On Wednesday’s Radio Show…
October 28th, 2009, 6:00 PM EDT
• Christina Turner was denied insurance for a shocking reason: her treatment for rape qualified as a “pre-existing condition.” She joins Alan to discuss her troubling story.
• Are Americans too optimistic? Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bright-sided, explains why she believes that the promotion of positive thinking actually harms our nation.
• But if you DO want a reason for optimism, Alan examines the latest data showing that Obama’s stimulus is working.
Christina Turner: “I’m also a health insurance agent. And when I needed new insurance, I knew how hard it would be to get coverage after I’d been treated for my assault. I’d needed counseling and preventative anti-HIV medications for my survival. The insurance companies didn’t care what I’d needed. To them, being treated for rape qualified as a ‘pre-existing condition.’”
This is absolutely unconscionable in a society which prurports to be civilized! Pre-existing conditions should not be allowed as an excuse for health care industries to jack up their premiums ANY LONGER.
libpatriot Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
typo..”purports”
anonymouse Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:58 am
“… To them, being treated for rape qualified as a ‘pre-existing condition.’”
Being alive is a “pre-existing condition”.
If health insurers limited medical coverage to only deceased people, they’d never pay any claims and their profits would be maximized.
Health insurers pay out in claims 80 cents for every dollar they collect. Only insuring dead people, that 80 cents would be “banked” and investors would get rich. Got it?
**********
From the callers: Jews, apparently, make bad Christians. Thank goodness they still make good bankers.
burqa Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Making the description of Republican health care given by the chap in Florida more poignant…
October 28th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Christina Turner: “But the only coverage I could find would have cost almost as much as my monthly rent. So for three years, I was uninsured. I paid for my counseling, my antidepressants, and all my day-to-day health needs out of pocket. It wasn’t easy..”
I’LL BET. There is something inherently wrong with a health insurance system where it’s cheaper to pay all treatments out-of pocket than to pay the insurance premiums.
jazmine Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:11 am
What sad state of affairs!
jazmine Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:15 am
I have a solution for Health care Reform–cut the politicians pay by 7/8, eliminate their health insurance and tell them to deal with it!
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:33 am
I LIKE it.
EricG Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
that’s close to my plan, Jazmine.
Mine is to cut their families health insurance.
They keep theirs, but the kids and the wife lose theirs and need to go buy a new plan or go without.
Pay cuts need to be imposed across the board as well. You don’t get into public office to make money, you can do that in the private sector. These people should make enough to pay the bills and put gas in their cars. Not a dime more.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:18 am
it’s inherently wrong to have to pay for your healthcare???
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:30 am
It’s inherently wrong to have an insurance company treat clients who were rape victims as having a pre-existing condition because they’ve been raped, and make it so expensive to continue their policy that the clients are forced to paying for their follow-up treatments for having been raped out of their own pockets entirely…clearer, now?
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Such a situation kind of defeats the concept of “insurance”, wouldn’t you agree?
October 28th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
From the “Product Description” of amazon.com of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Bright-sided, it mentions that unwarranted positive thinking is what contributed to our economic crisis. I find that hard to argue with. Another example that comes to mind: Dick Cheney’s prediction of Iraqi citizen reaction to American troop presence: “They will greet us with flowers”.
libpatriot Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
“In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a marginal nineteenth-century healing technique to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude. Evangelical mega-churches preach the good news that you only have to want something to get it, because God wants to ‘prosper’ you. The medical profession prescribes positive thinking for its presumed health benefits. Academia has made room for new departments of ‘positive psychology’ and the ’science of happiness.’ Nowhere, though, has bright-siding taken firmer root than within the business community, where, as Ehrenreich shows, the refusal even to consider negative outcomes—like mortgage defaults—contributed directly to the current economic crisis.”
Well, that settles it; I’m pessimistic that this is gonna be a best-seller!
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:30 am
One of the reviews of Bright-sided, by author Thomas Frank, says:, “We’re always being told that looking on the bright side is good for us, but now we see that it’s a great way to brush off poverty, disease, and unemployment, to rationalize an order where all the rewards go to those on top. The people who are sick or jobless—why, they just aren’t thinking positively.”
Okay, NOW I’m intrigued; it’ll be interesting to hear what Ehrenreich has to say.
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Still one could argue that pessimistic thinking is alive and well here; it’s what feeds the politics of fear, after all.
burqa Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Yes, but the good news is America got sick of that about 5 years ago and has been dealing defeat to the fear merchants who dwell on small-mindedness like flag pins and birth certificates and have turned to those with a positive view and positive policies to make things better.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:34 am
Uh-oh, I’m feeling optimistic again…gotta watch that!
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:25 am
Another reason for pessimsm, if anybody really needs to have one: no matter what cause we fight, no matter what improvement we try to make, no matter what solution we try to push, there are forces in the world seeking with all their might to oppose us and undermine us, right now. And it doesn’t look like that’s ever gonna change. It’s as the legendary rock group Rush said in one of their songs, “Peaceable Kingdom”, some of the lyrics of which are excerpted here:
All this time we’re talking and sharing our Rational View
A billion other voices are spreading other news
All this time we’re living and trying to understand
Why a billion other choices are making their demands
Talk of a Peaceable Kingdom
Talk of a time without fear
The ones we wish would listen
Are never going to hear
All this time we’re shuffling and laying out all our cards
While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards
All this time we’re hoping and praying we all might learn
While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn
Dream of a Peaceable Kingdom
Dream of a time without war
The ones we wish would hear us
Have heard it all before
All this time we’re burning like bonfires in the dark
A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks
Every spark a drifting ember of desire
To fall upon the earth and spark another fire
Dream of a Peaceable Kingdom
Dream of a time without war
The ones we wish would hear us
Aren’t listening anymore
[Lyrics used without permission. Please don't sue me, Neil Peart, I was optimistic you WOULDN'T, lol!]
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 1:27 am
And ANOTHER reason for pessimism: I can’t spell “pessimism”!
luv2lift48 Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 7:11 am
You should try huuked on fonnicks, it werked for me
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 12:02 am
LOL
jazmine Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Did you konw taht yuor barin olny raeds the frist and lsat ltrtes and it doenst mtater if the ltters in bteewen are jmubeld up you can sitll raed it prfeeclty!!!
:)
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:02 am
True, Jazmine, but it’s not enough to explain why George W. Bush could still mangle phrases read from script papers and teleprompters, saying things like, “you’re all concerned about putting food on your family”.
Still, I can stop being so self-conscious about all my fat-fingered typos, can’t I?
Oh, look, you’re making me feel OPTIMISTIC, again…BAD IDEA!
jazmine Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:14 am
I don’t know Lib? Maybe it was his age.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Or maybe his childhood life got really free-spirited when it was time to gather round the dinner table..?
EricG Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
It’s like thinking that Fox will stop spreading racism and bigotry in place of news because people are getting offended who study news-media.
Better to think to yourself that Fox will donate a million dollars to MSNBC. Just to be nice…
October 28th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Good show tonight??
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:48 am
I’m thinkin’ it JUST COULD BE, Bob.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Manatee and the other right-wingers claim with a straight face this is “the best health insurance in the world”
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:31 am
They WOULD..
burqa Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Remember, they have invested in misery and anything that furthers that is what they plan on powering their political machine. it’s all they have left.
Sick, isn’t it?
libpatriot Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Yep. Guess they need insurance that covers therapy treatments!
October 29th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Doing their part to drive up health care costs….
They want the worst for America, but somehow see that as being “patriotic.”
October 29th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Yup.
Far too many live in a dreamworld of nonsense, and it’s not isolated to Fox News viewers.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:58 am
EricG: “Far too many live in a dreamworld of nonsense..”
Yes, Eric, nonsense like:
-Wall Street will effectively police itself
-the free market can meet all challenges
-we don’t have to worry about trashing our environment, because God will magically fix it for us
-a tax cut will solve ANYTHING
-give more to the rich, allow the rich to hide & hoard more, and NATURALLY they will trickle their bounty down to raise the living standards of the poorer classes (that old, “a rising tide floats all boats” saying; what if you only have an old rotted log to hold onto?what if you only have a SPLINTER?)
-we can bully and boast (and NEVER apologize), and the rest of the world will love and worship us for it, or at least fall right in line with what the neo-cons want
-we can invade other countries and their citizens will be grateful and greet us as liberators (e.g, Bill Kristol’s prediction concerning invading Iran)
-we can keep chanting, “we have the best health care system in the world”, and that will make it true!
Yeah, RIGHT.
Liberalism is based on reality.
Conservatism is based on wishful thinking.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
This is the health care system that conservatives want to defend and presume to attack anyone who speaks out against the horrors of the system.
I say, there tea baggers are pro-rape.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Rape is a “Pre-existing Condition”!?!
Christina Turner
This case is a good way to underline where we need reform and why we need reform in health care insurance.
Thank you for bringing this story to your show.
Many people are highly skeptical about how “bad” the system is when they hear of the evil-insurance-cartel-monopoly-monolith.
They are super-bad! End of story!
–
Positive Thinking is dangerous?
Barbara Ehrenreich
Delusional thinking, be it positive or negative, is indeed dangerous.
The extremes of positive thinking sell a lot of self-help books & launch many an evangelical preacher into the bigger house, but doesn’t help anyone in any real way.
People need to face what is nothing but “fluff” and “feel-good” in what they hear from motivational speakers.
Reality is never so pleasant, and realism is never as popular as idealism.
The science to explain the “placebo” effect and “unexplained” remissions is yet to be decided.
It is possible that curing warts is done by mystical healing, but not AIDS or aggressive cancer.
Staying positive in the face of adversity is key, but being realistic in the process is how one avoids becoming blind to the facts.
If a person has a serious terminal illness they should make preparations to pass away, and remain as positive about their survival as they can as well.
While some optimists don’t exhibit the trait, I find that far too often the “positive thinking movement” is more invested in rejection of science or critical thinking than they in the rejection of negativity and hostility.
The truth is usually in the middle.
I like to say: “You have three choices, not two.”
Many people want things in black-and-white logic as this is exactly what I find troubling in self-help / motivational talks. It’s all so easy, so neat.
The truth is you can react with a positive outlook, a negative outlook or an ambivalent outlook.
Nothing less than personal arrogance dictates which is the correct outlook to take.
Those who focus solely on the negative are often polarized to the point of fevor, but also deal in issues that others dare not touch.
Those who focus solely on the positive are often ignorant to a point of blindness, but sometimes provide more tangible solutions to dilemmas.
Those are truly ambivalent have almost nothing to offer the whole in terms of debate or perspective, but also are often the most objective and truthful when discussing a serious matter.
I could write a “self-help book” right now. It would be easy for me to do.
But I won’t.
Why?
It’s not because people shouldn’t be allowed to feel good. It is because I would have to lie or twist the truth in order to do so effectively.
I don’t think it’s right to feed people nonsense. Call me a “purist”, if you must.
I am also well familiar with the way how corporate America uses these tactics to pull the wool over people’s eyes.
I say it’s the first sign something is amiss with a company if they rely on things like motivational quotes and sappy seminars. When the baloney is riding out front, you know they are corrupt at the core.
The truth is that we most likely will destroy ourselves as a race before we attain world peace.
The truth of the matter is that if you are diagnosed with a terminal condition you are likely to die thereafter.
I contend that our thoughts shape our reality, not formulate it. Believe it or not I could almost prove that point too.
Positive thinking that only serves to preclude the harshness of reality is in fact negative thinking.
All things do have “silver linings”. But in most cases it is not worth the cost of the senseless violence and hatred needed to get a rise out of the good people of the world. I think putting a “good spin” on things is baloney in 99% of cases.
I know it upsets those in The Christian Science and New Age Healing fields but it’s still “junk science” (psuedo-science) to advocate faith healing. I advocate faith healing + herbal healing (well researched) + modern medical healing. Most the studies I’ve read shows that all is better than none. The most important part is just don’t ignore your doctor, these people went to school for a reason.
However, I am more interested in studying this topic than that Freudian-nonsense while reading about Psychology.
Carl Gustav Jung was a genius far ahead of his time, and he was more interested in finding empirical proof around “faith healings” than the person usually remembered with the study of Psychology.
I am totally open to the theories that Deepak Chopra was speaking on (thoughts affect genetics and cells), but I desire this burden of proof.
Yes, exactly!
Joel -
That is correct.
The key is being grateful for what you have, and for some they truly have nothing but fear & violence to look forward to. Telling someone like that to take gratitude from life is just wrong.
–
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
EricG: “…for some they truly have nothing but fear & violence to look forward to. Telling someone like that to take gratitude from life is just wrong.”
Or, at least, tends to be hopelessly optimistic. Don’t know that it makes it morally wrong, though. (I’ll give it some thought.)
EricG Reply:
November 1st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I do.
In fact I know it’s morally wrong.
Just imagine telling someone who is about to be tortured that they should take gratitude in the pain and be thankful for the blood in their eyes.
Hopelessness flows both ways.
Hopelessly optimistic is just as bad as hopelessly pessimistic, I think.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:34 pm