The Gurly Life

The 11/3 Project

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The 11/3 Project
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Vive la France!

Bill Maher aime les Français

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Thanks to Urban Koda for the find.

Holy crap, SONIC BOOMS!

At about 5:50 pm, twin sonic booms ... BOOMED above Southern California. Lucky for me, I knew they were coming, thanks to the LAFD, so I only almost shit myself instead of actually shitting myself. The sonic booms were caused by the space shuttle Endeavor slowing to below sound speed as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere. You understand, a double boom like that on September 11, without prior explanation, is the kind of thing that makes one nervous. For people who live within boom-shot of Cape Canaveral, this is probably a regular occurrence but the space shuttle doesn't land over here that often.

Anyway, phew.

The cats are still in the closet.

September 11

I probably blog the same thing every year about this. But every year I wake up on September 11 and I remember the same thing.

It was a morning like any other, except that it was on campus interviewing week at law school. I got up that morning getting ready to interview with several firms. I always turn on the news in the morning. What I could see on the television was one tower on fire, and a lot of smoke. I remember thinking that the smoke from the tower I could see must be completely obscuring the other tower. Within a few minutes, as I watched, the second tower collapsed. In that moment, I realized the reason I couldn't see the one tower was because it had already collapsed.

I started to cry that morning and pretty much didn't stop for a month. It's been 8 years, and whenever I talk or think about it, I cry still.

Today please honor the innocent who died that day, the firefighters and cops who walked into their own deaths, the volunteers, the family members, the citizens of New York - those who died and those left behind.

I'm reposting this Rescue Me minisode. It's short and worth watching.

Obama's speech, summarized

[I tapped this out while he was speaking. I'm sure you can get the entire speech at the White House website.]

Economy improved, still ways to go. Will not let up till those who seek jobs can find them. Economy back from the brink.

Not just to clean up crises, but to build a future.

Not the first president to tackle this issue, but determined to be the last.

Almost 100 years since Teddy Roosevelt called for health care reform.

Breaking point. Hardship on uninsured. Middle-class Americans who cannot get or afford insurance on the job. Some denied for previous illnesses.

Only advanced advanced democracy that allows such hardship for millions of its people.

1 in 3 Americans without coverage, every day 14,000 lose their coverage.

Those who have insurance: less stability. More Americans pay their premiums and then discover they can't get coverage when they need it. Examples of people who died because of trivial delays by health insurances. No one should be treated that way, it is wrong.

Rising costs: 1.5x more per person on health care than any other country, but no healthier. Employers dropping coverage, fewer businesses can launch because can't afford health care. Hidden tax: paying for ER visits by uninsured.

Burden on taxpayers: costs grow, greater pressure on Medicare or Medicaid.

Our health care problem is our deficit problem, nothing else even comes close.

How to reform: left - single-payer system like Canada. Right- end employer based system and let individuals buy their own. Either one of these approach, radical shift.

Use what works rather than build an entire new system from scratch. What Congress has tried to do over last few months. Cooperation. Efforts supported by doctors, nurses. Agreement on 80% of what needs to be done.

But we've seen partisan spectacle: instead of honest debates, scare tactics. Some used to score short-term political gain, even if it means the country has to suffer.

Time for bickering is over. Now is the time to deliver on health care.

Plan goals: more security and stability to those who have insurance; provide insurance for those who don't; slow increase of costs.

Everybody to take responsibility. Ideas from senators, congressmen, Dems, GOP, supporters, opponents.

If you have insurance thru your job, medicare, medicaid, VA, nothing in the plan will require you to change what you have.

Plan will make your insurance plan work better for you: against the law to deny insurance b/c of a pre-existing condition. Against the law to drop coverage or water it down when you get sick. Will not be able to place arbitrary caps on benefits received. Limit on how much you can be charged for out of pocket expenses b/c no one in American should go broke because they get sick.

Insurance will have to cover routine checks.

If you don't have insurance: quality, affordable choices. If you lose, change your job, can get coverage. If on your own, can get coverage. A marketplace where can shop for insurance at competitive prices.

Time to give Americans the same opportunities that we give ourselves [members of Congress].

If still can't afford it, will get tax breaks. Insurance companies will have to abide by the rules. 4 years to put this exchange in place, and in the meantime low cost coverage available if you have pre-existing conditions and get seriously ill.

People/companies who can afford insurance and don't get it, forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when they get sick. Everyone has to do their part. Individuals will be required to carry health insurance, like car insurance. Businesses will be required to offer health care or chip in. Hardship waiver available. 95% of small businesses would be exempt from this requirement because of their size and small profit margin. [I'm not crazy about this!]

Misinformation.

Death panels. It would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

Illegal immigrants. Would not apply to illegal immigrants.

No federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.

Government takeover of the entire system. Consumers do better when there's market competition. In 34 states, 75% of the insurance market by 5 companies. Alabama: 1 company. No interest in putting insurance co's out of business. Just want to hold them accountable. Not for profit public option in insurance exchange would keep private insurers honest. Only an option for those who do not have insurance. Estimates: less than 5% of Americans would sign up.

Taxpayers will not subsidize public option: will rely on premiums it collects.

Same as public colleges that do not inhibit private colleges and universities.

Many still favor a public option: its impact should not be overstated by either side. Public option is only a means to end of providing insurance to those who can't afford it.

Republicans: instead of making wild accusations about a government takeover, let's address real concerns you may have. But will not back down from basic principle that if you can't afford basic insurance, we will provide you with a choice.

And no government or insurance burocrat will get between you and the care you need.

How do we pay for this plan?

First, will not sign a plan that will sign a plan that adds 1 dime to our deficit.

Part of the reason trillion dollar deficit because too many initiatives not paid for. Will not make that mistake again.

Second, can pay for it by finding savings in current system. Waste and abuse. Same in private insurance, medicare, medicaid. Medicare trust fund will not be used to pay for this plan. Independent commission of doctors and medical experts to watch out for waste. Seniors to have the best care and not have to pay for it.

Obama will protect Medicare. Note same people who say medicare will be cut, tried to turn it into a privatized voucher system.

Commission will encourage best practices that provide excellent care at lower cost, examples. Reducing waste and inefficiency will pay for most of this plan.

Will charge insurers a fee for their most expensive policies - supported by democratic and republican experts. Will hold down costs in the long run.

Republicans: reforming med mal laws can help bring down cost of healthcare. Defensive medicine may be contributing to high costs. [Not clear what he's suggesting that we do here.]

$900m cost: less than the Iraq war. Less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by last administration.

If we slow the growth of health insurance cost by 1/10th of 1%, will improve the deficit by $4trillion over the long term.

Open to good ideas, but will not be open to those who think it's better politics to kill this plan than to improve. Status quo is not an acceptable solution.

We cannot fail because too many Americans counting on us to succeed. The ones who suffer silently, and the ones who share their stories.

And a tribute to Ted Kennedy, whose life's work was to provide health care to all.

We are all in this together. In this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded with fair play, and sometimes government has to step in to make sure we deliver on this promise.

Healthy debate is good, acrimony will not get us anywhere.

We did not come here to fear the future, we came here to shape it.

Why the public option?

For any of my readers who cling to the idea that we have the best health insurance in the world and that we don't want the government running it (why not??), please read this post. It's written by guest blogger Christine Wessel. And then read Dee's story about how she is in financial ruin because of how our current system works.

As some of you may know, I am a Democrat (though fairly moderate on certain issues). I support Pres. Obama's health insurance reform proposal, and even understand the compromises that have been made to date.

To me, however, the public option is not something about which we can compromise. Any insurance reform without a public option will have no meaningful impact. It will not improve things for the 50 million people who are uninsured because they are unemployed or underemployed, their employers refuse to offer health insurance, private insurance companies either won't insure them, underinsure them, or dropped them as soon as something went wrong, or because they simply could not afford to pay the exorbitant premiums demanded by the health insurance business.

Last night I attended a vigil for health insurance reform in my home town, San Clemente, in the very Republican and conservative Orange County. I was pleasantly surprised that close to 150 people showed up to support health insurance reform and the public option, and that only about 15 people showed up to counterprotest. We need to keep up the drum beat.

Publicity surrounding the vigil resulted in a lot of people posting comments on news agency websites reporting about the vigil. They made nasty comments about the people who attended (assuming we are all derelicts and were paid to attend by an ultra-left wing PAC), and the position we stood for. They were misinformed and often lacked basic grammar skills to make coherent arguments. Many comments indicated an assumption that the proposed public option plan is socialist (it isn't) and that it is intended to provide for huge tax increases and establish universal health care (it won't). Nevertheless, I posted some responses to them (which often seems like beating my head against a wall), and I wanted to share some of my thoughts with my other friends. If you disagree with this position, I hope you will still take the time to read this, and feel free to comment and argue (in a civil manner). If you agree, feel free to poach my words, re-post my thoughts, and generally rant along with me or elsewhere. Please. We need rational discussion, not irrational fear-mongering!

My comments were basically as follows:

The Public Option is not a plan where taxpayers pay for everyone to get "free" healthcare. Pres. Obama is not trying to push through universal health care. The Public Option would essentially be a non-profit insurance plan which is administered by a government agency, but PAID FOR BY ITS USERS, similar to Medicare, but that would COMPETE with private insurers. The purpose: To ensure that EVERYONE has ACCESS to insurance and therefore healthcare, and to provide competition in the insurance marketplace to keep private insurers honest and less focused on their own profits. As Pres. Obama has said time and time again, if you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it. But I'm betting that if the public option is put into place, fewer people will be happy with their excessively costly insurance premiums and deductibles and will probably switch to the public option because it will be more affordable, won't discriminate against them for their pre-existing conditions, and will be completely portable, allowing people to change jobs without losing their insurance coverage or ~gasp!~ to start their own businesses.

The proposal would create an insurance PRODUCT, administered by the government, that will COMPETE with private insurance, and will be available to be PURCHASED by anyone who can't obtain or afford private insurance because of a pre-existing condition, or just because the premiums are so expensive, or because they are simply denied coverage.

It doesn't propose that tax dollars pay for medical care for all; the insurance premiums paid for by the PARTICIPANTS will pay for medical care, much as a private insurance company operates (except that it will not have a profit incentive to deny care). The difference will be that those premiums will actually be used for medical care, not to line the pockets of the insurance industry executives who benefit from denying the claims of their insureds.

Note that private insurance actually is a bastardized form of privately administered socialism, only the administrators have a profit motive. You pay premiums into the insurance company, which theoretically uses that money to pay for medical care for their customers who need it. If you are healthy and never need care, you cost the insurance company less than you pay them. They profit off of you, and they'll happily keep collecting your premiums.

If you are sick, the insurance company may be required to pay more out for your care than you pay into it. Here's where it gets ugly -- when you start costing them too much money, cutting into their profits, and their profit sharing, and their shareholder dividends, they stop covering your care, or they deny coverage for necessary procedures and medication, or they cancel your policy all together, leaving you uninsured and uninsurable. You see, the insurance companies are beholden to their shareholders, NOT to YOU, and they really prefer to only have healthy customers so they don't have to pay claims. But you pay for insurance so that if you do get sick, it won't bankrupt you and you will have the peace of mind that at least you won't have to choose between paying for an operation/treatment or providing your family's shelter and food. Unfortunately, in our current system, that peace of mind no longer exists.

People need to become better informed about the facts, and not the misinformation that is being put out there by partisan politicians and news agencies and ignorant people whose mission is to undermine a democratically elected president and majority democratic congress. I encourage everyone to read the bill and find out what it really means, because if you really think that it's about implementing a socialist program to provide free healthcare on the backs of taxpayers, you truly do not understand it.

I have private group insurance and have been lucky enough to have good coverage for most of my adult life, yet I can see the path that our current system is taking us on, and how the proposed bill would work. Rates keep increasing, meaning that employers will have to choose between paying their employees decent wages, or offering decent health insurance plans. Self-employed people and small businesses pay excessively high premiums for insurance, making it difficult or impossible for many people to start small businesses or work for smaller companies. Small companies just can't compete with big companies for employees because they can't offer comparable salaries and insurance benefits.

Competition is the very root of capitalism, but right now, there is no meaningful competition in the health insurance industry. How many of you have a choice in what insurance company your employer chooses for your policy? Very few, if any. I would love to start my own business, but I can't afford to buy private insurance due to a pre-existing, congenital condition. This is a condition that nearly required me to have a kidney removed about 6 years ago, at a time when I had no job and no health insurance (in between law school and starting my first job as an attorney). Luckily, my problem is under control, now, but if I apply for private insurance? The premiums would eat up every cent of profit from my business. The current system therefore also stifles competition in other industries. What? It impedes capitalism? Yep.

Corporate greed needs to be reined in, especially when it is killing so many people. Insurance companies need to be held accountable, and to stop earning excessive profits off of people's health nightmares.

And if you think you aren't currently paying for medical care for the uninsured, think again. If an uninsured person goes to the emergency room for care, the emergency room by law can not turn them away. They have to treat them. When that person can't pay their bill (and often declares bankruptcy because of it), the hospital passes the uncollected costs on to those who can pay and who do have insurance, increasing the cost of care for everyone.

Hospitals and doctors are struggling already to keep their doors open because they just can't earn enough to do so, yet insurance companies are thriving. How can that be acceptable?

If everyone had access to reasonably priced insurance that actually covers necessary care, costs to everyone would decrease because (a) people won't wait until they have need for emergency care; they will get treated earlier and at much lower cost (e.g., antibiotics for bronchitis vs. in-patient care for pneumonia), (b) the hospital will save costs pursuing collections, engaging in lawsuits, etc. to collect on unpaid bills, and (c) people will be able to continue working at their jobs and paying taxes because, with proper care, they will not become disabled from illness. A healthy population is a working, productive, tax-paying population.

And if you are just anti-tax all together, I suggest you move to a failed state that has no government (Somalia perhaps?) and build your own roads, educate your own children, put out your own fires, provide your own court system to resolve disputes, establish and provide your own police force and military to protect you, and develop cures for your own diseases, because all of those things and more that are provided by the US and state governments through taxation and of which you expect to be able to partake for *free* are products of *socialist* policies (and yes, cures for most of the deadliest diseases were in fact developed and paid for by tax dollars, not private pharma).

Those of you who argue that you don't want to have to pay for health care for others? You already do, as explained above, through higher costs for care and higher premiums for insurance. But I'd also ask you: why should I, as someone who has no children, permit my tax dollars to be used to pay for your children to get an education? Simple. Because it's a PUBLIC BENEFIT to educate the population. Everyone benefits. Educated people are more productive, are less likely to commit crimes, are skilled enough to invent cures for diseases, to invent machinery and other things that make our lives better, etc. Same goes for health care. Healthy people work harder, can remain employed, provide for their families, buy houses and goods and services to keep the economy going. Communicable diseases are prevented from spreading. It just makes sense.

For veterans and people who take advantage of Medicare: How do you like your VA medical coverage? That's a socialist program if there ever was one. Ready to give that up? How about your Medicare? Ready to give that up? Have you ever contacted a private insurance company to find out how much it would cost to purchase private insurance coverage for yourself if you didn't have your current GOVERNMENT-administered and provided medical care and insurance plans? Thought not.

For those who argue that health care is not in the Constitution, so does not have to be provided:

1. Just because something is not in the Constitution does not mean that it's not a basic fundamental human right. Nevertheless, the preamble of the Constitution DOES address health where it explains that the reason this nation adopted the Constitution was, among other things, to PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE of the people. If ensuring access to health care is not promoting the general welfare, then I don't know what is. Our current system certainly does not promote the general welfare as there are 50 million uninsured people in this country, most of whom can not afford medical care. People are dying and suffering every day of diseases that are curable because they can not afford to pay the exorbitant costs of health care and medication. Being able to get necessary health care should not be a privilege; it is a fundamental right.

2. Many other things that the government provides via tax revenue and that ALL of us use are not discussed in the Constitution. Should we take all of those away, too? Schools? Fire Departments? Roads?

Right now, insurance companies keep approximately 1/3 of every dollar spent on healthcare in this country. For WHAT exactly???

If you think that the pubic option plan will ration care, what do you think insurance companies do right now? EVERY DAY insurance companies deny coverage for procedures and medication that a patient's doctors believe they need. Every procedure and prescription denied by the insurance company is more profit for the insurance company executives to pocket in the form of bonuses. They make a profitable business out of collecting your insurance premiums and then refusing to spend that money on your health care. Don't think they are doing you any favors.

My father was rationed to death by his private insurance company. My mother is currently fighting with her insurance company to get approval for her cancer treatments, sometimes waiting weeks to get the OK, and then later getting bills for the same procedure saying that insurance didn't cover it. Does she deserve this kind of stress right now? Does our family?

There are so many reasons, both economic and humanitarian, to support health insurance reform.

Station Fire from the plane

I took these yesterday from the plane coming into Burbank Airport.

 

 

Here you can begin to see the cumulus cloud forming at the top of the smoke plume.

This smoke cloud was heading northeast and had Las Vegas covered in smoke. Apparently it made it as far as Colorado.

Community involvement

I don't know if there's an uptick of interest in community involvement, or if I just never noticed it.

KPCC, one of the local NPR stations, has recently unveiled a new initiative, which really opens up the newsroom to listeners. They're always taken phonecalls and emails, but now they have a feature with a list of questions for their listeners. They also update their status on Facebook with questions. And I don't know about you, but it's hard to resist such exhortations for my opinion. The worst part is that when you write in, they write you back!! And I don't mean just a standard "thank you for your feedback" email, but an actual person with a name who responds to what you say specifically.

Now, you might find this hard to believe, but I do not have an opinion about absolutely everything. I know, I know, it seems like I do. But mostly I have half-formed thoughts about stuff, I don't know honestly know enough about most things to say something truly insightful. But hey, they're asking, so I'm offering.

Then I got a flyer from the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council. They are getting involved in trying to ban new billboards from the City of Los Angeles, which I know something about. I wrote them an email, and I was briefly tempted to apply for one of their 9 open board positions. But I don't know that I have that kind of time. Well, we'll see.

Health care debate SMACKDOWN!

In case you haven't seen this yet:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Barney Frank, you rock!