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columbus represent

Friday, September 29, 2006

Not to Add to an Already Overwhelming Day...

but WHY oh WHY did Kaisernetwork.org have to be such a bummer today?

Thursday, September 28, 2006

If Guatemala Can Do It, So Can We: The Link Btwn Last Two Posts

The campaign also received a boost in 2004 when the newly elected president, Óscar Berger, publicly apologized to the victims of wartime atrocities on behalf of the government. He has established a commission to compensate them as well as help fund some of the forensic work this year.
 
Also from the above article.

Opinion Piece on Victims of War

The Anonymous Casualties of War
U.S. Government Needs to Disclose Civilian Casualties of War

OPINION By JENNIFER ABRAHMSON
Sept. 26, 2006 — As the number of casualties mounts daily, we all mourn the tragic losses of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dispassionate statistics represent fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives in support of the U.S. mission.

The statistics on Iraqi civilian violent deaths released last week by the United Nations are equally horrifying and overwhelming.

More than 3,000 innocent people — their names and histories unknown to us — were killed in August alone.

The British Web site, Iraq Body Count, estimates that as many as 48,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

Violence in Afghanistan, where the death toll is murky at best, is resurging.

Most of these deaths have been at the hands of the insurgency in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan — but not all.

Many Americans are left feeling helpless when they hear news of the latest macabre figures.

I can't help but think of Marla Ruzicka, the 28-year-old human rights advocate who dedicated her life to helping the surviving family members of innocent men, women and children caught in U.S. crossfire on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The door-to-door civilian casualty surveys she conducted in the early phases of both wars led to groundbreaking legislation worth $45 million in assistance for civilian victims of war.

Inspiring, yes. Enough, not nearly.

Marla pushed on, insisting that the Pentagon release records on the dead, wounded and dispossessed.

With accurate information, she argued, the United States, along with humanitarian organizations, could better assist civilians accidentally harmed in the lethal crossfire.

Time and again, she was told that no such records existed.

In April of last year, Marla finally received the most promising evidence supporting her deeply held belief that a mountain of official civilian casualty statistics was being shrouded by the fog of war.

Marla had befriended a high-ranking U.S. military official in Iraq who disclosed to her that 29 civilians had been killed by small-arms fire in skirmishes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Baghdad during a specific narrow window of time.

The figures were limited in their geography and time frame, making them useless as a statistical indicator, but they did achieve one thing of fundamentally critical importance — they proved that the U.S. military in Iraq was keeping its own body count.

A few days later, Marla's quest to unearth more extensive data was brutally cut short when a suicide bomber ended her life on Baghdad's Airport Road.

In the nearly 1½ years since her death, calls for the public release of civilian casualty records have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Congress is still waiting for a report on the Pentagon's procedures for recording civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is months overdue.

Ensuring that information about civilian casualties is systematically collected and maintained would help create the best possible record.

Then, it must be released to the public so the government and humanitarian organizations can identify and reach victims in need of assistance.

Furthermore, the Pentagon must establish a more effective civilian casualty compensation claims process, using the data at its disposal.

The one operating today in Baghdad relies on incomplete information and is applied inconsistently.

It can be easier for an Iraqi to obtain compensation for a car destroyed by a U.S. tank than for a dead child.

More accurate military records of civilian casualties would not only enable us to help grieving families rebuild their lives, it would also mitigate anger and resentment toward the United States, which is, at least in part, fueling the insurgency in Iraq.

Coming clean on civilian casualty data would not only help right the wrongs of the past, it would also help to prevent accidental death — and fury — in the future.

To its credit, the U.S. military strives to minimize civilian casualties.

Senior military officials earlier this year announced that American commanders were taking steps to decrease the chance of violent confrontations between troops and civilians during daily patrols.

Mitigating and preventing future mistakes would be much more effective with comprehensive, public records.

Equipped with little more than determination and a belief in moral responsibility, Marla gave a voice to the voiceless by collecting as much information as she could on civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is time for the Pentagon to pick up where Marla — whose own voice was tragically silenced — left off.


Jennifer Abrahamson is an author and freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. She has also worked for the United Nations in Africa and Afghanistan, which is where she first met Marla Ruzicka in 2002. Abrahamson and Ruzicka began collaborating on "Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story" only months before Marla was killed by an IED in Iraq.

A Painful Past Meets a Painful Present; and a Request

Below is a clip of a story for the Washington Post. I won't repost the entire article here, but do suggest reading it.

This is what I "worked" on, on and off, from 1997-2003 which cumulated in my thesis (yes, I know, I graduated in 99 but you know us Friends Worlders). For any tech savvy readers out there, I would like to find a way to put my thesis online for anyone to read who might be studying this subject or a similar one. I am at a loss of where to begin, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Exhuming the Past In a Painful Quest
Guatemalan Victims' Families Seek Closure, Justice

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 28, 2006; Page A01

NEBAJ, Guatemala -- A decade after the conclusion of the long civil war that ravaged this Central American nation, Guatemalans are literally trying to dig up their past.

Spurred by a surge of requests from victims' families this year, dozens of forensic anthropologists have been fanning out across the countryside to search for remains of the 200,000 people -- most of them Mayan Indian civilians -- who were killed or abducted during the 36-year conflict.

Many were massacred by military forces and dumped into mass graves. Others were buried hurriedly in unmarked, secret locations by relatives anxious to avoid rampaging troops.

About 40,000 victims simply disappeared after being seized by government operatives.

Nearly every day brings another grisly discovery: skulls of toddlers executed with gunshots to the head; corpses of young men whose necks are still looped with the garrotes used to strangle them. Nearly every week brings another funeral packed with weeping relatives: once-youthful widows now wrinkled and gray, children long since grown to adulthood.

Meanwhile, in a cavernous, damp warehouse in Guatemala's capital, investigators wearing protective masks and surgical gloves are combing through piles upon piles of mildewed documents from a recently discovered secret police archive, hunting for clues to the fate of the disappeared.

The current effort is hardly the first probe of wartime atrocities since peace accords ended the conflict in 1996. But its scope and pace are unprecedented in a country where those responsible have enjoyed near impunity. Only two military officials have been imprisoned for war crimes, according to human rights activists, despite findings by a U.N. commission that government and allied paramilitary forces committed nearly all of the atrocities.

Monday, September 25, 2006

As We Spiral Away From Democracy....

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Our rights to vote have been slowly siphoned away from us, and we as a nation on a whole seem really blase about it.  Voting schmoting seems to be a prevailing attitude.  So why be slow and sneaky about it anymore? well, the US House isn't. What will we do about this? 

SURVEY INDICATES HOUSE BILL COULD DENY VOTING RIGHTS TO MILLIONS OF U.S. CITIZENS: Low-Income, African American, and Rural Voters at Special Risk
By Robert Greenstein, Leighton Ku, and Stacy Dean
  On September 20 the House passed a bill (H.R. 4844) that would, starting in 2010, effectively deny the vote to any U.S. citizen who cannot produce a passport or birth certificate (or proof of naturalization). Although the bill's supporters present it as a measure intended to prevent non-citizens from voting, the bill's main impact will be on U.S. citizens themselves.

The national survey, conducted in January 2006 by Opinion Research Corporation and sponsored by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, finds that approximately 11 million citizens currently lack the required documents. A substantial number could have difficulty obtaining or affording them. The survey also indicates that the bill would affect certain groups disproportionately — including people with low incomes, African Americans, the elderly, people without a high school diploma, rural residents, and residents of the South and Midwest. Substantial numbers of these and other citizens could potentially be disenfranchised by the bill.

http://www.cbpp.org/9-22-06id.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/9-22-06id.pdf 4pp.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Per Reader's Request

I recently received a request from a reader to ponder the recent CDC suggestion that HIV/AIDS testing be done on a routine basis. This opens a huge can of worms, and I will briefly touch on a few of those topics here. I would like to say off the bat though that I think the motivation behind these suggested guidelines is good, not sinister. I simply think that many docs, and many researchers, and CDC people simply don't understand the true problem of un/underinsurance in this country.

The first question this raises is: what happens after the test? I've seen news articles talk about the emotional impact these test results might have on unprepared patients. But what I haven't seen talked about is the question of what will happen to people who are uninsured at the time that the test is taken, and the diagnosis given. People transition between jobs, can't afford the COBRA, can't afford their employer sponsored coverage, aren't offered employer sponsored coverage, don't think they need coverage, are an independent contractor and can't afford or are ineligible for an individual coverage policy, are ineligible for Medicaid, don't know about Medicaid/Medicare, are in the process of becoming approved for it, or in the process of aging out of it if you are a child, especially if you are a foster child. What I mean to say is that there are any number of reasons that 48 million plus individuals in this country are uninsured for a year or more (that # jumps to the 70 millions when looking at if a person has been uninsured for any period of time during that year). The article that I link to above says that "high-risk" individuals who come in through the urgent care or ER should be tested 2 times a year. If you are in that category and are using an urgent care or ER, you are likely uninsured.

And then there is the fact that we are witnessing the erosion of employer sponsored coverage right before our eyes, yet no safety net, no insurance product is keeping pace with this erosion. As it continues to erode, more and more people will fall through those cracks and will for some period of time at least, become uninsured. It is inevitable. It's not just a matter of being high risk, or low income or anything. This is a problem that is touching us all.

There are certain programs that will pay for HIV/AIDS treatment for uninsured individuals, but funding is limited, and what will happen if all of a sudden there are a large number of these individuals trying to tap into that pool of money? In DC they have been doing massive testing lately, and the results show something like 3% of those tested are coming back with positive results. That's something like 2x the national rate (or the assumed national rate).

And then there are those who are insured, and their insurance companies. I recently read (don't remember where) an article about an insurance company trying to retroactively deny coverage to a little girl who was found to have a tumor. This girl's mom had filled out the paperwork to sign her up for insurance, and then took her in for a routine physical, where they found the tumor on her jaw. The insurance Co. claims that the woman lied on the paperwork because she knew that her daughter had a bump on her jaw and didn't include that as a preexisting condition, in which case they would have denied her coverage. But she didn't put it down as a preexisting condition, because it wasn't. It hadn't been diagnosed by any doctor. This woman had no idea that her daughter had a tumor and that it would cost $60,000 in medical bills.

Paul Krugman from the New York Times recently did an Opinion piece (click here for a summary) on the issue of insurance companies trying to not only deny coverage to people because of preexisting conditions, but now are pulling this retroactive BS in denying people's claims.

More health insurers "are finding ways to yank your insurance when you get sick," but the industry continues "growing rapidly," in part by "working harder than ever at identifying people who really need medical care and ensuring that they don't get it," columnist Paul Krugman writes in a New York Times opinion piece. In the past, Krugman writes, health insurers "mainly concentrated on screening out applicants likely to get sick," but today they have begun "devoting a lot of effort to finding pretexts for revoking insurance after they've already granted it," often by "claiming that they weren't notified about some pre-existing condition, even if the insured wasn't aware of that condition when he or she bought the policy."
It's disgusting. This trend, when coupled with the overall erosion of health care coverage, the growing ranks of the uninsured, and the idea to test every person in the country for HIV/AIDS is a potentially volatile and dangerous mix.

For Those Interested

This is an interview with Omid Safi that is cut upt into various topics about 2.5 minutes each, and pretty much sums up what I believe. What is God? What is mysticism? What is good religion? The problem of evil.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Holy Crap!

This is an ad that is running on Black radio stations in Ohio.
Script: National Black Republican Association
60-Second Radio Spot
Paid for by the Black Republican Freedom Fund, an
NBRA 527 affiliate
Not authorized by any candidate or political committee

Pam: Dr. King was a real man.

Tina: You know . . he was a Republican.

Pam: Dr. King, a Republican? Really?

Tina: Democrats passed those Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan.

Pam: The Klan . . . White hoods and sheets?!

Tina: Democrats fought ALL Civil Rights Legislation from the 1860's to the 1960's. Democrats released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks.
 
Pam: Seriously!

Tina: And the Dixiecrats? Remained Democrats and vowed to vote for a yellow dog, before a Republican. Republicans freed us from slavery and put our right to vote in the Constitution.

Pam: What?

Tina: Republicans started the NAACP, affirmative action and the HBCU's.

Pam: Democrats have bamboozled blacks.

Tina: Democrats blocked the minimum wage passed by Republicans. Over 200 billion dollars have been spent on education, healthcare and job training since President Bush took office.

Pam: So, Democrats want to keep us POOR and voting ONLY Democrat.

Tina: Democrats want us to accept same-sex marriages; teen abortions without a parent's consent and suing the Boy Scouts for saying "God" in their pledge.

Pam: We NEED to THINK! and vote OUR own values.

Tina: Exactly... Democrats have talked the talk, but Republicans have walked the walk.

Pam: I hear ya girl. It time for us to "DO" the walk.

 

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Third Awakening?

From the Washington Post:
 
 
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."
 
Why do I all of a sudden feel less safe?

 

Depends on If you Actually Consume Health Care

The GAO recently released a report on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), or as our GOP friends like to call it: "consumer driven" health care. " Consumer-Directed Health Plans: Early Enrollee Experiences with Health Savings Accounts and Eligible Health Plans," The report in part examines the satisfaction of users of HSAs.  According to the analysis given by Kaiser, most people using HSAs would not recommend the plans to:

individuals who use maintenance medications, those with chronic conditions, those with children or to those who might not have the money to meet the high deductible associated with HSAs 
In other words, most of the U.S. and most regular "consumers" of health care services. I consider it very important that I, as a consumer of health care services, have a choice and partial direction in the course of my treatments, but I would get my ass served to me if I actually participated in one of these things. I would be bankrupt! So I guess consumer driven health care only works for those who aren't doing a bunch of consuming.
(or anyone with kids)
(or anyone middle class or poor)

I Would Argue

The Washington Post ran an article on 9/12 entitled President Tries to Win Over a War-Weary Nation. I bristle a little at this. In my opinion, we aren't war weary, we are ADD. Most Americans aren't actually impacted by this war, nor do they really truly grasp what it would mean if we were war weary. I guess you could say we are weary of hearing about it. But beyond that, I think we are living in ignorant bliss.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Does Anyone Else Get the Feeling....

That we are living in WWII Germany, and sitting on our hands like most Germans did?

Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says
After Tip From Ally, U.S. Sent Muslim to Syria for Questioning

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A01

TORONTO, Sept. 18 -- Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday

And I Quote

General standards of human rights apply to the people of all countries because, regardless of their cultural background, all humans share an inherent yearning for freedom, equality and dignity. Democracy and respect for fundamental human rights are as important to Africans and Asians as they are to Europeans and Americans.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Harvard International Review," 1995

Monday, September 18, 2006

War Fucking Sucks

That's about all I can muster.........

New Blog Link

Hey ya'll, you might have noticed that I added a blog onto my list of cool blogs. It's a health care policy blog mainly, and I ended up finding it because we were both linked to a Washington Post article about the same subject. Then I realized, just about any health policy stuff that I wanted to write about, he had already done so, and in a more clear way than I could. So in order to ease my guilt of the piles of articles/opinion pieces/new happenings around health care that are accumulating in my in box to blog about, I thought I would just link to his blog instead. Let the guilt go! So check it out, it's called Stayin' Alive. Not that I won't stop my ranting and raving, but I just won't feel as guilty if and when I don't have the gumption in me to do it.

One More Reason Why Blackwell Has His Head Up His Ass

Study Says Individual Insurance Too Costly

Eighty-nine percent of health-coverage shoppers can't afford policies or are rejected.

By Lisa Girion, Times Staff Writer


Individual health insurance — often touted as an alternative to employer-based group coverage — may be an option for the healthiest and wealthiest. But a study due out today suggests that the poor and sick need not apply. The overwhelming majority — 89% — of working-age adults who shopped for health coverage in the individual market over the last three years were rejected for health reasons or found it too expensive, according to the study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that sponsors independent research on health and social issues…

A Chance to Bring Attention to Innocent Victims of War

SIMON SPOTLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Simon & Schuster
Contact: Betsy DeJesu, Senior Publicist
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

212/698-7243 | Elizabeth.DeJesu@simonandschuster.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The against-all-odds story of how a 28-year-old woman
from California took on the US government, changed
thousands of lives, and made the ultimate sacrifice.

SWEET RELIEF:
The Marla Ruzicka Story

by Jennifer Abrahamson

“The only solace in her death is that her story has
reached further. A lot of young women are inspired by
it. I wish more people had heard about her while she
was here.”
-- Jennifer Abrahamson

“In all the years I have lived, I do not know too many
people who have made an impact the way [Marla] has in
those twenty-eight short years.”
--Senator Barbara Boxer

“I count [Marla] among my heroes…”
--Sean Penn

Marla Ruzicka wanted to change the world, and she
succeeded. A free spirit who grew up in an idyllic
small California town, Marla became an activist at an
early age, and she never stopped fighting. Underneath
her bubbly, blonde appearance – this was a girl who
once rollerbladed down the halls of Congress -- Marla
was a savvy political operator, a war-time Mother
Theresa meets Erin Brokovich, who sacrificed her life
to give a voice to the invisible victims of war in
Iraq and Afghanistan. SWEET RELIEF: The Marla Ruzicka
Story, written by journalist Jennifer Abrahamson,
tells the unforgettable journey of an all-American
girl on her way to becoming a hero.


In SWEET RELIEF, Abrahamson recounts Marla’s quest to
improve the lives of the less fortunate. Marla’s
journey starts in the San Francisco area as a
grassroots activist, through her travels to Latin
America and Africa, and finally ends in the war zones
of Kabul and Baghdad.

Yet, despite her sunny demeanor, bright California
good looks, and fierce ambition, Marla was struggling
with her own personal demons. While everyone thought
Marla was on top of the world, she was in fact a
diagnosed manic-depressive who battled an eating
disorder, and a string of peaks and valleys in her
love life.

Through it all, Marla stayed dedicated to her work, as
she worked tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for
the cause closest to her heart -- the U.S. government
compensation for the civilian victims of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eventually, Marla was able to achieve her goal; she
had a large hand in winning millions of dollars from
the U.S. government to support her cause. This was the
first time in history that the U.S. government had
made a legislative effort to allocate funds to provide
reconstruction assistance to civilians who had been
directly harmed by U.S. warfare. Unfortunately, Marla
would not be able to see the long-term effects of her
contributions. In April 2005 Marla was killed by a
suicide bomber on the infamous Airport Road in Iraq.
She was likely on her way to assist a family in need.
She was only twenty-eight years old.

Weeks later, President Bush officially re-named the
fund that Marla’s work had inspired The Marla Ruzicka
Fund, with almost $50 million currently available to
assist victims of U.S. warfare in Iraq and
Afghanistan. However, more than any amount of money,
it is Marla’s life story – one of unflagging love,
hope, courage, and determination – that may truly help
change the world some day.

As Jennifer Abrahamson writes, “When Marla was a
budding activist volunteering for Global Exchange, she
seized on an idea to write a ‘how-to’ handbook for
other young people who wanted to make a difference
with their lives. Marla, of course, was too busy
actually making a difference to see it through. In
writing SWEET RELIEF, I’ve come to realize that
Marla’s life is that handbook.”

About the author:
Jennifer Abrahamson was born and raised in the San
Francisco Bay Area. She has written for Slate, Salon,
Elle, and other media, and worked as a humanitarian
spokesperson for the United Nations in Africa. A job
with t he UN World Food Program took Jennifer to
Afghanistan, where she first met Marla Ruzicka in
2002. They began collaborating on this book just
before Marla lost her life. Jennifer lives in
Brooklyn, New York.

About the movie:
The movie version of SWEET RELIEF is in
pre-production, with Paramount/MTV Films producing and
Kirsten Dunst attached to portray Marla.

Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story
Jennifer Abrahamson
September 26, 2006 | $24.95 | 272 pages |
1-4169-1778-0/978-1-4169-1778-6

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Hells Yeah

"I don't think that the positions that are advanced by Ken represent
the mainstream of the Republican Party," said Saxbe, once a Republican
state attorney general candidate. "I don't think any right-thinking
Republican believes that people who are supporting choice are
murderers or that people who support gay rights or who are gay are
somehow ill-equipped to enjoy the privileges of citizenry in this
state."

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

In Case You Haven't Had Your Daily Vomitfest Yet

Ken Blackwell (Ohio's Secretary of State) really knocked my socks off with his plan to "Cover all Ohioans", but after a moment of reflection, my socks are firmly back on. Duh, just more Republican double speak here. In their minds, the problem with the uninsured is that they just don't want to be insured and its up to the government to force them to take care of themselves. Which last time I checked, didn't seem to be a very GOP take on life.

My take on it is that this is his way of running the poor and (middle class) out of town. Pass an unfunded mandate and watch them flee. But in reality, what is going to end up happening is the same thing that happens with car insurance. The rates of insurance/uninsurance vary from state to state. The rates of uninsurance for cars (mandatory) and health insurance are about on par with each other by state. The percentages rise and fall based on, duh, the level of poverty for that state. The higher the % of people making it on poverty wages goes hand in hand with the uninsurance rate.

Of course there are big differences with car and health insurance. Driving a car is not mandatory. It makes life a hell of a lot easier, but you can live and not drive a car. Getting sick is not an option, at least not for any human being. Secondly, it is much easier to identify someone without car insurance. You get pulled over, and asked for proof of it. When you renew your license plates, you are asked for that same proof. How is Blackwell planning on making this mandatory health insurance thing work? How would one even go about enforcing such a thing? I mean with car insurance, you have jobs (police, BMV agents) that take on the responsibility of checking that as a part of their job. Who will take on the role of verifying proof of health insurance? Doctors? And what kind of penalties would he suggest imposing on already poor sick people who are looking for medical treatment?

And then there is the insidious comparison with Massachusetts who has for DECADES been working on health reform efforts, as well as expanding Medicaid, in order to lower the # of uninsured people in their state. The Mass plan also includes subsidies to help pay for premiums for those who can't afford it. And even though Romney (R) publicly came out to support Blackwell's plan, the reality is that they are starting from a very different place then we are in Ohio. Romney himself said:

The goal, was not to save money, but to find a way within existing spending to get all of his state's residents covered.
In fact, in the Akron Beacon Journal's coverage of the release of his "plan" Blackwell states that he would like to PRIVITIZE Medicaid. Sound familiar anyone? "Wither on the vine," "Part D"? Sorry, maybe I was the only one affixed to CSPAN when the Medicare debate was happening, but its all too familiar for my tastes. Anyways, see for yourself:

Blackwell's five-point proposal would:

• Create the Ohio Health Financing Commission to coordinate health-care policy and expenses for all state health-care programs.
More Government?

• Create the Buckeye Health Plan to cover uninsured Ohioans by matching them with existing health-care programs, including the eventual transfer of all of Ohio's Medicaid programs to private insurance programs.
Riiiiight, our uninsured problem is simply that people don't know how to access existing health care programs. I suggest to Mr. Blackwell that he try to get into AccessHealth Columbus and see what happens (a great program by the way, but one operating in 6 zip codes in a large metropolitan area with many doctors willing to take one or two uninsured patients at a time.) And did you catch that last line? THAT will cut costs for sure!! We all know how administratively efficient private insurance companies are. Ask your health care professional today! (Or at least her office staff) Oh, and by the way.... we already have a Buckeye Health Plan here in Ohio. Might want to learn a bit about things before going gung ho with a major overhaul of our entire state budget.

• Reform Ohio's Medicaid system by further implementing recommendations of the Ohio Joint Commission to Reform Medicaid.
Now that is a worthy goal, but I'm guessing they aren't talking about implementing all of the recommendations, but more of a pick and choose kind of thing.

And the scariest statement of all (and this is coming from an oft "consumer" of health care)
``My plan is consumer driven and allows for consumer choice,'' Blackwell said.
I shiver when I read that. Because once again it is doublespeak. Let me translate for you: let the free market handle health care costs. Because health care is just like any other commodity. It's just like an Ipod right?

Oh, and here's another great line:
Romney, a Republican, said the Massachusetts plan was worked out in a bipartisan fashion and was supported by his Democrat-dominated state legislature.
Oh yes, I can see it now: the Dems knocking down Blackwell's door to work with him. Yeah, that strong Democratic legislature that we have here in Ohio.

Monday, September 11, 2006

9/11

If you are like me, today you have probably been keeping away from as much media coverage as you can, though its been difficult. Too many raw feelings. But the New York Times had a wonderful editorial today 9/11/06. If you read anything, I think this sums it up, at least for me, for the most part. There is more, but this is succient, and rings true to my heart.

Not to Be a Downer or Anything

But.... this just screams at me.

Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.

Separately, the Health Ministry confirmed Thursday that it planned to construct two new branch morgues in Baghdad and add doctors and refrigerator units to raise capacity to as many as 250 corpses a day.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Coming Clean

No this post isn't about my latest colonoscopy, but it is about something that might end up being nearly as painful. I came out at work. That is to say, that I admitted to having Crohn's disease, and all of the fun "extras" that come along with it (bursitis, tendonitis, chronic pain and joint problems). When I was first diagnosed, I could never understand the position that some people took to NOT tell those around them what was going on. In fact, the first person who I met after my diagnosis who had Crohn's, my "Crohn's mentor," worked at a university, helping disabled students make their way through their college years. She was a staunch advocate for their rights as students, but never told any of her workmates that she had any disease herself. They would puzzle when she was obviously in distress, and they didn't know why, but she remained mute. I couldn't understand WHY she would keep silent like that. But as my experience in the workplace expanded, and I saw why the ADA is necessary, and found myself needing to meet with lawyers about my rights as a worker with a "disability," I decided that at my new job, I didn't want to face the conscious and subconscious judgment of ability that happens when people know that you have a chronic illness. At other jobs, I had naively thought that people would judge my ability based on, well, my actual ability. Turns out that people's perception of my ability was what prevailed at the end of the day, not my work, not anything I was producing or not producing. So this time around, I thought: Screw it, I don't need the hassle.

So why have I decided to let the world in on my "secret"? I've been preparing myself over the past few weeks to meet with disability rights groups as a part of my new job. I've been reading literature from groups like ADAPT, and others who have great sayings like: "I'd rather die in prison than live in a nursing home" or; "Danger, defective on the loose." In other words, groups who are proud and loud. It got me thinking about my "disability" that I don't think of as being a disability. I am covered under the ADA, I do face people's ignorance and judgment based on their perceptions, just like the people I'm reading about who are shouting about their rights from the rooftops. I'm trying to get around those problems by "passing." That is to say: I'm not in a wheelchair, I don't have any adaptive device that I use on a daily basis where people can tell right off the bat that I have obstacles to face due to health issues. In fact, on days when I can barely walk and I have to break out my cane, I was only using it until I entered a hallway where I knew a person was present, at which point I would whip my cane under my arm, pull my face into a smile and walk as assuredly and hurriedly past them as possible, until I rounded the corner, and could lean on it once again.

So, I can pass when needed, but it begs the question: just because I can pass, does it mean that I should? When I go to meet with these disability groups, do I tell them in order to gain their trust, while keeping silent to those around me? Just because I don't think of myself as having a disability, does that really matter? I know that many people who are immediately identified as disabled don't think of themselves that way either, but they still have to face the obstacles of other's opinions. Which brought me back to my mentor. She eventually came out to her workmates as well. What caused her to change her mind? The students she worked with who had disabilities. When they found out that she too had one, and had been keeping silent about it, while encouraging them in the process to push for their own rights, they felt betrayed. And I knew what I had to do. The next day I went out to lunch with my supervisor and laid it all on the line. No big deal, this is what I'm dealing with, this is what I might need from time to time, and this is why I haven't said anything up to this point. He seemed fine with it, and there we are. Who knows what will happen down the line if for example I have a really bad flare, and people around the office start to chatter (or, like in other offices, people might start to chatter even without a flare). I may not be a "Freedom Fighter" just yet, but at least I don't feel like a hypocrite.

 
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