You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘health care’ tag.
A quarter of Americans are having trouble finding medical care and/or paying their rents and mortgages. 70% have had job- or finance-related problems in the last year. Of workers, a quarter expect to take a forced pay cut this year, and another quarter expect to lose their jobs within a year. 85% of Americans are having trouble finding jobs in their community. 44% of American workers are long term unemployed.
Or so says the Pew Research Center report, “A Year or More: The High Cost of Long-Term Unemployment”.
An interesting article about these numbers: Collapse of the Standard of Living in the USA.
Kansas State Rep Lance Kinzer (et al)’s weird anti-abortion bill has been vetoed by governor Mark Parkinson. HALLELUJAH!
The bill would have eliminated threats to mental health as an acceptable reason to obtain a late-term abortion and forced doctors to hand over medical details about women receiving late-term abortion to politicians. Another part of “pro-life” attempts at chipping away women’s medical rights and bodily autonomy.
On a different note, how come every article about stupid anti-abortion antics has to include 1.) a quote from someone representing a wacko pro-life agency and 2.) someone from Planned Parenthood? Well, I guess Missouri is changing the standards, since the article under discussion was printed in the redoubtable bastion of unbiased journalism, the Kansas City Star, it only contains quotes from the Kansans for Life wacko and from the pro-life politician, Kinzer. Bleh.
UPDATE 5/5/10: On the second try, the Kansas Legislature overrode the veto. On to the Senate…
Jay Smooth‘s stand-in Hari explains how we could have better negotiated so that we’d have the public option by now:
“The hijacking of abortion rights as a bargaining chip for the provision of health care is morally reprehensible and if it stands will result in significant harms to women’s health. As women’s health advocates are working full tilt to try to stop this from happening, there is an uncomfortable sense of having been here before. How is it possible that we have to fight for the right to choose to have an abortion all over again?”
-Lucinda Marshall, writing at Counterpunch
What’s not to hate about South Carolina’s black people? They’re poor, they’re unemployed, they’re really dragging the whole state down, and, you know, they’re black.
Shocking? No, just the reality that poor, pitiable South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham lives in.
In arguing why he was against health care reform, he recently stated: “I have 12 percent unemployment in South Carolina. My state’s on its knees. I have 31 percent African-American population in South Carolina.”
And everyone knows blacks don’t need health care! Or… something.
Here’s Rachel Maddow:
True colors: shown.
A state that is one third black is AWESOME and full of amazing potential. People of color know what they need from the South Carolina government. Maybe Senator Graham could listen to their voices and take their advice instead of cite them as a liability to his state’s standing.
Rep. Bart Stupak
Rep. Joe Pitts
[This space intentionally left blank.]
I sifted through blogs and media to find out what women bloggers and writers both obscure and well-known are saying about the Stupak-Pitts amendment.
I noticed one thing while researching. Overwhelming, white, straight women are writing about this issue. Queer women and women of color and QWOC are not as focused on this issue as white straight women are. Is abortion a white, straight issue?
Katha Pollitt at the Nation: Whose Team Is It, Anyway?
Laura Flanders at GritTV: Compromise on Women’s Backs Again
Kate Harding at Salon: Face it: The Democratic Party is not for women
Jessica Arons at Think Progress: The Stupak Amendment Is A Monumental Setback For Abortion Access
Jill Filipovic at Feministe: Stupak Amendment: A Coup for Republicans
Kjerstin Johnson at Bitch Magazine: Health Care Reform and the Stupak Amendment
Sarah Jaffe at Global Comment: Hey Stupak, women’s bodies are not bargaining chips
Natalia Anatova at her eponymous blog: Way to go, Democrats
Melissa McEwan at Shakesville: Our Mendacious President
and: Stupak Starts Making Threats
RobinNWLC at Feministing: Abortion and Health Care Reform: How The House Bill Forces Women to Accept Less Coverage Than They Already Have
Pilgrim Soul at the Pursuit of Harpyness: You Can Put Down Your Champagne Now
M. Leblanc at Bitch Ph.D: Life-saving, life-changing, affordable health care
Echidne at Echidne of the Snakes: Now In The Pulpit: E.J. Dionne
Sara E. Anderson at F-Words: Why not abortion insurance?
Amy Siskind at The Daily Beast: How Obama Sold Women Out
Latoya Peterson at Jezebel: Message to Obama: Abort the Stupak-Pitts Amendment
and: Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy: Democrats Are Dithering on Issue of Abortion
Kate Michelman and Frances Kissling at the New York Times: Trading Women’s Rights for Political Power
Dr. Susie Baldwin at RH Reality Check: Another Doctor Mad as Hell
Amie Newman at RH Reality Check: Dear Progressive Allies in Health Care Reform: Where Were You on the Stupak Amendment?
and: RNC Health Plan Covers Abortion and Other Facts & Lies Behind the Stupak Amendment
Actually, you can just go to RH Reality Check and do a search for “Stupak”.
Louisiana Representative Anh (Joseph) Cao was the only Republican to vote for the health care bill:
“I have a constitutional duty to make the right decision for my district whether or not the decision was popular. I had to make a decision of conscience based on the needs of the people of my district. A lot of my constituents are uninsured, a lot of them are poor.”
NYT:Louisiana Republican Breaks Ranks on Health Bill
LA Times: Cantor: No retaliation planned against Cao, only Republican to vote for health care bill
CNN: Update: Lone GOP vote came after call from President Obama
Think Progress: GOP Threatens Retribution Against Cao For Health Care Vote
The Washington Independent: The War on Joseph Cao
Fox News: White House Spent ‘Weeks’ Courting Lone GOP Vote on Health Care Bill
Washington Post: A vote to make or break a career
Lone House Republican backed health bill after abortion was limited
Politico: Shenanigans: Get to Know Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao
Michelle Malkin: What GOP Rep. Joseph Cao got from Obama
TPM: Cao To Steele: Come And Get Me — Just Remember You Need My District
Dallas artists create an action in support of universal health care!
From Manitoba, Canada:
“We had asked for funding so we can get organized and to ensure medicines, hand sanitizers and other preventative kits were in place but, instead, we are shocked to receive the body bags,” Chief Jerry Knott of Wasagamack First Nation said. “Is the shipment of the body bags part of Canada’s preparedness plan for all Canadians? Is the body bags a statement from Canada…?”
“It really makes me wonder if health officials know something we don’t,” said Grand Chief David Harper.
“Don’t send us body bags. Help us organize; send us medicine.”
Chief David McDougall of St. Theresa Point First Nation said, “We can acknowledge we also received body bags in our community. To me, this is an ominous sign that the government is predicting a grim outcome.”
Canada’s Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is herself an indigenous Canadian, has ordered an inquiry into the little snafu.
Here is the St. Theresa Point First Nation press release on this topic.
I would like to echo Chief Knott’s question: Is the shipment of the body bags part of Canada’s preparedness plan for all Canadians? Or just the First Nations people? And, of course, why would that be?
From the National Women’s Law Center:
Take Action Now: Oppose Anti-Choice Efforts to Take Away Abortion Coverage from Millions of Women in Health Care Reform
As we speak, insurance coverage for abortion care is being negotiated out of health care reform. This is unacceptable and your action is urgently needed.
And as you are reading this, there’s language on the brink of being included in health care reform that will take away coverage of abortion that millions of women currently have. We must not let this happen because comprehensive reproductive health care is basic health care for women.
Call and email your Senators and the White House TODAY. Tell them to protect women’s coverage of abortion care in health care reform!
To call your Senators, dial 202-224-3121. When you call, you’ll reach the Capitol switchboard. Ask to be connected to your Senators. Note that you’ll need to call two times to reach both of your Senators.
Click here to email.
by Bill Quigley & Davida Finger
0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.
0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental health care as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and mental health problems.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2008.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant residences.
2. Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana as of beginning of 2009 hurricane season under $74 million dollar federal program.
33. Percent of 134,000 FEMA trailers in which Katrina and Rita storm survivors were housed after the storms which are estimated by federal government to have had formaldehyde problems.
35. Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
35. Percent increase of demand in 2009 at emergency food programs in Orleans and surrounding parishes, “an increase pinned on the swelling ranks of under-employed and rising food, housing, and fuel costs.”
50. Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.
52. Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
52. Percent of federal rebuilding money allocated to New Orleans that has actually been received.
60. Percent of children in New Orleans public schools who attend public charter schools.
88: Percent of the 600 New Orleans residents who will displaced by proposed new hospital complex who are minorities.
160. Number of units which will be public housing eligible in the new St. Bernard area after demolition and rebuilding. St. Bernard was constructed with 1400 public housing apartments. Only a small percentage of the 4000 families in public housing in New Orleans before Katrina will be allowed to live in the new housing being constructed on the site where their apartments were demolished.
27,279. Number of Louisiana homeowners who have applied for federal assistance in repair and rebuilding after Katrina who have been determined eligible for assistance but who have still not received any money.
30,396. Number of children who have not returned to public school in New Orleans since Katrina. This reduction leaves the New Orleans public school population just over half of what it was pre-Katrina.
63,799. Number of Medicaid recipients who have not returned to New Orleans since Katrina.
65,888. Unoccupied addresses in New Orleans. This is 31% of the addresses in the City and nearly as many as Detroit, a city twice the size of New Orleans.
128,341: Number of Louisianians looking for work.
143,193. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimate of 311,853, the most recent population estimate in Orleans.
9.5 Million. Dollar amount of federal Medicaid stimulus rejected outright by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal which would have expanded temporary Medicaid coverage for families who leave welfare and get a job.
98 million: Dollar amount of unemployment federal stimulus dollars rejected by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that was available to bolster the unemployment compensation funds to assist 25,000 families in Louisiana.
900 Million: Dollar amount paid to ICF International, the company that was hired by the State of Louisiana to distribute federal Road Home rebuilding dollars.
?. Current vulnerability to storm-related flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to provide protection from a storm surge that has a 1 percent chance of occurring any given year. However, Katrina was a stronger storm than the system under construction is designed to protect against. Because no updated indicators exist on land loss, coastal restoration and mitigation of flood risk due to human engineering, tracking recovery is, at best, challenging.
Davida Finger is a social justice lawyer and clinical professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill Quigley is a human
rights lawyer on leave from Loyola now serving as legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. A version of
this article with sources is available if you write to the authors c/o quigley77@gmail.com.
Welcome to The Exciting Times, a collection of news items that caught my interest!
*There has been another anti-Latino hate crime in Patchogue, New York, a small town with a history of anti-Latino violence, including the murder of Marcelo Lucero. This time a Latino mad was beaten and robbed by a gang of white men. White dudes: get your shit together over there!
*One of the first things I ever blogged about was that Oklahoma had passed a law mandating ultrasounds for women seeking abortion. Ultrasounds are commonly given before abortions, but it is unusual for the government to mandate normally elective medical procedures. My problem with this that it is almost assuredly just another ploy to make abortion less accessible, and it amounts to mandating medical rape.
Well, HUZZAH, because the law has been repealed! Though kind of on a technicality, and might be back again next year. Apparently the law also included a set of rules mandating that doctors go over the ultrasound with the patient and describe to her how much like a baby it looks. Can’t wait to see this one come back next year.
*Canadian citizen disowned and left in jail in Kenya. The woman, Suaad Hagi Mohamud, had immigrated from Somalia to Canada and is a naturalized citizen. For some reason her passport was “challenged” when she was trying to travel from Kenya to Canada this May. She was detained in Kenya, and when she appealed for help from the Canadian consulate, diplomat Liliane Khadour denied Mohamud was Canadian, claiming falsely that she had “carried out conclusive investigations” and determined that “the person brought to the Canadian High Commission on suspicion of being an imposter is not the rightful holder of the aforementioned passport.”
All’s well that ends well, right? Am I right? Well, Khadour has been “recalled” and Mohamud, after three months, the help of friends, and DNA testing, proved her identity and returned to her country.
*Don’t miss The Women’s Crusade in the NYT Magazine this week. Though I don’t agree with every statement in the article, there are plenty of intriguing points made. For example:
It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.
and
[I]t is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor [for turbulence and violence]; the reasons aren’t fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp… Indeed, some scholars say they believe the reason Muslim countries have been disproportionately afflicted by terrorism is not Islamic teachings about infidels or violence but rather the low levels of female education and participation in the labor force.
ANNNNnnnd finally:
*Need some fuel to win health care arguments with your backwards-thinking relatives and coworkers? Here are some numbers for you to take a gander at, comparing health data collected from the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. One of these countries doesn’t have nationalized health care. One of these countries also shows significantly worse health and health care than the others. CAN YOU GUESS WHICH??
Thank you soulbrother v.2 for this insightful piece. He explains the connection between whiteness being used to convince poor white farmers to stop protesting against rich landowners alongside poor black farmers in the 1800s, and whiteness being used to play working class white people to protest against health care for the poor. (Almost twice as many white people than black people are impoverished in the USA.)
Looking at the debates through a race lens, things like a town hall participant attacking a poster of Rosa Parks and people comparing health care for the poor to white slavery start to make some sense. Very weird sense, but the trail of bigotry begins to come clear.
And yes, the poster-holder specified white slavery. What do you think that’s supposed to mean?
Monica at TransGriot sez the good white folks at the town halls are protesting…
…at the behest of conservative K Street lobbying firms, Faux News, right wing hate radio, HMO’s who want to stay between you and your doctor and continue to make obscene profits off the current broken system and the GOP who gets paid mad loot to thwart any meaningful legislative reform as they’ve done for decades.
Once again you information challenged people are being played, manipulated, hoodwinked and bamboozled again to vote against your own economic interests because you’re ‘scurred’ of the current occupant of the White House.
And Did You Know, “57% of Republicans either believes or is uncertain about the veracity of the “death panel” claim”?
Now, where ever would they get such an idea? Could it in any way be related to the fact that 65% of Republicans believe Fox News is reliable or that:
Even more interesting, perhaps, is how many Republicans only get their info from Fox, as compared to the other cable networks. A surprising 74% of GOPers “never” watch CNN, and an even higher amount, 89%, never watch MSNBC.
?
“Terrorist fist-jab”, “secret lesbian high school gangs”, birther-movement fueling Fox News. Is. Considered. Reliable by these people.
Sooooo…. is this health care “debate” becoming the 21st century elite’s attempt to divide and conquer the disempowered by race like innumerable incidents in the past? If so, they are showing remarkable success. Of course, there always seems to be enough white people who are eager to find a new excuse to be publicly racist, and politicians seem quite willing to dog whistle them to the fore at the slightest indication they may be useful.
I swear to GOD, Democrats and the Obama Admin have NO SPINE. They are preparing to give in to angry, incoherent mobs.
Every human has a right to health, and that includes health care. Private insurers do not operate on this foundation. They only provide health care so long as it makes a profit for the owners. Health is not a commodity. It is a human right. Ability to pay should never determine whether you get a long life or not.
When will we see a politician who is a friend of the poor?
The thought that it is “downright evil” to provide health care to the poor?
Linking health care coverage for the poor to Nazism?
“Keep your government hands off my Medicare”?
“True fascism… is happening in this country today”?
“Hitler…called his program the final solution. I kind of wonder what we’re going to call ours”?
And then there’s this, which also leaves me dumbstruck:
During the town hall, one conservative activist turns to his fellow attendees and asks them to raise their hands if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Almost all the hands shot up. Rep Green quickly turned the question on the audience and asked, “How many of you have Medicare?” Nearly half the attendees raised their hands, failing to note the irony.
At another point, a small business owner who supported health reform asks the audience how many people in this room “do not have health insurance of some kind.” Only one hand seemed to be raised. “I think the people who are objecting,” she noted, “are the people who have insurance.”
Am I right or am I right?
Like, OMFGWTFHolyShit what if more people being covered by health insurance means more people will have access to abortion! We’re talking about lives here people! Precious preborn patriots may DIE just so more postborn people can live! Where are your priorities?
Oh yes. Because that is exactly where certain people are at right now in the health care debate:
Kansans for Life sent out a “call to action” today, urging Kansans to contact their legislators and ask them to vote against any anti-life efforts, including easier access to taxpayer-funded abortions.
“This is the abortion-industry’s dream bill,” [Executive Director Mary Kay] Culp told Kansas Liberty.
I think some people out there in Kansas are particularly sore right now, now that beloved, and pro-choice, Governor Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services, a department that will be quite involved in any health care policy reform.
It’s good to know that “controversial” things like women’s bodily autonomy are still being leveraged to great effect for ever new purposes by the backwards-looking among us. For some people, even hindsight isn’t 20/20.
Recently, I had medical adventures of the first order.
Background: I am distrustful of doctors, as I have a long and sordid history of being treated poorly by them, from disrespect to careless misdiagnosis to open homophobia.
I also don’t like my access to health and health care to be controlled by my ability to obtain expensive health insurance from corrupt companies who care not for my health, and by uncaring professionals who treat me dismissively but take my money and go home to lifestyles ten times more comfortable than my own. I don’t like to have to go to a new doctor and beg for my needed medications in the hope they will deign it acceptable every time I move.
Anecdote: I once visited a doctor who made me wait in an examination room for 45 minutes, stopped in for five minutes, stared at the wall the entire time I spoke to him, and, while still refusing to even look at me, recommended I undergo an expensive and invasive procedure. Once home, I researched my symptoms on my own and discovered that procedure was not necessary or recommended for patients with my condition. I talked with my parents about my poor treatment, at which point I learned that my father knew this doctor. I found out later that the doctor was embarrassed to learn whose daughter I was and apologized profusely to my father for the way he treated me.
THAT IS SO FUCKED UP. He would have treated me like a human if he had realized I was related to someone who had the ability to affect his professional reputation. Instead, I got treated like a “regular” patient, and apparently, as he expressed embarrassment regarding his behavior, he knows this treatment is unacceptable but does it anyway when he thinks the patient has no power. But why?
Present day: I moved from across the country to New York. So I had to go through the whole no insurance/obtaining insurance/finding new doctors rigmarole again. I live in the United States and have a modest income, so this means I have the opportunity to be fucked while not on insurance, have a very limited selection of doctors once on insurance, and be exploited by insurance and the doctors when I actually seek health care. I also have the opportunity to pay enormous out-of-pocket costs for anything not covered by my insurance.
First I sought mental health care, as I am affected by debilitating anxiety when not on meds. Meds must be prescribed by a psychiatrist. I needed to find a psychiatrist fast as I had spent a long time unemployed, and therefore uninsured, had gone off my meds, and was experiencing a precipitous decline in mental health.
I called the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, the LGBT clinic, but they didn’t take my insurance. I grew worried because I had experienced homophobia from mental health workers before, and it does not help my mental health problems. They recommended another clinic, where I went to see a general practitioner. She refused to prescribe my meds and said I needed to go to a psychiatrist. But though the clinic accepted my insurance for the GP, it wouldn’t accept it for a psychiatrist.
So I searched for lists of LGBT-friendly doctors in New York City. None of the names I found were covered by my insurance. Days were passing and I was getting worse.
I started calling every person listed under “psychiatry” on my insurance company’s website. I called five a day. I mostly left messages, and few called me back. Whenever I did talk to someone, they told me I would have to wait one to two months to get an appointment. That was not possible in my condition.
I found a walk-in psychiatry hospital. I took off work and went. They told me there were too many patients and that I would have to try and come back another day.
I started crying every day. Getting up and going to work was a herculean effort. I started missing work as my mental health deteriorated and I couldn’t handle my duties. I stopped going out to see friends or purchase food because my social anxiety had taken hold too. The thought of leaving the house caused panic attacks that made me think I was dying.
I called a mental health emergency helpline. They told me they couldn’t get me an appointment unless I threatened suicide or that I might harm someone. They suggested I try the walk-in clinic I had already been turned away from. I begged for more options but they said they had none.
I discovered my insurance had a special mental health phone number. I called it, but they said the same thing as the other line. I had to threaten suicide or harm, elsewise they weren’t going to get me an appointment, and I would just have to wait the one-two months to get an appointment on my own. But I begged for help until the lady relented and said if I called at least ten more providers and still couldn’t get an appointment, she would help me.
So I called a dozen more psychiatrists. No one would give me an emergency appointment. I called the insurance line back and spoke to the same lady. She told me that she might be able to get me an emergency appointment in Long Island. I explained that I had no car and couldn’t travel outside of the city. She said that was very problematic, but she would think about it and would call me back.
Surprisingly, she called me back with a phone number for a “Dr. Z” (not his real name) and told me she thought he might have openings. I called him and he did.
I was very uncertain about seeing a random man about sensitive but vital mental health needs. I was also deeply afraid of confronting more homophobia. Until I looked him up and observed that among his specialties were anxiety and LGBT issues. I began to hope.
h/t to commentor, ahem, Bubbabutt.
The Obama administration plans to reverse a regulation from late in the Bush administration allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections, an official said Friday.
…Under the [Bush] rule, workers in health-care settings — from doctors to janitors — can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it.
An unnamed Health Dept official said, “[W]e do not want to impose new limitations on services that would allow providers to refuse to provide to women and their families services like family planning and contraception that would actually help prevent the need for an abortion in the first place.”
I contemplated all the reasons that the Bush Administration’s rule would be terrible for women and gays and quoted ACOG and AMA objections to it.
I am so happy to hear that the Obama Administration is going to do away with this unnecessary and theocratic regulation. As the American College of Gynocologists states, “Although respect for conscience is important, conscientious refusals should be limited if they constitute an imposition of religious or moral beliefs on patients [or] negatively affect a patient’s health.”
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