The Bantering about The Hyde Amendment is false. They are lying about it being 'comprehensive'. It is NOT.

The ONLY place The Hyde Amendment applies is Medicaid. No place else. So the draconian Stupak Amendment isn't even good law. It has NO precedent. The Stupid Pak Amendment is an insult to the intelligence of women and treats them as if second class citizens unable to discern their own mind.

The Hyde Amendment prevents states from using federal funds under Medicaid to pay for abortions (except under limited circumstances, currently when the mother’s life is in danger or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest); however, the Hyde Amendment is not permanent law.

The Hyde Amendment was written and attached to an appropriations bill in 1976. It was a reaction to the Supreme Court's decision of 1973 in Roe v. Wade.

The Stupak Amendment is not good law because it goes outside of Hyde. It attempts to control private insurance monies and the federal government has no authority over private insurance dollars when it is subscribed to by a private citizen. Hyde was upheld because it was deemed Congress could control its budget.

Stupak operates on the basis that the church does and the Anti-Abortion Lobby, that life begins at conception. It doesn't. Not physiologically and not legally. The Stupak Amendment is not valid law.

A human embryo is not discernable as any such embryo at conception. It is nothing but a cluster of cells without a specific function. If removed from the uterus, it can be effected by hormones to grow differently as a 'stem cell' has capacity. If a cell, human or otherwise, is not STATIC in its genetic definition at conception it cannot be assigned the status of a human being.

End of discussion.

Deceoptive Health Insurance Practices

Friday, August 29, 2008

Not-so-transparent: early days for consumer tools on health price and quality (click here)

Providing price and quality information is viewed as a Holy Grail among health plans and providers, who see transparency as the key for igniting health care consumerism. However, that Grail remains elusive, as issues of tool usefulness and consumer trust cloud the market....
...CSHSC looked at two aspects of transparency: price and quality. For larger plans, who are more advanced in their price publishing projects, these efforts are seen as crucial for competitive positioning, according to CSHSC; for smaller plans, they're defensive in nature. Regardless, very few plans are providing price data that's customized for enrollees.

One broker in CSHSC's study commented, "Price information is sparsely available, and where it is available, it's of relatively low utility for the average member." That's the bottom line of the study....

House panel focuses on deceptive health insurance practices (click title to entry - thank you)

06:54 AM CDT on Friday, October 16, 2009

By JIM LANDERS / The Dallas Morning News
jlanders@dallasnews.com

...Null said he had bought a health insurance policy that he thought gave his family catastrophic coverage but learned in the hospital that it maxed out at $25,000.

The hearing focused on the estimated 25 million Americans who are "underinsured," or who lack coverage sufficient for unexpected and costly medical emergencies.

Sara Collins, a vice president with the New York-based Commonwealth Fund, told the subcommittee that 9 million more Americans fell into the underinsured category between 2003 and 2007 because of rapidly increasing costs for insurance and medical care.

Much of the discussion at Thursday's hearing dealt with deceptive sales practices that left consumers unaware of the inadequacies of their health insurance policies.

A San Francisco film producer testified that the policy she bought left her with $100,000 in bills after a five-year battle with breast cancer.

A Colorado engineer said his son's hemophilia caused his employer's health insurance premiums to jump to $22,000 per employee and forced him to leave the firm after hitting a $1 million lifetime cap on treatment.

"We were the bomb that went off. They [the other employees] were the casualties all around us," said Nathan Wilkes of Englewood, Colo...

The definition of 'chronic' by InterGlobal sounds as though it applies to annual physicals.

People are underinsured by most companies. There is no good relationship can exist between a corporations profit margin and human health and life.

InterGlobal has entered into a unique and exclusive partnership in the international private medical insurance market with security experts red24 to provide planholders with 24/7 security services as part of your membership.

This will give you the support of 400 specialists worldwide who can help you reduce the risk of things going wrong whilst overseas, and to be at hand for any security related incident.

Interglobal's head quarters are in the United Kingdom. (click here) They seem to be able to dodge the responsibility of actually providing the coverage they contract to by excessive language and unreasonable definitions. Similar to a Investment Bank financial instrument. I can't wait for that debate to start over regulation. It is going to be more than interesting to realize exactly what kind of game these folks are playing. We really are better off without them.

When one stops to realize how completely outrageous the health insurance industry is, one has to ask, "What the heck are the judges doing that are hearing these cases and actually allowing them to get away with it?" I mean seriously. The judges of contract law are THAT ridiculous in their perspective? It is fraud.

A contract cannot give with one hand and take it away with the other. That is bait and switch at its worst as it plays with people's lives in a way that can cause their death. Just because the 'fine print' states an illness is excluded, doesn't mean the person purchasing it understands all the intricacies. This is nonsense. People purchase health insurance to cover their wellness and recovery from illness. It is incredible what verbiage that judges actually believe is appropriate.

I am sorry to hear about your friend, Mr. Kristof. It is simply outrageous these fraudulent practices are tolerated. I don't know what is "W"rong with the law anymore. Fundamental understandings of these issues seem to evade the justice that is suppose to be supported by courts. The 'coverage' should be awarded in the face of 'bad language' and 'bad attitude.' No one ever said the folks that write these policies either were brilliant or knew at all what they are doing.


A story by Nicholas Kristof (click title to entry - thank you)

...I reached Sophie Walker, the group head of claims for InterGlobal. She said she couldn’t talk about an individual case. But she explained in an e-mail message that with a “chronic condition” the policies can have a much lower limit, $85,000, on lifetime claims. That’s the limit that Jan ran into in January, Zack says....

Then Ms. Walker gave me the company’s definition of “chronic” (you couldn’t make this up):

“Chronic means a medical condition which has at least one of the following characteristics: has no known cure; is likely to recur; requires palliative treatment; needs prolonged monitoring/ treatment; is permanent; requires specialist training/rehabilitation; is caused by changes to the body that cannot be reversed.”

That sounds like a spoof from “The Daily Show.” To translate: We’ll pay for care unless you get sick with just about anything that might be expensive. Then we’ll cut you off at the knees.

I asked InterGlobal if this was an accurate translation. I noted that by its definition, cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, tennis elbow and even athlete’s foot seemed to be “chronic.” I also asked InterGlobal to name any serious disease that it did not consider “chronic.”...

This is a reality in other places than Iraq. Quite frequently in Africa there is violence following elections. It is up to Iraqis now.

HEAT Iraqi quarrels often end badly, reflecting a landscape scarred by a traumatic history.

As a matter of fact. The children of Afghanistan needs school.

General Stanley McCrystal needs to oversee the 'resettlement' rights of the Afghan people out of the refugee camps. Marja seems like a perfect place. After the Taliban and al Qaeda took the rights of the people of Afghanistan away from them, the people fled or were displaced. They need a place to come home to. There might be some ethnic issues, but, that can be worked out by the tribal leaders to resettle their people.

A multi-ethnic populous will water down the influence of the Taliban.



I do believe Afghanistan is the only country on Earth whereby agricultural land should be banned and replaced with settlements to remove people from refugee camps forever.

Either replace McChrystal and subsidize the farmers OR the USA has just become the warlord that is going purchase every crop in Marja.

Impeach Karzai !

This has been the source of the corruption of the Afghan people. Enough. Bush started all this. This is typical, typical, typical CHENEY. They didn't mind if the American people had a protest vote with President Obama so long as they didn't lose control over their wars until they could get back into power.

NO MORE !!!

Why fight the 'real war' when Iranian oil is at hand, right Dickie?

I should have started this by saying, "General McCrystal is a brilliant general. He is an incredible strategist. He has assessed his war assets admirably. We aren't interested in a dishonest position in any other theater, though."

This is nothing but timidity and horse shit. This is the crop to end all crops and has been the mainstay of the al Qaeda income to assault the West. This cannot be tolerated. With the opium crops in place there is even more reason for the Taliban to fight the USA and NATO.

There can be a subsidy program set up for Marja and the crops destroyed. This is an insult to the USA and its priorities in other countries in the region.

They are never to grow opium AGAIN !



American Marines in an opium poppy field in Marja, Afghanistan, last month. The military decided not to destroy the fields.

Iranian Jewish family nabbed at Ben-Gurion with 15 kg. opium (click here)

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
11/03/2010 23:19

Undercover police investigation into alleged drugs smuggling ring dubbed “Haman’s ears.”

An Iranian Jewish man, his wife, and their teenage son were arrested on Wednesday evening at Ben-Gurion Airport on suspicion of smuggling 15.4 kilograms of pure Iranian opium into Israel.

Acting on intelligence, police opened an undercover investigation into the alleged drugs smuggling ring in January, and have dubbed the investigation “Oznei Haman,” or “Haman’s ears.”

The Lachish police subdistrict’s Central Unit, together with the Unit 747 narcotics squad, based at Ben-Gurion Airport, seized several food storage cans from a suitcase belonging to the family that were allegedly used to conceal the opium.

The Jerusalem Post has learned of the route allegedly used to smuggle the drugs into the country, but the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court on Thursday afternoon imposed a ban on its publication.

During questioning, the man told police that the narcotics belonged to him only, and not his wife or son, Dep.-Cmdr. Dudu Boani, head of Lachish Central Unit, told the Post.

“This isn’t the first time they have been to Israel,” Boani added.

An opium market exists among some members of the Israeli-Iranian community, Boani said, describing the drug as a “dangerous, addictive drug” from which heroin is made.

He said the suspect had planned to bring the drugs to Ashdod, from where they would have been “distributed and sold all over Israel.”...


Secretary Clinton needs to speak with General Stanley McCrystal and Secretary Gates. Evidently, they don't have the same priorities as the State Department.

U.S. says happy to work with Iran on tackling drugs (click here)

Sylvia Westall

VIENNA

Mon Mar 8, 2010 2:39pm EST

(Reuters) - The United States and Iran, whose relations are fraught over Tehran's nuclear programme, have held a rare meeting where Washington said it was happy to work with Tehran on fighting drugs.

U.S. envoy Glyn Davies said he had met on Friday with Ali Asghar Soltanieh of Iran, which is chairing the week-long U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting in Vienna.

"It is in our interest to participate with the CND," Davies told reporters on Monday. "We are very happy to work with the chair even if he is from a country which we have differences with."

Soltanieh confirmed he had met with Davies but said it was only in his capacity as CND chairman and said it did not constitute a bilateral meeting.

"I will meet with all members of the commission, my office is open to all members," he told Reuters. "This week I am not in the capacity of my delegation."

Soltanieh is Iran's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, including the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

He said he did not expect the delegation sent from Tehran would meet with U.S. officials in Vienna.

Washington and Tehran are locked in a bitter dispute over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at producing atomic weapons and which Iran says is purely for civilian uses such as generating power.

The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution three decades ago....

Iran: Highest Opiate Use in the World (click here)

The Middle East News Source / Adam Gonn

05-Mar-2010

U.S. State Department report claims Iran has the globe’s highest rates of opiate drug abuse.

Iran suffers from the highest levels of opiate drug use in the world, a U.S. government report has claimed.

The 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released by the U.S. State Department concluded that with its close proximity to Afghanistan, Iran has the highest levels of heroin and opium use in the world.

“Iran was a producer for many years until the [1979 Islamic] revolution, when it was eradicated, but they could not do away with the addiction,” Thomas Pietschmann, Research Officer with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told The Media Line.

“It’s simply due to Afghanistan,” he continued. “Opium and heroin [from Afghanistan] are exported via Iran to turkey and then to Europe. They also supply the goods to the Iranian markets, not very much smaller than the markets of Western Europe.”

Afghanistan’s share of the world opium market is estimated to be between 87 and 93 percent.

According the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are around 5 million opiate users in Western Europe compared to 1.4 million in Iran but while heroin is commonly used in Europe, opium use is more widespread in Iran.

The Iranian Resistance will need a different income !

The USA CIA now has the largest opium supply in the world to play with and attempt to disrupt sovereign governments everywhere.

"Oh, NO, YOU DON'T."

Secretary Gates needs to stop this idiocy, destroy the crops in Afghanistan, subsidize the farmers and stop the reason why al Qaeda and the Taliban want back in to the country of Afghanistan. The Afghans needs agricultural rehab.

NO American soldier will die for this moronity !!!

And the USA military WILL NOT participate in such stupidity. Why not just cause WW III ?