Readers' Comments

Please recall that the doctor contacted ME and told me to come in for the exam. I did not seek her services. During the exam, she also asked ME if there was anything else I wanted to talk about. Unprompted, I would have ended the exam prior to that question, and I was certainly ready to get out of there. I had to think to come up with anything else to talk about. I think she was fishing for extra charges.

And yes, this wasn't the only time something went awry. Several years prior to this incident she had gravely misdiagnosed a red, painful wrist as an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. She told me I had to go to the hospital immediately upon leaving her office, check in and get an IV put in. She literally told me I had a 50% chance of dying if I did not follow her orders immediately -- pretty alarmist conclusion. I sought a second opinion, which revealed I had a condition that was inexpensively healed with a splint and some anti-inflammatory medication. She never apologized for her gross error. Another time, she diagnosed me with a cellular irregularity. She referred me to a specialist who told me I was completely normal and suggested that my doctor had accidentally switched my slides. I relayed the specialist's comment to my primary doctor. Apparently she didn't like hearing it, and I got the brunt of her anger over it. So there was more to the story, but it only reinforces that she is a poor doctor who is essentially an alarmist, that she is likely an egotist always believes she is right and who opportunistically fishes for extra charges.

Anne Landman

Interesting piece. Considerably different than the one posted on

realclearpolitics.com

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/04/19/tea_parties__the_inconvenience_of_truth_105223.html

This 'snus' just sound disgusting. I stopped smoking 12 weeks ago after smoking for 20years, and the last thing I could imagine is taking this stuff...quit smoking and look after your body, you will feel amazing.

Pithy comments do not truth make. As usual Moyers is long on concern and short on facts. How many times does redistribution of wealth without redistribution of opportunity have to fail - and fail miserably - until pseudo-intellectuals such as Moyers and others get that treating the poor as if they are some mentally challenged little brother to be pitied and patted on the head and given some menial and meaningless job at one Moyers & friends elitist cocktail parties - is NOT the answer.

My god - when are we going to finally elect leaders who,if they have never actually owned or run a private company, have at least had a job and have some concept of economics actually works.

Liberal democrats are now and have been in complete control of our major cities and most liberal states for HOW MANY YEARS NOW. How many ways can you go bankrupt and be bailed out Bill. New York, LA, Detroit, Chicago - LOL it is really a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is TONS of information on how corporation and the rich DON'T pay their taxes AND shift their tax burden to everyone else. Example (from Aug. 2008):

Just like the corporations they work for, multi-millionaire executives have become experts at accounting tricks to avoid paying taxes, according to a new study that builds on last month's Government Accountability Office report.

The GAO said a majority of American and foreign companies doing business here pay no income tax. Now "Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay" shows how CEOs and other top executives shield huge portions of their income and stock options from tax obligations. The report was published this week by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

For instance, unlimited deferred compensation accounts, a perk for CEOs at large companies, add up to $80.6 million a year in lost tax revenue. The median value of top executives' deferred payments is $4.5 million, according to Equilar, a pay analysis firm. Most of the rest of us, however, are limited to a maximum of $15,500 a year we can shield in a tax-deferred 401(k) account.

The authors of the report say the tax loopholes make the huge and growing gap between worker and CEO pay even bigger. They say labor law reform, specifically the Employee Free Choice Act, is critical. "Without legislative action to allow more workers the right to organize, the divide between compensation for top executives and the rest of us will only continue to grow."

ANOTHER example of MANY that can be cited:

7/1/2/05 from American Progess Action Fund: TAXES -- THE RICH GET RICHER AND OFF SCOT-FREE: The Internal Revenue Service's annual report on wealthy Americans found that the "number of affluent individuals and married couples who paid no federal income taxes jumped more than 15 percent in 2002." Additionally, the "chances of having a large income but not paying taxes on any of it are growing." The report also found that thousands of people from this group lived completely free of income tax to any government whatsoever and almost 83,000 of the high-income earners paid less in taxes for every dollar of income than the national average for all Americans.

...if there was money to pay for for a large-scale, pro-reform PR campaign. Unfortunately, the deep pockets that fund massive PR campaigns are typically for-profit corporations.

Anne Landman

I am currently studying PR and I am wanting to go into this field of work. I agree with everything that was said in this post and I think that the reason behind healthcare reform not moving forward for so long does have something to do with PR people doing their jobs but I feel like it could also go the other way around. Where are all the PR professionals that could push for healthcare reform?

I just met with the top executives of a certain large insurance company. I was amazed to find out that even they have no idea of what or how to prepare for this bill because no one seems to understand the complexities involved and the variables that will change.
For instance I was surprised to learn that the 80/20 rule would not affect the insurance companies at all as they all are in compliance due to a little known portion of the bill that allows deductions for wellness programs. Yes the 80/20 rule will be offset (like tax write offs) by having wellness programs!
Good luck HCA!

A few years ago I predicted that ethanol plants would be rusting hulks in ten years. I refuse to use it in my car for reasons stated in the article. I believe certain persons saw ethanol as a way to induce a flow of money from everyone's pocket into their bank accounts offshore. It is a familiar ploy nowdays where investors band together, get federal funding and subsidies, spend lavishly on a project that is doomed to fail, siphon off as much wealth as possible and abandon the whole thing when it crashes. If you don't get out in time, the federal government will make it all better anyway. It's a no-lose situation that's happening everywhere in our economy. What it will take to stop this abuse? A prison term for Don Blankenship would be a step in the right direction.

You're being sarcastic here, aren't you???

Agree.. Really big