The Great Health Care Debacle

"A true disciple knows his brother's woes, as his own, as his own, as his own"
English Hymn


Now Playing... Dr. Linda Peeno Testifies Before Congress


Why I Blog

I contemplated starting a blog for a couple of months before it became a reality. I hemmed and I hawed. On one hand, I thought it would be a great way to share my views and opinions with the world. On the other hand, I wondered if I would be able to sustain the commitment of time and resolve that such an endeavor demanded. What pushed me over the edge of my indecision and catapulted me into the blogosphere? It was a singular experience.

When I bought the DVD of Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, I did so as a Johnny come lately. I had wanted to see it when it was initially released, but missed it somehow. Finally, almost two years later, I found myself in front of the T.V., mesmerized, shocked, and utterly demoralized. No film had that kind of emotional impact on me since Sophie's Choice. I was filled, paradoxically, with the type of frustrating emotion that leaves you paralyzed and unable to defer taking action for another second. At that moment, Blogomatic for the People was born.

Sicko: Unforgettable But True

This is my 7th post. Only now, do I feel ready to address the issue of health care in America. Since I have been inspired by Michael Moore's film and haunted by its images, it will serve as a framework for our discussion (Mike, I hope you don't mind). Think of this blog as a hybrid movie review/social commentary.

The Problem

Almost 50 million Americans don't have health insurance. That's roughly 1/6th of the population. The United States is the only first world, industrialized country, that does not provide universal health care for its citizens. This can only be regarded as a national disgrace. The rest of the population, those who do have some form of health insurance,are also in a precarious state. Coverage gives a sense of security. But it's illusory, a false sense of security. At any given time, the insured can become so catastrophically ill that their co-pays, deductibles, and exceeded benefit caps could easily cause their financial ruin.

The number one cause of bankruptcy and homelessness in America is due to excessive medical bills. Even more alarming, is the statistic given by Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren: "When we were studying the families who filed for bankruptcy, here is the finding that really blew me away: 75% of the families who ended up in bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious medical problem had health insurance at the onset of the illness or accident that ultimately landed them in bankruptcy. They had health insurance!" (This quote is taken directly from Michael Moore's interview with Elizabeth Warren featured in the supplementary footage of the Sicko DVD.)

These statistics evidence a broken health care system in the United States. However, statistics are really numerical abstractions that project human realities with faces, the faces of everyday people like ourselves, people who have suffered and died because of our gulag healthipelago. Sicko shares these stories with us: disenfranchised patients being "dumped" in front of public health facilities by "for profit" hospitals, the seriously ill being condemned to death because their insurance providers will not cover the necessary treatments required to save their lives, a baby dying after it was turned away from an emergency room because of her mother's inability to pay. Many of us could add our own story to it.

The Solution: Universal Health Care Now!

We need universal health care now! It is intolerable for 1/6th of our population to be uninsured. It is intolerable for those who have insurance to potentially face financial ruin if a catastrophic illness occurs. It is intolerable for us to allow big business to reign over our health care. Their bottom line is greed and they treat people like cattle.

Support H.R. 676!

Representative John Conyers of Michigan has proposed bill H.R.676. This bill provides universal health care for all the citizens of the United States of America. We must no longer except "sound bite" answers from our politicians which express some sort of abstract desire for health care reform. Instead, we must tell them. "You're right, we do need health care reform! You'll be happy to know that it has a name and is actually written out on paper. It's called H.R. 676."

Please write your representative and urge them to support H.R.676!

Epilogue

Empathy is one of the greatest character traits a person can possess. In turn, evil has been described as the absence of empathy. We feel empathy for the plight of our fellow man and hope our spiritual growth and maturity increases this impulse within us. This is the genius of Michael Moore's movie. It helps us to face the everyday woes of everyday people, just like ourselves. It increases our awareness, arouses our empathy, and ignites our compassion.


Congressman John Conyers of Michigan Leads the Fight to Pass H.R. 676

The Salt of the Earth

The events of this last weekend gave me cause to eulogize two great men. Both were very different in many ways and yet surprisingly similar. One man was famous throughout the world and the other known in the much smaller circle in which he practiced his art. The death of the former happened on Sunday, while the latter departed more than a decade ago. The two men, however, shared unique qualities of virtue and character that were immediately recognizable to the many lives they had touched. They were "the salt of the earth."


"This World Was Lucky to See Him Born."

I was invited to play in the 4th Billy Colias Memorial Chess Congress last weekend. Apprehensively, I accepted. It had been at least fifteen years since my last foray into competitive chess. Having made the transition from tournament player to chess coach/teacher many years ago, I was rusty to say the least. My tremendous respect for the organizer of the tournament and my great love for Billy made my participation a fait accompli.

Billy Colias was a Midwestern chess master of amazing ability, by far the most talented in the region. He loved the game with the passion of an artist who had no choice, but to create. And create he did! Steadily, constantly, assuredly, like a great tidal force, he became a stronger and stronger player. Undoubtedly, he would have ascended to the greatest of heights! But, it was not to be. The artist who devoted his life to the struggle of the chess board, was simultaneously fighting a great personal battle with cancer. Billy beat the cancer, but the chemotherapy left his internal organs in a very weak state. After years of battling with incredible courage, he finally succumbed at age twenty-seven.

Billy's considerable talent for the game, though impressive, was exceeded by his talent for living. Among the many virtues he possessed, his kindness impressed me the most. In the chess circles he frequented, Billy never equated a player's talent with their worth as an individual. He extended himself to the Grandmaster and Class E player, alike. His kindness was actually an extension of his humility. For Billy, self-importance based on one's chess prowess was a ridiculous proposition. Former World Champion, Emmanuel Lasker, aptly pointed out: "In life, we are all duffers." Billy Colias was the rare exception to that rule.


"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

When I arrived home from the tournament, I was shocked by the news of the death of another man who influenced my life greatly: Alexander Solzhenitsyn. To say the name is to immediately think of great literary talent. His books and ideas have changed the world, helped to topple an empire. As much an impact as they had on me, it was his icon of courage which inspired me the most.

As a young man, Solzhenitsyn embraced doctrinaire Marxism . He even read Das Kapital on his honeymoon! While serving as the Captain of an artillery battery on the Eastern Front in WWII, Solzhenitsyn's life would change forever. He dared to criticize Stalin in his private correspondence --being a committed Communist was not the same as being a committed Stalinist-- was arrested, and sentenced to the vast constellation of forced labor camps he would later make infamous through his writings. The years that followed changed Solzhenitsyn. He recognized the hypocrisy of the Soviet system and eventually embraced Christianity: "first comes the fight for survival, then the discovery of life, then God."

Solzhenitsyn's literary star rose with the ascendancy of Krushchev and his formal denunciation of Stalin. When One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich made its debut, Krushchev encouraged all the delegates at the plenary meeting of the Central Committee to read it! A few years later, Krushchev was removed from power and the succeeding hardliners did not have much use for the popular writer. Solzhenitsyn, however, refused to acquiesce. On November 30th, 1966,in front of an audience of five hundred people, he exhibited a moment of peerless courage when he openly defied the KGB:

There is a certain organization that has no obvious claim to tutelage over the arts, that you may think has no business at all supervising literature --but that does these things. This organization took away my novel and my archive...Even so, I said nothing, but went on working quietly. However, they then made use of excerpts from my papers, taken out of context, to launch a campaign of defamation against me...What can I do about it? Only defend myself! So here I am!

When The Gulag Archipelago was published in the West in 1973, this was too much for the Soviet authorities. Solzhenitsyn was exiled and eventually settled in Vermont. True to himself he criticized the excesses in Western Society with the same integrity he condemned the injustice's of his motherland. He triumphantly returned to Russia in 1994.

A Final Thought

I knew Billy Colias, shook hands with him, played chess with him, talked with him, and laughed with him. I never met Alexander Solzhenitsyn or was even in the same room with him. However, both men have affected me personally. I will always see their smiling faces and a gesture of their hands beckoning me forward, exhorting me to have courage in the face of adversity.

World Premiere of a New Word

New words are not formed, fashioned, or constructed. They are coined. It seems to me, this occurs in one of two ways: (1) organically, rising out of the collective primordial soup of language with no clear author or progenitor, and (2) deliberately, at some fixed point in time with authorial intent. Here is my deliberate attempt to coin a new word for the entire Internet speaking world:

blogodaria (bla go dar i a) [from Bulg blagodaria, idiomatic for "thank you" + English blog ] thanks for the blog

In Bulgarian, blagodaria means "thank you." Given the homophonous nature of the first four letters with the word "blog," the new term suggests itself. Mechanically, the essence of the coinage is simply achieved by changing the "a" to an "o" in the first syllable.

The next time you favorably comment on a blog, don't forget to write: blogodaria or "thanks for the blog."

Code Switching: Who Will Write the Book?

I can't remember which class I was in when I first heard the phrase "code switching." I am not even sure if I was in high school or in college. But the teacher's definition of this phrase has stayed with me for years --not verbatim, but the gist of it: code switching is the phenomenon that occurs when people change their manner of speaking depending on who they're conversing with at the time. Likewise, the social setting a person finds themselves in greatly influences the way they speak. For example, when meeting someone at a friend's bar-be-que, a person might say: "How's it goin'." A day or two later that same person may be seen at the cotillion greeting someone new with a "How do you do?"

That's a simple example which sounds quite reasonable. We all know that different social circumstances demand different modes of expression. But, what do we make of the more sustained and complex instances of the same phenomenon. I once new a man who gave business proposals to Fortune 500 companies. He would "wow" the executives with his eloquence, perspicacity, and polished delivery. Then, he would be seen at the local pub, hitting his head with a checkered gym shoe, quoting Jeff Spicoli: "Dude that's my skull." His original sentences would also be in the same "California surfer dude" idiom.

This "code switching" phenomenon must be investigated further. It is a weird cultural force that, I dare say, everyone seems to engage in to some degree. Its implications are huge and a little frightening. Is code switching normal or as one friend of mine called it "a little bit like Multi-Personality Disorder?" I have failed to find any research on the topic. An entry for "code switching," can be found on Wikipedia, but in a different context. It used the phrase "code switching" to describe the habit of bilingual speakers who toggle between two languages while speaking to other bilingual speakers. An example of this would be the speaking of Spanglish by Americans of Hispanic descent or Greenglish by my own ethic group. An explanation of code switching, used in the context of my teacher's definition, could not be found.

An Appeal

If anyone is aware of any books or journal articles on the topic of "code switching" (as defined by my teacher), please send me their titles in the "comments" section of this blog. If nothing can be found, I invite anyone so inclined to consider writing a book on "code switching." Irony would demand that you change your writing style with each successive chapter.

Afterword: "Code Switching" in Popular Culture

A scene in Martin Scorsese's movie, The Departed, describes "code switching." Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) and Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) recruit Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to be their undercover agent. Dignam accuses Costigan of being a "code switcher":

DIGNAM
You were kind of a double kid, I
bet, right? One kid with your old
man. One kid with your mother.
Upper middle class in the week, and
then dropping your 'r's and hanging
in the Southie projects with daddy
on the weekends. I got
that right?...
You had different accents? You
did, didn't you. You were different people...
I need you, pal. You've already
pretended to be a Costigan from
South Boston.

Of course, the whole movie has to do with "code switching." The conflict lies in the tension between the protagonists who are pretending to be someone they are not.

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A Diamond in the Rough

Recommended Reading

Most of the authors I admire are quite dead. However, one man writing today has produced a brilliant string of books. He is on a roll. His realm: non-fiction. His approach: interdisciplinary. His name is Jared Diamond.

Spotlight: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.

This book rattled the walls of the academic community when it arrived on the scene in 1997 and by 1998 it was the proud winner of a Pulitzer Prize. Never the less, its appeal to readers world wide transcended the scholarly sanctum of the university. Like all Great Books it was written for everyone, not just the specialist. The fact that Guns, Germs, and Steel traverses the realms of history, sociology, linguistics, anthropology, archeology, biology, genetics, and pollinology (just to name a few) while maintaining a thoroughly captivating readability, gives testimony to Diamond's gifts as a writer.

Guns, Germs, and Steel made it possible for me to articulate questions about history and human societies that I was unable to give voice to before. It gave clarity to thought processes that were intuitive, nebulous, amorphous, and down right confusing. Then, it provided convincing answers to those questions.

In the opening chapters, Diamond retells a famous story most of us can recall from social studies class: Pizarro's conquest of the Incan Empire with just a few hundred men. Then, he poses a fascinating question. What were the historical forces at work that allowed the Spaniards to cross the ocean and conquer a great empire, instead of the Incan king, Atahualpa, sailing to Spain and conquering the Spanish? The subsequent chapters endeavor to answer the question and explain why some societies possessed certain advantages while others did not. The explanations are so fascinating and insightful that I had the feeling of emerging from Plato's cave. My shackles were broken and my historical blinders removed!


Post Script

After reading Diamond's book, I was never able to sing the chorus to Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" the same way again. Sing along while you watch the video below. But, every time you get to the refrain, substitute the lyric: "Send guns, germs, and steel."

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Time To Say Goodbye! McCain Cuts Gramm Loose

It was too much for the McCain campaign. Their national co-chair, Phil Gramm made one too many mistakes. Keith Olbermann revealed Gramm was working as a paid lobbyist while advising John McCain on economic policy. His mission: to lobby congress regarding the mortgage crisis on behalf of the Swiss banking giant, UBS. I wish his efforts were on behalf of the citizens losing their homes.

Damaging as this revelation was, McCain kept him on. Then Gramm spoke. In a great show of compassion for the American people while addressing their economic woes, he said: "We have sort of become a nation of whiners." In other words, all those who do not share the same privileges and entitlements with which Phil Gramm was born, have no right to complain. Phil would rather his countrymen endure their hardship quietly.

Thanks Phil!

Wanting to appeal to the middle class voter, McCain realized that he could not advocate his economic policies while rubbing our noses in them. So, he cut Gramm loose; or rather, Gramm resigned.

Ah Phil! His recent words and deeds bring back such fond and vivid memories! Like the time he betrayed his fellow Democrats in 1981 by revealing their budget strategy to the Republicans. Always trying to top his latest achievements, he then went on to help Reagan pass his own budget. The war on the middle class went full steam ahead. Not wanting to miss out on the action, Gramm quickly joined the GOP and rode into combat on an elephant instead of a donkey.

Mission Statement or Declaration of Principles

Welcome to my blog! It seems appropriate to start off with a Mission Statement a la Jerry Mcguire or perhaps with a Declaration of Principles like Charles Foster Kane:

I.

In this day and age, American society has become cut off from itself. We wake up in boxes we call our home, get ready, climb into another box and drive, only to enter yet another box (even worse a cubicle, a box within a box) for labor intensive activity that pays the bills. As we drive home several hours later, perhaps we stop at one last box to pick up a gallon of milk. Our sense of national life has diminished; the day of the boulvardiers is no more. We have become segregated from each other and, therefore, ourselves. But we need that sense of civic and national life we call community, if for no other reason, to discuss the important issues we face as a nation, a people. If our streets have become built up with monolithic structures on a plain of suburban sprawl; If mausoleums of mercantilism seem to be artificial and devoid of life; If even a cup of coffee has become corporate and "to go;" then don't we need a forum in which to converse again? It is in this spirit I present my blog. There is so much beauty in the world and too many problems that threaten its collapse. They need to be discussed. Speaking with our friends, in person, can never be replaced. Blogging on the internet is just another small way of moving the conversation along.

II.

This blog promises to express my thoughts and opinions and invite the responses of its readers(whether they agree or disagree with me). Hopefully, it will be interesting and fun to read, as well.


Now Playing...Pete Seager Sings "Little Boxes"