From the Wall St. Journal. As long as HSAs, FSAs, and the penalty (down from $3900 to $1900) keep coming in lower than the $5000 or so estimated "new" annual health insurance premiums, people are going to jump ship whether or not their employer pushes them.
HSAs and FSAs are tax-deductible today. Couple this with the fact that paying cash for preventative services nets you a cash discount, and most HSA/FSA plans allow you to include OTC supplements as "preventative medicine", making THEM tax-deductible as well. You can clearly see the magnitude of savings to be had from opting out--provided Congress doesn't touch the HSAs or FSAs, or their tax-deductibility.
We'll see in the coming days what Congress plans to do--I'm betting they leave the HSAs and FSAs untouched. They always leave a back door or loophole for themselves, because they don't want to be subject to the same things we peons are.
Related article: People Playing the Odds on Health Care Over Cost (Yahoo News).
Monday, September 28, 2009
Okay--Obama Now Hates Our Kids
He wants to curtail summer vacations. It isn't enough that he's trying to indoctrinate them!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
My Answer to the Public Option--Affordable Health Care Reform Begins At Home
I’m absolutely sick to death about the amount of whining that goes on about unaffordable health care, and I’m absolutely sick to death with our government’s proposed best efforts to handle this issue—always employing the “Let’s throw money and political power at the problem!” approach without even once considering the consequences (intentional or not), or what the effects of such decisions would look like years later.
Just like the obesity battle begins with the shopping cart, the battle for affordable health care begins at home, continues with the shopping cart, returns home, and maybe ends up at a hospital when all else fails. But the hospital should never be the starting point.
In order to see who should provide you with health care, go in your bathroom and stand in front of your sink. Now look up in the mirror. That’s right—it’s YOU. While you’re in there, wash your hands with hot water and soap—we don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
Okay—now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who your health care provider is, and taken the first step in providing disease prevention for yourself (by washing your hands), go out to your kitchen and stand in front of THAT sink. To your left, right, down below, and/or maybe overhead, there should be some cabinets with food items in them—reach over and pull out an item (can, jar, or box), turn it around until you see the nutrition label on the back.
If you’re suffering from hypertension, salt is your enemy, and it comes in two forms: table salt for shakers, and hidden sodium for food preservation. The government tells us that 140 grams of sodium per serving counts as “low sodium”—how much sodium does that item you just grabbed contain? If it’s more than 140 mg. per serving, you’re contributing to your own hypertension without even using a salt shaker!
Now, if you happen to be a diabetic, check that same item for the “sugars” content and high fructose corn syrup. Any good dietitian will tell you that you should avoid high fructose corn syrup, and consume no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving PER DAY—how much sugar is in your chosen item? If it’s more than 6 grams per serving, you’re contributing to your diabetes without ever having touched the sugar canister!
You can go through your entire food collection and survey the damage you’re doing to yourself by eating this salt-and-sugar-laden food.
Congratulations—you’ve just completed Step 2 of a long road to illness prevention and providing yourself with health care reform: becoming aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat. Now you have two choices: either consume it and replace it with more healthful selections, or give it to a food bank and replace it with more healthful selections. Maybe now you’ll take the step of actually READING the labels while you’re still inside the grocery store! Now go wash your hands again.
All done? Okay, now let’s go to the computer and get on Google. Enter “foods with lowest sodium and sugar” in the search bar, and see what comes up—it’s likely to be fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy. Your next stop should be the grocery store, so go wash the computer cooties off your hands (you don’t know who else has been there), get your keys and checkbook, and I’ll meet you at the car. Meanwhile, you have just completed Step 3 on the road to better health and self-reform: becoming knowledgeable about healthful and more nutritious foods…now let’s go get some! Don’t hesitate to repeat this step as needed.
While you’re in the store, why not go over to the pharmacy area and peruse the smoking cessation products (if you smoke)? Stopping smoking is Step 4 of the Health Care Self-Reform project. Decide to quit and get some today.
Now that you’ve been to the store and presumably loaded up on (or at least brought home) some more healthful foods, and maybe some smoking cessation products, let’s head over to the hardware store in search of a faucet filter for your kitchen—you need to drink and make drinks with clean water, and some cities don’t do a good job of filtering the water (or maybe you’re on a well). Cutting down on water-borne contaminants does a wonder for your insides, as well as helping you complete Step 5 of your project.
With the new food, faucet filter, and maybe some smoking cessation aids, you head home…to install your new filter, and to wash your hands again. After taking these very important steps, you settle into a new food routine with your new-found nutrition knowledge. Later, you begin to wonder about fat, so you look up “good fats” in your search engine, check your cupboards and clean out the bad fats, then make notes for the next shopping trip. Mark off Step 6 and go wash your hands.
After eating your new food, and being on your new regimen for awhile, you notice some things: you have more energy, you probably lost a little weight, your skin may be clearer, your hair may be softer, and you haven’t been hampered by colds, sniffles, and sneezes like you used to. Not only that, but your family is improving as well—they, too, seem healthier, more energetic, and better behaved.
Perhaps by this time, you’ve directed your new energy toward your job duties, and your new vigor has earned you a raise, a promotion, or maybe you found a new job with benefits—now’s the time to take Step 7: go to a doctor or clinic (even a freebie clinic will do) to get your blood and urine analyzed (a CBC and urinalysis). Get a blood pressure check while there, and you’ll probably notice it isn’t as high as it used to be. Your blood test will likely also show normal-range blood sugar, but it’s the cholesterol and uric acid numbers we’re after. If the cholesterol’s high or out of line, keep eating in your new way, but increase your fiber. If you have a family history of gout or osteoporosis, increase your calcium. Other than that, keep eating those fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to get copies of the blood and urine test results—you’ll need them for Step 8.
As you earn and save more money, your next step is to locate a dietitian to look over your test results—he or she will then instruct you how to improve your eating so your test results will improve. Basically, it’s help in refining your eating—what to eat MORE of, and what to avoid. Once this is done, you can wash your hands and mark off Step 8.
Step 9 would be to consult with a doctor about any needed immunizations for you and/or your family—these should be kept current. At this point, you might be thinking that you feel so good, and your family’s doing so well, that you won’t be sick ever again. The same cannot be said for people around you, people you work with, people at your kids’ school, your spouse’s co-workers, customers, relatives, etc.—they all get exposed to others who may carry a communicable disease, and let’s face it, not everyone is on your new disease-prevention regimen. So far, it’s looking like H1N1 doesn’t really care what anybody eats, so get immunized and stay current if you can afford it. Wash those hands.
If you can afford it (or eventually get coverage), do seek out the usual annual stuff: physicals, mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, CBC and urinalysis, and whatever else you or your family may need in the way of preventative care—this is Step 10. Whatever you do, don’t stop with Steps 1-9 on the way to 10, because you aren’t done yet!
If you’ve managed to come this far, you’ve reached the Bonus Round—hidden benefits to your eyes and teeth. All the good eating you’ve been doing has also worked on you (and your family’s) eyes and teeth too, making them healthier, easier, and cheaper to maintain—a slowing of vision degradation, and a slowing and even reversal of tooth decay and/or gum disease problems.
Now that you—emphasis on YOU—have learned how to take better care of yourself and others, do you still feel you need the oppressive hand of government (not to mention unwilling taxpayers) to provide you with something you provide for yourself, starting in the bathroom mirror? Affordable health care really DOES begin at home!
Just like the obesity battle begins with the shopping cart, the battle for affordable health care begins at home, continues with the shopping cart, returns home, and maybe ends up at a hospital when all else fails. But the hospital should never be the starting point.
In order to see who should provide you with health care, go in your bathroom and stand in front of your sink. Now look up in the mirror. That’s right—it’s YOU. While you’re in there, wash your hands with hot water and soap—we don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
Okay—now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who your health care provider is, and taken the first step in providing disease prevention for yourself (by washing your hands), go out to your kitchen and stand in front of THAT sink. To your left, right, down below, and/or maybe overhead, there should be some cabinets with food items in them—reach over and pull out an item (can, jar, or box), turn it around until you see the nutrition label on the back.
If you’re suffering from hypertension, salt is your enemy, and it comes in two forms: table salt for shakers, and hidden sodium for food preservation. The government tells us that 140 grams of sodium per serving counts as “low sodium”—how much sodium does that item you just grabbed contain? If it’s more than 140 mg. per serving, you’re contributing to your own hypertension without even using a salt shaker!
Now, if you happen to be a diabetic, check that same item for the “sugars” content and high fructose corn syrup. Any good dietitian will tell you that you should avoid high fructose corn syrup, and consume no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving PER DAY—how much sugar is in your chosen item? If it’s more than 6 grams per serving, you’re contributing to your diabetes without ever having touched the sugar canister!
You can go through your entire food collection and survey the damage you’re doing to yourself by eating this salt-and-sugar-laden food.
Congratulations—you’ve just completed Step 2 of a long road to illness prevention and providing yourself with health care reform: becoming aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat. Now you have two choices: either consume it and replace it with more healthful selections, or give it to a food bank and replace it with more healthful selections. Maybe now you’ll take the step of actually READING the labels while you’re still inside the grocery store! Now go wash your hands again.
All done? Okay, now let’s go to the computer and get on Google. Enter “foods with lowest sodium and sugar” in the search bar, and see what comes up—it’s likely to be fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy. Your next stop should be the grocery store, so go wash the computer cooties off your hands (you don’t know who else has been there), get your keys and checkbook, and I’ll meet you at the car. Meanwhile, you have just completed Step 3 on the road to better health and self-reform: becoming knowledgeable about healthful and more nutritious foods…now let’s go get some! Don’t hesitate to repeat this step as needed.
While you’re in the store, why not go over to the pharmacy area and peruse the smoking cessation products (if you smoke)? Stopping smoking is Step 4 of the Health Care Self-Reform project. Decide to quit and get some today.
Now that you’ve been to the store and presumably loaded up on (or at least brought home) some more healthful foods, and maybe some smoking cessation products, let’s head over to the hardware store in search of a faucet filter for your kitchen—you need to drink and make drinks with clean water, and some cities don’t do a good job of filtering the water (or maybe you’re on a well). Cutting down on water-borne contaminants does a wonder for your insides, as well as helping you complete Step 5 of your project.
With the new food, faucet filter, and maybe some smoking cessation aids, you head home…to install your new filter, and to wash your hands again. After taking these very important steps, you settle into a new food routine with your new-found nutrition knowledge. Later, you begin to wonder about fat, so you look up “good fats” in your search engine, check your cupboards and clean out the bad fats, then make notes for the next shopping trip. Mark off Step 6 and go wash your hands.
After eating your new food, and being on your new regimen for awhile, you notice some things: you have more energy, you probably lost a little weight, your skin may be clearer, your hair may be softer, and you haven’t been hampered by colds, sniffles, and sneezes like you used to. Not only that, but your family is improving as well—they, too, seem healthier, more energetic, and better behaved.
Perhaps by this time, you’ve directed your new energy toward your job duties, and your new vigor has earned you a raise, a promotion, or maybe you found a new job with benefits—now’s the time to take Step 7: go to a doctor or clinic (even a freebie clinic will do) to get your blood and urine analyzed (a CBC and urinalysis). Get a blood pressure check while there, and you’ll probably notice it isn’t as high as it used to be. Your blood test will likely also show normal-range blood sugar, but it’s the cholesterol and uric acid numbers we’re after. If the cholesterol’s high or out of line, keep eating in your new way, but increase your fiber. If you have a family history of gout or osteoporosis, increase your calcium. Other than that, keep eating those fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to get copies of the blood and urine test results—you’ll need them for Step 8.
As you earn and save more money, your next step is to locate a dietitian to look over your test results—he or she will then instruct you how to improve your eating so your test results will improve. Basically, it’s help in refining your eating—what to eat MORE of, and what to avoid. Once this is done, you can wash your hands and mark off Step 8.
Step 9 would be to consult with a doctor about any needed immunizations for you and/or your family—these should be kept current. At this point, you might be thinking that you feel so good, and your family’s doing so well, that you won’t be sick ever again. The same cannot be said for people around you, people you work with, people at your kids’ school, your spouse’s co-workers, customers, relatives, etc.—they all get exposed to others who may carry a communicable disease, and let’s face it, not everyone is on your new disease-prevention regimen. So far, it’s looking like H1N1 doesn’t really care what anybody eats, so get immunized and stay current if you can afford it. Wash those hands.
If you can afford it (or eventually get coverage), do seek out the usual annual stuff: physicals, mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, CBC and urinalysis, and whatever else you or your family may need in the way of preventative care—this is Step 10. Whatever you do, don’t stop with Steps 1-9 on the way to 10, because you aren’t done yet!
If you’ve managed to come this far, you’ve reached the Bonus Round—hidden benefits to your eyes and teeth. All the good eating you’ve been doing has also worked on you (and your family’s) eyes and teeth too, making them healthier, easier, and cheaper to maintain—a slowing of vision degradation, and a slowing and even reversal of tooth decay and/or gum disease problems.
Now that you—emphasis on YOU—have learned how to take better care of yourself and others, do you still feel you need the oppressive hand of government (not to mention unwilling taxpayers) to provide you with something you provide for yourself, starting in the bathroom mirror? Affordable health care really DOES begin at home!
Just to Bring Us Up to Speed With the Obama Happenings
The Nobama Network has carefully archived all the ACORN corruption videos.
How Obama's giving away the store on missile defense, and what he plans on replacing it with.
Here's a list of videos he's been indocrinating our children with in school:
Barack Hussein Obama kindergarten chant
The Story of Stuff (hosted by Greenpeace, paid for by the Tides Foundation--see ACORN, and loaded with TONS of errors)
The "I Pledge" video (produced by Oprah, and stopped in Utah by angry parents)
And this is all we KNOW about! Imagine what ELSE is floating around out there that we DON'T know about!! This is why it's imperative for parents to be involved with your child's school happenings in the classroom--Obama can't get through to us parents, so he's going for brain-washing our children. Next thing you know, your kids are going to be bugging you for not supporting the public option, buying a hybrid car, installing solar panels, or flushing the toilet so much(which is what I think he has in store).
How Obama's giving away the store on missile defense, and what he plans on replacing it with.
Here's a list of videos he's been indocrinating our children with in school:
Barack Hussein Obama kindergarten chant
The Story of Stuff (hosted by Greenpeace, paid for by the Tides Foundation--see ACORN, and loaded with TONS of errors)
The "I Pledge" video (produced by Oprah, and stopped in Utah by angry parents)
And this is all we KNOW about! Imagine what ELSE is floating around out there that we DON'T know about!! This is why it's imperative for parents to be involved with your child's school happenings in the classroom--Obama can't get through to us parents, so he's going for brain-washing our children. Next thing you know, your kids are going to be bugging you for not supporting the public option, buying a hybrid car, installing solar panels, or flushing the toilet so much(which is what I think he has in store).
Nobama? Add NoMoore to the List--Why Michael Moore Hates Capitalism
From CNN Money. Then just what is it that's selling his books, movies, and paraphernalia, if it isn't capitalism?
Also--he gives his employees "no deductible" health care plans...the very ones in danger of being taxed by the Democrats for the public option. I wonder how they feel about THAT!
Also--he gives his employees "no deductible" health care plans...the very ones in danger of being taxed by the Democrats for the public option. I wonder how they feel about THAT!
Hi There! Wenchypoo Blasting Through
Has anybody besides me noticed the disturbing trend of our (ahem) president busting into Glenn Beck's airtime? He did it Friday during Glenn's show (5 p.m. Eastern), and again on Saturday (9 p.m. Eastern).
Is this payback for taking down Yosi Sargeant and the NEA propaganda machine? One wonders.....
Is this payback for taking down Yosi Sargeant and the NEA propaganda machine? One wonders.....
Monday, June 1, 2009
Socialism on the march
Welcome to the June 1, 2009 edition of nobama blog carnival.
First, let me extend my deep apologies that this round of Bama Bashing has been delayed, due to an illness. (Even some of the little microbial critters may have been swayed by Obama's campaign rhetoric.) Anyway, they're off my case now and I'm feeling better, so I am happy to present you with another serving of thought-provoking commentary from bloggers united in opposition to smooth-talking socialism.
I chose to include this candid photo of "The One" (taken by a substitute on the White House cleaning staff before the President was fully made up for his official appearance, I'm told) as the image for this carnival edition, because it shows something of his character that most of the official press release photos do not convey.
An important reminder: Tea Party season is not over, there will be another round for July 4. Stand up for liberty!
On to the entries, folks--we've got another great round of blogging here and I want to extend my deepest thanks to those authors who submitted their posts. Please keep up the good work! Thanks to our readers. May sanity prevail next election!
Steve Faber presents How We'll Be Forced To Drive the Most Fuel Efficient Cars - Even if We Don't Want To posted at super gas saver: "Expensive fuel is the only way to force American drivers to buy the smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles that the auto manufacturers will be building."
Wenchypoo presents The Protectionist Plastic Police posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket: "Because of this new set of regulations, Obama has created the unintended consequence of making credit less available to those he’s trying to protect and serve."
Yoav B presents Waiting for Churchill posted at Israeli Soldier's LIFE & THOUGHTS: "Posted on the special historical date of May 10th, this post discusses the world's approach towards the Iranian nuclear program. Written from the perspective of a a soldier serving in a field unit in the IDF (Israeli Defence Force)."
DWSUWF presents The Arrogance of "Hope" posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall: "The comparison that is most apt is a comparison to the arrogance of Richard Nixon, as exemplified by the money quote in the Frost/Nixon interview - 'When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.'"
Wenchypoo presents Using Our Own Money Against Us Part 4 (a new one for me): Rearranging Bank Deck Chairs posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket: "We will, in short, become Sweden II."
David Gross presents A San Francisco "Tea Party" review posted at The Picket Line: "How did the Tea Party compare with our local anti-war rallies, like that last ANSWER fiasco I went to?"
Selkirk presents Top 6 Head Scratchers of the First 100 Days posted at Political Castaway Blog: Broadcasting Conservatism to Rescue America: "Somebody in the White House really thought that it would be a good idea to take AF1 for a joy ride around Lower Manhattan."
Selkirk presents An Abject Failure: The First 100 Days posted at Political Castaway Blog: Broadcasting Conservatism to Rescue America: (in-depth analysis of Obama's first 100 days)
Shot presents First 100 days, the seeds of crisis?. posted at Conunderground.com: "Never let a crisis go to waste."
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article (with no profanity) to the next edition of nobama blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
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