Some days the stuff I read makes me think my eyeballs are going to bleed.
This afternoon after a long bike ride along the Hudson River, I returned home to read on Open Left that Matt Stoller can come out of his house again. He's been semi housebound for a few months.
Matt wrote in Open Left that he had to put his life on hold for about four months while he was uninsured and worried that one wrong move and he might find himself in the E.R. which of course could lead to financial ruin. Now that he's insured again, he can do things like swim and play baseball because he got lucky and scored some affordable health insurance.
This really hit home for me because I love simple pleasures like riding my bicycle. In George Bush's America, you'd be well advised to follow Matt's lead and not do much more than be very careful, if you're uninsured despite Mr. Bush's reminder to the 47 million uninsured Americans that basic healthcare is readily available in local emergency room across the United States.
Not so fast, Matt. Don't hop on that surfboard so quickly with such abandon, just because you got yourself some junk insurance
For most Americans, private, for-profit insurance in the United States, is a guarantee of absolutely nothing. Just ask Jane Hamsher.
Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake has been bravely writing for some time about battling breast cancer.
Jane has recurrent breast cancer. Thankfully, I don't know much about recurrent cancer but I would expect that the treatment involves lots of tests--CAT Scans, MRIs and the like.
Well though Jane is privileged to be insured by Blue Cross, she is in collections fighting who's responsible to pay for a diagnostic test.
As I said, being insured is a guarantee of absolutely nothing.
It’s about time. I’m one of those lucky people who has insurance. And Blue Cross has decided to deny the $4000 test I had last fall which determined I had invasive breast cancer as "not medically necessary." I am, of course, fighting it. Meanwhile, I’m being harassed by phone calls from a company called Grant & Weber. They are a collection agency that "specializes in healthcare accounts receivable resolution." Which means basically terrorizing sick people and threatening them with financial ruin who can’t afford healthcare in George Bush’s America.
http://www.firedoglake.com/...
But Tony Snow, on the other hand, is blessed to be covered by the Federal Employee Benefits Health Program.
Tony knows he is a very lucky American. At the press briefing where Mr. Bush announced his replacement, Tony bragged about all the CAT scans he'll be receiving.
As far as my health, I'm doing fine. I know a lot of folks have been thinking, oh, come on, it's really the cancer. No, cancer has nothing to do with this decision. I finished chemo two weeks ago today. We did CAT scans and MRIs in the last week and it indicates that the chemo did exactly what we hoped it would do, which is hold serve. The tumors that we've been tracking have not grown. There are no new tumors. And that's what you want. I'm going to be speaking later today with my oncologist. We'll be doing what's called a maintenance dose of chemotherapy just to keep whacking this thing.
As I described I think upon returning from the cancer surgery, I'm in one of these positions now where we're going to try to turn cancer into a chronic disease rather than a fatal disease. And fortunately, that's one of the things you can do with modern medicine. We'll be doing CAT scans and other scans every three months, just to stay on top of everything. And it certainly gives us the ability to respond quickly to any medical emergencies that may arise. But right now I'm feeling great. I've finally put weight back on. I feel strong. The hair will come back. The President was making fun of my hair before.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
God, it's hard to tell a sick person he's so full of shit it's oozing right out of his smarmy, lying mouth, but it is. And as he spews garbage other patients like Jane are in collections.
But this guy Snow is going to help others. Here's a case study in how a compassionate conservative or whatever bullshit they call themselves these days, becomes an advocate for cancer patients.
MR. SNOW: No, I think the administration probably thinks cancer is a really lousy thing and -- look, I know I'm going to spend a lot of time on cancer activism. I can't tell you exactly how it's going to work, but I've been very lucky. I've been lucky I work at the White House, I've had the use of diagnostic care. I'd like to find ways to help those who, for whatever reason, don't get the -- don't get diagnostic treatment, don't take care of themselves, may not have the resources that I've had at my disposal. So I'll look for ways to try to make it possible for people to get healthy. That does not mean that I'm going to be necessarily banging the tin cup for federal funding. It may be that I'll go out, try and raise some money myself to try to help people directly.
Well Tony, back at Firedoglake, Jane Hamsher and those countless Americans who have Murder By Spreadsheet insurance, just want the same tests you get. Then they want these tests paid for, just as yours are paid for.
Your healthcare bills must be enormous, Mr. Snow. Are you in collections?
You fighting your insurance company for chemotherapy your doctor ordered and then the insurance company denied?
One final question. Will Larry Craig the disgraced and now resigned Senator from Idaho be allowed to keep his Senatorial health benefits?