Speaking of vertigo: up is down and down is up… or so those against single payer argue.

Okay, kiddos, it’s time for a little (read: YUUUUUUUUUGE) rant outta yours truly here.

It’s regarding one particular bit of disinformation that those who are against a single payer healthcare system always whip out as a fear tactic, when the reality of the sitch is that nothing could be further from the actual truth! If one is going to argue against something, one should have one’s facts straight. Yet repug candidates for office always run fear-inducing ads with the LIE I’m about to discuss, when the reality is that our CURRENT health care system, which is TOTALLY controlled by private insurance companies, is the system to which the following LIE-when-said-to-apply-to-single-payer actually applies.

Before I say what it is, I’ll say why I’m ranting about it right at this moment: I just experienced the ACTUAL reality of our CURRENT, private-insurance-controlled, employer-based health care system, and it is one that REALLY “won’t let you choose your own doctors”. YEP: that's the lie they try to scare you with re single payer, when the reality is that, under a true single payer system, YOU CAN GO TO ANY DOCTOR IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, no matter if you change your employer, no matter if you don’t have an employer, no matter if you live in Alaska and want to see someone in Maine: up to YOU. Yet Republicans (mainly, but also others who are against single payer) are constantly saying that “the government won’t let you pick your doctor!” LIE. Or that “the government will make you change doctors from the one you have”. LIE—just another version of the first lie. And not only is it a blatant lie, what is doubly infuriating is, THAT IS THE SITUATION UNDER PRIVATE-INSURANCE-COMPANY-BASED HEALTH CARE!

Case in point that happened to me today: Maybe you saw my very recent Facebook post about my vertigo coming back last Saturday. Well, it is still with me, so I called the fantastic place I went for treatment in 2011, and to which I’ve always felt comforted to think that, if I ever needed a second treatment, I could go back. The insurance I had at the time (in 2011) was a PPO which means that you usually didn’t need a referral for a specialist, but in the case of this place, you did need a referral BY a specialist, saying that you need this particular place/treatment. ANYWAY, so in 2011, I had all that and I was treated. Today, I called the center, to tell them that I was a patient in 2011, my vertigo has flared up, and if I want to come back, do I need a referral like I did last time, as I have new insurance now? Oh, what insurance do you have, they asked. I told them. The response I got was “We can’t accept Blue Cross Blue Shield--they won’t allow us in their network.” Oh NO, I said. It hadn’t even occurred to me that BCBS wouldn’t have this place (a renowned center for balance/vestibular disorders) in their network. “But we can submit it out of network.” No, I said, you can’t: the plan I’m on does NOT have ANY out-of-network benefits. It’s an “EPO”, which means, in a nutshell, NO out-of-network benefits.

So tell me again, repugs-and-other-anti-single-payer-peeps, how a single payer plan is going to mean I can’t choose my doctor. What the bleep do you think we have RIGHT NOW? I’ll tell you: we have private insurance companies and employers dictating who is and isn’t “in network”. Whereas, with single payer, THERE ARE NO NETWORKS.

I’ve been at my employer/job for 19 years, going on 20. We’ve had many different insurance companies and plans in that time. They change insurance companies every few years. We are now back to the insurance company we had in 1999, when I started here. Every time they change, your doctor could be suddenly “out of network”. What if it was my oncologist? The one who is supposed to follow me for 5 years after my ovarian cancer in 2017? She’s in network, thank God, but it just as easily could have been that she isn’t. I was really scared when the company announced we were changing insurance companies this year.

I am OVER our health care system! I’m one of the very lucky ones WITH insurance. Yet I just got told by a provider I need (they are the only place of their kind in this region) that my insurance company “won’t allow us in their network”. So if I hear ONE more repug or anyone else LYING about single payer, saying “the government will choose your doctors!”, when actually, that’s the OPPOSITE of the truth, I may just spontaneously combust. And, if I do, I pray that whatever hospital I’m transported to is in-network.

P.S. The other lie is that single payer is so expensive for both individual Americans and the American economy: Another LIE. Individual Americans would save significant money every year as, though taxes might go up, you would have ZERO insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles or co-insurance. And as for our economy, our CURRENT, private-insurance-based system is totally unsustainable and conflict-of-interest-ridden, whereas a government run, single-payer system is economically sustainable AND covers every single American citizen.

But yeah, just keep spreading lies about it, Republicans and others who are against it. Just keep lying. While meanwhile, Americans with jobs are going bankrupt due to health issues, many Americans aren’t even covered, the insurers have a conflict of interest when it comes to providing care versus making huge profits, and last but not least, our current economically unsustainable insurance-based system is just that: unsustainable, with costs continuing to skyrocket and it is hurting our entire economy.

But just keep lying.

Democratic Socialism v. Socialism: A Politics 101 Lesson for Donny John & Co.

Okay, Donny John, you're in luck! I don't want to do what I absolutely need to be doing today, thus I am have time to give you a lesson in political science. I will keep it sort and sweet--one blurb--as I know you have the attention span of a flea.

Pencil ready? Okay--yes, you may use your cell phone instead. But do take notes on this, because clearly--from your little "we will keep America from becoming a socialist country" dig at Bernie, AOC, and all of us you sneeringly referred to often in your 2016 campaign rallies as "Bernie people"--you don't understand the difference between "socialism" and "democratic socialism". So here's a little succinct lesson gleaned from a quick Google:

"The key difference between socialism and democratic socialism is that democratic socialists don't want the government to own the means of production and socialists do. They believe that certain general social goods like health care should be run by the government, but otherwise support capitalism."

Okay, you can go out and play now. But no bullying the other children.

Bernie and us Berners Have Moved the Democratic Party and Our Country Forward

Bernie, his vision, his priorities, his platform, his leadership, his eloquence, his refusal to let the media drag him off message, his insistence on sticking to substance and never talking down to the American people, his entire 2016 campaign, and last but not least, all of US--the Berners!--really accomplished a tremendous amount in 2016, though right now, with the situation in the White House, it may not seem that way.

Bernie, his vision, his priorities, his platform, his leadership, his eloquence, his refusal to let the media drag him off message, his insistence on sticking to substance and never talking down to the American people, his entire 2016 campaign, and last but not least, all of US--the Berners!--really accomplished a tremendous amount in 2016, though right now, with the situation in the White House, it may not seem that way.

What did he, and we, do? We moved the dialog, discuss...ion and talking points in this country. We changed not only the 2016 platform of the Democratic Party, but we changed what are considered valid, mainstream ideas and issues moving forward, for the future of our party and this country!

Single payer? It's now not laughed out of the room. It's mainstream, Kamala Harris has come out strongly for it upon announcing her campaign, to my utter thrilledness. SINGLE PAYER NOW! I've been shouting for it since long about 1980, when I first came of age, and happened to go to Europe for a class in college one semester, and learned, while I was there, of a little thing called single payer, and democratic socialism. WOW. Brought some buttons (political) home with me. Still have them. Still for single payer. Know it is what our country needs for a health care system if we are ever going to have one that is economically sustainable and morally/ethically right--in other words, if we are going to have a health care system that is healthy for our country in more ways than one. Single payer now? Yes, Virginia: NOW!

Finally!

Thank you, dear, unwavering, unfaltering, Bernie Sanders. And thank you, me, you and all of us because we stood together, we raised our voices and our candles high in the air, and the party and the nation has taken note, and notes. Single payer is kitchen table talk now. He did that. We did that. Never think that you can't make a difference.

 

All The Ways 2020 Democrats Sounds More Like Bernie Than Hillary

Impeach 45

It is a constitutional imperative to begin impeachment proceedings re 45. He has, and continues to, violate our precious constitution in so many ways, he is a clear and present danger to our country, and a treasonous traitor.

It's getting close to 2020 now. Some may be thinking, oh, let's just wait it out. Focus on 2020. I say we cannot set the precedent that a US President can get away with the violations of the constitution that this man has done and is doing, and we cannot tolerate a traitor in the White House.

Start the impeachment process now, for the sake of the present and future health of our constitution, rule of law, and country.

Impeach Trump Now