Single Payer Health Care: what your doctor read this week
Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 09:44:05 PM PDT
Several months ago I subscribed to Medscape, a weekly web medical journal. Subscriptions are limited to the profession, but I lied and said that I was a nutritionist, so I get this publication in my inbox every week. It's full of interesting articles on various medical issues; my main areas of interest are usually endocrinology and diabetes, and nephrology.
This week's lead editorial is by Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program. I have permission from PNHP to reproduce this here in full, as most Kossacks probably do not have access to a Medscape subscription. I have followed this with a few excerpts from the comments from both health care professionals and laypeople. This is what your doctor is reading this week.
Bush Administration: Embassy Workers Can't See Obama
Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 11:18:42 AM PDT
The Washington Post reported today, in an article by Karen DeYoung, that the U.S. Embassy in Berlin has instructed Foreign Service workers not to attend Barack Obama's speech in Berlin this evening.
What should I ask Dino Rossi?
Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 01:28:10 PM PDT
You aren't going to believe this one. I am having a hard time believing it, myself. But when our legislative district Democrats' chair sends out an official email with this information, I have to believe it. Come to our next meeting if you want to really have some fun: Dino Rossi is coming. I need some good suggestions for questions I can ask him.
Health Care: The Washington State Platform Plank
Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 01:19:36 PM PDT
The following is the final text of the Washington State Democratic Party's platform plank on health care as passed by the Washington State Democratic Convention on Saturday, June 14. I worked on this health care plank from the beginning. The main group of us who worked on the plank initially were a doctor from Physicians for a National Health Plan, a nurse, and a chronically ill patient (me). What you see is the result.
This will be sent forward to the national convention.
John McCain wants to kill me.
Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 08:20:17 PM PDT
John McCain wants to kill me.
He doesn't know who I am, has never met me, and has probably never heard my name. Nonetheless, he wants to kill me.
Caucusing for Obama (again) in WA
Sat May 17, 2008 at 06:15:35 AM PDT
Here we go again. Today, all over Washington state, delegates will gather in their Congressional District caucuses and caucus for their choice of candidate. As before, I expect that we Obama people will outnumber the Clinton people by a fair margin.
Today I'm also running for national delegate, one of 89 women in my district to run for the 2 female slots we have. I am handing out M&Ms packages with stickers on them that read "My Real Name for National Obama Delegate"; I spent several hours with labels and 300 packages of M&Ms the other night, sticking two labels on each package.
Urgent! Vote for a Kossack, help Gregoire!
Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 10:14:32 AM PDT
Local TV station KIRO TV has an online poll out, asking whether people want Chris Gregoire, our fantastic Democratic governor (and a Kossack in good standing), in 2008, or her rival Dino Rossi. Rossi is leading hugely. This cannot be left to stand. Please go vote for Chris Gregoire in this poll, and pass it on to your Democratic friends. Show her some love.
Sorry to make this diary so short; violates the length rule, I know. But I thought it was most needful to get this info out there ASAP.
"How long can I afford to live?"
Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 03:51:26 PM PDT
How long can I afford to live?
It's a question I ask myself over and over, one that keeps me awake nights. It's a question I've asked my beloved husband. It's a question that is entirely reasonable to ask if you're an American in 2008 with a chronic, expensive-to-treat illness that causes you to depend on medical technology for your very life.
It's a question I want to ask every significant presidential contender, and have him or her answer for his or her health care proposal: How long can I afford to live under your system?
[RANT] Who deserves health care?
Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 09:11:17 PM PDT
I came across
a diary the other day that you probably missed. In it, the poster describes the plight of a guy in Bellingham, Washington, who is still working at age 76, pays $900 per month of his $950 take-home pay for room and board, and has $50 left each month for things like shoes, clothes, transportation, and prescription medication. He's on 20 or so drugs to control diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition.
With the new Medicare Part D, he's not able to afford all of those drugs. He has to pick and choose. Does he treat his heart condition this month, or keep his blood sugars under control so his eyes and kidneys don't get ruined? Or is he going to get to see a doctor this month, and pay a co-pay instead of getting his prescriptions filled? It's Russian roulette to skip medications for these conditions. I know; I share two of his three.
Does he deserve single-payer health care, and a prescription plan that would get him the drugs he needs at little to no out-of-pocket cost to him? Damn right he does.
More below the fold.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Discharge During Wartime
Mon Sep 26, 2005 at 04:18:02 PM PDT
For years, the Pentagon has lied and stated that the decrease in gay discharges during wartime is due only to "random fluctuations in the data"; now
a handbook from 1999 has surfaced that states exactly what the policy is. See point 21 on page 34 (of 151) of
this pdf, which states that
if discharge [for homosexual conduct] is not requested prior to the unit's receipt of alert notification, discharge is not authorized. Member will enter AD [active duty] with the unit." (The first link has it backward; I looked at the document itself to get the language.) Request for discharge is not up to the soldier, but to the unit commander; if s/he delays making a request for discharge based on the soldier's sexual orientation, it is apparently just fine with the Pentagon if someone gay goes to war.
Ask. Tell. You're still going to Iraq. There'll be plenty of time to dishonorably discharge you later, if you live.
Hypocrites.
Kossack Evac Housing
Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 12:40:25 PM PDT
New Orleans and the surrounding area are still recovering from Katrina. Now here comes Rita, aimed (apparently) right at Houston and Galveston.
Some Kossacks from either area may be in need of a place to which to evacuate. We are not close - we're west of Seattle - but we have room for a couple or a small family.
There are probably other Kossacks thinking the same thing. If you can offer a place to which to evacuate, or temporary (or permanent) housing in case the worst happens, post here. If you need such, post here. Let's connect.
I'll start in the first comment, below.
FIRE! How my house didn't burn down yesterday [poll]
Wed Aug 17, 2005 at 07:06:07 AM PDT
I've been unemployed since late January, when my last contract ended. Given that working in my field (software QA) makes me miserable, my husband and I decided it would be best for me not to continue working in that field. I've therefore been looking for other opportunities, but haven't found anything yet.
That I was unemployed and at home yesterday may well have saved my house, barn, land, and everything therein, including my dogs and cats.
Read more below the fold.
Should I run for Congress? [with poll]
Thu Jul 28, 2005 at 10:28:13 PM PDT
I live in Kitsap County, WA, in the 6th Congressional District. We are currently represented in Congress by Norm Dicks, one of the fifteen Democrats who decided to vote for CAFTA, despite many letters, telephone calls, and faxes from his constituents begging him not to do this.
I think he needs a challenger.
SCOTUS: Did we just win one?
Mon May 23, 2005 at 10:19:36 AM PDT
I am not a lawyer, and I sometimes have difficulty parsing legalese.
That said, I think the states and the little guys may just have won one with this decision:
LINGLE V. CHEVRON U.S. A. INC. (04-163)
363 F.3d 846, reversed and remanded.
...The Hawaii Legislature passed Act 257, which limits the rent oil companies may charge dealers leasing company-owned service stations. Respondent Chevron U.S. A. Inc....brought this suit seeking a declaration that the rent cap effected an unconstitutional taking of its property and an injunction against application of the cap to its stations....the District Court held that the rent cap effects an uncompensated taking in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments because it does not substantially advance Hawaii's asserted interest in controlling retail gas prices. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.
Held: Agins' "substantially advance[s]" formula is not an appropriate test for determining whether a regulation effects a Fifth Amendment taking. Pp. 6--19.
Source here; more below the fold.
GAY HATE MURDER: Yuma AZ Man Dead
Thu May 19, 2005 at 12:03:26 PM PDT
A friend of mine who is currently living in Arizona scared up these bits of information from local sources.
23 year old Amancio Corrales was found dead in the Colorado River on May 6. He may have been killed for being a gay male cross-dresser and flirting with a Marine while dressed as a woman.
The Yuma Sun has few details. The site GayInYuma has details that don't appear in the newspaper article, which it claims were confirmed by Mr. Corrales' family.
More below, but it's not for the squeamish.
Go Boxer! S. 778 Protects Birth Control Access
Fri May 13, 2005 at 06:51:31 AM PDT
Barbara Boxer, with the co-sponsorship of Frank Lautenberg, has introduced S. 778, the Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2005. According to an email I received this morning, this bill:
would require a pharmacy that receives payments or has contracts under the medicare and medicaid programs to ensure that all valid prescriptions are filled without unnecessary delay or interference.
This specifically means contraceptive prescriptions as well as all others.
The bill's here, at thomas.
More below the fold.
The Bush Fish
Wed May 11, 2005 at 08:30:15 AM PDT
Their motto is "For love of God and country".
As far as I can tell, this is real:
From BushFish.org.
