Dick Conoboy
Total number of comments: 826
Recent Comments by Dick Conoboy
Readers,
I wrote the following about a decade ago in response to those who want to thank veterans for their service. (Click here for the article) My desire is...
- That you participate as a citizen in government at some level
- That you write to your representatives on issues of importance to you
- That you discuss politics and government with your family at the dinner table
- That you expose your children to the process of government at city or county council meetings
- That you take your family to visit the state capital or our nation's capital to learn it workings
- That you ensure that civics and government is taught in our schools
- That you take your children to historic sites and explain their significance
- That you value the teaching of history and critical thinking skills
- That you demand our nation care for the men and women it has sent to war
- That you vote and, moreover, that you vote for men and women of peace
Richard,
This from the article "Understanding the Major Richard Star Act".
"DoD retirement pay and VA disability compensation are different benefits created for two distinct reasons. Retirement pay compensates the retiree for the years of service sacrificed to defend this nation. In contrast, VA disability pay compensates for the loss of future earned income due to service-connected disabilities.
"Congress allows close to a million retired veterans with 20-plus years of service and a disability rating of 50% or higher to receive both their retirement pay and VA compensation. The Major Richard Star Act would provide the same opportunity to the 54,000 veterans who were FORCED to retire because of combat or combat-related injuries."
These 50,000 or so vets are not getting over on anyone. In fact, it is all the other combat-injured vets who are getting over on the 50,000. The Act would even the playing field.
Dick
D. Crook,
You are most welcome. Your comments are reminiscent of the poem Tommy by Kipling, especially the last stanza which reads:
"You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!"Dick
Richard,
When a private entity takes over the management of a government program like Medicare to enrich itself at the expense of the people who paid into the program and who are then denied treatment and services, the program has been privatized. Medicare Advantage (MA), Direct Contracting Entities (DCE) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) siphon off hundreds of billions of dollars in profits from Medicare dollars that could have been used for health care to directly assist the beneficiaries. It is a privatization scheme created by Bush II and nursed along by Obama, Trump and Biden. Traditional Medicare uses a very small percentage of Medicare dollars to run its operations. These bastardized versions of Medicare claim to save money and enhance health care but the cost to the beneficiaries for these confiscatory "management" services goes way beyond that of Traditional Medicare. Money saved by getting rid of these parasitic privateers would allow Traditional Medicare beneficiaries to get additional services such as dental and vision. There is no need to filter Medicare funds through a third party MA, DCE or ACO whose "management" costs far exceed those of Traditional Medicare.
Read again my article in its entirety and explore the links I provided. They will backup what I have said in my article.
Privatized and monetized, Satpal.
A while ago I wrote about the economy in which everything is for sale or rent. Rent your car, rent your house, rent your garage, rent your lawn, rent your tools, rent your body, sell your hair, sell your organs, sell your blood, sell advertising space on all surfaces you control, sell your soul if you can make a miserable buck. Sell, rent, rent, sell, ad infinitum et ad nauseam in the name of money. You and everything around you are nothing more than profit centers and, by the way, to hell with the commons, treasures which are also sold by governments and privatized for one-time profits to be used, abused, polluted, destroyed and spit out as filthy junk whose disposal will be paid for by you. And if you fail at all those wonderful opportunities to enrich yourself, it's your fault.
Gene and David,
Thanks for your thoughtful additions to the lexicon of euphemisms. Right on point!
Dick
Thanks for the info which may be useful to some of the readers.
As you indicated, not all can avoid using SMS. That is my case. Simply switching to another chat option may be effective but if those you communicate with do not sign up for the same such chat options, there is not much communicating that will go on. And what are the costs associated with these listed options?
What are the choices available then for those who are stuck with SMS? I block at least a half dozen SMS numbers each day but the flood continues.
Dick
This is the entirety of Section 2. Short and to the point, I would say! :-)
SEC. 2. PROHIBITING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WISER3
MODEL UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.4
The Secretary of Health and Human Services may5
not implement the innovative payment and service delivery6
model described in the notice titled ‘‘Medicare Program;7
Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services8
for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction9
(WISeR) Model’’ (90 Fed. Reg. 28749 (July 1, 2025)),10
or any substantially similar model.
Tom,
Thanks for your comment, however, I found this in the analysis of HB 2157:
"Exceptions.
Several exemptions are established, including for certain AI systems that are acquired by or for
the federal government. Other exempt entities include regulated financial institutions, certain insurers, and certain health care entities, among other entities"I have gone to the bill to attempt to ascertain what this statement means, however, it great legislative tradition, the bill's language is generally incomprehensible to most speakers of English and contains numerous references to other pieces of legislation that bear on HB 2157. Such argle-bargle is beyond the capabilities of the public to parse.
For all intents and purposes private entitites should be excluded from health care provision with the exception perhaps, of janitorial services to government health care offices and maintenance of equipment.