Not totally ranting

(RIP, public option)

Ok. So the public option is dead. Even if Harry Reid says it's kind of still alive, in a zombie-meets-alternate-universe kind of way.

My friends have been sending condolence emails. But really, I'm ok.

I'm not even ranting about it.

Because instead of the stupid, trigger-happy-opt-in-opt-out-wishy-washy public option that was never going to happen, we just might get 2 things:

1. The chance for those of us over 55 to buy into Medicare, and

2. An Exchange that mimics the health care options available to Congress.

Now, I'm not all that excited about # 2. Everybody thinks Congress gets this sweet deal, but it's really just private insurance plans saying "Buy me! Buy me!" Big deal.

On the other hand, # 1 has me not-ranting for a change.

~ I find it reassuring that I could possibly have another choice for health insurance, other than the pathetic and extremely expensive Texas High-Risk Health Insurance Pool.

~ I see the potential for further expansion of Medicare, a (gasp) single-payer system, down the road.

~ And I can't wait to hear the protests from the Republicans, who were against Medicare before they were for it, before they were against it again.

Nothing is set in stone yet. But the current compromise has tentative support from Anthony Weiner, Jay Rockefeller and Howard Dean. Olympia Snowe hates it.

That's good enough for me.

~~~

WhatTheHeck Headlines

It's not easy to write a headline. I mean, you have to take a whole entire story and condense it into 5 or 6 words. It's a tough job!

Maybe that's why the headlines on Politico, one of my favorite websites, are sometimes a little confusing. Here are a few actual examples that I spotted, just this morning:

Critics Start Fast In Copenhagen
Does this mean that the climate change critics are not eating? Goodness. Or are they simply off to a "fast start"? I would clarify this for you, but the story was 4 pages long and extremely boring, so I really am not sure.

Gibbs: Gallup Like A 6-Year-Old
Yee Haw! Let's all gallup around the press room with Robert Gibbs! Sounds like fun. Oh wait. He was talking about the Gallup Poll, comparing it to a 6 year old with a crayon. I like my interpretation better.

W.H. Predicts A Stimulating Winter
Really? Are they inviting Tigers Woods for an extended stay?

Public Option No Longer Public. Or An Option. Or Anywhere In Sight.
Ok, I made this one up. But it's very close to the truth. And it's not funny at all. Although I am encouraged that they're talking about allowing people 55 and older to buy into Medicare. I have no idea why it took so long to get that idea on the table, but I'm hoping it will stay there.

~~~

Would you trust this guy with health care reform?

Why was Max Baucus ever put in charge of the Senate health care bill? Somehow, his face just does not inspire confidence ...




Even when he smiles, he's kind of creepy looking ...



Oh god, please stop smiling Max ...



Most of the time, he looks perplexed ...




... or confused ...




Or like he has just been stricken with lock-jaw ...



Or some sort of digestive disorder ...




But on the other hand, maybe he's the perfect guy for the job ...

I *heart* insurance companies

(who says insurance companies don't have a heart?)

Sometimes big corporations get a bad rap. But hey, this is the season of love and peace. I think we should give them a break! Surely they have good reasons for doing what they do.

So, in the spirit of love and peace, I looked up the mission statements for the country's 3 largest health insurance companies.

Wow. Golly gee. I had no idea they were so compassionate and idealistic.

Brought a little tear to my eye.

Here are the 3 mission statements. Each one is followed by an actual news story that demonstrates just exactly how compassionate and idealistic these companies are.


Gigantic Insurance Company # 1: UnitedHealth
2008 profits: $2.997 billion (this was, amazingly, a 36% DROP from 2007)
(Link to profit information)

Heart-warming mission statement:
"Our mission is to help people live healthier lives. We seek to enhance the performance of the health system and improve the overall health and well-being of the people we serve and their communities."

News story:
January 16, 2009
UnitedHealth Settles Lawsuit Over Insurance Claims
(Link)

Investigators found that UnitedHealth subsidiary Ingenix was providing faulty data which helped the giant insurer under-pay medical claims, thus shifting costs unfairly to the customers. UnitedHealth admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $350 million.

($350 million? Heck, they have more than that stuffed between the couch cushions in the employee lunch room.)



Gigantic Insurance Company # 2: WellPoint
2008 profits: $2.490 billion

Heart-warming mission statement:
"To improve the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities."

News story:
April, 2009
Biggest Health Insurer Admits: We Put Profits Before People
(Link)

WellPoint CEO Angela Brady told investors during a conference call: "We will not sacrifice profitability for membership."

(In other words, money counts. People don't. Plus, you guys appear to have stolen UnitedHealth's mission statement. Come on, you could at least make up your own crap.)



Gigantic Insurance Company # 3: Aetna
2008 profits: $1.384 billion

Mission statement:
"We help people achieve health and financial security by providing easy access to cost-effective, high-quality health care"

News story:
December 4, 2009
Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits
(Link)

Just in time for the holidays, Aetna has announced that it will be raising rates in 2010. Because of the higher rates, the company expects to lose between 600,000 and 650,000 customers. Chairman and CEO Ron Williams explained that the price hikes instituted in 2009 simply were not high enough. "The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering," he said.

(Excuse me Ron, but I'm a little confused. Where is the "financial security" for the 600,000 people who can no longer afford your "cost-effective health care"?)




You really have to hand it to these benevolent, kindly health insurance companies. They obviously have someone's best interests at heart.

Can you guess whose?

~~~

Magical math

(i need a little cheering up. i think i'll go visit my other blog)

I was just over at the Health Care For America NOW Blog, where I learned that - yippee - the CBO has confirmed that the Senate Bill will, in fact, lower health insurance premiums!

Birds are singing. The flowers are in bloom. All is well with the -

Wait a second. What is that hidden in the middle of the blog post?

It's magical math!

The post quotes Ezra Klein from the Washington Post. Here is the quote. See if you can spot the magic. I'll highlight it for you to make it easier to spot.

~~~

The CBO estimates that 57 percent of people in the individual market will receive subsidies to help them purchase health-care insurance (folks on the individual market tend to be much lower-income, with much less stable employment). Those subsidies will reduce premium costs by between 56 to 59 percent for the average beneficiary. So in the final analysis, the effect of reform on your typical individual market purchasers is to give them insurance that's about 30 percent better but only 10 to 12 percent more expensive, and then assure them subsidies that will lower their payments by more than 50 percent. And if you're in the small group or large group markets, your premiums are expected to fall a bit.

~~~

Why oh why do people keep insisting that subsidies will decrease costs?? Subsidies will not lower health insurance premiums. They will simply shift the expense to the taxpayers.

Furthermore, are we seriously supposed to believe that if we're in the small group or large group markets, our premiums will "fall a bit"? I love the way Ezra threw that in at the end. Very funny. When was the last time the insurance companies lowered premiums for anyone??

There really is no hope for cost containment if the Senate plan does not include:

a) Repealing the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies

b) A public option that is open to everyone

and c) Brain transplants for all of the health insurance company executives who think their job is to generate profits regardless of the health of their customers. Oh wait. That IS their job. Never mind.

There really is no hope for cost containment. (I'm getting a little discouraged about the whole thing, can you tell?)

Interestingly enough, on the same Health Care For America NOW blog, there is a link to this story:

~~

Aetna Prepares For Loss Of 600,000 Members As It Raises 2010 Prices

Chair and CEO Ron Williams told analysts, "The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering."

~~~

Let me get this straight. A big insurance company raises its prices, deliberately driving hundreds of thousands of customers away, in order to achieve a bigger profit margin.

Now THERE is some math I can believe in.

~~~

Forget H1N1 ... there's a new pandemic in town

(where am i? who am i? what happened during those 8 years? nobody seems to know)

The CDC has issued a warning about a new pandemic spreading across the country. No, it's not the Swine Flu ... it's amnesia.

Yes, you heard me right! What was I saying? I forgot.

Oh yeah. Amnesia! It's everywhere.

Here are just a few examples:

1. As David Michael Green points out in this excellent Smirking Chimp post, the budget deficits that the right-wingers love to scream about actually began during the W administration. Helloooo ... remember that budget surplus he inherited? Remember the tax cuts, the unfunded wars, the disastrous Medicare Let'sSeeHowConfusingWeCanMakeThisHorriblyExpensive Drug Bill?

Me neither.

2. Last week, Dana Perino, former Press Secretary for George W. Bush, insisted that the shooting at Fort Hood needed to be called "terrorism." Absolutely. Call it what it is. Implying that President Obama was playing politics with the situation, she went on to say: "We did not have a terrorist attack on the country during President Bush's term."

Sure. Not that I can remember.

And 3. Just today, Senator John McCain offered up the very first amendment to the health reform bill currently being debated to death. Literally. His amendment would remove cuts to Medicare Advantage, which are intended to help pay for reform. But just a year ago, during the campaign (what campaign? I don't remember any campaign) McCain said he thought Medicare cuts would be a fine and dandy idea.

It's so confusing.

Where are we? How did we get here? This black dude shows up in the White House, and all of a sudden there are big deficits and terrorist attacks and complicated issues to solve!!!

Please, let's all go back to the simpler days, when the sun was shining and the birdies were singing and Americans were strong and united and willing to tell the truth.

When were those days?

I forget.

~~~

Odd News

(southern living's super-de-duper holiday issue, complete with instructions on how to deliver a baby. i sure hope patricia had this on hand.)

It's Monday! Time for some odd news.

Today I'm only going to feature one story:
"Boston Woman Delivers Grandchild On Thanksgiving."

This was reported by WHDH News in Boston, but in my opinion they left out all of the most interesting information. Here is the story word for word, with my questions in red.

BOSTON – A Boston woman says she was forced to split her time between helping her daughter deliver a baby at home and cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

(Was there nobody else at home who could have helped with either task? A husband? A neighbor? A very intelligent dog? And why do you say she was "forced"? Was she considering NOT helping her daughter? Was there a weapon involved? Or just a lot of screaming?)

Patricia McCalop was in the middle of preparing the meal when Africa McCalop suddenly went into labor two weeks early.

(Ok, so WHY would someone from Boston name their daughter "Africa"? Did Patricia mean to write "Arica" on the birth certificate, but she was maybe like totally drunk and added an extra letter and went several years before realizing that her daughter was, in fact, named Africa? I am fascinated by this.)

The grandmother called 911, and a dispatcher talked her through the delivery and helped her confirm that the baby girl was healthy and breathing. Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and took the mother and newborn to the hospital. They are both in good health.

(Ok, that's good! No questions here.)

McCalop said she kept running between the kitchen and her daughter in labor because she didn't want the turkey to burn while helping her child deliver the baby.

(Who on earth were they having for dinner? Would they not have understood if dinner was overcooked? Seems to me a brand new baby who was JUST BORN IN THE GUEST BEDROOM is a pretty good excuse.)

The infant weighed six pounds.

(THIS is how you end the story? "The infant weighed six pounds"?? I have lots more questions. Did Patricia send poor Africa to the hospital all by herself? Were the dinner guests totally grossed out by the thought of what Patricia was doing in between stuffing the turkey and baking the pies? Did Africa name her baby after some random continent? Australia, maybe? Or North America?)

Come on, WHDH News. Inquiring minds want to know ...

~~~