Dakota Today

** Sen. Thune's GOP Talking Points on Health Insurance skewered at Mt. Blogmore

SD US Senator John Thune provided a few of the Republican talking points on health care. Thune's comments seem to mirror those of the Health Insurance industry and the propaganda groups they have set up to feed talking points to Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. The text of his comments was posted at Mt. Blogmore Blog of the Rapid City Journal by Randy Rasmussen. RR's digging out transcripts of speeches and comments like this and posting them or links to them is a useful service. Those Thune remarks are in the post continuation.

Immediately below are the comments made at Mt. Blogmore by Wayne Gilbert. He did a good job of going through Thune's remarks paragraph by paragraph. I saw no reason for me to do something like it again here, so I requested permission from Wayne Gilbert to reprint his comments here.

If you go to Mt. Blogmore you will see an attack on this post by Stan Adelstein. You can also find a post by "Mary" with a link to a medical site which indicates 10 insurance executives got about $80 Million in salary and bonuses last year.

"Mary's" link to health exec. pay, etc. at Fierce Health Care

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Wayne Gilbert Says at Mt. Blogmore: August 1st, 2009 at 3:52 pm

Thune Rhetoric: "We've put forth proposals that will cut costs and improve care. And we can accomplish health care reform while keeping patients and their doctors in charge, not bureaucrats and politicians."

My Response: What are these proposals that you have put forth? If they are those listed in this comment, they are bogus for the reasons that follow. As if patients and their doctors are in charge—ever try to get a treatment or a medication that your insurance company did not think was appropriate? Frankly, if push comes to shove, I'll take a bureaucrat over a claims adjuster in a cubicle.

Thune Proposal: "Real reform should allow small businesses to pool together to buy affordable health insurance for their employees."

My Response: Small businesses in South Dakota are in fact able to pool together in the Retailers Association—it hasn't helped. Insurance companies are raising their rates at 3-4 times the cost increases of virtually everything else, to say nothing of wages

Thune Proposal: "Real reform should protect doctors and hospitals from frivolous lawsuits, so they can stop practicing defensive medicine and instead focus on practicing patient-focused medicine."

My Response: This is a red herring in terms of health care and cost reform. Honestly, when was the last time somebody won a meritless lawsuit against a health care provider in South Dakota—I will venture to say that it just hasn't happened. People in other industries do get sued, and some of those suits don't have merit, but that hasn't caused them to spiral the costs of their goods and services out of control.

Thune Proposal: "Real reform should encourage wellness and prevention programs that have been proven to cut costs."

My Response: Nice idea. Nice rhetoric. Just the opposite has happened in the free market. Health insurance fifteen years ago did encourage wellness and prevention programs. Now you get to pay three to four times the premium that such programs charged, but guess what? Your deductible has gone to $5,000.00. This trend in fact discourages wellness and prevention programs, except that my insurance company has hired people who call me at home in the evening from time to time to see if I am taking care of myself—honestly—it is a joke and a serious waste of my insurance company's money to pay people to engage in such nonsense while providing me with a $5,000.00 deductible.

Thune Proposal: "And real reform should give people who buy their own insurance the same tax breaks as those who get insurance through their employers."

My Response: Sounds good in principle. The tax break that a wage-earner gets is that the employer's payment of all or part of a health insurance premium is not income. This is not the same as, and not as beneficial as, a deduction for someone who itemizes, which is what Thune probably has in mind. I'm not sure how to give these two groups the "same tax breaks" but it sure seems to me that this is worth exploring.

Proposal: "These and other commonsense solutions would provide real reform for our health care system rather than the dangerous and costly experiment that Democrats are proposing."

My Response: This is b.s. rhetoric—nothing more.

Thune Proposal: "I hope that as we continue this important debate, we can put aside the politics of Washington and tackle health care reform in the bipartisan way that Americans deserve."

My Response: Good idea- so Republicans will stop with the "no" to everything and suggest meaningful additions to or deletions from a health care reform package?

Thune Proposal: "It's time for real reform that works, not the same old answers of more money and more government. Real health care reform should cost Americans less money, not more. It should provide better quality, not worse. And it should empower patients, not government bureaucrats. By working together, we can do just that."

My Response: B.S. rhetoric. An appropriate response is that the same old answers of unregulated market solutions to health care crises have not worked and in fact have cost Americans a lot more money, not less.

Attacking the health insurance industry is Speaker Nancy Pelosi's health care strategy, is it not? — R.R. (Randy Rasmussen repeating some more GOP talking points) Mount Blogmore: A Rapid City Journal politics blog » Blog Archive » GOP’s health care reform proposal (2 August 2009) http://blogs.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/?p=3840#comments

Link to RCJournal Blog Comment

http://snipurl.com/okqgb

Mt. Blogmore can have some of the best posts and discussions of any blog or forum in the US and it can also have some of the worst with some of the most inane comments in the US.  Whatever, it is worth looking at on a daily basis if you have the time and can tear your eyes away from Dakota Today.

** Stay tuned and check continuation for Thune's actual comments-- Doug Wiken

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**Swimsuit research..yes really..Britain and Japan

A pair of old cutoff blue jeans just aren't going to do for Olympic swimmers.

It can take years to develop a new swimsuit material from scratch for competitive swimmers, but with just weeks to go before the Olympics, Japanese manufacturers are trying to do just that. They have been forced to try to come up with something after the Nottingham, UK-based firm Speedo developed a new bodysuit, LZR Racer, which has sent world records tumbling. The new suit has helped swimmers around the world break 30 world records in three months. It sucks the muscles into the perfect shape to swim. Lighter than others, it repels water, reducing drag.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7434159.stm
 $632 Swimsuits..British and Japanese Olympic competition

MUCH more on this exciting excess at the link above.

**Stay tuned even if you are never amazed at sports excess--- Doug Wiken

**"Are you smarter" LTE by Jack H. Mueller

Usually the Mitchell Daily Republic Letters to the Editor page is filled with stuff fellow blogger Steve Sibson would likely drool over...including his own letters. Today there was a surprise. Jack H. Mueller of Chamberlain probably rattled a few dozen cages with his LTE titled "An adult version of "Are You Smarter". Below is my typed copy of the letter. I talked to Jack H. Mueller this afternoon and got his permission before my cellphone battery died. One of these days, another discussion on the wonder and wonderful pain that cellphones are. In the meantime, enjoy a good letter to the editor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you smarter than a sixth grader" is surely an educational and fund game. How about an adult version with questions like these"
Q: Is the earth 6,000 years old or billions?
A. Billions.

Q: According to the Center for Public Integrity how many times did the Bush Administration lie about Iraq between 9-11 and the invasion"
A: 935.

Q: When the New Testament was translated into Greek, instead of a "young girl<" Mary, Mother of Jesus was mistakenly described as what?
A: A virgin.

Q: Why did the U.S. propaganda machine dump on France?
A: Because French oil companies drilled the wells in the former Kurdistan area, and they had a good thinkg going without getting sucked into the Americans' attempt at conquest.

Q: Why does President Bush use the term "surge" instead of "blitskrieg or "Iron Fist of Occupation"?
A: Because it sounds nice and the American public is as ignorant as it is blind.

Q: Why do people praise Ronald Reagan for "lowering taxes"?
A: Because they don't remember that the result was increased state, county and local taxes. [As well as a horrendous national debt].

Q: How much did they try to cut the SD Highway Patrol budget?
A: $2 Million.

Q: How much is the occupation of Iraq costing us?
A: $12 Billion per month.

Q: How much did President Bush just announce that he is giving to Israel?
A: $30 Billion.

Q: If the oil corporation heads that met secretly with President Bush before the invasion were "waterboarded" to extract the truth, would it hurt them?"
A: No, according to proponents of water boarding in the Bush Administration.

Q: After cheerleading the invasion, how much of its broadcast time did Fox News devote to the war during the first quarter of 2007?
A: Four percent.
Q: During the same period, how much time did Fox devote to Anna Nicole Smith?
A: 10 percent.

by Jack H. Mueller, Chamberlain, SD.
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Spelling and typing errors which may be in the above are mine and not Mueller's or those of the Mitchell Daily Republic. And, I suppose we could toss in a few more that seem timely:

Q: How much is Bush proposing to cut from funding for SD Public Broadcasting?
A: Estimate appears to be around $700,000.

Q: How much has been spent on the Bush war in Iraq?
A: $3 Trillion? $7 Trillion... Do you actually grasp how much money there is in a $trillion?

Q: How many people died in the terrorist attack on the WTC on 9/11?
A: Around 3,000.

Q: How many US military personnel have been killed in Bush's revenge against the wrong country (Iraq)?
A: Now over 4,000.

Well, I better quit. This could be a game that went on for months if we started pulling stuff out of Gene Lyon"s on the right wing cabal attack on the Clinton's and the multiple bungling of the Bush administration.

** Stay tuned ..at least there were nearly the same number of answers as questions in this post-- Doug Wiken

**Guest post from Prof. Michael Myers on health system donations

November 19, 2007

By Professor Michael Myers/ the Elderlaw Forum/Senior Legal Helpline/University of South Dakota School of Law

“Avera/Sanford donations: Is it appropriate for tax-exempt hospital ‘charities’ to gift ‘patient money’ to the government; is it not an indirect tax on patients?”

Thoughtful citizens should reflect on the nature of this generosity and ask themselves: where does this money come from? And, is it appropriate for “charities” like Sanford and Avera to collect money from patients, to accept tax-exempt gifts, and then behave like private philanthropists and “donate patient money” to the government?

This type of behavior places in question whether these health systems, which have become the region’s largest and most profitable businesses, should continue to be treated as charities; whether they should pay taxes, because in effect they are indirectly taxing their patients to help support public institutions—in this case South Dakota State University? And as we know, Sanford has “donated” tens of millions of dollars to the University of South Dakota.

As a member of the University faculty, I am an indirect beneficiary of those gifts—and it could be argued that a person should not look a “gift horse” in the mouth. Nevertheless, in view of the growing health care cost crisis confronting our nation, such charitable conduct may be regarded as poor public policy and hypocritical. If South Dakotans wish to have better educational and research facilities, they should ask themselves whether it is better to have those costs borne by all citizens through our tax base, or should those costs be borne by those who become sick and injured?

Metaphorically, it is a little bit like you making a $1,000 donation to the Salvation Army, which then makes headlines by turning around and donating your $1,000 to the Cancer Society and portraying itself as a benefactor.

If Sanford and Avera are “charities” should they be gifting their monies to other “charities”—or to the State of South Dakota, which now takes on the role of a “charity”? If South Dakota wishes to support higher education should it not tax all of us, not just patients?

These donations reflect a flawed lack of accountability on the part of these billion-dollar health care systems: they are de facto private clubs: they have no shareholders and therefore are not accountable to investors; and they are not public institutions and therefore not accountable to the electorate. They operate in a “quasi-public- quasi-private” legal bubble. As one state supreme court observed, these nonprofit health care systems operate primarily for the benefit of their physicians and their executives, not for the public they profess to serve.

If they behave like for-profit corporations; compensate their employed physicians at $300,000 to $1 million annual salaries; pay their executives $150,000 to $500,000 salaries, and spend hundreds of millions on facilities that are duplicative, underutilized and improperly utilized--should they not be treated like for-profit corporations? In South Dakota should they not pay property tax and sales tax?

Since the state medical-industrial complex has the state legislature “wired” politically, should the people of this state initiate a referendum to circumvent a legislature that serves the interests of the medical/health system lobby rather than the citizens they are presumed to serve?

see “Utah County v. Intermountain Health Care,” inc.—

“because the ‘care of the sick’ has traditionally been an activity regarded as charitable in American law, and because decisions from other jurisdictions incorporate unexamined assumptions about the fundamental nature of hospital-based medical care, we deem it important to scrutinize the contemporary social and economic context of such care. We are convinced that traditional assumptions bear little relationship to the economics of the medical-industrial complex of today.” Nonprofit hospitals were traditionally treated as tax-exempt charitable institutions because, until late in the 19th century, they were true charities providing custodial care for those who were both sick and poor. The hospitals’ income was derived largely or entirely from voluntary charitable donations, not government subsidies, taxes, or patient fees.”

“the literature indicates two models of nonprofit hospitals and health care systems”—

(1) The “physicians’ cooperative” model describes nonprofit hospitals that operate primarily for the benefit of the participating physicians, and
(2) The “polycorporte enterprise” model describes the increasing number of nonprofit hospital chains. Here the power is largely in the hands of administrators, not physicians.

Is it not time to initiate civil discourse on this important issue?

[Note from Doug Wiken. First, Thanks to Prof. Myers for providing this text information related to his recent WNAX interview. Second, I made some changes in font, formating, spelling and grammar to better fit this blog format. I don't think any ideas were changed in my error-prone method however.]

**Hillary Clinton and those acting as if they are impartial journalists

Today public radio on Talk of the Nation had the authors of a book on Hillary Clinton spreading their latest attack on the Clintons. I can understand that public radio needs to provide as many sides of issues and political personalities as possible, but when they do, they often need to provide a bit more context so that listeners who don't happen to have nearly full knowledge of the subject aren't misled by both omission and commission "errors".

The book "Her Way," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr was discussed today. A week or so ago two books were discussed in Salon Online Magazine The link for that review is below. You may have to view and ad to read this unless you are a registered user of Salon.
LINK--Books on Hillary Reviewed at Salon (LAT ... http://tinyurl.com/2ecrbg )

I listened to Gerth or Van Natta today make a number of claims as they rolled off their patter about their book. Sounded like they had the responses ready from previous interviews and had the angles covered. It seemed to me also that the NPR interviewer on Talk of the Nation failed to provide a lot of essential background information. I wrote a comment to that effect at Salon Table Talk which was followed later by a comment by R. Prichard who remembered a lot more relevant information than I could.

Both my and Prichard's posts are copied into the continuation of this post. Take a look at both, they may give you a better idea of what you are getting in the news, but also what you often don't get as well. Sometimes the context is almost or more important than the presented "substance".

**Stay Tuned---Click on the continuation below and thanks to R. Prichard for permission to quote post here at Dakota Today-- Doug Wiken

**More on HD Radio..comment converted to a guest post of sorts

My previous post on HD radio attracted a comment indicating a number of problems with High Definition Radio. Unfortunately, the links were eaten by TypePad. Below is a somewhat corrected version. I guess
it is more like a "guest post" than anything else. Frankly I don't know enough about this to know if links are as much propaganda as are some of those by the company with the monopoly license on the technology. So,
your mileage may vary.

“Sirius, XM, and HD: Consumer interest reality check” “While interest in satellite radio is diminishing, nterest in HD shows no signs of a pulse.”

The following link asks, "Is Pay-for-Play HD Content on Horizon?"
And this guy compares HD radios to some older and other technology and says, "HD Radio Effort Undermined by Weak Tuners in Expensive Radios"

Under the topic “HD Radio on the Offense” can be found the quote below:

“But after an investigation of HD Radio units, the stations playing HD, and the company that owns the technology; and some interviews with the wonks in DC, it looks like HD Radio is a high-level corporate scam,
a huge carny shill.” It was found at "The FCC Tunes Into HD Radio--And May Turn Off Distant AM"

And just to keep it interesting, a couple more links.
Link--Washington Post on HD Radio
And another link. One or two of these are interesting forum or blog discussions.
RW Online

One of those links someplace contains the following “RW Opinion: Rethinking AM’s future”
Interesting stuff - looks like HD Radio is a farce. “Making AM-HD work well as a long-term investment is
seen as an expensive and risky challenge for most stations and their owners. There is the significant
downside of potential new interference to some of their own AM analog listeners as well as listeners of
adjacent-channel stations.”

I edited the above a bit. Hope I did not just convert it into another flavor of hash. I am not sure about the motivation of the commenter, but check on the links nevertheless. The FCC has been making some strange decisions now and then in the period when dominated by the Bush Administration. Not all their decisions have been in the interest of little guys out in the boondocks even if Jonathon Adelstein may have stood up for us once or twice.

As usual, if you have any actual experience with HD radio that contradicts or confirms much of the hype on the side of HD radio or the contrary voices expressed in the above comment converted to a post, make your voice known here.

**Stay tuned even if your favorite radio is in a big varnished real wood case with pushbuttons and a tuning eye or was once powered by a 6-volt car battery--- Doug Wiken