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Healthcare Reform Fraud: A Repugnant Act of Faith
Being lied to and taken advantage of is something many of us have gotten used to over the years as we work ourselves silly trying to be responsible citizens in these United States. But many of us were also raised to believe in a god and trust there is a higher being that loves and heals and knows the truth about what justice is and how compassion works. And most of us who were raised into any sort of community of faith believe that caring for and comforting the sick is among those things that a caring and loving God would have us do for one another on this earth.
This, I hope, is part of the basis for the belief that healthcare is a basic human right. All people, all life, all health matters -- or so we might envision in a just and compassionate nation and world.
But our healthcare system doesn't rest on any of those sorts of ideas. In the United States, the good and faithful delivery of healthcare is reserved for those with money or at least for those with the right kind of insurance (provided the insurance doesn't fail at crucial moments, as it is prone and designed to do).
Tens of thousands of Americans die every year because they aren't judged healthcare-worthy by the rest of us. Yes, we all are the judges and the jury convicting our fellow citizens and sentencing them to early and unnecessary deaths. We are responsible for our sisters and our brothers. We have allowed this convoluted and sick system to rob us of thousands of our fellow human beings and the financial well-being of millions more. We are not carrying out the work of any of the major faith communities when we allow money and power to decide who lives and who dies -- and when we therefore assign the status of God to the almighty dollar and not the Almighty.
The only way to cover everyone is to go to a single-payer system, said President Obama. But he says he won't do that. Why? Because he knows the god he now serves is not the one his mother taught him about or even the one he tries to allow his daughters to know. His gods have become the gods of political and profit power.
What is so hard about this convoluted health reform effort so far is that we want to trust Mr. Obama as a moral person who believes that healthcare is a human right. He may indeed be a good and decent man who just cannot see how much we need him to stand by that belief and honor it in policy.
But tomorrow President Barack Obama is set to make an appeal to the faith-based community on his vision of forcing every American to purchase the private health insurance product he knows is defective. Health insurance provides neither guaranteed access to healthcare nor protection from financial ruin in the event of illness -- both of the things it is advertised and sold to do. It is a product fraught with fraud. And now our President, a man who said he was a man of faith, is going to ask the faith community to help him sell health insurance to everyone. He'll exploit the good intentions of the faithful to feed the ill-will of the moneytakers. Not exactly the folks Jesus wanted in the temple.
Praise God, and pass the health insurance reform ammunition.
If you'd like to hear the call during which the President will ask major churches of the nation to join him in getting the best possible legislative deal for the health insurance industry, go to the Families USA call site and sign up... but get ready to pray for us all.
Pray that someone in that faith community asks about the people who won't be able to afford the best coverage or the even have assurances that the coverage they are forced to buy will give them the same access to care as their wealthier fellow Americans. Pray that someone on the call will say that having a tiered healthcare system that allows different levels of care for folks based on their wealth is not what their God or higher power would have in mind.
Pray that someone in one of the great faiths listed will ask Mr. Obama how he can stand for less than equal treatment for all.
Families USA: The Voice for Health Care Consumers
Dear Donna,
We hope you can join the faith community and President Obama this Wednesday evening, August 19, for a special conversation on health insurance reform. The call is being hosted by numerous faith-based organizations-please see a complete list of conference call sponsors below. Please RSVP to ensure your place on the call and to submit a question. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Lydia Gottesfeld
Families USA
"President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to join us on a conference call on Wednesday, August 19, at 5:00 pm eastern. It will be a wonderful moment to share with thousands of others who want to be part of the solution and are working to raise a moral vision for our health care future.
Because thousands of participants are expected, you are urged to RSVP to help facilitate planning and to guarantee your place on the call. In addition, we invite you to tell your family, friends, and colleagues; spread the word through your email networks; and invite others to listen to the call with you. Please help us meet our goal of thousands!
Thank you!"
List of conference call sponsors (as of 8.12.09)
African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
Catholics In Alliance for the Common Good
Catholics United
Christian Community Development Association
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Faithful America
Faithful Reform in Health Care
Faith in Public Life
Gamaliel Foundation
Islamic Society of North America
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
National Council of Churches in Christ
Network, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
PICO National Network
Progressive National Baptist Convention
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference
Sisters of Mercy of The Americas
Sojourners
The Episcopal Church
The Latino Leadership Circle
The New Evangelicals
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church And Society
United Methodist Church, Washington Office of Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries
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12 Comments so far
Show AllAmerica, you have been had again. You are settling for something you will regret very shortly. Single payer is the only way. SP or get the hell to DC and demand the people be heard. Enough is enough. Use your power of numbers or bend over further for the final sodomization. False flags, illegal wars, Katrina, loss of rights, loss of habeas corpus, the felonious bailout, foreclosures, unemployment, torture, lies, deception, depleted uranium, indiscriminate drone bombing, rendition, CONgressional blackmail, mercenaries, no-bid contracts, MSM control, voter fraud, lies, lies, lies.....how much more for Keericed sake!!! DO SOMETHING...for yourself...for your children.
That pretty well sums it all up.
Excellent article.
Only single payer is reform.
Rich Trumpka, AFL-CIO official is wrong to fight over the public option. That proposal leaves all the problems in place.
Nothing changes under the public option, which won't last long anyway.
Dear Donna,
Please inform President Obama that if he wishes to avoid impeachment, he will actively support with absolutely no compromise the followng bill:
---H--------H----RRRR-----------666------777777-----666
---H--------H----R------R--------6-----6------------77---6-----6
---H--------H----R------R--------6------------------77----6
---H--------H----R-----R----------6666-----------77-----6666
---HHHHHH----RRRR----------6-----6---------77-----6-----6
---H--------H----R-----R---------6-----6--------77------6-----6
---H--------H----R------R--------6-----6-------77-------6-----6
---H--------H----R-------R--------666--------77----------666
HR676 HR 676 HR676
27 PAGES AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS!
We don't want 1000 plus pages of disguised corporate pork!
the author writes:"What is so hard about this convoluted health reform effort so far is that we want to trust Mr. Obama as a moral person who believes that healthcare is a human right."
who is this "we" that trusts obama? not me
Let's see if ANY in the meeting with obama - imagine all those institutions of religious faith -
will dare stand up or be allowed to question obama - yes, QUESTION -
and TELL HIM things a certain person in the bible intoned repeatedly in his teachings:
"whatsoever you do unto these, the least of my brethren - you do unto me".
"woe be unto you - who use the name of my father (for evil deeds) . all you hypocrites....for you are reserved the worst in Hell...where there shall be gnashing of teeth".
Obama is going to try to AWE and "inspire" everyone -- while trying to blind them (if they are not already blinded) -
with his "soaring rhetoric" - a la Preacher...
and conscript them to do the work of God , Allah,
to make AS ONE :
GOD and the Almighty DOLLAR.
that's what he's going to do. just watch.
and probably will create such an "atmosphere" of "oneness" - that few if any will dare to want to be singled out, either individually or as one of the participating organizations - for being a "spoiler"
\
as a way of silencing inconvenient truths and questions
while most , if not all, will nod their heads in silent agreement as they are placated by being slapped on the back for being SUCH GOOD AMERICANS with SUCH "faith in GOD"
who blesses all of america
but it's all about the almighty DOLLAR for u know who......
and Jesus Christ - if he was for real and is sitting "at the right hand of the Father" or "allah" -
will be looking down and saying "these are the people who worship the Demon...which they call the Dollar..that one speaking there , as well as his minions, are the False Prophets...i have been among the least of their brethren and see....Father...what they do...how these people Swear by Your Name as they practice cruelty ".........
"whatsoever you do unto these, the least of my brethren - you do unto me".
Too bad so many elected congressmen, senators and appointees are members of the C-Street Family which believes in the complete opposite of this quote.
That's why they have a personal relationship with Jesus (who picked them because they are rich and/or powerful) and eschew churches. According to Doug Coe, C-Street's leader, the churches got off course when they started caring for the "least of my brethren" instead of realizing that Jesus is only interested in the rich and powerful because they're the ones who are going to create Jesus' American, capitalist Kingdom on Earth.
And you wonder why the Senate is killing real healthcare?
Time to get these cultists and their self-serving, twisted version of religion out of our government.
it hardly matters when - although one might say "the moment america begun its *shining city on the hill* exceptionalism" -
but what it is , is:
where Jesus Christ THREW the Money changers out of the Temple...
America THREW jesus christ OUT of the Temple ...and placed on the altar :
AMERICA
"shining city on the hill"
Gold plated, Dollar Denominated, capitalist supernationalistic, PIOUSLY "christian" and "god worshipping"
so long as JESUS CHRIST FITS into the GREATER glory
AMERICA the GREAT.
all the while - it has been the work of the Devil, using Jesus Christ and Godliness as a Convenient Self-deluding PROP
to justify what is really an inhumane system, a very "UNCHRISTLIKE" (Mahatma Gandhi) society, in which most participatns are busy trying to convince themselves, generation after generation that
"american greatness" equals worship of the Dollar and profits and 'what's MINE' EQUALS
"god's blessings"
EQUALS Following the Lord jesus christ.
put all that together and you have the most dangerous society ever conceived and perpuated .
both to its inhabitants and the rest of the world.
Satan must be laughing in unalloyed glee at how , THROUGH america, he sticks his thumb up his nose at "jesus christ".......
Dear Donna--I strongly suggest that you and co-workers take a day trip to Seattle and vist with Dr. JV Wright at the Tahoma clinic where you can learn the real way to reform health care and slash costs. At least, contact him and find out who to talk to in your area.
Medical care has to change from the bottom up before a top down solution can work. The medical monopoly mainly treats symptoms, not causes. It's easier, and they hook you forever. They are pushers and always remember "G-D the pusher man"
Donna,
Fraud happens, but it is higher on the private side because screwing the Feds involves jail time and much less in the privates.
If you want to stop fraud, do not count on the government to investigate. Simply pass a law requiring all medical facilities to (a) educate annually all new and old employees on what fraud is and how to report it, and (b) strengthen the whistle-blower laws. Let the employees become the investigative arm and the employers will get out of the fraud business overnight. It will virtually cease to occur and the taxpayers will pay virtually nothing for enforcement.
Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net
http://SinglePayer.info
Much easier then that, easy as full disclosure. For if we all knew what goes on behind closed doors in corrupt medicine, there would be no corruption in medicine.
For darkness is the root cause of all evil, as never in the public eye would anyone do evil. Darkness being a pretense of good hiding an intent to do evil. Light being anything that forces darkness to give way.
HEALTHCARE A SPIRITUAL RIGHT -- NOW A HUMAN RIGHT
For a human right is something given to us by humans, and we humans by nature are for the most part selfish and inhuman.
For since the cross, since government killed God, the purpose of this world has been to prove the harm in it
Take capitalist medicine for example, the freedom to compete for excessive wealth on the operating table. For capitalism being the reverse of equality, surely our for-profit healthcare system is the greatest tool for keeping a people vulnerable, insecure, fearful and in submission to authority the world has ever known.