Progressives For Pennsylvania

Tak Kak · at 7:47 AM

kate loving shenk · at 7:09 AM

Mitt Romney's health care plan utilizes insurance
companies to distribute health care to the citizen's
of Massachusetts.

Yet, Romney must be commended for even having a plan,
plus he is a Republican with a plan!! That is indeed, a
refreshing and hopeful sign.

Here is Mitt Romney defending his health care plan
to a waitress on the campaign trail.

The internent allows us to witness these intimate
exchanges. Since the news only shows these exchanges in
sound bites, and the blogs show them in their
entirety, we undoubtedly will have an exciting
election season, thanks to the political blogs.

Enjoy!!

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

kate loving shenk · at 8:48 AM

The power in a progressive movement is a beautiful thing.

There's no room for negativity, criticism and loveless perception towards any human on the planet!!

Watch this short film:

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Jake · at 2:39 PM

Ah, the good old days of television.

kate loving shenk · at 12:30 PM

When I saw this, I got goose bumps.

And I simultameously decided that John Edwards
is my choice for the next president.

Thank You,

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

kate loving shenk · at 9:13 AM

Single-Payer is getting more and more press!! Let us celebrate the momentum
leading up to the inevitable passage of what 2/3rds of the American public
really wants!!!!!

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

COMMENTARY Philadelphia Inquirer 7/23

Make Pa. a health-care leader

By Linda Hunt Beckman

It's not news that the United States is the only industrialized
nation that does not have a universal health-care system. Millions
of people - 1.3 million of them Pennsylvanians - lack insurance.
Our health-care system is badly broken.

Gov. Rendell's health-care plan, Prescription for Pennsylvania,
was to help remedy this. Many considered the plan unworkable
because it failed to deal with the root cause of our dysfunctional
medical delivery system: the profit-driven insurance and pharmaceutical
industries. After battles with legislators over the costs, Rendell
announced recently that he was putting his plan on hold.

Two bills, Senate Bill 300 and House Bill 1660, called the Pennsylvania
Family and Business Health Care Security Act, have been introduced to
alleviate the state's health-care problems. They would provide
comprehensive health-care coverage, including dental and vision
services, long-term care and prescription drugs. All traditional
health-insurance premiums, co-pays and health-care deductibles
would be eliminated, and employers would no longer have to select
or administer company-sponsored health-care insurance. Coverage
for senior citizens would continue through Medicare.

The plan would be financed by a 10 percent employer-paid tax
on payrolls and a three percent personal income tax. These
funds would be added to money from Medicaid, Medicare, the
tobacco settlement, cigarette taxes, the Veterans Administration
and any lottery funds designated for health care. They would create
an estimated $48 billion trust to provide universal health care for
Pennsylvanians.

In short, health care as we know it would be replaced by a
single-payer, not-for-profit health-care system. This could
make our state a model for the rest of the country. (A bill
which would provide similar coverage for all Americans has
been stalled in Congress since 2005.)

A publicly financed health-care system would allow doctors
and hospitals to drastically reduce administrative overhead,
eliminate waste and provide substantial savings for business.
Compensation for medical malpractice claims would be provided
through a no-fault system that gives patients reasonable settlements.
The state health-care trust would be sued, not individual
providers, although doctors and patients could opt to keep
their tort rights.

The care provided under this program would not fit the notion
that Americans have of "socialized medicine." We would have to
overcome these objections:

Increased taxes. It is true that our taxes would increase,
but we no longer would have to pay premiums, co-pays, or
out-of-pocket expenses. Few of us resent spending for police
and fire departments, schools, libraries, and highways. This
would be the same kind of spending.

Waiting lists. Government financing of health care does not
cause waiting lists for elective surgery; they result from
specific flaws in health-care systems. France, Austria, and
Japan, among other countries, have created health-care models
that are superior to Canada and the United Kingdom (good as
theirs are in many ways). Better-funded, the former countries
have no waits for elective surgery.

Impersonal care. Some say government-managed health care
is impersonal. If the Family and Business Health Care Security
Act is passed, it would not change how health care is delivered,
only how it is financed. People would continue to choose their
own doctors. For example, in 2001, while visiting Austria, a
country with universal health care, I fell ill. A friend took
me to the physician she had seen all her life. Nothing could
have felt less bureaucratic.

Our state could become the cradle of liberty once again.
Let's make Pennsylvania a leader in liberating health care
from dysfunction and from myths. I urge you to call your
legislators and tell them you stand behind the Family and Business Health Care Security Act.

Linda Hunt Beckman (beckman5@verizon.net) lives and writes in Philadelphia.

kate loving shenk · at 7:48 AM

1) The government can't run anything. I don't trust the
government.

The current gang in Washington may be a good reason not to
trust
the government to do ANYTHING right.

However, Medicare and Social Security are good examples
of systems
that run well and on time. People receive their checks the
same
time every month and health care is provided: on time.

2) I'm a free market person and don't want any part of
"socialized
medicine."
Single Payer Insurance is defined as a single government
fund with each state
which pays hospitals, physicians and other health care
providers, thus replacing
the current multi-payer system of private insurance
companies.

It would provide coverage for the fifty million people who
are uninsured.

It would eliminate the financial threat and impaired
access to care for tens of
millions who do not have coverage and are unable to afford
the out-of-pocket
expenses because of deficiencies in their insurance plans.

It would return to the patient free choice of health care
provider and hospitals,
not the choice that only the restrictive health plans
allow.

It would relieve businesses of the administrative hassle
and expense of maintaining
a health benefits program.

It would remove from the health care equation the
middleman—the managed care
industry—that has broken the traditional doctor-patient
relationship, while diverting
outrageous amounts of patient care dollars to their own
coffers.

It would control health care inflation through
constructive mechanisms of cost
containment that improve allocation of our health care
resources, rather than
controlling costs through an impersonal business ethic
that robs patients of care
so as to increase profits for the privileged few. Single
Payer Universal Health
Care would provide access to high quality care for
everyone at affordable prices.

3) Canadians have long waiting periods and come to the
U.S. for their health care
needs. Therefore, such a plan would make for waiting
periods in the U.S.

First of all, ask almost any Canadian if they would trade
our system for theirs.
The answer is a resounding "NO."

They may have to wait for elective surgeries, for
instance, but
we have to wait for these kinds of surgeries, as well.

Canadians have the option to buy extra coverage to get
heroic measures covered,
say in the case of Cancer treatment.

At 9% of their GDP, they are spending much less than we
are as a nation.
We, the wealthiest nation on earth, spend 14 % of our GDP.

4) Our country cannot afford to insure everyone.

Our country already has enough funds dedicated to health
care to provide the
highest quality of care for everyone. Studies have shown
that under a single
payer system, comprehensive care can be provided for
everyone without
spending any more funds than are now being spent.

Not only do we have more than sufficient funds, we are
also a nation that is infamous
for our excess health care capacity. Typical of these
excesses is the fact that there
are more MRI scanners in Orange County, CA than in all of
Canada.

With our generous funding and the tremendous capacity of
our health care delivery
system, the delays would not be a significant limiting
factor in the U.S.

5) Americans do not want "Socialized Medicine."

Socialized medicine is a system in which the government
owns the facilities,
and the providers of care are government employees.

In sharp contrast, a single payer system uses the existing
private and public
sector health care delivery systems, preserving private
ownership and employment.
The unique feature of a single payer system is that all
health care risks
are placed in a universal risk pool, covering everyone.
The pool is funded in
a fair and equitable manner so that everyone pays their
fair share in taxes,
unlike our current defective system in which some pay far
too much while others
are not paying their share. The funds are allocated
through a publicly
administered program resulting in optimum use of our
health care dollars.

A single payer system has no more in common with
socialized medicine than our
current Medicare program.

Socialism is a dirty word in this country. Universal
health care for all has
been equated with socialism, and much propaganda has been
communicated by the
press, by right wing politicians, by medical groups such
as the AMA or anyone
else who has an agenda to keep the 1500 plus health
insurance companies a
thriving market with profits that undoubtedly help to pay
for their agendas.

6) A Universal Single-Payer would lower the standard of
care to a level of
mediocrity for everyone, preventing the affluent from
exercising his or her
option to obtain the highest level of care.

Our current system is characterized by essentially two
alternatives:
either no insurance with severely impaired access to even
a mediocre level of care,
or being insured by a managed care industry that has
whittled down what is
available until mediocrity has become the standard of
care. Only the relatively
affluent have access to unlimited care.

The generous level of funds that we have already dedicated
to health care,
adding to this a more efficient administration with an
exclusive mission of
optimum patient care well above the mediocrity that we now
have, lays the foundation
for a universal health care system in America.

A single payer system does not preclude the affluent from
paying, outside the
system, for a penthouse suite in the hospital, or for
cosmetic surgery or for
any other service that would not be part of a publicly
funded program.

But if Americans knew the truth, and would turn off their
TVs and use that time
instead to change this country, using the power of
grassroots politics, to make
a single payer universal system a reality for all, then we
would finally have
the best health care system in the world.

Any group with the passion to change the world, one issue
at a time, with a
loving intent, can do it.

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Tak Kak · at 2:43 PM

Steve's letter to the editor, published today in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal:

TO THE EDITOR:

Questioning the questioning of poverty statistics

In his letter, "Questioning statistics on poverty" (Intell, July 2), P. Melville Nafziger makes several comments about the health care crisis that are either uninformed or intentionally misleading.

Nafziger doubts there are 45 million uninsured and wonders whether they are all U.S. citizens. Yes, that figure is for legal citizens and it is actually closer to 50 million since about one million a year have been added to the ranks of the uninsured since the turn of the century.

That doesn't include the millions more with insurance who are often denied treatment because of the propensity of insurance companies to use every conceivable trick to avoid paying medical costs.

Nafziger claims Canadian stroke or heart attack victims wait for months for necessary treatment and Canadians are dying waiting for services.

This is not true. Either he is making this up or he is repeating propaganda from the insurance industry and right-wing think tanks.

All Canadians in need of immediate medical attention receive it promptly regardless of their ability to pay. Others wait no longer to see a specialist than we do in the United States. The vast majority of Canadians would not trade their health care system for ours.

We stand alone among industrialized nations in not providing universal health care. People in other civilized countries wonder what is wrong with us that we treat our fellow citizens so poorly.

Whereas other countries understand that upholding the common good is vital for a healthy democracy and have a collective attitude, we seem to be stuck in hyper-individualism and selfishness.

Recognizing health care as a fundamental right is not communism or socialism, it is simply basic decency.

Steven Jones, Landisville

kate loving shenk · at 5:27 AM

RFK JR tells the audience at Live Earth last weekend that "good environmental
policy is identical to good economical policy."

Here's the link to this moving speech.

Have a great weekend!!

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Tak Kak · at 6:03 PM

Because the world is ending.

Here's the subject for P4P's next forum:

Jeebus!

Via David Neiwert and The SPLC.

kate loving shenk · at 5:53 PM

Dear Friends,

After watching Sicko for the second time, I wondered what happened to all the people Michael Moore had in the film?

And since yesterdays post written by Donna Smith, I found this, written by a member of the California Nurses Association, bringing us up-to-date on the lives of Donna and Larry Smith.

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Colorado couple examined in 'Sicko'
By Erika Gonzalez
Rocky Mountain News
June 29, 2007

Six months ago, Larry and Donna Smith didn't even have a bed to sleep on.

Mounting medical bills not covered by their insurance, combined with high
insurance premiums and expensive medication, forced the couple to move
from South Dakota into a crowded storage room in their daughter's modest
Aurora home. Two years earlier, the Smiths had filed for bankruptcy to
deal with the debt they accumulated during Donna's treatment for uterine
cancer and Larry's heart problems and artery disease.

But the bills kept piling up, especially after Larry had his third bypass
surgery in February 2006. So, when the Smiths' six children urged them
to relocate to Colorado (where four of them reside), they finally conceded.
And filmmaker Michael Moore was there to document the move.

"When they (the producers) called to ask if they could film the process,
I said I didn't care at that point. I was so demoralized," said Donna Smith.

The Smiths are among many Americans featured in Moore's new film, Sicko,
which examines America's ailing health-care system.

The couple's trip to the big screen started last year when Donna Smith
answered a call on Moore's Web site asking people to share their
health-care stories.

"I just thought it was one of many stories they would hear, and I
would be added to the list," remembers Smith.

But producers talked to Smith and her husband several times over the course
of the year. The footage of the couple's move to Colorado is one of the
earliest scenes in the film. In January, the Smiths and other Americans
traumatized by problems with the health-care system (including several 9/11
rescue workers) were asked to go to Cuba to compare the country's health
system with what's available in America. Though Larry Smith was too sick
for the trip, Donna opted to go.

"I just thought that it was worth trying," said Smith, who also suffers
from sleep apnea and asthma.

Smith said she was amazed by the facilities and care she received in
the island nation. Doctors there performed a complete medical evaluation.
They gave her an eye exam and new glasses. They conducted a sleep study
for her apnea, the first study she'd had in nine years because insurance
wouldn't cover the treatment. They reduced the number of medications she
takes daily from nine to four, eliminating a beta blocker harmful to asthmatics
and a steroid nasal spray that was no longer effective.

"There was a difference in the mentality about care, and I did not expect
this gut-level, emotional tearing-apart feeling I got," says Smith. "I had
these feelings of sadness for us that we somehow convinced ourselves that
health care is something we have to pay for. It hurt so bad to think back
on signing all these payment plans before surgery and doing whatever we had to do to get care."

That trip, however, sparked an investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department,
which is determining whether Moore violated the U.S. trade embargo restricting
travel to Cuba - a charge that surprises Smith.

"If our government didn't know we were going, it wasn't for lack of people
telling them," says Smith, who carried a passport, a Cuban visa and an American
visa with her during the trip.

She also said that Moore required an "amazing" amount of paperwork from the
film's participants to back up their health care and insurance issues.

Says Smith: "I always get frustrated when people accuse Michael Moore of not
telling an accurate story because, from our perspective, the fact-checking
got to the point where it was annoying."

Smith is prepared for fallout from the film, especially from Moore detractors.
She says she's already heard some negative comments from friends and acquaintances.
In response, Smith simply asks people to see the film.

"The position they'll eventually reach is this is not a partisan film.
This film does not seek to make a Democratic or Republican point," says Smith.

In the meantime, Smith and her husband have kept busy jetting off to premieres
and talking to media about the movie. And they've been a bit overwhelmed by
their red-carpet experiences.

"We were not ready to pull up in front of a theater in Manhattan in a limousine
and have a dispatcher call to tell them we were arriving," laughs Smith.
"There were a hundred cameras flashing, and we held on real tight to each other.
We must have said, 'Oh my God,' a hundred times."

Though the Smiths seem to be living like celebrities, Donna Smith stresses
that the couple received no compensation for participating in the film.
They are still struggling financially but have made some important strides recently.

Smith, who quit her job as a newspaper editor when she moved last year, landed a
full-time, permanent position in April, allowing her to shed her $400-a-month
COBRA plan. And last month, the Smiths moved out of their daughter's home and
into a two-bedroom apartment in Aurora.

Smith hopes one day to emerge from bankruptcy and become a homeowner again.
She says Sicko has renewed her spirit by connecting her with other Americans
who've experienced similar health-care horrors. She's also had the opportunity
to talk with people who have the power to change the system and will testify
in front of Congress next month about the many benefits of affordable health care.

"I think a new world is opening for me. I feel hopeful that I can try again
to get back involved in life and come out of this period of real darkness
and start building back out of that," she says energetically. "On a movie
screen in Manhattan (last) Monday night, I started to reclaim my life."

kate loving shenk · at 9:43 PM

Donna Smith appeared in Sicko. This is a blog entry of hers
that appeared on the Sicko Blog.

Also in Sicko news, Pennsylvania Capitol Blue Cross of Anita Smith fame,
is actively attempting to discredit the film, knowing that public
perception of the Health Insurance industry is sure to plummet.

Couldn't plummet fast enough for me, that's for sure.

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

No Whitewash Powerful Enough

By Donna Smith, proud American appearing in Michael Moore's
'SiCKO'

ATLANTA – It would be difficult to identify one moment over
the past two weeks as the most powerful or moving. As my
husband and I have traveled through the U.S. participating
in premieres and screenings of Michael Moore’s new film,'SiCKO,'
we have experienced things that folks in our income range and
social groups rarely do.

We have been graciously included in events often closed
to all but the most celebrated of celebs.

Michael Moore featured us in the film because we represent
what is happening to so many Americans. Our health issues and
health care costs drove us to bankruptcy and shame. The past
several years have been filled with anguish, and the joy of
watching this film begin to make an impact is healing for us.

But a few days ago in Atlanta, I found myself witness to
and participant in a health care truth hearing sponsored
by HealthCare-Now at the U.S. Social Forum. That hearing
illuminated more truth – more stories – many like those shown
in 'SiCKO'. But the hearing also made it abundantly clear that
no amount of slick advertising or marketing whitewash can cover
up what Americans are enduring within this private health care
system. The truth just cannot be hidden.

Listening to story after story about trauma and devastation
suffered by fellow Americans who are uninsured or under-insured
is difficult, even sickening. The moral issues cannot be avoided.
And as Michael Moore asks in 'SiCKO,' “Who are we?”

But I also began to see a broader view of the whole private health
care issue within one story told by a nearly toothless woman
from Ohio. Though her speech was definitely impaired by her
lack of teeth, she spoke with courage and without self-pity
which might have been easier and certainly justified.

She had health insurance just a couple of years ago through her
job. She worked, paid taxes and paid her health premiums. But
when her dental problems became more and more serious, her
insurance plan would not cover necessary treatment. It did
cover removal of teeth. So, slowly but surely, her teeth were pulled.

She stood before us now in an open-air tent in the hot, thick,
mid-day air in Atlanta. Huge fans circulated the air and could
have drowned out her voice, but the crowd was silent and her strength
was enough to overcome the background noise.

She told us that after her teeth were pulled, her employer
fired her because she was “unsightly.” We gasped, but only
in support of her not because we didn’t believe a modern
American company would do such a thing. She told us that then
she started down the steady slope towards homelessness and use of
the public health system that included emergency room visits for
health issues that might have been handled in a less acute and
less expensive setting, if she had insurance or cash to use
another provider.

This beautiful, powerful woman had been reduced to this. And she
had most surely been yanked off the roles of taxpaying Americans
and onto the public program rosters. How does this make even economic sense?

She goes from contributor to being a “drain” on the system nearly
overnight. And as she slipped into deep poverty and homelessness,
she also developed physical problems from her terrible living conditions
and a lack of preventative or even early interventional health care.

Another scenario for her could have been, if we had universal health care,
that she had her dental problems addressed properly and her teeth saved,
kept her job and her modest housing, continued paying taxes and eventually
moved forward in her life. Even if I remove all the hideous, non-compassionate
ethical considerations, it just flat seems smarter to me that we stop this cycle.

Every American product now includes in its cost a certain percentage
of mark-up for health costs and coverage provided by American businesses.
On large ticket items, like cars, that cost increase can often be several
hundred dollars. Since most Americans finance the purchase of cars, they
now also pay interest on the amount that the car manufacturer must pass
along in health care costs for its employees.

Those costs have mounted in every industry across the nation. In many cases,
those increased costs are making American products and services less
competitive thereby driving the increased dependence on foreign products
and the loss of American jobs. This cycle is well-documented. Every major
news organization has done reports on the issue, and few arguments countering
this cause-effect economic pattern have been offered.

Small businesses can often not afford to even offer health coverage at
all or offer only plans with high premiums and deductibles which are more
like catastrophic coverage.

So this whole private health insurance system is costing us all – top
to bottom, morally and economically.

So why do we keep it up? Do we see those toothless individuals and
still think, “It couldn’t happen to me?” Or do we step over them on
our way to our American dreams, still believing we did it the right
way and they did it wrong? Poor people have poor ways, don’t you know.

After sitting in that hot tent in Atlanta and listening to this woman
with more dignity than any person I’ve yet to meet on this marvelous
journey toward changing this system, I realized that this fight will
take much more than a call for moral justice or outrage.

The battle to pass House Resolution 676, single-payer, universal health care,
as offered by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and 75 other co-sponsors, will
take moral indignation, no doubt.

But the fight for universal health care will also take a tearing at
the very fabric of the American psyche – that independent streak that
makes us pioneers and homesteaders and internet start-up gurus.

We all grew up with this gut full of self-righteousness, lightly colored
with compassion as we attended church each Sunday. But now we need
to flip-flop the equation a bit.

We’ll need economists on board to really compare the costs of the
whole package: including a very direct assessment of how universal
health care would play out in an average family’s budget and in the
budget’s of the SUV-driving, three-car-garage in the suburbs owning
families.

Let’s get really down to the nuts and bolts of the reality. Toothless,
unemployed, uninsured women cost us serious money. If we cannot see her
pain and see her humanity, then can we at least run the numbers?

As for me, I don’t need to run the numbers. I see the costs for her.
I feel the costs for myself in the lack of self-respect I feel when
I realize I am part of the system that is doing this to her and hundreds
of thousands of others. And I know that I never again want to hear a
fellow American woman stand before me apologizing for her lisp due to
a loss of teeth and assuring me that she once had a beautiful smile.

That cost is simply unacceptable on any level. There is no political
spin fast enough or whitewash dense enough to cover this American woman’s truth.

Labels: Atlanta, Donna Smith, HealthCare-Now, HR676, SiCKO, Universal Healthcare, US Social Forum

Tak Kak · at 4:31 PM

As I write this, I'm thinking to myself: "Take two aspirin and wait until morning; you'll feel better then."

First, on a lighter note: P4P had an online discussion recently about the film Harold & Maude. We talked about the good soundtrack by Cat Stevens, including the fact that two of Stevens' songs were written expressly for, and were available (for a long time) only in, that film. So what song does Michael Moore play over the closing credits? "Don't Be Shy" -- one of the two songs written just for Harold & Maude. Moore has a good ear when it comes to music in his films.

Second, having seen Sicko this morning, I'd have to agree with what Kate said: it's got to be one of the best documentaries ever, but it's also 'terrifying.'

I think the ad in the local rag quoted the NY Times review saying it was, "Michael Moore's funniest film." That I would disagree with; although Moore's trademark humor shines through on numerous occasions, my overall reaction to the movie was one of great sadness.

Sadness not just for the people whose suffering the film highlights, nor for the millions of Americans in the same situation, nor sadness for the fact that we, as a country, could do so much better -- but rather a sadness that, more probably, we never will do better. A sadness that, as Kate pointed out, was probably part of some Law Of Unintended Consequences that Moore didn't foresee.

There's a scene in the movie where Moore asks a French doctor if he thinks Americans will ever have universal health care. The doctor thinks for a second, then says simply, "No." At first I chuckled, but soon after that, I felt a real, palpable depression settle in over me and I haven't been able to shake it. I've no doubt, as Moore points out, that Americans mean well. I just don't know if they'll be willing to pay attention long enough, and push hard enough, to make the social changes we need to make.

I'm hoping the aspirin and a good night's sleep will give me a rosier perspective in the morning.

In the meantime, there's always the re-broadcast of Larry King's Paris Hilton interview tonight... Or maybe I'll do some online research about getting my passport.

kate loving shenk · at 8:56 PM

Dear Friends,

As a nurse, I thought I had seen it all, as far as the
miseries of the American Health Care System is concerned.

And I have seen the results of the corrupt health insurance
industry and have been petitioning for a single payor plan
since the time of the late and great Paul Wellstone--and well before.

Sicko made me feel like leaving the country.

In fact, I am actively seeking work in the Maritime Provinces.

I know Michael Moore had another vision for all the millions of us who
see the film--like working the front lines, getting signatures for authentic
single payer plans, going to State Capitols to lobby for reform, and onward
to Washington, D.C.

Yet there really are no compromises for the insurance companies.

Those who still want them can have them, but for the majority of us,
they can go.

We do not want them.

Our local Regal Cinema forbad P4P for getting signatures for a
timely petition for the more rapid passing of "The Health and Business
Health Care Security Act."

So get your own hard copy of the petition here and help get as many signatures as you can.

Please?

Thank you.

kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

kate loving shenk · at 7:51 PM

"Sicho," film maker Michael Moore's new movie, is reportedly Moore's best documentory to date.

We could see a grassroots movement here in the United States where the for profit insurance companies are eased out of existance, due to the passion this film generates.

Nurses are helping to sponsor the film all across America.

Thank you, Michael Moore, for recognizing that nurses can change the world!!!

Here's a great article that describes the momentum and excitement the week before the film's release.

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Jake · at 7:43 AM

The present age prefers the sign … to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence … for in these days, illusion only is sacred, truth profane.
--Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach, 1804-1872

What can be said anymore that hasn't already been said about the merger of television and reality?

Especially when a German philosopher said what needed to be said about a hundred years before the 'TV Age' began.

[cross-posted from Whips & Buggies]

kate loving shenk · at 12:09 PM

Who says we have to wait for George "W" Bush to take the lead--
on anything?

The environment is a responsibility for all of us.

Here is a great article on this very topic.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Tak Kak · at 9:44 AM

As you may -- or may not -- know, helping to get universal single-payer health care for all Pennsylvanians (and all Americans) is one of the main interests of P4P.

Michael Moore's new film "Sicko" looks like it will be a huge boon to promoting a universal single-payer plan.

In case anyone missed it, on 6/5/07 Oprah interviewed Michael Moore for nearly 20 minutes about "Sicko" and the state of health care in America.

Here's Part 1 of that interview:

And here's Part 2:

kate loving shenk · at 7:21 AM

A terminal condition exists in the media, in politics, in medicine
and at most cocktail parties called: "I'm The Smartest Person
In The Room (and if I'm wrong, I won't admit it.")

George "W" is chronic with this condition.

And Hiliary did it the other night on the debates: refused to
admit she made a mistake regarding her vote to go to war so many
moons ago.

Here's a great article about this very phenomenon in The
Huffington Post.

Enjoy!!

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Tak Kak · at 1:03 PM

During a discussion about what had become of 'freedom fries,' Jeru pointed out that last year the Congressional cafeterias had quietly reverted back to calling the snacks 'French fries.'

This made me wonder, what can patriotic Americans call these fried concoctions now that 'freedom fries' are out. In a flash (divinely inspired?) the answer came to me: We'll henceforth forth call them:

Dick Taters.

"Give me a large order of the dick taters! Hold the coup d'etat."

kate loving shenk · at 12:37 PM

I can't believe it.

The Democrats gave "W" the money to continue this dispicable war. (All war is dispicable!!)

Listen to Keith Olbermann on this and--well, enjoy??

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052407A.shtml

Kate Loving Shenk
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com

Jake · at 9:21 AM

Here's something that's not only fun to do but could be very useful for political groups when they're deciding on their Vision or Mission Statements.

This takes about five minutes of your time: Head to the Political Compass website and follow the link to 'take the test.'

What's unique about this test is that it doesn't just measure where you stand on the traditional Left-Right continuum (based primarily on your economic views), it also measures, on an 'up-and-down' axis, where you stand on social issues, then places your result on a x-y grid.

The links on the left-hand side of the Political Compass homepage are interesting, but don't read about the test before you take it!

Reading about the test beforehand might skew your results. Just dive in and take the test.

For what it's worth (which is: not much, at least until you take the test!), I scored a -8.25 / -6.56.

Jake · at 9:04 AM

Our group keeps talking about having a movie night: maybe we should actually pick a night and start with Harold & Maude. And while we're at it, three suggestions for future movie nights from My Top Ten would be: Brewster McCloud, O Lucky Man, and Local Hero. I have tapes of the last two but not the first.

Besides the Cat Stevens soundtrack, what actually drew me to Harold & Maude to begin with was the involvement of Bud Cort: I'd gone to see Brewster McCloud three times when it came out and he starred in that. It's still one of my favorite Altman films; I loved the revelation of overlapping dialogue, among other things. (And I went to see that because I'd seen MASH, by Altman, etc, etc...)

Plus, we've got a few documentaries we could watch. I still have The Corporation which, in my opinion, becomes more relevant every day.

(This just occurred to me: you know what would be great on a double-bill with Harold & Maude? The Loved One starring Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, etc., etc., based on the wonderful Evelyn Waugh book.)

The entirety of The Corporation has been posted to YouTube, broken down into 14 segments. Here's the first segment; stick with it (I find the very beginning to be slow, 'laying the groundwork' stuff), but toward the end Howard Zinn appears and discusses the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and for me, that's where the film really kicks in.

kate loving shenk · at 10:21 AM

P4P members have recently been discussing our favorite tunes--this is one of mine--the first time I heard it after many years, I crashed into the back of a WGAL TV cameraman's car!!!

That's how totally excited I was!!!

Thank you,

kate loving shenk
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com

artistinme82 · at 10:53 PM

We talk a lot about health care on this blog. We give statistics, we talk about how unfair the system is. But to really understand the problem you have to walk a day in the shoes of someone who has no health care, or has to rely on the government to get money.

I know what your thinking, because I used to think the same thing. I used to think that those on social security or who have no insurance at all are either down on their luck, very poor, or both. The truth is this kind of situation could happen to anyone. It could happen to your mom, your brother, your best friend, or even a girl who grew up in the suburbs, dreaming of life as an adult.

When I was in school I was different then a lot of children. I thought about world issues and wondered why things are the way they are. At first I tried to get my classmates to participate in these conversations, but they just laughed at me. So I kept these thoughts to myself and waited till the day when I could make the world a better place.

When I was thirteen I was a red belt in karate. I was training for a tournament. I was told to go practice in a small room near the dressing room, and when I went to do a blind kick instead of just hitting air I ended up hitting the door frame to the dressing room and broke a bone in my toe.

That injury caused me to be disabled before my fifteenth birthday.

Seven years later after discovering that despite my best efforts I probably won't be able to hold down enough of a job to keep me afloat financially, I started applying for social security. I believe it was the answer to my prayers. It took two years of rejections and court hearings for the government to finally decide I was telling the truth.

After the court handed down it's ruling my lawyer told me that I could expect somewhere between twenty to thirty thousand dollars in back payments (back payments are the way that the court apologizes for not believing I really am disabled the first time I applied). I was elated.

Two months later I had my first meeting with a social worker. He laid down the ugly truth. He told us that while I will be getting money every month it probably won't add up to more then four-hundred and thirty dollars, and my back payments, after they paid the lawyer, wouldn't amount to more then ten thousand dollars. I was crushed. Still, I believed it couldn't get any worse. Boy was I ever wrong.

Only a couple days after meeting with the social worker the mail started flooding in. Mail about the decision, mail about how to pick a health plan, mail about who was giving me which amount of money. It feels like the mail will never stop coming.

And talk about confusing. My parents and I went through the mail hundreds of times and still didn't understand it. But we did what it told us to do. First we picked a health plan that we thought my doctor accepted. Then we were told they didn't accept it, so we choose a new plan. Then we were told that they were sorry, they didn't accept that plan either. Finally on top of all of this I started to get sicker, and it didn't seem to have to do with any part of the problem that started with the broken toe. My doctor discovered an irregular heart beat.

While it seemed like a horrible thing, the doctor told us that it might be as simple as too much stress. He did some blood tests, and said that if they came back normal (which they did) I would have to have an echo. Then it got worse.

Since the doctor that diagnosed the disease was not part of my new plan, I would need to go to another doctor and get him or her to write out the script for the echo; and that's where the fun started once again.

We called the plans office and asked if there was any doctors in our area that accepted the plan. The woman on the phone came up with one. "Great" we said, and tried to call him; but the number she gave us was a wrong number. Turns out that that doctor doesn't work in our area anymore. So we tried again and got the name of a different doctor. I called the office and asked if they can see me right away. They told me they don't see new patients for another six to seven weeks.

Stumped, I went back to my old doctor's referral office and asked if there was anything they could do turns out they found a clinic very close to my house that can help.

So what should you take from all of this? Should you march on Washington and demand them to change the system or you aren't leaving? Maybe. First and foremost, however you should take the following two things from this story:

First, know that this could happen to anyone. It doesn't matter what race you are, how old or young, or even what social class you originally came from. All that has to happen is for you to get sick and not be able to pay for your doctor bills.

Second, remember how long it took me to get a simple test on something that could be very serious. Know that it shouldn't be this way, and know that if we don't do something it will stay this way. So write your congressman have forums, or even just talk about this to someone who may have false beliefs about it.

I might not be the last person to go through this program, but I'm hoping that soon there will be one last person. I hope you learned something from this, and I hope that you will do something about it. Thank you.

Blessed be,

Artistinme82

artistinme82 · at 11:27 PM

It's interesting-I have my own blog and I normally use it for complaining about my life; it never occurred to me that a blog like this one could be used to debate foreign and national policy. Then again, I don't get around much in order to know why others are blogging in the first place. Sure I attend my meetings and help to organize marches like a good progressive, but it never occurred to me to try to share any views that someone would take seriously.

Then again, a lot of things don't occur to me. That might be because I really don't get out much. I have a neurological condition known as Reflex Sympathetic dystrophy and while the pain from this disorder (you can learn about that pain at http://www.fighting4us.com/) does keep me in most of the time, a lot of the time it's the idea of going out and dealing with the world that scares me more then the pain of going over road bumps.

It's not that I don't like being around people, far from it. The problem is dealing with people that don't know me, that feel they have to stare at me when I do something they feel is wrong or out of the ordinary. For instance while I can walk well enough, walking long distances is really hard on my body; so for that reason I have a handicap sticker in my car. It isn't because I'm lazy and use my relatives card to get in and out of places quicker.

Then there are the things people do that are in most cases a friendly gesture. If someone feels sorry for me and puts a hand on my shoulder it is actually extremely painful rather then comforting. The idea of shaking some one's hand makes me wonder about how I should handle the situation. Should just deal with the pain, or should I tell the person I can't do it and get an awkward look.

The point of writing this article is not to make you feel bad; but rather to help you open your eyes to the fact that a person who doesn't shake your hand or uses a handicap sticker when they can walk isn't necessarily being rude, and might actually be saving you from an embarrassing situation.

I'd like to think that by sharing this story I'll be able to get out more, or at least get less stares when I do get. Maybe by this time next year I'll be up to date on the way the world works. But till that happens I'll keep trying to keep up with society, and try to remember that a blog can be used for more then just complaining.

kate loving shenk · at 9:52 AM

Here is a link to a recent Keith Olbermann commentary based on a recent Giuliani talk he gave at a "Lincoln Day Dinner" in New Hampshire.

If you saw the Republican Debate last night, and made it to the end (I'm living testimony) then you know how sad a bunch these white men are who one of them could replace "W."

And we'd be sorrier for it.

Here's the link.

Peace (of mind)
Kate Loving Shenk
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/nursingcareertransformation

kate loving shenk · at 9:52 AM

Here is a link to a recent Keith Olbermann commentary based on a Giuliani talk given at a "Lincoln Day Dinner" in New Hampshire.

If you saw the Republican Debate last night, and made it to the end (I'm living testimony) then you know how sad a bunch these white men are who one of them could replace "W."

And we'd be sorrier for it.

Here's the link.

Peace (of mind)
Kate Loving Shenk
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com

kate loving shenk · at 9:45 PM

As you know, the Bill Moyers Journal is back on PBS television every Friday evening.

I just had the pleasure of watching Moyers interview Jon Stewart and wanted to share the link with you all to watch.

The discourse is thoughtful and indepth, as one would expect from both of these men.

Also entertaining!!!

Check it out!!!

Peace (of mind)
Kate Loving Shenk
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com

Tak Kak · at 2:04 PM

George Carlin is a funny guy. However, a lot of his humor isn't "funny ha-ha" so much as "funny, but sadly, true." The following riff definitely falls into the latter category.

Here's the topic for discussion: If you're nodding and agreeing with Carlin, here -- then, after he's finished, are you inspired to change the world? Are you ready to jump off a tall building? Are you merely depressed and are now headed out for a drink (or some other intoxicant)?

Discuss.

The Lorax · at 8:26 AM

To the Editor--

I was stunned to read in your April 14th edition that after years of denying the calculated massacre of refugees in No Gunn Ri, Korea, conclusive evidence was uncovered about the Unites States policy of routinely killing innocent civilians. What made this even more troubling was the choice of the Intelligencer news staff to bury it on page 4 of the Local section. I'm sure it must be difficult to appropriate the proper placement of a story regarding the slaughter of hundreds of women and children when it's competing with stories as important as the deer Baby and Anna Nicole's child (tongue firmly planted in cheek.)

As a nation we can accept no less than a renewed investigation into the events that took place on that tragic day and the withholding of incriminating documentation of the policy. The individuals responsible should be held accountable for their actions.

kate loving shenk · at 6:19 PM

I am a nurse who has practiced in the state of Pennsylvania for 23 years, first as a Nurse Practitioner for 17 years, now as a staff nurse at one of Lancaster's local hospitals.

Progressives 4 Pennsylvania organized a Healthcare Forum to discuss the healthcare crisis in the state, 4/4/07. The Governor of Pennsylvania was in attendance.

The following is what the forum revealed to the 300 people who gathered:

Over 48 million Americans are without health care insurance. That doesn't even address the problem with the under-served, and those without proper access to the system.

A notable problem not addressed by anyone on the Healthcare Crisis panel at Franklin And Marshall 4/4/07 is that there are over 1500 different insurance companies here in the US, all with different rules and different paperwork.

No wonder access to care is such a problem.

The system needs to be overhauled. Governor Rendell's plan, Prescription For Pennsylvania, allows those who have created the problem to continue to get a paycheck, by rearranging the way everything is delivered.

The Ceo's of the Insurance Companies continue to get their billions of dollars and the Pharmaceutical Companies continue to profit from the sick and suffering.

The Governor doesn't seem to know anything about healthcare, anyway. That much is obvious: Like putting everyone's medical records on the internet; Or like putting mercurochrome on everyone's wounds in the emergency room; Or like letting nurses take over the health care system--talk about a war between the sexes!!

More than one in three Americans is either uninsured or under-insured, and studies suggest that being under-insured is almost as problematical as being uninsured.

People faced with large co-pays and deductibles avoid seeking medical attention until they absolutely have to. By then it is often too late to avoid a bad outcome.

Think about that 8-year old who died of a brain infection down in Baltimore recently because his family couldn't find a dentist who would do a $60 medicaid tooth extraction.

His mother did not have $60.

Think about people or who have insurance that barely covers anything, like so many situations people face today.

The insurance companies are bound by law to generate returns for their stockholders, not provide customers (patients) with high quality health care at an affordable cost. Therefore customers of health insurance have next to no leverage to influence the way insurance companies serve them.

All of my Canadian friends love the system they have in their country. The AMA (American Medical Association) pays to disseminate propaganda leading Americans to believe otherwise.

We need to directly ask Canadian Citizen's to educate Americans about their Health Care Delivery system.

We need to ask the Governor how much Pac money he got from the insurance companies to fund his run for Governor.

The forum was a great beginning for opening our minds to this problem. As Chuck Pennacchio suggested, author of the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act," SB 300(a single-payor Statewide, comprehendsive healthcare delivery system), an Economic Impact Study is a logical next step.

Perhaps Progressive's For Pennsylvania can lead the way for making this study a reality.

-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny." The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com
Check out Kate's Blog: http://nursehealers.typepad.com
http://mukunda22.powerfulintentions.com
http://secretsofthenursehealers.wordpress.com
And the Lens: http://www.squidoo.com/katelovingshenk
http://www.squidoo.com/thinkriches
http://www.mukunda22.powerfulintentions.com/forum/thinkandgrowrich

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=

Tak Kak · at 8:37 PM

"I've said a single-payer system would serve Americans well. Would I sign single-payer legislation if it came to me? Yes," Rendell said.

from: Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, April 5, 2007

Rendell drops by health forum at F&M

Touts 'Prescription for Pennsylvania' plan
BY SUSAN E. LINDT, Intelligencer Journal Staff

Gov. Ed Rendell popped in at a local health care forum Wednesday to plug his mammoth "Prescription for Pennsylvania" plan, which he said could provide Pennsylvanians with affordable health care.

The forum, sponsored by Progressives 4 Pennsylvania, included panelists detailing problematic aspects of the current health care system and a speech by panelist Chuck Pennacchio, a 2006 U.S. Senate candidate who plugged his own answer to the problem: a single-payer plan known as state Senate Bill 300.

Progressives 4 Pennsylvania was formed in 2006 by local backers of Pennacchio's failed bid for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat.

"Unless it's single-payer, it's not universal," Pennacchio said, before Rendell arrived at the forum at Franklin & Marshall's Alumni Sports & Fitness Center. "It's only universal if everyone is covered. Let's get our terminology right. Our bill gets at the source of the problem. We already have single-payer health care; it's called Medicare, and it works."

Under a single-payer plan, one entity -- a government-run organization -- would collect all health care fees, and pay all health care costs. A multipayer plan, as featured in Rendell's proposal, would work with the existing insurance system.

With his signature sense of humor, Rendell defended his multipayer plan, even while conceding a single-payer model might be better. He listed Pennsylvania's powerful health-insurance lobbies and lack of support on the national level for universal health care as hurdles preventing him from proposing a single-payer plan.

"I've said a single-payer system would serve Americans well. Would I sign single-payer legislation if it came to me? Yes," Rendell said. "Would I like to wake up tomorrow and comb my hair in a pompadour? Yes. But it's not going to happen.

"We can make progress, but we can't be Don Quixotes. There are no votes (for a single-payer system) in Washington, and it can only work if it's for the whole nation."

Rendell said Pennacchio's single-payer proposal doesn't address major cost-cutting areas in his proposal, state House Bill 700.

That plan would guarantee 85 percent of every dollar invested in health care would be spent on treatment, not administrative costs. His plan also allows the state's insurance commissioner to set rates, as the commissioner does for car insurance.

The governor said Pennsylvanians use emergency departments at a rate 11 percent higher than the national average and that visits are increasing by more than twice the national average. His plan would designate ER nurses and physician assistants to care for nonemergency cases at a lower cost.

Rendell took a jab at physicians and the Pennsylvania Medical Society as he explained that his plan would allow nurses, midwives, physicians assistants and other licensed health care professionals more latitude in treating patients, which he said would widen access to care, improve quality and lower costs.

"(The Pennsylvania Medical Society) applauds much of the plan, but they want to preserve the sacred bond between doctor and patient of administering a flu shot or treating that infected toenail," Rendell said. "This is all about turf, and it shouldn't be. There are plenty of doctors out there who understand what's going on, and that it's about turf."

Pressed by an audience member to name the better plan, panelist Dr. Tom Gates, a Lancaster family physician, reluctantly said a single-payer system is "eloquent and simple" and "makes the most sense," but, "I also respect the governor's position on the politics."

Other panelists included Dr. Mike Baxter; Sean Flaherty, a professor of economics at F&M; and Louis Yoka, vice president of Fulton Financial Corp..

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PO Box 1328, Lancaster PA 17608, (717) 291-8811
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UPDATE: John Morgan posted a blog about our Health Care Forum at The Pennsylvania Progressive.

Monday, August 06, 2007

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