frances roehm

My Comments (104 so far…)

Joan Ganz Cooney: Medicare Is Going to Bankrupt the Country

Joan, I haven’t read your further comment but I need to ask a question. Why is it this government always has the money to fund wars, spend billions on weapons that don’t always work? Are you aware of what every American spends rich or poor to fund the Penatagon? Are you aware or unaware of the subsidies tax payers fund for corporations on a federal or state/local level?…. I could go on but my point is that all of us as Americans have no idea where our tax money really goes. The big elephant in the room right now is that no matter your political stripe, we were all born human. Humans get sick, we get cancer diabetes, kidney failure. We have accidents are victims of violence, we all bleed red. Life is a pre-existing condition. For anyone to imply that we as a Country cannot afford our common need for health care when we need it is indecent. Since when have we become so wrapped up in self interest that we now fail to see that self interest will bring us all down. Self interest as I see it is the problem. When my inability to get treatment from my doctor because my insurer denies my claim tells me that there is a collision between the business model that Medicine has become and the reality that even people who play by the rules can be marginalized. I don’t think it right that executive compensation and stockholder satisfaction be the first consideration before an insured American is allowed to see a Doctor and have the treatments he/she prescribes be considered for payment. While the cost of healthcare in this country might be astronomical it is only because we have ignored the obvious. We have created the monster that is the business model and right now only serves the chosen few. IMO if a public option were made available it might change the present Health Insurance delivery system. Ms. Cooney it is not a system you would ever be forced into but would allow some forty seven million uninsured and many more underinsured citizens the ability to see a Doctor.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

I can’t say so far what this government will or won’t do for me. There is not a written and final bill to vote upon. I’m thinking that it won’t make anyone happy. Too much money swaying corporate interests. Not enough citizen engagement to change the dialogue from the corporate to the individual interest.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

I’ve read all the posts on this topic. It is still all political and not a lot about the issues of getting sick, no money and needing help. In an honest way, could anyone inform me as to what you have to be or done to qualify for Health Care in the way it is now delivered? All I am reading is how Obama did this, The Republicans want that. Nobody is addressing the real issue. Can we all agree that stuff happens to all of us? We need relief when we need it. I don’t know why there are so many posters questioning Pres. Obamas recognition that our present system does not serve all. What ever plan that wins will still have to recognize that emergency rooms must do what they can to save a life. Did not read in the Hippocratic Oath a part where you have to show a card that says you qualify for medical attention based on party affilliation.. Can we just lower the bar here and recognize that decisons we have made in the past worked out. Things like a womans right to vote. The Civil Rights Ammendment. Our Planet has kept on spinning and we are still here. Medical issues are about all of us. It will be interesting to see if the divide says we can only pay to play or on some level we recognize that we need help when we get sick.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

Thanks for answering my post. I come from a military family and my childhood healthcare issues were delivered by a government program. I have some horror stories to share about that but won’t serve this discussion. Back then my very life depended upon military healthcare. When I grew up I bought my own Healthcare. I have found both systems to be flawed but the most blatant is the Private Health care industry. I’m tired of making payments to a company that can raise your rates when you have never made a claim. You just happened to get older. I am not interested in making a car payment for a CEO that wants a new Mercedes to park in front of his McMansion. IMO this debate is inviting us all to grow into the country that we will become. Are we about self interest? Are we about an idea that says the really rich can live their lives, the middle class can do their thing, the Poor, we will look out for you because you suffer too? This Health Care debate is about a recognition that no matter your class or political identity we all share the reality that we suffer when we are sick. As taxpayers we need to have a delivery system that is shared and not the system that fails most of us. Average Americans cannot afford $20,000 deductibles on their health care plans. We can agree that things need to change. Our government is the only entity that we have to resolve it. Can’t we agree that with engagement from our political divide that self interest is ok? When we get sick we need help. Lets work together to create a system that serves us all.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

Thanks for your great post. You ROCK!!!

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

Frannie Em. You are asking the right questions, IMO, the illegal immigrant debate has no place in the Health Care debate. This is another divide and conquer issue that creates a purported enemy and thus takes away the focus on a failed system that serves a few but not all. Illegal immigrants, seems to me are mostly generated by the Guest Worker programs that come to pick crops or bring cheap labor to our building industries. That is contractually a problem created by businesses seeking a greater profit margin. This is a side issue. We need to focus on the fact that Insurance Companies are in business to make a profit and after that is accomplished then they consider what they will pay to help enrollees access treatment. Seems to me that their need to satisfy their business model has reached a critical moment that most find untenable. Judging by the backlash there are obviouly some who find change a ridiculous thought. This same attitude came up back in the 1960’s when Pres. Johnson pushed through Medicare. Where would seniors be today without that program? I’m pretty sure I know Democrats and Republicans in equal numbers that benefit from what was done. It would be nice if we could all take off our political party hats and put on our thinking caps and resolve this huge issue. We all need medical care at some point in our lives and some of us should not have to lose everything to have it as the system now exists.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

I’m with you. Great Post.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

Yes, Our Hospitals are outstanding. But said Canadians still must sign on the bottom line to pay the cost for American services. They must have very deep pockets or are like Americans needing help and will sign anything to get it. Not being in an insurance pool will require a much larger payment. Are you implying that coming to this country for services means that it will be cheaper? Canadians are experiencing a Doctor shortage. In this country, if you cannot afford the health care you need, I would call that a Doctor shortage. I am truly not trying to be hostile in this comment. Please share with the readers on this thread, headlines or sources that report citizens of other First World Countries dropping dead in their streets from lack of health care. In this country, so far, every report on Americans dying of denial of Health Care services is seen as anecdotal. I’m sure that their loved ones do not see it that way. I’m not trying to pick a fight here, I’m saying that every person suffers and wants relief. There has to be a genuine engagement that no matter where we are on the political divide, when you get sick you need help. Please share what you think should be done to make American health care more affordable to all of us.

Liz Peek: Obama's Mystifying Message

Roger, I feel the same, Health Care in this country has been the elephant in the room for a very long time. For Republicans to grudgingly admit that "Yeah, there might be a problem", means that they have know it but by their world view and policies they were not going to take it on because it would require embracing a "government program". I Remember President Bush trying to convince us that we needed to privatize Social Security. In his plan we could take that money and invest it in "Wall Street" and we would all come out better for it in the end. This time last year when the Stock Market went down the tubes, I ask the obvious, where would we be now? This countries retirees would be just like the Madoff investers. No Money. No future. There are some things in this country that cannot be reduced to the political/econimist agenda. This is about the common acknowledgement that as human beings we have one thing in common. It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat and all the shades in between. We equally are confronted with the reality that we have traumatic accidents. We inherit genetic diseases. We, as humans are confronted with pain that causes us to seek relief, physical and mental. Why should this be political? Medicine is science. It is an Healing Art. IMHO, we are where we are because every aspect of Healing has become an Industry which reduces it to a commodity that requires stockholder satisfaction and CEO compensation first. Then whatever amount is left over can be spent on healing. I applaud President Obama for having the courage to confront the staus quo. Whether or not he is successful in creating an equitable way for all Americans to access affordable health care the debate will surely reveal who we are as a country and what it really means to be an American.

On the anniversary of 9/11, what do you carry in your heart about this day?

I lived in New York many years ago. The first Tower was up the second on it’s way. The day of the attack started out as one of the most perfect to be imagined down here in Virginia. That was all to end in horror. In retrospect, what I will remember most was the courage and goodness that Americans and New Yorkers showed to one another. We were all in shock. I remember staying with Peter Jennings with his twenty four hour broadcast begore he signed off in exhaustion. I remember all of the stories of people helping and feeding people that were the most affected by the horror of what had happened. No when I look back, I feel that Americans were robbed of the message of who we truly are. We care, we help, we can feel anothers pain. Somehow that valuable message has been taken away and political agenda perverted that day rather than let it define the good that we are as Americans. We were told to go shopping and keep this economy growing. Since then we have invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. We have caused the deaths of many innocent people and used our troops (brave and good people) to do it. We are now in Afghanistan and we are losing our own and there is never a mention of the man who did this to us. This horrible act of murder has caused the loss of our own personal freedoms and taken away the spirit of generousity that I feel made us uniquely American.

Diminished Labor Unions Have a Friend in Obama, by Liz Peek

Mr. Somsel, I am not implying that you or anyone is spineless. What I’m suggesting is that we have OSHA who is supposed to be upholding safety standards in the workplace, that we have a Labor Department who should advocate for workers not corporations. Under policies that started some thirty years ago, conditions became more adversarial for workers because no one was there to back them up. You are right, every one needs to eat and a roof over their heads. It is my observation that a great transfer of wealth going upwards has taken place. The middle class has not enjoyed the wealth they have generated for the people they work for. Being middle class today shows no sign of being upwardly mobile like it did in the past. I’m pretty sure that the $78.00 an hour wage that you were told had the health insurance and retirement added into that amount. I don’t believe that every auto worker took home $150,000 a year before taxes. We had a Ford plant here that closed two years ago and I’m pretty sure the union workers took home around $45,000 tops. Anyway, things are not getting better for workers in this country. When the bad things hit a critical mass maybe collectively standing up won’t be such a weird idea.

Diminished Labor Unions Have a Friend in Obama, by Liz Peek

Frank, I’m not in a union. I’m soon to be sixty three and have been self employed for my whole life. My brother is a tradesman and is in a union. He teaches those younger than he how to be better at a trade. When someone hires him or his graduated students they can be sure that they get their money’s worth for the job done. The union members also have decent health insurance that they could not purchase on their own. Most trade jobs here do not offer any health insurance unless you can collectively create a plan. A good friend of mine helped Kroger grocery workers organize over a decade ago. Giving them a better wage and benefits than would have been had without a union. I’m not here to say that Unions are all sunshine and roses. Just because you join one won’t make your dreams come true. The reality is that you have to be vocal to your members so that everyone can grow a spine and speak up. I am not against any corporation making a profit. If said corporation feels they can roll over people that work for them they will do it. I’m saying that if workers stand together and remind said corporation that they have no product to sell without the workers that invest their time to create the product then it is everyones mutual interest to go home with a living wage and a profit for the big guys. There should be no profit that requires a subsidy for the worker "bees". We all want the same thing. Your question about filing a grievance on safety issues comes down to the fact that for the last thirty years our labor department has advocated for companies/corporations rather than upholding worker safety. This is a beautiful example of how labor interests have been undermined and made irrelevant. Whenever an individual opens their mouth there is surely a price to pay because you stand alone. Everyone fears saying the obvious by themselves. When we reach a critical mass in our individual lives we realize we have nothing to lose. We can keep on doing what we do and we will keep getting what we get. It is sad that we have come to a moment where there is a contempt for decency. If the average American worker keeps accepting where we are in the richest country on this planet then we only have our spineless selves to blame.

Diminished Labor Unions Have a Friend in Obama, by Liz Peek

I’m With you Dona Howlett. There are the "right" kind of women. Then there are those who just don’t count.

Diminished Labor Unions Have a Friend in Obama, by Liz Peek

Thanks DBO, For the Robert Reich Piece. I must say that wow o wow is becoming a disappointment for me. Liz Peak, while being a bright woman shows me the class divide that exists in this country. That divide is larger than it has been since the days of The Robber Barons. Ms. Peak’s disdain for people like me is a stinging reproach that I am sure many Americans are feeling when realizing the work they do can so easily be outsourced for the bottom line. Nothing like waking up to find out that playing by the rules and working hard means you no longer fit a business model that demands top of the line executive compensation and stock holder satisfaction. How dare I Ms. Peak? If I were a little dumber you could almost make me feel un-american because your life has more value than mine. Hope Ms. Peak has a great "Labor"day Monday off. Seems to me that all the labor naysayers should boycott The Labor Day Holiday and work for their employers for free. DBO, Thanks for all your posts, you always say the things that I wish I did.