Replies to post #221290 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[sortagreen]

When the scumbags on your side of the aisle propose their plan I'm sure they'll address all your points.

"But yet....birth control was a major fucking issue"

To your Taliban party for sure. Not a big issue to us at all. Goes without saying that it needs to be covered. Everyone uses it (women and the men they're with). And the fallout of not using it costs us all as well. So yeah, it's covered. Get over it.

"There have been numerous studies that therapy is as effective as meds"

Cool. Does the republican plan cover that?

Here's a clue
The Republican plan is to allow every insurance company to move to Delaware (I'm sorry... allow people to buy insurance across state lines) and fuck everyone in the US except them... and you of course, commissioning their garbage offerings and telling the unsuspecting that shit is actually good for them.

I haven't seen fuck all about therapy or anything else that would benefit the consumer there. Matter of fact, the republicans don't really have a plan at all. Or perhaps you've seen one?

Please enlighten us.

[fuagf]

60 Ridiculously Stupid Republican Quotes

Author: Tiffany Willis December 16, 2012 2:09 am

Mental health is a problem .. if you were serious about your concern for it you
wouldn't be on the Cruz, Palin, Bachmann et al side of the political spectrum ..



Stupid Republicans Conservatives. You’ve gotta love them! Who would entertain us if we lost all of the Republicans? The things that so many of them say are stupid, out-of-touch, and sometimes, downright crazy. Here is a list of some of the dumbest comments Republicans have ever made.

1. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” ~ George W. Bush

2. ”We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.” ~ Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

3. “When the President does it that means that it’s not illegal.” ~ Richard M. Nixon

4. “Exercise freaks … are the ones putting stress on the health care system.” ~ Rush Limbaugh

5. ”Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” ~ Rush Limbaugh

6. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” (sic) ~ George W. Bush

7. “Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.” ~ Jerry Falwell

8. “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens (sic) do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” ~ George W. Bush

9.“Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.” ~ Jerry Falwell

10. “Facts are stupid things.” ~ Ronald Reagan

11. “How did [the Holocaust] happen? Because God allowed it to happen… because God said, ‘My top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.’” ~ Rev. John Hage

12. “Our gays are more macho than their straights.” ~ Ann Coulter, commenting in 2005 on Jeff Gannon, the conservative plant in the White House press corps who turned out to be a male escort

13. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” ~ George W. Bush

14.. “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.” ~ Ronald Reagan

15. “[America has to import so many workers because] for the last 35 years we have aborted more than a million people who would have been in our workforce.” ~ Mike Huckabee

16. ”I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

17. “I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.” ~ Donald Rumsfeld

43 more .. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/16/60-ridiculously-stupid-republican-quotes/

[fuagf]

How I lost my fear of Universal Health Care

July 9, 2012 By Melissa 626 Comments



When I moved to Canada in 2008, I was a die-hard conservative Republican. So when I found out that we were going to be covered by Canada’s Universal Health Care, I was somewhat disgusted. This meant we couldn’t choose our own health coverage, or even opt out if we wanted too. It also meant that abortion was covered by our taxes, something I had always believed was horrible. I believed based on my politics that government mandated health care was a violation of my freedom.

When I got pregnant shortly after moving, I was apprehensive. Would I even be able to have a home birth like I had experienced with my first 2 babies? Universal Health Care meant less choice right? So I would be forced to do whatever the medical system dictated regardless of my feelings, because of the government mandate. I even talked some of having my baby across the border in the US, where I could pay out of pocket for whatever birth I wanted. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Midwives were not only covered by the Universal health care, they were encouraged! Even for hospital births. In Canada, Midwives and Dr’s were both respected, and often worked together.

I went to my first Midwife appointment and sat in the waiting room looking at the wall of informational pamphlets. I never went to the Dr growing up, we didn’t have health insurance, and my parents preferred a conservative naturopathic doctor anyways. And the doctor I had used for my first 2 births was also a conservative Christian. So I had never seen information on birth control and STDs. One of the pamphlets read “Pregnant Unexpectedly?” so I picked it up, wondering what it would say. The pamphlet talked about adoption, parenthood, or abortion. It went through the basics of what each option would entail and ended by saying that these choices were up to you. I was horrified that they included abortion on the list of options, and fact that the pamphlet was so balanced instead of “pro-life.”

During my appointment that day, the midwife asked her initial round of questions including whether or not I had desired to become pregnant in the first place. Looking back I am not surprised she asked that, I was depressed at the time, (even though I did not list that on my medical chart) and very vocal about my views on birth control (it wasn’t OK, ever.) No wonder she felt like she should ask if I was happy to be having this baby. But I was angry about the whole thing. In my mind, freedom was being violated, my rights were being decided for me by the evils of Universal Health Care.

Fast forward a little past the Canadian births of my third and fourth babies. I had better prenatal care than I had ever had in the States. I came in regularly for appointments to check on my health and my babies’ health throughout my pregnancy, and I never had to worry about how much a test cost or how much the blood draw fee was. I didn’t have to skip my ultrasound because of the expense. With my pregnancies in the States, I had limited my checkups to only a handful to keep costs down. When I went in to get the shot I needed because of my negative blood type, in Canada it was covered. In fact I got the recommended 2 doses instead of the more risky 1 dose because I didn’t have to worry about the expense. I had a wide array of options and flexibility when it came to my birth, and care providers that were more concerned with my health and the health of my baby than how much money they might make based on my birth, or what might impact their reputation best. When health care is universal, doctors are free to recommend and provide the best care for every patient instead of basing their care on what each patient can afford.

I found out that religious rights were still respected. The Catholic hospital in the area did not provide abortions, and they were not required too. I had an amazing medically safe birth, and excellent post-natal care with midwives who had to be trained, certified and approved by the medical system.

I started to feel differently about Universal government mandated and regulated Health care. I realized how many times my family had avoided hospital care because of our lack of coverage. When I mentioned to Canadians that I had been in a car accident as a teen and hadn’t gone into the hospital, they were shocked! Here, you always went to the hospital, just in case. And the back pain I had endured ever since would have been investigated and cared for with whatever X-rays, Physiotherapy or even Surgery that was needed, which would have been at no cost to me. In our particular province, even chiropractic care was provided after a car accident by the provincial care insurance.When I asked for prayers for my little brother who had been burned in an accident, they were all puzzled why the story did not include immediately rushing him to the hospital. When they asked me to clarify and I explained that many people in the States are not insured and they try to put off medical care unless absolutely needed, they literally could not comprehend such a thing.



I started to wonder why I had been so opposed to government mandated Universal Health care. Almost every western country in the world has Universal Insurance of some kind .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care , except the USA. Here in Canada, everyone was covered. If they worked full-time, if they worked part-time, or if they were homeless and lived on the street, they were all entitled to the same level of care if they had a medical need. People actually went in for routine check-ups and caught many of their illnesses early, before they were too advanced to treat. People were free to quit a job they hated, or even start their own business without fear of losing their medical coverage. In fact, the only real complaint I heard about the Universal Health Care from the Canadians themselves, was that sometimes there could be a wait time before a particular medical service could be provided. But even that didn’t seem to be that bad to me, in the States most people had to wait for medical care, or even be denied based on their coverage. Depending on where one lived and how rural the area was, one’s access to care could be limited, and that was regardless of what country one lived in. The only people guaranteed immediate and full service in the USA, were those with the best (and most expensive) health coverage or wads of cash they could blow. In Canada, the wait times were usually short, and applied to everyone regardless of wealth. If you were discontent with the wait time (and had the money to cover it) you could always travel out of the country to someplace where you could demand a particular service for a price. Personally, I never experienced excessive wait times, I was accepted for maternity care within a few days or weeks, I was able to find a family care provider nearby easily and quickly, and when a child needed to be brought in for a health concern I was always able to get an appointment within that week.

The only concern I was left with was the fact that abortion was covered by the Universal Health Care, and I still believed that was wrong. But as I lived there, I began to discover I had been misled in that understanding as well. Abortion wasn’t pushed as the only option by virtue of it being covered. It was just one of the options, same as it was in the USA. In fact, the percentage rates of abortion are far lower in Canada than they are in the USA, where abortion is often not covered by insurance and can be much harder to get. In 2008 Canada had an abortion rate of 15.2 per 1000 women (In other countries with government health care that number is even lower), and the USA had an abortion rate of 20.8 abortions per 1000 women .. http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=GenderStat&f=inID%3A12 .

And suddenly I could see why that was the case. With Universal coverage, a mother pregnant unexpectedly would still have health care for her pregnancy and birth even if she was unemployed, had to quit her job, or lost her job. If she was informed that she had a special needs baby on the way, she could rest assured knowing in Canada her child’s health care needs would be covered. Whether your child needs therapy, medicines, a caregiver, a wheelchair, or repeated surgeries, it would be covered by the health care system. Here, you never heard of parents joining the army just so their child’s “pre-existing” health care needs could be covered. In fact, when a special needs person becomes an adult in Canada, they are eligible for a personal care assistant covered by the government. We saw far more developmentally or physically disabled persons out and about in Canada, than I ever see here in the USA. They would be getting their groceries at the store, doing their business at the bank, and even working job, all with their personal care assistant alongside them, encouraging them and helping them when they needed it. When my sister came up to visit, she even commented on how visible special needs people were when the lady smiling and waving while clearing tables at the Taco Bell with her caregiver clearly had Downs Syndrome.



I also discovered that the Canadian government looked out for its families in other ways. The country mandates one year of paid maternity leave .. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/?mobile=nc , meaning a woman having a baby gets an entire year after the birth of her baby to recover and parent her new baby full-time, while still receiving 55% of her salary and her job back at the end of that year. Either parent can use the leave, so some split it, with one parent staying at home for 6 months and the other staying at home for 6 months. I could hardly believe my ears when I first heard it. In America, women routinely had to return to work after 6 weeks leave, many times unpaid. Many American women lost their jobs when becoming pregnant or having a baby. I knew people who had to go back to work 2 weeks after giving birth just to hang onto their job and continue making enough money to pay the bills. Also every child in Canada gets a monthly cash tax benefit. The wealthier families can put theirs into a savings account to pay for college someday (which also costs far less money in Canada by the way), the not so wealthy can use theirs to buy that car seat or even groceries. In the province we lived in, we also received a monthly day care supplement check for every child under school age. I made more money being a stay at home mom in Canada than I do in the States working a part-time close to a minimum wage job. And none of the things I listed here are considered “welfare” they are available to every Canadian regardless of income. For those with lower incomes than we had there are other supports in place as well.

If a woman gets pregnant unexpectedly in America, she has to worry about how she will get her own prenatal care, medical care for her child, whether or not she will be able to keep her job and how she will pay for daycare for her child so she can continue to support her family. In Canada those problems are eliminated or at least reduced. Where do you think a woman is more likely to feel supported in her decision to keep her baby, and therefore reduce abortions?

Since all of these benefits are available to everyone, I never heard Canadians talking about capping their incomes to remain lower income and not lose their government provided health coverage. Older people in Canada don’t have to clean out their assets to qualify for some Medicare or Social Security programs, I knew older people who went in for procedure after procedure, and we never heard about dwindling resources, kids paying for their parents medical expenses, or being forced to use up life insurance or funeral savings in order to get the health care they needed. I heard of inheritances being left even amongst the middle classes. Something I had only heard about in wealthy families in the USA.

And lest you think that the Canada system is draining the government resources, their budget is very close to balanced every year .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_budget . They’ve had these programs for decades. Last year Canada’s national debt was 586 billion dollars, the USA has 15.5 trillion dollars in national debt .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt . Canada has about one 10th the population of the US, so even accounting for size, the USA is almost 3 times more indebted. And lest you think that taxes are astronomical, our median income taxes each year were only slightly higher than they had been in the States, and we still got a large chunk of it back each year at tax time.
In the end, I don’t see Universal health care as an evil thing anymore.

Comparing the two systems, which one better values the life of each person?

Which system is truly more family friendly?

I’ve written a follow-up post to this one here: Why I used to be afraid of Universal Health Care ..
http://ayoungmomsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-i-used-to-be-afraid-of-universal.html

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/permissiontolive/2012/07/how-i-lost-my-fear-of-universal-health-care.html

3Saints, do you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia, too? .. think fear of today .. your today ..

See also:

Discovery of gene essential for memory extinction could lead to new PTSD treatments

Published on September 19, 2013 at 2:01 AM · No Comments

If you got beat up by a bully on your walk home from school every day, you would probably become very afraid of the spot where you usually met him. However, if the bully moved out of town, you would gradually cease to fear that area.

Neuroscientists call this phenomenon "memory extinction": Conditioned responses fade away as older memories are replaced with new experiences.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93000797

ps: oops, fastlizzy introduced and linked the article here ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78252822

[BullNBear52]

Already commented on the sweetheart deal the drug companies got under Part D.

You need to jump through hoops for authorization to get 10 sessions of therapy but they will readily approve 30 years of medicine for depression. Try finding a Psychiatrist and getting an appointment without a 3 month wait....there is a shortage.


Maybe in PA but I have never had a problem here in NC. Most employer sponsored EAPs cover at the minimum 10 sessions of therapy for a variety of reasons. Dial the 800 number and they have a list of docs they'll give you referrals for that are covered by the plan.

Also you need to think about who you want to meet with. Psychiatrist or Psychologist. If you understand what both do then you want a practice that has both and they work in conjunction with each other. Obviously we have grown accustomed to better living through chemistry and daddy/mommy's little helper whether it be Adderall for the child or a Xanax for mom and dad.

But the Psychiatrist is not going to address the underlying problem and he is probably too frigging busy to deal with it.

The Psychologist will and the EAP will more than likely cover more sessions with that doc then the one handing out pills.

but they will readily approve 30 years of medicine for depression.


All insurance companies have pharmacists working for them now that review scripts. I've had drug stores phone in a script for approval and have it denied, then had to go back to the doc to have him explain it to the company.

In any case you have to be proactive when it comes to mental healthcare but don't tell me the resources are not there. Of course my experience is with group insurance covered by an employer. For the individual you get what you pay for.

[arizona1]

But yet....birth control was a major fucking issue..

GOP Counters Equal Pay With ‘Barefoot and Pregnant’ Bill



With Democrats trying to finally get the Paycheck Fairness Act passed through Congress to give women the opportunity to be paid the same amount as men for the same job, Republicans have a different plan.

The GOP has come up with their own bill that they believe captures their values and the values of their voters. They are countering the Paycheck Fairness Act with the “Barefoot and Pregnant Act”.

Sections of the bill state, “All women of child-bearing age must find a husband and open their womb to the highest quantity of children they are able to conceive.” “Women must ask permission to leave the home, and must always ask their husband what appropriate attire they shall wear.” “If a woman wants to work after child-bearing years, they must obtain permission from their husband and take whatever pay an institution is willing to pay them. There will be no special favors.”

“A woman’s place is in the home, not pretending they are breadwinners,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). “No one wants a pretentious female feeling they are the same as a man. They’re not, and they never will be.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated, “We need to look at what is good for America, and what was good for our founders is good for us now. Listen, I’m still peeved women have the right to vote. It’s the least we can do to give some control back to men. We’re not about handouts. If a woman wanted to be treated the same as man, they should’ve been born a man. ”

Free Wood Post expects a lot of harsh criticism of this bill from Democrats, and basically anyone with a brain, and logical thinking. We’ll keep you up to date and watch if this bill even makes it to debate.
http://www.freewoodpost.com/2014/04/08/gop-counters-equal-pay-with-barefoot-and-pregnant-bill/

[arizona1]

But yet....birth control was a major fucking issue.

You don't happen to moonlight as an AZ pastor, do you?

AZ pastor: Childless women on birth control have destroyed the U.S. with ‘whoredom’



Arizona Pastor Steven Anderson warned his congregation recently that birth control was not only turn women into “whores,” it was also destroying the country.

In a sermon posted online this week, the Faithful Word Baptist Church leader explained that contraception was “not something Christians should be practicing,” even though he acknowledged that 99 percent of Christians believed it was acceptable.

Anderson pointed out that God, in the book of Genesis, had made childbearing painful to punish women for their Original Sin, adding that the husband “shall rule over thee.”

He argued that feminism had “given women the power” to decide when to have children for themselves, allowing them to have careers and follow other interests.

“It used to be a young women, she gets married, she has children, and that’s her job,” he lamented. “They literally count my wife as unemployed! She’s not unemployed, she doesn’t want to be employed. I mean, she’s a wife, she’s a mother.”

Anderson said that danger of birth control was that it had “systemic effects” on a woman’s health and her “character.”

“Not only does birth control do damage to women, it hurts their body if they’re using the pills. And it also affects their character, causing them to be an idle, tattler, gossip, turning aside after Satan,” he insisted.

Women would “get into sin” if they were not “busy” raising children, Anderson said.

Anderson noted that Annette Funicello, a star of the Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s, had promoted birth control for a 1960s-era advertisement. At one point, he even began to sing “fornicate with me” to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club March theme song.

“It promotes promiscuity, it promotes whoredom!” he advised, reading from the Bible: “Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore, lest the land fall to whoredom and the land become full of wickedness!”

“A land can call to whoredom!” he exclaimed. “And the United States today, fits that bill. If anybody has ever fit that bill, it’s the United States of America.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/30/az-pastor-childless-women-on-birth-control-have-destroyed-the-u-s-with-whoredom/