Senator John McCain May Be Losing His Life to Brain Cancer, But Did It Help Him Find His Heart. By Geniusofdespair

“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it. Without a full CBO score, which won’t be available by the end of the month, we won’t have reliable answers to any of those questions.

“I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition. Far from it. The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I.

“I hope that in the months ahead, we can join with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to arrive at a compromise solution that is acceptable to most of us, and serves the interests of Americans as best we can.”

John McCain's Prognosis: Because they keep returning, glioblastomas are almost never cured, and the prognosis is poor. With treatment, the median survival — which means half of patients live longer than this, and half die sooner — is 12 to 18 months.

Senator John McCain had the integrity to say this when running against Senator Obama:



John McCain is a decent man.

McCain spent more than 5 years as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam. 

Donald Trump said of John McCain being a war hero: 'I like people who weren't captured.' Only a hateful man would say this.
 
John McCain's Account of his Captivity in Viet Nam:

...the guards, who were all in the room—about 10 of them—really laid into me. They bounced me from pillar to post, kicking and laughing and scratching. After a few hours of that, ropes were put on me and I sat that night bound with ropes. Then I was taken to a small room. For punishment they would almost always take you to another room where you didn't have a mosquito net or a bed or any clothes. For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different guards. My left arm was broken again and my ribs were cracked.

The date was Oct. 26, 1967. I was on my 23rd mission, flying right over the heart of Hanoi in a dive at about 4,500 feet, when a Russian missile the size of a telephone pole came up—the sky was full of them—and blew the right wing off my Skyhawk dive bomber. It went into an inverted, almost straight-down spin.

I pulled the ejection handle, and was knocked unconscious by the force of the ejection—the air speed was about 500 knots. I didn't realize it at the moment, but I had broken my right leg around the knee, my right arm in three places, and my left arm. I regained consciousness just before I landed by parachute in a lake right in the corner of Hanoi, one they called the Western Lake. My helmet and my oxygen mask had been blown off.

I hit the water and sank to the bottom. I think the lake is about 15 feet deep, maybe 20. I kicked off the bottom. I did not feel any pain at the time, and was able to rise to the surface. I took a breath of air and started sinking again. Of course, I was wearing 50 pounds, at least, of equipment and gear. I went down and managed to kick up to the surface once more. I couldn't understand why I couldn't use my right leg or my arm. I was in a dazed condition. I went up to the top again and sank back down. This time I couldn't get back to the surface. I was wearing an inflatable life-preserver-type thing that looked like water wings. I reached down with my mouth and got the toggle between my teeth and inflated the preserver and finally floated to the top.

Some North Vietnamese swam out and pulled me to the side of the lake and immediately started stripping me, which is their standard procedure. Of course, this being in the center of town, a huge crowd of people gathered, and they were all hollering and screaming and cursing and spitting and kicking at me.

When they had most of my clothes off, I felt a twinge in my right knee. I sat up and looked at it, and my right foot was resting next to my left knee, just in a 90-degree position. I said, "My God--my leg!" That seemed to enrage them —I don't know why. One of them slammed a rifle butt down on my shoulder, and smashed it pretty badly. Another stuck a bayonet in my foot. The mob was really getting up-tight.

About this time, a guy came up and started yelling at the crowd to leave me alone. A woman came over and propped me up and held a cup of tea to my lips, and some photographers took some pictures. This quieted the crowd down quite a bit. Pretty soon, they put me on a stretcher, lifted it onto a truck, and took me to Hanoi's main prison. I was taken into a cell and put on the floor. I was still on the stretcher, dressed only in my skivvies, with a blanket over me.

For the next three or four days, I lapsed from conscious to unconsciousness. During this time, I was taken out to interrogation—which we called a "quiz"—several times. That's when I was hit with all sorts of war-criminal charges. This started on the first day. I refused to give them anything except my name, rank, serial number and date of birth. They beat me around a little bit. I was in such bad shape that when they hit me it would knock me unconscious. They kept saying, "You will not receive any medical treatment until you talk."

I didn't believe this. I thought that if I just held out, that they'd take me to the hospital. I was fed small amounts of food by the guard and also allowed to drink some water. I was able to hold the water down, but I kept vomiting the food.

They wanted military rather than political information at this time. Every time they asked me something, I'd just give my name, rank and serial number and date of birth.

I think it was on the fourth day that two guards came in, instead of one. One of them pulled back the blanket to show the other guard my injury. I looked at my knee. It was about the size, shape and color of a football. I remembered that when I was a flying instructor a fellow had ejected from his plane and broken his thigh. He had gone into shock, the blood had pooled in his leg, and he died, which came as quite a surprise to us—a man dying of a broken leg. Then I realized that a very similar thing was happening to me.

When I saw it, I said to the guard, "O.K., get the officer." An officer came in after a few minutes. It was the man that we came to know very well as "The Bug." He was a psychotic torturer, one of the worst fiends that we had to deal with. I said, "O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital." He left and came back with a doctor, a guy that we called "Zorba," who was completely incompetent. He squatted down, took my pulse. He did not speak English, but shook his head and jabbered to "The Bug." I asked, "Are you going to take me to the hospital?" "The Bug" replied, "It's too late." I said, "If you take me to the hospital, I'll get well."

"Zorba" took my pulse again, and repeated, "It's too late." They got up and left, and I lapsed into unconsciousness.

Sometime later, "The Bug" came rushing into the room, shouting, "Your father is a big admiral; now we take you to the hospital."

I tell the story to make this point: There were hardly any amputees among the prisoners who came back because the North Vietnamese just would not give medical treatment to someone who was badly injured—they weren't going to waste their time. For one thing, in the transition from the kind of life we lead in America to the filth and dirt and infection, it would be very difficult for a guy to live anyway. In fact, my treatment in the hospital almost killed me.

An Adult Conversation About Medicare For All ... by gimleteye

NOTE: What the hell is going on with Republicans in Congress? The GOP is spending itself on health care like waves on a beach; a great surge then slide back out to sea.

GOP leadership believes that its base is motivated by only one idea: overthrow Obamacare. What was a popular net to corral voters turns out to be much less popular, and not at all effective, as a matter of protecting people, jobs, family and income.

It would be far better for sober adults in the GOP majority in Congress to look at the outcomes of health care in the U.S. As Dr. Carol Paris and many others report: the United States lags health care metrics compared to nearly every other industrialized nation. "Compared to ten other wealthy countries, the U.S. ranks dead last for life expectancy, and access to care. We even have the lowest number of hospital beds per capita, a way that health experts measure the capacity of a nation’s health system. It’s as if our system was designed to deny care."

The only metric where U.S. health care exceeds beyond imagination: empowering and enriching intermediaries in the health care supply chain.

I understand that this point grossly simplifies a massively complex process, but if other Western nations can effectively institute a single-payer system, why can't we?

Published on
Friday, July 28, 2017
by Common Dreams
It's Time for the Adults in This Nation To Talk Seriously About Medicare for All
Today, we breathe a quick sigh a relief. But we cannot celebrate a return to the failed status quo.
by Dr. Carol Paris

Ruby Partin, 63, and her adoptive son Timothy Huff, 5, wait for a free clinic to open in the early morning of July 22, 2017 in Wise, Virginia. Hundreds of Appalachia residents waited through the night for the annual Remote Area Medical (RAM), clinic for dental, vision and medical services held at the Wise County Fairgrounds in western Virginia. The county is one of the poorest in the state, with high number of unemployed and underinsured residents. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

Hundreds of people slept overnight in cars, or camped for days in a field. They told stories of yanking out their own teeth with pliers, of reusing insulin syringes until they broke in their arm, of chronic pain so debilitating they could hardly care for their own children. At daybreak, they lined up for several more hours outside a white tent, waiting for their chance to visit a doctor. For many, this was the first health care provider they’ve seen in years.

Is this a place torn by war, famine or natural disaster? No, this charity medical clinic was last weekend in southwest Virginia, in the wealthiest country in the world, where we spend nearly three times as much money on health care as other similar countries.

"It’s as if our system was designed to deny care."

And what do we get for our money? The very definition of health care rationing: 28 million Americans without insurance, and millions more insured, but avoiding treatment because of sky-high deductibles and co-pays. Compared to ten other wealthy countries, the U.S. ranks dead last for life expectancy, and access to care. We even have the lowest number of hospital beds per capita, a way that health experts measure the capacity of a nation’s health system. It’s as if our system was designed to deny care.

America does hit the top of the list in some areas. Compared to other nations, American doctors and patients waste the most hours on billing and insurance claims. We have the highest rate of infant mortality, and the highest percentage of avoidable deaths—patients who die from complications or conditions that could have been avoided with timely care.

Clearly, this system is broken. Like a cracked pipe, money gushes into our health care system but steadily leaks out. Money is siphoned into the advertising budgets of insurance companies and the army of corporate bureaucrats working to deny claims. Even more dollars are soaked up by the pockets of insurance CEOs who have collectively earned $9.8 billion since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Nearly a third of our health care dollars go to something other than health care.

President Trump recognized voters’ frustration and campaigned on a promise of more coverage, better benefits, and lower costs. We couldn’t agree more with these goals. However, instead of trying to fix our broken system, GOP leaders are acting more like toddlers, mid-tantrum, smashing our health system into smaller and smaller pieces, threatening to push even more Americans—the most vulnerable among us—through the cracks. Last night, a few Senate Republicans stood up and acted like adults, putting an end to this dangerous game.

Today, we breathe a quick sigh of relief. But we cannot celebrate a return to the status quo, a system that rations health care based on income and allows 18,000 Americans to die each year unnecessarily.

Where do we go from here?

Republicans had eight years to come up with a plan that achieves more coverage, better benefits and lower costs. Have our elected leaders simply run out of ideas?

"The good news is that we already have a proven model for health financing that is popular among both patients and physicians."
The good news is that we already have a proven model for health financing that is popular among both patients and physicians. It provides medically-necessary care to the oldest and sickest Americans with a fraction of the overhead of private insurance. It’s called Medicare, and I can tell you as a physician that it has worked pretty darn well for more than 50 years.

Not only do we have a model, we have a bill that would expand Medicare to cover everyone and improve it to include prescriptions, dental, vision, and long-term care. It’s called H.R. 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, a single-payer plan that would provide comprehensive care to everyone living in the U.S. The bill would yield about $500 billion annually in administrative savings while covering the 28 million currently uninsured. Medicare for all is gaining steam with a record 115 co-sponsors, a majority of House Democrats.

Now that Republican senators have finally worn themselves out, Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to file his own single-payer Medicare for all bill. Senators from both parties will be asked to choose a side: Do you support the current system of health care rationing, medical bankruptcies and unnecessary deaths; or a program proven to work both here and in every other developed country?

A majority of Americans now believe that health care is a human right, and that it is our government's responsibility to achieve universal coverage. We’ve tried everything else except Medicare for all. What are we waiting for?

Say hello to Generic Drugs because you won't get anything else. By Geniusofdespair

On my plan they stuck all the drugs in tiers. And, they move them to a higher more expensive tier at will. One of my generics doubled in price because of a tier move. And brand name drug I want, $400. A lidocaine patch 1% stronger than over the counter ($7.99) is $400. And then they remove your drug from the plan altogether. I now get my drugs through Romania and Turkey. I only get antibiotics through my drug plan United. They suck. So unless you want a generic or antibiotics, or you are expecting to use a drug with no generic equivalent, you are screwed.

Doctors are so tired of writing letters to try to move your drug to a cheaper tier, they are supplying patients with cheaper pharmacies--- no drug plan involved.

What is your experience?

 We are getting screwed even in our plans! And I have great insurance, just a lot of drug bills.

Miami Dade GOP Congressional Delegation: you will LOSE your next election if you vote for Trumpcare today! ... by gimleteye

Follow me on Twitter: @gimleteyemiami

How pathetic. Because the GOP Congress can't stand the idea of facing down constituents during the summer recess, it will now vote on an irredeemably flawed health care plan that members of Congress would never adopt for their own families, if they had to.

The idea of shifting high risk pools to the states is just another shell game/ grifter sidewalk scam. If you trust the state of Florida to protect your interests, just take a look at Citizens Insurance. Or Gov. Rick Scott's record as a health care executive who barely escaped federal indictment for healthcare fraud of his former company, that scavenged at the edges of health care reimbursement formulas.

No. Republicans are presumably the party of business, and yet the GOP Congress is proceeding on a vote today WITHOUT a review of the current plan by the Congressional Budget Office. They won't wait, because they KNOW that millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions are about to pushed into the high-speed traffic lane of the US health care insurance disaster.

Here's a message to the Miami-Dade GOP delegation to Congress: side with people, today, and your seat may be protected. Vote to support Trumpcare, and your political career is in deep jeopardy. Simple.

Clusters of Adolescent and Young Adult Thyroid Cancer in Florida Counties ... by gimleteye

From the Study (below in this post)

The thyroid gland is the small butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck just below the Adam’s apple. It produces thyroid hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism.

Thyroid cancer has captured the interest of epidemiologists because of its strong association to environmental factors. According to statistics, there is a lot more thyroid cancer in South Florida than there should be.

"The main environmental risk factor for thyroid cancer reported in the literature is exposure of the thyroid gland to radiation." That's according to a 2014 statistical paper by Raid Amin and James J. Burns published in a medical journal, BioMed Research International.

In South Florida, FPL's controversial Turkey Point facility is the major radiation generator in South Florida.

In the early 2000's, the Tooth Fairy Project established that children's exposure to radiation was significantly higher in Miami-Dade compared to the rest of the state and compared to other states.

In March, 2001, the Radiation Public Health Project (RPHP) released a Special Report on the Florida Baby Teeth Study, entitled Environmental Radiation from Nuclear Reactor’s and Increasing Children’s Cancer in Southeastern Florida, (the "Florida Report") which noted that:

The Turkey Point 3 and 4 nuclear reactors located approximately 25 miles south of Miami have been operating since 1972 and 1973, respectively. From 1972 to 1993, Turkey Point reported the emission of 6.69 trillion picocuries of radioactive chemicals (including Sr-90) into the air, nearly half of the total released during the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. The highest average Sr-90 concentration in five U.S. states has been documented in 86 baby teeth from persons born after 1979 in Miami-Dade County. For persons born in Miami-Dade during the period 1988-94, the average Sr-90 level in baby teeth was 21.5% greater than the average for the seven previous years.

In 2003, RPHP followed up: "Childhood Cancer in South Florida Study Finds Cause in Nuclear Plant Radiation Emissions - Drinking Water Most Likely Source":

Miami, Florida - A South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study, that was officially released today, finds that infants and children are especially vulnerable to cancer caused by federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors, such as the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants, located in southeast Florida.

The five-year baby teeth study, also known as the "Tooth Fairy Project," found a 37% rise in the average levels of radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) in southeast Florida baby teeth from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. When compared with baby teeth collected from 18 Florida counties, the highest levels of Sr-90 were found in the six southeast Florida counties closest to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear reactors: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

The current rise of radiation levels in baby teeth in Florida and in the U.S. as a whole reverses a long-term downward trend in Sr-90 levels since the 1960s, after President Kennedy banned aboveground testing of nuclear weapons 1963, due to concerns about increasing childhood cancer and leukemia rates from fallout.

Radioactive Sr-90 is a known carcinogen, which is only produced by fission reactions in nuclear weapons or reactors. It enters the body along with chemically similar calcium, and is stored in bone and teeth, where it can be measured years later using well-established laboratory techniques.

Significantly, the study documented that the average levels of Sr-90 found in the teeth of children diagnosed with cancer were nearly twice as high as those found in the teeth of children without cancer.

The 2014 report, "Clusters of Adolescent and Young Adult Thyroid Cancer in Florida Counties", analyzed data provided by a public registry of cancers, the Florida Cancer Data System. For the purposes of the analysis, the years 2000-2008 were matched to thyroid in young adults from ages 15-39.

Unlike the RPHP report, where Florida Power and Light strongly disputed the study, its methodology and its results, there are no similar questions associated with data.

A total of 3,526 young adult cases of thyroid cancer were identified in Florida with an incidence rate of 7.3 average annual cases per 100,000. The report concludes that in South Florida, "there is a statistically significant 26% increased risk of young adult thyroid cancer. The probability that the identified South Florida cluster is random is very small."

The study concludes, "we found evidence of spatial clustering of thyroid cancer cases for AYA (adolescents and young adults) age range in South Florida and Northwest Florida. This evidence may indicate environmental risk factors influencing these results, predisposing adolescents and young adults in these cluster regions to increased risk of thyroid cancer. Further study is needed to investigate the possible factors contributing to the elevated levels of AYA thyroid cancer rates found."

Statisticians don't deal with medicine, or, cause and effect. Oncologists provide information to the Florida Cancer Database System. Doctors on the front lines, treating patients, ordinarily don't deal with cause and effect.

Ultimately the Florida Department of Health is responsible to link cancer with causes, but the Department is impenetrable as the Kremlin with its default response, "Cancer clusters are difficult to prove", then a retreat behind its walls.

This is exactly what happened in 2012, when a group of Northwest Miami-Dade residents bitterly complained to Commissioner Jean Monestine; there was too much cancer in their midst.

In Sept. 2012, Commissioner Monestine proposed a resolution, adopted by the board of Miami Dade County Commissioners: "RESOLUTION URGING THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO INVESTIGATE AND DETERMINE WHETHER A CANCER CLUSTER EXISTS IN THE VICINITY OF NORTHWEST 36TH AVENUE AND NORTHWEST 86TH STREET IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY; AND IF SUCH A CANCER CLUSTER DOES EXIST, TO REFER THIS MATTER FOR APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENTAL TESTS TO DETERMINE POSSIBLE CAUSES".

Commissioner Moss stated that Ms. Renita Holmes brought up environmental concerns. He said he had seen Dr. Rivera from the Health Department earlier and an issue about cancer clusters may be raised later in the meeting. Commissioner Jordan stated she was the only commissioner who pulled this item, and she had released it so that it could pass, because Dr. Rivera had another engagement. She said the item passed and she had discussed it with Dr. Rivera privately. Commissioner Moss commented that he had forwarded a request to the Health Department to look at a cancer cluster in his district as well.

Commissioner Jordan noted for the record that the Health department had started doing assessments to verify if a cancer cluster existed. Commissioner Moss inquired whether the assessments would involve looking at current residents as well as residents that grew up there, moved to other areas, and had experienced the harms of cancer. Commissioner Jordan stated that Dr. Rivera explained that the Health Department would interview people from the community and ask others to come forward, in order to identify anyone that may have been impacted, and investigate any other issues. She said the process could take months or years depending on the level of impact.

By late October, Miami New Times reported the county and state investigation was over: "When asked whether the health department would look further into the cancer issue, Rivera emphatically stated that the investigation was over. "I think this is it for us," she says. "This is where it stops. We have all we need." That's not good enough for (community neighbor) Shelton, who says that she and the Broadmoor residents want more answers." Justice will prevail," she says. "Whatever has been done will come forth."

Justice might not prevail, but presumably when it comes to cancer, the facts and data will.

Citizens have a right and a responsibility to their children to press elected officials: how much money is the State of Florida investing to determine why cancer rates are abnormally high in South Florida? And what about Miami-Dade County?

Even before the issue of money -- often cited as a cause for failure of government agencies to act -- citizens have a right to know exactly what zip codes and areas of Miami-Dade County are showing statistical deviations in cancer rates. This data is available. There is no good reason for county and state health department officials to obscure the facts and for the media to report the facts.

Even the children of journalists and news reporters can get cancer. No one is exempt. So, is the media silent on cluster cancers in South Florida? Pick up the phone and start asking questions. Don't take "no" for an answer.

Clusters of Adolescent and Young Adult Thyroid Cancer in Florida Counties

The Illness Business … by gimleteye

This diagram compares diseases we donate to and diseases that kill us. An investor in medical innovation notes: "Mental health never gets money. As for diabetes, huge money is being made in treatment – a cure would really screw that up."

What the Affordable Health Care Act means to me: my insurance rate is tripling … by gimleteye

If not for a phone call I placed yesterday to Aetna, I would not have known that my family's health insurance policy is canceling in 10 days. In 10 days, unless I move fast, I will have a gap in coverage.

The customer representative called it; a result of the Affordable Health Care Act, or as everyone else knows it, Obamacare. So then I called Healthcare.gov and tried on the new math. (By the way, the customer service rep at Healthcare.gov was much more helpful and knowledgable than the Aetna rep.)

So far as Aetna is concerned, I don't recall receiving a mailing or phone call notifying me that my family would soon be naked so far as health care coverage is concerned. As an individual payer -- not through a corporate or government employment benefit -- I then discovered that the "health care marketplace" in Florida means my family and I are at the mercy of the big insurance companies, just like we were before the Affordable Health Care Act.

And what those insurance companies are telling me is that my families insurance rate will triple.

TRIPLE.

In my plan about to expire, I had chosen to pay through Aetna a low price with a catastrophic deductible because that was the only "affordable" plan. What that meant was that my deductible was very high: $10,000 per individual. Having spent more than an hour on the phone and web, evaluating new plans, so far as I can tell, the only additional benefit I will receive for a tripling of my health care cost is the reduction of my deductible to $12,000 per family.

Put the math this way: I will now be paying an additional $9600 per year for the risk of a hospitalization. I was willing to take that risk with my catastrophic, "low cost" health care policy that is now being cancelled by Aetna. I am now being forced by the insurance industry to pay that risk premium, guaranteeing in effect a profit to the insurance company by stripping the risk premium and putting it in their pocket whether I or a family member gets sick or not.

I don't blame President Obama for the crisis now being brought home to me in a very real and startling way. I blame the health care insurance industry, that worked through the Republican Congress to obstruct the only way to guarantee that a citizen like me can be protected: a single-payer health care system.

I've just learned how the Affordable Health Care Act works for those who don't meet the income subsidy limit, or who aren't young and single: it doesn't.

Do Something Great For Yourself And Your Family: The Day of No Sugar Challenge … by gimleteye

There is a new book out about one family's commitment to go sugar-free, for an entire year. It's not easy, I know, to make the change but never mind wonder-drugs: just take sugar out of your diet and you will feel much, much better.

I've been mostly sugar-free out of a commitment to fixing our Everglades. Call it: the political is personal. Sugar poisons people, poisons the Everglades, and poisons Democracy. That's the short form (read other EOM posts on Big Sugar, for the longer form!)

If you haven't already, check out Dr. Robert Lustig's "Sugar: The Bitter Truth". More than 4.5 million people have viewed the lecture that describes the impacts to health from sugar.



Sugar is addictive. But once one makes the commitment to weed out sugar from your diet, the positive effects are immediately evident. The first thing I noticed is that cutting out sugar really lessens the inflammatory response across a range of health issues. That goes for aching knees from years of too much impact.

Once you start eliminating sugar, the way you view your grocery store changes entirely. One could make the argument that the failure of the big chain grocers to understand the consequences of sugar addiction helped open the door to billion dollar competitors who succeeded by marketing healthier foods. The big grocers and industrial food suppliers have all succumbed to the addictions of sugar, too.

In terms of our daily diets, we often use sugar to lift us from low points in the day when we feel sluggish and tired. The point, of course, is that the sugar high/low cycle feeds an addiction.

"Take the day of no sugar Challenge" and you will see what that means. You may be tempted along the way to reach for a soda or candy, but recognize your power to change. Keep a piece of fresh fruit nearby to help you; really, it doesn't take much to get you through a sugar low.

And if you are really bold, cut out sugary carbohydrates. You will feel better, I promise. And reducing sugar's influence on the Everglades might make you feel better too (even if you are a lobbyist for Big Sugar).

PS. If you want to learn more, check out The Institute for Responsible Nutrition. This is a brand new effort to fix what's wrong with public health at the building block level. Who says Eye On Miami can't deliver positive news!

Big Sugar and the public health crisis in America … by gimleteye

The following edited version of a post earlier this week appears on the website, Counterpunch. Today the annual Everglades Coalition meeting is being held in Naples. How many of the participants are talking about the link between Big Sugar and America's public health crisis, as a point of entry to environmental pollution and problems that have vexed the public for decades?

COUNTERPUNCH WEEKEND EDITION JANUARY 10-12, 2014

It Is What It Is
The Killer Politics of Big Sugar
by ALAN FARAGO

A recent report by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) underscores the health care crisis in the world’s most exceptional democracy. The U.S. spends two and a half times per capita more on health care than any other developed country. How does this happen? Take a look at a key player in the paradox: sugar growers. In Florida it is called, Big Sugar. In other states it is beets, maple syrup and most ubiquitous of all: high-fructose corn syrup extracted from an unlimited corn crop heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

Healthcare.gov … sincerely "I tried" … by gimleteye

The federal government could keep the US postal service busy by mailing buttons to citizens who unsuccessfully used the Healthcare.gov website: "I Tried". Some states, according to press reports, are doing better than others.

Yesterday, after multiple attempts over a series of days to enter my family's data and complete the application at healthcare.gov -- the website wouldn't verify my application. Actually, the website wouldn't even tell me by email or otherwise that my application was "incomplete". I had to go back in and re-enter my family's data several times. Then … I got the dreaded rolling ball symbol on the screen.

I called the help line, and spent another forty minutes on the phone, with a very nice man who had clearly undergone sensitivity training to be an intermediary between a disastrous health care reform roll out and civic disappointment, frustration, anger and despair. The phone agent read from a script, sprinkled with apologies delivered with unwavering sincerity.

Finally, after opening my application on his computer screen, my agent assured me that my application "went through" although neither of us could see any health care choices. Maybe that's just Florida and Gov. Rick Scott sticking the end of a wire coat hanger in the hard drive.

The customer service agent did try to get a supervisor to be involved -- I waited another fifteen minutes -- , but he couldn't clear his own phone help queue to get anyone on the line. This afternoon, I re-re logged on, or tried -- by the same password/login that I'd be using all along kept booting me back to the open login page. No message that my login failed. Just blank.

This morning I changed my password (why?) and succeeded in viewing that my application had moved from "in progress" to "submitted".

President Obama says that in time, health care reform will be viewed as his signature achievement. I agree. It is needed so desperately in the United States that one can almost feel the nation's big insurance companies pushing back as hard as they can. I have friends who did successfully enroll and are ecstatic at being able to sign up for affordable health care for the first time. Someday, I may be able to be ecstatic as well.

GOP holds government hostage ... by gimleteye

The front page, above-the-fold story in the NY Times today, "A Crisis Months in Planning: Conservatives Focused on Budget as Health Law Weapon" makes clear that powerful, wealthy Republicans -- who fund the media machinery of the radical right and conservative foundations -- adopted a carefully planned strategy to shut down the federal government in order to defund health care reform.

For GOP operatives, this wasn't reckless careening. "With polls showing Americans deeply divided over the law, conservatives believe that the public is behind them." But the public is NOT behind them. This miscalculation is symptomatic of a party, dominated by extremists to such an extent that it believes only the validity of shouting and furor amplified in its own echo chamber.

What the polls fail to disclose is the pent-up demand for health care reform. The American public has been goaded and inflamed into partisan corners by the radical right.

The deliberate strategy could not be more centrally poised for failure. It is stirring up disgust, with most voters blaming the GOP. Right wing talking points, amply available in repetitive waves across Fox News broadcast platforms, have leaked into other media. But in key respects, they fail to support the extremist strategy for the simplest of reasons: the radical right is fundamentally miscalculating the will of the American people.

American voters who have been cowed into silence need to find ways to make their voices known. In 2014, voters will have a chance to deliver their verdicts. In the meantime, participate in peaceful marches on district office of Republican members of Congress. This is your time and your moment.

I paid $20,000 a year for Health Insurance for Husband and Wife. By Geniusofdespair

I think all the people complaining better look at their previous bills and coverage. Give me the the skinny on your experience with the new affordable care. Is it affordable for you? Better coverage?

T Party people on Medicare and disability not welcome to comment.

What if Obamacare is wildly popular? ... by gimleteye

What I know about Obamacare is based both on news analyses and my own experience in our broken health care system. No wonder the public is frozen in place, as Oct. 1st approaches and the roll-out of new health care options for Americans.

The incessant criticism from the radical GOP right, wrapped in the American flag (homophobia, guns, war-mongering, deficit bell-ringing) has cast a pall of political soot over everything. Most voters can't distinguish, because of that soot, what is good and what is bad for them. What I know from my experience in the health care system, and those experiences of families and friends, is that so far as health care is concerned, we can't do worse. And if Obamacare does better, it will be the most positive development in the United States since the civil rights movement took hold.

So the thought occurs -- listening to the GOP threaten to shut down the US government right around the time Obamacare launches -- what if in the month of October the new health care reform is wildly popular?

I hope that citizens like me -- especially those that self-pay -- quickly seek out alternatives to current and existing health insurance company plans.

I, for one, want health care reform to work. If there are parts of Obamacare that need to be improved, then it will be incumbent on Congress and the White House to make changes.

In the meantime, a public embrace of Obamacare would be one quick way to send a message to GOP leaders obsessively shoveling coal into our Christmas stockings.

Why are Republicans so afraid of people saving money? by Geniusofdespair

There is so much misinformation out there. Let me print some of my own.  Obama will pay your health insurance premium if you are a Democrat.

See your dermatologist. By Geniusofdespair

I had a pre melanoma growth removed from my arm about twice the size of a freckle.  The incision was at least 2 inches for a less than a 1/4 inch spot. They bulked me up so I can't bend my arm.

Don't neglect seeing your dermatologist, make an appointment today.

A Tale Of Woe From My Health Insurance "Provider": AETNA ... by gimleteye

I purchase my own family insurance. Both my wife and I are healthy, with standard, middle-aged wear and tear. We exercise regularly. Eat simply. You get the point. We have 60,000 miles on the vehicle, in a manner of speaking.

I went online to fill out the application for a lower deductible from my current provider, AETNA. I was quoted, online, $1100 per month. The online application required me to provide detailed healthy history and credit card information.

A year ago, when I increased my deductible because of the regular cost increases, no review was required. But when I went to shop lowering my deductible, AETNA required a FULL review as though mine were a new application and as if they didn't already have access to my full health history.

After my wife and I spent two hours on the phone (aggravating?, you tell me), and the company through a third party vendor ("Hello, I am here to ask you questions about your health history. I am a certified medical doctor.") went through our health history with a fine toothed comb, the initial deductible re-materialized 50 percent higher from the online quote: from $1100 to $1800 per month.

My current AETNA policy (with the $10K deductible) is a quarter, of that cost, so when the AETNA representative called to tell me I had been "accepted", I declined.

I want to repeat this: I declined. I also made clear that I wanted to keep my existing policy. "Oh, nothing will happen to your existing policy," the AETNA representative politely told me. I didn't believe her.

To make sure I wouldn't lose my existing policy, after the call was over, I immediately called AETNA billing, to be sure the "new" policy wasn't automatically put into effect and to emphasize for a second time, that I intended to keep the policy with its high deductible: $10,000 per individual and $20,000 per family.

In other words, I declined the new coverage to two AETNA representatives on separate phone calls. I'm safe, right?

Two days later, I received an email that AETNA charged my credit card $1800 for the new policy. It was on a Saturday.

I called the AETNA help desk, but it was closed. "Business hours are Monday through Friday, 8AM to 5PM etc. etc." So I sent AETNA customer service an email immediately, complaining.

So let's review this. The AETNA billing department was closed on Saturday, and yet the AETNA computer had billed me $1800.

A day later, on Sunday, I received a reply that my credit card would be credited in 5-7 business days. It still hasn't been credited.

In my opinion, what my health care provider did constitutes theft. Theft, as clearly as if someone stole my wallet. A little more sophisticated, but theft nonetheless.

As for what my $10,000 deductible gets us? You tell me, and I'd especially like to hear from the Tea Party crazies who believe that health care reform is a communist conspiracy.

The most embarrassing moment for the GOP in Florida: tuberculosis outbreak squirts through voters open mouths ... by gimleteye

A TB outbreak in Florida that was kept secret because of political sensitivities. Protesters to the GOP national convention will be wearing face masks.

Last weekend, The Palm Beach Post dropped the bombshell: "The CDC officer had a serious warning for Florida health officials in April: A tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville was one of the worst his group had investigated in 20 years. Linked to 13 deaths and 99 illnesses, including six children, it would require concerted action to stop.

That report had been penned on April 5, exactly nine days after Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill that shrank the Department of Health and required the closure of the A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana, where tough tuberculosis cases have been treated for more than 60 years."

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal.

TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The TB bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.Long, tough treatment: Several pills a day of several virulent antibiotics for a minimum of six months, often up to two years.

If treatment regimen isn’t strictly followed, antibiotic resistent strains emerge.

TB is NOT spread by: shaking someone’s hand, sharing food or drink, touching bed linens or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes, kissing. TB Symptoms include: a bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or sputum, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, no appetite, chills, fever, sweating at night.

The Palm Beach reports: "As health officials in Tallahassee turned their focus to restructuring, Dr. Robert Luo’s 25-page report describing Jacksonville’s outbreak — and the measures needed to contain it – went unseen by key decision makers around the state. At the health agency, an order went out that the TB hospital must be closed six months ahead of schedule.

Had they seen the letter, decision makers would have learned that 3,000 people in the past two years may have had close contact with contagious people at Jacksonville’s homeless shelters, an outpatient mental health clinic and area jails. Yet only 253 people had been found and evaluated for TB infection, meaning Florida’s outbreak was, and is, far from contained."

For the GOP willing to name Donald Trump, "Statesman of the Year", all one can say is that in the race to the bottom, the GOP has opened a wide, wide lead.

Read the full Palm Beach Post article here:

Sugar: Toxic in all directions ... by gimleteye

Fructose: toxic in all directions

On Sunday 60 Minutes featured an episode on the toxicity of sugar. Big Sugar, in Florida, has been using the Everglades as its dumping ground for phosphorous pollution for decades, violating federal laws. In 1996, Florida voters approved a constitutional referendum requiring polluters of the Everglades to pay for 100 percent of the pollution they cause. (Remember how the Miami Dade County Commission beat its chest the other day, saying how "farmers are the best environmentalists"?)

The sugar industry deploys an army of lobbyists in Tallahassee and in Congress to make sure that taxpayers keep paying and paying and paying for the cleanup costs. According to a recent report funded by the Everglades Foundation, taxpayers pay 76 percent of those multi billion dollar costs-- and who bearing who knows how much choice in the matter of public health emergencies caused by consumption of fructose. 

Here is what the St. Pete Times editorial board wrote on Sunday: "This gross inequality is one reason the Everglades cleanup has dragged on for decades. Without a financial incentive, the agriculture industry will not act aggressively on its own to clean up the pollution flowing into the basin. It is eight times cheaper to keep fertilizer from entering the Everglades in the first place, the report found, than to come in later to clean up the water. But if farmers are not paying the bill, anyway, why would they better manage their operations on the front end?"

Watch the 60 Minutes episode here, and while you watch, keep two things in mind: first, what you are watching -- how too much sugar is poison-- is not some rant from the fringe (CBS 60 Minutes) -- and second, think of all the money being spent by elected officials we keep returning to office, to make poisoning democracy the operative engine of our times.

Now: make members of Congress buy health insurance like the rest of individual Americans ... by gimleteye

There's something every day that amazes me about our democracy and an insulated, protected elite that dominates from Congress. Who knew members of Congress are allowed to trade on inside information, and that some get rich doing so? Now that the Senate has been shamed into reform, here is the other Congressional perk that needs reform: gold plated health care insurance for members and their families.

I just spent an hour on the phone yesterday with Aetna, my "health care provider". My individual family policy is based on a $5000 deductible. I have no claims history, yet the price was arbitrarily increased from $780 to $1100 per month. The policy covers one of my children, my wife and I.

I wanted to go down in cost, not up. After an hour on the phone, I now have a less expensive policy. It also has vastly lower protections and coverage, including a $10,000 deductible.

I think we all know what a $10,000 deductible means: unless there is a catastrophic illness or accident in my family, I will be paying out-of-pocket for virtually everything associated with ordinary, routine medical care. A hernia I decided NOT to get surgery on, last year, cost me thousands of dollars I had to pay out of pocket. That's insurance?

If members of Congress couldn't rely on their soft health care cushion, they would be in the same boat as ordinary voters and taxpayers. I'm sure corporations with their purchasing power get much better deals that individuals like me, who once thought government was to protect people equally. Put Congress on the same side as people, not corporations. Put another way, I will believe corporations are people when a corporation has to decide whether or not to have that hernia surgery it needs but may not be able to afford.

Gov. Rick Scott: pays $400 per year for family health insurance ... by gimleteye

If American children were drafted to serve in the military, we would have been out of Afghanistan years ago. And if elected officials paid the same as individuals and families do, our nation's health insurance costs would be drastically lower and the influence of health insurance companies would be marginal. I'm sure for Florida Governor Rick Scott, paying $30 a month for family health care is no biggie. Hey, I'm just doing what 32,000 other state government employees are doing. Just like Mitt Romney in Iowa yesterday tossing off a protester: "Of course corporations are people." Don't you just love how the GOP claims it represents the interests of ordinary people? Water rolling off a duck's back. My family pays over $1200 a month for catastrophic health insurance coverage that increases by 20 percent any time we inquire about our deductible. Do you think I am angry and polarized? (click 'read more' for the AP story on Gov. Scott)