Whether you voted for Obama or not (I did not) this is a subject that affects all of us in some way. It is already trickling down to my work place. The new law puts in place the obligation of employers to provide health insurance to even part-time employees that work only 30 hours a week. The choices then become, for the employer to reduce the part-time help to roughly 20-25 hours per week (in effect reducing their income and possibly forcing some to get a second PT job), or just simply reducing the work force (raising unemployment levels and increasing the work assignments to the remaining full-time or salaried staff).
Please read the info below and other information you find on line to educate yourself about your situation. Some mighty interesting times are coming.
(This has NOT been a paid policitcal announcement and I endorse this post).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Policy Patriots -
It's Official: More than Half Won't Be Able to Stay in Their Employer Health Plan. If you listened to the campaign rhetoric during the 2008 election, you could be forgiven for thinking that health reform would mainly mean insuring people who cannot afford insurance on their own; in the process there would be no tax increases or benefit cuts for the middle class; and, as President Obama repeatedly stated, "If you like the plan you are in, you can keep it!"
Turns out, the reality is 180 degrees different. Things are likely to change least for low-income people. About 18 million of them will be herded into Medicaid. But with no new doctors or nurses, they will find it more difficult to access care than ever before and, according to a new NCPA brief analysis, will likely show up at hospital rooms in increasing numbers.
Middle-class families who already have insurance will see the biggest change:
Within the next few months, senior citizens will begin receiving notices that their Medicare Advantage plans are being cancelled, and for those who continue in Medicare Advantage, they will see premium increases and benefit cuts. Over the next decade, 7.4 million Medicare Advantage enrollees will lose coverage they would have otherwise had.
By September, between one and two million Americans with limited benefit insurance will lose coverage because their insurance doesn't comply with the "no lifetime limit on benefits" regulation in ObamaCare.
What about "Grandfathered" Health Plans? According to the Administration, health reform would grandfather some health plans and, therefore, spare them from onerous, cost-increasing regulatory burdens. Unfortunately, the news isn't good on that front. Under a "mid-range" estimate, more than half of all workers will not be in grandfathered within three years.
Under the most likely scenario, 87 million Americans will no longer be able to retain their current health plan. In fact, the number could be as high as 117 million. Small businesses will be especially hard hit and as many as 80 percent will lose their grandfathered status by 2013.
From the Administration's own statements, it now appears that "grandfathering" was never intended to be a long-term phenomenon. Eventually, all firms will lose their grandfathered status and, in turn, employees will lose the plans they liked.
...And You Could Be Dropped Anyway. As NCPA President John C. Goodman's recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal made clear, even if you are in a grandfathered plan, your employer could drop your coverage anyway. Although estimates vary, the number of workers estimated to lose their employer-provided insurance is incredible. Consider:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that between nine and ten million workers will lose their coverage.
The Medicare Chief Actuary predicts that fourteen million employees will be dropped.
Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin estimates the number at thirty-five million.
So, what's the bottom line? Because of ObamaCare, the United States could experience a complete restructuring of the economy, with firms dissolving and emerging solely based on government subsidies. Of course, that will means that millions of American workers won't be able to keep the plan they have now.
Educate Your Friends & Family! ObamaCare isn't just a health care bill. It's a law that increases deficit spending, constricts your access to care, destroys your private health insurance coverage and fundamentally changes your relationship with your doctor. Fight ObamaCare through education. Forward this email to your friends and family and encourage them to sign up for the Policy Patriot Weekly Letter. It's important to you. It'll be important to them, too.
The NCPA Needs You! The work of the National Center for Policy (NCPA) comes at a price. We need your help in order to continue the valuable policy work that we do. Please consider donating to the National Center for Policy Analysis. You can donate online or mail a check to:
National Center for Policy Analysis
P.O. Box 650098
Dallas, Texas 75265-0098
Warm regards,
Jeanette Nordstrom
National Center for Policy Analysis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry to end the Week Of Humor with a sobering subject, however we are all involved in this on some level. (Except for those who live OUTSIDE the US.)
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Today's Apocalypse Sign: Health Care and Growing Old
To my two new and loyal followers, my mini-minions...I ask you to pass this post on to all you know. It is of dire thoughts. Thank you for being here.
--------------------
I remember my 50th birthday. My wife (11 years my junior, I didn't rob the cradle so shut up!) arranged a nice surprise party at a restaurant with all my friends and co-workers (probably 50 people in all...how ironic huh?). It was a great time and I didn't even get too drunk since I was playing golf the next morning early.
I was not really affected by this reportedly "huge" milestone in ones life because I still was like 30 years old mentally. No real big aches or pains. No forgetting where I had put my car keys. Just another birthday with cake and friends to help celebrate.
In June of this year that will have been 4 years ago. It seems like just last year. Blink of an eye fast it goes. I think it took 10 years to get from 18 to 21...now every week is like a trip on the bullet train...whooooosh and it's gone. It is now almost the end of March and it seems like New Year's day was just over.
Even today my mind is child-like, trapped in an aging shell. Not 12 year old child-like, well maybe some times, but flexible and quick while still open to learning new things and fascinated by some. I guess this is the stage in life where you are cresting that hill of "I wish I knew then what I know now" right before THAT bullet train ride to the bottom. You want to believe you are still that 30-year old with the 50-year old wisdom.
This is not a pity-me-I'm-getting-old post...this is the set up for the rude awakening that many people (and you never know when it might happen or to whom) suddenly find themselves facing...a life-altering health moment.
Do you know the cover of the AARP magazine boldly states it is the World's Largest Circulation Magazine? It is more than double the circulation of the next largest magazine. And not everyone joins AARP when they turn 50. Did you know the founder of this magazine was born in 1884?
Okay, enough AARP Trival Pursuit answers...this post is really about two things: 1)the boomers have a large say in what happens in this country, 2)health care, both the shit that Obama and the Dumbacrats are trying to sell us AND the kind you need when something like the video below strikes your life, is seriously fucked up.
When did it become okay to basically let aging people go off into the wilderness like old wolves and die? What is the age where it is okay for the government to shove your dignity and pride into the nearest trash compactor? When do you become the "Forgotten"? What the fuck is wrong with the greatest country on earth when it comes to care for the aging?
Is this the unspoken plan to reduce the population? Just think how the carbon footprint could be reduced if they could get rid of the boomers at a faster rate. The challenge is a tough one since there are many more supplements, and exercise programs, and Cenegenics. These guys could snap-off Obama's head and shove it up his ass so fast (that's assuming it is not already there)...but I digress...
When you are old it is too late to help yourself and when you were younger you didn't care, because that was so far off...even in your mid-30's you thought that...I know I did. It must be an inborn denial mechanism.
The video above is a snippet of the article in the March/April 2010 AARP magazine entitled Love Is (Not) All You Need.
Reading this article is infuriating. Of course I am closer to this end of the spectrum than the all night beer bong partying end, but nevertheless, it is bordering on criminal what is in place for the aging.
Medicare and Medicaid are complete dinosaurs of government programs. Most of these criteria are ancient. They are similar to the government standard for "poor" as described in the article (not the Aerosmith song) Living On The Edge
When you have to divorce your spouse of 39 years to render him destitute in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage it is time to take to the streets with pitchforks and torches. These were the riot tools of the middle-ages and since the two Meds programs seem to be from that time, I think it only poetic justice that we attack the facade of this portion of our nation's HELLth care with those implements.
Disclaimer: for all the Big Brother spies out there...no I am NOT advocating anarchy (well maybe just a little bit but only on health care (today)). But check your ID you may be in this same group of aging boomers.
Seriously, we are the largest group of people who have a major say in how this country moves forward on this subject. Exercise every right and action you can. Organize something in your community. Write your congressman and senator. The bill they are trying to shove through for health care is NOT good for us.
Unless you want yourself or one of your loved ones to be the next to walk the lonely walk into the wilderness of lost dignity and pride that is our country's current plan for the aging, get on board and do something.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
~ Dylan Thomas from the oldpoetry.com website
And this applies to those of you who are where I was 25 years ago. Let your motto be: Party But Plan.
-----------------------------------------------------
ALERT ALERT ALERT
STM Update
9477 Followers
4,126,923 Unique Vistors
Too Fucking Amazing!
--------------------
I remember my 50th birthday. My wife (11 years my junior, I didn't rob the cradle so shut up!) arranged a nice surprise party at a restaurant with all my friends and co-workers (probably 50 people in all...how ironic huh?). It was a great time and I didn't even get too drunk since I was playing golf the next morning early.
I was not really affected by this reportedly "huge" milestone in ones life because I still was like 30 years old mentally. No real big aches or pains. No forgetting where I had put my car keys. Just another birthday with cake and friends to help celebrate.
In June of this year that will have been 4 years ago. It seems like just last year. Blink of an eye fast it goes. I think it took 10 years to get from 18 to 21...now every week is like a trip on the bullet train...whooooosh and it's gone. It is now almost the end of March and it seems like New Year's day was just over.
Even today my mind is child-like, trapped in an aging shell. Not 12 year old child-like, well maybe some times, but flexible and quick while still open to learning new things and fascinated by some. I guess this is the stage in life where you are cresting that hill of "I wish I knew then what I know now" right before THAT bullet train ride to the bottom. You want to believe you are still that 30-year old with the 50-year old wisdom.
This is not a pity-me-I'm-getting-old post...this is the set up for the rude awakening that many people (and you never know when it might happen or to whom) suddenly find themselves facing...a life-altering health moment.
Do you know the cover of the AARP magazine boldly states it is the World's Largest Circulation Magazine? It is more than double the circulation of the next largest magazine. And not everyone joins AARP when they turn 50. Did you know the founder of this magazine was born in 1884?
Okay, enough AARP Trival Pursuit answers...this post is really about two things: 1)the boomers have a large say in what happens in this country, 2)health care, both the shit that Obama and the Dumbacrats are trying to sell us AND the kind you need when something like the video below strikes your life, is seriously fucked up.
When did it become okay to basically let aging people go off into the wilderness like old wolves and die? What is the age where it is okay for the government to shove your dignity and pride into the nearest trash compactor? When do you become the "Forgotten"? What the fuck is wrong with the greatest country on earth when it comes to care for the aging?
Is this the unspoken plan to reduce the population? Just think how the carbon footprint could be reduced if they could get rid of the boomers at a faster rate. The challenge is a tough one since there are many more supplements, and exercise programs, and Cenegenics. These guys could snap-off Obama's head and shove it up his ass so fast (that's assuming it is not already there)...but I digress...
When you are old it is too late to help yourself and when you were younger you didn't care, because that was so far off...even in your mid-30's you thought that...I know I did. It must be an inborn denial mechanism.
The video above is a snippet of the article in the March/April 2010 AARP magazine entitled Love Is (Not) All You Need.
Reading this article is infuriating. Of course I am closer to this end of the spectrum than the all night beer bong partying end, but nevertheless, it is bordering on criminal what is in place for the aging.
Medicare and Medicaid are complete dinosaurs of government programs. Most of these criteria are ancient. They are similar to the government standard for "poor" as described in the article (not the Aerosmith song) Living On The Edge
When you have to divorce your spouse of 39 years to render him destitute in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage it is time to take to the streets with pitchforks and torches. These were the riot tools of the middle-ages and since the two Meds programs seem to be from that time, I think it only poetic justice that we attack the facade of this portion of our nation's HELLth care with those implements.
Disclaimer: for all the Big Brother spies out there...no I am NOT advocating anarchy (well maybe just a little bit but only on health care (today)). But check your ID you may be in this same group of aging boomers.
Seriously, we are the largest group of people who have a major say in how this country moves forward on this subject. Exercise every right and action you can. Organize something in your community. Write your congressman and senator. The bill they are trying to shove through for health care is NOT good for us.
Unless you want yourself or one of your loved ones to be the next to walk the lonely walk into the wilderness of lost dignity and pride that is our country's current plan for the aging, get on board and do something.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
~ Dylan Thomas from the oldpoetry.com website
And this applies to those of you who are where I was 25 years ago. Let your motto be: Party But Plan.
-----------------------------------------------------
ALERT ALERT ALERT
STM Update
9477 Followers
4,126,923 Unique Vistors
Too Fucking Amazing!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Today's Apocalypse Sign: A Sign Of Things To Come
Wow! The Lips sure are talking today.
More than a couple Kennedys are truly rolling over in their graves. Imagine, a Republican Senator elected in the great Democratic state of Mass. God surely is Republican. What other election in any state could have had so much significance?
What can this mean for the future?
First, no matter what the Dems say, the mid-term elections are now W I D E open. I believe you can mark this on your calendar...the Republicans will win the majority of all seats up for election this coming November.
Second, the Obamanation of a "hellth care reform bill" is in serious trouble. I say "thank God"! Everything I have read and studied on this subject scares the shit out of me and more than a few people I know. The blatant bribery and buying of Senate votes to get the first 60 they needed should make everyone involved impeachable. For any of them to get re-elected at anytime is a disgrace of our Democracy. Only seeing Pelosi and Reid run out of town on a rail would give me more pleasure than the failing of the garbage that is trying to be passed off as "health care to benefit Americans".
Next, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that Haiti suffered another huge quake today registering 6.0. I also heard today for the first time that there have been aftershocks pretty much every day since the 7.0 first hit.
The fact that they are still pulling out people alive is astonishing. Please read yesterday's post and spread the word. I know Bill has to see the news in his Smarthouse.
Lastly for today, I want to comment on the airline security issue.
Seems we can't get this one right. Thankfully it is good Americans like yourself that are slipping through the screening process and not those that would do us harm. However, this gives the Haters optimism that if enough of them try...some may get through. Scary thought.
Exhibit A: a guy forgets he has shotgun shells in his carry on luggage and is able to get ON the plane. Just a quick off-load, re-screen and back on the plane to finish the flight. How much damage do you think two shotgun shells could do if ignited at 30,000 feet? I'm betting more than enough. Fortunately the passenger wasn't a Hater. But this gives those who are, hope.
Exhibit B: a passenger finds a pocket knife apparently left wedged in a seat by a previous passenger. It appears this is being claimed as an accidental "left behind" incident. Maybe. It is however a step up from a box cutter. Plane was emptied and all passengers were re-screened while the authorities went through the plane inch by inch.
Exhibit C: the Underpants Bomber, what a way to go down in history! Could there be a worse name to have tagged to you forever. Do the Haters seriously believe Allah wants them to wrap explosives around their balls and blow something up? Even though this is fairly old news now, we should all be glad that all that came of this was endless late night TV jokes.
All this brings to mind the old saying, "sometimes its better to be lucky than good". But eventually all luck runs out. I've played cards...I know this.
Til tomorrow...
More than a couple Kennedys are truly rolling over in their graves. Imagine, a Republican Senator elected in the great Democratic state of Mass. God surely is Republican. What other election in any state could have had so much significance?
What can this mean for the future?
First, no matter what the Dems say, the mid-term elections are now W I D E open. I believe you can mark this on your calendar...the Republicans will win the majority of all seats up for election this coming November.
Second, the Obamanation of a "hellth care reform bill" is in serious trouble. I say "thank God"! Everything I have read and studied on this subject scares the shit out of me and more than a few people I know. The blatant bribery and buying of Senate votes to get the first 60 they needed should make everyone involved impeachable. For any of them to get re-elected at anytime is a disgrace of our Democracy. Only seeing Pelosi and Reid run out of town on a rail would give me more pleasure than the failing of the garbage that is trying to be passed off as "health care to benefit Americans".
Next, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that Haiti suffered another huge quake today registering 6.0. I also heard today for the first time that there have been aftershocks pretty much every day since the 7.0 first hit.
The fact that they are still pulling out people alive is astonishing. Please read yesterday's post and spread the word. I know Bill has to see the news in his Smarthouse.
Lastly for today, I want to comment on the airline security issue.
Seems we can't get this one right. Thankfully it is good Americans like yourself that are slipping through the screening process and not those that would do us harm. However, this gives the Haters optimism that if enough of them try...some may get through. Scary thought.
Exhibit A: a guy forgets he has shotgun shells in his carry on luggage and is able to get ON the plane. Just a quick off-load, re-screen and back on the plane to finish the flight. How much damage do you think two shotgun shells could do if ignited at 30,000 feet? I'm betting more than enough. Fortunately the passenger wasn't a Hater. But this gives those who are, hope.
Exhibit B: a passenger finds a pocket knife apparently left wedged in a seat by a previous passenger. It appears this is being claimed as an accidental "left behind" incident. Maybe. It is however a step up from a box cutter. Plane was emptied and all passengers were re-screened while the authorities went through the plane inch by inch.
Exhibit C: the Underpants Bomber, what a way to go down in history! Could there be a worse name to have tagged to you forever. Do the Haters seriously believe Allah wants them to wrap explosives around their balls and blow something up? Even though this is fairly old news now, we should all be glad that all that came of this was endless late night TV jokes.
All this brings to mind the old saying, "sometimes its better to be lucky than good". But eventually all luck runs out. I've played cards...I know this.
Til tomorrow...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
