Health Care is again returning to profitable ins. companies. So ...write someone quick !

This is a letter written to my Congressional Representatives today. The Prez is not clearly moving in the directions he promised [so what's different about this one, huh??]

Moveon.org initiates some petitions with which I agree. This is one I chose to write my own words and express my own thoughts and strong feelings... If you too want to write any blog, newspaper, letter, AND your govt representatives, take off from here on your own or quote [please use " marks] for attribution and not plagiarize, tho you don't have to state where the source comes from this time]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - here it is : - - - - - - - - -

Dear MY-Representatives:

Please take our public citizen concerns in consideration when you vote.

We need to significantly change how health care is delivered in USA. We spend too much on end of life and guilt of family issues without concern for cost, which benefits the medical & health ins. industry more than any human beings who received excessive medical services.

Please start counting up how much it costs each of us for excessive lab tests [to cover malpractice and pay tort attorneys and cover costs of those who practice poorly ]and account for how much goes into for technology that is way beyond the reasonable and necessary for the medical condition as we have assumed [ like with financial debt and housing bubbles and toxic assets] that we "need" more when it is not cost effective nor actually helpful to better or good enough health.

Notice how much insurance companies & their affiliates are profiting from the premium /cost raises [every year over 6-12% so far, every year, way above the CPI too!] with easy excuses as to why they continually have increased annual fees and premiums for less and ineffective services...to pay their shareholders and accrue more $$$ holdings [to make them safe, not the saving the patients paying them ].

Be aware of how our health coverages have be paying for much 'middle managers /& clerks' bureaucrats and they are not-all-needed to provide good health services ....the corporations are cleverly covering-their-bottoms-paperwork-about- illegalities-unethicalities-siphoning -off-money-from-direct-treatment-funds... and the extra created organizations, the MCO red-taped bureaucracies that are not helping the patients or payees but covering the insurances instead. So much focus goes into their corporate workings instead of money utilized for direct treatments and interventions.

With managed care not being all it was suppose to "save" everyone, not just pay the corporations & agents thru profits and employments. Most medical providers did NOT want to move into managed care but were forced into being supervised by non-medical staffers in far away places who limited services, set reimbursement rates, required more and more malpractice insurance and made sure all negative responsibility was finally not theirs, but landed on the provider again.

And the MCO's have kept their hold over the medical field even tho it is not ever clear who benefits from these extra costs - certainly not the paying public or patients, maybe the practitioners who formed 'groups' to gain access to more per "captitation" [paid by number of patients in a group if or not they utilize services, hoping not to give away services if possible to profit more themselves]. "Most often, the physicians are paid on a basis of capitation, which in this context means a set amount for each enrolled person assigned to that physician or group of physicians, whether or not that person seeks care." [Wikipedia] A frustrating, delaying, stealing from us all system has become standard practice, to the dismay and disservice of patients and many medical professionals also.

Be sure to read the MoveOn.org petitions, as well, which focuses not on these specifics as much but may also show the multitudes that are concerned in different way that we are being - and have been for a long time now - pushed out of plain simple helpful medical care and into more and more fancy expensive "newest" technological and pharmaceutically-profitable maneuvers instead of given helpful & necessary direct treatment.

Some of the older fashioned healing [medicine in many forms] versions did as well or better in many cases,than what we pay for so dearly now, tho not all. Ask anyone, including yourself please, how much your/their DEMAND for increased novelty, insisting on the latest, style="font-style:italic;"> nnewest, fanciest,expensive treatments and services are expected, of course ! - not that the basic help that is actually required has even been tried... but all the advertising is effectively believed, advertising that is done for upgrading, up-costing medical drugs & equipment and hospitals and such, all this is based mostly on FEAR OF DEATH & DYING.

And also families fear of being guilty of 'not doing enough" when they don't know how much they are actually paying indirectly for all that fake reassurance of their "caring". The patient suffering from excessive, short-lived if effective, painful and distressful treatments [costly too] is not the focus, the family guilt is. huh ? But often so.

All the FEAR MONGERING that is daily urgently stressed in our devoted media - focusing on any and all dangers anywhere - shown with great & exaggerated bloody pictures and each tear caught on millions of screens - all add to the desire & demand & then insistence for more and more Expensive medical aids - that so many hope will save them from suffering - to not be one of those that they see on the "news" .

Fear is definitely driving up our health costs along with all the paid advertising and public relations [costs are then included in our premiums and charges, of course, trickle down, it is called] all done to profit those who say they only insure the USA public.

And as 'good consumers' and fools, many have agreed that we "need" those "recommended by my doctor" tests or mis-directed treatments is so that all those expenses land back on those who pay - YOU, me, us passive consumers. Yes,it is we who fall prey to those business predators.

Insurance and health corporations are mostly not healers. They are "providers of services" but that means computer-paper-work, price-management, administrative, or all that claimed as extra 'needed' part of providing medicine or treatment. That also includes the advertising to us, the public, to doctors, to each other and the high costs of public relations to help those same corporation look good, that insurance be purchased and known, all that is included in the final 'health care costs' and premiums set for us. Huh? No wonder premiums are excessive and ridiculous.

And note what is not openly revealed: the increased selection of increasing our medical costs just because of who they chose to ally with to then contract for that increase their profits or businesses...instead of improving our actual services. And the corporations are also "lobbied" by their trade-favors-giving friends and profit-selected-alliances. So where can costs be cut ? It has long ago been obvious but also difficult to change.

Dont ask because the actual collusions and corruptions are well hidden, tho PUBLIC CITIZEN, CONSUMER REPORTS UNION, and some other watch groups are slowing leaking out some true stats and information. Search it out.
Share it with everyone you know, everywhere. We need to be our own public & relations.

The disease is in the system, more than in any patient. Question: how much can that entrenched system be changed ? Now.

It is time to open our eyes, minds and accounting practices to see what has been our mainline health care services and who gets the most out of it...not the ordinary citizen patient, not the burdened care-giving family...not the paying for high fees employer or employee...but whom ?????

yep, you already know and so do I.

Please make CHANGE OF MINDS and cost effective medical services a reality NOW

thank you

this was also on

http://pol.moveon.org/pac/popetition/comments.html?registered=1&petition_id=706&redirect
_url=%2Fpac%2Fpopetition%2Fcomments.html&id=16294-9179597-_Mna5Mxmy

(c) maryjanie 2009

Scared of the swine flu ? here is some info...so not to worry after all..yet

Hello, my friends,

Are you falling for the usual SCARE stories that "news" loves to use ?,,,,that news corps use to get more ratings and attention? Let’s hope not.

Is there a 'kernel of reality' in it ? Yes, of course, or fear would have died away by now. It has not.

Here some web sites of interest, to date .... and later more info will surely emerge,

from CDC direct info here = http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm =
and http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/ has some stats too and they say =

"What You Can Do to Stay Healthy[ier] There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.[ of course]
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way
Try to avoid close contact with sick people. [duh] Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them." [ good way to get more rest for the ill ]

BBC wrote : there is no evidence that swine flu can be transmitted through eating meat from infected animals. However, it is essential to cook meat properly.”

also see http://www.theworld.org/ a more trustworthy source of NPR – PRI news

and to have a photo that may alarm anyone see http://www.theworld.org/node/25966 too . Other links are available there.

Then you Might want to see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8020125.stm for some good graphics that explain what’s occurring.

MY SUGGESTIONS ARE EVEN BETTER:

#1 Sleep lots, as much as you can. Make the time. Rest when sleep is not happening. The body naturally heals when the body is not stressed, tense, tight & constricted, when blood can flow and muscles & organs relaxed. Dream. Read. Rest. More than usual as a preventative.

#2 Water. Drink lots of plain clean water, nothing fancy. Juices are good. Fluids help blood circulate and flow and cleanse inner organs and ‘parts’. Think of the ‘inner shower’ healing and washing out impurities of any kind.

#3 Vitamin C and any nutrients you may be not ingesting in the foods ordinary eaten in a rush for convenience. Try yogurt or acidophilus to replenish the ‘good’ bacteria. Any food supplements you have neglected to take, now resume and take to insure the best body nourishment you can give yourself. Splurge, at least for now.

#4 Lower stress and strain, of the mind, emotions, body and spirit too. Let Go of those common worries you carry and lay them down – temporarily – so you can take better care of this body you live within – for now. The worries are not going away but can be given a rest for now. Notice the habit of being tense and egoistic and for this moment, let stuff slide...they will surely return to their ‘normal’ state again.

#5 Accept whatever this fear and body surveillance emerges now. Accept the discomfort of any symptoms you notice and you identify as “I’ve got it ! oh......” Accept that you may not always feel as fine and neutral as you wish and are disappointed at time at being less than perfectly healthy. Accept that all this shifts & changes, on it’s own, without your worrying too.

#6 Observe how the “news” everywhere infects and inserts itself into your mind and world and beliefs. Observe how the “news” and gossip and conversations center around FEAR and worry and the latest obsession that disturbs, you and your friends. Observe how you react to what is not your or in you. And may never be in you. Ever. Observe your own fear and paranoias surge and ebb and move back into your forefront and slip/ slide again. Watch your thoughts. They can be funny and disturbing and repetitive. Watch your self.

#7 DO NOT believe all that the Prez’s proclamations in their P.R. and promotional messages. The govt is Not medically accurate nor the best source of information, ever. The Prez and the ‘administrators’ have their own agenda and reasons to be “leaders” in order to keep Control and fear and their preferred slant on the “news” in the forefront, having access and power to do so.

Notice that when the media puts the Prez and their experts opinions up first, they are not working in the public citizen’s behalf but are part of an advertising corporation that sells products and services and aligns with govt powers more than they do to you. Be skeptical and aware of how both the fear and reassurances are tingled with subtle messages that demand obedience and imply punishments. Remember that PR is just that – trying to regulate the public’s opinion.

What is most repeatedly publicly is intended to control the public and ‘calm’ the people in a certain slanted way. Notice what is not stated. Note what is expected in return. Be your own opinion-maker and less of a 'believer.'

#8 for fun and fashion, you can dramatize this situation and wear a fancy fabric or anarchist bandana across your face and watch the effect ! It may or not resist any viruses that want to penetrate that barrier, but you will surely attract attention and be able to talk easily to strangers with this disguise and pretend you are safer than those who are easily embarrassed and bare-faced.

#9 Remember that you seldom have had the ‘serious’ diseases that are globally seen on TV, net, radio and newspaper “news”...and that what happens in far off lands is not right ‘here’ in your neighborhood and unlikely to arrive either. You have not been selected for punishment, no matter what your family thought or said.

Trust that your life is one for experiences of learning.

Be Mindful of what this experience is really all about for you, as a human body person.

Remember that you have lived this long and somehow survived worse.

Create a positive healthful environment for yourself and your loved ones, now.

Enjoy the whole scene that is clearly intended to scare you and arouse you to change and improve too.

Write me and tell me what else you know or how you react to this great message.

(c) Maryjanie