Health Insurance

http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/features/special/subdir/money_profiles_5_preexisting_health/
PBS Airdate: August 18, 2010
Nightly Business Report profiles a woman with a pre-existing medical condition who finds health insurance to be expensive, even after the Health Care Reform Act.
For more information visit:
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/features/special/subdir/money_profiles_5_preexisting_health/

Duration : 0:4:10

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Technorati Tags: health care reform, health insurance, healthcare, medical coverage, medical insurance, Medicare, Money Profiles, Nightly Business Report, PBS, personal finance, pre-existing conditions, uninsured, video

http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/features/special/retirement_HOME/ Original PBS Airdate: August 8, 2008 In this report from Nightly Business Report’s “Get Your Finances Ready for Retirement” series, Joe Collum examines Health Care costs in retirement. Medicare, Medigap and long-term care insurance—how will you cover costs?

“Get Your Finances Ready for Retirement” is a year-long series designed to help soon-to-be and recent retirees make the financial transition from work life to retirement life. Look for the latest retirement segments to appear on the web on alternate Tuesdays of every month. For more information visit:
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/features/special/retirement_HOME/

Duration : 0:3:30

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Technorati Tags: Baby, Boomers, business, finances, financial, Medicare, nbr, nightly, PBS, planning, report, retirees, Retirement, street, wall

(PBS Newshour) As the numbers of laid-off workers are rising, so, too, are the ranks of those without health insurance. Starbucks was the latest company to begin another round of cuts today. In all, more than 2 million Americans have been laid off in the last three months.

Health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser went to Connecticut to see firsthand how all this is changing people’s lives. Our Health Unit is a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Duration : 0:5:26

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Technorati Tags: Connecticut, health insurance, PBS, unemployment

http://www.pbs.org/pov/criticalcondition What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? The documentary film “Critical Condition” by Roger Weisberg premieres on PBS’s P.O.V. series on Tuesday, September 30 at 9 PM on most PBS stations. (Check your local listings.) The film puts a human face on the nation’s growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives.

Hector Cardenas, a warehouse manager in Los Angeles with diabetes, opted to amputate his infected foot before losing his job and medical benefits. When his insurance coverage lapses, he struggles to repair his broken temporary prosthesis on his own. He cannot walk properly or earn money without a permanent prosthesis, but he cannot afford the permanent prosthesis without a job that offers basic medical benefits.

A production of Public Policy Productions in association with Thirteen/WNET New York and American Documentary | P.O.V.

Find out more about this film: http://www.pbs.org/pov/criticalcondition

Duration : 0:7:28

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Technorati Tags: America, care, documentary, HEALTH, INSURANCE, medicin, P.O.V., PBS, policy, Public, Roger, trailer, uninsured, Weisberg

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ To design a new comprehensive health care system, officials in Taiwan looked abroad for ideas, borrowing from the best and avoiding the worst—including what they found in the U.S. Watch “Sick Around the World,” April 15, 2008 on PBS and online at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ .

FRONTLINE teams up with T.R. Reid, a veteran foreign correspondent for “The Washington Post,” to find out how five other capitalist democracies–United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland–deliver health care and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. In “Sick Around the World,” airing Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Reid turns up remarkable differences in how these countries handle health care–from Japan, where a night in a hospital can cost as little as $10, to Switzerland, where the president of the country tells Reid it would be a “huge scandal” if someone were to go bankrupt from medical bills.

Duration : 0:2:16

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Technorati Tags: care, Frontline, germany, HEALTH, INSURANCE, Japan, medical, medicine, PBS, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, universal

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
In Germany, health plan premiums are based on income and everyone has access to medical care—including the unemployed. Watch “Sick Around the World,” April 15, 2008 on PBS and online at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ .

FRONTLINE teams up with T.R. Reid, a veteran foreign correspondent for “The Washington Post,” to find out how five other capitalist democracies–United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland–deliver health care and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. In “Sick Around the World,” airing Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Reid turns up remarkable differences in how these countries handle health care–from Japan, where a night in a hospital can cost as little as $10, to Switzerland, where the president of the country tells Reid it would be a “huge scandal” if someone were to go bankrupt from medical bills.

Watch on air or online beginning April 15, now in full screen format for users with the latest Flash technology.

Duration : 0:2:32

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Technorati Tags: care, Frontline, germany, HEALTH, INSURANCE, Japan, medical, medicine, PBS, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, universal

The trillions of cells in our bodies produce the energy that keeps us alive. As they process food and oxygen to create energy, they also release dangerous molecules called free radicals or oxidants. These oxidants can do a lot of damage. What happens inside our bodies is similar to what happens to an apple when it is cut open and exposed to oxygen: it turns brown because oxygen is corrosive. Our bodies have a defense mechanism in the form of antioxidant enzymes, which neutralize free radicals. This defense mechanism works well until our 20′s, but as we get older our cells produce more free radicals than our defenses can neutralize. Oxidative stress caused by free radicals has been linked to over 200 illnesses, so this is a major medical concern. Some experts predict that people will soon monitor their oxidative stress as routinely as they are now monitor cholesterol.

Scientists have been researching ways to boost our natural antioxidant enzymes. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables helps, but many experts say it’s not enough. This segment discusses a nutritional supplement called Protandim, which has been shown to be very effective in maintaining cellular health. Protandim contains 5 herbs that have been used in ayurvedic medicine for centuries. After 3 months of taking this supplement, a 78 year old man was tested and his cellular health was shown to be similar to that of a 20 year old.

Duration : 0:6:46

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Technorati Tags: antioxidants, cellular health, free radicals, healthy aging, longevity, oxidative stress, PBS, Protandim, TBARS

Let’s think about this.

Dennis Smith [Fmr Director of Medicaid - a Bush sycophant] says that in order for Medicaid to work, the government should subsidize private insurance, instead of a government run health insurance.

Yet the private insurance sector has an overhead of between 35&40% as compared to a government run system of about 3%.

The government therefore should invest $100 to get a $60-65 benefit whereas in a government plan $100 will get you $97. What is the rationale behind this?

Where is it written that healthcare insurance must be the goose that lays the golden eggs for the greedy among us? There are higher goals than to line your bank account with $millions and $billions, and nowhere in the Constitution is a requirement that everything should be driven by profit, it does say “We the People [...] promote the general Welfare.

Duration : 0:2:23

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Technorati Tags: Dennis, HEALTH, healthcare, INSURANCE, medicaid, Now, on, PBS, private, Sector, Smith

Wendell Potter, former cheif spokesperson for CIGNA, tells it like it is.

HOMEWORK:

MUST READ: Transcript of 7-10-09 Bill Moyers interview with Wendell Potter:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/transcript2.html

Truthdig article featuring Wendell Potter:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090714_health-insurance_whistle_blower_knows_where_the_bodies_are_buried/

Single Payer Action:

http://www.singlepayeraction.org

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Duration : 0:3:48

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Technorati Tags: 2009, 676, AP/Yahoo, Association, bill, california, CIGNA, coverage, Denial:, HEALTH, healthcare, hr, industy, INSURANCE, lies, liver, Moyers, Nataline, new, nurses, obama, of, option, Payer, PBS, plan, poll, potter, Public, Sarkisyan, Single, study, Times/CBS, transplant, universal, wendell, York

On July 10, 2009 Bill Moyers interviewed Wendell Potter the former head of Corporate Communications for Cinga. You can read the full transcript of the interview and watch the video on the PBS web site http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html

Wendell Potter warned us the health insurance industry was out to lobby Congress to make everyone buy a corporate health insurance policy. Oddly enough people haven’t been listening.

Although the U.S. health care system certainly could use an overhaul, what we’re getting is a mandate to buy corporate health coverage.

Wendell Potters Blog

http://www.prwatch.org

Why Kucinich voted against H.R. 3962 http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=153995

Fire Dog Lake recently sent out this warning http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/killthisbill?

“The Senate health care bill is an ungodly mess of errors, loopholes, and massive giveaways. When the American people find out what’s actually in this bill, they will revolt. Here’s why:

1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not

2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS

3. After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses

4. Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court

5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-pays

6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions — until 2014 when the program begins

7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others

8. Grants monopolies to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market

9. No reimportation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years

10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of four will rise an average of $1000 a year — meaning in 10 years, you family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now
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Duration : 0:6:14

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Technorati Tags: Aetna, Barack Obama, bill moyers, cinga, health care, health insurance, PBS, ron williams, single-payer, Socialized medicine, wendell potter