With millions of people uninsured in the U.S. and millions more who are being denied coverage for a variety of reasons including pre-existing conditions, President Obama and the Democrats are pushing to pass a reform bill. President Obama is determined to “pass healthcare reform that lowers cost, promotes choice and provides coverage that every American can count on.” There has been so many special interests, large corporations, pharmaceuticals and insurance industry lobbyists that are influencing our Senators and Congressional Reps to not pass healthcare reform because they stand to lose all their profits and stranglehold on the lucrative healthcare industry. People need to call their Senators and Congressional Reps and tell them what they think. For or against health care reform, we need to make our voices heard now.
Dreams are endless for every individual, whether it’s something as simple as purchasing a luxurious car or attending a university to continue his or her education. However, for many, a dream will stay just that: a dream. Illegal students strive for their best, but are limited to what they can achieve due to their alien status. While all documented students continue their pursuit towards a greater education, undocumented students are often prevented in continuing their education due to the restrictions that are placed upon them.
Note that many of these students came to America at a young age. They have learned how to be citizens, and denying them a higher education is quite unfair. These students are not criminals; most have very high GPAs that are higher than those of legal citizens. These kids are the future, and could help raise the economy. Hopefully, the DREAM Act can pass, so these students can fulfill their dreams.
Posted in Contributor, Health on 01/04/2010 05:33 pm by Dr. David Vilabrera
I lost a good friend not too long ago to heart disease. He was around my age – at that time 52 – and physically he was in excellent condition, but he developed congestive cardiomyopathy. A cardiologist advised that he get a heart transplant, but because he had no health insurance, he could not. He died leaving a wife, young son, and many grieving relatives and friends. He had his own small business which he was dedicated to; but being a small business, he could barely get by, as dedicated as he was. Over the years I wondered if he could have gotten help through Medicaid, but he might not have qualified due to the fact that he was self employed. The current health care debate going on really annoys me – so many need health care yet cannot get it, while there is waste beyond belief going on as I write this. I get characters every day who try to get me to write prescriptions for controlled substances for them – so that they can go and either get high or sell the drugs. I refuse to as I have no intention of going to jail for doing something that foolish. Some doctors get intimidated by characters into prescribing all manner of things that the so-called patients do not need, yet if the physician does not comply he may get threatened physically or be told by the administration of the clinic that because his patient volume numbers are not satisfactory, he is being fired from his job. There have been clinics that were closed because they fraudulently billed medicaid for services that were never provided, over-billed for services that were, and had unqualified persons providing the care to patients that they should never have been doing – all so that the administrators could reap higher pay from medicaid. Once the authorities catch on, the offending facilities are forced to refund the money with interest and penalties to the government; but in the meantime,while they are waiting for that refund, the people who need care do not get any. As much as I would like to do something about this, I am not able to – I lack the political connections to really affect any meaningful change.
Posted in Lead Article on 12/27/2009 08:33 am by Mable Yee
The senate worked hard and negotiated diligently to pull together a historic Healthcare reform bill for passage. They did it. Now it goes to committee to work out the final bill that will merge the Congressional and Senate’s version together to put forth to President Obama to sign into passage. Congratulations to everyone who sent messages, calls and support to their elected officials to support this critical change in our health care system.
The latest news from the Senate regarding their Health care reform bill is disappointing. Due to the opposition of a few key Senators, specifically Sen. Joe Lieberman key provisions of Healthcare reform that citizens have been asking for i.e. inclusion of a public option for citizens to be able to review and sign up for and the ability for younger citizens beginning at age 55 to apply for Medicaid have been stripped from the bill. The Public Option is critical to provide more choices for options for people to choose different plans which would lead to greater competition between healthcare providers and hopefully lead to lower prices. While there are still improvements in the health care reform, without the Public Option, we lose the ability to create alternatives to existing health care providers and the leverage to drive prices to more affordable levels.
If the Senate bill gets passed, it will then go to Conference committee where representatives of Congress and the Senate will work on a mutually agreed upon plan. The Congressional bill includes the Public Option so there is much more negotiations to come. Stay tuned and keep putting pressure on your Senators and Congressional Reps to support the Public Option and other benefits that we citizens need to contain spiralling health care costs.
Posted in Lead Article on 11/23/2009 04:16 pm by Mable Yee
With the Senate getting 60 votes to approve discussion of the Health Care Bill, debate now begins on all the provisions, costs, details of the Senate version of the Health care Reform Bill. If the Senate can pass their version of the Health Care reform measure, it then goes to a special committee to merge the two Health Care Reform measures from the Congress and the Senate to create a merged version. That new version will need to be voted up on by both branches of government before they can send it to President Obama’s desk for approval. Let the debates continue.
As citizens, we need to make sure our voices are heard and listened to. Make sure your voice and opinions are heard.
