Today I blogged and tweeted and shared so many wonderful posts about Healthcare and what is needed and missing and the Crisis that our Country is experiencing....But this one column haunted me all day, Roger Ebert in his quiet sensible loveable way....makes this all seem so simple, so clear What is Needed and WHY it matters...please do share.
This Snippet alone is Priceless:::
¶" Federal Death panels would decide who lives or dies. This, very frankly, is a lie. The nearest thing we have to a death panel in the United States is an insurance company claims adjuster. Some readers wrote that they or their loved ones were denied tests or treatment by their insurance companies, especially in the case of "pre-existing conditions." One, who had a brain tumor, says he was denied coverage of the treatment by an adjuster, as if he'd known about the tumor at the time he took out his policy some time earlier. Think about this. Unless we die violently or in an accident, we all die of a pre-existing condition. The condition is called "life."
6 comments:
Yes, E, I too enjoyed Ebert's column, and of course agreed with him 100%.
If you are looking for more 'real people' health care nightmares, check my post (if you haven't seen the program on PBS yet).
I was remembering his previous co-host Gene Siskal...
looked him up:
In 1998, Siskel underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. He announced on February 3, 1999 that he was taking a leave of absence but that he expected to be back by the fall, writing "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than me".
Siskel died from complications of the surgery two weeks later, at the age of 53.
Siskel was survived by his wife, Marlene, and their children, Kate, Callie, and Will.
I wonder if the two stories are related?
Ebert had his own health crisis- did not appear on the show after mid-2006, when he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak.
But he took to writing instead.
Good column by Ebert, he got it right.
I was watching a house subcommittee hearing on single policy holder (not group coverage) recision by insurance companies yesterday.
The three insurance company CEO's as much as said until they can sell a policy to ever American they will not change the way they do business.
Which appears that if the cost of a procedure is to much they will terminate the policy, refund all premiums paid and try to pretend they never insured the individual.
I thought it funny how one of the members was practically begging them to change their business model or face a "public option."
All three basically said "Go to hell dude we are a business and there to make a profit.{no matter the cost to the individual})"
I was watching a house subcommittee hearing on single policy holder (not group coverage) recision by insurance companies yesterday.
The three insurance company CEO's as much as said until they can sell a policy to ever American they will not change the way they do business.
Which appears that if the cost of a procedure is to much they will terminate the policy, refund all premiums paid and try to pretend they never insured the individual.
I thought it funny how one of the members was practically begging them to change their business model or face a "public option."
All three basically said "Go to hell dude we are a business and there to make a profit.{no matter the cost to the individual})"
All three basically said "Go to hell dude we are a business and there to make a profit.{no matter the cost to the individual})
TWM, I saw it too. Yes, remarkable, isn't it, in its vileness.
As Dr. Marcia Angell says, we are the only country in the world with a health care system that actively shuns sick people (I paraphrase.)
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