You know, for a community that prides itself on its conservatism, we sure go liberal from time to time.
Having written on a few occasions about the deep fiscal hole the county is stuck in, I’m simply amazed that we’re talking about the prospect of a county health department. Don’t get me wrong: I can understand […]

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“Gee Granny, what would you like for Christmas?”
“Well Junior, how about a nice hip replacement?”:
Pittsburgh health insurer Highmark Inc. is selling a Healthcare Visa Gift Card from $25 to $5,000 to cover prescription co-payments, elective surgery, contact lenses and gym membership.
The cards can be used only at providers or merchants that Visa categorizes as health […]

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The series of bills showed up earlier this week, for the kids. Both had recently had annual check-ups, which the insurance is supposed to pay for, less the deductible. Ah, but they’d had eye tests during the check-ups; and eye tests are not covered.
Why wouldn’t eye tests be covered, you might ask? Good question; and in fact […]

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Got a call a few weeks back from a woman who works at a local business park that had just outlawed all smoking on the premesis. As in, not only could you not smoke in the building, you couldn’t smoke outside the building; you couldn’t smoke in the parking lot. Not even if you were seated […]

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Hilarious. California Rep. Pete Stark during the House debate on the S-CHIP override:
First of all, I’m just amazed they can’t figure out, the Republicans are worried we can’t pay for insuring an additional 10 million children.  They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq.  Where ya gonna get […]

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She had brought her own dinner because she couldn’t eat what we were serving. Instead of the chicken and the pasta, she would eat mashed potatoes and a salad consisting of little more than lettuce. She couldn’t eat more than that because she couldn’t chew more than that; three of her teeth, including two crowns, […]

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Paul Krugman on the wurlitzer’s sliming of Graeme Frost:
All in all, the Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the modern right-wing political machine at work, and in particular its routine reliance on character assassination in place of honest debate. If service members oppose a Republican war, they’re “phony soldiers”; if Michael J. Fox […]

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So here’s Michelle Malkin this past Tuesday, on the Frost thing:
The bottom line remains:
This family made choices. Choices have consequences.
But wait! Via D. Aristophanes at Sadly, No!, we may compare the above to Michelle Malkin in 2004:
America’s Broken Health Insurance System
I certainly am not convinced that a government-run system is the answer, but I do […]

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The right wants to make war on the Frost family? Bring ‘em on, writes Colin McEnroe of the Hartford Courant:
If you boil away all the vitriol, what you’re left with is a conservative argument that goes like this: These people — even with their combined income of a VERY modest $45,000 — have no business turning […]

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Charlie Crystle, who has been a major back of a single-payer health care proposal in Pa., goes after state Rep. Mike Sturla and his support of Rendell’s ”insurance industry bill”:
Another difference is Rendell’s bill does nothing to contain the biggest cost of the system: insurance company expenditures and profits, and the administrative expenses they cause for doctors, […]

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Where’s a Republican when you need him to warn this guy about socialized medicine and advise him to buck up, the economy’s doing great?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWNkqjTT_Wg

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Check it out: Someone from Capital Blue Cross - that would be the outfit providing health insurance in 21 central Pennsylvania counties, including Lancaster County - leaked a memo to Michael Moore from the company’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, one Barclay Fitzpatrick. It was, apparenly, Fitzpatrick’s job to go sit through “Sicko” right here […]

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Whatever you think of Michael Moore, it’s clear that his upcoming movie “Sicko” is about to kick-start a major debate over health care in this country. On a related note, I’m told - no link yet - that Pennsylvania Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Phila, is seeking co-sponsors for a single-payer bill, the “Family and Business Healthcare Security Act,” […]

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Took the baby girl - now 7 months old, thanks for asking - up to the Warwick Township health campus Monday, to an audiologist. During her six-month visit to the pediatrician, the doctors conducted a hearing test and thought maybe they detected an issue with her right ear. That was news to us. So, dutifully, both kids […]

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