Archive for September, 2008

What he said …

Adam Searing, project director of the NC Justice Center’s Health Care Coalition, has made even more noise than I have about health care in America. But then, it’s his job, and he does it well.
He was part of a conference call the other day when I tried to pin down a member of Congress about his [...]

New this week

First, a study by Families USA, the health care advocacy group. They’ve done a state-by-state assessment of health insrance premium costs. Nationally, the costs of premiums rose by about 75 percent betwen 2000 and 2007. That’s about 5.4 times the rise in earnings in the same time, although if you adjust for inflation, Americans’ earnings [...]

A harowing couple of days

Jennifer called me Wednesday night to tell me Danny had been burned at work — again. This is the third time he has been seriously burned at work.
My first thought was that I was about to lose him. A paper mill is a dangerous place to work, but he has had second- and third-degree burns [...]

Not enough, AMA

A health care proposal by the AMA to insure everyone includes taking away the tax break that people who pay for health insurance through their employers, effectively raising taxes on working people and making it more expensive for them to buy insurance.
The proposal calls for making health insurance affordable for everyone to purchase. Does that include [...]

Just a month (and a couple of days) to go

It looks like Christina will get here for the rally. Danny offered to help her get a ticket because she’s still looking for a job in her field (event planning, of all things) and she’s pretty broke.
Christina has been pretty much the primary caregiver for my 83-year-old mother and her 92-year-old husband, who has Alzheimer’s.
But [...]

A little bit of Baptist

I was raised Baptist, but I have rejected much of the fundamentalist theology and become what a former Sunday school teacher called a “dirty Congregationalist.”
Still, a little bit of Baptist remains. Baptists believe that when one steps out on faith, God provides what one needs to succeed. I remember a missionary who worked with poor [...]

A plan for North Carolina

The NC Justice Center’s Health Access Coalition released a report this morning on how to provide affordable health coverage for every resident of the state.
It looks a lot like what Ga. Rep. John Barrow described when we spoke with him last week.
It’s a public-private partnership that would regulate insurance companies. It also would involve expanding [...]

Asking for specifics

We had an hourlong conversation with U.S. Rep. John Barrow, Democrat, of Georgia’s 12th District. I was on speakerphone, but Rep. Barrow was in his Savannah office with Janet, Danny and Christian, who had Shannon on speakerphone.
It was a good conversation, and he offered us specifics and reasons for his views. I don’t think any [...]

California considers state-wide medical coverage

California may be the next state to offer health care to all of its residents. Their state assembly recently passed SB 840, a bill that will offer Californians health care through a single-payer system. SB 840 still needs to go for a final vote on the state assembly floor and needs to withstand a likely [...]

Help Life o' Mike

We need your help now more than ever. Your tax-deductible donation will help us get Patient Pals and Family Friends off the ground. Please consider a gift in honor or in memory of a loved one.

Patient Pals & Family Friends volunteer training

Our Feb. 27 training had to be postponed, but we have rescheduled. Join us 9 days, as we train our next group of volunteers for Patient Pals & Family Friends. The four-hour training will run 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and will include lunch. Patient Pals are people who have experience with an illness or disability. After training, they will be paired with someone who is newly diagnosed or disabled. Family Friends will be volunteers who are paired with family members of people who are ill or disabled, and will have been through the expeience of having a loved one with illness or disability.

In Loving Memory

Life o' Mike has participated two memorial services to remember those who have died from our broken health care system, one in Asheville and one in Raleigh. If you would like to organize more of these services, please contact lifeomike@gmail.com and we will help put it together. The services include stories, prayers and information on how people of faith can make a difference. About 45,000 people die each year because they don’t have health insurance, according to a recent study by Harvard Medical School and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That breaks down to one American every 12 minutes. Those people can be honored in the service by a bell chime and a moment of silence every 12 minutes in the service. For more information, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712.

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