I’ve Changed My Mind About “Death Panels”
By Bronwyn's Harbor on August 25, 2009 at 6:01 PM in Campaign promises, Current Affairs, Hoodwinking, Medicare, Obama's Broken Promises, President Barack Obama, Social Security, Universal Health Care
My good friend and neighbor, let’s call him, Roger, depends entirely on his pitifully small Social Security check as well as Medicare. He called up his senators and representative yesterday, and also sent all three of them this e-mail:
I am stunned that the Obama administration has the nerve to refuse to give senior and disabled citizens a cost-of-living increase for the first time in a generation.This, coupled with the $500 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obama’s proposed health care plan, confirms my suspicions that Obama is creating his debt-riddled programs by squeezing the pittances given to seniors and disabled people.
I am a die-hard Democrat who votes a near-straight Democratic ticket, but I will not vote for Democrats any more if they do not stand up to Obama’s destructive measures to steal from those of us who’ve worked the longest and hardest to support this nation.
WHY — WHY??? — ISN’T THIS THE TOP STORY IN THE NEWS?
The woman who answered the phone at my friend’s representative’s office told him that they’d been inundated all day by calls from seniors who are frantic about the cancellation of the COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) that every Social Security check recipient depends on, every January, in order to keep up with increasing costs for groceries, drugs, insurance, and more.
By the time he’s done paying his rent, utilities, and car repairs/insurance, my friend can’t afford to buy anything else but groceries and laundry soap. Forget about buying new clothes! Forget about subscribing to magazines or buying books! Forget about going to the movies or even renting a movie! Forget about doing anything the least bit unconnected with his survival, literally. Every spare penny has to be used to buy items like Benadryl, which is one of many, many drugs not covered by Medicare Part D.
Then there are drugs like Nexium, which Roger must have because he has GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) due to his hiatal hernia, and Roger “upchucks” for hours after every meal, no matter how small the meal. The cheaper drugs for GERD, like Prilosec, do not work for Roger. Nexium is the one drug that works perfectly, but Nexium’s co-pay cost is nearly $70 per month.
Roger also has severe anxiety attacks and not one single Plan D insurance plan — Roger checked every plan available — covers the medicines he must take to treat his anxiety. There’s not even a co-pay. Roger has to pay the full price for the two anxiety drugs, which cost him $40-65 per month, depending on the dosage and number prescribed.
Because of the costs of his anxiety medications and the many other medication co-pays for additional conditions which include high blood pressure and arthritis — plus his $45 monthly premium to the Plan D insurance company — Roger cannot afford to take Nexium at all. So Roger endures constant “upchucking” and heartburn all day, every day, and he faces the danger that his GERD will lead to esophageal cancer.
Then there’s what Roger pays for Medicare. He pays $95+ for Part B. He pays $149/month for Part C. He pays $140-200 for Part D (drugs), which includes the monthly premium and co-pays and the drugs that not one drug insurance plan covers.
Let’s be clear about one thing for all of the folks who keep equating Medicare with Universal Health Care: Medicare is NOT free. Roger pays at least $400 per month for the supplemental policies, procedures and drugs to make up for everything that basic Medicare does not cover. It is not the perfect coverage everyone is now depicting it to be. There are many problems with it, not the least of which is the issue that spurred Roger’s calls and emails.
My friend remembers his younger years, when he used to dread the month of January since it’s one of the coldest months of the year and it’s a time of post-holiday letdown.
But the last few years, he has waited with great excitement for January to arrive because it meant that his check from Social Security would arrive with a small increase that would let him buy 4 apples per month instead of 2 apples per month. And January’s check meant that he could buy a chicken breast once a month instead of just chicken backs and wings.
But January 2010 will be the most depressing month he’s suffered. He won’t buy those 2 extra apples, and he will buy beans instead of chicken.
Those precious treats — those 2 apples and that piece of chicken — won’t brighten his meals.
He’ll add more water to the bean soup to make it last longer — he’d like to add a can of broth but that’s too expensive, so the extra water will have to do.
And he’ll wonder why there’s any point in going on when he won’t even be able to afford the most modest treats.
It is hard to fathom having to watch one’s pennies so closely - not in a metaphorical sense, but in an honest-to-goodness reality of not being able to buy but the barest necessities.
My friend used to joke with me about the “death panels” and he suspected that Sarah Palin was exaggerating the problem. He doesn’t laugh anymore. He is certain that Barack Obama does not care about people his age and that Obama wishes that people as old as he would just die sooner because keeping them alive costs too much.
I wish you could see his face like I can. His mouth is tight, his lips fixed in a grim downturn. His cheeks are pale and drawn. His eyes have lost their sparkle. His forehead is wrinkled more than ever before. He is too young to look like that.
Worst of all, his spirit is broken. He knows that Obama’s plan to cut $500 billion from Medicare means that everyone who depends on Medicare will get less care and will wait much longer for appointments and tests.
He expects that his Medicare supplemental insurance premiums will go up, even though he will get no more money from his Social Security check. And he has no idea how he will pay for those necessary supplemental premiums, so he has plans to cancel them all. Which means that he is gambling that he will not need hospitalization, let alone blood tests, for the next year. A dangerous game of roulette, to be sure.
And he knows that January 2011 will be just as bad since the Obama administration has announced that there will be no cost-of-living increase in 2011 either.
He’ll have to add more and more water to his bean soup. It won’t nourish him but he hopes it will make him feel full and that the hunger pangs won’t be too painful. He has no choice.
I don’t know what to say to him. When going to the food bank is mentioned, he has his pride, but even more than that, he knows the food banks in his area have less food to give out now and are all overwhelmed by mothers with children to feed. Those children, he believes, have more right to that dwindling amount of food than he does. And he believes that Obama feels that way too.
Roger confessed to me that he hopes that the “Death Panels” are indeed part of Obama’s health care legislation because he expects that death will be a welcome relief from a life that doesn’t permit him the simplest joys like an apple or a piece of meat.
He knows that his president considers him the unworthy, and he wonders if the president is right, this president whose stepfather was an oil man, who went to the most exclusive private school in all of Hawaii, and who went to an Ivy League university. Is that man right? If so, he hopes that the least the president can do is to provide him with an “exit plan.”
I still don’t know what to say to him. But I do know that this president promised him hope. Instead, he has given him despair…
Postscript: I bet some of you think that Roger should swallow his pride and apply for Medicaid. He can’t. He gets $50 too much per month from Social Security to qualify for Medicaid. Fifty dollars. Even though his medical costs make quick work of that additional money, it doesn’t matter. Once again, this is not a perfect system, no matter how much the new party line wants to push that it is. Reading the fine print — reading the print at ALL — exposes a lot of those lines to be just that, lines.
(Release: November 13)
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It looks like Obama is planning to take care of the older folk who didn’t vote for him by making sure that as few as possible are still alive by the next election.
It is even sadder and a lesson to be learned, that some of these did indeed vote for him. He just throws his chin in the air, laughs his donkey laugh and rolls on.
That’s “how he rolls”…ugh
This only goes to show that the center in this country is still under the influence of the-latest-thing-to-fear strategy from both parties. Terrorist-this, gotta have healthcare-that; he’s too old; she’s too divisive sort of claptrap. I have seen it so often, I want to just shake people out of their self-induced coma. Were the center to actually keep its head, forget the heaping stack of manure being presented them as gospel truth and actually vote for the best person, irrespective of party, to run this country, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now. The extremists chip away at the center using fear and we-gotta–get-ours-before-they-get-theirs mentality. And we get a Shrub or a That One as the consolation prize. Wake the hell up!
This is only the beginning–this denial of COLA for people who need it desperately-. This is the substance of things hoped for by those who supported BO. Take heed, it’s only going to get worse, ‘death panels’ will seem like child play when he gets finished–he is determined to futher the takeover goal of Soros–the poor will get much poorer, the middle class will disappear, he will confiscate as much wealth as possible and most importantly he will have absolute power–that is what this bunch is going for–it’s becoming clearer and clearer every day.
Cloward-Piven/Alinksy systematic destruction of the USA by the silent-coup foreign usurper…that’s what we’ve to deal with.
It’s pretty insane that the party that tried to scare Americans about Medicare in the first place is now trying to scare Americans about Medicare being taken away. The hypocrisy is astounding.
The lesson is: People like government health insurance.
How about those of us who are under 65 have a CHOICE to sign up for it as well?
How about we all continue to pay for for it out of our pay checks? I mean one of the arguments was that those who don’t agree with the health care plan don’t want to help their fellow Americans. No one is protesting having those Soc Sec, Medicare, or Medicaid taxes taken out of their pay checks.
The COLA is something many have come to depend upon. After all, they paid into it. If COLA is denied then where do you go?
Good, then when you are under 65 and are a widow or/widower or orphaned then don’t get it.
I received Soc Security as a child. Why? My father died. But screw those kids. Let them get a job.
We’re going to pay for health care one way or another, the question is which way to pay for is most effective and in which way helps people avoid the horrible situations we have now (with so many people dying and going bankrupt because of our current system.)
Right now the private insurance companies have 30% overhead while Medicare has 4% overhead. It’s pretty obvious that “Medicare for all” would be far less expensive than our current system.
People have to realize that our current system (based around health insurance profits and not the health of the people) is the most expensive system in the world.
When people talk about health care reform being expensive, that’s about the dumbest argument you can make - what’s really expensive is NOT doing health care reform.
If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait til it’s free.
Correct. Especially when you make deals with the Insurance companies to not bargain for drug prices. At the current prices a 80 billions dollar savings is coming out of trillions in profits.
I notice your attitude is the same as many. Let’s not think of reforming the current system so it works better. No way. It’s all about costs.
The uninsured tend to be uninsured because they can’t afford it. So give them jobs at a wage rate that allow them to purchase it.
People die. Deal with it. People get disabled. Deal with it. It’s not confined to the elderly. Infants and children get serious diseases that cost a lot of money. But none of us would be here without Grandma and Grandpa and their parents.
So I suggest that all that think the elderly are too expensive give up their grandparents first.
Did you even read the article, you annoying Mouse? Gads, you are indeed a Bot and a thick one at that. Most Americans don’t want anything to do with this creepy, crappy, crummy plan, and yet people like you and Members of Congress seem hell-bent on pushing it onto us. What part of NO don’t you get?
what do you consider reform?
If you are older and ill, give up the medicine you need and take an aspirin? Pay to have a doctor give you end of life options?
If you are younger and ill, consider the cost before the treatment?
If for some reason you are not productive, do not get medical care?
Do not bargain for reasonable cost of prescriptions.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
Little brainless Mousy,
Didn’t you bother to read the news about your Dear Leader’s backroom deals with Pharma and the insurance companies? Why are you putting down the insurance companies; their your Messiah’s friends.
“they’re,” not “their”
Yes, but 20-30% of medicare spending goes to fraud and abuse. I’d rather that percentage goes to the overhead of a private company who is employing people. If the Government want to start their health care reform with cutting down on the fraud, then I’ll listen to their grandiose plans, but not until they clean up their act and start creating some jobs! That should be their main concern right now, getting people back to work! Just think of the tax revenue that the Government could bring in to cut the deficit and/or pay for their programs!
Medicare is GOING BANKRUPT.
Yeah, let’s do a plan that is something like Medicare.
You are BRILLIANT!
Now, let’s talk about how much MORE we need to take out of your paycheck to pay for it.
What?
You thought it was FREEE?
The government doesn’t pay for anything.
WE pay the government.
How do you not get this?
You little twit. You think the usurper currently occupying the WH gives a mouse’s a$$ about anything but pushing his hidden agenda. If he was so concerned about fixing healthcare, why not start with giving each person who does not qualify for Medicaid $4500.00 to pay for let’s say Nexium, or apples or some chicken breasts. Instead it goes to Cash for Clunkers so people who didn’t buy responsibly or take care of their cars can buy frikken cars???? This is outrageous, we have people who cannot afford drugs and food and we are GIVING AWAY billions for CARS! Disgusting.
Cloward-Piven overstretch the limits until we collapse…Alinksy any critics.
It’s a systematic destruction and extermination.
if the government would just stop raiding the Social Security general fund, it would not go bankrupt! and guess who allowed for that to happen, democrats.
Shorter Anonymouse: “Fuck the old people. Let em die, they’re already old”.
That pretty much sums up the Obama position on senior citizens.
Because it is going broke from the corrupt politicians putting their fingers into the pie…that and our SS.
How do you think it will sustain a larger membership when this one is ready to fall? Like they say, “Don’t get on a motorcycle when you’re still falling off the bicycle.” Anytime the government has access to our money, they find a way to steal it…whether for a new war or their pet projects.
“the party that tried to scare Americans about Medicare in the first place”
Do you mean the party that passed Medicare Part D–the huge expansion in Medicare, the albeit imperfect (but much better than they had before) prescription drug benefit for seniors? You know, the Republican Party?
Get real. Part D has been nothing but a nightmare for seniors and a huge windfall for insurance and drug companies.
It was passed as a “first step”…the same fiction Obama is trying to foist off on us where health care is concerned.
If you can’t get it right the first time, don’t do it at all.
This isn’t about R’s and D’s. This is about crooked politicians, greedy insurance companies and uncaring Big Pharma. The sooner you quit blaming one party, the better you will understand that you’re being screwed by both of them.
Absolutely! And I agree with all of what you said. The Party system is being gamed to divide, conquer and, steal from this country.
In a perverse kind of a way this election cycle was a statement of sorts… this nation chose young and hip over experience and duty. Mind you I know good and well Obama is neither young nor hip… but that is beside the point. He was branded as such. We as a people don’t value wisdom and experience as much as we revere youth and fame. It is a sobering realization. Karma will not be kind to us in this.
John McCain = Wisdom? Are you kidding me? The man who inflicted Sarah Palin on us? *sigh* It’s amazing the flat out insane things that people believe.
How did he “inflict” Palin upon us? Remember McCain/Palin lost. Neither of them is in the WH or running things.
Nosey Mouse just has a bad case of Palin Derangement Syndrome. It starts out as a low grade sexist/misogynist virus and soon develops into full blown PDS….I don’t think it’s covered on his/her health plan because it’s way too expensive to cure….TO THE DEATH PANEL FOR YOU NOSEY MOUSE!!!!
Let’s see Mouse–”Inflicting Palin”- an interesting phrase–a Governor with an 80%approval rating and who was able to attract 20,000 and up Americans to rallies for the Repub ticket–and then of course there’s the mechanism of projection where BO’s minions use words and phrases which more aptly describe how he was “inflicted’on us via the race card, via 650 million of corporate, Wall street and Soros money, via Greek columns, via ad nauseum speeches delivered by teleprompter–look your man won, now sit back and watch the utopia–are your bills being paid by the One yet? Has he paid your rent, your heating bill, your student loans? Are you in the basement waiting for your free healthcare? Isn’t denial wonderful.
As a former Dem, I’ll take McCain and Palin over BO any day! Actually, it’s the Obots who have inflicted the worse scourge this country has seen in hits entire history — corporatist Obama.
Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have more wisdom than Obama will accumulate in his life.
YES! Truth to Obamapower!
will someone put out the decon on this foolish rodent?
PALIN is a ROCK STAR and you BETTCHA she’s EXACTLY what this country needs (w/out Mack)
crazzzzzzzy obots! just keep spinning lemmings!
if you don’t realize the truth by now or have been tooooooo lazy and ignorant to research the facts there’s just no HOPEY CHANGEY left for you!
Odrama is quacking like a DUCK! Can’t you hear it?
quack, quack, quack, quack! He and Pelosiousaur deserve a quaint little cell together in some far off land for snake oil saledPERSONS!!!
not another D vote from this X Dem until they are all filtered OUT of the corrupt system! we need NEW TRUTH SEEKERS in office! Sarah would be their champion!
for every facebook friend w/a computer she’s acquired (now more even than oprah) 800K plus with EVERYone of them ………… there are 10 more w/NO facebook account or NO computer that love her! Wait and see.
(of course she may choose not to run and that would be the saddest news of all)
I agree with you, Dawnelle. Decon for the Mouse or Detox, something that will get its little neurons firing correctly. As for Oprah, I hope she will soon be off TV and only a memory of bygone television shows…
she’s too vain to ever leave television
but maybe she’ll be relegated to the low pile of shows that no one hardly watches anymore (much like MSNBO)
that would be alright with me - she should stick to gossip and interviews and leave the politics to those who are not too lazy to do their homework first
(I’m giving her too much credit perhaps for NOT knowing how corrupt the South Side of Chicago really is………… but I highly doubt she was unaware!) And she attended the damn TUCC for a spell so she can’t be too uninformed as to the evil bubbling up out of that part of the city! She’s in it deep, i bettcha!
or she’s just a blazing racist and only voted for THE ONE because he LOOKS black.
jmo
ladydawnelle—I am in total agreement with you!
Run Sarah, Run!
At Any Given Moment:
FACT: 79,000,000 people are engaged in sex - right now.
FACT: 58,000,000 are kissing.
FACT:
37,000,000 are relaxing after having sex.
FACT:
1 Uninformed Obot is making an idiot of himself.
You hang in there, Sunshine .. . .
LMAO!
that’s the best post I’ve seen!
ANM — please explain, if you can, exactly how you’ve suffered because Sarah Palin was on the Republican ticket last year? Were you planning to vote for McCain otherwise? Did Palin change the desired outcome for you last November? Did she personally come into your home and emasculate you?
The label of insanity is a clinical diagnosis, and I’m fairly confident that the closest you’ve been to a doctor was to get your vaccs for school. I don’t think you’re insane, but you do amuse, little one.
Did I just hear you say, moo? The herd is over yonder at the abattoir going by the name of HuffPo. Run along little doggie.
No, the only person “inflicted” on us was Obama.
His puppet masters, the MSM, lifted him by his skinny ass, to the position of President.
Now he looks down on all of us minions with his impotent powaaaa!
Sarah is on Facebook. And the fact that she is still being QUOTED, means that she has the REAL power: The people.
Go back to your momma’s basement.
You can just “sigh” yourself into oblivion, Mouse. The “New Democratic” party inflicted the Obamanation on us.
And guess what? After 7 short months, the majority of Americans don’t like it one damn bit. Check out those Independent numbers. In freefall!
Or is that insane, too?
yep; america is a nation of fools. they picked Dumya twice and now Ozero. history does repeat itself, doesn’t it?
arghhhhhhhhhhhh
puma grrrrrrrrrrrowl
so true
For some of us, Dumya was just a sparrow’s fart in a windstorm better a candidate than the back-to-back buttholes the Dems put up in ‘00 and ‘04. I’m a Republican,and I never thought or said “Dumbya” was the brightest bulb in the shop. I remember being just downright queezy at the prospect of choosing between him and Prince Al Gore, the Phoney. The problems with the parties was that they both put up the sorriest bunch of losers and party hacks since the James Buchanan administration, the President who didn’t think the country was worth saving. Nominations usually go to the richest man in the party, or the one who wants it as much as Hitler wanted to be elected Chancellor; in other words, they’da killed their mother for it, hell, no wait! They’da raped her first. One exception: Ted Kennedy (RIP) would have made a HORRIBLE president because he never had an experience of what it is to be middle or working class. He had no clue of what it is to work for a living or to try to start a small business. He dismissed these people’s concerns out of hand. That is why he finally drifted off the Democrat Party reservation. The Dems of old were not the lumpen proletariat. They were the little entrepreneurs, and bust-ass exceptional and rare workers who were always striving to improve their job skills in order to make more money. Those guys (and gals) voted for Reagan. Anyway, RIP TK, but your dream, I pray, will never become our nightmare.
Obama playing golf with the head of UBS. Like Glenn Beck says look at who he is surrounded by. “RADICALS”
I watched Glenn Beck tonight.
I mean really, everytime we turn around, Obama is surrounded by some radical that say that they believe in communism. My goodness.
And now this Apollo Group is being run by one of the founders of the Weather Underground.
So at first he says that Bill Ayers was just someone from the neighborhood, and it was a coincidence that he announced his political plans in the dude’s living room, and now another Weatherman is helping to write our stimulus plan?
When we raised these issues last year, people said we were “fear-mongering” and now look what’s going on.
You are who you choose to surround yourself with, and Obama keeps having these types of people around him, over, and over, and over.
If you think that’s scary, check out the post over at “Flopping Aces”. A run down on a few of the “Czars” and their backgrounds. Straight out of the politboro.
I remember pictures of Russia and their old people out on the streets with begging bowls. That is what they have in mind for us. They plan on bankrupting this country and turning it into the 3rd world where they are the masters.
What gets me is that recently we have been naming positions and departments in tune with the old Soviet Union way of spinning bs into a stinky souffle. The phrase “Homeland Security” and term “Czars” come immediately to mind. Why would we want to emulate those relegated to the ash-heap of history? Homeland indeed; Czar, indeed.
My son came up with a good suggestion on how to take care of our debt to China. Have every country that owes us money pay that debt directly to China to pay off our debt to China. Bet China would have better luck collecting from those dead beat countries than we have had.
This is a sad story.
A hint (from a fellow GERD survivor). I switched from eating 3 times a day to 6-8 times a day (tiny portions and avoiding certain foods, and nothing 3 hours before going to bed at night) and I have no reflux problems anymore. I have been able to switch from Nexium down to Prilosec to nothing.
Worth a try. It’s called “Goating.”
Hi, Solara. Roger is sitting with me as we read the comments.
He has tried what you suggest. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the story, it doesn’t matter how tiny he makes his meals. If he so much as tilts his head forward an inch or so, up goes whatever he’s eaten and he has to grab a glass of water and try to wash it back down.
But, Roger insists that I add that he thanks you SO MUCH for THINKING of him.
He may try to get surgery to repair his hiatal hernia. That will cost thousands of dollars, of course — but his Medicare will cover that cost completely. However, Medicare won’t pay for the cheaper solution, which is the Nexium. How screwed up is that. (And Roger doesn’t want to have surgery anyway. Ugh, he says.)
Hi Bronwyn and Roger,
I can’t afford the drug I need for my RA, 12,000 a year with insurance, so I found a study I am doing for two years; right now it seems to be helping.
I looked up a few links in the past few minutes and don’t know if you have gone down any of these roads or considered them. The first few are prescription aid. The last is the actual Nexium site which has a database of what the state is suppose to allow and what is covered or not. I think it is worth verifying for your state. I checked ours and Tennessee is covered over Prilosec, just as an example. I know this probably isn’t much help, but I will keep looking. I’ll keep looking, and see what I can find. I wish I could do more. I am so sorry to know of how these events have unfolded for your Roger. Please take good care of you.
Bronwyn, you are a jewel.
Wow the links I tried to post got eaten.
I don’t know you, but I had a hiatal hernia many years ago, and it has to do with WHAT you are eating. Stop all carbs and sugar, as he may have a yeast problem.
And you don’t want to STOP production of acids, you want to increase them. So forget Nexium.
That’s just my experience. Try natural ways to heal. I did, and I’ve never had a problem again.
Oh, and at the time I had it, they told me it was permanent.
Sorry.
The hernia is gone, and never came back.
Ahem. I don’t think you should be giving medical advice on a blog. Each person has a unique disposition.
Please try something alternative. DON’T use pharma drugs. PLEASE.
I would even suggest a kinesiologist.
Seriously.
I’m cured.
Wow, you sound like the right-wing alternative to Debbie or Believe. Do try to keep medical advice to yourself.
Hey Ferd, I’m trying to suggest an alternative. I don’t claim to be a doctor, but you certainly are a candidate for a bitch.And you know what, bitch, keep YOUR advice to yourself.
I said to try alternative treatments, and didn’t give a “link” to anything, nor do I know if it would help this person.
But then again, I’m trying to suggest HELP.
You offer sympathy.
Save it, bitch. I don’t need YOUR advice.
Shove it up your tight ass, bitch.
NOT ACCEPTABLE
Perhaps a little civility might keep everyone’s blood pressure down.
Honestly, uncalled for, and over the top.
that was no woman
For moderate acidic problems, try aloe vera juice and eating green apples — they really do help.
Hi Roger and Bronwyn,
Thanks for sharing your story Roger. Words just don’t do justice….sigh.
Anyway, you might want to try manuka honey. Hopitals have been using the honey to fight MRSA and close long term wounds when conventional treatments didn’t work. So this isn’t just a stranger telling you it works there is medical data to support it.
In the case of GERD, etc. It helps by killing off the bad bacteria and leaving the good within the stomach. As well as coating the esophagus so it can heal.
This site below is expensive so you could probably find the honey cheaper in your local health food store or on Amazon. But it has a lot of information that is helpful on how to use the honey, along with photos, and some testimonials about healing different probelms to the point that people have stopped taking their medications. So poking around the site might give you a better idea of what it does. Be careful viewing the photo section some are stomach turning.
http://www.manukahoneyusa.com/gerd.htm
They recommend you eat a spoonful a half hour to an hour before each meal. And another spoonful at night before you go to bed. If needed you can place the honey on a cracker or a piece of bread, so it stays in the stomach longer. It is up to you and what feels best. Also it is important to get an active or UMF 16 rated honey to fight your GERD.
http://www.amazon.com/Wedderspoon-Organic-Manuka-Active-17-6-Ounce/dp/B000VK08OC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1251358822&sr=8-1
The link upbove is the best price I have found. If you sign up for an automatic delivery there is free shipping and it is $24.52/jar. Maybe Bronwyn could help set this up if your local health food store doesn’t carry the honey.
Hope this helps.
Bronwyn wrote:
“Roger confessed to me that he hopes that the “Death Panels” are indeed part of Obama’s health care legislation because he expects that death will be a welcome relief from a life that doesn’t permit him the simplest joys like an apple or a piece of meat.”
This is heartbreaking. And frigging wrong and immoral that any of our senior citizens are worried to despair that the on-going healthcare debate will leave them to an ice-floe. Sayonara!
My parents are both dead but my in-laws are still relatively robust in their early 80’s. And they are deeply worried about what this legislation means to them. As am I.
I have no problems with end-of-life counseling between a patient and doctor. From my own experience, it happens frequently. I had these conversations with doctors about my parents. I had these conversations even about one of my own children. My reaction to these conversations were the same. It’s hard; it’s very, very hard. But you take the opinion, you weigh it and you, family, next of kin decide.
But I will never accept the idea that we write off people easily, whether they are young or old. We use reason. We use the facts at hand. We take the medical advice and go from there.
But there’s no way in hell I want nor would I accept a damn Government filter on any of these decisions.
There’s no way Obama can fund this program, reduce costs and cover the under-insured and the non-insured [when he's already made deals with big Pharma and the insurance lobby] without reducing benifits to the chronically ill and the most vulnerable among us.
I find that unacceptable today and tomorrow and every day after. We will be judged as a society for the way we treat the weakest among us.
Not for the money we save.
If they cannot do it right then God damn, don’t do it at all!
They don’t/won’t get it right…and here is where Roger’s COLA is going..
The Social Security Administration, has admitted to sending out money to incarcerated convicts.
The amount I heard for this error was $425,000. That could buy alot of apples.
I tend to agree with you, eleana. All these programs are tied together. We’ve known medicare and social security [not to mention the hideous rise in healthcare costs] were mounting serious fiscal problems.
But now we find ourselves pressed into a corner with on-going unemployment, a reduced tax base, an obscene debt load and costs [including health care]spiraling into unsustainable levels, while making ridiculous bailouts to a financial industry that deserves no sympathy and certainly no tax dollars. The idea that we, as a country, are willing to cut or scrimp or hint [regardless of how subtle] as a first option or cure, to reduce benefits and care for the most vulnerable among us, should give everyone serious pause.
Talk about losing your moral compass! It’s time for President Obama to either put up or shut up. He’s either a champion of the American people or he’s a whore for Wall Street. You cannot have it both ways, nor does talking out of both sides of your mouth solve anything.
I’ve never been so disgusted or so ashamed of being a Democrat.
Btw, the baby-boomer generation is coming next. I’m part of that. You cannot ignore 50+ million people in addition to all the people flooding the system now. This should not come as a surprise. Corporate America loved us when we were buying all their crap. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll be as popular as we become as old as our parents and grandparents.
The thing is? Most Americans would be willing to make sacrifices to wrestle this economic debacle into submission. But it has to be equitable and fair across the board.
Right now? The majority of folks believe the game is slanted heavily to the monied interests. And it really pisses them off, myself included.
Obama is The Whore of Wall Street! (Very nice, Peggy Sue!)
Here’s what no one has commented on. The government says that COLA won’t be implemented this year because there is no inflation.
If so, how can they say there will be no COLA NEXT YEAR? Do they have a crystal ball?
Why don’t they just say “No COLA because we decided not to give it for two years. Forget the no inflation nonsense. Or is that too honest?
A “diehard Democrat” who voted, no doubt, for Obama and the whole demcong ticket.
“People get the government they deserve.”
Roger wants to be coy about who he voted for, for President (guess WHO! HA!!!!!), but he will let me tell you that while he is a “diehard” Democrat, he has NEVER voted “straight-ticket” Democrat. That’s because, where we live, we have had many great Republicans. In fact, the Progressive Democrats group endorsed the Republican incumbent for Secretary of State because he has done such an outstanding job and has never, ever been partisan in his duties as SoS. I also proudly voted for the Republican incumbent for SoS in 2008.
P.S. Roger wants me to add that he thinks that voting “straight-ticket” is robotic and is against his vision of acting like a good citizen.
Bronwyn, tell Roger that as a life-long Dem I have finally seen his way of things. I will never vote “straight-ticket” again. But I confess, I was a robot for many, many years.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice . . .
Well, you get the gist.
OMG I cannot write a few lines to this it brakes my heart. It’s madness complete madness.
Anyone seen this Town Hall meeting plea.
I’m not sure about anyone else but after the fake doctor plant at a Houston meeting I’m wondering why we dont know more about this lady and her plight.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/health-care-plea-at-town-hall/3418788579/?icid=VIDLRVNWS04
And the woman sitting next to her is someone who was a big time Obama volunteer. I can’t remember where I saw that - I’ll try to remember it. But yeah - I guess OFA has no problems having people impersonate doctors.
No this U.S. Senator Tom Coburn’s town hall meeting in Oklahoma.
Sanchez is flashing the video all over to show how much we Need the Health Care Reform Obama wants.
To quote the CNN newscaster Coburn might help this one person but what about the other 49,999.999 people without health insurance ?
Here’s the news cast on CNN
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/sanchez-asks-what-tom-coburn-going-do-abou
The Obama Administration believes that it is just fine to give people that can probably already afford it up to $4500 to buy a new car but don’t think it appropriate to offer a COLA to seniors. It demonstrates where their (and HIS) morality lies. If my dear grandmother were still alive I’m sure she say that someone needs to cut a switch and take them (HIM) around back to the woodshed.
Do you think? Look who supported That One–callow, shallow youth and the alleged intelligentsia–none of them want to do what generations before them did–support the previous generation (and with a sense of gratitude, I might add) and those with disabilities. While I am admittedly generalizing, I still submit that many of those on the tender side of 30 do no want and will not support any programs designed to help those in need or those who have actually paid into multiple systems for many years (36 years, in my instance). No, these entitled assholes want to renege on the commitments made to those of us who paid our dues, supported and served this country, and made it the envy of the world for so many years. But we did not do what we did in a vacuum–we learned our values from the Greatest Generation, who suffered far more than one can potentially imagine–from Dust Bowls to Depressions to world war.
These young snips have it far too easy and it shows. As for the intelligentsia–they are idiot savants, with emphasis on idiot.
Um, Ya think?
Those young brats that don’t give a damn about the elderly were raised by people like YOU, Ferd.
Oh, but I shouldn’t give social advise either.
You reap what you sow, dear.
Tammy in regard
to your comment:
Our son, is beginning his 10th year in the Army and as of today our daughter, will be taking the Oath of Enlistment.
Respectfully, FO
Can an administrator retrieve my comment from Post Perdition? Making a valid point sometimes requires a deviation from political correctness.
Bronywyn, I am so moved by the story of your friend and his sad plight. I wonder how often this story is repeated with others too proud or too ashamed to ask for help yet too disadvantaged to help themselves.
I got an email from a classmate who’s now on disability due to contracting MRSA after some surgery. He can no longer do the work he spent so many years in school to do and is on Medicaid. He voted for BO in hopes the man would do something to improve his life. Today I had to write him a long reply explaining why it may not happen. My friend has already grown disillusioned with That One, but still held out hope for better healthcare. How many others have had their hopes crushed? Too many, I’m afraid.
This post is just breaking my heart and I’m left crying.
Obama deserves the title “MOST HATED”.
Yes, as George “Step on my throat” from ABC’s This Week, the media is trying to get out the message, “it’s not called Death Panel. No no, Obama calls it a board of stakeholders, not “death panels”, but that’s what they are. He can call them the Ice Cream man and it doesn’t change what they will be doing.
This is also what I’ve been saying. The “66″ year age the the counsel was to start, was even too young to start collecting on your social security benefits, but is now too old to be worthy of living. I’m sure Robert Redford, who just married for the 2nd time at age 71 is comforted by this. (or anyone else)
But the fact is, our Seniors have spent a lifetime giving to our nation, working and paying the very money that allowed our government to function and now when they’re supposed to get something back that they’ve paid in to for a life time, Obama says, ‘mmm no, I don’t think so, thanks for your service, work and money, but being you aren’t paying in anymore we’ll just call it even stevens for being allowed to live in what used to be the greatest country’.
Well, I say, starting with Roger, we start an adopt a Senior a month. I tried to get that going for Afghanistan, but they have no way of getting us names and addresses of people to give to directly, so it’s now time we start taking care of our own, being our presidenot and the Congress cannot.
Every month we highlight someone, and accept contributions…and then send them a lump sum check for them to spend as they need and wish. A small amount from us all will pool together nicely and go a long way. I’m in!
Great idea!
How do we do it?
I would guess NQ post our Senior of the Month, maybe with Paypal and we all donate what we can and send it to them. Yes? There’s so many, we probably wouldn’t have to start a list until we went though the people NQ members know directly who could use help. But I’ll leave it to NQ to see if they want to do this and how they implement it.
Brilliant idea.
Take care of our own, on our own.
Good for you, Linda!
Thank you. I hope BH sees it to talk to NQ members….if no response, I’ll email.
This story breaks my heart. And there are seniors across this country who are going through the same thing. My mother, who just passed away a few weeks ago, was one of them. She had no income but social security. She couldn’t afford supplemental Medicare insurance, so she was stuck with the basic Medicare HMO plan. Towards the end of her life, we had to fight tooth and nail to get her decent medical care, and more than once she received sub-standard care that made the last weeks of her life more miserable, until hospice stepped in. And it was only through the intervention of those hospice angels that Medicare agreed to cover hospice care for her until she died.
It’s absolutely criminal that in this country ANYONE should have to choose between medicine and food. Doesn’t the constitution guarantee us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Kind of hard to pursue happiness when you can’t even afford to eat or buy the medication you need.
But no worries, our Congress will continue to get THEIR cost of living increases. And they’ll have great health insurance for the rest of their lives.
During the campaign, Hillary Clinton called it “discrimination against sick people”. And it is.
Agreed.
When tyrants do the same, we appropriately call it genocide. The ditto-head worship of an Anointed One, I suppose, is not held to the same sort of standard.
I’m so sorry SFIndie. You are absolutely correct. I hope your pain and loss heals with the help of knowing she isn’t suffering and you all did all you could. My best to you.
Thanks so much, IALT. She is in a much better place. My heart breaks for the rest of our seniors - like “Roger” - who continue their struggle hampered, rather than helped, by the government who should be supporting them.
SF, I am so sorry to hear about your mother. You are most definitely in my thoughts and prayers.
And you are absolutely right - NO ONE should have to choose between medicine and food.
Seriously, I am so tired of people constantly yelling out that Medicare works JUST fine, so no doubt the Feds can take over our health care with no problems. The lack of COLA is the tip of the iceberg, as this post so accurately points out.
Again, SF - I am so sorry for your loss…
Thank you, Rev, for your thoughts and prayers.
And yes, I’m tired too of people claiming Medicare works so well. I can tell you this, if Ted Kennedy had only Medicare, he’d be long gone from this earth!
SFindie, my deepest sympathy to you.
Senator Kennedy is gone now but I agree with you he wouldn’t have made it this far, had he had only Medicare.
I fear that many of our congressmen and women, including the man in the White House are out of touch with what is happening to many people in this country. What’s worse, when these senior citizens and other concerned citizens show up at the town hall meetings to voice their fears, their concerns are dismissed and they are told they are angry mobsters and un-American.
This article is just another sad story of the need for real health care reform in this country but not this “faux health care” that our congress and President is currently trying to shove down our throats.
I’m so sorry for your loss SFIndie.
What is sad is that I do not think what is on the table for Health will make any difference in matters like this.
So sorry for your loss SFIndie. No one knows the hoops families have to jump through to get help for indigent elders. We lost our 91 y/o this year too and I just shutter to think of what she would have had to go through after her stroke if not for family able to step in to advocate for her. And you are right…hospice angels, they are.
Heres the problem with this. I understand we are broke as a country. I understand we all have to make sacrifices. But Obama is not consistant in his actions. In the current congressional health care bill he and the democrates are trying pay off the unions retirement funds to the tune of 10 billion dollars. His so called stimulas bill was loaded with wasteful spending that lined his buddies pockets with more billions of our money. But it’s ok to cut COLA payments to the countries most vulnerable?? What is wrong with this man and this party? How about taking back money from that corrupt ACORN Obama? This is a question of character. And damn right Palin was spot on about this administration’s medical cost cutting intentions (Death Panels)!
Just wait until your friend finds out that he has no dental or vision care. Not having an extra apple or two and a little thinner soup, he is going to have to make up his mind if he wants glasses and teeth to chew, or those high dollar food items. When he applies for his “end of Life” meeting there might also be a problem with “hearing” as this is another item not covered by medicare.
This post was pointless. If it is an argument against government aided medicine, then what do you suppose would happen to Roger the penniless if he had to depend solely on charity every month?
Either you can’t read or your skills at comprehension leave you only a little more significant than a slug on hot pavement. Which is is, obot?
Get ready for a bot invasion this week, Ferd. They are organizing their meetings sans opposition (for the cameras) and we can assume the bots will be sent out too.
It’s been so nice without them.
Yeah, they’re probably receiving their PowerPoint presentations from PO/TOTUS directly into their hard-wired little nanobrains as we post. What those bots fail to comprehend is that no once is listening to their broken-record mantra. Methinks there is a glitch in their programming more than likely caused by a Kool-Aide-addled programmer.
Well it sounds like Roger is being taken care of by his friends while the Government won’t help him.
You want a BUREAUCRAT to take care of YOU?
You must be young and stupid.
Now get back in line at the DMV.
Bronwyn, this story is heartbreaking and scary. I’m counting the blessings I currently enjoy, but for the first time in my life I fear getting old (I’m in my 50s now) because of this administration and its callow devotees.
FYI I take care of my disabled brother who suffers from GERD and other gastrointestinal problems. He took Nexium which really helped BUT it caused dizziness accompanied by tachycardia, as well as near-chronic anxiety. We switched to Zantac twice daily and it’s made a HUGE difference. Plus it’s much cheaper! Maybe it could help your friend.
I believe with all my heart that we are the indentured servant, baby boomer generation. We paid into and paid for, but now we are considered in the way of all the things and “stuff”; the others want and feel they have a right to have. The ugly truth is; they do not want to have to take care of anyone but themselves. Hell they wouldn’t buy an apple or chicken breast, there might actually be some actual physical labor involved in preparing it. We have a nation of divas, ignoring that one day their future will be one that they sold themselves to on the dotted line during these years. Fine, if they want to give up their own future, but they do not speak for my generation, nor my grandchild. What a sorry bunch of entitlement oriented, lazy, stupid(purposely refusing to become informed) bunch of selfish outright fools. They can throw their own freedom out the damned window, but, by God they cannot have mine.
What can we expect from a youth culture which, when asked what they wanted to become, the highest percentage answered: “Famous”.
There is a hard-heartedness to the youth raised on rap and hip-hop.
I truly believe they want to wipe out anyone who might remember life as it was prior to the 1960’s. Much easier to control the bots and other non-critical thinkers.
Not so much music as a dull roar and lyrics that might have been popular with the Cro-Magnon. Not exactly an evolutionary step forward, imo.
Right.
“Not exactly an evolutionary step forward, imo”
I hear ya, Ferd.
But the question is, WHO RAISED THESE CHILDREN?
The answer:
Spoiled rotten baby boomers.
Of which I’m one.
It has nothing to do with “rap and hip hop,” it ha to do with reality television bullshit and the lie from commercial advertisement that we are all special and can all be famous. Remeber when kids wanted to be rock stars? Now they want to be rock stars and rappers. Quit blaming music you don’t like for the problems of our society.
Thank you, Bronwyn,I appreciate the information, but am heartbroken about your friend, and so many like him.
You’re so right: Why ISN’T this a major story?!
Give your friend a hug from me.
My mother is 78 years old and is still working 1/2 days. Not because she wnts to like she tells everyone, but because she cannot afford the supplemental insurance without working. Her health is going downhill and she needs the help.
I wish I could afford to have her move in and stay home, but right now I am supporting my two kids who are still in school, my 30 year old son who is laid off from the oil fields, my 22 year old son who finally got a new job (he’ll move out in a couple of months) his girlfriend and my new grandson. I am stretched to the limit.
Mom has to have surgery next month again. If she didn’t have medicare, she would die. Obama doesn’t care about old people. Look how he treated his own grandmother who raised him. And his old Auntie who lives in Boston. She is in pretty dire straits, too, last I heard.
Yeah, and Obama didn’t visit his grandmother for YEARS.
He only went to see her right before she died.
And didn’t attend the funeral.
Could you imagine not doing that? I would drop everything on earth to attend the funeral of someone who RAISED me.
What a callous, heartless, sociopath we have in office.
Not sure about our most famous Illegal. She is in low income housing and is supposedly a “computer programmer”. Last picture I saw of her, she was showing a bit of thigh in a MEchille-like dress, quoted as saying her greatest wealth was “her health”. I don’t think she’s in any danger.
I feel for your friend and neighbor.
What deal was struck that this mans dignity was the price?
Somehow, someway, we really need to find a way to “break-down” the costs of all the medical treatments and drugs. Someone should explain why everything gets the cost it is assigned. How, for instance, do they figure the cost of that bottle of pills? How, for instance do they arrive at that cost for the needles used in the hospital during your operation? That sort of thing. Then they need to really figure the salaries and bonuses of insurance company ececutives and justify them. Then they need to finally get rid of drug advertisements. To me, it’s just inexplicable that the costs have to be what they say they are. That’s the reform we need, accounting reform.
Diana…..
This all has been done…it is available information. Cost shifting in hospitals is similar to other businesses, especially those which provide a service. Diagnostic machinery (an echocardiographic machine, for instance) which costs $300,000 must be replaced….on average, in order to keep up with technology about every 4-5 years…and the technicians who run it need to be paid. The hospital amortizes the cost into the expected use of the machine and comes up with a figure which will pay for the machine. In addition, it must also add in the cost of the salary of the housekeeping personel who clean the rooms that are used for the procedure as well as those who maintain the building (electricians, plumbers, engineering personel, etc.) And they must pay the salaries of the secretaries who schedule the procedures. The parking lot you use when you go for the study must be paid for…it wasn’t a gift. All of this is added into the cost of a procedure and part of it is paid for by charging you $10 for your box of kleenex if you are an inpatient, etc. It is very complex, but it’s all broken down already. Nobody is making a huge profit without doing any work.
What needs to be investigated is why the pharmaceutical companies can mark up the cost of a prescription drug 60 fold or more, even when there is competition. Competition only works if someone will take the intitiative and offer a product at a lower cost. One heart failure drug which recently became generic was marked up about 60 fold when it was under patent. An analogy which is rather striking is that if you compared that with a new car…a VW Beatle, for instance…works out to a VW which costs you 1.3 million dollars. But, this administration ignored that fact and gave the Pharmaceutical companies a pass and only achieved a very small (around 2%) discount and then removed options for buying out of country.
Health care costs are elevated in a small way by the providers..with defensive medicine, etc…but it’s only a small portion. The largest burden is offered by the insurance industry which makes out like a bandit, the pharmaceutical companies which are the leaders in the greed contest, and the failure…total failure…of any administration in our lifetime to deal with necessary Tort Reform.
I totally agree with you that the elimination of COLA is absurd and short-sighted, I have to wonder about your example subject. I think your friend is a victim of truly horrible medical and financial advice. First of all, there is no reason at all…and I emphasize NO REASON why he couldn’t switch to generic Prilosec as his medication for reflux. There is nothing outside of imagination special about Nexium. Prilosec generic in active esophagitis doses could be had for $10/month rather than the exorbitant cost of Nexium. This is another example of pharmaceutical companies disseminating exaggerated claims which patients, and unfortunately doctors somehow believe as if it’s magic. There exists NO scientific data showing Nexium to be the only option. Also, I find it hard to believe that a person who is adequately cared for needs TWO anxiolytic agents! Effective counseling could greatly benefit that situation. Clearly, this gentleman has had none.
I’m not belittling the hardship this gentleman is going thru with a fixed income and loss of cost of living increases as well as increasing costs of basics, but someone close to him needs to take charge and analyze his ‘needs’ in a more thoughtful fashion. Obviously, he is incapable of managing this on his own, but my guess is that he could realize a much bigger margin if he were counseled appropriately and that especially includes a more thoughtful approach by his physician. In your example there appears to be a fairly large component of the ‘tail wagging the dog’.
The entire thought process of health care for Seniors has been ignored by this administration as well as the last. It makes no sense to me that there is anything such as a ‘donut hole’, for instance! What the hell is that all about? Does your auto warrantee work that way??? Does anything work that way? how about we reverse it…we’ll pay utility bills up to a certain point and then it’s free to us until we reach a certain level and then we’ll pay again…..sorta stupid, huh? Well, boys and girls, that little item was thunk up by beaurocratic employees of a Republican administration who, like Obama, had absolutely no insight. I’ll go one further….we still, in 2009, still have insurance companies administering Medicare! Talk about conflict of interest!
“I don’t want the people who made the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way …”
I thought he was talking about the Republican Party. It looks like he was talking about the ‘older generation.’ Just die and get out of the way.
So Obama doesn’t actually throw you under the bus. He just runs you over with the bus.
Check out The Partnership for Prescription Assistance aka PPA. Montel Williams is their spokesman. You may apply on line or by phone 1-888-4772669
A bit off-topic but FYI -
Ellen D touched on this earlier in this thread. I did some checking and any COLA for SS checks is based on changes in the CPI. There will be no increase in January 2010 because there was a near-negligible change in the CPI, mainly due to the drop in oil prices.
It’s not within any POTUS’ discretion to change SS COLAs. They are, by statute, determinined by changes in the CPI. So even if this administration has predicted that there will also be no SS COLA increase in 2011, this remains to be seen.
There has been debate over the years about whether SS COLAs should continue to be based on the CPI-W (W meaning wage earners) as opposed to a CPI-E (E meaning elderly). If it were based on the CPI-E, SS recipients would get larger increases because there’s been more inflation in medical costs. But it’s remained policy to use the CPI-W because the alternative would cause the SS trust fund to deplete about 5 years earlier than expected.
The “death panels” are already in place and they’re not camouflaged as a simple denial of the SS COLA.
Case in point: A sixty-five year old man, otherwise healthy, diagnosed at one VA hospital with an aortic aneurysm. After three months of tests which determined the aneurysm met all parameters for surgery, the patient was referred by cardiologists at the first hospital to a second VA facility where surgery would be done.
Result: Surgery denied. Appealed twice by cardiologists at the first hospital, the decision stood. Recommendation of the surgeon: “Re-refer when aneurysm is larger.”
That aneurysm will now be repaired at a major medical center in the Midwest. If the VA surgeon had had her way, the patient would quite possibly have died before the aneurysm was large enough to be repaired…if she ever agreed to operate at all.
The VA is the purest form of government health care in this country. If you want to know where Obamacare is going, look at the VA. You will not like what you see.
This is a fake complaint from someone who wants even more free money from the government. From http://www.socialsecurity.gov:
“Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year.”
The consumer price index has shrunk this year due to the recession. In fact, due to that drop, seniors WILL be receiving an increase in their inflation-adjusted social security payments: payments will remain the same but the cost of living in the US has come down due to the deflationary pressure of the recession.
As a young person, I am becoming more and more concerned with the political positions of older Americans. They overwhelmingly oppose universal health care, despite the fact that they all have universal health care through Medicare. Essentially, they don’t mind my taxes paying for their health care but they do mind if my taxes pay for my own health care.
Geez…friendly fire would be too good for someone like you.
Since I doubt you would volunteer for the military. When you get older hopefully the govt will dish out to you what you want to dish out to others.
No, what they mind is having their own health care slashed to pay for yours.
deja vu? a young, relatively unknown, man with piercing dark eyes and a gift of gab and great oratory skills, apprears on horizon when the country is in upheaval. he promises many wonderful things and millions swoon at his words. at last, their savior has come and he will fix all that is wrong with the world if they elect him to be their leader. who can refuses such a wonderful and noble man who wants nothing more than to help mankind and so they gave him the key to the kingdom. moral of the story? if the citizens of that country had been able to hold town hall meeting, there would have been no holocaust.
Ok, this is really simple. Listen up old folks because this is for you (mostly): Barack the Messiah’s plan is to save so much (by abolishing Medicare for seniors) that he will be able to pay for all the new health care for young folks, uh, … more specifically, all those healthy young folks who are not presently US citizens, i.e.,ILLEGAL immigrants. Oh sure, Sebelius says that illegal immigrants will not get health care, sure sure, we all know that’s true. How do we know? Because by April 2010, the Presidents plan to flood the country with immigrants by making them LEGAL will mean that all those immigrants will be given health care that otherwise would go to grandma and grandpa. But what do I know? I’m just the stupid, moron Republican elephant in the room. So, you have no reason whatsover to trust me. So go ahead, be proud you voted for the Annointed One. He’s sooooo much smater than GW Bush, right?
Re: the Death Panels: this is such a no-brainer. Everyone knows that the panels exist; it’s just that no one prior to Sarah Palin called them by that name. The 1000 page Health Care Bill says nothing about “death panels,” so they don’t exist! Poof! Gone! And Sara Palin, we all KNOW what a stupid cow she is, right? I mean, she’s a Republican, and those people NEVER get college degrees in the Ivy League. (Gasp!)
Such a moving story. Is there a way we could get up a small collection for Roger to tide him over for a while? Could he room with someone else, perhaps, to split expenses? If he’s as destitute as you describe, he probably qualifies for copay assistance and perhaps even free drugs from the pharmaceutical companies. They have charitable programs for needy folks. His doctor might know more about that… my oncologist office had lots of information about help with cancer expenses. Can the local churches help him out? Can we help?
Astra-Zeneca makes Nexium and their patient assistance program is here:
http://www.rxassist.org/pap-info/company_detail.cfm?CmpId=5
Nexium is on the list for people on Medicare Part D.
Prayers for your friend Roger, he sounds like a sweetie.
Oh and the people who say the “Death Panels” aren’t in HR 3200 are right. They were in the ARRA bill (HR 1) or the so-called stimulus.
Do any of you guys think Hillary would have farmed out the job of writing a stimulus (if she’d done one) to the congress???
Once H.R. 3200 passes Roger won’t have to suffer very much longer. Actuarial data will flow in to the Health Care Choices Administration (HCA, motto: Our Choices, Not Yours) and his Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) will be assesed. Treatment and prescriptions for Roger will be denied or delayed to make way for younger people with better QALY prospects. Roger will be understandingly counseled on how much of a burden he is to society, and schooled on his choices for selflessly denying himself medical care and requesting the application end of life methodologies to shorten his suffering. HCA will of course authorize reimbursement for expeditious end of life processes. Don’t panic, Roger, your government will be there for you. Just to get in the spirit of things, watch the movie “Soylent Green,” and pay particular attention to how bravely Edward G. Robinson goes gently into that good night. See you in the next dimension!
[...] does my fellow NQ writer, Bronwyn’s Harbor, in this post, “I’ve Changed My Mind About ‘Death Panels,‘” in which Bronwyn’s neighbor’s travails of the effects of no COLA are laid [...]
And no it’s not dead..It will be put back in after a vote if it don’t pass by Nancy Pelosi and Obama. GOD HELP US.CONGRESS NANCY PELOSI IS RUNNING A MOB GOVERNMENT.THEY WORK FOR US.. FIRE THE BUMS ALL OF THEM !
You need to see this ! And now very inportant that you do.
http://mobsrus.ning.com/forum/topics/glenn-beckplease-watch
and this
Jennifer Rubin Reports with Michael Steele: Don’t Believe The Hype, The Public Option isn’t Dead
http://www.pjtv.com/v/2348
MSNBC & The Great Liberal Narrative: The Truth About The Tyranny of Political Correctness
http://www.pjtv.com/v/2343
And this This is a wooper “A MUST SEE ” oH HOW msnbc STILL CONTINUE PLAYING THEIR NASTY GAMES TO HOLD THE AFRICAN AMERICAN at bay with them. Now watch as we all saw how MSNBC-NBC -played their game during the election but, wait they really went to far and you will see..just watch. This African American is sueing MSNBC for what they had done. People are jumping democrat-msnbc-obama ship at a fast rate.But, at that tea party there wer many African Americas who are standing with “We The People ” to fight against the health bill and gun rights.MSNBC will play anything as the race game by useing the African Americans in their agenda.but many have now awoke and will not be held at bay with the wrong msnbc did-the wrong with what Obama lied and lied now they see he is nothing more then a Liar- The wrong MSNBC did in playing a race against the other. we stand no more. it’s we the people who will stand together MSNBC NBC MSN AND FIGHT YOUR LIES. We are free and our freedom is not your to take from any of “we The People” It’s not your choice to take over our health providers or insurance to throw us into the government control pile… NO THANKS !
VOTE ALL THE BUMS OUT SHUT MSNBC DOWN !
MSNBC & The Great Liberal Narrative: The Truth About The Tyranny of Political Correctness
http://www.pjtv.com/v/2343
I will never ever watch MSNBC-NBC-CNN-ABC-CBS-THE VIEW-TODAY SHOW-HARDBALL -CHRIS MATTHEWS SHOW-RICKY LAKE-OPRAH any of those U.S.A treaders and of the people of America. I will not allow them into my home ! I don’t care what they have to say..anything comes from their mouths is nothing but mind controling lies..They make me sick ! I stoped watch as of May 31, 2008 and do not plan to go back Ever.I even will not watch their networds as 20/20-dateline-nightly news for the fact is msnbc-nbc-msn network.
BARF MSNBC!! I need a puke bucket if I planned on watching this,which I am not.MSNBC has nothing worth while in watching no matter what it is.
BARF,even seeing MSNBC makes me want to BARF myself to death !can not and will not watch the liar scum bag dogs.
The fake CPI numbers that the government has been publishing since the Greenspan days have been understating inflation numbers for decades. this has allowed real income to go down since it gave companies and government a reason not to give out higher COLA increases.
for those who don’t know, Greenspan changed the CPI formula in line with his famous “the price of filet mignon can be replaced by the price of hamburger to reflect inflation in meat”. that change in formula place the CPI calculations into the twilight zone and enabled the government to keep interest rates low and thus keep the dollar weak in an attempt to boost exports. what occured was massive losses in the dollars spending power, dwindling increases in income, while the manufacturing base kept shrinking. the weak dollar policies never helped the manufacturing base since it never gave US businesses the real help it needed - low taxes and real competitive atmosphere in global trade. weak dollar policies reduced the buying power of the dollar while the US kept importing goods from overseas manufacturing - end result of this equation is an increasing transfer of wealth to foreign producers.
don’t be fooled by any of the economic numbers that the government has been putting out. those numbers had never been accurate since Greenspan took over the FED chairmanship and until some brave soul, may it be in Congress, or the FED, admit to the discrepancy we will continue to see low inflation and low to non-existant COLA increases which in turn would suck the life out of any retail sales increase that could boost this economy.
the system has been out of whack for decades and have cause the dollar index to decline from 125 in 1985 to the current 78. that is a massive 37.6 decrease in buying power for the dollar and all that time, the trade deficit kept increasing. the lack of buying power literally sucked the wealth out of this country since we kept buying foreign goods at ever increasing prices and the FED kept devaluing the dollar in a failed attempt to induce exports which has never worked.
one would think that a failed policy that’s kept the economy in chaos would be stopped in earnest yet at this current financial crisis, the same failed policy is being implemented tenfold!
what would happen if the dollar loses another 40 to 50% of its buying power while our manufacturing base is kept in a weakened state, or worse, get slapped with an even higher increase in taxes? that would be the end of our economy. hyperinflation without any increase in income is a death knell to a sales driven economy. this is going to happen starting middle of 2010. are you all ready for it?
China has a 15% business tax, the US has a 35% business tax. then people wonder why manufacturing is moving to China.
many want to demonize businesses in the US as greedy. one only needs to look at the disparity in taxes and see that our businesses have been weakened and continually to be weakened by unfair tax policies and regulation compared to other countries.
level the playing field and stop weakening the dollar. do that and we might come out of this crisis stronger. failure to do so and we’ll continually transfer massive wealth to countries like China and India in the next 20 to 50 years.
need to clarify the statement below:
that should read 37.6%
by the way, we’re about to get hit by another massive wave of foreclosures that might be worse than the first wave since this one would include Alt-A mortgages (non-subprime). this is on top of the imminent commercial real estate meltdown!
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-coming-soon-the-alt-a-mortgage-reset-bomb-2009-8
read the article, it is a good read if you care about what’s going on in real estate (article is not that long as well but with good graphs).
the first wave of foreclosures were the sub-prime mortgages, this coming wave are the houses bought by people with good credit, had a good downpayment, etc. when this blows up, the effect would be bigger compared to the sub-prime meltdown since those people who would lose their houses are those who were among the “responsible” mortgage buyers. if that group of folks lose their homes, it means that they’ve lost their income, it means that they are the real middle class folks who are now feeling the pinch of the economic crisis. since this is only happening now, this means that the economy haven’t found its bottom yet!
What I find interesting is how the MSM misconstrued what Palin meant when she uttered the words “Death Panels”. It is all about rationing or as some have said denial of services. At least Palin was brave enough to interject it into the public debate.