Treading water

My latest for Change.org is up: Keep the High-Risk Pool from Running Dry. One of the most immediate benefits of health-care reform is the Federal high-risk pool, which takes effect July 1st. This program allows people who have been uninsured for more than 6 months because of a pre-existing exclusion access to health coverage. At [...]

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Fri, May 28 2010 » 1, Uncategorized » No Comments

Health reform passed!

I stayed up through the first round of voting last night – a late one for me – and went to bed knowing I would wake up in a much-improved America. A lot of the reforms will take a while to get here, but they will get here, and our lives will be better for [...]

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Mon, March 22 2010 » Uncategorized » No Comments

The junior Senator from Mass. describes his obligations to the American people: “F*** you!”

My resolution was to blog less this year – so far, so good – but this new guy makes me angry: [Senator-elect Scott] Brown has not disavowed his support for the state’s law, which retains majority backing in Massachusetts. Instead, he argued on the campaign trail that Massachusetts had taken care of its own uninsured, [...]

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Thu, January 21 2010 » Uncategorized » No Comments

What does Crohn’s feel like?

It feels like an alien is about to pop out of your guts. You think I’m exaggerating? You have no idea. Before I get to that, I want to clear my tabs in this last post of the year. First, you should read Bob Herbert’s op-ed about the Senate’s plan to fund health care by [...]

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Thu, December 31 2009 » Uncategorized » 3 Comments

The Road to Reform

I haven’t posted about health care reform in a while – partly because I’ve been distracted, partly because I’ve been waiting to see how things shake out in the Senate. Now that I am not so distracted, I discover things have been not so good. For starters, the Senate bill never had a strong public [...]

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Thu, December 17 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Taking advantage

Stargirl65 commented on my post about guaranteed sick leave, laying out two concerns she has. First: I agree that people should be paid for sick time but I am concerned that some employees will abuse the situation. Second: My other concern would be the paperwork that comes with this. I had a patient that missed [...]

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Wed, November 18 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

The Other Health Reform

Last Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris went to Capitol Hill to testify about health reform. No – not that health reform. The other one: The Healthy Families Act offers an important opportunity to provide workers with economic security by assuring that they have the ability to stay home if they are sick without [...]

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Sat, November 14 2009 » Uncategorized » 4 Comments

One step closer to history

I have been getting a ton of spam comments lately, almost all of which have been caught by my spam filter (Akismet). The only problem is I am not able to check whether the spam filter is also catching legit comments. If you think I missed a comment, drop me an email. A few things [...]

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Mon, November 9 2009 » Uncategorized » 1 Comment

Call Congress TODAY

The House health care reform bill will go to a vote tomorrow – yes, Saturday. The House has put forward a good bill – not perfect, but still pretty good – and the vote might be close. Your Representative needs to hear from you today. Even if you have never called before – especially – [...]

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Fri, November 6 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments

Of wonks and men

I am on record as being disappointed with HCAN’s insistence that health benefits remain untouched by taxation. Honestly, I find alienating their labor-centric focus, and I haven’t been nearly as active as I could be. Now HCAN is running ads asking the Senate to get rid of the proposed excise tax on excess health benefits. [...]

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Tue, October 20 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments