The ACA and the increasingly desperate Republicans

A little of this, a bit of that

Laser pointers and cat variations

Bed bugs and the psychological effects of coping with them.  And ways to get rid of them.

Protecting our drinking water.  Cleaning plastic from our oceans.

Monsanto working hard to discredit scientists.

Mark Ruffalo, a true hulk.  Fear of powerful women.

Dutch sexuality education.

Interesting question and intriguing answers:  What has the internet made obsolete?

The awfulness of the 2000 presidential election revisited.

How can you tell if rocks were tools in prehistoric times?

The dangers of coal to our climate.  Ocean conservationist sounds a warning to Canada.

Eggs, chickens, and turkeys are going to become more expensive.

Wendell Potter explains the machinations of the health insurance companies.

Pesticides killing off the Monarch butterfly.

Ten poverty myths disproved.

New Bush, new lies about the Iraq War.

Lost and found

A lost Sherlock Holmes story is found in an attic.

Kepler 186f... an earth we can move to when we eff this one up.

Speaking of which... the Amazon trees are dying and not dealing with as much carbon as they used to.  Didn't we call the Amazon forest the lungs of the world?  Maybe France will save us from ourselves.

Paul Krugman and his threateningly dangerous statements of truth about Republicans.

Women are scary things and shouldn't be given too much power.

Do it yourself health insurance.

Suddenly Sunday...

Finding cave paintings in Mexico

About the earthquake swarm near the Lassen Volcanic Center.... nothing to do with volcanoes.  (Rats.)

What the soldiers in the Vietnam War really thought.

Colony Collapse Disorder.

Marching against Monsanto.  Because of things like this.  And who actually owns organic products.

And because I haven't posted for a while... kittens and cats

US entertainment industry to Congress: make it legal for us to deploy rootkits, spyware, ransomware and trojans to attack pirates!

Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates

You have health care? You are still not safe.

Doctor's house calls

Actually save money.

Welcome to the party, pal!

Ask any House Republican about repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law, and you’ll get the same fiery, self-assured talking points about tearing down what Speaker John Boehner has called a “monstrosity.”

But talk to some of the 16 freshman lawmakers who have declined their government health benefits, and you’ll hear a different side of the story — about tough out-of-pocket expenses, pre-existing conditions and support for health reforms that would help those who struggle with their coverage. As they venture into the free market for health insurance, these lawmakers — many of whom swept into office fueled by tea party anger over the health care law — are facing monthly premiums of $1,200 and fears of double-digit rate hikes.

What on earth do you think we've been yelling about for years?

They'll get you coming AND going...

While living or dying.

(CBS) The investments of large insurers of health, disability and long term care in fast food chains like McDonald's and Pizza Hut have raised the interest of a study in the American Journal of Public Health, reports CBS Radio News' John Hartge.

The Harvard Medical School's Dr. Wesley Boyd, an author of the study, finds it ironic that these firms would invest nearly $2 billion in companies that sell food often linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease.

"The insurance industry, so far as it seeks to make a profit, it does so in an amoral way," Boyd said.

Sadly, this is true.

"....these [health insurance] companies they profit by denying health care, not providing health care." Marcia Angell to Bill Moyers.

I still need to be reminded...

Just why we have for-profit health insurance companies involved in our health care.

Top five health insurers posted 56 percent profit gains in 2009.

Update 2/16:

Fox News Scolds WellPoint Rate Hike, Not For Hurting Consumers, But For Energizing Health Reform Advocates.

*Gasp* Now people will REALLY want health care reform!!1!1

Death panels

Denying vital care to a 5 year old. This is not health care. This is a child being denied life-saving treatment by callous and indifferent greedy corporations.

WHY is health care in the US a for-profit system?

WHY?

While Americans are struggling to get off the floor

Anthem Blue Cross decides to kick them even more:

Anthem Blue Cross customers got a shock this week when the health insurer informed thousands of individual policyholders that their premium rates will jump as much as 39 percent on March 1.

The company, based in Woodland Hills (Los Angles County), declined to say how many customers received the increase or what the average premium hike was, but the insurer has the largest number of individual customers in the state. Last year, when Anthem Blue Cross raised rates by as much as 68 percent for some customers, the company said it had about 800,000 members.

The Department of Insurance plans to hire an actuarial firm to look into Anthem's "alarming" rate increases, said Darrel Ng, spokesman for the department.

Unlike home and automobile insurers, California insurers can legally raise rates for policyholders as much as and whenever they want. Regulators technically oversee the increases, but they have no power to control rates.

It's a free-for-all out there as fake health care companies try to wring out the last bit of cash from desperate people:

At a time when nearly 7 million Californians are uninsured, state regulators are trying to rein in discount health and dental plans that officials say frequently overstate benefits, offer little if any savings and promise access to doctors who aren't part of the system.

Some of the discounters fraudulently market themselves as insurance, while preying on the poor, the elderly and others who urgently need care, officials say.

"They're basically cheating poor people," said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, immediate past president of the California Medical Assn.

Plan executives bristle at such criticism. They say a few bad apples have tarnished an industry that offers reliable -- and relatively inexpensive -- services. Consumers, however, have lodged complaints against more than 150 unlicensed discount health and dental plans over the last four years, prompting the California Department of Managed Health Care to seek new licensing regulations .

Why we need health insurance

The Republican health care bill

Creates high risk pools for pre-existing conditions. And a wonderful catch-22:

...high-risk pools would be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions that made people eligible in the first place. So people would be forced into the pools because of their pre-existing conditions, but the pools wouldn’t pay for treatment of that condition.

Just die quickly. It's easier.

Making money by denying care

Health insurance will win when you lose:

Altadena resident Mike Freas was twice rejected for health coverage by Anthem Blue Cross because of a preexisting condition, forcing him into a costly state-run program intended to serve as the insurer of last resort for people turned away by the private sector.

Yet now he finds himself in the strange position of sending Anthem a check for about $500 each month. Why? Because it turns out that Anthem Blue Cross also quietly serves as the administrator of the state insurance plan.

"Isn't that a conflict of interest?" Freas, 53, wanted to know. "By rejecting people for coverage who might cost them some money, but then running the state-subsidized program that these people have to go to, aren't they having their cake and eating it too?"

It sure looks that way.

"This is what happens when public programs get privatized," said Jerry Flanagan, who oversees healthcare issues for Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica advocacy group. "Insurers get a fee even after they issue people a denial."

Huffington Post Investigative Fund is asking for personal stories of denying claims:

Amid all the loud arguments about the proper role for government and private companies in American health care, one point often seems lost: Exactly how well – or badly – are private insurers handling claims in the existing system? Daniellle Ivory is uncovering some answers. But we also need you to help us investigate...

Rape victims are denied insurance:

Turner took preventative anti-HIV drugs to avoid the risk of contracting the disease; she sought counseling to deal with the fears she developed after her attack and for that she was punished with nearly three years sans health insurance – all because she took the necessary steps to take care of herself after suffering a heinous and inhumane attack. As Turner puts it, "I was punished for doing the right thing to take care of myself and my livelihood."

Denying rape victims health insurance is wholly unjust and will only further discourage victims from reporting crimes and seeking the medical attention they need. Fortunately, women like Turner are raising awareness about this injustice by sharing their stories and bringing the issue to the forefront.

You can do you part too by telling Congress we need health reform that works for women! Stand with millions of women across America who face discrimination and send your letter today!

You first, Newt.

Let's see you dump your government funded health care.

Gingrich Calls On The Country To ‘Rise Up’ To ‘Repeal’ Health Care Reform If It Passes

Not that it would make me change my mind about supporting the public option. I'd just like you to experience one of those health fairs they are having around the country for the uninsured.

Making a master race

By denying health care to imperfect babies? Or ones they just don't like? This baby will get no health coverage because she's underweight. Remember the baby who was too heavy?

Apparently our health insurance companies are now involved in eugenics.... and that's okay with Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats?

WTF?

There are still those who want to kill reform

And call what they offer us 'health care'?...

You have got to be joking.

Really. Domestic violence is a pre-existing condition.

WASHINGTON -- Eight states and the District of Columbia don't have laws that specifically bar insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage, according to a study from the National Women's Law Center. The states are Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. The study by the nonpartisan, nonprofit center focused on individual coverage, not group coverage.

How do these people sleep at night?

Update 10/8: dday at Hullabaloo tells a story.

Everything's bigger in Texas

The land of the free... free of insurance, employment, and good health care....

HEALTH CARE -- THOUSANDS OF TEXANS SHOW UP AT 'LARGEST FREE CLINIC EVER HELD IN THE UNITED STATES' FOR CARE: Over the weekend, thousands of Texans attended what is being called the "largest free clinic ever held in the United States" to get health care they otherwise could not afford. Local Houston station ABC-13 said that the event showed there is an "epidemic" of people without proper health care coverage in Texas. "More than 2,000 people came to Reliant center to see doctors for free," the station reported. "Many of the people we talked to can't afford health insurance, especially in the rough economy. Some say it shows the need for health care reform." [snip] Texas has the largest uninsured population of any state in the country, yet its senators continue to resist supporting any sort of health care reform.