My dear almost-90 year old mother passed away last Thursday evening.  She had been in a hospice care facility since Mother's Day of this year and the last couple of weeks got pretty tough for her.  I'm sure she's on her way to a peaceful reunion with her beloved husband, my dad, her daughter, her siblings, and so many friends she made throughout her happy life. 

Even though you are expecting it, and it means an end to suffering of any sort, it doesn't make it any easier.  She was my best buddy, and I could talk to her about anything. 

Love you, mom, and I'm sure we'll meet again, on the other side of the "Interlife".  You were and are the best.

I appreciate the civilized dialogue offered by Blogstreamers regarding the health care reform issue.    I think we can discuss the health care situation in a way that most of us would like to see.  Here is my take on the government vs. insurance companies. 

My experience with the government has been good.  I know of quite a few people who receive either Social Security, SSI, disability, Med-Care, or Medi-Cal.  I haven't heard of any problems or denials.  I end up in the ER occasionally because of migraine headaches.  I am on Medi-Cal because I'm disabled, and I've only had uneventful, satisfactory experiences.  My doctor did change a prescription of mine because Medi-Cal decided to stop paying for it.  Another similar med was prescribed and the issue is resolved.  A family member was mentally challenged and received SSI.  They were always very patient with her and seemed glad to help her.  My mom, 90 on Aug. 22, receives Medi-Cal for care in a residential facility.  No problems there.  My late aunt received Section 8 assistance for years, and she was grateful for the program.  No complaints there either.  There are more, but I'll stop here.   Basically, I do trust the government.  Yes, California is having financial problems, but the story goes much deeper than simply Medi-Cal for older or disabled people.

I have had a couple of encounters with insurance companies that left me very suspicious as far as trusting one.  I was in an accident when I was 24 years old.  It was someone else's fault; they rear ended my sports car with their pick-up truck.  The insurance company for the kid who hit me tried all kinds of tactics to avoid settlement or scrimp on the repair of my car.  A trunk lid for a different year car was put on mine, although it was obvious if closely observed.  The auto body guy had to get approval from the company to get the correct trunk lid.  During the long time between the accident and settlement, the insurance company tried to tell my attorney that my injuries had been caused by other things that had happened in my life instead of the accident caused by their insured. 

More recently I had this experience with my own auto insurance.  I was quoted $600 for 6 months of basic auto insurance, the minimum required in California.  I asked that the payments be made on a monthly basis.  They send me a paper to sign which would ensure that monthly payment status.  After several months, I received a bill for $200.  I can't afford a big payment like that at once, so I called to try to work this out.  I spoke with a woman in South America who did not understand the problem and had no answer as to how I could get monthly payments.  I borrowed money to pay the bill.  I asked for a second paper to sign giving authorization to charge my account.  I signed it and returned it, just as I had with the first one.

After a couple more months, I once again received a bill for $160.  I called the 800 number again, getting a woman in another South American island country.  She understood what my problem was, but she could not find any solution to the problem via her computer connection to the company. 

I've now received a notice of cancellation and a notice that they've sent me to a collection agency.  Now nice.  This company is obviously too big for it's own good. 

These are my experiences and I think you'll agree that I've had better dealings with the government than any private insurance company. 

Finally, I know of one person who is from Canada and her experience there was positive.  Her health care, pregnancy, and childbirth were all covered, no problem.  Her cost was very little - around $7.00, and this was back in the '70s.  I also know a family living here who is insured from Spain, where the husband is from.  They own homes in each country.  They feel lucky to be able to count on the health care system of Spain for the family of 2 adults and 2 children. 

I hear of caps put on the amount of money spent for treatment of cancer by some European or Scandinavian countries.  I can't find any particular case of this.  As far as I've found, no countries do this.  Ahhh.  OK, after searching a bit more, I found an article saying that England and Sweden do have a limit on certain procedures.  It has to do with the age of the person, cost, etc.  I doubt that anyone would be expected to just suffer.  Many people don't feel that they would want to count on an exorbitant procedure anyway.  This is a good reason to have your intentions clarified as far as how aggressive you would like the treating doctor to be if you are not in a position to speak for yourself. 

When I think of limits and death panels I think of the movie "Soylent Green".  If someone wants to spend their money on an expensive procedure to prolong their life, which could end soon anyway, that's their decision.  I know insurance companies have their own limits on coverage, too. 

Incredibly ridiculous as it seems, a bunch of conservative Americans are trying hard to take away your affordable health care.  We are on the verge of having health care available for all Americans, young and old.  It was what Obama wanted for us, and one of the reasons we voted him in as President.  Congress has obliged by writing bills, although not in their truest beneficial form thanks to lobbying and health industry money, that await discussion.

What isn't so ridiculous is the fact that the health care industry and the insurance companies, that make billions off of your paying through the nose for care, are the ones footing the bill for the white screaming machine behind that big belly to disrupt the meetings so you can't learn the facts about the health care bills awaiting approval.

This machine is partially rooted in the anti-abortion movement.  The addresses were saved, are now computerized, and we saw the latest test run recently in the tea-bag uproar and the birth certificate fiasco. 

Medi-Care and Medicaid are government programs.  The insurance companies are somewhat involved, since they want to keep their foot in the door for access to American check-books.   The government, in fact, can run things pretty well.  Given the choice between corporate pirates who have  no guiding principle except profit, and the government, with people just wanting to do their job, I'll take the government any day.

Why do these people continually buy into the force feeding that steers them into acting against their own best interest?  It seems unawareness and ignorance play a big part.  An overblown fear of the government plays another part. 

I can't help but notice that the face of these meeting stormers is pretty white, not like the multi-cultural face of the true community of America. 

My Republican dad, grandmother, and gggggggggrandfolks who fought in the war for independence of the country must absolutely be spinning in their graves.  What we are seeing from the corporate faux news is not news; it is corporate programming to influence you into choosing to ignore your best interest.  If you lose your job, and you or a family member gets sick, you will be out in the cold.  I know Reagan seemed to believe (as other conservatives do) that the charities would pick up the slack when he signed a bill in California, as governor, to end the funding to mental institutions.  Whatever charity appeared on the scene was way too little.  What we got was a population of mentally ill people who are homeless, living on the streets. 

We deserve better health care than what we get, as a rule, and we can receive it, with a health program to be sure every American has adequate health care.  And it won't cost you bankruptcy or your home to get it.

I've seen one close friend pass away this year because of lack of health care.  She couldn't afford insurance, and made too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal.   Sadly, lives are being lost while we tolerate these screamers out to deny us health care, at the behest of the insurance companies and the for-profit health care industry.   What a tragedy of a country we've become because of profit and greed.

Yesterday evening, I went for a walk on the beach.  I sat in the sand, watching the vast blue-ness before me, while surfers, a few swimmers, and other walkers delighted in the lazy, almost-sundown summer bliss in the air. 

A lady walking with a man, her partner, a few paces behind her, loudly called out:

"There's too much shit on the beach!"

Excuse my French, but it conveys the scene so well.  She walked back toward the man and they both sat down close to the water. 

About 10 second after she hollered out her sentiments, the little lightbulb went on, and I thought of:

"Nobody's forcing you to stay!"

No, no, no, I didn't actually SAY it!  But too often I hear someone make a statement like hers, then 45 minutes later some good 'come-back' slowly takes form in my mind. 

Of course, I didn't know the woman, and she may have been a walking combination of Mother Teresa and Phyllis Diller, sort of how she looked.  Mother Teresa may have been hiding in there somewhere, for all I know.  So, we all just sat and soaked in the sound of the seagulls and smell of the seaweed clumps for about 10 more minutes, then I got up to walk back to my car, feeling pretty good that it only took me a short time to think of a smart-ass response to this insult to my Santa Barbara-loving soul. 

And, like the rest of civilization, I'm on Twitter and Facebook now.

The computer I usually use is not starting up the way it should.  Something is wrong in the wiring.  There are a couple of wires sticking out from the bottom of the tower and when I touch them together, it starts.  For some reason, it's not working right, and my 14 year old son used it the other day, or I should say he used the monitor to hook up his old Imac.  The Imac monitor wasn't working. 

Actually, he had this, his computer, on, and my old PC, plus the Imac, and then to top it off, his Mac laptop was on the kitchen table.  He was trying to install some software to the laptop so he could use it on vacation.  He is in Three Rivers, CA, with his dad and other friends. 

All of my various passwords and IDs are on the memory of my old PC, as well as my nifty free download astrology program.  It's a good program because you can just run over click a few times and have the chart for "now".  So, but I've actually had to resort to my own memory to sign on to Twitter, Photobucket, and other sites.  Finally, I give up and fetch the paper where the info. is all written down.  Life can be so tough.