I’m No Expert…

It isn’t just the utility scale wind market that experienced record growth last year. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has reported that the U.S. market for small wind turbines – capacities of 100 kilowatts (kW) and less – grew 78% in 2008, with a total of 17.3 megawatts (MW) of new installed capacity.

U.S. manufacturers sold about half of all small wind turbines installed worldwide last year. “The U.S. wind industry is a growing bright spot in our domestic economy, and the small wind sector is no exception,” said Denise Bode, AWEA’s CEO. See Full Story wind, wind power, renewable energy, wind, wind power, renewable energy, wind, wind power, renewable energy, wind, wind power, renewable energy,wind, wind power, renewable energy,

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A new report from the European Environment Agency has concluded that wind power’s potential in 2020 is as much as three times greater than Europe’s expected electricity demand, rising to a factor of up to seven times demand by 2030…

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If you listened to the Sunday morning talk shows this weekend you probably heard newest sound byte in the argument against government sponsored health insurance option:

“The plan will put a bureaucrat between you and your doctor.”

Two things amaze me about this. First is that conservatives are actually spewing this nonsense. The second is that those in favor of a government sponsored health insurance option are not pouncing all over this argument. Right now, a corporation whose priority is making a profit stands between you and your doctor. Health insurance companies put up as many obstacles as they can get away with to your getting the health care your doctor prescribes; they will then deny coverage playing the odds that the majority of customers will not appeal to state insurance boards to overturn their decisions. But it seems to be OK for them to come between you and your doctor.

Just today I called to refill a prescription. The pharmacist called me back a few minutes later telling me the physician must provide information that the medication is medically necessary before they can refill the prescription. Yes that’s right REFILL. Talk about standing between you and your doctor and your pharmacist. A medication that was already approved as medically necessary must be reapproved for each refill.

Several weeks ago my wife was prescribed a bite plate for severe jaw pain also called Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ). A bite plate is first line, standard treatment for TMJ. The insurance company stood between her and her doctors declaring the bite plate as not medically necessary although two specialists who personally examined and diagnosed the condition prescribed the necessary treatment.  So why would the insurance company would stand firm against it? Bite plates are custom fitted and cost $1000.

So please tell me how the corporation standing between me and my doctors is better than the bureaucrat? It’s likely that a government sponsored health insurance option would push private insurers to provide better services. Which leads me to a second point.

Another sound byte that you may have noticed opponents are no longer using as much is that “private insurers cannot compete with a government sponsored option.” That’s because that was an honest argument. Currently, private insurers have no real competition and therefore freely provide needless obstacles to getting coverage and need to make few concessions. GOP conservatives seem more concerned with the health of insurance companies first and the American public second.

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Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnel is leading the GOP opposition against a government-run health insurance option that will guarantee coverage to all Americans. He cites to key reasons for GOP opposition:

1. “Private insurers can’t compete with a government plan”
2. The GOP doesn’t want the government to come between you and your doctor

Let’s think about this a minute.

Currently private insurers do come between you and your doctor, but that’s OK with Senator McConnel. These private insurers tell doctors what drugs they may prescribe, what diagnostic tests they may order, and what treatments are medically necessary; all while showing a profit for their stockholders. But the GOP is right about one thing, private insurers will not be able to compete with a government plan—unless of course private insurers start putting people before profits.

I guess Senator McConnel and the Republicans still don’t think much of Medicare either. You know that government run health insurance that has successfully provided medical coverage for millions of older Americans. I hear it has been working pretty well  for over 40 years.

The bottom line is that the GOP wants to protect the health of the insurance companies more than they want to protect the health of American people.

Tags: Health, Medicine // 1 Comment »

Every year approximately 4 billion prescriptions are written in the United States with more than 8 million patients experiencing adverse reactions to these drugs. Fortunately most of these side effects are mild and transient. But for a small percentage of patients they can be harmful, even life-threatening.  If you’re like most people you probably take your doctor’s prescription without asking any questions, go to the pharmacy, get it filled and then take the medicine (hopefully following directions on the label). But do you know all that you need to know about your prescription medication?

For instance, did your doctor tell you what to expect, when you may begin to feel better and why he/she felt you needed the medication. Did you hear about what side effects you may experience and what you should do if you have any? Did you discuss alternatives to this medication, either another medication or another approach, such as a change of diet or exercise you can try?

Here are a few things you can ask your physician and/or pharmacist about your medicine. [Read more →]

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In today’s NY Times Economist Paul Krugman offers Congress two important pieces of advice as they try to reform our national health care: “Don’t trust the insurance industry” and “Don’t trust the insurance industry.” Truer words could not have been written, especially when appealing an insurance claim. [Read more →]

Tags: Health, Medicine // 2 Comments »

Many republicans are again beginning to use the label “compassionate conservative” to soften their public image. We know from history what an empty phase it really is. I guess “moderate” is a no no with the republicans. But the phrase really begs another question. If a republican is labeling him/herself as a “compassionate conservative”, then are they saying that the rest of the conservatives are not compassionate? I think so!

“Compassionate conservative” ranks right up there with other classic republican phrases like “enhanced interrogation” and “peacekeeper missiles.”

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From cnn.com:

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney’s claims — that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked — are wrong.

Cheney, who has become a vocal public defender of the Bush administration’s controversial interrogation policies, had asked the Obama administration to declassify the documents so there can be a more “honest debate” on the Bush administration’s decision to use them on suspected terrorists.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association’s annual dinner in Washington on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques — now deemed torture by the Obama administration — “gives the lie to Mr. Cheney’s claims.”

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released “say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques.”

“I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction,” he added.

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Dick Cheney actually came clean Sunday morning on Face the Nation.  I wonder if he was aware of it. “On the morning of 9/12, if you will, there was a great deal we didn’t know about Al Qaida,” he said. “There was the need to embark upon a new strategy with respect to treating this as a strategic threat to the United States. There was the possibility of Al Qaida terrorists in the midst of one of our own cities with a nuclear weapon or a biological agent.” In other words the Bush administration was caught completely flat-footed. They had no idea was going on. But they saw the opportunities. [Read more →]

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