Why This Moment Matters (Fallows)/Health Care Reform Poll - Merged threads

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The cleanup will be long, and it will be difficult and most assuredly costly.

But not as costly as doing nothing or staying the course.

Bravo!

 

Woooooooot! Nancy Pelosi is a rockstar!!!!! And Obama can now go down in history as the one who delivered change!!!!:bang::bang::beer::beer:

50 years from now i'll have all my great grand kids around asking me about these historic days, I feel blessed to be a witness to this historic moment:clap:

 

They also passed legislation adding more funding to higher education in the form of Pell Grants.

Healthcare and education in one fell swoop, wow!

A refreshing change having a President that actually is doing something for the good of the people instead of the good of corporations and trying to blow sh!t up.

 

Next up... legalize millions of illegal aliens? :?:

 

LOL, will never happen. And that was the brainchild of the last administriva.

 

Thank Goodness!
I can rest a little easier knowing that i can get more help paying my way through college!

 

They took over the loan program from the banks so the putative interest would count against the deficit. They were just gaming the CBO.

McCain wants cheap labor.
Obama wants cheap votes.

Health care is available to legal residents. Get it yet?

You may have to spend summers in an Obama re-education camp or "volunteer" for Obama corps but WTH?

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIt's the end of the world as we know it, it's the end of the...

 

And I feel fine.

 

Never in newspeak means 15 minutes. :lol:

 

There are definitely better ways to "start" the process than 2400+ pages of questionable rules/special interest add-ons/new regulatory powers that may or may not benefit the citizens!

What ever happen to the old adage of breaking a problem apart into its components and handling them one at a time.

I disagree with Fallows commentary and the passage of this "reform".

 

So bigger government and more government intrusion are better how?

 

Healthcare "reform" bill passed

I don't want to create fire among you guys but its bound to happen.. What are you thinking right now?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html

And don't be scared to speak your minds.

 

Guess we'll see...

 

Without tort reform it's all BS
Tort reform now necessarily fallows

 

Is it just me or is anyone else unshure if these guys are being sarcastic or not?

 

My goodness, do we even have a constitution anymore?

 

Rules against recision for one?

I honestly don't know how that's a legitimate question.

 

Maybe this wouldn't have been so difficult if certain people in government didn't have there pockets lined with cash from the insurance companies and drug companies!
Seems to me that over the years, way too many people have died needlessly because they could not afford insurance or their coverage was canceled because they had a pimple on their ass when they were 17!
Regardless of how you feel personally or how much you hate Obama and Pelosi, there's a good chance a that someone will get the care they need.
I'd rather see America at least take the shot than worry I might die cold and alone on the street with cancer eating me alive!

Cancer Girl's Lawyer Blames CIGNA For Her Death

GLENDALE, Calif. (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
Doctors say the liver transplant would have saved Nataline Sarkiyan's life. CBS

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An insurance company that initially refused to pay for a liver transplant for a 17-year-old Northridge girl who died in a hospital should face criminal charges and pay civil damages, an attorney for the girl's family said Friday.

Cigna HealthCare "literally, maliciously killed" Nataline Sarkisyan, attorney Mark Geragos told reporters in downtown Los Angeles.

Sarkisyan died at 5:50 p.m. Thursday after being pulled off life support at UCLA Medical Center.

Geragos said Cigna twice took Sarkisyan off the liver transplant list
and purposely waited until she was near death to approve the transplant because the company didn't want to pay for her after-care.

Cigna announced yesterday -- just hours before the girl died -- it would pay for the transplant. "Cigna decided that they were going to take profits over this little, beautiful princess' life," Geragos said. "We believe that they single- handedly decided that they wanted to have her die and wait so they would not have to take the after-care coverage."

Geragos said a civil lawsuit would be filed and he plans to petition
District Attorney Steve Cooley to pursue murder or manslaughter charges against Cigna. "I believe that it's criminal and this corporation should be held accountable," Geragos said, adding this could be a "test case" because no such criminal complaint has yet been brought against a health insurance company.

In a statement issued yesterday after it had approved the transplant, the
company said the procedure "was outside the scope of the plan's coverage."
"... and despite the lack of medical evidence regarding the
effectiveness of such treatment, Cigna HealthCare has decided to make an exception in this rare and unusual case, and we will provide coverage should she proceed with the requested liver transplant. Our thoughts and prayers are with Nataline and her family at this time."

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said it
would be inappropriate to comment on any possible criminal charges against Cigna since Geragos has yet to present anything to prosecutors.

Sarkisyan's 21-year-old brother, Bedros, told reporters that UCLA had a
liver available for transplant, but they could not perform the procedure
because of Cigna's refusal to cover it.

The girl's father, Krikor Sarkisyan, held a photograph of his daughter,
and with his eyes wet with tears, cried out. "They took my daughter away from me!"

"The Cigna people, they cannot make people's decision if they (are)
going to life or die," he said through a heavy accent. "Doctors ... they all
signed the papers. ... Cigna denied it two times."

Cigna insurance initially declined to pay for the transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan because her plan did not cover "experimental, investigational and unproven services," her doctors said.

The denial prompted nationwide protests, including a rally outside
Cigna's Glendale offices yesterday and complaints by members of the California Nurses Association. About 15 minutes into the rally, Cigna announced it would approve the transplant.

But last night, Nataline's parents had her removed from life support at
Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA"because her condition was hopeless,"
family friend Steve Artinian told reporters.

"Now we have to start the healing process to try to figure out what
happened and why it happened," Artinian said.

A state and national nurses organization blasted Cigna's decision to
deny Nataline's transplant. "Why didn't they just listen to the medical professionals at the bedside in the first place?" said Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and member of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee Council of Presidents. "Insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. "Their first priority is to make profits for their shareholders and the way they do that is by denying care."

Nataline had been in a vegetative state for three weeks, according to
her mother, Hilda Sarkisyan. The girl was diagnosed with leukemia at age 14.

After two years of treatment the cancer went into remission but came back this summer.

When doctors said Nataline could use a bone-marrow transplant, the
Sarkisyans discovered that her brother was a match, and he donated his bone marrow the day before Thanksgiving.

However, Nataline developed a complication from the bone-marrow
transplant and, because her liver was failing, doctors recommended a
transplant, according to an appeal letter sent to Cigna earlier this month.

The Sarkisyans filed an appeal with the California Department of
Insurance, which sent a letter this week saying it needed more information.

Then came the protests and the insurance company's decision to approve
the liver transplant, but by then it was too late for Nataline.

Friday, CIGNA released the following statement: "Our deepest sympathies are with Nataline's family. Their loss is immeasurable, and our thoughts and prayers are with them. We deeply hope that the outpouring of concern, care and love that are being expressed for Nataline's family help them at this time."