The public option never looked so good! I have to admit that I also personally have a mini-fascination with Ms. Graham. There’s just something about her

UnitedHealth is seen by many analysts as a bellwether for the managed care sector. It is the largest U.S. health insurer by revenue, and the first to report earnings each quarter.

For the full year, UnitedHealth said it expects to earn $3.15 per share, at the high end of its previous guidance. Analysts expect $3.09 per share, on average.

via Profits Rise at UnitedHealth Group – NYTimes.com.

They’re making a killing literally and figuratively! No wonder they’re throwing gobs of blood money to lobbying and astroturfing against healthcare reform. UnitedHealth Group makes me sick.

Government is good. I’m happy to see the FDA looking into things like this.

Spurred by complaints of adverse events, the Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that they would launch a multi-year study to examine the potential impact on quality of life from Lasik laser-vision correction surgery. Lasik surgery permanently reshapes the cornea with a laser but consumers face a lack of reliable data about the frequency of troubling side-effects, such as dry eyes, halos, and blurry vision.

These are the reasons I’ve never seriously considered getting Lasik surgery done. As long as I can use eye glasses I’ll be fine with that. However, if the FDA finds that Lasik is safe for most people then that is still good for society as it upholds the constant progression of modern science.

I was reading this post on the AFL-CIO blog about all the young people under the age of 35 without health insurance. They are working mind you, but they are not insured. A couple of years ago I would have counted myself as one of them.

As the AFL-CIO report, “Young Workers: A Lost Decade,” recently found, some 31 percent of workers under age 35 have no health insurance–even if they have jobs. Millions more young workers have insufficient coverage. It’s a dangerous situation, and too many young workers would be left bankrupt if hit by an accident or unexpected illness.

Ari A. Matusiak, founder of Young Invincibles, a health reform advocacy group, says in a new AFL-CIO Point of View guest column that these young workers need health care reform now, and that they need to join together to fight for it.

They should be turning out en masse at any hearing on healthcare reform. The only reason teabaggers are attracting the attention they do is because they organized a little bit. I don’t care anything about the teabaggers, their opinions and views mean nothing to me, but what I do care about are these people without health insurance.

I have to commend these people.

The police said that 17 people were arrested after refusing to leave the lobby of an office building on Park Avenue where the insurance company Aetna has offices. They were charged with criminal trespass. In addition, the police said, three of those arrested were charged with obstructing governmental administration.

Also notice where Aetna has their offices, they’re on Park Ave! Surely they can’t afford to have such nice offices for their executives by actually paying out healthcare claims all the time!

I was waiting to see when the likes of these people would strike. This is from the Christian Coalition. Sigh…they might as well be on another planet as far as I'm concerned.

As the debate over health care reform continues it is becoming clear that the final result will ultimately come down to what a handful of lawmakers do.  And what they do will have a great deal to do with what they hear from you.

Specifically, members of Congress known as “moderates” and others known as “Blue Dog Democrats” represent the key in this debate.  And they need to hear from the people that they represent.

They need to know that Americans don’t want “reform” that would cause millions of Americans to lose their current insurance, forcing them on to a government plan.

They need to know that Americans oppose "reform" that would result in the rationing of health care for the elderly or disabled.

Tell them that Americans are opposed to any “reform” that pays for health insurance for illegal aliens – and that we oppose spending one dime of taxpayer money to subsidize abortion.

Let them know that we want REAL reform that makes health care more affordable, offers more choices to consumers and protects our liberties.

Don’t wait. Conservatives gained a great deal of momentum in August, but we must keep it up.

Click here to view our list of priority legislators in the fight against Obamacare.

Let them hear from you today.
Sincerely,
Roberta Combs

Posted via email from Jason’s posterous

Disney of all corporations should be leading the charge in the current debate for reforming the nation’s dysfunctional healthcare system. Instead they’re asking their employees to foot the bill for healthcare insurance premiums. Why aren’t they organizing and going to town hall meetings to wage war with the likes of Cigna, Humana, GHI,  Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Sheild and &c.?

The clash pits image-conscious Walt Disney Co. against Unite Here Local 11, an aggressive union known for its street-theater militancy. On Thursday, union supporters dressed as Snow White, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters staged a mass “sick-in” while Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger was scheduled to speak inside the convention center.

Local 11 says the company, which took in $4.4 billion in net income last year, has betrayed Walt Disney’s family-friendly ethos by asking 2,100 employees of three hotels to pay a share of their premiums if they seek company healthcare.

They really object to the right-wing and corporatists in the United States attacking their system! I have to take their side on this one.

You can't be serious.

On Wednesday night, Rep. Joe Wilson [R, SC-2], shouted "You lie!" at President Obama when he said that the healthcare bill would not cover illegal immigrants. "The supporters of the government takeover of healthcare and liberals who want to give healthcare to illegals are using my opposition as an excuse to distract from the critical questions being raised about this poorly conceived plan," Wilson said the next day in a campaign fundraising video. However, in 2003 [under Bush], Wilson voted to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants' healthcare. The vote came on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011 authorizing $250,000 annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants. The program has been extended through 2009 and there is currently a bipartisan bill in Congress to make it permanent.

Posted via email from Jason’s posterous