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Moveon Made Me Do This

Posted on December 18, 2008 in Insurance Video


MoveOn Made Me Do This on 12seconds.tv

See my other 12 Seconds Videos here.

Treating Health Care Like Banking?

Posted on October 12, 2008 in Campaign 2008 Insurance

square491This little series from the Institute for America’s Future has appeared here before. I found the title of this one catchy and hope you will take the time to read it and think. John McCain and Sarah Palin will damage our nation beyond repair after eight years of W. Friends do not let friends vote for them:

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Wellstone Parity Law is Seriously Flawed

Posted on September 21, 2008 in Insurance

square477The [[Paul Wellstone]] mental health parity bill which is now before Congress has been endorsed by the National Association for the Mentally Ill and the Mental Health Association on the theory that something is better than nothing. Barack Obama has endorsed it. Our opposition, Mean John McCain, has not endorsed nor authored any parity bill so we can assume he opposes the concept.

Parity means that the so-called “mental illnesses” will be treated like “physical” ones. Because illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and schizophrenia have been shown to have organic components and new information is coming in about borderline disorder and other so-called “personality disorders”, the line between “mental” and “physical” is disappearing. Diseases that afflict thinking and emotions are no different from those that afflict other aspects of our metabolism. That insurance companies will freely dispense medications for the colon while refusing to pay for lithium and similar drugs says a great deal about their priorities.

Three purposes underline the struggle for parity:

* Eliminating discrimination against mental illness
* Expanding access to appropriate mental health care
* Reducing the stigma of mental illness

Opponents of parity claim without any facts that parity will dramatically raise health costs. Studies conducted in states with full parity and the federal health system show that the rise in costs is no more than 1%. Parity also helps lower costs by seeing that workers receive appropriate care and, therefore, are more productive and spend less time taking off from work.

So the Wellstone bill is a great step. But it is misleading. Having been through many years of Republican rewrites, the bill as it now stands might undermine the objectives. The insurance industry, in particular, has been against parity and has dispatched their lobbyists to Washington to amend the bill so that it contains certain flaws that will make the situation of persons with “mental” disorders worse:

* The law requires that parity be offered if the insurance plan offers both physical and mental illness coverage. Companies can duck parity simply by dropping mental health coverage. Insurance companies can claim that losses of 2% make parity coverage infeasible.
* It does not provide full mental health parity for persons with Medicare or Medicaid.
* It does not require that all health plans offer both physical and mental health coverage.

Paul Wellstone meant so much more when he sponsored the original bill. The current act makes discrimination more a part of our daily life. It would behoove Obama if he were to repudiate it and call for a real parity law that dispenses with these loopholes. If the current version of the Wellstone Act were enacted, my wife and I could find ourselves saddled with hundreds if not thousands of dollars in prescription drug expenses. I could be forced to drop certain effective medicines and be put in the dangerous position having to find cheaper, less effective substitutes. During this time, the changes could precipitate an episode which could destroy the peace of mind of my family and my own safety.

I cannot stand by while an ersatz parity bill becomes the law of the land. I believe that Obama wants better and I call on him to take a hard look at the current bill. Note that while NAMI and MHA support the bill, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance which includes former Kings County Commissioner Randy Revelle does not for the reasons I have cited. Parity must be the law of the land for everyone: we can afford no loopholes. Worse than nothing is not better than nothing.

[tags]parity, mental health, mental illness, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, insurance, Wellstone, Paul Wellstone, insurance[/tags]

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Pets Over (Gay and Lesbian) People

Posted on November 27, 2007 in Insurance Nipper Kettle Relationships

Joy toys are supposed to come with no strings. Ask any closet gay conservative.

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Why Voting Republican is Bad for Bipolars

Posted on April 27, 2006 in Campaign 2006 Class Insurance Mental Illness

Voting Republican is against our best interests as sufferers of mental illness and as human beings.

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The Fish Who Don’t Make It

Posted on March 2, 2006 in Hospitals and Prisons Insurance

The system works nice for fish such as myself who have spouses or other portal points to decent coverage.

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Uninsured All of A Sudden

Posted on August 6, 2005 in California Watch Insurance Stigma

My insurance company has decided that I cannot be sick anymore

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From a Bump on the Head to Everlasting Death

Posted on December 12, 2004 in Folly Watch Insurance Liberty Medical Ethics

Ninety percent of the bodies who slumped in those beds were motorcycle injuries.

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Dental Insurance Fraud

Posted on February 19, 2004 in Dentition Insurance Rage & Annoyance

We think that teeth are not a part of the body, that fixing them is a luxury item like a nose job or a facelift.

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The New Holocaust

Posted on December 7, 2003 in Accountability Class Insurance

The decision as to what is necessary and unnecessary is a private one, to be made by the patient and the doctor, not by medically untrained outsiders.

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Nineteen Ninety Two

Posted on April 23, 2003 in Campaign 2004 Insurance

Now the Wimpocrats don’t want to raise health care as an issue because they say “it’s a loser cause”. They’re right.

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