First answer from the health care debate

I heard back from Kyrsten Sinema, who's running one of the health care groups on Facebook. Here's her answer just as she sent it:

think it would be best if you could come to a forum that I'm hosting (there are 8 around the state) so I have time to answer all these questions fully - at least as fully as I can on behalf of the White House, whom I represent here in AZ on the White House Health Reform Task Force.

Here's a website that answers most of your concerns:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/

I want to be clear about my "group" as you call it. We are state legislators who support the President's vision for health reform. We are not in Congress, so we don't write, amend, or vote on any of the health reform bills that are in the Congress. So my Facebook group doesn't have any solutions - that's not the purpose of our group.

One thing I can answer easily - the House, Senate, President, and insurance industry have all agreed that there will be no more discrimination against people with pre-existing health conditions in either the private or public sector.

Here's some cheery news!

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004002368

Apparently, the number of militia groups is on the rise again. For those who don't know what I'm talkin' about, we're talking angry white people with lots of guns who believe that the government is the enemy. They think that we're headed for a North American Union similar to the European Union, they believe that the government is going to make them kill off Grandma when she gets too sick and they're especially pissed about a black man being in the White House, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

And let's not even mention all those pesky Aztlan rumors being bandied about--you know, "the Mexicans will rise again and reclaim the Southwest!"

Last week, a letter to the editor appeared in the Arizona Republic stating that all ethnic advocacy groups "MUST" disband...ok, so whatever happened to the First Amendment?

Militias are especially bothersome here in Arizona, where it's quite legal to pack in public. Soon you won't be able to tell the folks who just plain like guns from the ones who pack because they're gearing up to start the revolution.

Now I'm certainly not advocating taking guns away from law-abiding citizens...far from it. I like guns myself, and hunting rifles kept us fed when I was growing up.

But come on folks, who really needs an AK-47 or an AR-15 assault rifle except for drug cartels, bank robbers and crazed white Christian militia members? Or the military or police [who are the folks who REALLY need more firepower than the bad guys out there!]?

Better keep an eye on Elohim City--I hear that's where some of them have been holed up.

A few questions for both sides of the health care debate

I recently sent out this survey to some of the groups advocating for and against the Obama administration health care legislation: I will post their answers if and when I get any. Should be fun!

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I have a few questions that I can't seem to get people to answer on any side of the debate::

1-what is your group's solution to the problem of people with pre-existing conditions being able to get insurance?

2-what is your group's solution to the big problem of individual health insurance premiums that are always bigger than group plans [if you add in the employer contribution, that is] and the fact that so many people on individual plans can get dumped, while those in group plans are allowed to keep their insurance as long as they pay the premiums?

3-what is your group's solution to the two-year waiting period between starting off on disability and Medicare eligibility?

4-what is your group's solution to all the Medicare Part D drug plans that are extremely hard to navigate, the 'donut hole' of coverage being dropped between [if I remember correctly] $3,000 and $5,000, the inability to find any that actually cover ALL your drugs, and that it's actually socialized health care [as is Medicare, come to think of it].

5-what is your group's solution to the problem of private-sector bureaucrats who ALREADY ration care? do you prefer them to public-sector ones or what?

and the last question--how do you figure a tax credit is going to fully compensate people whose premium runs more than $1,200 a month?

Please don't feel singled out, I am asking all the OTHER health care advocate groups the same questions. Then I will compare them to the summary of the health care legislation, which can be found on Thomas, the Library of Congress' Congressional bill site, and make my own mind up.

Thanks.

Latest news from the Cyber Rez

I'm going to update this periodically with my ramblings--oops, I mean my pearls of wisdom, distilled from a fairly long life. Now kids, just because I'm old enough to be your mother, this does NOT mean I have nothing of value to share. We all have the same DNA, the same urges, the same proclivity to make stupid mistakes.

But I think we're all gonna get along fine!

Stay tuned for my musings on Native politics, the changing and changeable nature of how we are perceived by an American public who knows next to nothing about Indians, Native popular culture [of the lack of...], and any number of things that frost my cookies.

Hang on, it's gonna be a ride...

Hello World!

Well, this is it--I'm officially in the blogging world.