Ten Thousand Get Free Health & Dental Care in Los Angeles. Las Vegas Job Loss Means No Healthcare

Even Bill Moyers admitted that she has difficulty understanding what the Health Insurance Reform bill would provide. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08142009/profile2.html

There is so much disinformation in the news that it is hard to tell who is telling the truth. I don't think that even congress truly understands the enormity of our healthcare problem because they are part of the elite affluent as are mainstream reporters who have never personally experienced our dysfunctional and cruel and brutal healthcare system.

The brutal fact now is very few can pay for Cobra because all the cost is shifted to you and the employer contribution stops. President Obama has in the Health Insurance Reform bill, a provision to reduce the cost by Two-Thirds. You might lobby to eliminate the 20 or more employees required to get Cobra health insurance when you lose your job. It is now never if. Firing high income people, those over 40 helps the bottom line or stock price for executives.

Here is a sample of the huge number of people who need healthcare due to budget cut downs in 48 states:

The brutal truth about America’s healthcare

An extraordinary report from Guy Adams in Los Angeles at the music arena that has been turned into a makeshift medical centre

... In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists. By the time the makeshift medical centre leaves town on Tuesday, staff expect to have dispensed $2m worth of treatments to 10,000 patients. ... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-brutal-truth-about-americarsquos-healthcare-1772580.html

Health spending as a share of GDP

US 16%

UK 8.4%

Public spending on healthcare (% of total spending on healthcare)

US 45%

UK 82%

Health spending per head

US $7,290

UK $2,992

Life expectancy:

US 78

UK 80

Infant mortality (per 1,000 live births)

US 6.7

UK 4.8

This morning I watched WWW.C-SPAN.ORG where the National Journal interviewed and had call-ins for Susie Madrick http://susiemadrak.com/2009/08/15/05/33/the-brutal-truth-about-americas-healthcare/#more-40643 talked in more detail about the extraordinary number of Californians given free medical and dental care at the Los Angeles Forum, an even rarely reported in our our corporate press/media except for the New York Times. Both Democrats and Republicans expressed the same concerns to Susie, about the only topic where these two groups have similar concerns.

But we had to go to the UK get the crucial details about this extraordinary Health Care Event in Los Angeles.

Susie Madrick worked in the Philadelphia main stream newspaper for 20 years, but was fired due to the economy and now writes the blog Suburban guerilla. Even though she pays for her own insurance, she has not been successful in over a year in getting an MRI needed to fix her badly fractured ankle.

Unfortunately Madrick says it is extremely hard to get accurate news on television except for a few places. (Olbermann and Maddow Jim). She points out that most people do not know enough to pick out the truth from fiction.

During Obama's talk and question session in Montana, one NRA member said he does not like the network news so he gets accurate news from cable. Obama with a big smile said you better watch out. Cable news is not necessarily accurate either! It is likely the NRA member watches FOX which does not have journalist, but announcers who tell the pages of lies they are given to them without a clue as to whether they are telling the truth or not.

She recommended trying many different blogs until you find one or two that seems to come the closest to the truth. She recommend http://crooksandliars.com/ which I found to be quite good and accurate. Her blog is http://susiemadrak.com . If you want a quick read with great accuracy, go to http://thinkprogress.org/ which puts the important jest of a story in one paragraph. Very reliable. My start page is http://huffingtonpost.com which has a list of many different blogs at the bottom of the first page.

But the Public television show "NOW" shows how a recession has caused Middle Class workers in Las Vegas fared after they lost their job and Healthcare insurance. Public Health Insurance is essentially absent and the state has no individual or state income tax and no healthcare for the casino workers and others similar to Texas, also a no tax state, which makes it a horror story for most families when they lose their insurance. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/512/index.html (25 minutes, but just watching a few minutes will give you an idea how bad it is. Jim)

Jim Kawakami

August 15, 2009

http://jimboguy.blogspot.com Health & Finance