Percentage of personal healthcare-related bankruptcies (see this Big Number)
where filer actually had Health Insurance.
For more, read Nicholas Kristof’s Sunday column – “Until Medical Bills Do Us Part.”
Earlier this month, on August 12th Republican candidate for Governor Randy Brogdon sent out an email – “ObamaCare: Not In Oklahoma.” Brogdon, a State Senator from Owasso, thinks his primary opponent Congresswoman Mary Fallin (R-CD5) is part of the “nanny state of the future,” as he wrote in an email from July 14.
“… Oklahomans do not need the federal government interfering in our personal decisions.
Congresswoman Mary Fallin has fallen in line. Last month she voted to establish a new federal bureaucracy to regulate tobacco under the FDA. Fallin’s vote also handed down a $2.2 billion unfunded mandate on private business over 5 years, greatly exceeding the threshold established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act ($139 million per year). The CBO also notes that the bill includes several unfunded mandates that would pre-empt existing Oklahoma laws and regulations.
Welcome to the nanny state of the future …”
But that is not what this posting is about. Back to his email dated August 12.
As you can see below his email list all these horrible, big-government controls that healthcare reform will reap on the old and unborn.
Problem is, most of the horrible nightmares included in Brogdon’s email are lies. FactCheck.org has done a fantastic job sorting through and explaining. Of 48 assertions being spread in emails like Brogdon’s, FactCheck found that 26 are flat-out lies, 18 are misleading, and only four are accurate. Click on FactCheck below to read their analysis.
If Brogdon knew the information in his email was filled with lies, he is bearing false witness. If he did not know his email contained so many lies, he is ignorant. More than likely, he is both – just another ignorant lying fool, doing the bidding of the big insurance companies by helping to spread disinformation and fear to deny adequate and affordable healthcare to ALL Americans.
Average annual health insurance premium for an Oklahoma family
(about the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker)
On Sunday, my friend Jim Roth and I flew out to Birmingham, Alabama. Our good friend John Smallwood, who came to Oklahoma last year to help us, was running a couple of local campaigns in Birmingham. So we went out to try and help him for the last 48 hours of the campaigns. The vote was Tuesday, and that is the day we flew back to Oklahoma.
We helped with GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts, hanging reminders to vote and where to vote on the doors of voters who had been identified as supporters. Boy! Did I get a workout.
Next time I hear any Oklahoma Democrat complain about having to do door-to-door campaigning, I’m going to bring out photos from our little trip to Alabama and tell them to be thankful they’re not having to do it in Birmingham. When you see the photos below, you’ll see what I’m talking about!
As you can see, one must climb many, many stairs to reach the front doors of almost every home!
Number of Americans who lose their health insurance every single day!
There have been many comparisons lately of the upcoming 2010 elections to those of 1994. While it is historically typical for the Party in Power of the White House to lose seats in Congress at the midterm election two years after the Presidential election, I do not see 2010 being anything like 1994. However, predictions of Doom and Gloom for Democrats have been spreading like wildfires over the last month.
In 1994, Republicans gained 54 seats in the House of Representatives and 8 seats in the Senate. However, that year 20 seats were open in the House due to Democratic retirements and 6 seats were open in the Senate due to Democratic retirements.
According to Congressional Quarterly, as of today there will be more Republican retirements than Democratic retirements. So far, there have been announcements of 16 open seats in the House next year. Only 5 are due to Democratic retirements while 11 are Republican retirements. In the Senate there are only two Democrats who have announced their retirement. Five Republicans have announced they will retire next year and two others, Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Mel Martinez of Florida, have announced they will resign their seats early.
As of today, I don’t see next year being a repeat of 1994. While Democrats approval rating has dropped from a high of 62% in January to only 49% today, approval of Republicans hasn’t moved up at all – it remains at 40%. We still have more than 15 months to the 2010 elections, and much can happen between now and November 2, 2010.
That is what could be, if more people click on the picture below. “What Book Got You Hooked?” is an annual contest and program where people tell which book got them hooked on reading and the state with the most residents registering their vote gets the 50,000 free books. Oklahoma won the contest in 2007. Kentucky won it in 2008. As of right now, Kentucky is in first place and Oklahoma is in second place. Help Oklahoma move into First Place, and help get 50,000 free books for Oklahoma Children!!
Wayne Rohde made the following comments to a previously posted Big Number. His comments need highlighting and shared.
How about this BIG Number.
Autism, 1 out of 100 children will be diagnosed with autism. (new data)
that is 1 out of 38 boys. That is approx 500 children each year in OK can be diagnosed with autism if they are lucky enough to have the financial resources to pay for diagnosis.
Another big number. 80% divorce rate in the autism community.
Another big number 5 times the bankrutcy rate in the autism community.
No insurance coverage in Ok.
All because of another big number Republican State Legislators that stand in the way of helping children with special needs.
Another big, big number.
The cost of care if provided by the state taxpayers for each child as they reach adulthood. Lifetime care is $ 3.25 million each.
500 x 3.25 million equals $1.625 Billion that the OK taxpayers will be on the hook each year if these children are denied health care to help them recover from autism and become contributing citizens.
Another big number 80% of these kids are under the age of 16. The tidal wave is about to hit us.
Thank you Wayne.
This pretty much sums up what Republicans think about healthcare ….
“I think health care is a privilege. I wouldn’t call it a right.” - United States Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Disgusting and immoral.
The price increase of Health Insurance Premiums in Oklahoma since 2000!
