Sicko

Another rainy day in Chitown. Had to take the bus today as I didn't want to ride in the rain. We seem to be getting more than our fair share of precip lately, but it is better than the stifling heat that we had before and other parts of the country are still getting. Global warming anyone?

We are getting into hurricane season - a very scary time. Have a colleague whose kids are in Jamaica, where Dean has hit. She finally got through on the phone yesterday and they are fine, but it is still scary.

Now Dean is a great name for a hurricane. Of the Deans I know, blustery and big wind are common descriptors. Also the ones I know have caused a lot of wetness (tears) and wanton destruction through their actions, seemingly unpredicatable, but well-planned on their parts. The quietness at the center is really an emptiness of true being. Everything swirling around is a front to intimidate and impress. What is a Dean, or a hurricane really like?

Saw Sicko this weekend and was really impressed. Of course Michael Moore puts his bias on his works, but that doesn't mean that much of the meat is true. Anyone who thinks about the current health care situation in America knows that it is terrible. About 25% of the folks are not insured and about 25% underinsured. The rest are precariously covered, as illustrated in the movie. I am sure that the systems in Canada, England, and France are not perfect, but they do seem to be beating the record of the richest country in the world. The statistics pretty accurately reflect the situation, and our infort mortality rate is pretty sad for all of the resources we have as a nation.

HMO's suck. Manage care to save money, not lives. What a crock. The insurance companies are making a ton of money while driving costs up. Denied healthcare means more expensive health care down the road, and less chance of success. The movie showed the stomach turning situation where hospitals turn out folks without insurance instead cab them to the curbside of clinics run by United Way agencies, who have minimal funding and don't make huge profits as most of the hospitals and insurance companies do

The next administration needs to propose and put into place a system by which all folks in this country will get the health care needs met on a timely basis. If it increases taxes, so be it. If it cuts into health insurance profits, so be it. The status quo is shameless.

We all need to do everything that we can to get universal healthcare into place; contact our state and federal representatives; etc. Must be done or we are condemning our country and children to failure.