An Interesting Question

Why are so many right wing pro-lifers against healthcare reform? What kind of hypocrisy is there when you fight for the life of an embryo to live and be born out of a womb, but once they are born, don't care about what kind of healthcare they receive?

It is an inalienable right, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," none of which can happen if you are in poor health.

Proof that the United States is Truly Sick

Two of the top three most viewed stories on CNN.com is about Facebookers and Jon Gosselin. False rumors about healthcare is second.

I fear for the future.

I Love You Barney Frank

Take note, Democrats, this is how you should respond to crazies.



In case you don't feel like watching, here is the text

Crazy nutjob: Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy as Obama has expressly supported this policy, why are you supporting it?

Barney Frank: ...When you ask me that question I am going to revert to my ethnic heritage and answer your question with a question. On what planet do you spend most of your time?

You stand there with a picture of the President defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase healthcare to the Nazis by answering you with, as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, I have no interest in doing it.

Listen folks, comparison to Nazis is a big fucking deal. You can't just throw that out there, just like you wouldn't just throw out the N word, you can't do it for anything less than genocide. Healthcare reform? Not genocide.

A Letter

Dear Mr. President:

Please grow some fucking balls. You campaigned on healthcare reform and no legitimate reform can be made without a public option. You who are so fond of being on TV should tell everyone absolutely with no preconditions that public option is a necessity and you will not sign a reform bill without it. You've already backed down on end of life counseling, counseling that WAS ALREADY IN PLACE. Why? Because some whiny assholes screamed lies about death panels.

Listen, I like you. I really REALLY like you. I appreciate you wanting bipartisanship, but instead of the dream of singing kumbaya around a campfire, put your fucking foot down and get this thing through. The people elected a Democratic majority. Use it. If you back down, your critics will forever nail you for getting struck down by Sarah Palin's Facebook posts.

Love,
Another One Bites the Dust

Posting About Healthcare is the New Black, at Least on This Blog

This NY Times Op-ed Piece is pretty close to how I feel about healthcare reform, and its comparisons to other countries. It's not long so I'd encourage everybody to read it, if only for the incredibly amusing first three paragraphs. Which, I will now quote here because they are so darn good.

It was the blooper heard round the world. In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor’s Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance,” because the National Health Service would consider his life “essentially worthless.”

Professor Hawking, who was born in Britain, has lived there all his life, and has been well cared for by the National Health Service, was not amused.

Besides being vile and stupid, however, the editorial was beside the point. Investor’s Business Daily would like you to believe that Obamacare would turn America into Britain — or, rather, a dystopian fantasy version of Britain. The screamers on talk radio and Fox News would have you believe that the plan is to turn America into the Soviet Union. But the truth is that the plans on the table would, roughly speaking, turn America into Switzerland — which may be occupied by lederhosen-wearing holey-cheese eaters, but wasn’t a socialist hellhole the last time I looked.

Some anecdotes from my own life to add into the mix. I worked in Toronto for almost a year and during that year I got very sick, multiple times. I also have traveled quite a bit and have been sick in any number of countries. Read below to see the outcome of my experiences. Also note that all my expenses below are out of pocket, full cost, because I was not and had never been a resident of Canada or any other country other than the Philippines and therefore am not covered by any national program.

Anecdote 1: An evening in the emergency room, Toronto

I leave work early on a Tuesday evening and I'm coming down with something. My temperature is rising, I can't breathe, and I have what looks to be pink eye. I wait it out in my apartment until it is unbearable, and so I go across the street to the emergency room. After a five hour wait I got two prescriptions from the doctor, I paid $400 Canadian dollars (at the time still worth less than US dollars), and got my prescriptions at $20 total.

Total cost of emergency room and medicine: $420 Canadian

Verdict: While 5 hours wasn't exactly great, it's still better than any emergency room I've been to in the United States, also cheaper. Also keep in mind that I did what most uninsured people in the US do - wait until the condition was awful and then went straight to the ER. No preventive care.


Anecdote 2: A Pleasant Doctor's Visit, Toronto

I have an eye issue that won't go away. There is redness and pain but no photosensitivity or change in vision. After my evening in the ER I ask my Canadian coworker for the name of her doctor. I call to make an appointment and get one that afternoon. The receptionist asks me for my insurance card at which point I explain that I'm a nonresident and need to pay out of pocket. I get a prescription from the doctor.

Total cost of doctor and medicine: $50 Canadian

Verdict: Are you fucking kidding me? It's fucking awesome! When was the last time the doctor only charged $50 (actually it was $30 and the prescription was $20) TOTAL?! I can't even talk to my doctor on the phone without getting charged!


Anecdote 3, not exactly medical: A Chipped Tooth, Toronto

I chipped my front tooth during an ill-fated St. Patrick's Day in Miami. It wasn't too bad but it was noticeable enough and I wanted to get it fixed right away. My dentist in Manhattan did not have appointments on Fridays (the only day I was in the city at the time). I decided to get it done in Canada.

Total cost of repairing chipped tooth: $80 Canadian

Verdict: There are no words for how awesome this is. I can't even get a cleaning for $80 in the US.

Anecdote 4: Unbearable Eczema, Croatia

While on my honeymoon the eczema on my arms flared up. I stupidly forgot my amazing cream and so I toughed it out for a while until I could no longer handle it and it was waking me up in the middle of the night. Normal cortisone creams or calamine lotions do not work on this eczema, trust me, I've tried everything. I went to a pharmacy. I pointed at the eczema and said please help me. The pharmacist gave me two creams.

Total cost of "visit" plus creams: 60 kuna, or about $12 USD

Verdict: If this were to happen to me in the US, I would have had to visit my doctor, get a prescription, then pay for the prescription, which would have been a lot more than $12 USD.


I am not sharing all this because I think Canada or Croatia is perfect because I don't (no offense to Canada or Croatia but nothing is perfect), nor do I really advocate the Canadian health system. I'm sure it has its problems, as everything does. But the fact that I had three medical issues in Canada that cost me $550 Canadian, TOTAL, not copay, not deductible, not anything else, means that there is something seriously broken in the United States healthcare system. When I look at my Explanation of Benefits, I see that some of my visits cost $800 each. I pay only $25 because I have excellent coverage, but seriously, $800 for an hour's visit?

Still think we don't need reform?

A Change in Direction

I'm not really sure what to do with this blog because I'm sick to death of wedding stuff but I don't necessarily want to give up this space. So I can't really guarantee any direction other than it will no longer be a wedding blog. Well, maybe once in a while it will go back to weddings.

For today, I'm still not done about healthcare reform. So that's what this post will be about.

I was watching President Obama's town hall meeting at Colorado today, and one thing he said really stuck with me:

"I don't want government meddling in your healthcare, but the point is I don't want insurance bureaucrats meddling in your healthcare either."

I think that's something that many people have overlooked in this debate. Today in the United States, doctors are not making healthcare decisions for you. They make medical recommendations that are approved or denied by insurance companies. There are only two big players in healthcare today - insurance and pharmaceutical companies. I am not making that statement out of some study I read or some article that was online. My mother is a nurse and has worked on every aspect of healthcare you can think of, and that statement came out of her mouth. And I see it in my own life. I have my own health issues and when I ask my doctor if something is covered by insurance, he/she has to look at my insurance and their own records before they can answer me. And if it's not covered, which some things are not, I have to actually think about what I want to do.

For example, I got my wisdom teeth taken out six years ago, and my insurance didn't cover anesthesia.

These are the people making medical decisions for us.

So for the people who say that reform will make politicians involved in your healthcare, all I have to say is this... politicians, unlike insurance or pharmaceutical companies, do not stand to make any direct profit from your living or dying or any other medical issue. They may be swayed one way or another, usually by insurance or pharmaceuticals or other corporate interests, but they are elected officials, and if they willingly or unwillingly impose medical sentences, they won't get elected again.

We can look at our politicians and say, if you do such and such we won't elect you again and you will lose your job. When was the last time you could say that to an insurance company, where you could say, if you don't cover this procedure we will just leave you?

The answer is... we can't. Insurance and pharmaceuticals have held us hostage. Is the lack of reform really the solution?

Honest to Goodness Non-Snarky Political Questions

Were the conservatives this batshit crazy when Bill Clinton was President? Or during the Gore vs. Bush election? Or during the Kerry vs. Bush election?

I don't recall this level of batshitness. Granted I was 12 when Bill Clinton was sworn in, but I was 20 by the time Bush came around, so I was well aware of the world around me, and I don't recall this level of... hysteria. Nor do I recall this level of crazy during the 2000 and 2004 elections.

If the conservatives were not this crazy during the Clinton years or during the other elections, what other possible reason could there be for all this craziness other than our current President is black? Why is he being dissected so much more than anybody else before him? He doesn't have particularly original ideas, not much more than his predecessors.

The only thing I might throw out there is that in the Internet age, access to information is so vast, and access to mis-information is even more so.

What's really fascinating is that this hysteria is about the most BORING SUBJECT IN THE WORLD. Healthcare. You don't even have to opt into the public option if you have employer insurance. There are no death panels, that was a stupid lie made up by an executive of a medical equipment company. I find it particularly hysterical that the people screaming against the government taking control over your end of life procedures (which it's not, all the bill does is FUND COUNSELING) are the same people who stopped everything and interfered with Terri Schiavo's next of kin when it was time for her End.

I really, honestly think, that all this nonsense is because Barack Obama is black, and those who say otherwise are really in denial. Defeating healthcare reform, while harmful to the rest of the country and for millions of Americans, would be a huge political blow to Obama, and that's what's important to these protesters.

What is so wrong about giving everyone healthcare? Really. I have yet to hear the protests from the other side, because all they do is scream and yell like 5 year olds. Except all the 5 year olds I know actually know how to listen.

Wedding Hits and Misses: Seating

It's been forever. Sorry. Summer has been crazy.

HIT: Seating Posters

I have a confession to make. I have an irrational hatred of placecards. I hate them and I can't even explain why. So we went with seating posters.



The venue was happy we chose to do this so they didn't have to lay out itty bitty cards, and also made for less cleanup at the end of the night.

MISS: Confusion

Some of Dude's family ended up at the Drinking Table (yes, we segregated our drinking friends so that they could be within the closest proximity to the bar). When our friends tried to tell them that they weren't supposed to be seated there, they swore up and down that they were. Nobody wanted to go back to the poster to prove that they were at the wrong table. Totally would have been avoided if people had their own placecards.

It all worked out in the end though. Turned out there was a table that was mostly empty and so the non-drinkers moved over to the roomy table.