An Idea For Veterans

My roommate is a veteran.  He served six years in the Navy during the early 1990's and received an honorable discharge.  For over 20 years, he didn't need the services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but when he did need the VA, they were there for him.  Only problem is, he has to travel to a run down part of Indianapolis every time he has an appointment or needs emergency medical care.

This is the case for many veterans.  They have to travel to hearts of cities around the nation to receive the services provided by the VA, unless they live more than 40 miles driving distance from the nearest VA hospital.  If they do live more than 40 miles away, veterans are able to avail themselves of their local doctors.  Since my roommate and I do not live over 40 miles away, he has to make the trek.

Of course, the VA doesn't offer just medical care to our veterans.  It also provides job hunting services, mental health counseling and many other services.  These services, no matter the distance, are only provided at the central VA centers.  Sadly, the VA does not provide for vision or dental.

My roommate would like to be able to see a doctor and/or psychiatrist that is closer to home, but due to the travel restriction (and not having any other health insurance), he can't.  He must travel to the VA hospital for those services.  This is not to say that my roommate is unhappy about the services he has received from the VA.  Quite the contrary.  He is very happy, but would like to not have to travel 45 minutes one way to get them.

In our discussions, we have come to agree that the VA needs the ability to offer all veterans the ability to see the doctor of their choice closer to home.  We both feel the need for a VA specific Medicare/Medicaid type program where all he needs to do is to provide a VA issued insurance card to a doctor and he gets the care he needs.

This would allow millions of veterans to see doctors in a timely manner while also I think saving time and money.  The VA hospitals will still be available but supplemented by tens of thousands of health care professionals around the nation.

Let me know in the comments below if you think this is a good idea and whether or not you are willing to contact your Senators and Representative to get this legislation moving.

Fucking Fantastic News!

A few weeks ago I informed you that I would not be able to get bariatric surgery due to my numerous mental issues.  I was crushed.  It took a few days for me to get over that rejection.

Today though, I have great news.  Yesterday I had an appeals hearing to see if I could Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).  To say the least, the administrative law judge approved me for SSI!  I am so happy.  Not only do I have Medicaid to help cover the costs of my mental and physical health needs, I will now have SSI to help pay some of my bills.

SSI isn't a lot, but its more than enough to make things much more comfortable for me.  Its too bad that we have politicians who think that people like me are just playing and mooching off the system.  That we are deadbeats who deserve scorn and contempt, not compassion and help.

Bariatric Surgery: The Big and Very Personal News

For the last 27 years I have been struggling with my weight.  I went from a skinny teenager to an overweight adult almost overnight.  And while I have done diets and diet pills, I have continued to add weight.  In fact, in the last 14 years, I gained over 100 pounds to top out at 400 pounds.  That amount of weight is killing me.

Though I am down to 366, thanks to getting more exercise thanks to my new dog and waterpills, I have not been able to lose any more weight.  So, this past Tuesday, January 27th, I had a lengthy consult with a bariatric surgeon.  If all goes well and I jump through enough hoops for Medicaid, I will have a bariatric procedure known as "Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass" come September.

This is a drastic step, but it is a necessary one.  I thank you all in advance for your support.

... And Now, Not So Lost ...

I got great news on Friday.  Well, better than great.  Fucking fantastic news, to be perfectly honest.  I received notice that I have been approved for full Medicaid and it is like massive weight taken off of my shoulders.  I can now get the physical health care and continue to get the mental health care I need.

But this is what Republicans and their conservative allies don't want.  They don't want the millions of Americans who need health insurance to get it.  They have fought and will continue to fight tooth and nail to take away and prevent the 99% from getting the medical and mental health care we need.  They are willing to condemn millions of Americans to a life of abject misery.  If they had their way, I would never have received Medicaid because it wouldn't exist.

I wish I didn't need the help of the government via Medicaid, but I do and I am grateful that the help was there and is now available to me.  Now I don't need to beg my parents each month for money to pay for my psychiatrist and therapist visits.  Now I don't need to beg friends to help pay for my medication.  And now, I can have the host of physical health problems looked at properly and maybe taken care of.

I have hope.  I have some direction now.  I am no longer so lost.

The Memo: Being Bold Is The Only Solution

In our nation's history, we are always at our best when we are at our boldest.  The Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, the Emancipation Proclamation, Seward's Folly, the building of the Hoover Dam, the creation of Social Security and Medicare, going to the moon, etc.  These were all bold steps for our nation, propelling us into an unknown, but ultimately better future.  It is when we are timid, implementing plans with the least resistance that our nation suffers.  To be at our best in these troubled times, we need to be bold.

Bold Plan #1: Rescind the Healthcare Affordability Act in its entirety and replace it with a simple Medicare for All plan, including allowing Medicare to use its buying power to lower drug costs.  By giving the option to everyone to purchase into the most efficient medical insurance system, we spread out the risk and make health care insurance available to everyone, not just to those that can afford it.

Bold Plan #2: Get rid of Medicaid and place all those currently on Medicaid into the Medicare system.  We all know that Medicaid was a grand experiment of cooperation between the states and the federal government to provide medical care to the poor and working poor.  But that "cooperation" is Medicaids biggest flaw.  It created inefficiencies that led to higher costs.  Also, by relying on the states to pay a portion of the program's costs, state politics trumped providing the necessary funds.  As we have seen in Arizona, Medicaid's budget was cut by over $500 million while the legislature provided over $500 million in tax cuts to corporations.

Bold Plan #3: Institute a complete overhaul of our infrastructure.  Replace all of our nation's crumbling bridges, roads and highways.  Create a national high speed passenger rail system connecting every major city.  Replace all of the crumbling pipes.  By implementing such a complete overhaul, we will put millions of people to work while also increasing our overall efficiencies.

Bold Plan #4: Replace our crumbling schools with palaces of learning.  By creating environments that are safe, bright, full of the latest technologies and conducive to learning, we will be better preparing our children for the future.

These are my bold plans, feel free to share your bold plans in the comment section.

Republicans and Family Values or Lack Thereof

Since 1980, the Republicans have been hammering away that they and only they are the defenders of "family values".  Since 1980 all I have seen from Republicans is one attack after another on families, especially non-traditional families.  Yet, for some reason, the Republican Party is still able to say with a straight face that they are the only party of family values.

Mind you, this is the party that hates public education.  This is the party that hates Medicare and Medicaid.  This is the party that hates equal rights for gays and lesbians.  This is the party that attacks unions, both private and public sector.  This is the party that pushes for unbridled corporate welfare while pushing to cut government subsidies to the working poor.

This is the party that impeached a president for getting a blow job in the Oval Office from someone other than their spouse while the Speaker of the House, a member of the Republican Party, was having an extramarital affair on his second wife.   This is the party that wants to strip the EPA of their authority to regulate coal mining.

This is the party that endorses Arizona's SB1070 which has the stated goal of "enforcement of attrition".  This is the party that doesn't believe that those born on American soil are automatic citizens.  This is the party that believes that corporations are persons.

This is the party that wants to defund Headstart.  This is the party that wants to cut funding for Pell Grants.  This is the party that wants to remove all federal funding for Planned Parenthood.   This is the party that wants medical insurance companies to have the ability to rescind a policy that has been paid for.  This is the party that thinks unemployment benefits only make the unemployed lazy.

This is the party of family values?

The Greatest Evil

Wisconsin Governor Walker is evil. His attempts to destroy the public sector unions in Wisconsin, his attempts to sell off public utilities in “no bid” deals, his attempts to consolidate power in regards to Medicaid and his apparent desire to send in the National Guard to break up those protesting against him, make him evil.

The Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are evil. This week they passed out of committee a bill to abolish the state’s Medicaid program, AHCCCS. They also passed out of committee bills to turn hospital employees into immigration officials, force children going to school that they are U.S. citizens, eliminate birthright citizenship and dissolve the Board of Regents.

Then we have Republicans across the nation proposing state laws that would allow anyone to legally assassinate someone involved in an abortion. Not to mention the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have voted to defund Planned Parenthood and are considering redefining rape.

Colonel Moammar Gadhafi has sent his air force against those rebelling against him as well as arming civilian government supporters. But then again, we have always known that Colonel Gadhafi is evil.

But none of these evils can hold a candle to the greatest evil of them all:

Arizona State Senate Committee Abolishes Medicaid / AHCCCS Program

The adherents of Grover Norquist in the Arizona Senate have escalated the war on the poor and the working poor by voting to abolish Arizona's Medicaid program, AHCCCS.  After 1:00 am on Wednesday morning, the Senate's Appropriation Committee voted 8 to 5 to eliminate AHCCCS and divert the monies to the general fund for other programs.

As I have noted before, Governor Brewer would like to kick up to 300 thousand men, women and children out of AHCCCS in order to provide $538 million a year in new corporate welfare.  Now Senator Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) has dropped a dirty bomb on the people of Arizona that will eliminate not only health care coverage for the poor and working poor, but it will also eliminate $7.5 billion in matching federal funding.  That is $7.5 billion that the Arizona can ill afford to lose.

This measure is catastrophic to Arizona.  Rural hospitals will be forced to close.  Remaining hospitals will see their emergency rooms fill up and their finances destroyed as those formally in AHCCCS will be forced to seek the much more costly alternative.  This is not to mention the businesses that will refuse to expand or move to Arizona.  Hell, we will be lucky if businesses chose to remain in Arizona if AHCCCS were eliminated.

As much as people like Senator Biggs would like to claim their elimination of AHCCCS is about saving Arizona money, the reality is that it fits their ideology like a glove.  I truly believe that they only want government for the protection of corporations and those that can afford it.  Contrary to that ideology, I believe government is there to protect all of us, especially those who can't afford it.

Arizona: The Grand Nut Job State

As reported by my friends over at the Phoenix New Times, today the Arizona Senate makes war on all human beings and the United States Constitution.  Senate President Russell Pearce and his allies are bound and determined to rebrand Arizona as the Grand Nut Job State.  For you Buffy fans, think of the Arizona State House as being on the Hellmouth and Senator Pearce is the First Evil.

One bill being "debated" today will be in direct contradiction to the 14th Amendment regarding birthright citizenship.  Another bill will require employees of hospitals to become immigration agents, while another bill will force students to prove that they are U.S. citizens.  Let's not forget the bill to eliminate the state Medicaid program, ACCCHS.

Arizona has a legitimate image problem and today isn't going to help.  Of course, this is designed to divert attention away from Arizona's self-inflicted budget deficit and the fact that the Republicans only plan to "balance" the budget is on the backs of the poor and working poor while diverting hundreds of millions for more corporate welfare.

Today is going to be a dark day in Arizona that will be felt nationwide.

Stop Saying We Are Broke

Now that the Arizona Legislature has passed $538 million a year in new corporate welfare, can we stop saying that Arizona is broke?  The argument for the last few years has been that we need to cut state spending because we don't have the money to balance our budget.  In fact, that was the argument used when Governor Brewer sought a waiver to cut $540 a million a year from the state's Medicaid program, ACCCHS.

Saying we are broke is a lie.  Our state has revenue shortfalls primarily due to our over reliance on sales taxes and our constant cutting of other taxes such as property and income.  Of course, those that lie about the state being broke while shoveling out corporate welfare are the same ones who lie about tax cuts paying for themselves.  The myth that tax cuts somehow generate more revenue for the state is perpetuated by those who have sworn allegiance to Grover Norquist and his "starve the beast" scheme.

In fact, the adherents of Grover Norquist have also sworn to not raise taxes.  In Arizona that's an easy promise to make as it takes a 3/4ths majority of both house of the legislature to raise taxes and only a simple majority to cut taxes.  They keep braying that people don't want higher taxes, which is another lie, since the voters of Arizona approved a temporary 1 cent increase in the sales tax for three years to help prevent cuts in education and other programs.

No, Arizona isn't broke, its just run by a bunch of mental midgets who have sworn their allegiance to Grover Norquist and his Milton Friedman ideals.

Let Them Eat Cake - The Second Helping

You can read the original Let Them Eat Cake here.

Courtesy of Fratelli Studios

It didn’t take long for Governor Brewer and the Republican controlled legislature to strike a deal to give more subsidies to corporations on the backs of Arizona’s poor and working poor.  If you remember, Governor Brewer has proposed dropping almost 300 thousand men, women and children from the Arizona’s Medicaid (ACCCHS) rolls in order to cut $540 million from the budget.  Not surprisingly, the new corporate welfare bill will cost an estimated $538 million a year.

WHAT THE FUCK?!  Arizona can afford to give out $538 million a year in tax breaks, tax cuts and other corporate “incentives” yet it can’t afford $540 million a year to make sure that 300 thousand men, women and children don’t go without non-emergency room medical care?  Are we as a state that callous that we would throw that many people to the wolves in order to give more corporate welfare in the name of “job creation”?

Arizona already has some of the lowest corporate income and property taxes in the nation.  We are one of the most business friendly states and one of the most worker unfriendly be an “at will” and “right to work” state.  Maybe we are spending on all of this money on corporations because we can’t entice them here any other way.  I mean, why would a corporation want to invest in creating jobs in a state that doesn’t value public education, public transportation or a social safety net?

Then again, there will be corporations that will jump at the opportunity to partake in corporate welfare at the expense of 300 thousand men, women and children.  Those corporations will wallow in the state’s largesse and provide very little in return.  Those corporations will gladly say, “Let them eat cake”.