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Common Sense Health Care; Individualism or the Commonweal

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org Democrats dance in the streets and declare success.  An ABC News-Washington Post poll released on October 18, 2009, found that only twenty percent of the population defines themselves Republican.  Progressive assert this result will work in the their favor if the public option is to pass.  However, the now ecstatic portion of the electorate discounts the "disconnect" discussed in the aforementioned study and also addressed in a Pew Research Center report published only a week earlier.  The overjoyed overlooked the Independents (42%), the leaner's, Left and Right (39%), and the less than inspirational number who proclaim themselves proud Democrats (33%).   For these individuals, the topic of health care reform is a complex issue.  Trust in Congress is near nil?.  People are engaged in the subject, albeit a bit overwhelmed.  Sixty-six percent (66%) say they do not understand the proposed policies.  Personal matters move most people, more so than Party politics does.  Possibly, that is the problem, or the predicament that precludes authentic medical insurance reform in America.

"I'm Dying;" Please Ponder My Plea

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org I did not know of him or of his condition until today.  When he first approached me, he assured me, I did not need to assist him.  He was well taken care of.  kwickkick wanted to help me help myself.  Indeed, he hoped to lend a hand to all who reside in America.  He had only his story, a reminder of what is most important to a person when they learn they are about to pass.  Kwickkick offered his plea, to you, and to me, and asked us to ponder. As he shared, I thought of how the compassionate chap, kwickkick could have been me.  However, he did not know of my situation.  As I said, we had just met.  The 34-year-old man, who discovered just hours earlier, he has but little time to live, is a contract employee in the sales division at software company.  He is as many skilled workers in the United States.  kwickkick is one of the forty-five, or more, millions of Americans without health insurance.  Too many of whom understand that the lack of medical coverage is a death sentence waiting to happen.  For kwickkick, the decree has been delivered.  It was as he expected and thus he penned, I'm Dying. [Please click on the his statement to read his tale which appears just below.]

"Right of Conscience" Protections; Be Patient

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org She said, "If one is to pass, it will have to be my sister."  Jennifer would not allow a baby to die.  Although the newborn had yet to take a single breath, and was still safely tucked away in her mother's belly, Jenn decided the infant must live.  Had she been an employee of one of more than 584,000 health-care organizations her word would have been considered a "right of conscience." Jenn would not be held responsible if she refused to treat the soon-to-be Mom who was also her sibling.

Gardasil; Truth and Consequences. Merck Stops Lobby

© copyright 2007 Betsy L. Angert

Please view this Gardasil Commercial. Contemplate the truer concerns.

On February 3, 2007, I expressed my distress in an exposé titled, Texas Mandates STD Vaccination for Elementary Age Schoolgirls. In my writing I discussed the executive order imposed by Texas Governor Rick Perry. This Christian conservative concluded young schoolgirls, ages eleven and twelve, must be inoculated against cervical cancer. A series, of three shots, each costing $120 would be required. The consumer would be forced to pay for this state-imposed immunization. Actually, the child would not, or could not possibly purchase such services. Parents would bear the financial burden. The young girls might carry another costly load. Drugs have side effects. The more effective Pap Smears do not. Nonetheless, profits are on the line. I know, you thought saving lives was the greater concern.

Health, A Right or a Privilege For The Few ©

On September 14, 2006, the Commonwealth Fund revealed the results of a recent study on Health Insurance. The news was disheartening though not surprising to me. Nearly nine out of ten workers seeking Individual Health Care coverage do not find a plan that they can afford. Ultimately, these persons decide to forfeit medical protection. They hope and pray that they will stay healthy. Such is the state of the union in the United States of America; it has been my state of affairs more often than not.

Currently, in 2006, sixty-one [61] percent of American firms offer health care benefits. Only a year ago sixty-nine [69] percent offered such prized perks. However, as health care costs increase employers forego providing this “luxury.” Since 2000, premiums have increased eighty-seven percent; wages twenty percent. Employers are only willing or able to extend themselves so far. Corporate executives say something has to give; they have concluded it can no longer be them. Thus, more and more individual citizens are seeking health care coverage and finding they cannot afford it.

Miracle of Medicine Kills President Garfield and More ©

I have long been fascinated by the juxtaposition of miracle and malady as it relates to medicine. As modern physicians assess the findings of an autopsy, they too ponder. Scientists discovered President James A. Garfield did not die from an assassin’s bullet; medical science killed him. Currently, in an exhibit at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the perforated vertebrae of our last log cabin President is on display. This show offers photographs and other images that tell the Garfield story, or so we are lead to believe. I think what is evident is only a small portion of the tale. For me, what we are able to see is not the most important part of the parable.

Granted, observers of the Garfield collection can view the three pieces of spine removed from the body of the James Garfield. They can evaluate the placement and path of the red plastic probe, which represents the pellet that pierced the body of the President. All while onlookers are asked reflect upon what was not known on July 2, 1881, the day Charles Julius Guiteau shot the late President. It is hoped that they realize that if the same occurred today, the President would have lived. According to a professor of surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a medical historian, Dr. Ira Rutkow, “Garfield had such a non-lethal wound. In today’s world, he would have gone home in a matter of two or three days.” I inquire, would he?