have numerous other examples, but won't bore you with the details.

Lastly ... and this is the most important ... if anyone has differing opinions, why, oh why, do they not move to that country? No one is keeping anyone here and everyone is more than welcome to live elsewhere.

My husband has ten years of college and, yes, he makes a lot of money. I only have a two year degree (60 credit hours) but it allows me to substitute teach. In the land of opportunity, the sky is the limit. You CAN better yourself, if you want. That is a personal decision. I don't see people lining the Canadian border to get in but we all know that millions are trying to move here.

Do we have a perfect country or a perfect healthcare system? By no stretch. Do I know people who have personally been screwed by the system? Yes. We all do. But, please, please, please don't bash the system unless you are truly willing to live in the other one.

Lastly, as for Michael Moore ... (my opinion, folks ... not anyone else's) ... why does he continue to live in the United States if he hates it so much? Is he willing to give up his "millions" and "be equal" like everyone else? NO ... he wants both ... a uniform health care system, but a system that also allows him to be rich.

Moderators ... I have no idea what is allowed, and what is banned on this website. If this is not allowed, so be it. Is a better way for it to be accessed by a link of some sort? I have no idea how to do that, however.

Again, I am always open to comments and I try not to take things personally. If anyone wishes to respond, please respect my opinion and I'll be sure to respect yours.
__________________
Terri

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.


Quoted by: Maya Angelou (Reader's Digest Oct. 2006)
proudest_mama is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-09-2007, 10:46 PM #3
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Lightbulb dear terri ?

Mr. micheal moore does not hate the US,
if you would allow yourself to watch the films he has made -you would see
that he is not a "bad man" -
I have a good friend that lives in Canada -the system works for the Canadians! they love it! They can't imagine living ithout it.

My sister lives in France and is married to a frenchman, she loves the National
health care system in France,and England has NHS as well...
it works in the US -what you call socialism -
I call public schools, public libraries, people who are paid by the individual states such as teachers, professors, police, state highway patrol, etc.
Benjamin Franklin was be no means - a communist? or socialist?

The A public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources (such as tax monies) and may be operated by civil servants. Taxing bodies for public libraries may be at the municipal, district covering several municipalities, county, state, or federal level.

Public libraries exist in most nations of the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. In addition to print books and periodicals, most public libraries today have a wide array of other media including music CDs, computer software, movies on video tape, and DVD, as well as facilities to access the Internet. Many public libraries also provide access to digital books and music that can be downloaded directly to Mp3 players. Public libraries may also provide other services, such as community meeting rooms, storytimes for infants, toddlers, and children, or after-school programs. In person and on-line programs for homework help, language learning and other community service programs are common offerings. One of the most popular programs offered in public libraries are summer reading programs for children, families, and adults. In rural areas, the local public library may have, in addition to its main branch, a mobile library service, consisting of one or more buses furnished as a small public library, serving the countryside according to a regular schedule.

United Kingdom
In the early years of the seventeenth century many famous collegiate and town libraries — i.e., libraries under the guardianship of municipalities — were founded throughout the country. Norwich library established in 1608 (six years after Thomas Bodley founded the Bodleian Library, which was open to the "whole republic of the learned", and 145 years before the foundation of the British Museum) is said to be the first provincial town library under municipal control, however, similar claims are made for the Francis Trigge Chained Library of St. Wulfram's Church, Grantham, Lincolnshire which is said to pre-date Norwich library by ten years, being founded in 1598 by the rector of nearby Welbourne.


Manchester Central Library Other early town libraries of the UK include those of Ipswich (1612), Bristol (founded in 1613 and opened in 1615), and Leicester (1632). Shrewsbury School also opened its library to townsfolk.[1]
Benjamin Franklin was born in England thus he took the good system with him
to America and so Ben Franklin has been credited starting the public library system in the U.S....
I would miss all these if they were not here, wouldn't you?

So the question is this -since most of the english speaking World accepts
A National Health care system, and the US would surely use any great cure or any invention from all over the world that works -

Why not US National Health care -

I am on Medicaid,(SSI) that is similiar -but in my state which is not nice -we are not entitled to dental check ups or anything dental??? so the poor lose their teeth -we have about 50 million people in the USA with "zero health care"
if you have PD you can not get regular insurance -pre-existing condition -red flagged!
I was told by my insurance company -so sorry we can no longer insure you, because PD patients have a high rate of suicide -
and that was a famous healthcare company?


the US medicaid system is - a really communistic type of system -
keeping the sick- broken and poor...
the rules of medicaid are harsh -I can't even have more than 2000 dollars to my name - and I can not be employable in my case...??
the kick in the pants is even though I should have been given SSA,
quote
someone found a crack in the system and swept me towards it...
-
Is that Liberty? *

My sister has lived all over the World

...and we definately do not have a perfect/ or good system - everything could be so much better...

The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
that is what is called a "Democracy".
it is we the people...ideally?



barackobama.com
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/HealthPlanFull.pdf

The U.S. spends over $2 trillion on medical care every year, and offers the best medical
technology in the world.1 Americans have their choice of top doctors and hospitals, and
our national investment in scientific research has paid off handsomely. Diseases that
were once life-threatening are now curable; conditions that once devastated are now
treatable. Yet, the benefits of the American health care system come at a price that an
increasing number of individuals and families, employers and employees, and public and
private providers cannot afford.
Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured because of rising medical
costs. Nearly 45 million Americans2—including 9 million children3—lack health
insurance. Eighty percent of the uninsured are in working families.4 Even those with
health coverage are struggling to cope with soaring medical costs.

The Lack of affordable health care is compounded by serious flaws in our health care delivery system.

About 100,000 Americans die from medical errors in hospitals every year.8 Prescription drug errors
alone cost the nation more than $100 billion every year.
One-quarter of all medical spending goes to administrative and overhead costs and reliance on antiquated paperbased
record and information systems needlessly increases these costs.

Underinvestment in prevention and public health.
Too many Americans go without high-value preventive services, such as cancer screening and immunizations to protect
against flu or pneumonia. Providers are not adequately reimbursed for helping patients
manage chronic illnesses like diabetes or asthma.
__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.

Last edited by lou_lou; 07-09-2007 at 11:12 PM.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 12:56 AM #4
rashelle rashelle is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 64
15 yr Member
rashelle rashelle is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 64
15 yr Member
Default

I love the debate, please continue.
rashelle is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 05:00 AM #5
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Lightbulb op eds found online at the daily health policy at Kaiser

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_R...licy.cfm#46091
link to the entire page:



Op-Eds Discuss Michael Moore's Health Care Documentary 'Sicko'
[Jul 09, 2007]
Several newspapers recently published editorials and opinion pieces discussing "Sicko," filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary about the health care industry. Summaries appear below.

Editorials


Des Moines Register: "Sicko" should "[s]pur Americans, at long last, to demand a system that covers everyone, while providing greater quality and reining in costs," according to a Register editorial. The "best option" for achieving this goal is to create a "government-financed system, much like Medicare" that "wouldn't be 'socialized medicine,'" according to the editorial (Des Moines Register, 7/6).

Long Island Newsday: Moore's "scathing critique of the flaws in the U.S. system is accurate," but his film "brushes off" the ways in which "demographic pressures and rising costs have taken their toll" on health care systems in European nations and Cuba, a Newsday editorial states. Such pressures have caused other countries "to ration their care, some by long waits, others by denial of expensive treatments by age, others by the adoption of stiff copayments," the editorial states, concluding, "There is no simple answer. 'Sicko' pretends there is" (Long Island Newsday, 7/7).

San Jose Mercury News: "Moore's examination of the current system presents a compelling argument that it's both a mess and in desperate need of significant reform," according to a Mercury News editorial. The Mercury News writes that "despite the weaknesses of Moore's film," including a "superficial" examination of the health care systems in Canada, England, France and Cuba, the film "deserves its highest marks for forcing Americans to try to come to grips with the question of whether the current system is meeting our expectations." The editorial concludes, "The sooner we acknowledge our shortcomings and start debating the potential solutions, the better" (San Jose Mercury News, 7/5).
________________________


Hollywood's pre-'Sicko' health care treatments
Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 27, 2007


The Friday opening of "Sicko" prompts the inevitable question: Will people really want to spend 123 minutes of their precious leisure time watching Michael Moore dissect what ails the American health care system?

Health advocates hope movie viewers will embrace the weighty topic, much as they did with Moore efforts such as the pro-gun-control "Bowling for Columbine" and Al Gore's Oscar-winning glorified PowerPoint on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."

But the ability to accurately predict how well "Sicko" will fare at the box office is hampered by the limited number of movies in which the health care industry -- as opposed to the medical field -- features prominently.

As a reporter who writes about health insurance for this paper, I welcome the release of "Sicko" because, if nothing else, it might restore some balance to the glaring lack of pop-culture references on my beat.

Here's a look at some of the health-care-themed flicks Hollywood released in recent years.

Already 10 years old, Oscar-winning "As Good as It Gets," starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, may not immediately strike viewers as a health care film. People are more likely to remember the little dog Nicholson's character is forced to care for than the health care angle.

Yet the film serves as a sort of watershed moment demonstrating America's frustration with managed care. Audiences burst into applause during a scene in which Hunt, who plays a waitress struggling to get medical care for her asthmatic son, delivers a scathing diatribe against the evils of managed care and health maintenance organizations.

On the other hand, it's difficult to seriously cite 2002's "John Q," directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring Denzel Washington. In this ill-conceived drama, Washington plays a part-time factory worker whose tight-fisted HMO refuses to cover his son's emergency heart transplant operation. Cold, uncaring hospital administrators send the boy home to die. So John Q. does what any sane human being would do under such circumstances: He takes the entire emergency department hostage until doctors agree to perform the surgery.

Not to downplay the impact of insurance denials on patients' access to services, but the scenario depicted in "John Q" is unlikely. Even though the movie shows that the parents make just enough money to be ineligible for Medicaid, it fails to mention there are other options for children who need life-saving treatment if their parents can't afford the costs on their own. A far more plausible problem would be the lack of an available matching organ for the transplant recipient. But that wouldn't make for great drama.

Many movies with health care themes flatlined at the box office.

In 1992's "Article 99," Ray Liotta and Kiefer Sutherland play young, renegade doctors at a Kansas City Veterans Administration hospital who circumvent bureaucratic rules and red tape to treat patients. The movie's title draws from a fictional rule that bars American veterans from treatment unless their illnesses are related to their military service.

I had never even heard of "Critical Care," a 1997 Sidney Lumet film that starred Anne Bancroft, James Spader and Helen Mirren. Billed as a dark comedy, it has a chilling tagline: "At Memorial Hospital no one ever dies ... Until their insurance runs out."

Then there's 2002's "Damaged Care," a Showtime drama that has a direct connection to "Sicko."

Laura Dern plays Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical reviewer for health insurer Humana who is haunted by a decision she made to deny a patient a transplant, a decision she believes caused the patient's death. The real Dr. Peeno features prominently in "Sicko" as a whistle-blower who testified before Congress 10 years ago that HMOs reward reviewers for denying care.

Ultimately, the box-office success or failure of "Sicko" may have less to do with the subject matter than the public's response to the filmmaker's political reputation. Unlike fictional health care dramas, Moore's film contains real people expressing real frustration with the system. With polls showing health care as Americans' top domestic concern, it's clearly a topic that resonates.

We'll soon find out whether people want to see those frustrations played out before them with a bucket of popcorn and a pack of Jujubes.

E-mail Victoria Colliver at vcolliver@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...DGN8QLLNA1.DTL

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle
other opinions link

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_r...45908&dr_cat=3
__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.

Last edited by lou_lou; 07-10-2007 at 05:23 AM.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 05:20 AM #6
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Lightbulb Canadian doctors for medicare -link

http://www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/
__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 05:27 AM #7
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Lightbulb Capitol Hill Watch

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

Monday, July 09, 2007

Capitol Hill Watch
Democrats Work To Reauthorize, Expand SCHIP While Bush Administration Tries To Limit Program Growth


Congressional efforts to reauthorize SCHIP, which expires on Sept. 30, are "intensifying," but the Bush administration "has taken several steps to slow momentum for expansion of the program," the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 7/9). Members of the Senate Finance Committee are close to reaching an agreement on legislation that would reauthorize and expand SCHIP and hope to mark up the bill this week, according to a committee aide. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said lawmakers before the July 4 recess reached an agreement on most of the basic principles of the legislation and now are working out the details.

Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week expect to finish a discussion draft of SCHIP legislation (CongressDaily, 7/9). Many Democratic lawmakers support proposals to increase funds for SCHIP by about $50 billion over five years. President Bush has proposed increasing SCHIP funds by $4.8 billion over five years. Bush also has called on lawmakers to refocus the program on low-income, uninsured children by reducing federal funds for states that have expanded SCHIP eligibility to children in families with annual incomes more than 200% of the federal poverty level. At least 17 states would lose federal funds as a result of the proposal (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/28).

White House Opposition
According to the Times, the "ideological battle" over the program "epitomizes fundamental disagreements" between Democrats and the Bush administration "over the future of the nation's health care system and the role of government." White House officials believe an expansion of the program would erode private insurance and take the country closer to a government-run health care system (New York Times, 7/9).

Bush last week called an expansion of SCHIP "the wrong path for our nation." He said, "Government-run health care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes from the private market" (Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 7/7).

Allan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy, said that White House objections to Democrats' SCHIP expansion proposals are "philosophical and ideological" and that a "single-payer health care system with rationing and price controls" would result from an expansion.

The Times reports that the White House recently has taken steps to limit support for SCHIP expansion, including the release of an HHS study that found one million uninsured children currently are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP, compared with previous estimates by "private researchers and government experts" of five million children; a letter-writing campaign by regional HHS directors to newspapers warning of "a government takeover of the health care marketplace" with an expansion of the program; and urging Congress to include Bush's tax credits for individual health insurance plans in any SCHIP legislation (New York Times, 7/9).

House Leadership
Meanwhile, in a June 28 letter from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) says, "It is vital that we present a united front on [SCHIP] legislation. The administration will battle us every step of the way, and we cannot count on any votes from the other side of the aisle." The letter adds, "Failure to act will increase the number of uninsured children and severely curtail state health reform efforts."

A bill drafted by the lawmakers would allow older children, children of documented immigrants and pregnant women to enroll in SCHIP. House Democrats also proposed strengthening traditional Medicare by increasing spending on lower-income, rural and elderly residents (Wall Street Journal, 7/7).

In addition, the lawmakers in the letter said they plan to defer for two or three years a planned 10% cut in physicians' Medicare payments. The letter also "insinuated [House Democrats] will take a stab at overhauling some of Medicare's payment systems, particularly within Medicare Advantage," according to CongressDaily (CongressDaily, 7/9).

Opinion Piece
Reauthorization of SCHIP "is not in question," but "whether we will build upon SCHIP to strengthen the national health care safety net or will retreat from ensuring health care to the nation's children is the cause of a serious clash in Washington," Bill Bentley, president and CEO of Voices for America's Children, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece. According to Bentley, the "real issue" for SCHIP reauthorization is not "whether it conflicts with private health insurance, but whether we have the national will to fully address the most basic needs of our children" (Bentley, Washington Times, 7/8).

Broadcast Coverage
PBS' "Now" on Friday reported on the debate over SCHIP reauthorization. Video of the segment and expanded "Now" coverage are available online.
__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 05:30 AM #8
lou_lou's Avatar
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
lou_lou lou_lou is offline
In Remembrance
lou_lou's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: about 45 minutes to anywhere!
Posts: 3,086
15 yr Member
Thumbs up my 10 cents - op/ed -

IMHO -
I would like everyone to have the same health care plan
that U.S. congressmen and senators have~

__________________
with much love,
lou_lou


.


.
by
.
, on Flickr
pd documentary - part 2 and 3

.


.


Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.
lou_lou is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 07:53 PM #9
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
Default round two! LOL

CTenaLouise,

Do I call you Tena ... or Louise?! At least someone can pronounce your name. I truly feel sorry for the next generation. LOL

While I truly respect your opinion, I have to graciously agree to disagree. None of my questions were answered and to take only one aspect of socialism, without understanding all of the implications associated with a socialist society is just not fair.

- What about the farmer who wanted to sell his land to his neighbor and can't because "his neighbor's property is large enough?"

- What about everyone being paid the same wage so that there is absolutely no incentive to be a better employee/business owner. (Our car would honestly be in a mechanic's shop for SIX WEEKS and my husband and I were on the verge of divorce). LOL

- What about students not going to college because the government can both declare a certain discipline is too saturated or worse, that the government will take care of you anyway.

- And, going back to my question regarding Michael Moore. Is he willing to give up his millions (and I mean that literally) so that we could all be equal?

I probably used too harsh of a word by saying that Michael Moore hates the U.S.A. But, even if he is unhappy, and even if he wants to better the United States in general, if he's going to tout something as "socialist" medicine, he better darn well be willing to share his millions with me!! He simply cannot have his cake and eat it, too.

Again, does that mean that our system is perfect? No ... not even close. But, I'd be more inclined to fix our system, by tweaking the kinks, instead of totally be chucking the entire thing. At least we have incentives to be a BETTER doctor!

Again ... if Canada is such a great, wonderful place, why are people not knocking down THEIR doors?

Just so others, who don't know me well, understand what makes me "tick". It's this ...

My standard quote is that Bill Gates married the wrong woman because if I had the wealth that he has, I would help millions (and I mean that literally!)

My other standard quote is this ... "Just because I got lucky and married an engineer, doesn't make me better than anyone else."

As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was talking to my neuro and said that because I don't "have" to work, I am blessed beyond measure. But this, again, is because my husband has ten years of college.

We have a beautiful home, a gorgeous pool (after 20 years of marriage ... to an ENGINEER!) In a socialist society, why would he even contemplate such a thing?

Food for thought, folks ...

Terri
__________________
Terri

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.


Quoted by: Maya Angelou (Reader's Digest Oct. 2006)
proudest_mama is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 07-10-2007, 08:02 PM #10
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
proudest_mama proudest_mama is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chicago, IL dx 10/03 @ 43
Posts: 177
15 yr Member
Default round two - LOL

CTenaLouise,

Do I call you Tena ... or Louise?! At least someone can pronounce your name. I truly feel sorry for the next generation. LOL

While I truly respect your opinion, I have to graciously agree to disagree. None of my questions were answered and to take only one aspect of socialism, without understanding all of the implications associated with a socialist society is just not fair.

- What about the farmer who wanted to sell his land to his neighbor and can't because "his neighbor's property is large enough?"

- What about everyone being paid the same wage so that there is absolutely no incentive to be a better employee/business owner. (Our car would honestly be in a mechanic's shop for SIX WEEKS and my husband and I were on the verge of divorce). LOL

- What about students not going to college because the government can both declare a certain discipline is too saturated or worse, that the government will take care of you anyway.

- And, going back to my question regarding Michael Moore. Is he willing to give up his millions (and I mean that literally) so that we could all be equal?

I probably used too harsh of a word by saying that Michael Moore hates the U.S.A. But, even if he is unhappy, and even if he wants to better the United States in general, if he's going to tout something as "socialist" medicine, he better darn well be willing to share his millions with me!! He simply cannot have his cake and eat it, too.

Again, does that mean that our system is perfect? No ... not even close. But, I'd be more inclined to fix our system, by tweaking the kinks, instead of totally be chucking the entire thing. At least we have incentives to be a BETTER doctor!

Again ... if Canada is such a great, wonderful place, why are people not knocking down THEIR doors?

Just so others, who don't know me well, understand what makes me "tick". It's this ...

My standard quote is that Bill Gates married the wrong woman because if I had the wealth that he has, I would help millions (and I mean that literally!)

My other standard quote is this ... "Just because I got lucky and married an engineer, doesn't make me better than anyone else."

As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was talking to my neuro and said that because I don't "have" to work, I am blessed beyond measure. But this, again, is because my husband has ten years of college.

We have a beautiful home, a gorgeous pool (after 20 years of marriage ... to an ENGINEER!) In a socialist society, why would he even contemplate such a thing?

Food for thought, folks ...
__________________
Terri

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.


Quoted by: Maya Angelou (Reader's Digest Oct. 2006)
proudest_mama is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:04 AM.

Powered by vBulletin • Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

vBulletin Optimisation provided by vB Optimise v2.7.1 (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
 

NeuroTalk Forums

Helping support those with neurological and related conditions.

 

The material on this site is for informational purposes only,
and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment
provided by a qualified health care provider.


Always consult your doctor before trying anything you read here.