On Bigotry and Being American

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I am proud to call myself an American.

I believe in American ideals like equality, liberty, freedom of speech, and the right to keep and bear arms. I grant that every American has the right to believe and say what they want. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion. I also believe in radical, progressive ideals like our society taxing the rich their fair share as well as supporting care of the elderly, the poor, and the sick.

Have you read Grapes of Wrath? The story matters and it matters even more today. As a country we are fighting the same men who stole and killed during the Great Depression, when the Grapes of Wrath is set. In chapter 29 there is a quote about men and horses. If a man had a team of horses that plowed and cultivated his land he wouldn’t think of turning those horses out to starve when they weren’t working. But corporations will do that to men. Because banks and corporations live and breathe profits. It is all about the bottom line, the profit margin, and none of it concerns itself with ethical or moral decency.

And why would banks and big business care about ethical and moral dilemmas? Wells Fargo killed a little girl recently. It was in the news. How do you properly put a corporation on the stand and accuse them of murder for profit? You don’t; people have to be accused of committing crimes. People, however, are content to hide behind corporate memos. Things need to change. Things must change.

In Italy and other countries the crimes of banks and corporations have been cause for rioting in the streets. In Iceland bankers were jailed for contributing to the financial crisis.

I’m sorry but I’m from Bakersfield. If you kill someone’s child, or steal someone’s horse then there is a good chance you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of a noose---and rightfully so!

My great-grandmother was Irene Howard. She walked the Trail of Tears when she was three. According to family stories, Irena began the trip with her mother and father. She ended the trip with her father and stepmother. My great-grandfather was a Native American who fought in the Civil War to gain “white status” which would allow him to legally marry my great-grandmother. (That is actually what people called it, as far as I know.) It also allowed him to own land and granted his family other rights that we take for granted. They had a daughter, Ada Plummer, and she had a daughter---my grandmother Rose. Grandma Rose was a seamstress when time allowed. She had a good phone voice, though, so for work she was often employed doing some manner of telephone customer service. My grandfather---he died when I was three---was sort of a farmer’s hand. He was Irish according to my mother, though his last name is English. My mother told me that they moved a lot when she was young because picking strawberries and the like was transient employment. Even in California, with its extended growing season, not all crops are ready for picking at the same time. After my mother was born my grandparents had three boys: my Uncle Jim, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Mike. My grandfather Lloyd would take the three boys when they didn’t have school and they would all go out into the fields to work.

I’m not sure if you needed to know all of that, actually. But I think knowledge can lead to understanding so maybe you did need to know it.

I grew up in a city in California but the city thought it was a small, Southern town. We had the rodeo come through every year. People wore mostly jeans and plaid shirts. You made tea on the roof and lemonade with lemons.

Being an American takes a great deal of courage. Being an American means a deep generosity of spirit that brings to mind the great heroics of legends and idols.

To quote Arjun Sethi: This country's commitment to equality - and to the promise of a nation that is not just characterized by diversity but also defined by it - is what drives immigrants here and what makes the United States the envy of the world; it's what led so many immigrants to cross miles and oceans and leave behind more than most of us can imagine.

Bigotry is deeply un-American.

National Coming Out Day

Okay, so I'm very Belated on this particular holiday. By about a week. But it doesn't matter how much time passes this is still a subject I believe needs to be talked about. I believe a lot of people have already said some amazing things---so I'm gonna quote some people smarter than me in a bit---but I want to add my support to the LGBT community across the United States, heck across the world even.

First, let me clear something up for you: I am not a member of this community, even though I identify with it. The fact that I regard people who have non-standard sexual orientations as super cool is something that we need more of in the world. If you want to debunk the standard arguments against gay marriage then do refer to John Corvino's videos for an excellent study. Or, better yet, buy his book. Part of me feels like the only person at a school for superheroes who doesn't have any super powers when I say that. John Corvino may say that it has never been a reaction to homosexuality for a straight person to want to be gay... He's both right and wrong. Being straight as a ruler was never a choice I made. If anything it was a truth about me that (at least in high school) I wish hadn't been true. I had trouble finding a date and part of my explanation for that was to say that if I were gay or bisexual the choices would be better. (I certainly wasn't going to admit that my dating issues were because I was neurotic and a little bit obsessed with my education.) Not my fault, young me cried.

Imagine for a moment (here is a moment of girl geek for you) that for whatever reason you are in the X-Men universe. You are attending Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters despite the fact that you are not a mutant (pick a reason, prophecy, luck, or whatever). As a non-mutant fighting to defend the rights of the mutants around you, your friends and classmates, what would you say?

People accuse mutants of being dangerous. Well, mutants are dangerous because mutants are people and people are dangerous. Having fantastic abilities does not dictate whether or not any particular mutant will use those special abilities for good or for ill.

The same could be said about heterosexual couples verses homosexual couples: being detrimental to society is something that we are all capable of and it has nothing to do with our sexuality. It has to do with who we are. You can look (and not look very hard) and find married heterosexual couples that are not capable or not willing to have children (just like some homosexual couples) and you can certainly find news reports about married couples abusing their children. That is not good for children or for society. It may actually be harder for a homosexual couple to get away with abusing children because people in our adoption system may be more willing to see problems in a non-standard situation that in the standard one.

What I find particularly heartbreaking is the religious doctrine that Christians have been learning, in regards to the LGBT community. Matthew Vines preaches and excellent sermon on the subject. He is preaching to the LGBT community the message that being gay is not a sin and the Bible doesn't say that it is a sin. Actually, I found his post both informative and moving. I agree with what he has said and if I any of my children decides to become a Christian this is the sort of preacher I would want for my children.

If you are Jewish and you want an way to reconcile homosexuality with Leviticus then I would refer you to Rabbi Arthur Waskow who says some wonderful things about the ability of Judaism to adapt to a new world. Here's an excerpt: " Let us learn from a passage of Talmud (Baba Kama 79b) that cautions against raising goats and sheep in the Land of Israel. Since our forebears did precisely that, how could the Talmud have the chutzpah to oppose it? The Rabbis knew that since great and growing numbers of humans were raising goats and sheep there, these flocks would denude and ruin the Land. The world had changed, and so did Jewish holy practice. Biblical Judaism professed three basic rules for proper sexual ethics: Have as many children as possible. (Gen. 1:28: "Be fruitful, multiply, fill up the earth, and subdue it."); men were to rule over women (Genesis 3:16, where God says to Eve, "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you"; and sex was delightful and sacred (Song of Songs, throughout). Celibacy was strongly discouraged." The rabbi goes on to say: "

In a world already filled and subdued by the human race, Rule 1, that we must multiply our numbers, may actually contravene God’s intention. In a world where Rule 2, that men must dominate women, has been transcended so that men and women can be equal, one man can lie with another 'as with a woman' without disaster. The third basic rule -- that sex is delightful and sacred -- still stands."

Honestly, I feel like I ought to write my own holy book and start a new religion, but I am much more likely to take lessons on deity from the natural world and from my own inner divinity.

Ethics in the United States

A common enough sentiment of the current era is that as long as something is not illegal then it is acceptable behavior, but this is not the case. Unethical behavior, while not necessarily illegally (yet) is still wrong and can have a detrimental affect on a person professionally as well as personally. For instance, the new healthcare reforms are proposing penalties for those companies that do not provide healthcare benefits to their full-time employees. Some companies are considering paying the penalties rather than insuring their employees, “a document prepared for Verizon by consulting firm Hewitt Resources stated, ‘Even though the proposed assessments [on companies that do not provide health care] are material, they are modest when compared to the average cost of health care,’ and that to avoid costs and regulations, ‘employers may consider exiting the health care market and send employees to the Exchanges.’ (Under the new bill, employees who lose their coverage will purchase health care through state-run exchanges.)” (Tully, 2010). The threat of public backlash against such unethical business practices will hopefully mitigate the number of employers that actually take this route.

Ethics are complex standards of demeanor. Ethics can be personal or very broad. The rules by which an individual wishes to determine his or her carriage are personal ethics. The guidelines to which a group (religion, nation, et cetera) holds itself and each of its members accountable are community or global ethics. In the case of global ethics some consider all ethical principles to have evolved from our instinctive ethics. For example it would go against natural instincts in our species to abandon our children because humans produce so few offspring; raising children increases the chances of the community’s survival.

Another example of instinctive ethics might be found in Sagan and Druyan’s book which discusses a group of macaque monkeys that demonstrated the willingness to sacrifice rather than cause pain or suffering to another macaque monkey. In this experiment “[M]acaques were fed if they were willing to pull a chain and electrically shock an unrelated macaque whose agony was in plain view through a one-way mirror. Otherwise, they starved. […] 87% preferred to go hungry,” scientists reported (Sagan & Druyan, 1993). Humans repress these instincts in favor of learned habits or else people flounder when faced with a much more subtle ethical dilemma. The macaque monkeys instinctively valued the well-being of other living creatures above the basic need for food.

Values are more like ideals and they may vary both in what is considered valuable and in the importance and priority of each value. Values are ideals rather than rules and how much they can vary, even among two people who believe they have similar values. This difference may often be caused by the difference between instrumental values and intrinsic values. For one person family may be a value that is an intrinsic value, or valuable on its own, and the value of money may be an instrumental value. In that case money is valuable because it allows that person to afford to have a family and not for the sake of having money.

Understanding the ethical guidelines and the importance and priority of values can make navigate the pitfalls of life a bit easier.

References

Sagan, C., & Druyan, A. (1993). Shadows of forgotten ancestors. New York, NY: The Random House Publishing Group.

Tully, S. (2010, May 6). Documents reveal AT&T, Verizon, others, thought about dropping employer-sponsored benefits. Fortune. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/05/news/companies/dropping_benefits.fortune/

Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform Summary

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 may reduce the cost of health care in the United States.


Pros

The PPACA “would mandate that most US citizens and legal residents purchase 'minimal essential coverage'” (Grier, 2010, para. 5). An estimate from 2006 states that health care spending will account for 20% of the GDP of the United States by 2015 (Borger, 2006). The burden of unpaid medical bills on the economy may be relieved when more individuals have coverage.

This policy would improve Medicare financing. According to the Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) it is “estimated that the act would reduce [Medicare] Part A outlays by $246 billion and increase HI [Hospital Insurance Trust Fund] revenues by $69 billion during the 2010-2019 period” (Congressional Budget Office, 2009, para. 5).

The PPACA would invest in prevention of Medicare fraud rather than following the “pay and chase” model (Wachler, Colagiovanni & Laney, 2011, p. 24). Health care fraud accounts for a significantly large amount of health care spending in the United States and reducing Medicare fraud is a goal of this policy.


Cons

The PPACA may not directly reduce the cost of health care for individuals. Unfortunately, “[m]edical costs, out-of-pocket expenses, and the degree to which comprehensive health insurance coverage is available may have more to do with personal bankruptcy filings than does the lack of insurance coverage” (Brotman, 2006, p. 70-1).



Health Care Reform

Many people admire and respect President Obama because of the way he treats others. One aspect of being a good leader is making connections with others. Connecting to people as a leader means identifying with people and relating to them in a manner that grants the leader influence over the group (Maxwell, 2010). President Obama has displayed his communication abilities through his actions abroad and at home. Presidential candidate Barack Obama told reporters that his mother had delivered him when she was only eighteen upon being asked for his comment on the news that Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter had unintentionally become pregnant (King, 2008). Barack Obama demonstrated dignity and respect, even against his competitors. Connecting with people “reinforces a sense of community and teamwork, and expands influence and productivity” (Maxwell, 2010, p. 2). Internationally, President Obama has displayed his leadership ability across different cultures. When Barack Obama entered the position of President, he inherited a poor foreign public opinion. In a relatively short amount of time he has turned around the nation’s reputation abroad. As the President of the United States, he declared that “[t]he United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial” after Japan was hit with an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear disaster in a short period of time (Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, 2011, para. 1). Putting the well-being of other people in his nation first is that mark of a good President. The mark of a great leader is understanding that people are connected so the success or failure of America’s international neighbors affects the success or failure of the United States.

In 2009, President Barrack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. After three years of Barack Obama’s presidency the nation has seen the overhaul of a healthcare system desperate for revision since the early 1940s. The United States has seen many superior leaders as President and many leaders who have become only footnotes in the history of the nation. Despite the desperate need for national legislation recognizing the inherent right to health care it took nearly 70 years for a great leader to prioritize and push through the legislation reforming health care in the United States.

After World War II the health care system was the drastically changed by the radical new idea of pre-paid healthcare. The change began in the 1940’s, during the war. One of the ethical issues that I find has been ignored for a very long time is the effect that insurance companies have a on patient treatment. We are one of the richest countries in the world. Yet for years we have been letting our fellow citizens go without good health when we can prevent it. This strikes me as unethical. One Fridays I do clerical work at a hematologist and oncologist's office. It is amazing that any of her patients could (at any time) have a treatment or test denied by the insurance company. I hear things, even though I really try not to, and I am angry and amazed at what I've heard and seen insurance companies do to some of these patients. I remember once that the insurance company told Dr. Nanci that it would take at least a week before they would get back to her on the authorization of a treatment. The patient need the treatment urgently and had seriously low count of something in her blood. (Dr. Nanci said it was a miracle she was still standing.) Dr. Nanci advised the patient to go immediately the hospital and we would try at the office to get it authorized if we could, or we would work on a retroactive authorization. I really want it to become common ethics that insurance companies be limited or ruled more by doctors than the other way around. I don't think I could ever work for an insurance company because I consider them, largely, to be unethical (at least by my standards). The doctor knows the patient, knows the illness, and perhaps ordering medically unnecessary treatments or tests should be punishable in some way (unethical in itself) the denial or authorization / payment by insurance companies for a medically necessary treatment is unethical (to me anyway).

The pattern of rejecting government plans for national health programs began early and continued until 2010. In the 1944 during his State of the Union address President Roosevelt asked Congress for an "economic bill of rights," including the right to adequate medical care. "The Second Bill of Rights – FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need it More Than Ever" a book written by Cass R. Sunstein, Professor of Jurisprudence at Chicago School of Law, discusses how and why the Second Bill of Rights was never fully implemented in the United States (Tarvis, Dec. 13, 2006). Later, President Truman offered a national health program plan. He proposed a single system of health care that would include all American citizens. Truman's plan was denounced by the American Medical Association (AMA) and called a Communist plot by a House subcommittee (The Healthcare Crisis: Healthcare Timeline).

The whole "Communist plot" thing (the reason for this video on Upworthy, by the way) is a result of the Red Scare. The Red Scare (you can google Red Scare) was a period in our history that was extremely un-American. The government, as a part of the Cold War era, attempted to demonize the enemy (the Soviets / Communists) and initiated a nationwide witch hunt against anyone who held a particular belief in communist or socialist theories. This was a blatant violation of the Fourth, Fifth,Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution---blatant and nationwide violations of the rights of American citizens. Accusing someone of being a Communist as if it is a bad thing is equivalent to accusing someone of being Jewish or Catholic like it is a bad thing. That is to say it is idiotic and reeks of bigotry.

Healthcare costs began to escalate rapidly in the 1950’s when hospital prices doubled. By the 1990’s the cost of healthcare rose at double the rate of inflation. This pattern continues today. Some of the increases were partially due to swift economic inflation or the expansion of hospital expenses and profits. Medicare costs contributed to the crisis because they were unexpectedly high for a number of reasons. Changes in medical care including greater use of technology, medications, and conservative approaches to treatment also ran up the bill. The refusal of government to pass legislature that would solve the legitimate healthcare needs of United States crippled the healthcare system. The system of health care developed with the underlying ethic that appropriate medical care would be expensive and only those Americans who could afford the high cost would be treated appropriately.

A freeze on wage and prices were placed on American employers during World War II. American companies found a loophole in the economic freeze by offering health benefits to employees to vie for the best job applicants; this practice brought about an employer-based health care system that still exists today. Private insurances came into being early on and by the 1960’s there were over 700 private insurance companies to encourage the high prices of medical care. It was at this time that it became especially difficult for Americans outside of workplaces that offer health insurance to afford medical care.

The changes in the health care system are important because as professionals within the system we must be aware of the impact health care reforms will have on our careers. As Americans we must be aware of the changes that are coming from a more personal perspective. On one hand, as a consumer I hope to benefit from health care reforms geared toward lowering the cost of medical care. On the other hand, as a healthcare administrator the reforms that lower the cost of health care might also increase the competitiveness of my career choice or decrease the average amount I will be paid in the future.

Despite the possible conflict of interest, I fully support President Obama's health care plan because I value the moral and ethical standard of universal health care. I also believe that universal health care is consistent with (if not required by) the inherent promises of a democracy. The health care industry deals with the most precious commodity, human life. The value of a human life is immeasurable for many people but the cost of health care resources may be expensive.

This policy would improve Medicare financing. According to the Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) it is “estimated that the act would reduce [Medicare] Part A outlays by $246 billion and increase HI [Hospital Insurance Trust Fund] revenues by $69 billion during the 2010-2019 period” (Congressional Budget Office, 2009, para. 5).

Nationwide access to health care is vital to the ethical and financial needs of the country because the right of universal health care is a part of the right to equal opportunities. Ethically and practically, universal health care preserves the health and success of the nation. In a speech presented to the 1936 Democratic National Convention Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “[l]iberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for” (Roosevelt, 1936, para. 17). It has taken many years to pass a national health care plan, so it is surprising that “most Americans favor a right to a job and a right to health care” (Sunstein, 2004, para. 24). The Health Care Reform Act of 2010 was sweeping legislation signed into law by President Obama providing the majority of Americans with access to medical care and reducing the cost of health care nationwide.

Health care resources are a sizable portion of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States. The problem is that the amount of money the United States spends on health care is as much or more than most countries in the world (Healthcare Spending in the United States and Selected Countries, 2011). The nation's spending on health careaccounted for "16% of GDP in 2008" (Healthcare Spending in the United States and Selected Countries, 2011, p. 4) and an estimate from 2006 states that health carespending will account for "20 percent of GDP by 2015” (Borger, 2006, p. W61). “The healthcare reform bill would mandate that most US citizens and legal residents purchase 'minimal essential coverage' for themselves and their dependents” (Grier, 2010, para. 5). For example, "[t]hose who are exempt, or under 30, can buy a policy that only pays for catastrophic medical costs. It must allow for three primary care visits a year as well" (Hossain & Quealy, 2010, para. 29). With the new reform bill, more individual will be covered, which will potentially lower the cost of medical bills.

“The federal government share of health care spending increased [...] in 2009 to 27 percent” of the National Health Expenditure (NHE) while household spending on healthcare made up 28 percent, private businesses 21 percent, and state and local government 16 percent of the NHE (NHE Fact Sheet, 2011, para. 1). Unfortunately, “[m]edical costs, out-of-pocket expenses, and the degree to which comprehensive health insurance coverage is available may have more to do with personal bankruptcy filings than does the lack of insurance coverage” (Brotman, 2006, p. 70-1). This information suggests that it is the out of pocket cost of health care, with or without medical insurance, that takes the heaviest toll on individual U.S. citizens.

Obamacare also includes measures to reduce and prevent fraud, specifically Medicare fraud. Recently, one of the largest health care fraud cases in the history of American medicine led to an arrest. Dr. Jacques Roy and his accomplices were arrested on February 28, 2012 for allegedly certifying and re-certifying Plan of Caredocuments for Home Health Agencies to bill Medicare for home health services that were neither necessary nor performed and fraudulently deprived Medicare "of nearly $380 million between January 2006 and November 2001" (Fink, 2012, para. 1). This arrest was in part made possible by President Obama's crusade to save our health care system. The PPACA would invest in prevention of Medicare fraud rather than following the “pay and chase” model (Wachler, Colagiovanni & Laney, 2011, p. 24). Health care fraud accounts for a significantly large amount of health care spending in the United States and reducing Medicare fraud is a goal of this policy.

I do have to mention one obvious drawback in the universal health care system: not enough doctors. The effect of expanding health care insurance to cover all United States citizens will be enormous. The current plan is to make health care as universal as possible but there is a risk that once everyone has the ability to go see a physician then everyone will go and there will not be enough doctors to handle the influx of new patients. Before the reform has even gone into effect the country is starting out with a shortage of primary care physicians: and when the reform goes into effect the shortage will become even worse. The demand for health care services will be high while the availability will be low which is a recipe for higher prices. Many doctors have already begun to change by becoming concierge doctors. This shift will widen the difference between the quality of medical care for the wealthy as compared to the quality of medical care for the poor. Yes, people will have health insurance coverage, but according to a November 2010 Physicians Foundation Survey so there is a concern that there will be many people paying for health care coverage without receiving care. To combat the shortage The cost of health care services may rise even with these provisions to increase the number of available doctors simply because doctors are not made overnight; it takes many years to complete medical school. The other possibility is that many states will be required by the sheer number of patients looking for care to allow more privileges to nurse practitioners so that the NPs can take the place of the physician in many cases.


References

Alban-Metcalfe, J. (2009). Decisive leaders: to be or not to be? International Journal Of Leadership In Public Services, 5(4), 50-52.

Borger, C., Smith, S., Truffer, C., Keehan, S., Sisko, A., Poisal, J., & Clemens, M. (2006).Health spending projections through 2015: changes on the horizon. Health Affairs (Project Hope), 25(2), w61-w73.

Brotman, B. (2006). The Relationship Between Medical Care Costs and Personal Bankruptcy. Journal of Health Care Finance, 32(3), 66-71.

Brooks, D. (2011). Convener in chief. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/opinion/28brooks.html?_r=1

Congressional Budget Office. (2009). Effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on the federal budget and the balance in the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. Retrieved from http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10868/12-23-trust_fund_accounting.pdf

Fink, J. (2012). Rockwall doctor charged in biggest U.S. healthcare fraud ever. CBS News. Retrieved from http://cbsdallas.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/jacques-roy-indictment.pdf

Grier, P. (2010). The Christian science monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0319/Health-care-reform-bill-101-Who-must-buy-insurance

Healthcare Spending in the United States and Selected Countries. (2011). Medical Benefits, 28(11), 3-4.

Hossain, F., & Quealy, K. (2010, March 21). How the Health Care Overhaul Could Affect You. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/21/us/health-care-reform.html?scp=1&sq=How%20the%20Health%20Care%20Overhaul%20Could%20Affect%20You&st=cse

Japan earthquake and tsunami (2011). The White House. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/japan-earthquake-tsunami

King, D. (2008). One world, one heart. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-king/one-world-one-heart_b_141853.html

Maxwell, J. C. (2010). Everyone communicates, few connect. Business Book Review Library, 1-8.

NHE Fact Sheet. (2011). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Retrieved fromhttps://www.cms.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/25_NHE_Fact_sheet.asp

Roosevelt, F.D. (1939). A rendezvous with destiny. Retrieved from http://www.austincc.edu/lpatrick/his2341/fdr36acceptancespeech.htm

Silverman, F. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm

Sunstein, C. (2004). Economic security: a human right. The American Prospect. Retrieved from http://prospect.org/article/economic-security-human-right

Tarvis, D. (Dec. 13, 2006.) American Politics Journal. Retrieved from http://www.apj.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid

Wachler, A.B., Colagiovanni, J. & Laney, C.J. (2011). One year later: the impact of health care reform on health care provider audits and compliance programs. Retrieved from http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1859.pdf

Fairness and Equality

There are things I have been hearing a lot about lately and I want to discuss some of the things people are talking about. The election is a big deal. I voted for Barrack Obama in the last election and I’ll vote for him again this November. I am a Democrat but I occasionally vote for measures that the Democratic Party does not endorse or support. Voting is my way to express my voice in this large country and I am not about to automatically vote for any set of propositions. I believe in being as educated and informed as I can be when I vote. I believe in government regulation of business, higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to bear arms. I consider myself an American above and beyond all things. I am a spiritual person, a witch to be specific, but if I have to lay claim to any document that I consider sacred that document is probably the Declaration of Independence (or at least the second sentence of it). I am more passionate and faithfully an American than I am a witch, that I can admit fully. I believe in my duty as an American to uphold and defend the intrinsic promises of democracy. I am a sincere and devout believer in human rights.

The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, although I’m sure you’ve heard it before, has this to say:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We are not all created equal.

Yes, I know, I just said that I hold that sentence up as if it is scripture and now I am saying the opposite. Different religious groups interpret Biblical scripture differently, often to account for factual errors in the Bible. My interpretation of equality might be different.

We are not all born the same. Some of us are born with higher IQs some of us are born with mental illnesses. Some of us, most of us, are terribly average. Some children are born to wealthy parents, some children are born in poverty, and others are (again) average. We tend to believe and we tend to teach our children that they are born utterly unique and special. So, how can we say that we are all created equal?

We are all created equal in the eyes of the law. We are all equal in respect and dignity. We are all human and we are (if we are born or naturalized into the United States) citizens of the nation. This means that we are equal, even when we are not the same. Equality does not mean sameness.

On the same subject I would like to touch of the fairness of equality and the difference between fairness and sameness.

Treating everyone the same is not necessarily fair. This country has a long history of showing that separate but equal is not equal in the real world.

So, what is treating people fairly if it is not treating people the same?

Treating people fairly is about giving people what they need and deserve---which is not the same as what they want. 

(That is not to say that we should bring back separate but equal.)

You may find this hard to believe but sometimes teachers object to children with dyslexia having transparent blue-tinted screens to help them read. The objection is that providing help to some children and not all is discriminatory and unfair. This is preposterous, of course, but in case you don’t agree I will give you a more extreme example.

Imagine you just walked into a classroom. A teacher is standing over a student who is on the ground and his face is blue. He needs CPR. The teacher tells you that she will not give CPR to the child because it would be unfair to the other students. She insists that if she gives CPR to one student then she will have to give CPR to all of the students and she doesn’t have the resources (time and money). You would have that teacher arrested, I hope.

Does fair treatment mean equal treatment? Clearly, not in this case. What is equal should be opportunity. All citizens should have the same opportunities to excel and achieve both as children and also as adults. Those who are in need ought to be given what they need and those who are deserving ought to be rewarded. Citizens who have reaped more rewards from the system that provided them with the same opportunities as those who were not as successful ought to put more back into the system. I believe in higher taxes for the wealthy because I believe that those who make more deserve to pay more, the same way I believe my significant other deserves to carry a larger portion of the groceries we buy together because he is physically capable of carrying more than I am.

That is not to say that people shouldn’t pay their own share of taxes. In a healthy and economically sound society the middle class pays for itself, effectively, and the wealthy pay for themselves and those who are poverty stricken. Those who are poverty stricken are obviously not going to pay for themselves (as far as taxes) because they can’t afford to buy groceries or pay rent without help. So, what would you tax them? Yes, this is the IRS calling. We’d like to charge your taxes through a blood “donation" this year.



I am  passionate about the promises inherent in democracy. I am passionate about human rights, aid for the poor, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. I also believe that along with our rights we have responsibilities as Americans. I have a duty to defend the rights of others, especially if I am to have any expectation that they will help to defend my own rights. We as Americans are a community, we are a society that works together to help each other---or else what are civilizations for? Look to the origins of society, when cavemen and women huddled together in times of darkness, drought, starvation, and illness.

If not for that then why do we form families, communities, and nations?
We stand together because we have made commitments to each other to ensure our mutual success, our mutual health and well-being. And it has been our greatest shame that we have struggled for so long to honor that promise to each other by neglecting health care reform.

People (Mitt Romney in particular) have said that the health care reform is about a sense of entitlement. First of all, a man that wealthy doesn't get to lecture me about a sense of entitlement. It would be a joke.

But we do feel that there are things that our government has the responsibility to govern, or else we wouldn't have a government. Health care reform is needed to regulate the health care industry. I'm not talking about your friendly neighborhood doctor who does not fraudulently bill you or Medicare. I am talking about health insurance companies that have made record profits throughout the economic downturn. I am taking about health care organizations that fraudulently bill Medicare and patients. I am talking about government negotiating with medical equipment companies and big pharma to lower the cost of medications and equipment for everyone.

What can make me ashamed of our government is that other countries have been doing these things for years. We have long known the problem, we have long known the solutions, and yet We. Did. Nothing---for over seventy years!
Healthy citizens are more productive and better able to contribute to society as a whole. Someone who is disabled, given reasonable accommodations, can be a leader or a doctor or a business man. We can build great things together if we will only stand together and help each other.

We have already built great things together. Our country has clean water access and postal routes just about.everywhere. Imagine if the argument about health care reform were to clean water were  to be applied to your water access. How dare you feel entitled to clean water at an affordable price. The government doesn't have the right and shouldn't try to regulate your utility company. Your utility company ought to be able to price gauge the same way that the gas station does, the same way your insurance company does. What would you end up paying for your water?

We as a country have other shames, too. The state of our health care system is perhaps the greatest shame but it is one of many.

Writing is for Love

I’ve been told over and over again that writing is not a good career choice. Writing, my father said, will never make you any money so if you do become a writer you had better marry a rich man.

Well, I haven’t married a rich man. Instead, I graduated high school and went to college and earned first an associate of arts degree and then a bachelor of science degree. I pursued then and still pursue now a career in health care administration. I currently work in the front office as a medical receptionist. I am looking to change my job (not my career field) because I just recently graduated with my bachelor of science. I want a position that allows me the financial means to pay back my student loans without going bankrupt and (preferentially) a position that allows for my to grow and be promoted in the future.

Job hunting is both perilous and tedious. I am leaving my current position, as of October 9th, to job hunt and take advantage of any promising temp-to-hire positions that I can find. It was not an easy decision and the prospect of being unemployed even by my own choosing after three years working at the same job is frightening and strange to me.

I have nightmarish thoughts about what I might do if I can’t find the work I am looking for before my savings runs out. This despite the fact that I know I will be fine for months even if there is zero temp work. Besides that, I live with my significant other and while he appreciates what I contribute financially to pay rent we are both well aware of the fact that he can afford to pay rent by himself. We have talked about and planned for even the most unlikely of worst scenarios. Still, thoughts linger about what other options are available to me.

One thought that lingers in the back of my mind day and night, no matter what I am doing, is the thought of writing. When I was a young girl I read voraciously. I read at least half or sometimes nearly all of the books in every school I ever attended. I moved schools a lot; last time I counted the number of schools I had attended was in the double digits.

No matter where I go or what I do I fully believe the urge to write will follow me. So, once again I pull up a blank document and put my thoughts toward writing.