With a hat tip to Moonbat, please see this Los Angeles Times article by Michael Hiltzik about yesterday’s “Obamacare is killing my mother” story.
Hiltzik analysis reveals, as I suspected, that Stephen Blackwood’s mother isn’t having a problem with “Obamacare”; she’s having a problem with the private insurance industry. We still don’t know why Blue Cross dumped Mother’s policy, but the most likely reason is that Blue Cross chose to dump her and gave Obamacare as the excuse. Her issues with her difficulties in navigating the insurance market are in large part because Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell deliberately made it that way. The issue about Humana not covering the cancer meds has nothing whatsoever to do with Obamacare. That’s an issue with Humana and Humana’s deceptive sales reps.
Another interesting tidbit, from a commenter — the author Stephen Blackwood, is the “president of Ralston College,” but Ralston College doesn’t actually exist. Blackwood is in the process of raising money to build it. That doesn’t make Blackwood a bad person, of course. But we really don’t know anything about Blackwood.
Hiltzik’s conclusion:
That does point to a problem with Obamacare, just not the one Stephen Blackwood and the Wall Street Journal think it does. The problem is that the Affordable Care Act not only left commercial insurers at the center of our healthcare system, but strengthened their grip on coverage. Many of the problems that have cropped up with the ACA are reflections of the private industry’s role, including its lousy customer service.
There’s no question that confusion and complexity still govern America’s healthcare system. But for millions of Americans, there’s less of that, and more fairness, than there was before the ACA. Judging from her son’s op-ed, Catherine Blackwood is still getting her cancer treatment, with the exception of a decision about medication that Humana should be ashamed about.
Blackwood wrote that “it is precisely because health care for 300 million people is so complicated that it cannot be centrally managed.” But the ACA is the exact opposite of “centrally managed” healthcare. In fact, as advocates of a single-payer system argue, if it were centrally managed, it might work better.
Our Reich-Wingers dig-up more shite, than there are bulls.
“dig-up more shite, than there are bulls”
Right lots of bull shit about Obamacare “victims” but nothing about the millions who are covered now who were not before. One old lady gets the press, fuck the millions who are getting preventitve care for the first time in their lives, fucking free-loaders!
uncledad: As far as the millions who are getting coverage, I saw Kathleen Parker complaining in one of her vacuous columns that it’s only 24 million, which still leaves 31 millions uncovered. Never mind that the Republicans’ remedy for this defect is to repeal ObamaCare, thus taking away the insurance from those 24 million.
Ralston proposes to be an atypical college. The proposed curriculum includes a program of common readings, wherein each year all students are required to read a common set of “supremely difficult†texts.
Atlas Shrugged?… National Review Online?
But we really don’t know anything about Blackwood.
Well, I do know that he’s willing to prostitute his own mother’s tragedy to attack Obama. And that’s enough for me to understand all I have to know about the guy.
I could be wrong.. Maybe he’s so stricken with grief that he just wants to lash out at anybody — and he’s made Obama his punching bag.. But he does seem to have some command of his senses, and he is the president of a college even if that college only exists in the ether.
Stephen,
And how many of those uncovered live in states where Medicaid money to cover them wasn’t taken by the Governors/State Legislators?
“it’s only 24 million”
Right, what Miss Parker (tweetybirds favorite miss-informer) really means is it’s only 24 million peasants, all giving them coverage is going to do is extend the amount of time they are on this earth to extract goods and services from we the productive people!
Hiltzik at the LA Times is pretty much on the Obamacare beat, batting down right wing nonsense, among other things. He’s a good one to follow. He wrote The New Deal: A Modern History, plus a few other books.
The arguments are so deceptively transparent. Republicans don’t want to implement an imperfect program – that’s consistently their claim. They emphasize the word ‘flawed’. Which is true – Obamacare has flaws. But on what planet could any program be found which satisfies everyone? Health care for all which won’t affect access to your doctor, or cost and in fact doesn’t require any more money from anyone. Just think about the posture the GOP took. They want health care for all, but they don’t want to pay for it through employer contributions, or government subsidies – nothing that will cost rich people to benefit poor people. So they pretend to be interested, with the caveat that a program should provide health care to all with NO cost and no impact to the medical system in place. Cut away the BS and it translates to – no change at all.
The weak spot in their strategy – to replace Obamacare with something better is that for years – and up to the present day – there has been NO proposal from the GOP with enough specifics for the CBO to score. They have no plan. (Why, why WHY don’t democrats pound on that?) According to the CBO – how many people would be added to health care? At what cost? What about pre-existing conditions? Preventative care? Contraception included? How would any new plan proposed affect the national debt? There are still no answers to these questions – because they have no plan. Four words for democrats running for Congress, who must defend Obamacare, ‘They have no plan.’ Repeat it – sing it – chant it – translate it into 50 different languages. They have no plan.
“Just think about the posture the GOP took. They want health care for all, but they don’t want to pay for it through employer contributions, or government subsidies – nothing that will cost rich people to benefit poor people”
Doug, Respectively; I don’t believe the GOP gives a rats ass about healthcare for all! Today’s GOP only has only one purpose; to enrage the ever dwindling white majority, to set themselves up as victims for political gain. Everything they say and do is designed to enrage the tea-tards and disenfranchise everyone else. Healthcare is not on the GOP radar other to be used as a weapon, everyone the GOP represents has plenty of money for healthcare!
O.T. sort of? Liberals need to stop arguing policy with the tea-tards, they have no real policy they are not serious about governing. Liberals should be hammering them constantly on their lack of policy, the lies they tell, the phony outrage, the clowns they elect. What has the GOP done lately besides pass one bill after another seeking to codify racism, misogyny, xenophobia, discrimination in general. Their only real policy initiative is keep sick people sick. A perfect example of losing the battle was displayed on Tweetybird’s Hardball last night. He ran a brief segment on Terrible Ted and how he is using Nazi imagery to refer to the IRS “scandal”. Tweety just shakes his head and says “why are we using NAZI imagery”. Hey Tweety how about the fact that the IRS “scandal” is 100% complete fucking fiction! I feel better now!
Dr. Stephen Blackwood is one of the directors of Caring for Carcinoid Foundation (CFCF). The board of directors is a well-connect list of people, including Patrick O’Hagan, who is “a leader in Bain’s Healthcare practice” with a vested interest in certain pharmaceutical companies, particularly on helping pharmaceutical clients meet their revenue goals. (This part is from this: http://www.bain.com/industry-expertise/healthcare/pharmaceuticals.aspx)
Sandostatin has a variety of alternatives, including the generic form, octreotide. These generic forms are produced by six different pharmaceutical companies. Novartis is currently having difficulties marketing Sandostatin and has been under accusations of bribery in China for this particular drug. Doctors in China were bribed in order to increase use of this drug over generic forms Coverage of generic forms is required of all ACA plans. http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/sandostatin-lar-novartis-top-10-drug-patent-losses-2014
O’Hagan for Bain Capital regarding Novartis:
http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/bringing-pharma-r-and-d-back-to-health.aspx
Novartis Oncology has donated money to Blackwood’s foundation :
http://www.caringforcarcinoid.org/sites/default/files/documents/Annual%20Report.pdf
Sandostatin itself is used for the treatment of diarrhea associated with carcinoid syndrome, it does not treat carcinoid tumors themselves. http://www.us.sandostatin.com/health-care-professional/carcinoid/carcinoid-information.jsp