Yes, I will be joining about 50 other people on a bus trip to Washington DC. We are leaving tonight for a 12 hour drive (ugh).
There will be a health care rally tomorrow with people from all over the country. There should be thousands. If I see a CNN camera crew I will be sure to wave.
We also have appointments with several members of Congress so that will be interesting. I am very excited and hopeful about this trip. See you Friday.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
HEALTHCARE DEBATE: VOP DEBATING W/FOS
I have to respond to the latest article written by the Freedom of Speech staff. The first two sentences make perfect sense, the rest of the column, not so much.
"It simply amazes us at the misconceptions people have about a government run plan"
I agree.
"By far, a single payer system would be the best for providing care and in lowering cost"
Right again.
They go on to say that insurance companies need to be bailed out. No, actually the insurance companies are doing just fine. They have record profits at the expense of the citizens of America.
"According to CMS...Medicare only covers 53% of an average persons yearly healthcare expenses..." Our office (cardiologists) receives CMS bulletins every month and I have never seen these figures, nor has my supervisor. Medicare pays 80% if the approved charges which means that we take a write-off right at the top before the payment. For instance, if a doctor charges $100.00 for a procedure Medicare would normally approve about $70.00 of which the doctor would receive 80% or $56.00. The other $30.00 would be above allowed, meaning a write off, and the patient or their supplementary insurance would be billed for $14.00.
As far as the Medicare premiums, people on Social Security have around $97.00 deducted from their checks each month for Medicare. I don't know how that translates to $400.00 per month per individual. And a family of 4 would not be covered by Medicare anyway.
As far as people from Canada and Britian coming to America for healthcare, why would they travel to a country ranked 37th in the world for healthcare? Canadians and Europeans have a longer life span and lower infant mortality rates.
Mr. Obama wants everyone to be able to have preventative care, not wait until stage 4 cancer before seeking treatment. That is what many Americans do now because they have no health insurance and put off seeing a doctor for as long as they can.
As far as government providing healthcare at a reasonable cost; Medicare's administrative costs are approx. 3% compared to 15% to 30% administrative costs for private insurance companies such as Anthem, Humana, United Health Care, Cigna, and others. A Cabinet Member is paid a little over $100,000 per year as opposed to $6 Million to $20 Million, which is what some of the insurance company CEO's earn.
That is why the insurance companies can pay $1.4 Million dollars A DAY to oppose single payer. They are spending OUR premiums to oppose the healthcare that we so desperately need.
Talk about liars. I talk to patients every day who were duped into buying Medicare replacement coverage only to discover they have higher premiums, and limited choice of hospitals and physicians.
Even physicians are banding together in Oregon to form the "Mad As Hell Doctors Road Tour".
See www.MadAsHellDoctors.com or call Dr. Paul Hochfeld (541) 740-4065.
"It simply amazes us at the misconceptions people have about a government run plan"
I agree.
"By far, a single payer system would be the best for providing care and in lowering cost"
Right again.
They go on to say that insurance companies need to be bailed out. No, actually the insurance companies are doing just fine. They have record profits at the expense of the citizens of America.
"According to CMS...Medicare only covers 53% of an average persons yearly healthcare expenses..." Our office (cardiologists) receives CMS bulletins every month and I have never seen these figures, nor has my supervisor. Medicare pays 80% if the approved charges which means that we take a write-off right at the top before the payment. For instance, if a doctor charges $100.00 for a procedure Medicare would normally approve about $70.00 of which the doctor would receive 80% or $56.00. The other $30.00 would be above allowed, meaning a write off, and the patient or their supplementary insurance would be billed for $14.00.
As far as the Medicare premiums, people on Social Security have around $97.00 deducted from their checks each month for Medicare. I don't know how that translates to $400.00 per month per individual. And a family of 4 would not be covered by Medicare anyway.
As far as people from Canada and Britian coming to America for healthcare, why would they travel to a country ranked 37th in the world for healthcare? Canadians and Europeans have a longer life span and lower infant mortality rates.
Mr. Obama wants everyone to be able to have preventative care, not wait until stage 4 cancer before seeking treatment. That is what many Americans do now because they have no health insurance and put off seeing a doctor for as long as they can.
As far as government providing healthcare at a reasonable cost; Medicare's administrative costs are approx. 3% compared to 15% to 30% administrative costs for private insurance companies such as Anthem, Humana, United Health Care, Cigna, and others. A Cabinet Member is paid a little over $100,000 per year as opposed to $6 Million to $20 Million, which is what some of the insurance company CEO's earn.
That is why the insurance companies can pay $1.4 Million dollars A DAY to oppose single payer. They are spending OUR premiums to oppose the healthcare that we so desperately need.
Talk about liars. I talk to patients every day who were duped into buying Medicare replacement coverage only to discover they have higher premiums, and limited choice of hospitals and physicians.
Even physicians are banding together in Oregon to form the "Mad As Hell Doctors Road Tour".
See www.MadAsHellDoctors.com or call Dr. Paul Hochfeld (541) 740-4065.
Friday, July 17, 2009
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!!!
I am sure this is what many attendees of last night's council meeting are saying now. Many residents told their stories of having flooded basements, even sewage in their homes and pleaded with the council for help. Many council members were obviously disturbed by these stories and accompanying pictures.
It is a terrible shame that people have to live like this, losing countless thousands of dollars and living in unsafe homes that are unsellable. Thankfully the resolution passed 9-0 that would free up funds to reimburse these people. Also Attny Shane Gibson promised to look into these claims and forward them to the city's insurance company. The residents also filed Tort Claims to help reclaim some of the lost funds.
The other major item on the agenda was the Ordinance to allocate $1,000,000 to hire 10 new police officers. After the first vote failed to pass, CM Messer asked that the Ordinance be amended to be reduced to $500,000 and hire 5 new police officers. CM Caesar changed his vote to aye and the Ordinance passed 5-4. Voting aye were CM's Caesar, Benedetti, Messer, Zurschmeide and Coffey.
It is a terrible shame that people have to live like this, losing countless thousands of dollars and living in unsafe homes that are unsellable. Thankfully the resolution passed 9-0 that would free up funds to reimburse these people. Also Attny Shane Gibson promised to look into these claims and forward them to the city's insurance company. The residents also filed Tort Claims to help reclaim some of the lost funds.
The other major item on the agenda was the Ordinance to allocate $1,000,000 to hire 10 new police officers. After the first vote failed to pass, CM Messer asked that the Ordinance be amended to be reduced to $500,000 and hire 5 new police officers. CM Caesar changed his vote to aye and the Ordinance passed 5-4. Voting aye were CM's Caesar, Benedetti, Messer, Zurschmeide and Coffey.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT
It's going to be an exciting place to be tonight at the City Council meeting. The council will vote on the 1 million allocation from EDIT to pay for the hiring and training of 10 new police officers.
Additionally there will be an appropriation request from CM Gahan of $75,000 to compensate the recent flood victims. Although some people may say this will just open the door for everyone to request funds for future flooding and other problems, I think this is a special circumstance. There is a major problem with our storm water run-off and it needs to be fixed immediately.
Going back to the police officers, I had said in a previous posting that I was unsure how I would vote if I had the opportunity to do so. After careful consideration I would have to vote in the negative. Yes, we certainly need new police officers but at this time we have several highly paid officers who have yet to retire. When they do so, we will have the additional funds to pay for the salary and training of new officers. I know CM Messer sees an immediate need and he is on the "front lines" but we only have so much money and we have to use it wisely.
Additionally there will be an appropriation request from CM Gahan of $75,000 to compensate the recent flood victims. Although some people may say this will just open the door for everyone to request funds for future flooding and other problems, I think this is a special circumstance. There is a major problem with our storm water run-off and it needs to be fixed immediately.
Going back to the police officers, I had said in a previous posting that I was unsure how I would vote if I had the opportunity to do so. After careful consideration I would have to vote in the negative. Yes, we certainly need new police officers but at this time we have several highly paid officers who have yet to retire. When they do so, we will have the additional funds to pay for the salary and training of new officers. I know CM Messer sees an immediate need and he is on the "front lines" but we only have so much money and we have to use it wisely.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
I received an email from Linda Moeller, today. She informed me that Governor Howard Dean has been confirmed as the featured speaker at the JJ Dinner November 12, 2009.
We don't have all of the information yet but Linda said plans are being made. I will post all information as soon as I receive it.
See you on November 12.
Shirley
We don't have all of the information yet but Linda said plans are being made. I will post all information as soon as I receive it.
See you on November 12.
Shirley
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
SITTING ON THE FENCE
I find myself in an unusual position. I am unable to come to a logical opinion about an important matter.
Although I did not attend the City Council meeting on July 6, I have read several other peoples' opinions about the EDIT funds being used to increase the number of police officers.
On one side, we all know the city has a crime problem. The officers say their numbers are too low to adequately enforce the laws and capture the criminals. The Mayor, the Police Chief and some members of the council agree that using EDIT funds is the answer.
On the other side, many citizens and some council members believe that the city cannot afford to use the EDIT funds at this time to hire more officers.
I can see the value of both sides of the argument, hence my inability to make a decision.
When I heard the officers speaking at the last council meeting last month I was upset and disappointed that they talked of moving out of New Albany because our city was not a safe place to raise their families. Isn't that their job? Aren't they supposed to "protect and serve"? Are those just words? They said that if we had more officers on the job New Albany would be safer and our crime level would go way down. Would they move back here if the crime level was reduced? Would using EDIT funds solve the problems?
Then I read on another blog about how we have 1.8 police officers per 1,000. That is considered adequate for a city of this size. Is the problem not the number of officers but that our officers are not as well trained as those of another city? Is the problem "quality" not "quantity"? Personally I don't think this is the case. I have a lot of respect for Chief Crabtree and I think he is doing the best he can with the number of officers he has to work with.
I guess we just need to figure out how to come up with the money to hire new officers, pave our streets, fix our sewers, etc., etc, etc. Maybe we citizens should each pitch in a dollar and buy 37,000 lottery tickets in the name of New Albany.
Although I did not attend the City Council meeting on July 6, I have read several other peoples' opinions about the EDIT funds being used to increase the number of police officers.
On one side, we all know the city has a crime problem. The officers say their numbers are too low to adequately enforce the laws and capture the criminals. The Mayor, the Police Chief and some members of the council agree that using EDIT funds is the answer.
On the other side, many citizens and some council members believe that the city cannot afford to use the EDIT funds at this time to hire more officers.
I can see the value of both sides of the argument, hence my inability to make a decision.
When I heard the officers speaking at the last council meeting last month I was upset and disappointed that they talked of moving out of New Albany because our city was not a safe place to raise their families. Isn't that their job? Aren't they supposed to "protect and serve"? Are those just words? They said that if we had more officers on the job New Albany would be safer and our crime level would go way down. Would they move back here if the crime level was reduced? Would using EDIT funds solve the problems?
Then I read on another blog about how we have 1.8 police officers per 1,000. That is considered adequate for a city of this size. Is the problem not the number of officers but that our officers are not as well trained as those of another city? Is the problem "quality" not "quantity"? Personally I don't think this is the case. I have a lot of respect for Chief Crabtree and I think he is doing the best he can with the number of officers he has to work with.
I guess we just need to figure out how to come up with the money to hire new officers, pave our streets, fix our sewers, etc., etc, etc. Maybe we citizens should each pitch in a dollar and buy 37,000 lottery tickets in the name of New Albany.
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