Officially Sick & Tired

I have stayed out of this Health care debate pretty successfully until now.  I’m not a doctor, insurance agent, or a politician.  I have no special interest in this at all…except that I am again uninsured (unemployed again…geez, that sounds horrible, but a 5-hour commute to work every day would not have been possible)…but this is a debate that is completely full of ugliness and b.s. being slung from both sides. I don’t completely agree with any side vs. the other in any way, but I do have a few ideas that might be of interest. 

Here’s what my primitive, 28-year-old brain came up with. A major part of this is raising taxes. YES…simply plan to raise taxes in the area of Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. Tell the truth about it!! They are payroll taxes anyway, and at my basic calculations we will need approximately $420 billion to get this thing started.

1. Employ parts of the Whole Foods method. If you haven’t heard about this, read here, but understand that I do deviate quite a bit:
   • Create health savings accounts (HSAs) for each individual American. I think a good number here would be $1500 (hence, the $420 billion for the 280 million of us that are currently here).
     • Every American with a Social Security Number will be assigned this account on January 1 of their first year of life.  Parents can opt-out at birth for religious or other objections.
     • Annual contributions to the HSA will make it at least equal to, but no more than the prescribed minimum, here $1500. So, if someone only uses $150 of their HSA, the Fed will only add back $150 on the following Jan 1st.
     • The amount of the HSA will increase over time, because it will accrue interest.  Safe investing should cover this.  If an individual opts not to use any of the funds, the government will not need to add anything to it, nor will it hurt the economy if the money sits and accrues interest (ok, except that it won’t be in the process of being spent at Best Buy).
   • Turn the much talked about “public option” into a High Deductible Insurance plan that is federally funded.
     • The federal government, businesses and individuals should put funds in reserve that people could use without private insurance or demonstrate need. For my purposes, we’ll call it Federal High Deductible Insurance (FHDI).
     • Set the deductible before insurance pays at a reasonable, but attention-getting level above the HSA level.  So, if there is $1500 in an individual’s HSA  and the deductible is set at $2000, once an individual has exhausted their savings acct they must pay $500 out-of-pocket before any public option kicks in.
     • If individuals opt to not purchase any form of insurance, they will pay into the FDHI fund as part of their federal taxes. They won’t have to pay any extra if their income level causes their HSA to be dormant, unless they have no private insurance and have to use the FDHI.
     • If businesses don’t directly insure their employees, they will have to pay into this fund annually based on their number of employees.
2. Costs could possibly be contained in the existing insurance companies if we do this first step in setting up HSAs for U.S. citizens. Reasons why:
   • Citizens can choose to either spend all HSA funds first before allowing insurance or other coverage to kick in OR can use the HSA to cover costs private insurance does not cover (i.e. if insurance pays 70% of a procedure the HSA funds can cover the other 30%).
   • Only once the HSA is exhausted might a person go to their private insurance or a publicly-funded option, and may even elect to choose less expensive insurance.
   • If individuals have private insurance they must use this instead of the FDHI, but could use the public option if their insurance company refused to pay for a procedure.
   • I too think it is a.)ridiculous to forceinsurance companies to cover random people with pre-existing conditions that have never had insurance and b.) ridiculous to define pre-existing conditions as being pregnant while switching from one insurance provider with similar coverage to another. I can understand reluctance to cover persons with pre-existing conditions who have not previously had any coverage…for this reason I believe the FHDI would be the best and only option.  For those who are switching between companies with similar coverage and benefits, we absolutely should force insurance companies to treat them as lifelong customers.
   • One other enhancement that might help the above situation would be to standardize the benefits among all insurance companies and at least have similar levels of coverage for approximate costs…not carbon copies, but this would not only give companies a space to compete but a way to judge similar coverage from another company. Also there may be a place for a mandatory, basic plan that exists with the same benefits and at the same price point with all companies.
   • Insurance companies should be allowed to compete across state lines, since the FDHI ideally would operate on a national level.
3. Some other important points about the HSA that might make it work
   • Anyone can refuse to use their HSA, but just like the payroll taxes we pay for medicare/social security, it would still be funded by every American. This is a necessary evil, because the public option is “insurance for when insurance fails”.
   • Any citizen’s HSA will become dormant or inactive when they begin to make over $250,000 per year.  It can become active again if their income falls below this amount.
   • It might still be okay to allow the individuals described above to use the high deductible public option if they choose not to purchase private insurance.  They would simply have to pay the $2000 out-of-pocket first.
   • When an individual either reaches the age or otherwise becomes eligible for medicare or medicaid, their HSA will rollover into this general fund. This, of course, means we have to fix these programs.
   • End-of-life counseling is a great idea.  Providing the funds for it is also a great idea, so when the funds rollover, there might be a portion set aside for this purpose. 
4. All employers must either offer some form of coverage or pay into the national HSA fund and the FHDI fund.
   • This has been a talking point that has angered many Americans–to force the small business owners to offer insurance at much higher rates than large businesses.  A Health Cooperative might be the best plan here.
     • Small businesses can band together in what is recently being referred to as a marketplace or exchange, since the difference between them and large companies is numbers.
     • The more small businesses (and individuals who for whatever reason need to buy their own) that band together in a state, a region, a profession, etc., can get more competitive rates.
     • These co-ops may need to operate across state lines, to take advantage of the greatest numbers possible
     • These co-ops might be of interest to fragmented organizations, where they might find the most competitive rates if they band together in larger numbers.
   • In order to get into the co-op, a small businesses might pay a one-time fee (per corporate entity) to the FDHI, a reasonable amount that would not only bolster the FDHI, but allow the business access to the cooperative network, then set this up as a deducted benefit to their employees.
     • For the sake of being fair, large businesses (with whatever criteria will classify them as large) will not be allowed to put employees into the co-op systems.
   • If they opt not to insure employees directly, they can either:
     • Pay a fee anually to the FDHI through their business taxes, or
     • Set up their access on the network, but set it up so individual employees can choose their own coverage, but still work within the discounted co-op structure with whatever network fees that might entail being covered by the employer.
5. The other cost-cutting measures would be to fix the issues in the medical profession itself.  Currently, medicine is advancing quickly, but malpractice issues–that drive up cost–are in need of overhaul. I don’t know enough to wax poetic, but I’m willing to pay for the innovation, not so much the litigation. There is the problem within the insurance and government way of thinking that they will bargain for the average cost of a service and pay only what they deem is the “fair” price. Let’s investigate if this is really fair to the physicians that take care of us

I feel that this might be an idea–a rough draft–of a direction we could go.  We’re slated to spend $900 billion on this anyway…These ideas give choice; they allow for competition; they cover those who are not otherwise covered; these ideas give an idea of the source of funding, and how they go back to medicare in the long run; they should appeal on some level to all Americans. 

In conjunction with whatever health plan that is chosen, there will need to also be a huge effort and focus on better health choices and prevention through lifestyle changes.

Surely we can agree on some comprehensive reform where everyone on every side wins something. There is no place for any more ugliness in a civilized, adult problem-solving process.

Left, Middle [East], Right…

I honestly cannot believe those of us on the left that are frothing and chomping at the bit for radical change to the makeup and practices of the United States still do not realize the value in moderacy. We cannot run willy-nilly, pushing our agenda like we’ve only got 4 years to make up for all the lost freedoms, injustices, and societal ills from the past three decades or so.  It looks panicked.  The U.S. has enough going on that just needs to be fixed, or at the very least, stabilized.  An economy in shambles, with nearly every single major  American industry affected, job losses like we haven’t seen in a while, and a war on a distant front (three of them) that is all but forgotten and our medicaland social support systems can’t do much for the wounded and broken young men and women when they get back…the American dream  is weaker than ever. Let’s test out the minds of a younger, more team-solution oriented American workforce to solve some problems in the financial sector.  Let’s see what deadlines do for the car manufacturers, and apply those deadlines (in a more creative way ) to TARP and stimulus funded states on those shovel-ready programs we promised before we were sidetracked.  Let’s take dead US manufacturing jobs and create an in-house green supply industry; working to build the parts that will make green energy attainable, get our best scientific minds finding the best methods,  or fund building the systems that make our wind, solar and geothermal energy sources work for us. If we do well enough at this, we fix the job problem (by creating some), we fix the global warming/dirty energy issue  and save the earth, and we fix the trade issue by creating a product that other countries would invest in or purchase. Let’s also stay away from as many special interest groups as possible.

If our party wants to do the greatest good, we need to first strengthen what we know is broken, win the support of the very people our party is founded upon–even if they are not Democrats–and once the danger of utter collapse is past, then take our newfound support and make America great again by proving that if our ideas are great when we’re working with the “big ticket” items, wait and see what we can do with the emerging ideas, job markets, and concerns.  If we focus on this “strategy”, we may have at least four more years of time. Instead of splitting our energy into a million + one things that liberals have wanted to accomplish for a long time (and feel like Obama’sadministration is the perfect time to do so), we probably need to focus on restoring our image as a party of the people and do the most beneficial work for as many Americans as is possible.  Sure that may sound socialist, but given the alternative…an America in despair…I’d rather sound socialist.

Speaking of that distant war, remember the war in Afghanistan that turned into the war in  Iraq that turned into the war in Pakistan (which, save the border areas, we are largely uninvolved in)?  See if we can name all the countries in the middle east that haven’t made the news for conflict lately.  Let’s see–there’s Oman, which from the lack of fiery reports, sounds like a wonderful country to take a holiday in. I haven’t heard much about Lebanon lately,  or Jordan, or Yemen or oddly enough, Saudi Arabia.  The last one concerns me, since the entire region is suffering through no small amount of instability and they are second only to Iran in size, smack in the middle, but why do we not hear the Saudi voices of concern about the state of their region?  Now, I am not a Saudi Arabia hater–no!–I was just as enthralled by all the cool stuff that Air Force Dad brought back from Saudi as the next military kid, but I just find it so odd that they are so silent. Maybe they’re not talking to us since we crashed the stock market–that was full of their money.  If anyone has any insight or any news from al Jazeera that I may be missing, please don’t hesitate.

Poor Pakistan. Is this the price a country that appearsto be an ally of the US must pay? Pakistan went from a normal country, fairly progressive even, in the Middle East to a warzone in a relatively short amont of time. They were warned, though.  Even the Bush administration had enough sense to warn Pakistan to get their border region in check, but they only half listened.  Our drone attacks haven’t helped any.  I worry about my Pakistani friends’ families and if they’re in an affeccted region, because as bad as it already is, it could get worse relatively quickly.  I feel like the U.S. as “visitors” in the region are at a distinct disadvantage simply because we are in the middle of some really fierce “family feuds” right now and do not adequately understand the culture after all this time, becuase through all the years of the random acts of west-hating terrorist attacts, Iran-Contra and even prior transgressions (such as creating Israel and the ensuing fallout) we never tried to understand who they were, we just assumed they would conform to the ways of the western world and simmer down.  To make matters worse, Iran is poking at the exposed wounds of several countries in the area to provoke…well…I don’t know, but they are certainly provoking some kind of response.  There is no action great enough and no words wise enough to help even a single person in the most embattled parts of the Middle East, and I feel so sad and powerless to make this any better in my lifetime.

Heading back to the Right, I have to say I have had this incredible craving for news radio, and so during my lunch breaks, there is only a 2 minute blurb of the day’s events so far on NPR, and I indulge in the Rushbag’s show.  I have to say, some of his rantings are coherent and well thought out.  but lately he’s been on this “blah, blah…this only shows who Obamais…blah, blah” kick.  Sotomayor proves who Obama is. The auto bailout proves who Obama is. So on, and so on.  I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I do agree with him on the fact that Republican party does not need to “cow down” to every popular opinion.  It makes even the real, good, and conservative politicians seem less real.  I still have a soft spot in my heart for John McCain who is real (he just picked a dumb running mate) and out of every politician in D.C., I’d like to hear more of what he  has to say about the torture memos.  Speaking of those, does Dick Cheney know that he is not in charge of destroying the United States anymore? I don’t want to be scared to death–I want a solution to make the world insurgents live in more stable so that they want to function as a part of the normal  society in their home country, which makes ours more stable as a desireable by-product.

Honestly our country is in a make or break position.  We have some real challenges that cannot be tackled when our pols on the left or right cannot refrain from sensationalizing their displeasure in anything that wasn’t their idea.  This is destructive, and we need to drop the partisanship now.  Especially now that millions of Americans are suffering through the temper tantrums without jobs and homes.

Today is the day.

I will be maintaining radio silence today.  Not because I’m mute on the status of the election.  I’ll just be busy.

I have planned to go get in line at my voting precinct at 7am.  Then I will check in at the local headquarters (if I have time left over) before I go and work as a Democratic Poll Watcher.  I will pick up my roommate from work and take her to our polling precinct, then, go back to the headquarters and see if anyone else needs a ride to the polls. 

After that, I’ll probably take some medicine (I’m sick as a dog) and a nap before I head to the election party. I’m so excited that we have a chance for CHANGE!!!! It really is a beautiful thing to speak to a woman that is taking care of an 84 year old African-American woman–one who marched in Selma, Alabama and who has waited her whole life for this chance; now, she has validation that her fight during the civil rights era was worth it.  Yes, maybe this is not based on the facts about the candidate, but the symbolism is so important to a dying generation, and I cannot deny their reason for getting behind Barack Obama.

On a serious note, I’d like to see two things happen:

1. No matter which candidate wins, I want us to CONTINUE to hold them accountable.  But I want to also lend the President-elect support as the future leader of our country.  As much as I am a supporter of Barack Obama, ifhe renigs on promises or brings about detrimental changes (doubtful, but for the sake of argument), I WILL BE THE FIRST TO SCREAM LIKE HELL. My hope is that neither of them could possibly be as bad for America as Bush and his administration, so lets all hope for the same thing–and make our voices heard.  This is supposed to be a participative democracy, right?
2. Let’s go back to being neighbors, spouses, lovers, friends, acquaintances–and do it civilly.  If this election is all it took to fracture our nation irreparably, then we need to really re-evaluate what it means to be an American citizen in a geographically vast, intellectually diverse, country.  The distance separates us, but our opinions shouldn’t. The First Amendment not only protects what we say; it also gives us cause to tolerate/encourage others to exercise their right as well.

I AM VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN TODAY. ARE YOU?

Hopes & Fears

One day to go, and both campaigns are hammering home their messages.  As I see it, the messages boil down to Hope on the left, and Fear on the right.  For various reasons, we Americans have chosen the basic message that we cling to, and thereby cling to our candidate.

Hope against hope that we are capable of better days. On the world stage and on the homefront, there are issues to solve, but we need to remember that America’s untapped promise is great.
OR
Fear being unprepared for what might happen tomorrow. America needs experienced leadership that will defend our position and be on guard against future threats.

These are both very powerful messages, and they reach to the core of our fragile human psyches.  They are most assuredly interconnected, these two. In mentally reviewing the past year, I realized that many people let a war between hope and fear rage internally and externally–think about the viral e-mails and personal testimony or the inspiring artwork, videos and music. Those of us who really weighed the candidates had to decide between hope for all of us or fear for all of us, and, at least in my mind, there’s plenty of room for bleed-over. I have:

Hope that the United States is on an upswing–we have already reached the bottom, and the only way is up.

Fear that we will be unprepared against a threat–because we will have alienated all allies that might have otherwise cared.

Hope that we really are “the ones we’ve been waiting for”–that America’s great strength lies in the talents of ALL of our people.

Fear that the greed of a few will sacrifice the needs of the rest of us–and that it will continue to be sanctioned.

Hope that the next generation will be the best educated and best prepared we have produced yet–and that the education necessary will really leave no child behind.

Fear that our entrenchment in the bailout will lead to major corruption–from either party.

Hope that we have a bright future.

Fear that we do not.

For me, hope wins, because succumbing to the fear might just paralyze me.

The values that American citizens have will define where on the spectrum their hopes and fears lie, and which ones really “grab” them.  Consider the various amendments on the ballot this time–gay marriage, abortion rights, educational funding–all with supporters and opponents.  It is hard for me to step out of my liberal ideas to try and comprehend why anyone would try to govern someone else and their heart’s choice (in the case of gay marriage amendments), but I’m trying to understand where they are coming from.

Before this election, nothing inspired me to try to reach out for understanding like this.  All to often, I discounted those who had wildly different (i.e., dumbly conservative and closed-minded in my opinion), and shunned their company.  Now I am trying to understand them, and realize that maybe their hopes and fears are simply different than mine.

Someone that I love very, very much went out and bought a new gun this weekend–because he is afraid of losing the right to own one. Naturally, this is driving part of his decision on a candidate, but I can’t fault him. It is not my place.  Please remember that NONE OF US ARE ANY MORE OR LESS AMERICAN BECAUSE OF WHAT WE BELIEVE in this election and otherwise.  Historically, it is the very freedom to believe what we want that makes us Amereican, and at this point we are so divided, I worry more about repairing the damage in the months ahead than the outcome.  With the Bush years as a reference, division is catastrophically destructive to us as a nation.  So regardless of what happens tomorrow, we need to reach out to those very same neighbors that might or might not have stolen our yard signs, and remind them that we are here with them; as an ally, as a fellow American, and as a friend–just like before the election, or in the best case scenario, unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before.

The era of “Us vs. Them” needs to be over. The central hopes and fears have to be about recreating “ALL of US” for the 21st century.

With my hopes held high…I AM STILL VOTING FOR OBAMA!!!!

Forget about voter registration fraud…

…fake people cannot vote.  The real problem I’m worried about is good, old-fashioned…voter supression.  I suppose I’m not alone in my concern.

Watch this.

76 of the most intelligent and well-informed people on the planet…

…have endorsed Barack Obama.  Obama has been endorsed by 76 Nobel Prize winners. That’s the kind of news I want to hear. 

White Walls|Black Ink pointed me to this endorsement and also had some interesting thoughts on the fact that these highly intelligent people choose Obama. They’ve also linked to the original article documenting these endorsements.

Sorry, but brilliance trumps precedent.

I am STILL voting for Obama.

I’ll buy it.

Nice info-mercial for Obama.  I haven’t heard this much actual planning from McCain yet.  Perhaps the silence from his end says more about HOW MUCH HE BELIEVES EVERYTHING WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW IN AMERICA IS A-OK.  Was it too extravagant? Some people will say so.  But it is also a dignified message from someone who has been fighting the B.S. and mud slung about him throughout the campaign–and he really wants you to know that he is for the Progress of America.  Just keep hammering the truth in over and over and over…”America can be great. America can be great! America can be Great!! America Can Be Great!!! AMERICA CAN BE GREAT!!!”

Seems to be working, eh?

I am STILL voting for Obama

The implications of “8 more years”

Barack Obama has consistently used the message “8 more years of failed Bush policies” to discredit McCain–effective, but vague.

Last night, I really got to thinking what this would mean.

8 more years of Banks “gone wild”

8 more years of broken government agencies (like FEMA)

8 more years of “saber rattling” and international bullying

8 more years of real socialism–Corporate lobbying and outright greed

8 more years of international allies and NATO turning away from us

8 more years of empty nest eggs and retirement savings

8 more years of inadequate, inaccesible medical coverage

8 more years of Congressional misdeeds corruption on a grand scale

8 more years of human rights violations, a la Guantanamo Bay and the death of Habeus Corpus

8 more years of rewarding non-intelligence while belittling education and innovation

8 more years of botched “Domestic Surveillance”

8 more years of sanctioned gay-bashing

8 more years of violating women’s rights to their own bodies

8 more years of a Fundamentalist Christian agenda in a country of many faiths

8 more years of legislating through fear

8 more years of cronyism

8 more years of substandard education for ALL children

8 more years of religious and cultural intolerance

8 more years of preconditions

8 more years of minorities falling further behind

8 more years of “lassez-faire” on important domestic issues (not abortion and gay marriage–energy and 21st century education)

8 more years of poor judgment

8 more years of inconsistent facts

8 more years of declining in the world’s ranking system

8 more years of poorly cared for returning war veterans

8 more years of supressing your vote

8 more years of dividing Americans

8 more years of agenda injected into the highest court in America

8 more years of pretending global warming does not exist

8 more years of stomping on the Constitution

8 more years of so much more I don’t even know or can’t remember.  So far, this has been my adult life and I feel completely let down.  All of the previous shortcomings cannot be corrected immediately by just one incoming President, Democrat or Republican. Not in four, eight, twelve or perhaps even sixteen years will we be able to pull ourselves out of a rapidly deepening sinkhole…but we can change direction.  Similarly, some of the previous shortcomings are not necessarily the fault of the administration; rather, they are because of the current administration’s mindset.  After reading the list, I hope you can see that maybe–just maybe–we need a new mindset. There was so much promise for our future while I was growing up, but somehow Americans lost their way.  I hope we can close the chapter on “America’s Decline” next Tuesday, because we can’t afford to fall any further.

For the record, I no longer care who Barack Obama has been associated with. It is what can be associated with the United States of America that concerns me.  It’s not that image is everything, but how we believe we are being perceived by the world either depresses us as a nation or makes us extremely defensive (we’ve been both for a while now), and we no longer even know who we are or what we’re made of as a country.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our sanity; he’ll be too busy promoting fear, as he has in this election.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore integrity to the office; he’s too entrenched in the way things were to step out any further than he already has.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our belief in ourselves; he’s been so erratic we wouldn’t be able to focus on his message or call to action.  I also don’t believe John McCain is a bad man; I just don’t believe he has a good idea, either.

I’m still voting for Barack Obama.

ONE WEEK LEFT!

I haven’t written much in the past couple of weeks, and I really wanted to write about this sooner, but if you have any free time in your week, go to the Democratic headquarters in your area and volunteer!  I have been working for our local office and it has really opened my eyes–I don’t feel so alone in a Red state anymore.  Volunteer because it doesn’t matter if you’re in a safe blue state or a safe red state (like me), but definitely volunteer if you happen to live in one of the swing states.

With one week left, even in Alabama, Obama is running 34% to McCain’s 54%.  It would be truly amazing if we could get him even closer here.  But beyond that, I know our Dem HQ is sponsoring rides to the polls for those who can’t drive themselves–can you do that?  I’ll be taking a class to learn how to watch the polls this Saturday for the election on Tuesday–can you do that?  I’ve been phone banking for other Alabama Democrats (really good people, too)–can you do that?  If you have a free evening or two during the week, I strongly encourage you to at least call and see what they need.

There is the bizarre assumption that “White Shame” is stealing the vote for Obama–the idea that, because of injustices of the past, voting Barack Obama in as President will absolve white people (who might not even have been born or old enough to vote, etc) of all responsibility.  I have yet to meet anyone who is voting for Barack, overlooking his obvious intelligence, and, as a bonus, feeling better about segregation, Jim Crow, or slavery.  Highly unlikely for a thinking America.  As a black female, I guess that won’t apply to me anyway, but I have another reason that I feel might be shared among all races.

Americans should feel some sort of shame about our apathy–at least eight years of it, and especially in my generation. This apathy allowed me to hear/witness all of the decisions being made and directions our country–formerly a SuperPower, formerly a model for the world, formerly a helping hand (as opposed to a rattling saber), formerly a bastion of sanity and hope–was heading, but made me unaware of the connections that led us here today. I believe Obama knows this too, and will not let it happen again.  Definitely more on this later.

The point I want to make is, please consider volunteering so that we can “seal the deal”.  It has not been so impotant to elect the right people (including Congressional leaders) to offices in the United States in a LONG time, and this is a first in my lifetime.  I’m not advocating a filibuster-proof Democratic Congress, unless these are the sensible, just, concerned people that we need in charge of the nation.  Just remember that Rove-style campaigning has helped many of the most corrupt Republicans in Washington remain there. I’ll leave you to think about that, because this post is too long-winded anyway.

Tips for Alabama Voters!!!!!

The headlines have already been a little scary.

Lawsuit Filed in PA Demanding Emergency Paper Ballots
Vote Flips 5 Times From D to R in Another WV County
Votes Flip R to D in Decatur Cty, TN! Can We Remove the Machines NOW?!
Candidate Names Missing on Final Review Screens in SC
Election Filmmaker Sees Own Vote Flipped From Dem in TN
ES&S Vote-Flipping Seen in 2 WV Counties
FL: Broken Machines, 3 Hour Vote for CNN Reporter
TX: Straight-Party Vote Disinfo Loses Votes
Court-ordered Report Finds Inaccurate NJ Voting Machines

Luckily for us in Alabama, we don’t have this headache of voting early.  But we will vote on November 4th.  What exactly are we voting for on that day?  Not President and Vice President, as most people think.  We’re actually casting votes for that candidate’s electors…the ones with the final say…for that “magic” number, 270 to win.