August 22, 2009

Vol 1 No 7

Nye-Gateway to Nevada’s Rurals

P o l i t i c a l N e w s a n d C o m m e n t a r y

Upgrading To National Health Insurance

(Medicare 2.0)
The Case For Eliminat-
Inside ing Private Health Insur- with affordable healthcare.
ance Like it or not that is a fact.
HR 676 Single Payer People cannot afford the
Healthcare 2 This past week has been premiums the companies
difficult for healthcare re- must or are charging in
Facts about Healthcare
form. order to provide the health
in America 2
care people need.
Why don’t we all just ad-
Health Insurance Racket
2
mit that the politicians Erase political thought
aren’t capable of providing from your mind and take a
Stock Market up for healthcare reform that will fresh look at the whole cal students and health
Healthcare Insurance
3 work. That includes Presi- problem. Forget capital- professionals who support
dent Obama, the Senate ism, socialism or any s ing le- p a yer n ati on al
and the House of Repre- other kind of ism. health insurance.
Cost of Credit Card Debt
Soars 3 sentatives.
Now, let me introduce you It is a single issue organi-
Kent Conrad-Just who is They are politicians and to the Physicians for a zation advocating a univer-
he? can’t separate party poli- National Health Pro- sal, comprehensive single-
tics from the problem at gram. Who are they? payer national health pro-
Advertisements 4 hand. That is why they are gram. PNHP has more
going around in circles The Physicians for a Na- than 17,000 members and
now, getting nowhere. tional Health Program is chapters across the United
Upcoming Events 6
a non-profit research and States.
The fact of the matter is education organization of
private insurance compa- 17,000 physicians, medi- Read more.
nies cannot provide us all

P l e a s e P r e s i d e n t O b a m a — f o r g e t
b i p a r t i s a n s h i p — Y o u a r e o u r P r e s i d e n t !

Robert Kuttner has a
piece in Huffington Post
with which I fully agree.
Kuttner writes:
“Will somebody please
explain to me why Barack
Obama is still on his bi-
partisan kick?
“…the Republican opposi-
tion has made it clear that
no goodwill gesture, no
effort to meet them half-
way signals anything
other than weakness.
They are out to destroy
his presidency, pure and
simple. Nothing makes try and Republican
this clearer than the battle
leadership has deftly
over health insurance re- used the Congres-
form.” sional August recess to
weaken health insur-
Weakness is perceived by ance reform. The pub-
prison inmates as inviting lic option is on its
dominion and control. deathbed. Read more.
The insurance indus-
Page 2 Nye-Gateway to Nevada’s Rurals

H R 6 7 6 S i n g l e P a y e r t o b e d e b a t e d a n d
v o t e d o n

For the first time ever, ers with S. 703. tember.

single-payer legislation
will be debated and Weiner introduced an Sen. Bernie Sand-
voted on by the House amendment to Presi- ers of Vermont is ex-
of Representatives in dent Obama’s health- pected to bring S.
care reform bill (HR 703 to the floor for a
September.
3200) that would re- vote in the Senate.
Pay attention in the place it with HR 676,
weeks ahead to Rep- the single-payer bill, The blog post explains
resentative Anthony and Speaker Pelosi how you, too, can
Weiner (NY-9) with HR pledged to bring it to a press Congress to
676 and Sena- debate and vote on the adopt single-payer. Anthony Weiner
tor Bernie Sand- full House floor in Sep- Read More

F a c t s Ab o u t
 Ninety percent of Ameri-
cans believe the American
health care system needs
fundamental changes
 There are four times as
many health care lobbyists
in Washington as there
are members of Congress.
 A baby born in El Salvador
 the Journal of the Ameri-
can Medical Association
found that older Ameri-
H e a l t h C a r e
cans are significantly less
healthy than their British
counterparts – we have more
diabetes, heart attacks,
strokes, lung disease and
cancer. Even the poorest
Brits can expect to live longer
than the richest Americans.
has a better chance of surviv-
ing than a baby in Detroit.
The infant mortality rate in
i n Am e r i c a
Detroit is 15.5, compared to El
Salvador’s rate of 9.7.
 Half of all bankruptcies are
caused by medical bills. Three
-quarters of those filings are
people with health insurance.
 he United States is the only
industrialized country in the
world without a universal
health insurance system.
Read a lot more.

T h e H e a l t h I n s u r a n c e R a c k e t
Getting Rich by Deny- beach house in New helping policy holders- pays. Read more.
ing Americans Care Jersey. Meanwhile, big insurance compa-
regular Americans are nies get rich by denying
UnitedHealth- routinely denied cover- coverage to patients.
care CEO Stephen age for the care they Now they’re sending
Hemsley owns need when they need it lobbyists to Washing-
$744,232,068 in unex- most. ton, DC to twist the
ercised stock op- arms of lawmakers to
tions. CIGNA’s Edward Welcome to the Ameri- oppose reform of the
Hanway spends his can health insurance status quo. Why? Be-
holidays in a $13 million industry. Instead of cause the status quo
Vol 1 No 7 Page 3

S t o c k M a r k e t i s u p f o r
I n s u r a n c e
Things are looking up for health- UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N)
care insurance companies. shares rose 3.6 percent at mid-
afternoon, WellPoint Inc
The S&P Managed Health Care (WLP.N) climbed 3.3 per-
index .GSPHMO of large U.S. cent, Aetna Inc (AET.N) in-
health insurers was up 3.8 per- creased 5.2 percent, and Coven-
cent, soundly outperforming a try Health Care (CVH.N) jumped
2.5 percent decline for the 5.2 percent.
broader S&P 500 index .SPX,
following comments from the “Investors believe that risk of
Obama administration that creat- competition from a government-
ing a public plan was not essen- run plan has declined signifi-
tial to a healthcare overhaul. cantly, and that the co-op option
H e a l t h c a r e
being floated by Democrat legis-
lators will be relatively benign to
the HMO industry,” analysts at
Jefferies & Co said in a research
note.
The S&P Managed Health Care
index has risen 18 percent so far
this year, with strong gains since
July as analysts said investors
came to think a public plan was
unlikely. See post.

C o s t o f c r e d i t c a r d d e b t s o a r i n g

Credit card issu-
ers have been rushing
to raise rates in ad-
vance of this Thursday,
when the first provisions
of the Credit Card Ac-
countability Responsi-
bility and Disclosure
Act (CARD) will go into
effect, with other protec-
tions starting in Febru- 21 days in advance of issuers to give
ary 2010. [Chicago Sun the payment date. you 45 days’
-Times] That will mean fewer notice when
people will get hit with they plan to
Starting this week, card
late fees because of raise your rate,
issuers need to give
postal delays. instead of the
you more time to pay
15-day advance
your bills. Now, instead Another provision go- notice. You’ll be
of mailing bills 14 days ing into effect this paying higher
before the due date, week requires card rates. More.
issuers must send bills

K e n t C o n r a d : J u s t w h o i s h e ?

Senator Kent Conrad (D
-ND) is Chairman of
the Senate Committee
on Budget. The Ranking
Minority Member is Re-
publican Judd
Gregg of New Hamp-
shire.
Why my interest in Kent
Conrad? Because he is
the guy that heads up
the Senate Committee rats. sign, is on the Commit-
which is pushing a tee.
“community health in- Strange as it may be a
surance option” which lot of the trouble with It will be worth your time,
the Physicians for a Na- getting a decent health I think to read this blog
tional Health Program reform bill is Democrats. post. You’ll find out about
find to be a big mistake. the Federal Employees
This blog post lists Health Benefits Program
every Senator on the
The Senate Budget which covers each of
Committee is about half Committee and where these Senators. Why not
and half between Re- they get their money. you and me too?
publicans and Democ- Our Senator, John En- Read more.
Page 4

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 Page 5

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 Page 6

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August 2009 and healthcare reform to counter the ture, intelligent adults capable of ex-
Senator Reid Visits Pahrump demonstrating Tea Baggers. pressing your support in a peaceable
manner. Don’t forget some bottled
Date: Monday, August 24, 2009
Prepare your signs to carry in support water and a hat to ward off the sun.
Time: 11:00 a.m. of Senator Reid and healthcare reform.
Contact Margery Behrens at (775) 910- Now is the time for all good Democrats
Where: Pahrump Town Office to come to the aid of their party.
9159 or via e-mail
Senator Reid will meet with local officials and at margerykaybehrens@msn.com and Read more.
with the Nye County Sheriff’s Department.
Reid will be available for questions by the
let her know you intend to participate
media for a half hour Monday afternoon. in the counter-demonstration. You may Senator Reid: Tele-Town Hall Aug 28
want to wear an Obama T-shirt or other
I’m informed Tea Baggers intend to dem- clothing showing your support for Town Hall Discussion with Senator
Harry Reid — Nevadans with 775 and
onstrate at Pahrump’s Town Offices at President Obama, Senator Reid 702 area codes are invited to partici-
11:00 a.m., Monday, August 24, 2009. and healthcare reform at the demon- pate in a Telephone Town Hall with
stration. It is recommended you be on Senator Reid on Friday, August 28,
Democrats are being asked to rally and your best behavior at the demonstra- 2009. To sign up, click here.
demonstrate in support of Senator Reid tion. Show the Tea Baggers you are ma-