gob's blog http://www.correntewire.com/blog/973/atom/feed 2008-09-06T19:18:48-04:00 The uninsured give more ... organs http://www.correntewire.com/content/uninsured-give-more-organs 2008-11-18T18:44:17-05:00 2008-11-18T18:44:17-05:00 gob The transfer of vital organs from the have-nots to the have-mores doesn't just play out in cinematic goings-on in seedy London hotels, but also in the humdrum precincts of the American health (couldn't) care (less) system. In a recent press release, the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) reveal that "People who lack health insurance are about 20 times more likely to donate their liver or a kidney for a lifesaving transplant than to receive one".

]]> Aetna says your pain is ugly http://www.correntewire.com/aetna_says_your_pain_is_ugly 2008-09-24T10:09:24-04:00 2008-09-24T10:09:24-04:00 gob Karen George is in extreme pain, taking "daily doses of Klonopin, Flexeril, and Lortab", but Aetna won't cover surgery to correct her disconnected jawbone, because it is "cosmetic".

Now that I have your attention, I want to change the subject from bashing Aetna.

]]> Title: BookMooch: an intellectual seed exchange http://www.correntewire.com/title_bookmooch_an_intellectual_seed_exchange 2008-09-21T10:53:42-04:00 2008-09-21T10:53:42-04:00 gob BookMooch is now my preferred source and sink for books. With some patience, and the price of postage, I can get or get rid of many things. Shelf space is limited now, and most books come from the library, but sometimes they don't have what I want, or I want to own the book, possibly only for a while.

There is a small number of books on my shelves waiting to be read, and after that I'll put them up for "mooching". BookMooch is an unusual model in that getting the book costs you nothing (in money) but giving it costs you postage. It's all kept in balance by a point system that compares the books you've sent to the books you've gotten.

]]> This old hat that I've got on http://www.correntewire.com/this_old_hat_that_ive_got_on 2008-09-18T20:14:34-04:00 2008-09-18T20:14:34-04:00 gob This old hat that I've got on,
The crown of him is gone,
And the brim is all gone to asunder.

John Conyers aptly describes our current health care-less system as "the current non-system of health care run by profit hungry insurance companies."

Non-system indeed; it is like a shirt with more holes than cloth, a hat with no crown or brim, nothing left to reform. It's not just the greed, it's the patchwork nature of everything. And of course, it's those far from the centers of power who suffer the most. Look at this story from Chillicothe in southern Ohio, i.e. Appalachia. The writer has just been informed that she must change either her doctor or her health insurer:

]]>
 HCAN and I ask you to call your Congressperson http://www.correntewire.com/hcan_and_i_ask_you_to_call_your_congressperson 2008-09-18T19:44:01-04:00 2008-09-18T19:44:01-04:00 gob As dday notes, John Conyers has signed on to HCAN's Statement of Common Purpose, along with 31 other members of Congress.

Conyers's statement:

]]>
 McClatchy: blame Bill http://www.correntewire.com/mcclatchy_blame_bill 2008-09-16T10:38:06-04:00 2008-09-16T10:38:06-04:00 gob If a picture is worth a thousand words, McClatchy's front page today lays the blame for the current financial crisis at Bill Clinton's feet. Over the headline "Wall Street crisis is culmination of 28 years of deregulation" we see a photo of Bill grinning and giving the thumbs up, captioned "Bill Clinton in 1999 signed legislation that overturned nearly 70 years of regulation of the financial industry."

The commenters strike back with the facts, supported by linky goodness: it was a Republican bill, passed in the Senate on a straight party-line vote with exception of the DINO Hollings.

]]> Dear God, could they really be scared of us?! http://www.correntewire.com/dear_god_could_they_really_be_scared_of_us 2008-09-15T20:28:54-04:00 2008-09-15T20:28:54-04:00 gob At American Medical News, a website of the American Medical Association, Emily Berry does some pretty good low-flying snark as she reports on the latest marketing ploys of "health plans":

Health plans are on a marketing mission. They "want you to know" how to "thrive" by turning to them for "guidance when you need it most" because "it's time to feel better," and their business is "helping people live healthier lives."

...

]]>
 Bean counters to patients: take your pills and win the lottery http://www.correntewire.com/bean_counters_to_patients_take_your_pills_and_win_the_lottery 2008-09-15T10:21:09-04:00 2008-09-15T10:21:09-04:00 gob The Medical Quack explains some of the ins and outs of the insanity induced in our health "care" system by corporate bureaucracy. To try to sum up a bizarre situation, it seems the HMOs want to reward or punish doctors based on their effectiveness at getting patients to take their medication. The purchase of $4 generic prescription drugs through outfits like Wal-Mart destroys the paper trail that makes it possible to apply the incentives. So there are some efforts by the bureaucrats to get this information out of the patients:

]]>
 In Which I Rant and Rave at the Newspapers http://www.correntewire.com/in_which_i_rant_and_rave_at_the_newspapers 2008-09-15T10:00:24-04:00 2008-09-15T10:00:24-04:00 gob The thing is, it's pervasive. It's not just the big things like sticking the (lack of) evidence on WMD on page 15 instead of page 1, it's the assumptions they're always slipping past me.

Here's the NY Times trying to get me to agree that torture works, or possibly that waterboarding works and isn't really torture, in the very first paragraph of an (actually worthwhile, scary) article on something else entirely:

The new technology is, to its critics, Orwellian. Others view it as a silver bullet against terrorism that could render waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods obsolete.

]]> Sunday morning olive bread http://www.correntewire.com/sunday_morning_olive_bread 2008-09-14T12:23:51-04:00 2008-09-14T12:23:51-04:00 gob It was my friend K who introduced me to good food. I'm invited there for dinner tonight and she has honored me by asking me to bring my olive bread. She is a gifted cook, a provider of reliable wines, and a treasured person, and we fear we might lose her soon.

]]> My tomatoes (an anti-brag) http://www.correntewire.com/my_tomatoes_an_anti_brag 2008-09-14T09:28:41-04:00 2008-09-14T09:28:41-04:00 gob After three days of rain, my tomatoes are fat sweet prizes in a wet wilderness. My fingers, questing gently, encounter . . . ugh. Slugs like tomatoes. Ugh.

]]> Health care: can we put lipstick on this pig in a poke? http://www.correntewire.com/health_care_can_we_put_lipstick_on_this_pig_in_a_poke 2008-09-12T10:30:19-04:00 2008-09-12T13:47:59-04:00 gob or, Why Does Aetna Hate Ruth Kaufman's Toe?

There are two strands here: denial of care, and lack of transparency.

My health insurance, for which I pay $395 per month, will not cover the foot surgery my doctor says I need: a toe joint replacement that is supposed to last 20 years and which will restore mobility and reduce pain.

]]>
 We get letters http://www.correntewire.com/we_get_letters 2008-09-09T09:27:29-04:00 2008-09-09T09:27:29-04:00 gob The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette printed two good letters on HR 676 as follow-up to the excellent column by Clarke Thomas that ran the other day.

Hurray for our side. Keep plugging away, foot soldiers.

Short happy dance as the rest of the news out there looks pretty dire.

]]> Where's the book review? Where's Truth Partisan? http://www.correntewire.com/wheres_the_book_review_wheres_truth_partisan 2008-09-07T08:57:25-04:00 2008-09-07T10:48:55-04:00 gob Truth Partisan, where are you? How can it be Sunday? Whither Corrente? Shall venerable tradition be so lightly discarded?

Ok, I'll start. What's your favorite book that nobody else you know has read or even heard of?

]]> Drilling for Clean Energy? http://www.correntewire.com/drilling_for_clean_energy 2008-09-06T19:18:48-04:00 2008-09-06T19:18:48-04:00 gob Bipartisanship, perhaps an oxymoron already, brings us an apparent oxymoron: "Drilling for Clean Energy" from Representatives Jim Marshall and Roscoe Bartlett, writing in the WaPo:

...a strategic plan to use the remaining value of our federally owned oil and natural gas reserves to fund a clean, affordable and independent energy future for America, a goal worthy of short-term environmental concessions and risks.

Their idea is to open up ANWR and offshore for drilling, but under changed financial terms that would capture more of the revenues for the federal government, and ensure that the money goes to develop solar, wind, nuclear, and "better" biofuels.

]]>