I Want My Money Back!

I want my money back!  The venders hiked up the price on the popcorn and soda, and they’ve made a covert deal with the theater across town.  I can tell because the prices in that theater are just as high if you take into consideration the quality of the facilities and the surrounding neighborhood.  I bet I could smuggle some soda in here, but it wouldn’t be socially acceptable . . . even though everyone else realizes the swindling as well. 

I’m not enjoying the show.  The previews promised more excitement, better graphics, strong romance, and a little comedy.  The reality of the show is different.  There’s no climax, just surging anticipation and subsequent disappointment followed by more surging anticipation and more upsetting disappointment.  And another thing, I can fucking tell you the ending right now.  The main character will die alone, depressed, and disappointed.  OH! I get it! This is one of those movies you have to be fucked-up to enjoy.  This is much better.  -antiwasp

Filed under: Artistic Writing, Culture, Death, Economy, General Sarcasm, Lessons Learned, Recommendations, Self Actualization, Wisdom, World Wide Policy

Bottom Line in Obama-Care: Bart Stupak is Officially an Idiot

Bart Stupak (D-Michigan), of the House of Representatives ignorantly refuses to sign the life-saving health care bill because it passed the senate with authorization of public funds for abortion.  I’d imagine that voting for a bill that authorizes the use of funds for what he considers the murder of developed egg-sperm is unimaginable.  But by postponing a passage of the bill he’s allowing the Republican-Economic Euthanasiasts to stall, and thwart what will never happen if democrats lose in the mid-term elections.  This may be our last fucking chance to save millions to lives, level the playing field, and save dollars.  I think he has to take into consideration the fucking big picture.  His fucking idealism and religulous fucking beliefs ignore reality.  Did someone pay this stupid mother-fucker off?  Get this through your fucking jack-ass head, Bart: Abortions will happen, whether you approve of it, or not.

I’m sure Bart knows the history and facts of abortion in the U.S., but here’s some data for the layman (http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/roe30/beforeafter.html):

Abortion Before Roe:

• Before Roe, both legal and illegal abortion posed an alarming risk to women’s health.
• Before Roe, abortion was not a crime and was quite common in the U.S. during the 1700s and early 1800s. During this period, primitive methods such as physically striking a pregnant woman’s abdomen or introducing foreign objects into the uterus were used to induce abortion, frequently killing or injuring the woman  
• Before Roe, in the mid-1800s there was a campaign to criminalize abortion that stemmed from the medical profession’s desire to establish the supremacy of physicians over midwives and homeopaths and an increasing resentment towards the growing women’s rights movement
• Before Roe, laws passed across the country between 1860 and 1880 prohibited abortion at any point during pregnancy. However, illegal (back-alley) abortion remained widely available throughout the next century
• Before Roe, approximately 50% of all maternal deaths resulted from illegal abortion during the first half of the 20th century
• Before Roe, estimates of the annual number of illegal abortions in the 1950s and 60s range from 200,000 to 1.2 million, even though abortion procedures were unsafe and often life-threatening, in addition to being illegal
• Before Roe, during the 1950s and 60s, each year an estimated 160 to 260 women died from illegal abortions, while thousands more were seriously injured

Abortion WILL happen!

What the health care bill will provide if it passes (bottom line) (http://democrats.senate.gov/journal/entry.cfm?id=321095):

• It will end discrimination based on pre-existing condition. Insurance companies will have to take all comers.  They can’t deny you coverage or jack up your premiums based on your health status.
• End gender discrimination. Insurance companies will no longer be able to charge higher premiums based on gender.
• Cap out-of-pocket expenses. Insurance companies will have to abide by limits on what they can charge you for out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles and co-pays.
• Prevent dropping of coverage for seriously ill.  Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping, watering down, or refusing to renew your coverage when you get sick and need it most.
• Prohibit caps on total coverage. Insurance companies will no longer be able to limit the total amount of coverage you can receive.
• Allow children to stay on their parents insurance until age 26.
• Limit premium differences based on age. Currently insurance companies can charge older Americans up to 5 or 6 times as much as younger Americans.  The bill will limit that ratio to 3-1.
• Provide seniors with relief from prescription drug prices.  Seniors in the so-called “donut hole” will immediately receive a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs, and the size of the donut hole will be reduced by $500 in 2010.
• Provide tax credits for individuals, families, and small businesses.  The bill provides tax credits for small businesses, as well as middle- and low-income Americans, to help them afford health insurance.
• Make preventive care completely free. Insurance companies will be forced to fully cover – with no co-pays – preventive care like colonoscopies or mammograms.
• Significantly reduce the federal deficit. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the bill will reduce our deficit by $132 billion over the first decade, and by as much as $1.3 trillion by the end of the second decade.
• Create new health insurance Exchanges. The bill creates new health insurance Exchanges where individuals, families, and small businesses can compare plans and choose the one that works best for them.  These Exchanges will lower premiums by increasing competition and reducing administrative costs.  They will also provide consumers with unprecedented information.
• Extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund. The bill roots out waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and adds 9 years to the life of the Medicare trust fund.
• Control skyrocketing health care costs. The bill contains a wide range of cost-control measures, such as rewarding quality of care, and encouraging health care providers to work together.
• Protect patients’ choice of doctors. Individuals will be allowed to choose any participating  primary care provider, prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization before a woman sees an ob-gyn, and ensuring access to emergency care.
• Ensure Americans get value for their premium payments. Insurers won’t be allowed to gouge consumers or funnel dollars that should be spent on health care to line their executives’ pockets.  They will be required to spend 80 percent of small group and individual premiums and 85 percent of large group premiums dollars on health benefits or provide customers a rebate. 
• Expand community health centers. An immediate and substantial investment in community health centers will expand access to health care in communities where it is needed most.
• Lower premiums for retirees and employers. The bill creates access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees.  This re-insurance will help protect coverage while reducing premiums for employers and retirees.

In the end, what Obama wants to accomplish is to stop health care from behaving like a used car lot where dealers take advantage of weak individuals, and take care of the strong.  Currently health care functions without any regulation, and it deals with people’s lives.  We’re not talking about luxury purchases . . . this shit is the most serious internal issue in the United States.  The longer we stall the more people go into debt because of poorly managed health care, suffer because of poorly managed health care, and die because of poorly managed health care.  Bart, you’re officially an idiot.  Everyone else, we’re running out of time.  -antiwasp

Filed under: Abortion, Death, Economy, Health Care, Health Insurance, Politics, Time, Abortion, Bart Stupak, Economy, Health Care, Insurance, Politics

What Emergency Rooms Don’t Cover

Someone, that isn’t me, should make a comprehensive list of what hospitals don’t cover in emergency rooms.  It would probably be easy to do for any democrat working in a hospital, and almost as easy for a curious lay democrat with spare time.  I was thinking about it because of a Sanjay Gupta (CNN – maybe misspelled) report the other day.  He said if people receive large hospital bills after an emergency room visit they can go to a special website to see what large health insurers pay for the same service, and then try to negotiate with the hospital that charged them.  Then, I heard Rush Limbaugh (self-proclaimed ”El Rushbo”) say that people without insurance get the same care that people with insurance get through the use of emergency rooms.

So first, why is it that hospitals feel they can charge different people different rates for saving lives?  Life saving shouldn’t be for sale . . . fire fighting, police services, and military protection aren’t for sale – and certainly don’t cost different amounts for different Americans.  Why is hospital care for sale?  The system is broke and should be repaired at the federal level.

Second, I’m sure that I can’t get my AIDS prescription filled or get chemotherapy treatment in the emergency room.  I’m also certain that I can’t go to the emergency room and sign in for a yearly check up, so preventative care is out.  Rush is a douche-bag.

But seriously, if someone were to publish a list of care accessible in an emergency room it would knock the republican claims that everyone has access to the same care in the US.  -antiwasp

Filed under: Death, Health Insurance, Politics, Class Warefare, Emergency Room, Health Care, Health Insurance, Helath Care, Politics, Rush Limbaugh