Monday, August 10, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to "Healthy Look at Healthcare", where the discussion centers on the facts of healthcare reform and the state of healthcare in the USA.
We'll be compiling on-line resources, share information, and develop a variety of positive actions that can be taken to shine a light on the situation.

19 comments:

  1. Yay! First evah!!!

    Love the colour you have chosen.

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  2. Good to see this. Let's hope we can get some *productive* dialog going.

    Nan

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  3. Good luck with this blog, I have 30 sme years in civilian as well as military health care. If you have questions please ask-

    Again- good luck.

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  4. We can use some medical "boots on the ground", Teutonic. Welcome aboard! Above all else we need to be accurate and sensible with the facts.

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  5. The White House Reality Check is a terrific resource! I was going to post the link, but I see that Justafarmer already has it posted. Take the time to look at it. Also, I found another link that is very helpful.

    www.healthreform.gov
    On this site you can click on your state and find out specifically what problems exist and how reform will help correct them.

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  6. A couple of more sites you might consider adding to your list.

    Kaiser Family Foundation - Side by Side Comparison of Plans.

    www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm

    The Politifact.com section on Health

    www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/subjects/health

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  7. Look great justa, great job.

    I talked with my local Democratic rep today about things that could be done to support health care reform. He is suppose to send me a list of local contacts and things they already have planned.

    We did talk about a picnic over the Labor Day weekeend. We spoke about having speakers, enlisting people with no insurance to share their stories and how it has effected their lives, printed info available, website listings,lists of upcoming activities, people available to talk one-on-one to people about their concerns, and a candlelight vigil around the center of town ending at our downtown plaza.

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  8. I didn't want to post anonymously, but I could not seem to get it to post any other way. Sure it's my own...I really need to find out what to put in when it says URL. Oh, this, is pearl89.

    Thanks to all who participated the last few days in our chats at Mudflats for your time and ideas. A special thanks to you, justa, for all the hard work and love you have put into this.

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  9. Also wanted to suggest Organizing for America.com and Health Care for America Now.com as good resources.

    I would suggest everyone contact their local Democratic party representatives and see what they are doing or have planned.

    Are we still going to a week of events? I think we should.

    Over and out for tonight.

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  10. adding your blog to my favs, so I can check in when I can.

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  11. Hi, justafarmer.

    I just spent about an hour (I type and think slowly) listing some ideas for sort of strategic themes for this blog. And of course I didn't save the text before trying to post it, and blogspot ate it.

    The good news is, my attempt at repliction will be much more brief.

    .. Lotsa sites are debunking winger lies. Links are good, but I suggest summarizing a "Myth of the Day" on the blog. People don't always follow research links.

    .. Despite the existence of Ezra Klein, there may be room for additional economic analysis of proposed reforms.

    .. There is little discussion of health care from a moral/ethical viewpoint. Even the Administration has chosen to stress cost containment, rather than the fact that a sufficiently advanced society should be able to extend a basic level of health care to all its members.

    .. If you want to provoke a bit of controversy, discuss the pros and cons of providing basic health care to persons who are in the US in violation of immigration law. There's economics involved here too.

    .. As a no-brainer, summarize the daily news on the health care front, with a bit of commentary. This is how Kos, TPM, NRO, Freep, LGF, and, for that matter, AKM, got started.

    I also suggest preemptively selecting a shorthand for the blog. The name is terrific, and its length is irrelevant to a hyperlink click, but sometimes people will want to mention it without clicking it. I suggest HLH as being short and (at least to me) not subject to easy derogation.

    Cheers

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  12. Hey, Justafarmer!

    How about some data on people's localities?
    Our Distict 1, NC reports 100,000 uninsured.

    Had great local information at our town hall here.

    Good luck to you!

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  13. President Obama is speaking at the VFW Convention here in Phoenix on Monday,Aug. 17. While the event is closed to the public, over 700 of us have signed up to March to the Convention Center in solidarity with the President to support Health Care Reform. I'm making some signs, one for me and others to share. I spoke to friends and some expressed anxiety about tea baggers confronting us. IMHO, if any teabagger gets in my face, I'll turn him from a Baritone to a Soprano! There comes a time when we have to stand up and be counted. No matter what happens with this, I need to know I did everything in my power to change the status quo.As the mother of 4 and grandmother of 8, I want things better for them.

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  14. CassieJeep had a good idea about facts from our various states. Here in Arizona, approximately 1.2 million people (20% of our population) have no Health Care insurance of any kind! That is just plain obscene! Also, of those who do have private coverage, premiums have gone up by 97% since 2000. Arizona businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $1,700 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.I venture to guess that similar statistics will show up everywhere.

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  15. On a very, very local level, we must also talk to our relatives, friends, and neighbors. I won't bother with my teabagger uncle, but I realized this past week I know people who really are just confused.

    Not all people have the same questions, so we have to "seek first to understand" where their confusion is, then help them understand. We need to give them food for thought, then an action plan for what they can do to help.

    Too much time I spent worrying about the teabagger. He will never change his mind. But, at least 10 other good people are now more convinced and he has 10 fewer people to sway.

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  16. History Goddess, refer your teabagger uncle to AARP's web site for "health care reform: get the facts". AARP is well respected and nonpartisan so you're uncle cannot accuse you of being biased!

    P.S. My father and brother are also in that camp :(

    http://www.aarp.org/health/articles/health_reform_get_the_facts.html

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  17. just bookmarked this blog. beautifully done. many thanks just a farmer and all the pups who helped. bubs

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  18. To recover or keep your health, you must ALKALIZE. There's great information/instruction in The pH Miracle by Robert O. Young, Ph.D. (molecular biology). Short version: get enough water. How much is enough? Take your body weight in pounds, divide by 2. That's the number of ounces of water you need each day. Next, look at your plate, all 3 (or however many) meals. 80% of what's on that plate should be vegetables (or salad fruits like cucumbers & tomatoes), and half of them should be raw. The other 20% should be unprocessed food. As Michael Pollan says: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I'll post more another day. Health & peace!

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