Bad Deeds for 8-24-2009

Insurers Have 50,000 of Their Employees Lobbying Congress to Claim Their Profits Are Fair – A spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s trade group, admitted in an article published Monday that as many as 50,000 industry employees are involved in an effort to fight back against aggressive healthcare reform. The health-insurance industry is sending thousands of its employees to town-hall meetings and other forums during Congress’s August recess to try to counter a tide of criticism directed at the insurers and remain a player — and not an outsider — in the debate over the future of the health-care system.” Employees of the health insurers have also been given talking points that encourage them to keep a low profile and avoid taking “the bait” when the industry is criticized in public

 

Fox Furthers ‘Death Panel’ Hysteria With ‘Death Book’ Claim by a Guy Trying to Sell His Own Guidebook to the VA – Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace devoted the first segment of this week’s show to trying to prove President Barack Obama’s administration was encouraging veterans to choose to die. However, they failed to mention that the so-called ‘death book’ contains the same advance-care planning required of all health care organizations under federal law, has been in use since 1997 and was developed with the input of interfaith ministers.

It all started with Jim Towey, the former president of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives under George W. Bush. Towey seems to have his own axe to grind. He has repeatedly tried to get the government to spend millions to purchase his “Five Wishes” book, which is published by Aging With Dignity, a non-profit group he founded, to distribute to veterans across the country.

In his op-ed, Towey stated that this panel did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. In fact, according to the VA, the panel included a priest, a rabbi, a renowned disability rights advocate, and the president of the organization that produces “Five Wishes,” the alternative advance care planning document that Towey is promoting and selling.

 

Without Reform, Health Insurance Rates to Nearly Double in 11 Years – Insurance rates will rise 94 percent by 2020 if cost-saving reforms to the US health care system aren’t enacted, a new study from the Commonwealth Institute finds. The 90-year-old non-profit health care charity released an analysis of health care costs and forecasts that says employer-sponsored family plans will rise from an average cost of $12,298 in 2008 to $23,842 in 2020. By contrast, the same coverage would have cost around $9,200 in 2003.

 

There is Essentially NO Competition Among Private health Insurers – One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S. Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals. There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers,” said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the highest-cost states. “The impact on the consumer is significant.”

Help us stand strong against their despicable attacks. Sign the petition voicing your support for health insurance reform today and make sure to share it with friends and family.

 

Republican Congressman Supports ‘Proud Right-Wing Terrorist’ – US House Representative Wally Herger, of California’s 2nd congressional district, expressed “enthusiastic approval” of a town-hall attendee who described himself as a “proud right-wing terrorist,” newspapers in northern California report. “Amen, God bless you,” Herger reportedly replied to the comment. “There is a great American.”

 

Love, American Right-Wing Preacher Style – Steven Anderson, who preaches from the pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, says that all gays and lesbians should face the death penalty. Anderson says that God “commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.” He also said, “Our country is run by faggots,” and “God appointed him [Obama] to destroy this country for the wickedness of the United States of America,” and “I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.”

 

Sean Hannity is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong – Sean Hannity claims that Democratic Senator Max Baucus says Social Security will enter default in two years – but:

• It was actually Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus,
• Bachus said “deficit,” not “default,”
• And the claim by Bachus is wrong.

 

Study Finds Mercury in Fish Widespread, Blames Mining, Coal Plants – A federal study of mercury contamination released Wednesday found the toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become. The main source of mercury to most of the streams tested, according to the researchers, is emissions from coal-fired power plants. The mercury released from smokestacks rains down into waterways, where natural processes convert it into methylmercury — a form that allows the toxin to wind its way up the food chain into fish.

 

EPA Fails To Inform Public About Weed-Killer In Drinking Water – One of the nation’s most widely-used herbicides has been found to exceed federal safety limits in drinking water in four states, but water customers have not been told and the Environmental Protection Agency has not published the results. An analysis found that yearly average levels of atrazine in drinking water violated the federal standard at least ten times in communities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas, all states where farmers rely heavily on the herbicide. In addition, more than 40 water systems in those states showed spikes in atrazine levels that normally would have triggered automatic notification of customers. In none of those cases were residents alerted.

Regards,

Jim