Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:00:04 -0400
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-burger/the-power-of-patient-advo_b_95123.html
It's a beautiful morning in Orange County, the surf's up, and it's spring break for the students at Valencia High School, except one: 17-year-old Nick Colombo. Nick is home in bed, suffering from the devastating and painful complications of his four-year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma. He's waiting for a break of a different kind. The break that could help restore his health and save his life.
Nick's trusted doctors at Children's Hospital Los Angeles consulted with experts at the Mid-America Sarcoma Institute in Kansas, who determined that Nick would benefit from treatment with the CyberKnife, an advanced and highly specialized form of radiation therapy. Nick's insurance company, Pacificare refused to pay for the treatment: claim denied. They said he didn't need it.
Ricky Colombo, Nick's 19-year-old brother, is a student at Vanguard University. The school makes a lofty claim and anyone who's met Ricky will bear witness to it: "Vanguard prepares students to be world changers." Ricky realized that there was something very wrong in his corner of the world when the insurance company blocked his brother's chance to live and he took action.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee got the call. Ricky had heard a story about how the nurses were able to mobilize support with the family of another teen, Nataline Sarkysian, who was denied a life saving liver transplant by insurance giant Cigna. They reversed their decision hours before she died. Ricky's love for his brother is sacrificial and his determination to fight this kind of injustice is inspiring.
Registered Nurses are duty bound by law to be patient advocates and sometimes that means taking our advocacy outside the walls of the hospitals to the front door of an insurance company. That's where we met Ricky, at the front door of Pacificare, (now owned by United Health), in Cypress.
Nearly 100 of Nick's classmates gave up a day at the beach to join us and carry picket signs in a show of solidarity and collective advocacy power. "Health care for Nick, Health care for all," was the phrase we chanted. The altruism and resolve of those young students is inspiring. If it could happen to Nick, it could happen to anybody; and this is a family with "insurance."
Pacificare's corporate offices had been flooded with phone calls protesting their decision for the past two days as word of the denial spread. When we arrived with our picket signs, we learned that Pacificare had reversed their decision late Monday evening and agreed to pay for Nick's radiation treatments. For that we're grateful, but no one should have to beg for medically necessary care and hold bake sales to pay for it.
How much more pain and suffering are we going to tolerate in this country? It doesn't have to be this way. We're the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn't have a guaranteed, single-payer health care system. The freedom to go to any doctor or any hospital. It's not a dream, it's legislation.
HR 676, authored by U.S. Representative John Conyers, and sponsored by CNA/NNOC, is legislation that will help us live this dream.
Nurses hearts are broken every day when we see the devastating effects of our broken health care system. Patients are denied the care they need because of exclusions for pre-existing conditions. They're rationed out of the system by co-pays and high deductibles. The problem isn't Pacificare -- it's every single insurance company. They make a profit by denying care to patients like Nick. That's why we need to replace them with the non-profit system that every other industrialized nation enjoys.
We don't need more insurance coverage. There's a lesson to be learned by every politician who thinks insurance companies are the solution. When else in the history of our country has a candidate for office proposed a mandate that requires that we purchase a defective product? We already pay more for care and we get less; a lower life expectancy and a higher infant mortality rate.
If you move, travel, or lose your job, your healthcare coverage always goes with you. There's no more administrative waste lost to insurance company paperwork. Patients and their doctors make decisions for care based on individual patient needs without interference from insurance company bean counters.
The Nataline Sarkysian and Nick Colombo families have insurance. Remember them the next time you think you do. And, remember them the next time you hear a candidate for president tell you about a mandate that will enrich the insurance companies. The tragedy of illness or injury shouldn't be compounded by financial ruin for families. Since when did taking care of each other become socialism?
As progressives in a humane society we've recognized that we're all in this together. May God bless Nick Colombo. He's not heavy. He's our brother.
A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. - Obama
It would be great to hear what they both have to say.
I did a little research on Andrew J. Bacevich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bacevich). He is also an interesting person to listen to...
They say they like to feature speakers on opposing sides of an issue... reading the bio of the other speaker - I am wondering what side of this issue General Clark will be taking?
That will be an interesting transcript to see, hope they provide one.... Edgy issue... proceed with caution...
He also opposed the war in Kosovo, probably because he was against anything Clinton did -- he certainly fell in with the Repubs who argued that nothing in the Balkans was a matter of US interest.
Or maybe, since Bacevich identifies himself as a Christian conservative, he is one of those Milosevic apologists who sided with the Christian Serbs against the Muslim Kosovars, purely on the basis of religion.
I haven't read Bacevich' book (The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War), but in the New York Review of Books, Tony Judt wrote, "... Bacevich is decidedly unfair to General Wesley Clark, blaming him for the conduct and consequences of a war (in Kosovo) over which he had very limited control."
My link is old, but it diverts to
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=18113
And James Webb also reviewed book in USA Today, claiming that Bacevich "...lays the blame for the military's loss of credibility with its civilian counterparts as being derived heavily from the actions of Colin Powell and Wesley Clark."
http://www.jameswebb.com/amsch.htm
Should be an interesting event. Wish I could be there. I hope General Clark wipes the floor with him, but I suspect he's too much of a gentleman.
I will think they will have disagreements but there will have agreements on certain issues...
Whatever the case may be, my guess is that Gen. Clark will stand on his two feet and say the truth... Maybe Bacevich will have a chance to reconsider what he thinks about Gen. Clark's past actions...
And in my opinion, Milosevic didn't care about religion. He might have used it for propaganda but he was more obsessed about creating greater Serbia, nothing more.
I think religion has been always an excuse not the primary reason why people went to war. War is about power and what they want to own...
that if Milosevic wasn't obsessed about creating greater Serbia in the Balkans, I think Russian's backyard would have weakened even more significantly. If you think about it, it worked very well for both Milosevic and Russians, considering how Albania is a very sensitive land when it comes to East vs. West. but then again for some reason Russians were playing both games with the Serbs and with the NATO...
Anyway, I could be wrong and there are always more doors opening to why wars begin…
Talking about his supporters here in the US.
If you follow the right-wing blogs, especially the Christian right, they seem to sincerely believe that the Serbs are the good guys because they are fellow Christians, and the Kosovars are all Muslim terrorists.
It's almost too crazy to believe, but so are a lot of things when it comes to religion and politics.
because I get a lot of questions why war happened in former Yugoslavia. And since I lived in former Yugoslavia from the age of 8-14, I remember the main concern was about braking away from communism and having their own democracy... And when I returned to U.S. the media would based it on religion, which gave the impression as the major reason for war... Also it could be because I lived in the northern part of Croatia where majority of us were Catholics, so we didn't have to worry about religion... But even my dad would say, when he was here, how much the media wouldn't say exactly why and what was happening during the Balkan war.
Anyway, it's crazy when you think about it... and I don't think it's right to say that any religious group is better or should support the war based on religion. I don't think that creates unity and peace that religion is trying to teach us.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Great video came in the inbox today.
Sure doesn't look like someone about to fold up their tent and go home... ;)
https://contribute.hillaryclinton.com/april5.html?sc=1754&utm_source=1754&utm_medium=e
Watch it!!
Was reading one of the entries at Daily Kos about how the Obama team had 'stolen' one of the DC delegates that had been initially slotted for Hillary
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/5/112643/6837/528/490677
I responded with this (which I'll repeat below for those who don't want to wander over to the Land of Orange). I emailed Jack Evans directly who may be the Hillary supporter/delegate directly affected by this, but does anyone know how to forward this direcly to the Hillary legal team for review?
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/4/5/112643/6837/86#c86
==========================================
Thanks for referencing this and I did a bit more looking at the DCDCS site, especially the spreadsheet here:
http://dcdsc.grassroots.com/...
This spreadsheet shows that Hillary got 27,865 votes out of a total 116,097 votes (for those meeting theshold if I'm reading this correctly). I also notice that this spreadsheet says 'preliminary', so I'm not sure if this mirrors the final results, but let's assume for now that it does.
So 27,865/116,097 = 24% of the vote for Hillary, with Obama having the other 76% (I don't have time to go through all the details, but will be happily referring this to the Clinton legal team). The spreadsheet that I'm referencing here shows that 8 of 10 pledged delegates were given to Obama, while the 2 remaining delegates were given to Hillary.
Now you are saying that 2 of 2 PLEO(?) pledged delegates are to be allocated to Obama with zero for Clinton (I assume that these are basically equivalen t to the 'at-large' pledged delegates I'm more familiar with in Texas). I don't know how many other types of 'at-large' pledged delegates there are in DC, but let's just say this is all (I'm probably missing something here).
If true, then we now have 10 of 12 pledged delegates to Obama and 2 of 12 pledged delegates to Clinton for a 83% vs 17% split which DOES NOT fairly reflect the election results. If one of the PLEO delegates goes to Clinton, then the delegate split is 75% vs 25% which is an almost exact mirroring of the election results.
These 'at-large' delegates are supposed to be used to help balance the demographic representation of the delegations, but also to proportionally balance the delegations to reflect the voter preferences. So, I wouldn't quite count this delegate 'steal' yet...I can see a successful challenge written all over this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck14OfxVRs4&feature=related
Hillary Clinton's speech in Grand Forks North Dakota at the Alerus Center Part 1.
Hillary is introduced by former Gov. George Sinner, and greeted by Senators Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad, and Congressman Pomeroy.
Impressive large crowd!
Minnesota Public Radio summary of her speech (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F4l7Iv5ndk
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
Thirty-Five Senate Races in November
23 GOP & 12 Dems November 2008
Senate Races : partial list
toss - up:
GOP Sen. Wayne Alland - retiring -- Colorado
competitive:
GOP Sen. Larry Craig - resigned --Idaho
competitive:
DEM Sen. Mary Landrieu - incumbent -- Louisiana
[DOB 11/23/1955 Arlington Virginia]
competitive:
GOP Sen. Susan Collins - incumbent -- Maine
[12/7/1952 Caribou Maine]
competitive:
GOP Sen. Norm Coleman - incumbent -- Minnesota
[DOB 8/17/1949 Brooklyn NY]
competitive:
GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole - incumbent -- N. Carolina
[DOB 7/29/1936 Salisbury N.C.]
toss - up:
GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel - retiring -- Nebraska
competitive:
GOP Sen. John Senunu - incumbent -- New Hampshire
competitive:
GOP Sen. Pete Domineci - retiring -- New Mexico
competitive:
GOP Sen. Gordon Smith - incumbent -- Oregon
[DOB 5/25/1952 Pendleton Oregon]
toss - up:
GOP Sen. John Warner - retiring -- Virginia
~~
TWO GOP SENATORS EACH STATE: WYOMING & MISSISSIPPI
both GOP Senators up for re-election
http://uspolitics.about.com/od/2008elections/l/bl_2008_senate_elections.htm
In honor of the first real day of SPRING.
Approaching 65 degrees; no-shirt weather! (For some of us.)
For the good of the Democratic Party, Obama must drop out - NOW!
go naked! And if I were you, I would call it "spring democracy". (just joking).
Anyway, it's very pretty and did you take the picture?
wrist.
For the good of the Democratic Party, Obama must drop out - NOW! He is no longer a viable national candidate.
We planted lilacs. :)
No, I didn't take this photo. But maybe some of mine will look like this by May.
I dug up a 20 year old rose bush. It had seen better years...
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
