So, does everyone remember the big health care debate our mighty nation endured just a few short months ago?
Or were we just watching Dancing with the latest American Idol?
As you may recall, there was a portion of the proposed health care bill that provided for end-of-life counseling for those who were facing the inevitable.
The vaunted and lovely Sarah Palin, the one who is the alleged Republican front runner for the 2012 Presidential election, and highly paid shill under contract with Fox News, said that this amounted to "death panels."
Now we all know that this was a gross exaggeration on her part.
We do, right?
The Huffington Post reported in August of '09 that former Gov. P's opinion of our impeding doom was this:
"...government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
Sarah is also a Jan Brewer fan.
Ahem.
In yesterday's New York Times, I learned that in Arizona (Brewer Country to you and me,) there actually ARE death panels:
"Effective at the beginning of October, Arizona stopped financing certain transplant operations under the state’s version of Medicaid. Many doctors say the decision amounts to a death sentence for some low-income patients, who have little chance of survival without transplants and lack the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to pay for them."
"Organ transplants are already the subject of a web of regulations, which do not guarantee that everyone in need of a life-saving organ will receive one. But Arizona’s transplant specialists are alarmed that patients who were in line to receive transplants one day were, after the state’s budget cuts to its Medicaid program, ruled ineligible the next — unless they raised the money themselves."
So, let's review: In Arizona, if you are poor and in need of a life-saving transplant, you will die.
Since the most recent mid-term elections, Republicans have been screaming that the American people have firmly spoken and that there is now a mandate (see Republican agenda) that needs to be adhered to.
I received an email from ColorofChange.org. I wanted to share it with you so that you can make a statement to our (non) government that we all need health care.
Especially for your favorite artists and musicians and kids that go without or without enough...
*****
The Senate is closing in on a health care bill with a public health insurance option, a key ingredient of meaningful health care reform.
But conservatives and insurance companies are fighting hard against the public option, so Senate leadership has compromised by including an "opt-out" clause, which would allow individual states to choose not to participate in the program.[1]
There's a real danger here. In the stimulus fight, we saw Republican governors and legislators refuse federal dollars for political gain. The same thing could happen with health care reform, with everday people in states like Lousiana, Alabama, and South Carolina -- states with large Black, poor, and working-class populations -- left out.[2]
That's why I've joined ColorOfChange.org's campaign calling on Congress and the White House to make the public option available everywhere. Please join me:
I understand the need for compromise and negotiation, but I also want to make sure that no community gets negotiated away in the process.
Including "opt-out" may be the best way to get a bill through the Senate with a public option--but that won't be the end of the process, and it doesn't mean "opt-out" will be in the final bill. The House still needs to decide exactly what will be in its health care bill. And once both the House and the Senate have passed legislation, they'll have to negotiate with each other, and the White House, to reconcile the differences between the two bills.
That's why we need to make it clear that we're watching and that we will demand a public option that's available in every state. Please join me in sending this message to Congress and the White House, and ask your friends and family to do the same:
Part of the title of the blog you (and hopefully your friends) are currently reading.
Being a musician means being self employed, for the most part.
The idea of going to work in the pro musicians' world is way different from most everybody else who has to do something to earn their gold doubloons.
Being a musician also means that you've accepted the idea of never really making a whole lot of dough. Or having some sort of retirement fund. Or having someone pay your health insurance bill for you.
You want a raise? You're joking right?
Vacation time? Holiday pay?
Ha and ha.
That's a tough concept for most people to swallow.
We accept these conditions, though. That's just how it goes. We playas do what we do. We're not really suited to do anything else (you probably wouldn't want us doing anything else either.) Mostly we're weirdos and misfits, the square peg trying to fit into the circular hole.
But, we're still people (and yes, we are going to be playing during the Bears game. Did you think we were just setting up our stuff for fun?)
And we need health care, just like any and everybody else.
Now, I've got health insurance. Really, it's not, though. It's more like bankruptcy insurance. I've got to spend thousands up front before the company starts kicking in.
Plus, since I'm paying my own premiums myself, the money I send to them is after-tax money (those of you who get coverage through your jobs don't get to boast such good fortune. Count yourself as lucky.)
So, as you've obviously figured out where I stand on this issue (if you didn't, you do now,) I am very much in favor of a complete health care overhaul. Personally, I believe in a single-payer system, similar to the dreaded French system, but part of the Obama plan "offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice". I suppose that's, at least, a good start.
Sadly, the U.S. is a nation of sides. you're either for or against Obama; you're either a democrat or a republican; you either think Fox News is real news or you don't.
You either believe everyone should be able (entitled) to see a doctor or you don't.
Today I got one of Barack Obama's mass emails. I get them a lot. He urged us to call our senators and representatives and let them know where we stand. After all, it's up to Congress to craft the bill, not the President's. He simply signs off on it. Now of course, he's put it out there as to what he deems acceptable or not, and pressures Congress to do it. But they write it.
And they write it based on our wishes (presumably.)
So I've made the calls today. I hope that you will too. Remember, they work for us. We should not fear them. They need to fear us.
Here is a portion of the email I received:
Health insurance reform is finally ready for consideration by the full Congress, and hundreds of insurance company lobbyists on Capitol Hill are working overtime to kill it. Calling is quick and easy, but effective -- and your voice has tremendous power at this critical moment.
After you make your call, tell the staffer who picks up where you live and that you're counting on Congress to deliver on health reform. Let them know that Americans like you support the President's plan -- and that if your representatives are working to pass it, they have your thanks.
If we hit 100,000 calls made or committed to, we'll send an unmistakable signal that this time, families must come before insurance companies. We'll be tracking progress toward our goal publicly -- make sure to report your call back to us so we can count it: http://my.barackobama.com/TTDCall
The link gives you Durbin's and Burris' phone numbers at the Senate, as well as Quigley's in the House (5th district). If you're in a different district (or in another state altogether), there is a link to get your guy (gal).
Ah, the beauty of checks and balances (and you thought I wasn't a patriot.)
As you know, faithful readers, I am a musician, and these pages are dedicated to the life and lifestyle of the working musician. I write about the positive and the negative aspects of my occupation; the trials and tribulations; righteous treatment and minor indignities.
The good, the bad, and the ugly (cue the music.)
However, just like the majority of you all (from what I've observed, anyways,) the main thing on my mind these days is health care and how to overhaul this shaky-at-best industry. Hence the lag time since my last diatribe of demonstrative drivel.
I haven't had the heart or the muse by my side to say anything. It all seemed irrelevant.
Now, I don't want to bore you with the gory details of the 1000-plus page health care reform bill that is sitting at the crossroads of America's future. You can read it yourself if you want (hey,you'd have a leg up over virtually all of our so-called (non) representatives in government- kudos to you and your tenacity.)
Better brew a few pots o' joe. It's gonna take a while.
My intention here is not to convince you of anything within the bill. Personally, I'm in favor of "Death Panels". I think it makes life just a bit more spicy.
(For those of you who can't seem to find your sense of humor, that was a joke.)
Rather, as a living instrument of providing pleasure, entertainment, and a general diversion from your everyday worries and concerns, my purpose is to remind you that we are all in this together and nobody, I mean NOBODY, is better than anyone else.
Something that I've been hearing a lot of, lately, is the fact that some people think that what they do in life holds a level of importance that is higher than other peoples' paths. I assume you've been noticing it too.
Productivity.
"I do such and such and I've been doing it for so many years, and I work hard, and why should so and so deserve what I have because so and so only does such and such and that's hardly fair."
The American mantra. Our, gasp, religion if you will. Money money money. The solver of problems and the root of all evil. The purveyor of flat-screen t.v.'s and thirst quencher for the taxman.
The bounty that gave you "Cash for Clunkers". How cute. I love the pet names we give things. Right up there with the "Passenger's Bill of Rights".
So who's more "productive"? Better yet, who's worthy? That seems to be the question. Is it the brain surgeon? The Wall Street exec.? The garbage man? The gremlin who spends the day writing parking tickets?
Maybe it's the web designer. Or the librarian. Or the taxicab driver.
Or the person who volunteers at the food pantry.
Seems to me that they are all valuable in one way or another. They all do their job, presumably well, and they live their lives.
This certainly holds true with me. I'm a highly trained, highly skilled specialist. Sure, I can't repair your frontal lobe (nor would you want me to), but you probably can't play a shuffle worthy of the price of admission (which is becoming free in more and more places.) Sounds trivial? Sure, on some level, I suppose, but it's a valid point. I've worked long and hard to be able to do what I do. I do it at a high level, and that cannot be trivialized.
My point is that we should all be able to go to the doctor (or dentist or shrink or marriage counselor.) There are too many resources in our once-great country for anybody to be left behind (another cute title; another bureaucratic failure.)
None of us should have to be concerned about life-long bankruptcy should something bad happen to us. None of us should be concerned that we had a cold once as a child and now, as an adult, we have pneumonia and it's suddenly a pre-existing condition.
There should be no fear of getting sick because of the cost (you're scared enough, now that your coughing blood.) The premise is un-Christian, un-Jewish, un-Muslim, un-Buddhist, and unkind. This kind of attitude will inevitably lead to people just dying in the streets. You think I'm kidding? This is where we're headed. Who lives and who dies? There will be no "Death Panels" deciding fates like this. It will be your senators, congressmen, governors, and presidents deciding these things.
Indirectly, of course, but that will be the result nonetheless.
And then there will be a revolution, violent and ugly. It most certainly WILL be televised too.
The only solution to all of this, of course, is to eliminate the pairing of "health" with "industry". Our health is not a commodity to be bought and sold. It certainly is not to be compromised for the benefit of someones profit. That's a conflict of interest. The rub, if you will. If the "industry" is concerned about turning a profit above all else, then your health, and your health care, is compromised. It doesn't matter what the wording of the bill or law is. If profit comes first, then you and your family do not.
Period.
So the single-payer, government run system is the only choice we have. We cannot, in good conscience, "reward" and "penalize" people based on their so-called contributions to society. Everyone is different, we all make different choices. The American way (allegedly) urges us to do our best and be our best. We teach our children that "if you put your mind to it, you can do anything and be anything you want to be."
Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and all that.
Most musicians, as you know (since my audience seems to be primarily musicians) have very poor, if any, health insurance. For those of us who have seemingly good (enough) fortune, myself included, to be able to buy insurance, well, I guess we're "lucky".
Kinda like the politicians that are making the tough decisions for us: Lucky.
Lucky to have a job at all, that is, since something like 50% (give or take) of the populace doesn't seem to bother to vote. (I used to not understand that at all, but when the betrayal from our so-called-leaders is so rampant, the notion just seems that much less unfathomable.)
These chuckleheads have the nerve to tout the greatest health care in the world here in the trusty U.S. of A, where freedom and civil rights are fleeting more and more with each passing day (weapons check points at the Taste (Waste) of Chicago anyone?)
"A single payer system will be a disaster," is what we are being told.
Try telling that to the 45 million or so Americans that have no coverage (and no, being able to go to the E.R. at County, excuse me, Stroger Hospital, does not count as sufficient.)
That being said, any pol who votes against any real health care reform should be forced to give up their own, precious, single payer, socialist-by-design health policy and be forced to fend for themselves: buy your own policy, and be taxed on it (that's right, since I pay myself, the money used to pay the bill is after-tax dough.)
The best health care in the world carries no meaning if the majority of the population can't access it.
Pro Musician, Chicagoan, Globe-Trotter. Making a life of telling it like it is...
Mostly these pages are about me and my life as an insider in the music industry. You'll also get a few thoughts on other things affecting my life like politics, sports, art, and city life. After all, I can't complain about the music biz every day, can I? These are the things that I find amusing and entertaining and worthy of a healthy rant. I hope you do too.
To quote the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, Jr: So It Goes... email me at: mrodbard@yahoo.com
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