Public Option Health Care Now: Brazil has public option with universal inclusion.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Brazil has public option with universal inclusion.

In Brazil, if you want care, you go to a public neighborhood clinic or hospital and they treat you with no discussion whatsoever of insurance, enrollment or payment. It's illegal for anyone in the system to request or accept payment.

Many common medications are also provided at these clinics and hospitals immediately after the doctor has written the prescription - FOR FREE!

When people ask me why I've left the United States for "third world" Brazil, I describe the US health care market to them and I explain to them that the health care options they depend on in Brazil simply don't exist in the United States.

The United States has a health care system worse than exists in many "third world" countries, because the costs of care are so high in the US that virtually no one can pay out of pocket, whereas in Brazil health care is more affordable and paying out of pocket is real option, even for surgery. My wife spent two days in a private hospital for a completely successful surgical procedure, and the whole thing cost me less than a twenty-inch color television would have.

If Brazil is "third world" then I'll take "door number three", thank you.

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Tell Obama: The public option is not optional

Remind President Obama that part of the reason he won the presidency was his plan to enact major health care reform that included a public option, a provision that 76% of Americans support.

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"When it comes to health care reform, the public option is not optional. You campaigned on change and on a health care plan that included a public option. But aside from single payer, a health care bill without a robust public option is just more of the same. If you are sincere about supporting the public plan, tell Congress and the voters that you will not sign a bill without a robust public option similar to Medicare." [Click here to sign the petition]

When Barack Obama emerged onto the national scene, giving the keynote address at the Democratic convention in 2004, there was a collective pause among blacks, says Golden. "A lot of my African American friends said this brother is incredible but who is he married to?" Golden says. "We were holding our breath, literally. Then when we saw his wife, my friends of all hues felt enormously proud that he was married to a woman that looked like Michelle Obama. The fact we had to hold our breath and the fact we had to be proud spoke volumes about where colorism is today." WaPost: Through the Past Darkly: The Legacy of Colorism . . .

Human Genome Project Disproves
Centuries-Old Concept of "Race"
According to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Human Genome Program: "DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. While different genes for physical traits such as skin and hair color can be identified between individuals, no consistent patterns of genes across the human genome exist to distinguish one race from another. There also is no genetic basis for divisions of human ethnicity. People who have lived in the same geographic region for many generations may have some alleles in common, but no allele will be found in all members of one population and in no members of any other."
In other words, the Human Genome Project has proven that, as a matter of scientific fact, that which we call "race" does not exist as a matter of biology, and so all references to "race" are references to a fallacy.
"Genetic racialism is but the last in trail of a sorry lot. In all cases, genomania gives a picture-perfect snapshot not of science but of ideology—which is to say: It effects the conflation of social acts with natural facts." "Sex and Race in the Long Shadow of the Human Genome Project"
Fighting "racial essentialism in biomedical science".
Washington Post quotes
Francis L. Holland slamming DNCC for all-white state blogs corps:
"Francis L. Holland, one of the vocal black bloggers, sent e-mails to DNC officials asking that 15 black-operated blogs be added to the State Corps. "There is nothing 'Democratic' about an all-white Democratic National Convention floor blogging corps," he wrote in an e-mail. Holland is also asking for the inclusion of 15 Latino-operated blogs."
Slate.com quotes Francis L. Holland regarding John Edwards' decision to endorse Senator Barack Obama for President:
"Or, as Obama supporter Francis L. Holland puts it: "So, it shows tremendous courage, foresight and solidarity that Edwards has endorsed Obama after the media declared Hillary's campaign to be as good as dead, right? Oh, well! Better late than never!"
BlackEnterprise.Com quotes Francis L. Holland:
"Of the blogs covering the convention, black blogs will be 7.2% of the blogs present,” says Francis L. Holland of the Afrosphere Action Coalition. According to Holland, many states with a strong black Democratic presence and population are either underrepresented or not represented at all, even though black bloggers from these states did apply. “The state of Tennessee, which often has over 25% blacks among its Democratic primary voters, will not have a single black blogger at the Democratic National Convention, for example. The District of Columbia, which is 60% black, will be left out. Louisiana, which is 32.4% black, will be left out. Illinois, the presidential nominee’s home state, which is 15% black, will be left out.”
Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism cites Francis L. Holland:

In 2008, the Democratic "party came under fire from African American bloggers. Francis L. Holland of the Afrosphere Action Coalition, complained to Black Enterprise magazine that black blogs only made up slightly more than 7% of the bloggers credentialed for the convention."
Francis L. Holland Blog in the
Washington Post:
"We are tired of Hillary Clinton telling America that we are less than American simply because we refuse to vote for her," said Francis L. Holland, an African American blogger." Ironically, the Clintons embraced us, and even embraced Pastor Jeremiah Wright for support during their impeachment scandal." Holland was speaking of the congressional trial that followed former president Bill Clinton's liaison with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. "She has forfeited the black vote for the foreseeable future with her color aroused appeals."
Francis L. Holland Blog in Dallas Morning News:
“November’s voter turnout depends on August’s blogger outreach,” said Mr. Holland of the Afrosphere Action Coalition., a member of a national and international black bloggers’ coalition called “The AfroSpear.” “Blogs address constituencies, and it simply is not possible for blogs that are all-white to effectively reach diverse Democratic constituencies.”
Francis L. Holland Blog in Black Enterprise Magazine:
"Of the blogs covering the convention, black blogs will be 7.2% of the blogs present," says Francis L. Holland of the Afrosphere Action Coalition. According to Holland, many states with a strong black Democratic presence and population are either underrepresented or not represented at all, even though black bloggers from these states did apply. “The state of Tennessee, which often has over 25% blacks among its Democratic primary voters, will not have a single black blogger at the Democratic National Convention, for example. The District of Columbia, which is 60% black, will be left out. Louisiana, which is 32.4% black, will be left out. Illinois, the presidential nominee's home state, which is 15% black, will be left out."
Pacifica Radio's Election Unspun June 23: Black Bloggers and Black Power, interviews Francis L. Holland:

"Francis Holland is a blogger from Afrospear, a national group of bloggers that advocates for African-Americans. When he looked at the list of State Bloggers, he saw no black blogs among them. Holland explains that the process the Democratic Convention planners used to choose the State Blogger Corps was bound to lead to this result. And he argues that the Democratic Party can scarcely afford to alienate black voters in this election year." (The original link no longer works, which is becoming a growing documentation problem on the Internet.)
American Prospect cites
Francis L. Holland:
"Electing Edwards to challenge the status quo is like supporting a queen to challenge the monarchy or integrating an all-white club by adding more all-white club members. It is possible that electing yet another white man to the Presidency will end the poverty of the historically disenfranchised, with John Edwards serving as a "pass through" for those who have historically been disincluded legally and by custom. But this is a very convoluted way of achieving what could be achieved much more directly by electing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. ..."
Huffington Post published Francis L. Holland's articles.
Columbia Journalism Review quotes Francis L. Holland Blog.

Disclaimer: Although I am a trained attorney, I am retired and am not an active member of any state Bar. Therefore, I advocate in all matters on my own behalf and not as the legal representative of any person, group or organization.