Health Insurance

Why Young People Must Take Responsibility For Having Health Insurance!

Ronald 6 Comments

It is good to hear that about 28 percent of those people signing up for ObamaCare are between the ages of 18-34 years of age. ObamaCare cannot work without a large percentage of participants being young people, but beyond that fact, young people need to understand that having health insurance is as much, if not more important, as having auto insurance, and is more important than having a fancy car to impress other people, or have all the “bells and whistles” on their cell phone, or feeling a need to spend large amounts of money on smoking, drinking, and gambling!

Maturity is required, and this author wishes to give two examples of young people, both in their mid 20s, who like most young people, probably figured that nothing could go wrong health wise, that they were protected from potential harm because they were young and that bad things only happen to other people, and mostly older.

Both have been students of mine, and one lost three years of moving ahead because of a terrible auto accident, which thank goodness, he has recovered from, and moved ahead in his life.

The other student lost a few years when he was overwhelmed by an illness that was never quite diagnosed, seemed to be the beginnings of multiple sclerosis, but has now gone into remission or disappeared completely without explanation.

These two examples demonstrate why every young person MUST afford health care coverage, even if one must deny himself or herself other personal pleasures of life, as one can never know what the future holds, no matter what one’s age!

So when the right wing tells young people to avoid signing up for ObamaCare, they are really saying that they do not give a damn about your health and well being, and that, in itself, is enough reason why no sane person should ever back conservatives or Republicans who have an agenda that does not include protection of the health of millions of Americans!

Time For Boycott Of Walmart By All Decent Consumers!

Ronald 10 Comments

Walmart is the largest corporation in the world, and the most arrogant of all corporations, as it mistreats its workers in the most horrible manner possible.

It pays its unfortunate workers a wage inadequate for anyone to survive on, and allows taxpayers to subsidize health insurance and food stamps for its workers, because it is too cheap to have concern about the welfare of its own staff.

Why should taxpayers have to take care of $9,000 costs for each worker, when Walmart makes billions of dollars annually in profit, and its four heirs have the assets in total of the bottom 60 percent of the entire American population?

And Walmart has the gall and nerve to have its own workers arrested around the nation, due to their protests about their mistreatment, and the requirement that they work on Thanksgiving or lose their jobs.

Walmart needs to be held to account, as no corporation should be permitted to act in a fascist manner against its own employees, reminiscent of the auto industry in the 1930s before unionization took hold, and changed the lives of workers by the growing power of labor unions, which despite their faults and shortcomings, made for the growth of the middle class.

Now labor unions are in disarray, since the administration of Ronald Reagan, and too many Americans are only obsessed with purchase of “bargains”, so much so that they ignore the plight of Walmart and other workers, and are even willing to assault and kill each other over material goods that are mostly not necessary, but only desired.

The American culture is in deep trouble when materialism is in charge, and workers are being abused in the holy name of capitalism at all costs.

So all decent Americans who are left in this nation need to boycott Walmart until they change their policies toward their workers, and stop making these workers depend on taxpayers for basic benefits, rather then the company which employs them,.

And that includes not only Walmart, but also Target, and McDonalds, and the multitude of other corporations that are smaller versions of the monopolistic Walmart! Pay a living wage and benefits or suffer the consequences of a national boycott by all decent consumers who are left in America!

Lies, Deception, Fear, Hypocrisy Being Utilized By Right Wing To Destroy ObamaCare

Ronald 14 Comments

There have been so many lies, deceptions, fears, and hypocrisy stoked by the right wing in America to destroy ObamaCare before it goes into effect.

The argument that ObamaCare has caused massive loss of full time employment is a total lie, as that has been going on since the Great Recession of 2008.

The argument that the individual mandate will force people to pay a fine, without any way to avoid it, is a lie, as no one will be prosecuted if they do not pay it, with the only purpose being to convince Americans of the importance of being insured for their health.

The argument that prices for health insurance will double and triple is a lie, as government subsidies will be provided for people up to four times the poverty income for a family of four.

Many ignorant, prejudiced people, many of whom are racists, will not associate with anything connected to Barack Obama, even with proof that it would save them money. It has already been shown to be true that people tied to an ideological commitment, are willing to lie openly on television about their situations in an interview arranged by Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, who has no trouble lying through his teeth, exploiting any situation to fulfill his need to enrich himself, and can look straight in the camera as he knows that he, and people who he knows are lying and deceiving, go right ahead and do so on his television show. And this is common all the time on radio talk shows of the right wing, and on Fox News Channel, by people determined to make sure that tens of millions of Americans have no ability to have coverage for their children to age 26; make sure that pre-existing conditions not be covered for millions of children and adults; and make sure that the closing of the “donut hole” for senior citizens on their prescription medications not be covered.

This is class warfare, trying to turn the 85 percent who have health care against the concept that the other 15 percent should have the same right to health care at reasonable cost.

This is the right wing Heritage Foundation, headed by extremist right winger Jim DeMint, formerly Senator from South Carolina, hiding the fact that it was that group which proposed what is now ObamaCare in 1993, as an alternative to HillaryCare, the Clinton health care plan, which was more extreme in its approach to health care, than the plan now law, which is also so much like RomneyCare in Massachusetts. So a Republican plan adopted by Barack Obama is suddenly “socialism”, which it is not in any sense.

How can one look at this, except to call it the BIG LIE technique, utilized in dictatorships, by such luminaries as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and others as the method to expand their power at the detriment of the population?

Labor Day: A Day To Celebrate Workers And Unions Which Gave Us What We Have Today!

Ronald 2 Comments

Today is Labor Day, first declared by President Grover Cleveland in 1894, to commemorate the contributions and sacrifices of American workers in the age of unbridled industrial capitalism in the Gilded Age.

Too many Americans are unaware or uninformed of what labor conditions were like in the Gilded Age, and how the formation of labor unions brought about the basic labor rights that we all have today, nearly 120 years later, due to the blood and sacrifices of workers who were brutalized by corporations and government in the process of bringing about reforms.

We do not appreciate how much better our work conditions are now than they were back then, although labor unions have declined, and corporations and state and local governments have done everything they can to stifle worker freedom and decent conditions, as the minimum wage has not gone up with the cost of living, and many millions of workers have no sick leave, overtime pay, and lack health insurance benefits, due to conservatives and Republicans who have always fought against working people and labor, in the name of big business monopoly, both then and continuing to this moment.

We cannot thank labor enough for having built up this nation to the greatness it has today, and we need to honor their sacrifices and contributions, and resist corporate encroachment, which would love to return America to the Gilded Age!

The True Causes Of Poverty, And Do Not Judge Harshly Nor Forget Our Responsibility To Those Who Are Poor!

Ronald 6 Comments

Despite all of the condemnation and harsh judgments that are too often expressed toward poor people, it is a sin of the Judeo-Christian ethic to have such thoughts, and to forget our responsibility to the less fortunate among us!

We must never forget the true causes of poverty, which include:

Job Loss
Single Motherhood
Working a Minimum Wage Job
Major Medical Illness Or Tragic Accident
Outsourcing into a lower wage job
Disability
Death of Spouse
Divorce

All of the above can happen to anyone, no matter how much fortunate people try to deny it. And to abandon people in trouble by cutting food stamps, wanting to get rid of the minimum wage rather than raise it, trying to deny health insurance to those who need it, not trying to make housing conditions better for the needy, and basically dismissing them as an annoyance to be avoided, is to work against the basic tenets of what Judaism and Christianity promote!

There is no greater contribution one can make than to work to deal with the scourge of poverty, and in America, there is no excuse for its continuation, affecting one out of six Americans!

Sad Independence Day: Reality Of Assault On Rights Of Women, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, And Those Less Fortunate

Ronald 5 Comments

As we celebrate the 237th Independence Day, and appreciate what ir represents, there is an unprecedented attack going on in many states and among Republican members of Congress to take away the hard earned rights of various groups of vulnerable Americans, and to deny the freedom and liberty that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights represents!

Women’s right to their reproductive lives and their fundamental health are being assaulted by Republican state legislatures and Governors in a rapid, non transparent way, and shutting off opposition in states including Texas, Ohio, North Carolina at present, and in other states in the recent past, including Virginia, North Dakota, Arkansas and Kansas!

The attempt to deny equality of rights and privileges to gay Americans is in full swing in many of the “Red” or Republican states, and the level of hate against these groups by political and religious spokesmen is unprecedented!

The fight against dealing with the presence of immigrants who would have to meet strict standards to move toward citizenship, and with increased border security and building of a wall between Mexico and the United States, is in full swing, including assault on the courageous Republicans trying to resolve this issue in a fair and just manner, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has been subjected to extremist Tea Party types who have declared war on him.

The move of many Southern states toward creating new barriers for people to vote, with the aim to cut the vote of minorities, the elderly, the disabled and college students, is in full swing forward since the Supreme Court ruled that there was no more racism or discrimination in voting in those states, when it is clear what the motivation of those states really is! The states of Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas are already, rapidly, working toward new restrictions, free to do so, in their minds, because of what the Republican Supreme Court majority did last week!

And, of course, 23 states, at least, are refusing to expand Medicaid for those less fortunate, who have no health care coverage as things stand, except in emergency situations in emergency rooms, at a much more costly fee, and not necessarily available to all!

So the battle for freedom, human and civil rights, justice, and equality continues, even as we can celebrate the great experiment of the United States, seen as a paragon around the world, but still needing a lot of work to bring about the “more perfect Union”!

The Immolation Of Marco Rubio And Bob McDonnell For Vice President!

Ronald Leave a comment

Two so called “front runners” for the Vice Presidential nomination on the Republican ticket with Mitt Romney have proceeded to immolate themselves in the past two weeks.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio became the co-sponsor of the Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed any employer on ethical or religious grounds to refuse to cover any medical procedure that he did not agree with on a health insurance plan. It was defeated by the Democratic majority, joined by outgoing Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who saw this legislation as the “last straw”, and decided to retire from the Senate in frustration at the total stalemate and gridlock that the Senate has become. By Rubio being so active in promotion of this outrageous amendment, it effectively kills him off as a potential GOP running mate, unless Mitt Romney proves to be totally crazy!

Meanwhile, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia finally backed off on proposed legislation in his state that would have required any woman who wanted to undergo an abortion to have an invasive ultrasound vaginal probe exam, with the bill changed only to take away the invasive aspect of the legislation. This crazy idea makes Virginia look as if it is back in the Dark Ages, and destroys any semblance of McDonnell being a good running mate for Romney, unless again Romney goes totally insane!

It could be that both Rubio and McDonnell perceive that Romney cannot win the election, and that therefore, they would not want to associate themselves with his campaign, but if that is really believed, it gives both of them much more credit for their intelligence and foresight than they deserve!

The George Washington University Debate Between Ann Coulter And Lawrence O’Donnell

Ronald 4 Comments

In a rare case of a conservative and liberal commentator agreeing to debate each other in a public gathering, Sunday night witnessed a confrontation of conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter and MSNBC talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

The audience, mostly college students, was shocked when Ann Coulter stated that college students should not be able to vote, and proposed raising the voting age to 26, when students have to pay for their own medical insurance!

She also stated that it would be better if women did not vote, as in every national election since the 1950s, women tend to vote Democratic, and claimed that only in 1964, would the Republicans have lost if the women’s vote had not existed. Of course, she forgot that Republicans elected since the 1950s included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush!

Many other issues were discussed, with the audience clearly in O’Donnell’s camp, but the above points were the most controversial assertions by Coulter.

Coulter continued to be consistent in being controversial in her views, setting out to provoke the audience, and smiling constantly through her purposeful attacks and assertions. This woman LOVES to be controversial, but one has to wonder if she really believes anything she says, or just expresses it to make money selling confrontational books with controversial titles and book covers!

Coulter seems more like an entertainer than a political expert, with her views often inconsistent, and working at bring outrageous and rude!