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Monday, September 21, 2009

Health Care Reform Summary and Updates



Summary of Possible Revisions to Obama’s Healthcare Reform (September 2009)
Nothing is completely certain at this point as there are several bills in the Senate and the House. At the end, they will have to be worked out, into one bill for the President to sign. Right now, it looks like Baucus' Bill will have a major influence, although Republicans as well as liberal Democrats are dissatisfied. More changes/compromises are bound to be made.

The Public Insurance Option
It looks unlikely at this point that the public option (the government-run insurance option) will stay. However, nothing can be completely certain at this point. There may still be a coop (non-profit) insurance option instead of a public option (obviously as a compromise with all those who’ve bought into the fear of “social medicine” with a public option.)

Raising Taxes
Obama promises not to raise taxes on families making under $250,000 per year. However, it is still uncertain whether he would raise taxes if he would raise taxes at income levels above $250,000

Cost
The cost if we go with the Baucus Plan will be under $800 billion over ten years. (My analysis: Although $800 billion over ten years seem like a huge cost, our current health care and health insurance system in this country is costing us more than that, and will cost us more than that as healthcare costs from our current system will continue to grow. As we in the 21st century compete globally (individuals for jobs as jobs are being shipped out abroad and corporations like GM competes with Japanese car makers, to name a few examples), the cost of not passing health care reform is much greater than $800 billion to U.S. citizens, U.S. corporations, and the entire United States of America.)

Other Provisions from Previous Summary
The other provisions from my summary (in my published article at the end of August) are likely to stay (when health care reform passes.) No one can be certain the exact form the final bill will look like, as many bills in the House and the Senate will have to be worked out (merged.) It’s a complicated process.

Summary of Obama’s Healthcare Reform as of August 2009 (from an article I've written for Bay Currents Newspaper)

Public Health Insurance
This government-run health insurance (funded by premiums) would be available to compete with existing private health insurance companies. Affordability credits will be available on a sliding scale system. (Affordability credits financially help those who can’t afford to pay for health insurance. The lower your income, the more affordability credits you would have.)
[As of September 2009, it seems that the public health option will likely be eliminated. It may possibly be replaced by a co-op option (non-profit organizations providing health insurance to compete with private health insurance companies.)]

Health Insurance Exchange
This would be a marketplace for individuals and small businesses to compare and shop for health insurance. There would be mechanisms here for consumer protection and fraud prevention. This is also where affordability credits would be administered.

Elimination of Discriminatory Practices Based on Health Condition
It would be illegal for insurance companies to exclude anyone from starting or renewing coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
[This apparently indisputable provision received applause from Republicans and Democrats. Therefore, it will likely stay. However, politicians (backed by special interests) who secretly want to exclude this item are trying to derail the whole health care reform (because they can't justifiably oppose this provision.)]

Prevention of Bankruptcy from Medical Expenses for Individuals
Insurers would no longer be allowed to put a cap on the amount of benefits received by an individual. However, there would be a cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses by an individual.
[This apparently indisputable provision received applause from Republicans and Democrats. Therefore, it will likely stay. However, politicians (backed by special interests) who secretly want to exclude this item are trying to derail the whole health care reform, using fear tactics as we've seen.]

Improving Medicaid and Medicare
Health care provider participation in Medicaid and Medicare would be increased, improving access to care for low-income families, the disabled, and the mentally ill. To do so, there would be increases in reimbursement rates for primary care services. The Medicare “donut hole” -- the coverage gap by which Medicare recipients have to pay for their medication for a brief period -- would be eliminated.

Investing in the Medical Workforce
To prevent a shortage of doctors and health care professionals due to an increased number of Americans being covered, more scholarships and loans would be made available for people entering various medical professions. There would also be an expansion and improvement of graduate medical education and medical training.


This has been mostly a factual summary, with my analysis/informed-opinion in brackets [] or parantheses (). More on my personal thoughts about health care reform at http://stanzo.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-healthcare-reform-may-affect-you.html from my personal experiences with healthcare and having interviewed many others (for two published articles.)

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Copyright: © 2009, This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for your web site, blog, or e-zine only if you include the following statement and web link- "Amadeo Constanzo is a leading spiritual nutrition and health expert. Free teachings from him can be found at stanzo.blogspot.com and spirfit.blogspot.com". You automatically have permission to post this article if you include the above statement. Otherwise, permission requests could be sent to healthsciencewriter@gmail.com

Shu Chan

Monday, September 14, 2009

Inappropriate Behavior - Kanye, Joe Wilson, Serena



Inappropriate or unacceptable behavior will cost you, as Kanye will learn. Serena Williams and Joe Wilson have already learned.

Many of you may have seen Kanye West’s unacceptable behavior in last night’s VMA awards when he got on stage when Taylor Swift was accepting her award. See the video here for yourself. (You may have to wait through a few seconds of commercial.)




As you can see, he took the microphone from Taylor Swift and said something implying that Beyonce should’ve won the award instead. The young Taylor Swift was left there just stunned. Why would you take a moment away from a young teenage singer in a nationally televised award show? It’s just unacceptable behavior. Although it may not have fully hit Kanye’s pocketbook yet, I believe it will. His popularity (if he ever had it) has been hit hard after this incident, as many in social networks online and blogs have already written hateful comments about Kanye West.

On Saturday, Serena Williams’ lashed out at an official during a match.





The official, the target of Ms. Williams' outburst, is off-screen to the right. Even if you disagree with the call, why would you lash out at an official like that? That’s inappropriate and unacceptable. Serena Williams’ outburst cost her the match, and a $10,000 fine.

On Thursday, we had Joe Wilson yelling out “you lie” in the middle of the President’s address in front of Congress. Notice that Mr. Wilson was booed from both sides (Republicans and Democrats.)



Now, with every organization or every environment, there are just certain codes of conduct (written or unwritten). This is true with most work places. This is also true with Congress (and that work place rightfully has a higher standard). One thing you would never do is yell out disrespectfully at the President during a presidential address within the chambers of Congress. It is outrageous behavior unheard of.

After Mr. Wilson's outburst, his political opponent gained $500,000 more than him in campaign contributions, overnight. (Approximately, $1,100,000 poured into his opponent's campaign within 24 hours.) Also, many in Congress are considering disciplinary action against Mr. Wilson. Unacceptable behavior will cost you.

Although these cases of unacceptable behavior are rare, it does happen and I've experienced inappropriate behavior by students at the community college where I teach some labs (workshops), but such occurences are very rare. These few students eventually paid the price. If we’ve only learned one thing, it is this – inappropriate behavior will cost you eventually, if not immediately.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

How Healthcare Reform May Affect You and Your Bank



There are certain things that are still unclear about Obama's health reform such as whether there would be a public health insurance provision, co-op, or a trigger mechanism for either one. (The uncertainty is due to having to change certain items and details to compromise with the Republicans, blue-dog Democrats, and liberal Democrats. It's tough to try to satisfy all sides.) However, there are two items on the bill that all sides (the right, the left, and the middle) stood up to approvingly clap during President Obama’s speech in front of Congress last night. The undisputed two items that I am quite sure would not change in the bill when it’s passed are:

• Elimination of Discriminatory Practices Based on Health Condition
It would be illegal for insurance companies to exclude anyone from starting or renewing coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

• Prevention of Bankruptcy from Medical Expenses for Individuals
Insurers would no longer be allowed to put a cap on the amount of benefits received by an individual. However, there would be a cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses by an individual.

It would be unthinkable for any Congressman to dispute these two items, unless they want to appear impious. However, those Congressman who are influenced by the private health insurance industry would just try to throw out the whole proposed-bill (including these two items) or they would try to delay the process. (They know that, historically, any long delay of health reform destroys any chance of it. This was true with President Clinton and previous presidents who had made the effort.) The private health insurance industry and the influential people they back (politicians, the media, some bloggers, and others) are likely the source of all the mis-information in the last few months that are compromising our chance of reforming healthcare.

Even if you have health insurance (from your job or from purchasing on your own), not having these two proposed terms (and others) signed into law may affect you or someone you love. Many have faced bankruptcy when they came down with a disease, even when they had health insurance from their job. There are lots of problems with our current system, or the current status quo, but most of us don’t see it until something major goes wrong with our health. I didn’t see it until I faced my own health crisis in 2004, and I had probably the best health insurance benefits in the state of California, being employed by the University of California. Chances are, your current health insurance is not better than the ones offered by the University of California to their professors and employees. You are therefore even more vulnerable than I was, although you won’t really know it until you are hit by a health crisis – the perfect storm.


You may find my article about Obama’s health care reform including a summary of the proposed bills at the right page of:

http://issuu.com/baycurrents/docs/bcv6n2/3


Feel free to email at healthsciencewriter@gmail.com if you want the pdf version


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Thursday, September 3, 2009

I Look to You



There are days when you will need someone to look to. I recommend looking to God. If you've ever gone through those days (or months, or even years) or are going through those days right now, here's a song for you.



After giving it my all, who do I look to?
I look to you, God.

After all that I’ve been through, who do I turn to?
I turn to you, God.

After all my strength is gone, who do I look to?
I look to you, God.


And when melodies are gone
In you I hear a song.

After losing my breath
There’s no more fighting left
Sinking to rise no more
Searching for that open door…

I look to you.



Feel free to contact me if you want to talk. (Click my profile for my contact information.)

For more lessons like this one, feel free to go to - SpirFit.org

For updates of new posts and for connecting with others who like these readings, feel free to “like” the SpirFit page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpirFit/141881909215772