While I am glad to see Courtney Martin's article up there - the "frightening normalicy" of hating our bodies, too bad the article about how pleasure is good for us didn't make it. It was a great article! We are still such a damn puritanical culture. How can that much misery be healthy? Really, stop and think about all the displeasure we create over body hatred. All the stress over denying ourselves this that or the other thing. All the angst over what a scale says. Add up all the time spent in misery in the here and now in the prime of our lives! For what? So we can stretch out a few more months in our waning years when many of us our going to be impoverished anyway. There is no logic to it. Was it the hedonists who originally thought that the best way to pleasure was moderation? Because one can't enjoy something one partakes in too much anyway. My health wish for the US would be just to learn moderation and start truly enjoying the here and now! And anyone who doesn't like my size 18 derriere can kiss my cellulite!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Thanks for the list AlterNet.

But the biggest health care story is that health care reform again is indeed a major story worthy of every American's attention and certainly worthy of all our political leader's attention at the local,state and federal levels.

Thanks for great coverage in 2007 and more in 2008!

Dr. Rick Lippin
http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The following is an excerpt but includes the most important information in the story.
JOSHUA FREED,Associated Press
Posted: 2007-12-07 00:18:55
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Getting former CEO William McGuire to give back hundreds of millions of dollars in tainted stock options cures one of UnitedHealth's biggest headaches from its backdating scandal. But there are others.

McGuire agreed to a settlement the Securities and Exchange Commission valued at $468 million, including giving back $320 million in stock options. He had already agreed to reprice some stock options, reducing their value by another $200 million.

That and a $7 million civil penalty was enough to get the SEC to settle with him. But the SEC said its investigation of the company is continuing, and a review by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is also outstanding.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. has been trying to put the matter behind it, adopting numerous governance reforms last year and adding independent directors. Current CEO Stephen Hemsley has apologized for the scandal and agreed last year to reprice or give back $189 million worth of stock options to remove the possibility that he benefited from backdating.

McGuire ran UnitedHealth for 15 years, turning a regional insurer into what is now the nation's second-largest managed care company. Like many other companies in the 1990s, UnitedHealth rewarded its chairman and CEO with options giving him the right to buy UnitedHealth shares at a fixed price. The value of those options skyrocketed along with the company's share price. McGuire's unexercised options were worth more than $1.75 billion at the end of 2005.

McGuire was allowed to choose the dates for his option awards. The crux of the backdating accusation is that, to boost the options' value, he picked a date in the past when the share price was lower and signed papers as if he was granted the options on that earlier date. That hands the recipient an instant profit but needs to be disclosed to avoid accounting - and, potentially, legal - headaches.

The settlement announced Thursday resolves a lawsuit brought by shareholders on behalf of the company, as well as a civil complaint by the SEC. The SEC said McGuire did not admit or deny guilt.

The settlement includes a $7 million civil penalty for the SEC and reimbursement to the Minnetonka-based insurer for all incentive- and equity-based compensation he received from 2003 through 2006, the SEC said.

The agency said it was the largest penalty assessed against a person in an options backdating case. The settlement "reflects the magnitude and scope of Dr. McGuire's misconduct," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, said in a statement. END OF EXCERPT ..........
In addition to Dr. McGuire's stock options, an additional amount exceeding $3 billion in value was doled out to other top executives and part time board members. Imagine how much quality care could have been provided for just the money involved as compensation to the top people. Imagine how many people had to be denied health care to pay out those amounts!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

UnitedHealth Group should be nationalised along with every other private health insurer in America.

Many of my American friends tell me America has the best healthcare available in the world. Only problem is it isn't available to all Americans. Michael Moore was wrong when he said healthcare in Canada is free: it's not. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH.

But what people in this discussion have to do is separate the topic of Health Care from Health Insurance. There was plenty of health "care" which that poor girl with liver failure could have received, but it was withheld due to an inability to pay.

Then WTF is Health Insurance for? It is to spread the financial risk widely. The best way to spread the risk is among every person possible, as nobody wants to die young from a disease like leukemia, so nobody will be gaming the system to get a payout.

I have a deal for you: I will provide Health Insurance to everyone in America and your premiums will be based on ability to pay. No exclusions due to pre-existing conditions, no co-pays, no paperwork, no medical choices based on an actuarial table. All procedures covered, all hospitalisation costs, and leave the medical decisions on whether a liver transplant is advised to the doctors.

Here are your premiums PER YEAR: zero if you earn less than $20k; $300 if you earn $20-$40k; $600 if you earn $40-$60k; and $900 for everyone earning over $60k.

Any takers...?

I thought so.

But you will ask me how does that small premium cover the high costs of world class Health Care? Each company will pay a payroll tax of x% on their whole payroll each month. If your receptionist earns $20k and the president earns $200k, the company contributes x% of $220k to the insurance kitty. The receptionist pays zero premiums on top of that, and the president pays $900.

This will all be topped up by proceeds from government run lotteries and the like. I can do this with a payroll premium around 5%.

Do you want this? Then move to Ontario, or lobby your government for the same deal.

UnitedHealth Group should be nationalised and downsized. Period.

I'd like any Ontarians out there to correct my figures above, as I do not currently live in Ontario.

The Employee's premiums are outlined in detail here:
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/media/2004/bk-ohp.html#OHP

The Employer's Health Tax (EHT) is less than 2%!
http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/taxes/eht/rates.html

Cheers,
Tuds

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]