Health

Foxes In The Hen House

May 4, 2009

Obama has promised healthcare reform. It seems likely that we actually will get reform. But, reform is a neutral word. The question is: What will the reform look like? Over the past weekend I heard that none of the Congressional committees holding hearings on the subject had scheduled any witnesses who supported a single payer […]

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The Costs Of Bipartisanship

April 27, 2009

Bipartisanship sounds like an admirable quality. Is it? When Obama wanted some Regressive Senators to sign on to his stimulus bill he had to make some deals. One of the deals was with Susan Collins. She thought $780 million for pandemic control was better spent on tax cuts. Obama caved in the name of bipartisanship. […]

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The Catfish Award

April 9, 2009

I am initiating a new, virtual award. It is dedicated to our endless supply of bottom feeders. The difficult part is, and will continue to be, deciding among the superabundance of candidates. If I had the time this could be an hourly award. Okay, who has the honor of being the first recipient?

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Don’t Get Your Hopes Up

March 16, 2009

Actually, hope is a good thing. It’s good psychologically. It’s even good for the economy. It’s just that a systemic, global meltdown isn’t ready to disappear quite so quickly. It has been said that expectations are the largest factor in determining the ups and downs of the economy. A little hope is giving us the […]

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Odds And Ends

March 11, 2009

There are so many issues on which to comment that I can’t keep up. Each one deserves at least a book, as an antidote to all of the nonsense clogging up the airwaves, cable, the Internet and the dead tree media. Note: I have a special video treat for everyone staying to the end of […]

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An Assessment

February 4, 2009

My last post mentioned six people said to be under consideration to replace Tom Daschle as Obama’s nominee for HHS and maybe White House health honcho. I promised to find out how they stood on a single-payer system. Ed pushed me a little by reminding me of his laziness. This post should be considered no […]

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One For All

January 5, 2009

Go ahead. Everyone who doesn’t really know the meaning of the word, shout the word socialism at the top of your lungs. Come on, get it over with because, whatever the untutored may think, the subject of this post has nothing whatsoever to do with that awful word. Anyone thinking that national healthcare is somehow […]

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Ripping Off the Geezers

December 18, 2008

Once again lobbyists for the health insurance industry have gotten their way. It is impossible to miss or ignore all of the commercials on television touting the Medicare plus plans. They go by many different names but are basically plans that claim to offer seniors more services than traditional Medicare plans. They usually offer some […]

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Pharma’s Market

October 23, 2008

Drug companies claim they test their products. Sometimes that may be true. For psychopharmaceuticals it is a baldfaced lie. You want to paint your living room. You can’t decide between beige and blue. One way to make up your mind would be to apply a few strokes of beige on one wall and a few […]

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Here Come De . . . Doctor?

July 14, 2008

Having been treated by at least 28 physicians and surgeons in the past three to four years, the subject is close to my heart, and my spine, and my artificial hip, and, and, and. Some are absolutely wonderful but 50 percent of all medical students were graduated in the lower half of their class. Not […]

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