Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Members of Congress are selfish.

Again, Congress has Gold Star, Rolls Royce insurance.

If anything happens to a member of congress, this is what they get:

This fall while members of Congress toil in the U.S. Capitol, working to decide how or even whether to reform the country's health care system, one floor below them an elaborate Navy medical clinic -- described by those who have seen it as something akin to a modern community hospital -- will be standing by, on-call and ready to provide Congress with some of the country's best and most efficient government-run health care.

I can't help but think that clinic, those on stand by could be used to the many out here who NEEDS proper and immediate health care.

Those who don't understand or get it, I do.

Many in this country don't have the time to wait. Many in this country need help now. Many, who do go to emergency rooms, get propped up stable and sent home. These private hospitals don't want to be bothered, if you don't have that pristine card, called the insurance card.

But we have to read articles like this on the elaborate, state-of-the-art facilities for members of congress. We have to read about these doctors, nurses, technicians just waiting around until they are needed for congress. And we are not supposed to be angry at congress for their lack of empathy, consideration, and understanding for the health of the American Public?

We have every right to be angry because this is just not right.
"A member walked in and was generally walked right back into a physician's office. They get good care. They are not rushed. They are examined thoroughly," said Eduardo Balbona, an internist in Jacksonville, Fa., who worked as a staff physician in the OAP from 1993 to 1995.

"You have time to spend to get to know your patients and think about them and really think about how you preserve their health going forward," Balbona said. "We're not there to put on Band-Aids. We were there to make sure that everything possible that could be done [is done] to preserve that member of Congress."

Did you read the emphasis I put on the above? They are there to provide top notch service, to make sure that member of congress is preserved, that the individual lives. Why is this so hard for congress to understand for the American Public? The members of congress are selfish to the core. We, the American Public, the taxpayer is paying for this Gold Star, Rolls Royce service that they and their families are receiving.

When is this going to get right for the public?

And for just a basic incident, members of congress get the following immediately:
Services offered by the Office of the Attending Physician include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist.

Sources said when specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.

"If you had, for example, prostate cancer, you would go to one of the centers of excellence for the country, which would be Johns Hopkins. If you had coronary artery disease, we would engage specialists at the Cleveland Clinic. You would go to the best care in the country. And, for the most part, nobody asked what your insurance was," Balbona said.

These services are what the public needs, but many are denied because they don't have insurance, not enough insurance, a pre-existing condition, etc. But not members of congress, they are not questioned at all; they get the best that this country can provide.

This is the disparity that we are fighting about. Every person in this country should be treated like members of congress, with no questions asked, but we are not. Many of us have to FIGHT just to have a basic test performed; this is not only wrong but inhumane.

And if the congress critter did not pay?
In 2008, 240 members paid the annual fee, though some sources say congressmen who didn't pay the fee were rarely prevented from using OAP services.

Wow, does anyone know a hospital that will just see you for free? Even the county hospitals don't want to see you if you can't pay something on that bill!!

The Democrats have a wonderful opportunity in their lap; it is called passing real health care reform. If they miss out on this opportunity, they will miss out on many voting for them. It really is simple as that. Taking up for the insurance companies is criminal, after all the things they have done to many Americans, these companies are not on the side of the American Public. This fall is going to be a hoot. The Democrats will either grow a spine and stand with the public, or continue to take that insurance company pay check and side with the status quo.

However it comes out, the public will know what to do. It will start in 2010.

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