A young woman, knocked unconscious in a high speed auto collision and rushed to the ER via ambulance, was later denied coverage for the ambulance ride by her insurance company because it was not “pre-approved”. She ponders incredulously as to exactly how she was supposed to have facilitated “pre-approval” in such a scenario (so do we).
This is a scene out of Sicko. A similar scenario happened to my 85 year old Mother.
She had stopped driving a year ago, and non of us kids live close enough to be there immediately, so she called 911. She has heart problems, so it was important for her to get to an ER immediately, per her doctor.
She was informed by United Health Care that in their opinion she could have found another way to get to the hospital, and therefore, she was denied coverage for the ambulance ride by her United Health Care because it was not “pre-approved”. Don't you just love it. Some bean counter decides that my Mother could have found another way to the ER. Anyway, after many phone calls and letters, I demanded an arbitration of the bill with a United Health Care representative here locally. I was waiting to hear the date of the meeting when I received a letter informing me that they had changed their mind, and would pay the bill.
While at the Lake of the Ozarks, my Mother had another episode. Her blood pressure shot up to 206 and with a heart problem, we decided she needed to go to the ER of the only hospital at the Lake. She was kept there two days. United Health Care sent a letter saying the hospital was not on their list of hospitals within the "network." I guess they wanted us to pack Mom up, drive the four hours to St. Louis, and take Mom to an "approved" hospital in the "network." What motherfuckers.
Michael Moore's film is so true. Even those with Health Care have to fight constantly to get the insurance company to pay their bills. I feel terrible for those elderly people who have no one to fight for them.
P.S. As of four months ago, United Health Care is no longer her insurance provider.
Posted by Judith at July 8, 2007 03:30 AM
Now, with the possible candidacy of Fred D. Thompson, the grandfatherly actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee, whose second wife is almost a quarter-century his junior, comes a less palatable inquiry that is spurring debate in Internet chat rooms, on cable television and on talk radio: Is America ready for a president with a trophy wife?
Be sure to look at the picture of the two of them. She definitely looks like his daughter. Evidently, this may be an issue with some voters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08JERI.html?adxnnl=1&ref=style&adxnnlx=1183813261-CulpeVBIBDF0pKqUm/hieQ
Posted by Judith at July 8, 2007 03:50 AMHey Judith, maybe Fred could swap wives with George I just for the election.
You think that tall, hot, yummy, long-haired redhead is keeping Dennis K. down in the polls?
When he married her he must have gained at least 4" in stature. And he looks taller, too.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 8, 2007 04:39 AMWhy does the Bush Administration look like it is enabling Al Qaeda rather than pursuing them?
Because in Bushworld, enemies are needed, enemies are required, in order for mythology of the "war on terrorism" to exist.
Posted by Christopher at July 8, 2007 04:59 AM"Hey Judith, maybe Fred could swap wives with George I just for the election."
TIKI AL, great idea. Remeber when people thought Babs looked like George Senior's Grandmother?
I wonder how much viagra Fred takes per day to keep the little trophy happy.
Fred has a penile implant activated by a rubber bulb in his nose.
“How fortunate for governments that the people that they administer don’t think.”….Adolph Hitler
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.”….Adolph Hitler
…maybe bush has read a book.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 8, 2007 05:46 AMJeez, it's too early for me to be having gutter thoughts. I misread Tiki's "election". That was before I got the "George I's wife" part. Shudder. Sheesh, a "beautiful mind" mine aint.
Posted by Sharon at July 8, 2007 06:29 AMWhen they rounded up all the BinLadin family during the no-fly period right after 9-11, and shipped 'em out with barely an interrogation (before we knew what that could entail), I knew we might as well have been in Denmark with something quite rotten goin' on.
Posted by Sharon at July 8, 2007 06:31 AMI wonder how much viagra Fred takes per day to keep the little trophy happy.
That's not what keeps trophy wives happy...it's the money...and I'm guessing Fred has a bit from Law & Order.
Posted by ann at July 8, 2007 06:48 AMIt's the combined military experience of Bush, Cheney and Rice that is leading us down the 'grown-up' path in this war.
Al Gore's and John Kerry's time in Vietnam would have been a burden to the office.
Posted by Jim DeRosa at July 8, 2007 08:26 AM3603 Americans killed in Iraq. But we can't pull out because chaos would ensue. 4603 will be killed, but we can pull out because chaos would ensue. 5603 will be killed but we can't pull out because chaos would ensue. Wait until your kid is killed in Iraq...chaos will ensue in your family. Cut Bush's War money, get our troops out now.
Posted by at July 8, 2007 09:14 AMFred "the Mole" Thompson has now been revealed as a completely unethical lawyer, a snitch, and a person who would seek to undermine the investigation of the single most important presidential event, Nixon's Watergate conspiracy, we've had up until now. And another in the long line of "do whatever it takes to protect Republican lies" Republicans. If this weasel ever actually comes out as a GOPer pres candidate, I would hope the Dems hammer him relentlessly on his role in the Watergate saga. I realize using the phrase "Dems hammer" is dreaming...but maybe Howard Dean or Wes Clark has the nerve to do it.
Posted by T2 at July 8, 2007 09:22 AMThis posting assumes that an invasion (destruction) of foreign countries was and is OK inorder to capture enemies of the United States.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It again shamelessly commandeers the endemic American exceptionalism to avenge itself where and when it so chooses. Of course, no other country is allowed to conduct similar military atrocities against U.S. Soil.
Left liberalism differs only so slightly from Bushian fascism despite the pathetic assurances to the contrary.
Is it no wonder that American politics remains in a permanent stasis of total incoherence.
Maybe it is now time to finally understand the justification for the grievances of Bin Laden and al-Zwahiri.
Not justifying their actions, perhaps some serious structural adjustments should be made, not only to rid their future actions of ALL justifications, but to stop them before they happen.
Why is it to this day the spoken texts of Bin Laden are utterly believable, while those of George Bush are nothing but pernicious lies?
"Enabling Al Qaeda?"
I'm more worried about the enablement of the United States.
Posted by Jill Bains at July 8, 2007 02:34 PMJill, what you describe would require statesmanship, diplomacy and a bit of knowledge. You won't find this in the Bush White House. They only know how to rig elections and stack the Courts. Until they are gone, they'll continue down the same mistaken path, dragging all of us with them. Nothing will change until Bush and Cheney are gone and the GOP out of power in all branches of govt.
Posted by T2 at July 8, 2007 05:18 PMOuting Valerie Plame aided our enemies
By Bob Ewegen
Denver Post Columnist
Article Last Updated: 07/06/2007 09:57:24 PM MDT
After 44 years in journalism, I don’t get angry very often about the dirty tricks that so often besmirch the American political process.
But I am angry about the Valerie Plame affair, a sordid tale that flared anew this week when President George Bush commuted the prison sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
I am not angry at the commutation or the pettifogging partisan exchanges it spawned. I am angry at the underlying event - the fact that an American patriot whose only crime was to serve her country in a dangerous and honorable profession had her mission undercut for partisan political purposes.
I am even angrier that the vicious “outing” of Valerie Plame put her sources at risk - the men and women in foreign countries who had risked their own lives to help America in our war on terror.
In the intelligence trade, such foreign sources are called “assets.” I call them heroes. And they are the ones who were put most at risk after columnist Robert Novak revealed Plame’s CIA connection as part of a clumsy Bush administration effort to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had become a critic of the Iraq war.
To explain why this case angers me so deeply, let me give you a number: RA68031300. It identifies me as a Vietnam-era veteran of the United States Army. After enlisting, I took basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., where I received orders sending me to Fort Sill, Okla., for training in artillery, after which I expected to be sent to Vietnam.
Because someone in the Pentagon noticed I had worked for United Press International, I was called out on my last day of basic and redirected to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. I ultimately became editor of the post newspaper, the Pointer View.
So in the end, my personal risk in my military career was limited to some really awful haircuts. But the names of 58,000 of my comrades engraved on a wall in Washington, D.C., prove that my story could have ended differently. Those names also explain why I will never forgive anyone who willfully puts the lives of America’s military or intelligence personnel or our friends abroad in danger.
And that’s exactly what former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage did when he leaked Plame’s identity to Novak - and what Novak did when he published the name of a covert CIA agent.
Between Armitage’s dishonorable act and Novak’s dishonorable act were a string of other dishonorable acts, including an executive order by President Bush empowering Vice President Cheney to declassify classified information, which Cheney did, thus allowing Libby to shop Plame’s identity around in hopes of finding a journalist willing to smear Wilson through his wife. With Libby’s information confirming Armitage’s original tip, Novak willingly blew Plame’s cover.
In so doing, he didn’t put Plame at personal risk, because she was not overseas at the time. But he did irrevocably damage her mission - and put those human “assets” at risk.
You see, al-Qaeda and its ilk rarely try to kill CIA agents - or anyone else who can fight back. What these cowards do is kill people who have worked with U.S. agents.
You can imagine the conversation: “Hmm, that Valerie Plame who visited here turns out to be a CIA agent. Didn’t she hang out at Hamid’s coffee shop a lot?”
Next day, Hamid’s body turns up, along with the bodies of his wife and family, all of whom were tortured to death before his eyes.
That’s the way our enemies play the game. That’s why we train brave men and women like Valerie Plame so America can fight back.
The outing of Plame may have been technically legal, as the commutation of Libby’s sentence undoubtedly was. But our supreme law, the U.S. Constitution, still defines treason as giving aid and comfort to our enemies in time of war.
And in this aging veteran’s eyes, that’s exactly what Armitage, Cheney, Libby and Novak did.
Bob Ewegen (bewegen at denverpost dot com) is deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post.
Posted by at July 8, 2007 07:01 PM