Monday, March 22, 2010

Better than nothing healthcare reform?

I'm sure many will think the victims of our for profit system of healthcare should be thankful for this bill. Is it better than nothing? Well we won't even know until 2019 and even then, should we celebrate better than nothing? I say thanks for almost nothing and I can't wait for several years for this garbage to take effect. This bill is the best these politicians could do considering they are not just in bed with the foxes but continuously legitimize a system where the hens are guarded by the foxes. Let the "American Idiot" join them in their victory laps. Those of us sick and injured by the for profit system wish we were strong enough to rain on your funny parade. But that's what happens when the sick and weak are left to defend themselves. These fool did not get what we wanted done, they were obstructing us real reformist all the way. Thanks for keeping an army of useless bureaucrats who called themselves HMOs. Thanks a trillion. Maybe we should forget how single payer advocates were disenfranchised by the Obama administration. Maybe we should ignore his defense of the industry because of economic reasons. Maybe we should ignore he made a secret deal with Pharma even before the "debate" started. Maybe we should forget his chief of staff referring to us as "fu@%ing retards". Maybe we should ignore all of us that are sick and injured and hardly in shape to defend themselves while we suffer and die. Or maybe not. For those of you for which this is some kind of interesting debate, it will be easy to just move onto the next interesting debate. But for those of us whose needed healthcare elude us it can't be over; and it will never be until we discard this for profit system of healthcare. Int he mean time everyone should read the attached fact sheet and see the truth about this hilarious "health care bill".
http://static1.firedoglake.com/1/files/2010/03/mythfactshcr-2.pdf

Monday, March 15, 2010

Public option: In Pelosi's hands

Another point for the newest sport in congress. Pretend to be on the people's side and get paid selling them out. Progressive need to clean our leadership ranks with REAL Pregressives. Let kick the "Change You CAN"T Believe On" out.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

My Medical Me$h Problem

My name is Jorge R. Serrano. I'm a photojournalist/filmmaker. While working as a photojournalist for WTVJ, the local NBC affiliate, I injured myself. That injury was later diagnosed as a small inguinal hernia. I continued to work for nearly a year. After covering tropical storm Noel from Bahamas I developed the aspiration to become a foreign / war correspondent. Besides, my progressive political views were not appreciated at WTVJ so an alternative to staying there seemed necessary anyway. To that end I was advised to have my hernia repaired if I would not want to have the hernia burst while at a third world country or war-zone. So I eventually went to a surgeon and was sold into having the hernia repaired with a plastic mesh patch. This "bullet proof" patch has become a genuine nightmare. I had all sorts of other plans designed with the pre-requisite that I would be in excellent physical condition. I planned to film adventures in the wild, explore new places and bring untold stories to the general public. I used to practice martial arts and run in thriathlons. All those dreams have been battered.

I and innumerable other people are suffering horrendous complications including death from these mesh patches. These surgeries have become very popular mostly for economic reasons. In my case chronic pain is only the tip of the iceberg. From organs being strangulated by scar tissue generated by the plastic mesh, to the leaching of dangerous chemicals causing all kinds of health havoc. I should not have been a test subject for this dangerous and unproven device.

At great expense we tried to maintain the HMO's coverage after the surgery while I kept going back to the surgeon with complications. He kept giving me the same response: Basically more pain killers and walk it off. When my wife changed jobs we lost our coverage. By the way, NBC, in the almost four years I worked there never gave me health coverage. After months of pain and other complication, we used all of our savings to enroll on the "Preferred Medical Plan" who promptly denied even referring me to a specialist using the now common excuse of pre-existing condition.

I now find myself lost in the wilderness of this immoral health care system; in desperate need of health care with no way to get it. Meantime the pain and long term consequences of my lack of care keep piling up. Since I can't carry a heavy camera for hours like I used to, I can't earn the money for paying the ton of medical bills I incurred while "covered". Without insurance the medical care I need is completely out of my range. It's no surprise that: "Medical bills, plus related problems such as lost wages for the ill and their caregivers, contributed to 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007....Medical insurance isn't much help, either. About 78% of bankruptcy filers burdened by healthcare expenses were insured, according to the survey, to be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine."

I like provably most other Americans trusted the system would protect my interest. I was wrong to count on a system contaminated with the profit motive. The for-profit medical industrial complex has become a tool to get around the Hypocritical oath to not put profit or advancement above duties to patients. For profit medicine encourages profit-producing drugs, surgeries, tests and treatments at the expense of the patients' interests. It created a monster industry designed to ration medical treatment to fatten their profits. The United States stands alone among industrialized nations in not providing health care for all it's citizens. There are currently 46 million Americans without health care and we rank # 37th in health care even though we spend more than any other country. How does that make any sense? How can we abide by that? Is paying so much for so little worth it just to keep other human beings from the care they need? Is that worth it?

The health care debate should be strictly framed in a moral context. Does greed have a place in medicine? That's the question I ask myself in my film: Me$h The Movie. The Medical Industrial Complex's greed pushed me into my current me$sh. Now, how do I get out?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Prolene Hernia System

This is a video of the operation from hell I wish I had never had done. That plastic inside of you does a lot of damage. Scar tissue, dangerous chemicals leaching, chronic pain and on and on. Now none of these HMO bastards will give me coverage with the pre-existing excuse. So in the richest country in the world I find myself playing doctor or withering and dying. I'll let you know how it goes.