-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Without a hint of satire, The Wall Street Journal decided to let Suzanne Somers write an article on the Affordable Care Act on their blog “The Experts.” Somers “expertise” comes from her celebrity access to doctors, scientists, and medical professionals in the “alternative and integrative” health-care world. Somers has been on Oprah pushing her concept of wellness which involves taking 60 pills a day and injecting hormones into her vagina.
The CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) health-care world is waging an all out attack against science-based medicine and health care. As Dr. Steven Novella puts it:
The later terms, “complementary” and “integrative,” are deceptions meant to distract from the fact the CAM (as much as general statements can be made about such a loose category) is anti-science, and therefore cannot be integrated into science.
Somers claims that affordable health care is socialized medicine. Princeton University economist Uwe E. Reinhardt notes: “Socialized medicine refers to systems that couple social health insurance with government-owned and operated health care facilities.” Reinhardt uses the Veterans Affairs health system as an example of socialized medicine. When health insurance is coupled with purely private health care delivery systems, it is understood as “social health insurance,” for example in Canada.
Somers provides anecdotal evidence of a long wait time to see a doctor for her sister-in-law. Somers does not mention the wait times for 48 million Americans who can’t go to a doctor at all because they don’t have insurance.
Somers talks about her Canadian cousins who, after becoming doctors, came the U.S. to “reap financial rewards.” Somers doesn’t mention that Canada spends 11.4% of it GDP on health expenditures while the U.S. spends 17.4%.
Somers notes that it’s good that affordable care will cover pre-existing conditions. Everybody loves the coverage of pre-existing conditions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the extra cost of that coverage isn’t going to be borne by the insurance companies.
Somers mentions that the news she listens to is all about the increases in insurance premiums. Had Somers examined the stories more closely, she would have found out that most just don’t hold water. Some people have such pitiful, and cheap, insurance policies that they don’t meet the ACA’s guidelines. Insurance companies have no incentive to get the customer the cheapest policy that meets those guidelines. It’s like a car salesman telling a customer their 2010 Toyota Camry needs to be replaced and sending them a bill for a 2013 Toyota Avalon when a 2013 Camry will meet their needs.
Somers is just another woo peddler whose celebrity has faded.
H/T: Daniel D’Addario, John Casey, Sarah Kliff, Steve M., Jerry Coyne.
“Would you like to supersize that” will soon be classified as hate speech. Although I must say, I HATE it when they try to upsell you in retail biz. That’s the cost of freedom.
But all of us that oppose Obama’s/Bush’s Commie/Nazi type policies must surely be Racist as we are not smart enough to figure out another means of getting medical attention to all citizens that are in need of a doctor.
(sarc off)
I agree Bron,
Obamacare wipes it’s stinking butt on the USC & it’s Bill of Rights & their intent, the” Preamble of the Bill of Rights” = To Prevent the Abuse of Government Authority.
Obamacare is an Abuse of Government Authority.
Violations IE: 1st amd, 2nd amd, 4th, 5th, 6th,… 9th, 10th,etc., General Welfare Clause, Commerce Clause…
I consider Obamacare care as an illegal law, null n void, for one reason is it’s a matter of Public Record/Nancy Pelosi that the US Congress could not have passed Obamacare as none of them knew what they voted for/against.
Oky1:
next thing you know we will be arrested for eating a cheeseburger and you can forget adding bacon and french fries.
Once they do health care, they can control every aspect of our lives in the name of health.
DavidM/Oky1:
it violates more than just religious rights.
Obamacare Gestapo hit the streets of USA:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/police-arrest-smokers-in-mass.html
For all the mentally challenged gun grabbers out there:
(Yes I know mentally, challenged is an inflammatory phase when applied in this context, but it’s Saturday. ) 🙂
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/motorcyclist-crashes-deer-transported-critical-con/nbfyR/
** The CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) health-care world is waging an all out attack against science-based medicine and health care. **
David Drumm,
Your story makes many claims of scientific evidence that one side’s opinions are good & valid & the other side’s opinions are not.
Many see the Wallst Journal not as a journal but that it’s the Wallst Urinal.
By innuendo you seem to make the claim Suzanne Somers has a vagina yet you offer no evidence of proof of the fact.
Are we just to trust you & take your word as the truth?
**davidm2575 1, November 2, 2013 at 2:01 pm
I am not rich, so I guess I am as foolish as a man in a Las Vegas Casino who chooses not to bet.
**
David,
Many people operate under the delusion that “Insurance” reduces risk when in fact it does not reduce risk but instead massively increases risk.
The undeniable evidence that “insurance increases risk” is the ongoing economic collapse that became public knowledge in late 2007-08 when the “OTC derivatives market” caused the collapse of Lehman brothers & it’s chain reaction of bring down all other Wallst/City of London Banks/Insurance firms.
OTC Derivatives are basically Insurance Policies, that are complete Frauds, Ponzi Scams & they failed to preform when called upon to do so.
All insurance policies, including Obamacare are Ponzi Scams.
As proof of the Obamacare Ponzi Scam consider this, if everyone was covered under Obamacare & everyone became seriously ill at the same time there would not be, nor could there ever be enough cash reserves on the balance sheet to ever pay out all the claims against the policies.
There are many other issues regarding the massive Fraud called the insurance industry beside the fact that it is a major cause of continued economic collapse because it removes needed capital from productive efforts to non-productive expenses.
One issue is that govt mandated insurance violates my & many others religious “Rights”. For religious reasons I don’t believe in Gambling & Insurance Policies are in fact Gambling yet the govt. forces us to gamble against our will.
The most troubling issue is that many people can only see most issues, like Healthcare in bio-polar terms in a multi-polar world, they wish, push for an either or solution when there are many other more viable solutions available to deal with complex issues.
Oky1 wrote: “One issue is that govt mandated insurance violates my & many others religious “Rights”. For religious reasons I don’t believe in Gambling & Insurance Policies are in fact Gambling yet the govt. forces us to gamble against our will.”
I understand EXACTLY what you are talking about here. I don’t find too many other people who understand this violation of conscience. The SCOTUS should have understood this, but they didn’t. It was like Dred Scott all over again.
I know many high schools require proof of insurance prior to a student being able to play interscholastic sports. Actually, many colleges and universities are requiring insurance simply to be a student.
davidm,
“Fortunately, I was able to buy school related insurance, which cost only $15 for the entire school year. How much do you want to bet that option will be lost thanks to the Affordable Care Act?’
I thought you said that no one in your family was insured.
Elaine M wrote: “I thought you said that no one in your family was insured.”
I forgot that school insurance which was required for her school sports. Sorry about that.
She also competes in private gymnastics, so she had to sign up with a professional association for that, which includes insurance for accidents that happen in their practice gym and in competitions. That one was a bit more pricey, something like $175 a year. So I forgot about that too. Come to think of it, I am required to get insurance also for my automobiles, so both me and my passengers are covered by that insurance. Can’t seem to get away from insurance these days.
When people talk about health insurance to visit the doctor, that is the health insurance product that I don’t have. Most likely I will be paying the fine next year, but I won’t determine that until after the healthcare.gov website starts working to see what it’s going to cost me. I do have half a mind not to pay the fine because the ACA law says they can’t put me in prison for it like other taxes, but then the SCOTUS called it a tax so maybe they can anyway? It is all so confusing.
From what I understand, I can’t even challenge the mandate until after the fine or tax has been imposed upon me. I tried getting a waiver like all the Obama buddies did, but they said that I would have to call someone in another office and they never made a decision about it. Part of me wants to just write exempt on my tax return and see what happens, but I know my wife will not like that. I have already been talking to her about the ramifications of filing our tax returns separately to insulate her from my actions. I don’t care about the money, but the principle of the thing really bothers me.
davidm wrote: “My biggest problem is the government run school system which requires insurance for almost everything, especially field trips and athletic programs my children want to participate in. ”
*****
Can you provide information regarding this. I have never heard of public schools requiring students to get field trip insurance or athletic insurance. Parents are required to sign permission slips/forms–but not required to purchase special insurance for such things. Is this different where you live?
david,
show me the evidence that your $15 school related insurance will be lost due to the ACA??
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-01/top-us-hospitals-are-opting-out-obamacare
Not even Paul and John would have any clue what the message is or what is going on in this psychedelic, Yellow Subamrine-inspired TV ad slot for Obamacare titled “Fly With Your Own Wings”, part of the Cover Oregon campaign (funded by US taxpayers). Perhaps: enroll in Obamacare, get a lifetime supply of LSD for free…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-02/lucy-sky-obamacare
** Her “thought” will no doubt be a topic of discussion amongst Tea Baggers who presume themselves informed by reading such drivel. Murdoch is, like the Koch Brothers/Donald Trump another “self made” millionaire by virtue of descending his mother’s womb **
MikeS,
It tough for some of us politically as we can not support commie lunatics like Obama n friends nor can we support the nazis on the other end of the political spectrum.
**Byrne’s rival is Dean Young, a self-described tea party conservative best known as a onetime campaign adviser to Roy Moore, the judge who was once ousted as state Supreme Court chief justice after refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building. **
http://www.krmg.com/ap/ap/legislative/gop-internal-divide-plays-out-in-alabama-campaign/nbf2h/
MikeS,
It tough for some of us politically as we can not support commie lunatics like Obama n friends nor can we support the nazis on the other end of the political spectrum.”
Oky1,
You’ve been commenting for a while so I get where you are coming from and for the most part we agree things are in a bad state. We also agree that Obama has not been a good President. Where we disagree is whether or not he’s a Communist. In my opinion he isn’t. He is to my mind a slightly right of Center Corporatist and that ain’t Communism. The reason I stress that point is because to oppose him and the others who would turn our country into a corporate police state, we need to see where they are coming from. Part of the sad thing with people in the Tea Party (those who don’t hate Obama because of his skin color) is that they get that our government is corrupted, but they don’t get that the people egging them on, corporatists like the Koch Brothers, are fascist feudalists.
David,
Suzane Somers is your evidence that the ACA has destroyed our great health care system? First of all, her anecdotes have no documentation. Second, did these anecdotes only happen since the ACA was only partially implemented? Where is her expertise that would add credence to her unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence?
Do you know what a Ponzi scheme is? How is bringing 30-40 Million Americans to corporate medical insurers a Ponzi scheme???
WSJ? NFW. (No F***ing Way)
davidm,
You are fortunate. Many doctors won’t see people who are not their patients–and many specialists often require a referral from a primary care physician before setting up an appointment with someone.
Elaine M wrote: “You are fortunate. Many doctors won’t see people who are not their patients–and many specialists often require a referral from a primary care physician before setting up an appointment with someone.”
You don’t have to be on an insurance policy to establish a doctor-patient relationship, nor to obtain a referral to a specialist. I have never had a problem doing any of this, even when one of my daughters broke her arm in gymnastics class. My biggest problem is the government run school system which requires insurance for almost everything, especially field trips and athletic programs my children want to participate in. Fortunately, I was able to buy school related insurance, which cost only $15 for the entire school year. How much do you want to bet that option will be lost thanks to the Affordable Care Act?
We get less bang for the buck. We spend more on cosmetic treatments, like breast implants. If you live in Canada and you want hormone injections in the hoohah, you cross the border to the U.S., where patients don’t have to wait as long for elective treatment. Otherwise, you stay in Canada, where health care costs are less and wait times for critical care are faster.