It's All Going According to the Plan

Hang onto your hats, kids. Come the first of the year, we're gonna see the ACA do some fine imploding. Oh, there are several fronts this will happen on, but lemme share the one that'll get me up close and personal.

I'm for the ACA and what it stands for. I was and still am thrilled that millions of people who were considered 'uninsurable' before are now covered. I understand that this is a big country and some compromise had to be worked into it in order for it to pass.

At the time, I was really squidgy about two things that were compromised away---

-The lack of a public OPTION

-The lack of comprehensive regulations against the insurance companies

The ACA, AS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN, would have had a public option- open enrollment Medicare for all who wanted it. Not FORCED to get it- anyone who wanted it INSTEAD of private insurers. This would have given the private insurance companies true competition instead of handing them a lovely gift of millions of customers who wouldn't pay for insurance unless they were compelled to- say by a tax penalty if they didn't. That part stayed in, and the new customers were handed to the private insurers like the Best Christmas Ever.

But they took out the public option to the wailing of the GOP who said it smacked of socialism, communism, fascism, every ism you can throw at something to make it look bad when it's really an outstandingly good idea. Ya- both parties now work for their corporate owners, but the GOP is hands-down much more open and serious about it. The insurance companies didn't WANT true competition, and certainly not from MEDICARE, which is the BIGGEST INSURER IN THE NATION and runs on a lean 4% margin instead of their cushy and profitable 35%. Because while Medicare is not a BUSINESS, they are- it's their job to make money for their investors and stock holders and to do that you have- large margins and profits which are made when you- take in way more than you pay out which happens when- you raise premiums and deny claims- which they do ALL THE TIME- nothing personal- it's just BUSINESS.

This is why something like people's lives should NEVER be at the mercy of the free market. Ever. Nothing personal- it's just business.

Now, there WERE some regulations that stayed intact and they have been very good for people- millions of people.

- you cannot be denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions. (You can, however, be charged out the ass for it)

- you can stay on your parents' insurance till you're 26 (as long as you're also in college, which is a whole NUTHER huge expense)

- insurance companies MUST spend 80% of the premiums you pay them on your actual medical care or refund the difference. We actually do get back a check from BCBS every year in the neighborhood of about $30. WHEEEEEEE doggies.

No regulations against the insurance companies becoming monolithic giants who would corner individual markets. No regulations against how high premiums could go. Those were gutted out of there because you cannot hamper and hobble the free market- just give them all those new customers and they'll do the right thing by them. *wink wink*

When the healthcare.gov marketplace opened up, Texas had three different insurers you could choose from.

***Because remember, kids- there's no such thing as 'Obamacare insurance'. You can't buy Obamacare brand insurance any more than you can buy a Travelocity brand hotel room. You go to to Healthcare.gov and choose from PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES- Blue Cross, Humana, Aetna...like you go to Travelocity and choose from Marriott, Motel 6 or LaQuinta.

Last year there were two in Texas and this year? One. Blue Cross has the entire Texas market for individuals buying off the marketplace. That's not a marketplace- it's a corner on the market.

So individuals can 'choose' from one provider.

Also new this year---individual plans do NOT include any PPO's. None. Zip. Zero.

Also new this year---Blue Cross is discontinuing some individual plans already in existence and those people have to choose from one of the marketplace HMO's. Unsurprisingly- the discontinued plans are PPO's. Unsurprisingly- they are targeting the people most likely to, yanno, use insurance.

Alec's individual plan? Good to go- he can keep his PPO.

Myself and a friend of mine? Discontinued. Choose a new HMO.

Alec is young, male, and healthy. I'm over 55 and female and my friend is female in 'child-bearing years'. Not difficult to figure that out.

The reason given is that all the new people they were FORCED to take have driven up costs and they just can't afford to, you know, provide health care for people anymore the way they had been doing. Which is ridiculous considering every national health care company logged RECORD PROFITS LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF ALL THE NEW HEALTHY PEOPLE WHO SIGNED UP AND WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY COVERING THE COSTS OF THE PRE-EXISTING CROWD AND THEN SOME.

So it's bullshit. They are raising premiums and cutting plans just because they can- just because it's good for their bottom line and that's not because they are evil, selfish rat bastard weasels, it's because we TRUSTED PRIVATE BUSINESS TO TAKE CARE OF PUBLIC INTERESTS, and it's their job---by definition---to make money.

It's a business' job to take in more than they pay out. Period. What that looks like in this case, in real life, is that thousands of people can no longer access places like MD Anderson, who will be out of network for them.

Every single person of a 'risk group' age who buys insurance individually will no longer be able to choose their doctor and that ain't the fault of 'Obamacare'- that's the dictate from your precious PRIVATE INSURERS.

If you are covered by a LARGE business' insurance plan---you can still have a PPO. If you're on Medicare or Medicaid---you're golden anywhere.

So Alec, Ward and Joe (who has both Medicare and VA) are good. If I get anything 'bad' between now and when I turn 62 and can access Medicare, I'm screwed.

So...

When the ACA implodes after the first of the year, you'll hear it broadcast far, wide and loud from the Right that 'THEY KNEW IT- THEY'VE BEEN WARNING US- THEY SHOULD'VE BEEN ALLOWED TO OVERTURN IT AND NOW LOOKIT THE BIG OL' MESS IT IS AND SEE HOW RIGHT THEY WERE!'

Just remember, it was THEM who made damn sure it would never work.

It was the GOP governors in EVERY RED STATE that made damn sure their own constituents suffered by rejecting the Medicaid expansion that would have covered anyone not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but not rich enough to pay the outrageous private insurance company premiums.

We live in a corporatocracy, folks. They're not people and they don't give a rat's ass about individuals.

People die. Corporations don't die- they change leadership and go on. And on. And on.

We're being told that the insurance companies 'have to' cut plans because there are too many sick people they were forced to take care of. That's bullshit.

We're being told that social security and every single social safety net program will have to be cut or eliminated because our deficit is too high and they're unsustainable. That's bullshit.

We're being told we need 'austerity' to bring our country back to greatness. That's true.

The austerity should NOT be coming from the bottom, though- taking from those (US, people- they're talking about US) who can ill-afford to lose more, taken under the guise of , "Think of your children and grandchildren- sure, you'll feel the pinch a little, but it's going to be so much better for THEM!" THAT'S BULLSHIT. The only ones, ONLY ONES that'll be better for is those at the top.

Trickle down is a scam of the highest order.

HAS ANYONE YET SEEN ONE DAMN DROP OF IT??? No. And you won't.

They'll keep feinting throwing the ball and we keep running after it eagerly, joyfully, tongues lolling, looking confused while they laugh and bank our money. Over and over and over again.

No more.

I will NOT let them kill me, or my husband, or my son. Fuck that.

I'm not being dramatic- hundreds of thousands of people die in the US every year of TREATABLE THINGS. No one has to round us up and execute us. All they have to do is deny us access to health care.

If a Republican, ANY REPUBLICAN gains the presidency, we WILL see the dismantling of every social program including Social Security and Medicare. If that happens, my family will be gone. I've never stated or thought of leaving this country of my birth. I love America. I love my home with a fierce and abiding fervor. I love the IDEA of America as it can be.

But I will not let it kill us. Will not.

Oh, I know it'll look like we're 'just like' those Republicans who hollered, "If that Obama gets elected I'm OUTTA HERE! This ain't MY idea of America!!!" but it won't be anything like that at all. They were pissed that a black man had the balls to live in the White House. I'll be pissed that my husband won't be able to get the medical care he needs to stay alive and my son will be ripe for their fucking cannon fodder and I will not let either thing happen.

America needs to get its collective head out of its ass. Stop being so 'exceptionally' proud and ignorant and look around. We are increasingly violent at our own hands- not some foreign enemy that's mostly ginned up fear. And since when is it American to be so damn AFRAID? Our income disparity in this country is worse than in any other industrialized nation, bar none and we're celebrating that by giving those at the top our government, our money, our lives (both in our willingness to work for low pay in awful conditions for long hours thanks to Right to Work laws, and our willingness to accept less and less in the way of health care access, thanks to the flaws in the ACA) and happily doing so because 'some day, I could be rich, too!'

We need to stop being so stupid. Our government isn't working for us and that's not because it's 'too big' or 'Obama's a tyrant who shreds the constitution!'

NAME ME ONE THING HE'S DONE THAT'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL. ONE. NAME ME ONE THING THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS DONE THAT KILLS ANYONE OR HINDERS YOUR FREEDOM TO PURCHASE STUFF THAT CAN KILL OTHER PEOPLE. ONE.

Helpful hint---GETTING GAY MARRIED HASN'T KILLED ANYONE YET.

If our government isn't working anymore, it's because it's being run by those who don't care about it working for the masses (that's us). We don't need to 'take it back!' from the libruls/libtards/any other clever ignorant hate-mongering name for those currently in charge---we need to take it back from the corporations and banks who OWN IT.

The ACA is imploding by design. Not the original design, or the design that SHOULD HAVE passed- design by the corporate entities (that's the private insurance companies) who owned the politicians who hacked it to pieces and are now fixin' to get even richer off of the suffering and death of Americans.

And anyone who says, "Well, that's the way it is now and there's nothing I can do about it" can just kiss my ass and get out of the way.

Because I don't WANT to move, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure I don't have to in order to keep my family alive.

What the Hell is Wrong With People?

So I was driving home today.

We'd just spent 4 of the last 5 days at MD Anderson for tests and appointments and whatnot. Not consecutively- because of how the appointments had to fall we had a few on Monday, and one on Thursday, so we drove down Sunday and came home late Monday and drove down again yesterday and home today. Because it was cheaper to drive it twice than pay for an additional 2 nights in the hotel.

Fiscally sensible, emotionally and physically suicidal.

Therefore, I was fucking exhausted really tired when we left the hospital about 1pm today, so I turned on talk radio to keep me awake till we were halfway home and Ward and I would switch driving.

Now, we don't have any of that new-fangled satellite radio in the car, so we have to depend on AM stations.

There is no such thing as a liberal radio show on the AM stations. None. You gotcher Rush and yer Sean and yer Dr. Laura's and yer bible thumpers. That's the whole show.

Must be that Liberal-controlled media we're always hearing about...

Rush was on.

Now, I admit I listened to Rush years ago when I was a Republican, and even then Rush was ridiculous. My best friend and I would listen every day at work and it was basically a drinking game using whatever 'button-pushing' word he was into that week.

It was a very casual workplace.

Rush is still using 'button-pushing' words- today's was "Regime". As in "the Obama Regime". He used it a minimum of every five minutes. Just darling.

But that wasn't the highlight of the show.

The highlight was a caller who suggested that all the Dittoheads inundate the healthcare website and phone lines...just to mess them up even farther. Because it would be a complete hoot to make sure that no one who is really looking for health insurance options to get through...to prove that Obamacare is a clusterfuck that can't even get beyond the initial phase.

Well, Rush admitted that as fun as that would be, it was unnecessary because it's probably being messed up on purpose to deceive the American people about how awful Obamacare will really be, so that it'll be too late by the time we all realize it, blah blah blah de blah.

But I wasn't really listening to that part.

Oh, ya- because it was all bullshit and smoke and mirrors and the ever-dependable Rush et al ploy of stating the exact opposite of the truth and then saying "Trust me!" But that's not what really upset me- I'm used to all that crap.

Maybe it was because we'd just spent days in the bowels of the cancer hospital...again.

Maybe it was because we've had over a decade of American Healthcare dictating our family life.

But the idea that anyone would think it would be 'a hoot' and justifiable; nay- patriotic behavior to willfully gum up the lines when there are literally millions of Americans who NEED medical care in a very real life or death way?

That's incomprehensible and reprehensible to me.

This sort of thing proves that conservatives are absolutely becoming callous and heartless bastards.

If this were a one-time deal, it would be bad enough but something that could be excused as 'an isolated incident'.

But it's not. It's rampant and pervasive and horrifying.

When discussing healthcare in this country with conservatives over the last decade, the not-so-subtle and important difference is this- if anyone in their families were to need medical care, I'd be right there demanding that they get it- offering to pay for it through higher taxes if necessary. Because it's a human right.

But reverse the scenario? They are very sorry, but will regretfully stand by while my family dies.

That's not an America I'll settle for.

I guess I'm just a shitty patriot.

To read more about my family's decade-plus in the healthcare system- with insurance, without insurance and on Medicare- please read my journal, "Cancerdance- a love story", available signed from me, or on Kindle or Nook. Full of my sunny disposition and colorful language, it's got the best real-life hero ever born as the main character- my knight in shining armor, my strength, my anchor- my husband.

http://www.sheri-dixon.com/cancer.html

Hey, Look! A Scary Obamacare Article!

There's an article that's going viral out there- it's right here. It's called "100 Unintended Consequences of Obamacare" and it's pretty scary...all the horrible things that will be happening once the ACA (also known as Obamacare...because that's a lot more threatening-sounding, especially if you're still tweaked out because our president is, yanno, black)takes effect.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359861/100-unintended-consequences-obamacare-andrew-johnson


Let's look at some of these and try to ascertain who is REALLY pulling the rug out from under the common folks.

1. IBM
Earlier this month, the computer giant, once famed for its paternalism, announced it would remove 110,000 of its Medicare-eligible retirees from the company’s health insurance and give them subsidies to purchase coverage through the Obamacare exchanges. Retirees fear that they will not get the level of coverage they are used to, and that the options will be bewildering.

Wow. That's really confusing for those employees. Virginia "Ginny" Raffity is the CEO of IBM. Her salary alone was $16 Million last year. Think she's worried? Think they could've afforded to KEEP THE DAMN INSURANCE THEY HAD???

3. UPS
Fifteen thousand employees’ spouses will no longer be able to use UPS’s health-care plan because they have access to coverage elsewhere. The “costs associated with the Affordable Care Act have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost,” the delivery giant said in a company memo. The move is expected to save the company $60 million next year.

UPS's net profit for 2012 was $829 Million. That's net. After all the bills are paid. Net. So, ya. Seriously?

4. Caterpillar Inc.
In the law’s first year, the machinery manufacturer estimated before its passage, Obamacare would add more than $100 million in health-care costs. “We can ill afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors,” a Caterpillar executive wrote lawmakers, saying that the law would not meet the goal of providing good, inexpensive health care for all Americans.

I don't know where to start with this- the fact that none of the ACA will affect big businesses till 2015 so they have plenty of time to adjust to it, or the fact that the reason it may 'place them at a disadvantage versus our global competitors' is that most of those other countries HAVE SOCIALIZED NATIONAL HEALTH CARE.

6. Stryker Corp.
Stryker Corp., a Michigan medical-device manufacturer, laid off about 1,000 employees earlier this year due to the Affordable Care Act’s 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices. The company estimated that the tax would cost it approximately $100 million next year. “Stryker remains significantly concerned with the upcoming medical device excise tax and its negative impact on jobs and innovation and will continue to work with Congress to try to repeal the tax,” said the company’s CEO.


Poor little Stryker. Their net income was only $1.27 BILLION. There are a thousand millions in a billion, so 10% of their NET profits will be eat up by the tax. Boo-fucking-hoo. Especially since just last week Stryker bought one of their competitors- Mako Surgical Devices for $1.65 Billion.

9. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
One of the world’s best-known hospitals announced in September that it would slash jobs and up to 6 percent of its annual $6 billion budget in anticipation of costs associated with Obamacare’s implementation. A spokeswoman for the clinic announced that approximately $330 million would be cut, but she did not say how many of the 44,000 employees the clinic would let go. The Cleveland Clinic is Cleveland’s largest employer and the second-largest employer in Ohio.

SLASH jobs! CUT the budget! Oh, details? We don't have any details. We were just told to say OBAMACARE BAD. And please don't notice that according to Billian's Health Data, "Cleveland Clinic (Ohio) is the highest grossing U.S. hospital by net patient revenue, according to the latest CMS cost report data analyzed." Yep. They're really hurting, ya'll.

16. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, New Hampshire
The state’s only insurer approved to offer plans on the health-insurance exchanges in New Hampshire has cut the number of hospitals that will participate in the plan from 26 to 14 in order to reach “affordable premium levels,” according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Really. So they're only letting the residents of New Hampshire go to the cheap hospitals. They must be a very small company that needs to watch costs. Oh, wait-they are part of Wellpoint Group, whose net profits were $2.84 Billion last year. Think they could let the people of New Hampshire go to any damn hospital they want to?

(Insert a lot of other health care companies and schools here- all vowing to cut hours down to less than considered 'full-time' in order to skate by the new mandate...the mandate to actually provide benefits for the people who work for you for (especially in these cases) little pay and who are trusted with the care of the most vulnerable citizens. So what this is really about is not "OH NOES- we are going to be broke if we have to provide for people who give us (in most cases) more than 40 hours of their lives every week taking care of others!" Actually- that is exactly what it's about- trying to work the system to get around doing the right thing for your employees and still protect their own cushy salaries and bonuses bottom line. Which is a total dick move.)

Now look at the restaurants, who are doing the exact same thing. Big chain restaurants, too- not mom and pop places. We're talking Applebees, Starbucks, Burger King- these are NOT small businesses. McDonald's opines that they HAVE to cut hours and avoid supplying health care because the ACA would otherwise cost them $420 Million per year. Yanno, they sell over 550 million Big Macs every year. Raise the cost of a Big Mac 75 cents and do the right thing, you assholes.

And finally, lets look at 'small businesses'...like this one (and it's actually listed under the 'Small Local Business' category- go look)-

88. AAA Parking, Georgia
Next year, AAA Parking will move half of its 500 full-time hourly employees (out of a work force of 1,600) to part-time employment. “Our executive team has spent extensive time evaluating the impact of this mandate, and the financial impact for AAA Parking is dramatic,” a company memo explained.

Truly? A company with *1,600 employees* is a small business? Puh-leeze.

The truth is that a business with less than 50 employees will not be affected...AT ALL.

What's my point, other than showing that Google is your friend and all you have to do is LOOK SOMETHING UP if it sounds suspect? That even an old lady with bifocals and a barely-finished-high-school diploma can find answers and shit in under a minute with very little effort?

Well, ya. That is the point.

Don't take anything at face value. Look shit up. Don't take numbers out of context- there are some big numbers up there that look really prohibitive till you set them beside the ones that matter- the net incomes and CEO salaries and sheer amount of sales per business.

Perspective. Get some, ya'll.