Ablogination

It’s really too bad. One of the main problems politicians of any stripe have is that fact that a majority of them are out of touch socialite types that have no clue what the average person goes through. Especially when it comes to trying to get health care.

So, Congress is going on vacation instead of showing some guts and passing health care reform when it’s needed. That time being YESTER-FUCKING-DAY.

Figures. The few real people that there are in Congress are busting their asses trying to get Americans on a healthier track and meanwhile, the spinless wonders that make up the majority of both houses are thinking about the Bahamas.
Republicans, Blue Dogshits and those who prefer to sit quivering in their chairs are doing everything they can to derail progress and for nothing more than the Insurance Industry money that fills their bank accounts.

Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Blue Dogshit, is a shining example of greed-before-people predatory politics.
How much has Gordon received from the Health Care Industry? $951,000 from PACS and $195, 979–that’s OVER $1 Million

Gordon’s Big Campaign Donors Include:

· The American Medical Association

Who came out about the house health care bill this week

· National Health Care Corp

Which he incidentally sponsored a bill about this session

· Altria Group

Formerly Phillip Morris

Well, while you’re sipping umbrella drinks and laying by the pool, Mr. Gordon, try and remember that the rest of us are simply trying to keep ourselves and our families healthy. We know you don’t care. That’s not the issue.
The issue is that you work for us and we’re telling you to do it. And we will make you pay with your offices if you don’t.
Now you Blue Poodles get your pathetic little asses back into the mix and help the President pass this highly inadequate but better than nothing Health Reform. We already know it’s about the money. You’re not hiding behind urban and rural, “too expensive” and other such strawman speak.

While you waste time stalling, things like this are happening…

Date: 5/13/2009
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
Telephone: 240-276-2130
Majority of America’s 2 Million Adolescents Suffering from Depression Episodes Did Not Receive Treatment in the Past Year
Adolescents without health insurance were less than half as likely to get treatment as those with Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or private health insurance coverage

A new report which coincides with Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day reveals that 8.2 percent (2 million) youths aged 12 to 17 experienced at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year. Only about two-fifths (38.9 percent) of these adolescents received treatment during this period according to the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The report also found that health insurance coverage seemed to be a major factor in determining whether adolescents experiencing MDEs in the past year received treatment. Among these adolescents, those without health insurance coverage were far less likely to have received treatment (17.2 percent) than those with Medicaid/CHIP (42.9 percent) or private health insurance (40.6 percent).

Based on a nationwide SAMHSA survey, Major Depressive Episode and Treatment among Adolescents also reveals the types of treatments adolescents received for MDEs. The report shows that among treated adolescents:

• 58.8 percent saw or spoke with a counselor
• 36.8 percent saw or spoke with a psychologist
• 27.3 percent saw or spoke with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist
• 26.6 percent saw or spoke with a general practitioner or family doctor

In addition, the report shows that less than half (46.8 percent) of adolescents who received treatment for an MDE in the past year used prescription medication for their condition.

“This report contributes to the growing realization that much more must be done to meet enormous mental health needs of our young people,” said SAMHSA’s Acting Administrator, Eric Broderick, D.D.S, M.P.H. “This report, along with the enactment of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and the recent landmark report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine on children’s mental health, highlight our nation’s growing concern and commitment to alleviating the damage and suffering inflicted by untreated mental disorders on children, their families and their communities.”

The report is drawn from SAMHSA’s 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which collected data from a representative sample of approximately 22,000 adolescents throughout the United States.

An MDE is defined as a period of two weeks or longer during which there is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure and at least four other symptoms that reflect a change in functioning, including problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration, and self-image.

And this…

18,000 deaths blamed on lack of insurance

By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — More than 18,000 adults in the USA die each year because they are uninsured and can’t get proper health care, researchers report in a landmark study released Tuesday.

The 193-page report, “Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late,” examines the plight of 30 million — one in seven — working-age Americans whose employers don’t provide insurance and who don’t qualify for government medical care.

About 10 million children lack insurance; elderly Americans are covered by Medicare.

It is the second in a planned series of six reports by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examining the impact of the nation’s fragmented health system. The IOM is a non-profit organization of experts that advises Congress on health issues.

Overall, the researchers say, 18,314 people die in the USA each year because they lack preventive services, a timely diagnosis or appropriate care.

The estimated death toll includes about 1,400 people with high blood pressure, 400 to 600 with breast cancer and 1,500 diagnosed with HIV.

“Our purpose is simply to deliver the facts, and the facts are unequivocal,” says Reed Tuckson, an author of the report and vice president for consumer health at UnitedHealth Group in Minnetonka, Minn.

Among the study’s findings is a comparison of the uninsured with the insured:

* Uninsured people with colon or breast cancer face a 50% higher risk of death.
* Uninsured trauma victims are less likely to be admitted to the hospital, receive the full range of needed services, and are 37% more likely to die of their injuries.
* About 25% of adult diabetics without insurance for a year or more went without a checkup for two years. That boosts their risk of death, blindness and amputations resulting from poor circulation.

Being uninsured also magnifies the risk of death and disability for chronically sick and mentally ill patients, poor people and minorities, who disproportionately lack access to medical care, the landmark study states.

“The report documents the immense consequence of having 40 million uninsured people out there,” says Ray Werntz, a consumer health expert with the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “We need to elevate the problem in the national conscience.”

Calculating the cost in human suffering, he says, “is one way to get there.”

All I can really do is tell you people how it is. If you supported Single Payer health care this would be over by now. All Americans would be covered in the most efficient and economically feasible manner available.

I guess I could pray that you find your humanity too. And perhaps that you remember who it is that pays for your family’s health care.