What happened? I leave for a couple of days and come back to find that all hell has broken loose. My favorite website, the Daily Mauler Caller had this headline to greet me:
Congratulations, Americans: The government owns your bodies
Wow. Being forced to give up ownership of one’s body to a tyrannical government is serious stuff. Hoping to find better news at my second favorite website, I moved on to World Nut Net Daily. Not good. Right below this headline,
Muslim mob stones Christians – in U.S.!
I was shocked and dismayed to find this headline:
Ruling awakens ‘revolutionary fervor’
The World Nut Net Daily is a serious source for honest and balanced news, so when they talk of “revolutionary fervor’, watch out. Any website that gives Chuck Norris and Jerome Corsi space to blog their demented trash, err, enlightened views, knows what they’re talking about. Yes, sir, a revolution is on the way.
Twitter didn’t make me feel any better.
The end of America. Scary. And to let you know how serious he is, Shapiro states that he’s not exaggerating. Very cool of him.
Sigh. Checked in with my favorite right-wing talk radio guy, Limbaugh. I was hoping he could put a positive spin on it all. Nope.
Obamacare is nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world…as of today, the American government can and will seize your private property if you don’t purchase and/or sell what’s been ordered. It’s really breathtaking, what happened today. And it is breathtaking to watch ignoramuses who don’t really understand what happened celebrate it. We have been betrayed and deceived by Congress. We have been betrayed and deceived by the Supreme Court.
There you go. Right-wing response to the Supreme Court ruling in a nutshell: betrayal, revolution and the end of America.
Poor babies. Well at least some of the brighter wingnuts now know what they’re going to do.
And they call them idiots. I wonder why that would be?
UPDATE:
My, my, they’ve really gone off the deep end. Here’s a comment from a Washington Times piece about Republican governors planning on ignoring the Supreme Court ruling on the ACA. The comment is typical of the madness that has overtaken the right beyond what we’ve witnessed over the last 4 years.
All three Branches of the Federal government are now operating outside their Constitutionally enumerated powers. Therefor, by the Founding Fathers own concerns, the Federal government is null-and-void. The individual States are now in charge of our government.
Each State should enact Marshal law, withholding all Federal withholding taxes from transfer to Washington!
“Marshal law”(???)…now there’s a wonderful idea. These sad fools really don’t know any better. They’re spouting the same crap they hear on Fox and other conservative media. In my more compassionate moments, I almost feel sorry for them.
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I do believe that I saw the track of an orange tinged tear on Boner’s face today… sniff…
I’ve been waiting all day for your post, Mario!
Here’s one to add to your collection that Rachel Maddow MSNBC @maddow tweeted:
And now here’s the part where they threaten to start shooting: http://t.co/T9Cs2EfT
They’re going off the deep end and still have no clue that there is no enforcement mechanism in place to prosecute or put a lien against your property to collect. At MOST, the IRS may, may, be able to withhold the fine from a tax refund.
But, of course, there are tax credits for some for purchasing insurance.
For those of you who are interested and want to fight fiction with fact, here’s the taxing structure straight from the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=220809,00.html
Brick by brick – the foundation has been laid. Now we have something to build upon.
A good day in America today!
Poor John Roberts – his name is being deleted from the Christmas card and party invite lists all over Washington, D.C.
What’s the difference between a wise decision and judicial activism? When the Republicans don’t get their way, it’s judicial activism.
Roberts has just become the right’s newest whipping boy. They’re now regretting Bush that much more.
Robert’s knew this was his BIG CHANCE to leave a legacy, with the court being known as “his”. He wants a statue made in his likeness at some point in time.
To me its no different than being required to have car insurance — its for the good of everyone. I have watched people being interviewed today who are very upset that they will have to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. They would like the rest of us to continue paying their health care costs, but its way past time for the uninsured to take responsibility for themselves. Today’s ruling is a victory for seniors, people with pre-existing conditions, those with catastropic illness, young people who have the security of their parent’s insurance until age 26, and those of us who have been doing the responsible thing for our own health care all the while bearing the burden for those who don’t.
In 1997, I started having episodes during which I was ambulatory but unaware of my surroundings. On at least one occasion, I managed to drive home without even being aware that I was on the road. On another, I left my apartment to get some soda and snacks. I returned four hours later with the stuff and a receipt to show that I’d paid for it, but I had no memory of being in the store or where I was for the rest of the time I was gone.
A couple of years later, a friend whose husband has been under treatment for seizures since he was a boy suggested that what was happening might be some form of epilepsy. I mentioned this to my doctor, and he put in a request to have me tested with an EEG. THe HMO turned down the request, saying that there was not sufficient evidence to justify the cost of the procedure.
In December of 1999, a few months after the test had been denied, I had another episode while driving to work. I hit and killed a pedestrian, but had no memory of the event. I was arrested, spent four days in jail, and eventually was charged with vehicular homicide. I also lost my job and my apartment. Eventually, I did have a tonic-clonic (formerly known as grand mal) seizure in a public place. An ambulance was called and I was provisionally diagnosed as epileptic. Now the HMO honored my doctor’s requests for EEG and MRI test and I was, three months after the accident, finally positively diagnosed as epileptic.
I can’t help but wonder whether a government bureaucrat, one of those guys who, according to the wingnuts, is supposed to come between me and my doctor, would have approved the original request. Such a person would not have had the bottom line as a first priority. Instead, some corporate bean counter, whose number one concern was boosting his CEO’s bonus and getting the shareholder another ¼¢ per share on the quarterly dividend did come between me and my doctor. How I would have loved to drag that idiot to one of my court hearings and have him explain how, in the name of saving some red ink, he denied a test that would have saved another life and prevented mine from ending up in the toilet.
I later found out that my seizures were brought on by an antidepressant that was prescribed for me without either me or the doctor knowing that I was a borderline epileptic. I’d never been tested because I’d never shown symptoms until the drug lowered my seizure threshhold. Normally, being diagnosed with something like epilepsy is traumatic, but in my case, it resulted in the dismissal of the homicide charge and several years’ probation on leaving the scene of an accident. Under the circumstances, it was probably the best thing that could have happened right then.
So when wingnuts like Palin and Bachmann and Boehner and Cantor blab on and on about government bureaucrats coming between patients and their doctors, my immediate and furious reaction is “STFU!”; I am surprised that I haven’t done an Elvis job on my TV set. I am a living example of private sector bureaucrats interfering with a patient’s medical care to disastrous effect.
This is a great day…..when I see Republicans moaning and carrying on…..I know we are on the right track! Let’s make sure they moan even louder after the Nov. elections put Obama back in for another 4 years and we take back the House and we get a larger Democratic majority in the Senate again!
I hope we learned our lessons about the mid-terms and kick the Republicans out for a very long time so they cannot do anymore damage! The Repubs may have gotten their money thing for this election but dollar bills can’t vote …only people can and those people need to remember who took the country into the ditch and how Obama came in and brought us back from the brink in spite of the biggest opposition and the most death threats and racist attitudes arrayed against him ever seen.
This November we as a country must make a statement that sanity and reason will prevail against ignorance and prejudice and hate. I hope we are all up to this task. It is our right and our privilege to vote no excuse not to. Even if certain areas are trying to make it harder….just prepare yourself and get educated about what you need to bring at the polling place and help your neighbors have theirs too! I always bring my ID and my voter registration card with me….every time! No questions are ever asked when I pop both of those things out in front of their faces at the polling place! So much more I could say but bottom line is….too many people don’t vote and it is a betrayal of your country not to vote. Even if you walk in and write in a candidate or just selectively vote or do your party line thing….whatever you choose to do …..please go and vote! Vote your conscience and your beliefs and urge everyone to do the same. We must do better than 30% of our population voting! People have died for the right of voting! Don’t let their deaths go dishonored. Vote! You get the kind of leadership you vote for or fail to show up to make sure get into office! It’s up to you and me and every person old enough to vote to get to the polls this November! Please….VOTE!
That’s quite the tragic story, E.A. You got through it but at a terrible price.
Romney stood up in front of a microphone today and said he’d begin the act of repealing ‘Obamacare’ on his first day in office. One of the reasons he cited for doing so was that no one should stand between a patient and his doctor. You almost want to slap him silly when he lies about a matter that has grave consequences for so many people. Your story highlights that very point. While Romney is in a position of not ever having to worry about a medical procedure being denied him, it is not the case for tens of millions who don’t have the financial means to get around the health insurers who make life and death decisions. They are in truth the death panels the right loves to scream about.
Thank you for sharing.
There are a lot of health related horror stories out there like E.A.’s. When you or a family member have a serious health crisis, the last thing you need to worry about is the availability of a proper diagnosis and treatment. I, too, thank you for sharing your story, E.A. This landmark legislation will go along way to alleviate the eniquities in our health care system.
I’m sure this is not the first time a word has been mispelled here — but my perfectionist self (its a curse) can’t let it stand. Correction: “iniquities”. :-)
No – it just expands anti-choice laws to include men!
Thank you all. Fortunately, in the years since that happened, my epilepsy appears to have gone into remission. I am now on full disability and Medicare. My current doctor was able to request an EEG for me without having to worry about its approval by a private sector bureaucrat, and, as a result, I no longer have to take anitseizure medication, which cuts my pill intake down from ten a day to three.
One downside of this is that, while I am, indeed, on Medicare, the yearly deductable is more than I can afford to pay out of my disability income, so there are long stretches of time when I avoid going to the doctor to avoid the annual payments (the rest of my time is spent ducking calls from medical collections agencies). Another downside is that, while my SSDI is not enough to pay my annual deductable for Medicar, it is too much to allow me to qualify for Medicaid, which is the only way I can get dental care. I haven’t seen a dentist in thirteen years, and my teeth are in terrible shape. Meanwhile, I have not heard anything about dental coverage in the ACA.
My greatest regret in all of this is that my wife died after my seizures started but before I was diagnosed. While it would have been hard for her to deal with the accident, arrest and subsequent events, it would have been comforting to know she had been aware of the underlying problem.
Gee, the Washington Times can’t even spell “martial law”.
E. A.
There are some provisions in the ACA for both dental and vision. They may or may not apply to you, however, and depending on whether or not your state expands the Medicaid provisions that were made optional in the decision today, that could prevent many from obtaining this coverage.
The link below will provide you information – from the kaiser Foundation. Hopefully, you will qualify and your state will elect to expand their Medicaid program that allows for higher income eligibility.
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7798-02.pdf
Thank you for sharing your story with us – people really need to understand the consequences of this hodgepodge of a health care delivery system combined with a for profit insurance system that we have. Today our foundation was was approved by the city inspector – now we get to start putting the framing in place and re-building brick by brick. It will take years, but we’ll get there — as long as we can keep the GOP out of it – at least until they return to sanity!
You can add this one to your list, Mario.
“And now here’s the part where they threaten to start shooting: http://t.co/T9Cs2EfT”
And the first paragraph in the article,
“(Editor’s note: This story has been edited to add more context to the thoughts presented from the original email.)”
Slight rewriting, In an attempt to make it understandable!
I love this one:
BuzzFeed found a bunch of conservatives so freaked out by this tyranny that they’re throwing in the towel and heading north to that right-wing paradise known as Canada – a place that has both universal healthcare and gay marriage…
God literally fuck this. I’m moving to Canada. Jump off a cliff @Obama.
— Jacqua Flocka(@JacquaFlocka) June 28, 2012
Mr. Blair, I share the sentiments of Mario and the others – truly a tragic story that did not have to happen if we had better quality health care.
America pays the most per capita for their health care and have lower in quality and life expectancy than several other countries.
The richest most powerful nation on the planet and we have people dying because they can’t afford to see a doctor.
Republicans are nucking futs – thankfully they now may be able to afford to reverse their lobotomies and get treatment for their Foxaholism.
Mr. Blair – stay strong, we care !
Diana,
I went to one of the links you had and read some of the negative crap several of those people commented about. I decided to leave a comment of my own:
Love it, Diana — wishing those convoluted thinking conservatives much happiness in their move to Canada. Right on, Fidlerten — its all about taking personal responsibility because the rest of us are weary from being responsible for ourselves, and those who want a free ride. Did you ever see such a bunch of sore losers???!!
I lost my 27 year old daughter five years ago because of private insurance “death” panels. We have had death panels for years, the insurance companies have had free reign to do what they want. We couldn’t even sue for wrongful death because of TORT reform. Now, we are raising our nine year old grandson who lost his mom, and eveytime he asks why his mom died…….I can’t explain it to him because it is a story of cruelty by the corporations, and their meat puppets.
I believe it was REM in the 80s:
I imagine that today that includes several million people who have been treated by their insurance company the way Michael Vick treated his dog.
I have a question for any one of you smart people. I kept hearing yesterday as one of the talking points that “This decision will take insurance away from some who are currently happy with their plan.” That is an absolute lie, isn’t it?
I remember republicans I know threatening to move if Obama got elected in 08,,, Unfortunately the remained my neighbors to this day. I also remember them threatening to stop buying Coke Cola because the company withdrew its support for the stand your ground law, guess what they still drink the stuff by the case loads. Does the new healthcare bill cover mental illness, I think there are a lot of republicans that need therapy.
That’s a nuanced answer OC – Most of us get our health care through our employers and it is our employers who choose the plans they offer us….based on the best deal they can get for themselves.
So once the exchanges get up and running, many employers may find better and cheaper coverage through the exchanges and then choose to move their coverage there. So, yes, you could lose your current plan — but that would be due to your employer’s choice. But that is an option your employer already has.
If you have your own policy – not through an employer, you can keep it as long as you want. It’s YOUR choice not your employer’s.
Ideally, eventually we’ll be able to move away from employer based plans – it was a bad idea at the time (FDR), but probably the only political option (sound familiar).
Once we’re not tied to our “benefits” through employers, we can go back to being entrepreneurs, and small business will flourish again. So many have been stuck at their jobs to keep their benefits.
As we’ve seen small business has grow now because so many have lost their jobs. Decoupling us from employer based health care would be a great economic boon!
Diana, a while ago I read a book by Thomas Geohegan titled Were you born on the wrong continent? : how the European model can help you get a life. He gave an interesting example of choice. In the example of two single mothers, one in the US and one in Germany; both are seeking day care for their child.
In Germany, day care is state-sponsored. There are uniform standards, all facilities must meed a strict set of standards. She is free to pick a facility that is close to home, where the prices are fixed and there is oversight to ensure that the standards are followed.
In the US, the market determines the availability of day care (unless, of course, she works for one of those enlightened employers with on-site facilities). So, to find an adequate place to stash her kid, she has to shop. Maybe the places near home or work aren’t suitable – in that case, she must go to a place halfway across town. The prices are not standardized. Maybe she has to take on a second job, which means that her child is in day care longer and she has less time to spen with that child and less money to provide a decent living for the both of them because of the cost. Even so, she has no assurance of the quality of the facility until she actually signs up with them.
Who has more choices? Who is more free? Is it the German mother, whose choices for day care are limited but whose time and money spent with and for her child are more abundant? Or is it the American mother, whose choices for a place to put her kid are, seemingly, unlimited, but the sacrifice comes at the expense of the child?
Sometimes the appearance of choice is an illusion. If we are granted an apparent infinity of choice in some things, we spend all our time choosing and paying for the luxury of choice. Sometimes limiting our choices frees us for things that are more important.
I notice this in myself in the area of brand loyalty. I very often make choices in the grocery store by choosing brands that I grew up with and find familiar. Sometimes I pay more for those choices, but I spare myself the tedium of comparing penny-for-penny cost details and I feel as if I know what I’m getting. It doesn’t bother me to have my choices limited in some areas if it frees me to pay attention to more important things in my life.
I never had children, but if I had, I know that if day care had been required, I would rather be in the position of the German mother than the American mother. The whole notion of free will may well be a farrago; that is the province of philosophers and theologians. What I have observed, however, is that infinite choice is just as crippling as no choice.
I don’t know why, but the comment that appears in reply to Diana appears under the byline of “undefined” (at least on my browser). It was from me. E. A. Blair
If you’re referring to the comment you wrote at 8:09 pm, it reads ‘E.A. Blair says:‘ on my browser.
I see your point EA, but when it comes to health care, I would rather have my own choices. My former employer chose the plans I was allowed to choose from. Group Health (a co-op) was one of them and it was the cheapest – low co-pays and deductibles, too. When I retired, my ONLY choice was their plan – so now I have a $1K deductible 20% co-pays and I have to pay more for the plan.
And all that has done, is limit me from obtaining wellness care. The ACA allows me now to get wellness care without a copay, but I’m still stuck with a $1K deductible if I get ill. I’ve been to the doctor once in three years because I had a lump on the top of my head that was benign and I had it removed.
We need more options that we can choose from that meet both our lifestyle and our financial needs, rather than than our employers (to quote the GOP) “cramming” their plans down our throats, simply because they can get a better deal for themselves.
And here’s the rub – because my former employer is an insurance company, businesses they get subsidies/tax breaks from the government that help them pay for my health care. So as an insurance company, my company gets to double dip – they get the subsidy and the premium. As my son would say, too cool! And then they pay Blue Cross to administer it.
BTW – I agree with you on the day care. Having had 3 children, I’d take their plan any day.
Anyone want to have some fun on a conservative site?
http://tweetbe.at/conservatives/trend/1mqih-today-s-scotus-decision-dooms/
Enjoy commenting, if you so choose. It seems no one else is interested. Tee hee
Diana – I wasn’t advocating one plan only, but a regulated choice. In the case of the German mother, her choice might have been determined, not by location, but by how she felt about the staff or the facilities in the play areas – things that are not subject to regulation. To continue the analogy, I see so many storefront day care centers that I have to wonder how well they’re regulated and monitored). Adherence to standards does not mean lack of variety. If all detergents, for example, were required to adhere to phosphate standards, we could still buy our preferred brand, but wouldn’t have to worry about the envronmental damage.
That said, my deductible with Medicare is $4,300. That means that when that deductible resets at the beginning of each calendar year. I forego medical treatment until I’m really in need because my other living expenses don’t leave me that much. Three years of saving up to finance moving to subsidized housing has left me with a surplus of less than $1,200, which is barely enough to cover the cost of packing and moving and not enough to cover a security deposit. If it take me three years to build up $1,200, how can I expect to afford $4,300 a year? I might as well not have coverage at all. I’d still be getting calls from the medical bill collectors.
Again, consider the example of the German mother. No matter which day care center she goes to, she still has a similar range of options to choose from, and the differences are obvious. When someone in the US goes shopping for day care or medical coverage, they often don’t find out what is going on ’til they get screwed.
I went through four different Medicare Pard D providers who thoroughly screwed me over before finding one that doesn’t rip me off quite as much. At the moment, however, my monthly premiums for Part D exceed what I’d be paying out of pocket for the prescriptions it covers. The only reason I stay with Part D is because there may come a time when those costs might increase (before part D, my prescription costs exceeded my rent).
Diana, I think I’m going to go over to tweetbe and repost my story about the refused diagnosis. Let’s see if that gets any reaction.
Yes calling it a story might trivialize it, but it’s been thirteen years. I’ve more or less gotten over what happened in 1999, but it’s still not something I treat lightly. The argument still holds, but I’m doing my best not to let the past control me. I won’t forget, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll either put it completely behind me not use the events for the leverage they evoke. The example still holds, and I still consider 1999 the worst year of my life..
EA – By sharing the joys and the griefs of life, we enrich the lives of others. They may not want to recognize it, but every word one reads or hears is the bell that cannot be unrung. We live and love and learn by sharing life’s experiences be they good or bad. It is these experiences that we all share as humans that bring us all together as a community caring for each other.
Thank you.
Repub wingnuts can’t be that stupid. They want to move to Canada.Don’t they know that Canada’s health care system is far better than our own. Worse socialists they are. Repubs would cringe over there.
No,the best place to move is Chili or Bolivia
Thank you, Diana. That is a distortion that is worthy of the Republican party and clearly points to the virtues of choices included in the affordable car act.
I love watching Rethugs go off the deep end like this.
Limpballs: “largest tax increase in the history of the world” That is, until some other situation comes up that the Rethugs can consider a tax increase.
Ever notice how every time the Dems put up a candidate for President, they automatically become the “most left leaning member of the Senate?” It’s amazing how we always manage to nominate the most extreme left winger, every time!