ULCMA

By Dan Eggen and Kimberly Kindy

Washington Post

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records...

The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records. And even in a city where lobbying is a part of life, the scale of the effort has drawn attention. For example, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) doubled its spending to nearly $7million in the first quarter of 2009, followed by Pfizer, with morethan $6 million.

Read the rest of this story here.

Note: I feel very strongly about the healthcare crisis that is crippling our country. As such, I feel that we asUniversal Life Church minister's should be outspoken on this andseveral other issues, but as this is the one that is at the forefrontof debate in Washington right now, I will be highlighting stories suchas this for the next few weeks or so. Tell me what you think by sharing your thoughts on the ULCMA forum.

My husband and I are both in our 20's, and in June of 2008 he was diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency called Common VariableImmune Deficiency, or Hypogammaglobulinemia. Thankfully there is a treatment for this deficiency, but that treatment costs around$1500/week. It is an infusion of antibodies called IVIG which he can administer at home, but he will be doing it the rest of his life, or until another method comes about to treat his immune deficiency. This was overwhelming news for us as we started our life together, and just thinking about the health/physical side of it is enough. But when you add on all the medical costs; the infusion, all the doctor appointments for the symptoms of his immune problem, as well as surgeries, and the cost of a health insurance that will cover him, it seems like an impossible thing to face. Luckily, we live in Oklahoma which is one of about 30 states that provides a high risk pool. We were able to get him onto this insurance, but the premiums are about $350/month, along with a $500 deductible, and $2000 out of pocket amount each year. Roughly, we will still pay $6700 each year just to have health insurance that will pay the medical bills. Our total yearly income is somewhere around $40,000 which means his healthcare alone costs us nearly 17% of our income. I just think this is outrageous. We make ends meet, and we were lucky enough to both get college educations and decent jobs that we enjoy. But my heart goes out to people who were not born into the same priveleges as we both were, who have had an uphill climb their whole life in order to make ends meet and find a way to take care of their families. It isn't right that drug companies and insurances are making an ungodly amount of money off of people who are just trying to live a life that is healthier and productive. I believe that the US could have a MUCH better healthcare system, that would take care of MANY more people if the big money makers of our current healthcare system would let go of their greed. Or if our government would simply stand up and say that they will find a better way to make America healthy no matter whose pocket books it may hurt. I do believe our country's healthcare is the most expensive for the amount of care we receive. So many other countries have found a way to provide great healthcare for so much less than what Americans pay, so there HAS to be a way to improve oursystem. PLEASE reform this current broken system, and do so with clear consciences and good hearts, looking out for the well being of the citizens you represent.

Note: I feel very strongly about the health care crisis that is crippling our country. As such, I feel that we as Universal Life Church minister's should be outspoken on this and several other issues, but as this is the one that is at the forefront of debate in Washington right now, I will be highlighting stories such as this for the next few weeks or so. Tell me what you think by sharing your thoughts on the ULCMA forum.

Phyllis's health care story

I am a practicing physician assistant. Almost every day an insurance company denies something that I have tried to do for one of my patients, either prescribe a medicine or order a procedure. I have now started to prepare patients for the possibility that their health care will be "rationed" by somebody at their insurance company and follow it with this: "the people opposed to a new system of health care in this country want you to believe it will end up 'rationing' health care.Health care is and has been rationed for a very long time. I think it's about time the playing field was leveled and we all understood what the rules are." I'm doing my part to educate the health care consumer, are you? Call your members of Congress and demand that this happens! 

Public plan option. Three words in the health care reform process about which much has been said -- a lot of it meant to stoke fears. Amidst all of the mischaracterizations being thrown around, let's focus on the most important of those three words: Option.

As in choice.

As in something that isn't common for American families when it comes to their health care.

If your family has health coverage through your employer, that certainly brings some peace of mind. Butt here's still a good chance that only one insurance plan is available to you. If your premiums are high, if you can't choose the doctor you want or if your plan refuses to cover your pre-existing condition, there's little hope for improvement.

In recent health care reform listening sessions I held in New Jersey, a top complaint of families who already have health insurance is that their claims keep getting denied. Without any other real options available to them, even families that have health coverage are struggling to get affordable treatment.

Meanwhile, if you're not offered health coverage through work and don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, then you really have no health insurance choice at all. That's just not right.

Read the rest of Senator Menendez' post here.

For more information about the Universal Life Church Minister's Association at ulcma.webs.com

By Dean Baker

This is the time when the excrement starts hitting the fan. The lobbyists are in overdrive, rounding up members of Congress just like the cowboys of the Old West would bring in the herd.

The industry groups will also have their friends in the news media working overtime hyping any possible obstacle to health care reform. And they are filling the airwaves with scary ads, warning that people will never be able to see a doctor again if meaningful health care reform passes.

Since there are trillions of dollars at stake, the effort is understandable.The basic story is simple. The insurance, pharmaceutical and medical supply industries, along with the hospitals and the American Medical Association, have rigged the deck so that they get rich at the public's expense. They have structured our health care system so that we pay more than twice as much per person as people in other wealthy countries, even though we get worse care by many measures.

The bloat in the health care sector is projected to grow rapidly over the next decade as health care consumes an ever larger share of the economy. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that just the increase in health care spending share of the economy over the next decade will cost us $4.3 trillion. That is equal to a health care tax of $57,000 for an average family of four.

Read the rest of Dean's blog here.

We've heard all the reasons, listed ad infinitum on Fox News and, particularly, at length on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Health care reform will cost too much. It will bankrupt the country. It will force government bureaucrats between patients and doctors -- as though this was somehow worse than our current system, in which insurance-company bureaucrats insert themselves between patients and doctors and, with a profit motive in mind, lose themselves in the sort of banal evil that has created one horror story after another in our health care system.

Read the rest of Dan's post here.

By David Yonke - Toledo Blade 

As congressmen and senators debate health-care reforms, religiousleaders and lay persons will be gathering for interfaith prayerservices in Washington and around the country.

The Interfaith Week of Prayer and Health Care, organized by theCleveland-based nonprofit group called Faithful Reform in Health Care,started yesterday and continues through Friday.

An Interfaith Service of Witness and Prayer will be held in Toledoon Wednesday to coincide with a gathering at Freedom Plaza inWashington. "Echo events" like the Toledo service are plannedthroughout the United States.

"Health care is a faith issue but my guess is that most members offaith communities have not had it called to their attention that theyhave a responsibility when it comes to health-care reform," said KarenKrause, social justice chair of the Toledo Area Jobs with JusticeCoalition.

The local group will hold a local prayer service starting at 5:45p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of Augsburg Lutheran Church, 1342Sylvania Ave. If the weather is bad the service will be held indoors.

"We believe that humanity is sacred and that all persons should benefit from health care," Ms. Krause said.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Eyes roll when Rabbi Hayim Herring tells his fellow clergy that theyshould spend an hour a day on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Listeners at his seminars exchange smirks when he says blogging should be considered mandatory. They look aghast when he recommends posting short  video clips from their sermons on YouTube.

It's a lot better than the reaction he used to get.

"They used to look at me as if I'd just said a four-letter word," said Herring, the former senior rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in St. LouisPark, Minn., and now the executive director of STAR (Synagogues:Transformation and Renewal). But in its seven years, the organization has seen more converts to what many call one of the dirtiest words inreligion: marketing.

Across the country, religious congregations have turned more to marketing to keep the members they have and attract others to their emptying pews. The trend is accelerating as the Internet and its explosion of social networking sites add entirely newways to connect on spiritual issues.

They're catching on to what the ULC has done for years. Read the rest of the story here.

By ALEX ISENSTADT

As President Barack Obama tried to sell the American MedicalAssociation today on his health care overhaul, the top SenateRepublicans launched a familiar line of attack.

They warned of rationed medical care, lack of patient control and government bureaucracy.

Hate to burst your bubble guys, but we already have rationing for those who can't afford health care and lack of patient control because the INSURANCE CO. BUREAUCRACY makes ALL the decisions.

Read the rest of the story here.

By CHARLES BABINGTON

 President Barack Obama asked skeptical doctors Monday to get behind an overhaul of the nation's health care system, declaring the system a "ticking time bomb" for the federal budget that could force the entire nation to "go the way of GM."

The difficulty of his sales job was evident when he said he was against limiting awards in malpractice lawsuits, a top priority for doctors.That statement brought him a smattering of boos — a remarkable public response to a popular president accustomed to cheering audiences.

Here's a thought, in exchange for universal health care, doctors would get gov't paid malpractice insurance.

You can read the rest of the story here.