Top 5 Health Care Reform Lies

Lie #1: President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!

The truth: These accusations—of "death panels" and forced euthanasia—are, of course, flatly untrue. As an article from the Associated Press puts it: "No 'death panel' in health care bill."1 What's the real deal? Reform legislation includes a provision, supported by the AARP, to offer senior citizens access to a professional medical counselor who will provide them with information on preparing a living will and other issues facing older Americans.2

If you'd like to read the actual section of the legislation that spawned these outrageous claims (Section 1233 of H.R. 3200) for yourself, here it is. It's pretty boring stuff, which is why the accusations that it creates "death panels" is so absurd. But don't take our word for it, read it yourself.

Lie #2: Democrats are going to outlaw private insurance and force you into a government plan!!!

The truth: With reform, choices will increase, not decrease. Obama's reform plans will create a health insurance exchange, a one-stop shopping marketplace for affordable, high-quality insurance options.3 Included in the exchange is the public health insurance option—a nationwide plan with a broad network of providers—that will operate alongside private insurance companies, injecting competition into the market to drive quality up and costs down.4 If you're happy with your coverage and doctors, you can keep them.5 But the new public plan will expand choices to millions of businesses or individuals who choose to opt into it, including many who simply can't afford health care now.

Lie #3: President Obama wants to implement Soviet-style rationing!!!

The truth: Health care reform will expand access to high-quality health insurance, and give individuals, families, and businesses more choices for coverage. Right now, big corporations decide whether to give you coverage, what doctors you get to see, and whether a particular procedure or medicine is covered—that is rationed care. And a big part of reform is to stop that.

Health care reform will do away with some of the most nefarious aspects of this rationing: discrimination for pre-existing conditions, insurers that cancel coverage when you get sick, gender discrimination, and lifetime and yearly limits on coverage.6 And outside of that, as noted above, reform will increase insurance options, not force anyone into a rationed situation.

Lie #4: Obama is secretly plotting to cut senior citizens' Medicare benefits!!!

The truth: Health care reform plans will not reduce Medicare benefits.7 Reform includes savings from Medicare that are unrelated to patient care—in fact, the savings comes from cutting billions of dollars in overpayments to insurance companies and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.8

Lie #5: Obama's health care plan will bankrupt America!!!

The truth: We need health care reform now in order to prevent bankruptcy—to control spiraling costs that affect individuals, families, small businesses, and the American economy. Right now, we spend more than $2 trillion dollars a year on health care.9 The average family premium is projected to rise to over $22,000 in the next decade10—and each year, nearly a million people face bankruptcy because of medical expenses.11 Reform, with an affordable, high-quality public option that can spur competition, is necessary to bring down skyrocketing costs. Also, President Obama's reform plans would be fully paid for over 10 years and not add a penny to the deficit.

Source

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The Case for Healthcare Reform, Part 2

This is Part 2, for Part 1 click HERE.

In addition, a national development of a computerized records system, such as those pioneered by the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics which have helped enhance the outcome of its patients and have reduced the cost of healthcare, is an important goal. As for opportunities for the private sector in healthcare reform initiatives such as computerized records, many companies have already stepped in with their programs, such as Microsoft HealthVault, Google Health, and Dossia. Healthcare reform would mean a greater use for these services. This is an example that while private industry is integral in innovations in a free market, when there is an exclusive product or service that, if made more accessible to the entire population, would benefit all, then the government has a right to step in and make that happen.

These and other actions proposed by the President as well as countless economists and independent research organizations leads to lower long-term healthcare costs and a better lifestyle for everyone, with fewer worries. Take a look at Canada, the UK, France, or even Cuba; they have a nationalized healthcare system which includes 'perks' such as paid maternity leave that led to healthier, longer lives for their citizens and a more productive economy. Worries in the US about paying for the healthcare of illegal aliens is simply untrue, and is one of many lies fanned by such closed-minded reactionaries such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, who recently has conjured up terms such as "Obama's Death Panel."

The public option is also a major component of healthcare reform since it allows individuals and families to do what makes America a great capitalist nation: purchase the health plan of their choice. This creates more competition and makes HMOs lower their ridiculously high premiums and provide better value for the money to compete. The President's plan to also make individuals pay for basic health insurance (with certain exemptions) will ensure that the responsibility of staying healthy is shared by everyone, since an illness here will affect everyone else.

The need for healthcare reform in this great nation is best summed up by a quote from John Locke, one of the great Enlightenment philosophers whose ideas helped patriots establish the American government. In Locke's Second Treatise of Government, he said,

"This makes him willing to quit a condition, which, however free, is full of fears and continual dangers: and it is not without reason, that he seeks out, and is willing to join in society with others, who are already united, or have a mind to unite, for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates, which I call by the general name, property."

When our freedom is attacked, do we all not band together to defend it? This is the question we must ask ourselves now but for healthcare - can we risk continuing to fear whether or not our guardians of our health (doctors) and their employers (private insurance companies) are truly caring for our well-being whenever we get sick? More and more, we see doctor's pledges to the Hippocratic Oath being more and more overshadowed by the promise of pay from insurers. Or will we form a better society by investing in our physiologic and economic future by ensuring that everyone has the same fair access to healthcare that people better off get? Let us honor the late, great Senator Ted Kennedy, who fought for decades for better healthcare for Americans. Let us make the right choice as a united country for the betterment of ourselves and for our future generations. Let us say yes to the President’s healthcare reform.

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The Case for Healthcare Reform, Part 1

We need healthcare reform NOW. This can be accomplished in two ways: 1) Regulating insurance companies; the word regulate being one of the most hated words in the Republican dictionary, and 2) Overhauling what HMOs can do and providing a Public Option, as the President has proposed. Frankly speaking, the most likely reform to pass will undoubtedly be the second option, although this does not mean I am on the GOP’s side. This article addresses why we need healthcare reform.

For too long, we have let the people of this country go without a security that if they get sick, they will be provided the necessary health coverage to get better. Insurance companies cannot be trusted based on its 30+ years history - they terminate a patient's health insurance when it becomes too costly for them. They pay doctors and hospitals for the amount of tests they conduct, rather than how much better the patient gets. They deny coverage to people which ends up costing everyone more through higher premiums by not giving them the proper care they deserved originally. A sick worker leads to lower productivity and increased costs for businesses as well as higher long-term costs in the world economy and increased burdens on future generations.

Republicans and Conservatives claim that the government will not be able to handle national healthcare since it already cannot effectively handle Medicare and other government-regulated industries. They claim that Medicare is bloated and that people should instead go and buy their own insurance. But if someone is sick, how can they possibly afford the time to review the offers of private insurance companies when the companies are only in for profit? President Nixon started Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) because it provided a way for private companies to earn a profit off our illness. True, having perfect competition is a key value of democracy and capitalism in America, and a free market with individual choice is key to ensuring the best quality. But when it comes to healthcare, something that is so integral to our lives, we just cannot trust large corporations who pocket our money for their happiness to ensure that we will be better off. From an insurance companies' point of view, if a patient is going to be too expensive to keep insuring, then they just cut them off, regardless of the fact that the patient has paid them continually beforehand for an assurance that they will be taken cared for in times of need. Is that not what insurance is for?

And trust me, I am not only behind healthcare reform for myself, I am also writing for my uncle, who for nearly a year has been in and out of area hospitals and has most recently been diagnosed with leukemia. What made my family’s dealing with this crisis worse was brought on by his insurance company's ridiculous terms. When the hospital chose to place him in a 1-person room, his HMO denied payment since they would only pay for his hospitalization’s room and board if he stayed in a "semi-private" (2-person) room. This dispute took place at a time when he was suffering immensely as a result of sometimes-failed treatments and numerous blood transfusions. Another incident was when he had to be rushed to the hospital after being released due to a sudden change in his condition. The HMO accused him for not notifying them beforehand about a hospitalization, but in an emergency, would anyone really be willing to spend precious time waiting on a phone with their insurer to let them know that they needed to go to the hospital? Besides, the hospital, with its numerous staff and resources, should have the responsibility to notify the insurance company.

Having the government step in and level the playing field is critical in the healthcare industry because they realize that since our tax dollars are being used to pay for it, there has to be a good return for the investment. Instead of waiting until a patient is sick to treat them, more emphasis is placed on ensuring that patients get better preventative treatment by increasing the availability of tests which help spot problems before they occur. Rewarding health practitioners for the quality of care rather than the quantity of care they give, the reverse of which was the status quo, is also a key goal of healthcare reform since it does not make sense for hospitals to release patients before they fully recover to only have them return soon for the same problem.

Part 2 - Conclusion - will be available tomorrow.

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Betty Brown: Racist

Betty Brown, the Republican state representative from Texas should resign. Now. Recently, at a House Elections Committee, she was questioning Ramey Ko from the Organization of Chinese Americans. Ko was testifying at how many Asian Americans have differences in the names that are transliterated on some documents and an English name on other official documents. In response, Brown said:

"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese --
I understand it's a rather difficult language -- do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?

As Huffington Post's Rachel Farris said on Brown's use of "citizens", "the last time I checked, he wasn't a nation. Or even a governing body. Nice guy, well-spoken, but certainly not a sovereign leader of a nation."

Well, let's put it this way. When a foreigner, oh let's say an American, visits an Asian country, perhaps China, I would bet that the citizens there would have a hard time pronouncing English names as well. Surely that's a hard language to learn.

Ms. Brown, with all due respect, the reason why Asian Americans and other foreigners try to keep their ethnic name as much as possible, even after its transliteration, is because it allows them to have have a connection to where their roots were from and to remind them of their identity that their parents had. Thank you for apologizing, although should this happen again, either coming from you or your fellow constituents, the backlash will be stronger.

>>>Link to article and Youtube video of Q&A session (or for a direct Youtube link to the section with the remarks, click HERE.)
>>>Advertising Age article about Brown's remarks and why names aren't just faceplates

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Note to RNC: Color is not the answer

Recently, Barack Obama became the nation's first African-American President. Just on Friday, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele became the first African-American chair of the Republican National Committee. I am sure that people behind the RNC worked to make sure that he would gain the position. They believe that he will help bring African-Americans into the Republican circle. Frankly, this is a pathetic move since the ideals of the Republican party are just plain out of date and out of touch with the current world. If they think that having a person of the same race as the President will help, then they are just merely hiding centuries-old problems with a new color.

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OBAMA: #44 (3rd Post)

Speeches:
John McCain's concession speech with video
Barack Obama's acceptance speech with video

Random public reactions in NYC following the results:

• Yelling on city streets for the better part of the night, honking
• Egyptian woman, with her young daughter, talking with an acquaintance on the subway: "I have been living here for 33 years...McCain's too old...I'm glad Obama won."
• African-American woman speaking to her husband on bus: "On [Linden?] Blvd. last night, the Bloods and Crips were dancing together!"

New York Times' Electoral & National, State Election Maps

Google's election gadget:


Or run for president yourself and see what states you want to win with Yahoo's customizable election map at their Political Dashboard.

And here's what my dream electoral map for U.S. elections would be like:
Yahoo! News Political Dashboard

OBAMA: #44

Congratulations BARACK OBAMA on becoming the 44th President of the United States! He will also be the first African-American President in the U.S. The projections were made first by ABC at around 11 PM EST. Right after the projections were made, throngs of supporters in Times Square, NYC, and in Grant Park, Chicago, cheered. Many were in tears. Times Square looked nearly as crowded and ecstatic as on New Year's Eve.

In an ABC poll, 80% of those polled said that race was not a major factor in their voting decision, instead, 63% believed that the economy was the reason.

When John McCain gave his concession speech in Phoenix, Arizona at around 11:20 PM, his supporters booed when McCain first mentioned the name "Obama." McCain took it professionally and signed that he wanted them to stop. I applaud him for finally taking responsibility about the actions of his supporters. However, I still fear that many right-wing Republican conservative extremists, who were clearly upset at his speech by continually booing Obama, may be even more deeply divided from the rest of the country and may now have an even bigger reason to cause hate in this country.

Plus: reactions

• Aunt (before projection): Are you voting just because every other youth is voting? Did you hear in the news that if Obama wins, to watch out for terrorist attacks to "test" Obama? Or from white supremacists?
• Mom in a seemingly disgruntled, "Yeah-he-won-so-what-I-just-don't-plain-like-him" tone.
• Dad: Already? I just went up to take a shower and he won already?
  

2008 Presidential Debate #3 Notes

No, I unfortunately did not transcribe the 2nd presidential debate nor the vice-presidential debate. But here are the notes from the last debate.

2008 Third Presidential Debate Notes

What's Black and White and Read All Over?

Apparently, Palin doesn't know the answer to that. In an interview with Katie Couric of CBS' Evening News, she could not name a newspaper she read before she was nominated for the vice-presidency. Watch the awkward video here.


>>>National Post: Video: Palin on newspapers she reads: 'Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me'

2008 Presidential Debate #1 Notes

As promised, my notes of the first Presidential debate between Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain held in Mississippi last Friday, September 26th.

2008 First Presidential Debate Notes

Alternate full transcript: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6256195/Presidential-Debate-Transcript

MoveOn's Research on Palin

Yesterday, I talked about how McCain's choice was a strategic move to gain some of Hillary's bitter supporters. Now, MoveOn.org has come up with some information as to how this very inexperienced conservative and likely to succeed McCain (the Obama camp called her a "heartbeat away" from the presidency) would be a bad choice for America.

>>>MoveOn.org: Who is Sarah Palin?

McCain's VP Pick to Hurt Obama

Republican presidential nominee John McCain picked Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential choice in an attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters in her failed bid to become Barack Obama's VP pick. This move will surely confuse some female Democratic voters who wanted a Hillary on the ticket and do not yet fully endorse Obama. However, Governor Palin is a conservative who is markedly different from Obama, Clinton, or Biden: she is anti-choice (for abortion), part of the National Rifle Association, and is younger than the presidential nominee. However, she is not as qualified and has not had much experience.

>>>Yahoo! News/AP: McCain chooses Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for V.P.

I Don't Pick Pickens Plan

Watch:

(Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bOug1d20c; User:pickensplan)

I outright SUPPORT increasing the use of alternative energy. After I saw the above on TV, I thought, "Wow, a former oil pioneer supporting it too? Awesome!". Even better is that he is willing to burden the costs of constructing a massive wind farm across America's heartlands with his own company. Having one standard wind turbine manager is definitely efficient. But then I found out that he is a hardcore Republican who has lots of money (and donated massive amounts to Republican candidates as well as lying about making peace with John Kerry's swift boat controversy) and by giving one company an exclusive right to supply 20% of the nation's energy sounds just like a monopoly to me. Monopolies=BAD. I guess it was just too good to be true.

>>>Judge for yourself: PickensPlan

GOP Gives Oil Companies $ While Screwing Alt Energy

The AP reported that Senate Republicans voted to block an effort by the Democrats to tax oil companies for having a "wind-fall profits tax" whenever they make excessive profits. They claimed that the five largest oil companies in the US do not control world gas prices and taxing them would discourage domestic production. I am not completely sure if I support a profits tax, but if it had passed and if the money raised would have gone to support alternative energy research, then I would have been even happier. But the GOP also blocked a plan that would extend tax breaks for Alt Energy research that are set to expire soon. A double whammy for consumers and the environment!

>>>Yahoo!/AP-Senate GOP blocks windfall taxes on Big Oil