Got an email a few days ago from AARP - they are sending 50 people to D.C. to meet with Congress on this issue.

Had to complete an application of several pages -
I did so. This piece was just composed from my thoughts and experiences, sort of a Primer to take - IF I get chosen.

Qualifications?
6 Years - dealing w/ ARMY B.S. - P.T. concurrently.
4 Years - dealing w/ SSA B.S.
10 Years - as a Credit Mgr. in Healthcare.
5 Years - selling - Life, Health, Disability Ins.
48 Years - PAYING PREMIUMS for Nothing!
20 Years - handling my parents' Medicare CRAP!
3 Years - dealing with my own Medicare CRAP!
35 Years - practical experience as a Manager.

ERGO -

I DO KNOW JUST A TAD OF - FROM WHERE I SPEAK!

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

© - Tom Hyland - 07-12-09

Know all men by these presents:

1. CONGRESS -

Has treated this issue as an unwanted ‘political football’ for well over 50 Years now - it is high time to stop FUMBLING!

The members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, have also been enjoying something that - We, The People - have ALLOWED much too long - LIVING ABOVE THE LAW! The factual truth is that - THEY have never been AFFECTED by the ‘rotten laws and rules’ that - THEY pass!

THEY are most, if not all, Lawyers - well educated, well heeled, well paid, well bribed, well-bred - but NOT well-intentioned! Well, Ladies and Gentlemen - and I use that phrase very loosely - THE WELL IS RUNNING DRY!

The ‘Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions’ - and THEY do not even have them in their hearts.

“You little guys out there - 300,000,000 of you - have to TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS - meanwhile, we’ll grant ourselves big RAISES, and a SPECIAL, US ONLY RETIREMENT PLAN - while we have time to figure out HOW TO SCREW YOU OUT OF SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS!”

How does the American Public spell Congress? One word - DESPICABLE!

THE ‘AGE OF GREED ‘ IS OVER!

2. THE ADMINISTRATION -

Ever since Harry S. Truman - “THE BUCK STOPS HERE!” - each successive administration has done NO BETTER THAN CONGRESS! “Blame it on Mikey” - should have been their ‘Battle-Cry’ - or slogan!

FAULT? Blame it on someone else! It’s the Left-Wing Liberal Democrats! It’s the Right Wing Conservative Republicans! It’s the Middle-of-the-Road Non-Committal Undecisives!

Up until now - it has all been BULL-SHIT! And, by George - both the early Colonists, as well as the current Populace - KNOWS IT! Both GEORGES SCREWED US!

There is a new Tea Kettle brewing, and a new “Tea Party” - assembling!
Wait until next year - 2010 - and just watch how many ‘THIRD-PARTY’ candidates get elected. It matters not, if they are Independents, or Greens, or Socialists, or any other group you can conjure up - the Elephants and Donkeys (both really Asses) are DONE!

“The Status Quo - Shall Be No Mo!”


3. INSURANCE COMPANIES -

The Insurance Industry as a whole, has continued to be one of the Wealthiest ones in the entire world. The Lobbying Power and the attributable result of it has been ‘BUYING OFF’ Congress for all these many years.

How blind, dumb, and stupid do they think the American Public is?

Their slogan should be: “Rip-Offs R us!”

Denied Claims - Deductibles that are too High - Co-pays that are too High -
Sneaky Terms in Contracts - Legal Jargonese - Delaying Tactics - Red-Tape -
Anything and everything that Crooked Lawyers can devise - anything for GREED - anything to SCREW THE LITTLE GUY!

If the Largest insurance company in the World - AIG - was so STUPID in its affairs, just how SMART do you think the rest of them were?

For LO - these many, many years, there has been no real FEDERAL Control or intervention to PROTECT the Public! Each individual State has allowed these corpulent companies to be regulated by One Individual, a State Insurance Commissioner - who mostly approved all of the Company Demands, and did very little to Protect the Individual!

When the FED finally gets off its DUFF - and takes over the entire sordid industry - just watch - THEY will be scurrying like RATS aboard a sinking ship - maneuvering to capture any little piece of flotsam or jetsam that FLOATS!

These irresponsible deadbeats DESERVE to flounder, or even SINK and DROWN! WE - THE PEOPLE - DO NOT NEED THEM!

4. PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS -

In a way - THEY are just as despicable as the former three categories above!
WHY? Because they have been PREYING ON - OLD SICK PEOPLE - for far too many years!

If THEY have not been in collusion with the insurance companies - then, I’ll EAT MY HAT! MARK-UPS IN THE THOUSANDS OF PERCENTS!

A MERE 100 PERCENT, OR 200, OR 500 - NO - THAT HAS BEEN INSUFFICIENT FOR THEIR GREEDY POCKETS!

1,000 PERCENT - 2,000 PERCENT - 3,000 PERCENT - 4,000 PERCENT -
HELL, I’VE READ OF SOME ‘PRODUCTS’ BEING MARKED UP HIGHER THAN THAT into the TENS OF THOUSANDS!

SO - let us just examine one little pill - let’s say that it really cost the company two cents - .02 - to make it. Now, mark it up by 1,000% - that would only be TEN TIMES THE COST, or .20, twenty cents. 2,000 % would be 40 cents, 4,000% is still only 80 cents - but 40,000% is a whopping $8.00 ...

Let’s do the math - .02 X 40,000% OR 400 Times X .02 = $8.00 -

Then, a really expensive cost of manufacturing another pill might be as much as a whopping $2.00 - at a 40,000% Mark-Up, it would be $800.00 for one stinking pill! Now, let’s face it, these guys ain’t stupid - you can’t Bite the hand of those who Feed you, can you?

So, they might only charge such really EXORBITANT amounts on pills that are really necessary, like: HEART Pills, or for CANCER, or maybe ones for HYPERTENSION or STROKES - you know, the MAIN KILLERS IN THIS COUNTRY!

Now, if these are the UNGODLY PRICES that THEY are charging the Pharmacies, who do all the work of breaking down the big bottles they buy, counting out each pill to fill a prescription, and then they have to MARK UP for their little miniscule profit - THEN - deal with the screaming customer at the counter, who is about to HAVE a heart attack, over their deductible, or co-pay portion!

In my own very fortunate healthy case - just last Thursday, a refill Rx for 90 Protonix pills, was $354.00 - that’s $3.93 per pill - my co-pay was $121.00 !
That’s 34.2% of the Cost - which I could not afford, so the kind Pharmacist gave me a handful of FREE SAMPLES of a similar Generic, Prilosec - which contains Omeprazole Magnesium, AND suggested I ASK my Doctor to CHANGE the prescription to this CHEAPER generic!

Now, with a Diagnosis of both a Hiatal Hernia, and Acid Reflux Disease, I’m probably SUPPOSED to take Only One every morning, but FOR THE REST OF MY FRIGGING LIFE - then ...

90 for 3 months times 4 times per year, would be $121.00 X 4 = $484.00 per year - SO - if I only live another 10 years, and make it to 79 - my mere cost of ONE lousy pill would be $4,840.00 !!!

SENIOR CITIZENS - OLD PEOPLE - ARE BEING ‘RIPPED OFF’ BY:
The Insurance Companies, Medicare, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and finally by the Pharmacies!

FOOTNOTE: This precludes any MENTION of the DOCTORS exorbitant charges!

GET THE PICTURE NOW?

5. MEDICARE -

I WAS THERE - working at the Social Security Administration, way back in 1960, when SSA - a Federal agency - SUED MEDICARE - a new ‘sister’ agency - to ESTOP them from using your Social Security Number as the Medicare Identification Number - needless to say - THEY LOST IN COURT!

Just look at either your MEDICARE or BC/BS CARD -
YEP IT’S YOUR SSA #.

I WAS THERE - in 1966, working as a Credit Manager at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, when MEDICARE BEGAN!

WHAT A COMPLICATED BOONDOGGLE IT WAS - AND STILL IS!

Part A - for inpatient Hospitalization - subject to Utilization Review Board scrutiny and approval -

Part B - for Outpatient Medical Care (ER, Doctor’s Office Visits) - totally subject to each and every separate physician’s WHIMS - to either ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT OF MEDICARE BENEFITS = LOSE MONEY - OR - REJECT THE ASSIGNMENT - MAKE THE POOR PATIENT PAY HIS/HER ENTIRE BILL - THEN ‘BEG’ FOR A POSSIBLE, PARTIAL REIMBURSEMENT FROM MEDICARE - If you are Lucky, this only takes 3-4-5-6 MONTHS!

NOTE: THIS PREMIUM IS NOW ONLY ABOUT $93.00 PER MONTH -
And is Automatically Deducted from your SSA Retirement Payment each and every month of the year until you DIE! I think it was only around $85.00 or so, when I retired 3 years ago - SO IT ESCALATES EVERY YEAR BECAUSE CONGRESS SAYS SO!

Part ? - for some odd reason, THEY skipped using part C - and called this additionally necessary and highly costful part - MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTAL COVERAGE - now, this is important when AFTER your Basic coverage does, or does not, pay certain benefits, and/or Deductibles - this part MIGHT PAY some of your Deductibles and Co-Pays!

Naturally - HOW MUCH or HOW LITTLE DEPENDS on which Company’s complicated coverage you chose, and which PLAN - A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J--K
you chose, and at which EXORBITANT PREMIUM you chose to pay! *

Part D - Prescription Coverage - probably the most SCREWED-UP part! Only about 28 or so different companies, with several different plans each - ALL spending more money than GOD on TV ADS and PRINTED LITERATURE - ALL DEVISED TO CONFUSE THE HELL OUT OF OLD SICK PEOPLE!

* NOTE: Yet again, I originally chose the Best Plan when I retired 3 years ago, and after paying $89.00 every month for 2 years = $2,136.00 and NOT getting sick - DUMMY! I realized that money might be better spent on Extravagant things, like: FOOD - SHELTER - HIGHER GASOLINE PRICES, you know, those ‘expendable’ un-necessaries of life!

At first, I simply DROPPED to a lesser Plan - K - I think? For a mere $59.00 per month - BUT someone at AARP SCREWED UP - and several months later, I realized that the AUTOMATIC DEDUCTION from my checking account from my previous payments, somehow got STOPPED!

Then, last August 25th, my 68th Birthday, no less, for the very FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE - I was HOSPITALIZED for 3 days, and was STUCK with Balances OWED WHICH ALMOST TOTALLED $2,000.00 WHICH I DID NOT HAVE!

As a result of this medical disaster, my prior EXCELLENT CREDIT SCORE OF 753 - PLUMMETED TO 644 - 109 POINTS - because of being ‘turned over’ to several Collection Agencies - and my one and only favorite bank, my JHFCU Credit Union just DECLINED a Re-Finance of an Automobile Loan, which I NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT ON - FOR TWENTY-EIGHT 28 - STRAIGHT MONTHS - and naturally, under our really, really, really GOOD CREDIT SYSTEM - that protects COMPANIES, not INDIVIDUALS - MY Score IS PROBABLY lowered AGAIN!

DID I HEAR YOU SAY ... DUH?

6. THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM -

Suffice it to say that it SUCKS! Judges, who are Lawyers, deciding cases in FAVOR OF - Lawyers who represent Companies - thereby SCREWING LITTLE INDIVIDUALS - THESE CHARLATANS should be boiled in OIL - OOPS! That’s another ‘touchy’ subject!

7. PROVERBIAL ‘RED TAPE’ -

Well, Pilgrims, between - Congress, The Administration, The Insurance Companies, The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, The Pharmacies, MEDICARE, Individual State Medical Assistance Programs, ‘FLY-BY-NIGHT’ Insurance RIP-OFF Companies, Ignorance of the Public, PLANNED Confusion of Senior Citizens - as well as even the younger folks - all combine to make our National Health System to be totally bogged down in RED TAPE - THEREBY MAKING IT STINK TO THE HIGH HEAVENS!

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE?


YOU CAN BET YOUR SWEET ARSE THAT IT IS NEEDED! NOW!


The current NON-SYSTEM is the best example I can think of - for the term -


HARUM SCARUM !


Exhibiting Reckless Disorganized Abandon



© - TKH