America; Heal Thyself III

 Third Part in a Series

"Just go to an emergency room"

“People have access to health care in America.  After all just go to an emergency room.”  George W. Bush

Mitt Romney recently echoed Mr. Bush in a 60 Minutes interview. If you have a heart attack “you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital.”

“Just go to the emergency room” is a great plan if you have a heart attack, break a limb, have a stroke or get shot. That’s what every rational person does because the emergency room is there for critical conditions that require immediate attention. 

America; Heal Thyself II

 Second Part in a Series 
We Don't Insure a Burning House

I clearly recall the interview that I heard on NPR prior to the 2008 presidential election.  A woman described her efforts to find insurance when she was pregnant.  The charming response from one agent was, "We don't insure a burning house."  By good fortune or the grace of God, her job transferred her to Germany where she immediately was accepted into the health care system and received prenatal and postnatal care.

America; Heal Thy Self I

 First Part in a Series
The Rhetoric

“We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not have national health insurance. We are the richest in wealth and the poorest in health of all the industrial nations.”  ~ Studs Terkel

“If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”  ~ Ebenezer Scrooge speaking of the poor. 

Countries with universal healthcare: Norway, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Sweden, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Netherlands, Austria, UAE, Finland, Slovenia, Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, South Korea, Iceland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Israel. 

 

Richie Batra’s comment was chilling, “if u want insurance buy it, if not pay Cash..if not, go Die..im not worried about anyone but myself and nobody should worry about me either(sic)."  Mr. Batra’s remark was a comment in a thread responding to an article last December in Think Progress covering then presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Q & A with a group of high school students.

HSB: Warren Hellman's Musical Gift

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

It is now less than 2 months from the start of HSB and I'm already getting into weekend bliss mode. That's what Warren Hellman's annual gift to the Bay Area has been for me.  No matter how shitty life has been in a particular year, for 3 days everything is beautiful. Thank you Warren and I'll be there in October. ~  My dear friend Scott.

For years Scott has suggested that I attend Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and for years I've always had something else going on..until this year.  Even though we went this year we missed hooking up with Scott who every year attends all three days. When he learned that I was writing a post on the event he offered some fodder for the post - an offer which I eagerly accepted. So this post is a shared work. 

It was day two of a weekend (Counting Friday) that the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce couldn’t have conjured in their wildest fantasies.  A convergence of events promising to bring an estimated million visitors and their money, money, money into the city.  That’s what it’s all about, right – money? The Giants are in the playoffs at AT&T Park, an America’s Cup Yacht race on the bay, a Blue Angels air show over the bay, a couple of street fairs, a parade, a 49er home game and in Golden Gate Park, the three day Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (lovingly known as HSB).  Cora and I opted for HSB on Saturday, with plans to evacuate the house early and beat the hordes across the bridge into The City (“C’mon Cora, aren’t you ready yet? Hurry up!”).

Mr. Romney's Indigence Envy

Here is another of those posts I really had no intention of getting into - I just hate doing politics.  Let’s just say, “The devil made me do it.”  In this case the devil is Facebook. 

In a moment of weakness (not really) I felt compelled to share a commentary about Mitt Romney and his income tax finagling.  The point of the commentary being Romney fudged his returns so that he paid MORE in taxes than he actually had to.  In 2011 he donated over 4 million dollars to charity but claimed only 2 million.  Why?  Because by taking the full deduction he would have paid less than the 13% he claims is the lowest that he’s ever paid.  The commentary went on to describe the many and varied Romney tax avoidance strategies including Cayman Island tax havens and a $77,000 deduction for Ann Romney’s Olympic horse.  My comment on the op-ed was, well, a little caustic towards Mr. Romney.