when even [http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_10_22/cover.html a magazine called "the american conservative" counsels] the republican presidential candidates that they can't live on hillary-hate alone, something is happening.
as nurses fighting for guaranteed healthcare, the california nurses association/national nurses organizing committee tracks this trend in terms of health policy. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-ann-demoro/memo-to-the-gop-stopping_b_69472.html i will let our executive director rose ann demoro sum it up: attacking hillary clinton is not a health plan.] you can click through to the full article, but here's a taste:
apparently taking their leadership from karl rove who warned that the republican candidates must focus on healthcare because the issue is "on the mind of a lot of swing voters," the republican candidates for president have now latched on to healthcare.
but in the true spirit of their mentor rove, it appears they think our biggest healthcare crisis is the potential election of hillary clinton.
hearing their fulminations about "socialized medicine" and "hillary care" almost makes you wonder what they've been drinking.
in a new report, george lakoff's rockridge institute aptly describes the approach of clinton and the other top tier democrats as the "neoliberal mode of thought" in its dubious reliance on regulation and technocratic changes to an industry that needs to be dismantled, not tweaked.
but at least clinton and company are talking about comprehensive reform. the republican candidates' healthcare policies recall the words attributed, probably erroneously, to marie antoinette whose infamous solution to mass shortages of bread was "let them eat cake."
...cross-posted at the [http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/blog national nurses organizing committee/california nurses association's] breakroom blog, as we organize to make 2007 the year of guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model.
I know. It's called life, and guess what... It ain't fair. Next I suppose someone is going to suggest people who don't have house insurance and their house burns down should get a new house.
I know. It's called life, and guess what... It ain't fair. Next I suppose someone is going to suggest people who don't have house insurance and their house burns down should get a new house.
Your current social security and medicare is being spent on todays retirees. When you retire it will be on the backs of our precious children that can't afford their own health care let alone yours. How could you be so heartless as to force poor children to fund your retirement and health care? Sound familiar??????
CRNA: That is how the SS system has been set up since day 1. Are you saying when you retire you wouldn't accept a social security check? I don't understand why you feel we are putting a burden on our children. Our parents paid in money during there working years and there parents before them, it's an ogoing process.
Of course there is the work ethic issue that worries me. I hope it doesn't dwindle so our children will have SS at their retirement. In that respect I would want goverment to keep their hands out of the cookie jar.
I don't think anyone should be denied healthcare. Especially a nurse who has worked for 30 years.
I think it should be OK to change jobs and still have access to healthcare.
I think it should be OK to move to another state and still have access to healthcare.
I think a man should be able to retire and his wife change jobs and still have access to healthcare.
I think they were being responsible by purchasing a policy.
But their story is published. Yes she was a traveler, then per diem. Shouldn't everyone have access to healthcare?
WHO should be denied access to healthcare?
"...get an education get a good job and you will have health care"
Right. :angryfire
I guess the nurse in your article just didn't get enough education, eh?
"The tragedy of the situation is that the healthcare mess is totally preventable," said Campbell. "It's a product of greed, not a product of lack of resources. There's this middleman mentality that you've got to get profit to the insurance company. There's no logic. It's obscene that in this, the richest country in the world, we can't take care of our own people."
Insurance by definition is a spreading of risk across a group of people so that no one single person or family is subject to more risk than they can bear. Simple human decency would drive most people to ask "what is wrong with this picture?" To leave a hardworking family who played by the rules "on the outside looking in" as a result of a catastrophic illness is not compassionate by any reasonable definition. When a man is drowning you throw him a life jacket.
The attitude of "blame the victim" is a poor reflection of core nursing values of caring and social justice. 31% of our health care dollars in the US are eaten up by the profit motive. The evidence on both fiscal and patient outcome data all indicates that a single payer system yields better results for society as a whole.
We can and must do better for all Americans.
I have insurance through my employer, like most of us who are insured. But in the back of my mind (especially since my CA diagnosis) is the thought that if I suffer a catastrophic illness or injury, I won't be able to work and will be screwed. As an oncology nurse, I've seen this happen far too often. People lose everything. But hey, let's throw the baby out with the bathwater. Wouldn't want to risk those danged illegals gaining access to our healthcare!
So again you don't know anyone that did this just heard it. Seems a lot of Dems just hear things. Having been in the military I have never seen one. Enough of the platitudes give us some substance. Put forth all these 4 minimum wage job earners, let's see the people one paycheck away from being homeless.
A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses (14). Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.
One half of workers in the lowest-compensation jobs and one-half of workers in mid-range-compensation jobs either had problems with medical bills in a 12-month period or were paying off accrued debt. One-quarter of workers in higher-compensated positions also reported problems with medical bills or were paying off accrued debt (15).
If one member of a family is uninsured and has an accident, a hospital stay, or a costly medical treatment, the resulting medical bills can affect the economic stability of the whole family (16).
A new survey shows that more than 25 percent said that housing problems resulted from medical debt, including the inability to make rent or mortgage payments and the development of bad credit ratings (17).
A survey of Iowa consumers found that in order to cope with rising health insurance costs, 86 percent said they had cut back on how much they could save, and 44 percent said that they have cut back on food and heating expenses (18).
[sources:
14. Himmelstein, D, E. Warren, D. Thorne, and S. Woolhander, "Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy, " Health Affairs Web Exclusive W5-63, 02 February , 2005.
15. The Commonwealth Fund. Wages, Health Benefits, and Workers' Health. Issue Brief, October 2004.
16. Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance. Health Insurance is a Family Matter. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2002.
17. The Access Project. Home Sick: How Medical Debt Undermines Housing Security. Boston, MA, November 2005.
18. Selzer and Company Inc. Department of Public Health 2005 Survey of Iowa Consumers, September 2005.]
Specializes in Tele, Renal, ICU, CIU, ER, Home Health..
When I worked as a home health nurse, I saw horrible poverty every day. Most households consisted of multiple families living in a small cramped house. At anytime of the day and night there were usually at least 5 adults in the home. These adults were usually all stricken by some kind of disability. Many times they would discuss the different pain medications that they were on and offer to trade...they were truly caring people. Their disability must have been severe because they couldn't even clean their house or wash their many children. Having a car was almost never seen, however there was always beer and cigarettes in the home. Thankfully these families had many visitors to cheer them up. usually about 5 or 6 visitors in my hour long visit. They never came inside, though. One of the disabled adults always went out on the porch to "visit". It saddened me to see the cubbards bare, but at least they had wide screen TV's, Cable, Computers, and cell phones to take their mind off of the hunger.
There is no "poverty" that couldn't be prevented by better life choices. But why would anyone give up their "poverty" and go to a job every day. They have everything they need and want and it's all free. It sickens me, quite frankly.
:lol2:
pickledpepperRN
4,491 Posts
Sorry:
I think I edited mine OK.
I'll report that the program is making errors.