I know this store will be a great addition to Midway, especially for local residents like myself who live less than 5 minutes away.  It will also be convenient to winter tourists staying at Midway’s Zermatt and Homestead resorts. I’m very happy to have it here, and think most others in Midway will agree!

http://www.marvelousproducts.com/Can-I-give-my-dog-p/information-can-i-give-my-dog.htm

As always, feel free to comment!

Here’s a great article I found on the NY Times.  CLICK HERE.  This is pretty right on… please take a few minutes to read it.  I am still so blown away that some people don’t think Americans should have access to BASIC, AFFORDABLE, health care… and I can’t understand why everyone is so afraid of the public option.  Without the public option, there will be no real reform.  As long as companies are motivated by their bottom line to DECLINE people and DENY procedures, it’s not going to work.  There must be a public option available to people.  Those who like their ‘employer based’ coverage can keep it.  Those who don’t have the OPTION of ‘employer based’ coverage — and who are DECLINED by private companies, like me, can have a good, affordable public option.  Sorry – but #37 just is NOT good enough.

Here’s a funny video

This is an article I came across from a very reputable bi-partisan source. The claims that are being made by opponents of health care reform are nothing but lies, and it was passed around in a very large chain email to try to scare people. Here are just a couple of my favorites.  See the link at the end of this article for the full story from FactCheck.org.

• “YOUR HEALTH CARE WILL BE RATIONED!” FALSE!!!! It says nothing whatsoever about “rationing” or anything of the sort. Actually, it’s favorable to families and individuals, placing an annual cap on what they could pay out of pocket if covered by a basic, “essential benefits package.” The limits would be $5,000 for an individual, $10,000 for a family.
• “A GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE WILL DECIDE WHAT TREATMENTS AND BENEFITS YOU GET” FALSE!!  Actually, the section starting on page 30 sets up a “private-public advisory committee” headed by the U.S. surgeon general and made up of mostly private sector “medical and other experts” selected by the president and the comptroller general. The advisory committee would have only the power “to recommend” what benefits are included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans. It would have no power to decide what treatments anybody will get. Its recommendations on benefits might or might not be adopted.
• “ALL NON-US CITIZENS, ILLEGAL OR NOT, WILL BE PROVIDED WITH FREE HEALTHCARE SERVICES.” FALSE!!  That’s simply not what the bill says at all. This page includes “SEC. 152. PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE,” which says that “[e]xcept as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services.” However, the bill does explicitly say that illegal immigrants can’t get any government money to pay for health care. Page 143 states: “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.” And as factcheck.org has said before, current law prohibits illegal immigrants from participating in government health care programs.

I’m so tired of the scare tactics and lies.  And I really don’t understand – WHY is everyone so ‘scared’ of a public option??  As the video from my last post points out, a public option is simply competition.  If it’s better and more affordable, then it works, and we all win!!  If it’s NOT, then it will simply fail.  The reason ‘everyone’ (ie. the insurance companies and everyone who believes their lies) is so scared, is because then they might actually have to be FAIR with people.  They might actually have to STOP DISCRIMINATING against people with pre-existing conditions (like me).  They might actually have to PAY for preventative care for people in situations like mine.

Please take a few minutes out of your day and read the full article from factcheck.org. Educate yourself on what the bill ACTUALLY says.

As always, please feel free to comment.

ANY past history of melanoma = AUTOMATIC DECLINE for ALL insurance companies. And even in “high risk pools”, such as Utah’s “HIPUtah plan”, my melanoma is excluded for a minimum 12-month period. This means, even if I sign up for this RIDICULOUS policy that covers very little, and is very expensive (OVER $400/month for even reasonable coverage!!), if within 12 months of coverage, I get another spot of melanoma, no costs associated with it will be covered. Any costs associated with even getting CHECKED for melanoma within that 12-month period will not be covered. Do the insurance companies want me to NOT get preventative care, and to potentially let what would otherwise be a very minor thing turn into something that could be a lot more serious, just so they don’t have to cover it? The simple answer is YES! They don’t really give a shit about me. They only give a shit about their bottom line.

I’m self-employed. I’m a real estate broker, and an “independent contractor”. I don’t have an employer-based option for health care. Even if I did, my ‘pre-existing condition’ would still be excluded for a certain period of time. I was browsing online today, and came across an article that had the headline: “REALTORS Covered by NAR With New Limited Health Insurance Program”. Sounds pretty good – right? Well, turns out that by “limited”, it actually means “COVERS NOTHING”. They are basically taking money for almost nothing. The list of “Plan Limitations and Exclusions Applicable to All Benefits” is so long it took me almost an hour to read and digest. One of the “exclusions” reads as follows: Treatment or removal of warts, moles, boils, skin blemishes or birthmarks, bunions, acne, corns, calluses, the cutting and trimming of toenails, care for flat feet, fallen arches or chronic foot strain; I called an agent with the company who administers this plan, and told him my situation. He rudely told me “NOPE, won’t be covered”. Not only WON’T they cover me, they won’t let ANYONE on their plan get checked or treated for melanoma. Checking for melanoma involves the removal and testing of abnormal-looking moles. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, but is almost 100% curable if caught early. These people would prefer if I DON’T EVEN GET CHECKED!!! Wow… I guess that’s the “free market” on health insurance. Pad the bottom line. Screw the patient!!!

Under Obama’s plan, there would be NO DISCRIMINATION against people with pre-existing conditions (ie. ME!). INSURANCE COMPANIES could not drop coverage on people when they get sick. It would create a new insurance marketplace, “The Exchange”, which would create a real competitive market. It would offer a PUBLIC OPTION (Hallelujah!) for people like me!! It would IMMEDIATELY offer low cost coverage to people with preexisting conditions (ie. ME). It all MAKES SENSE!!! This isn’t just about me. There are millions and millions of Americans in similar situations. Yet some ass holes in congress are fighting tooth and nail to block this plan. They are so deep in the insurance lobby’s pockets it’s sickening. They are spreading treacherous lies, and propaganda, and using the same old BS “Scare Tactics” to try to block real reform from happening. ONE OF THEM even had the audacity to actually YELL FROM THE HOUSE FLOOR “You Lie!” to Barrack Obama as he spoke. This is definitely a new low in American politics, and is SO disrespectful it’s beyond words.

So here’s my plea, to all who read this: Please, Please, PLEASE, call your congressmen. Tell them to SUPPORT Obama’s plan, and make a real change. This can’t wait ANY longer.

Click here to see details on the plan and send a letter to your congressmen.

Click here to contribute to Rob Miller’s campaign. Help him defeat that dick head Joe Wilson, who had the audacity to heckle president Obama from the house floor.

Participate in events and vigils to help pass real healthcare reform. And, if your congressmen don’t listen, VOTE AGAINST THEM IN THE NEXT ELECTION! ORGANIZE for their opponents. Donate to their opponents’ campaigns. That’s one thing that WILL get their attention.

Please pardon my language in this post, as you can certainly tell if you’ve read this far, this is something I’m extremely emotional about.  As always, please feel free to comment.

2009 Summer Concert Schedule

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Rich Wyman

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
The No Name Jazz Band

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Fat Paw

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Soul Survivors

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Swagger

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Mary Beth

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Dr. Bob

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Sin City Soul

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
Coverdogs Featuring Tony Oros

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
6:00PM – 8:00PM
The Detonators

Please check back to future posts – I’ll be featuring Deer Valley’s “Big stars, bright nights” series, as well as the free concerts at The Canyons Resort!

Day 2: Breakfast at the Congressional Country Club with a couple friends, and then headed in to DC to pick up our inauguration tickets from the DNC headquarters. On the way there, we saw Obama’s motorcade go by (cool!). We got to the DNC headquarters, and were invited up to the office of Howard Dean.
Later, we went up to Georgetown, and visited the Georgetown University campus. Then out for a couple of brews and lunch at Toombs. After lunch, we headed back to downtown DC, the Sofitel, where we stayed for the rest of the trip. We met up with my boyfriend’s sister, and went to the bar in the sofitel, “le bar”, for a drink and dinner. To bed early, big day tomorrow!

Day 3: Inauguration day. left the hotel about 8:00 am for the trek to the mall, where we got trapped in a huge crowd of people, and it became apparent we were not going to make it through the gates in time. To make a long story short, we did NOT make it in to see the swearing in, but instead, watched it on a huge jumbo tron, within the masses of people, and it was the coolest thing ever. People were crying, and hugging complete strangers, and it was a feeling of pure joy! It took us a couple hours after that to make it back to our hotel. It has NEVER felt so good to sit down! We had a couple beers and lunch at “le bar” and headed up to the room for a nap.
Later that night, we were invited by some friends of to the Western Ball. We got all ready for that, and caught a cab to meet them at the Hyatt Garden hotel. We had one drink there, then headed for the convention center. There was SO MUCH traffic, we ended up walking about 4 blocks in the freezing cold (I was wearing a dress and sandals!). The ball was neat, good music, including a live performance from Jennifer Lopez. The best part was that Vice President Joe Biden showed up, gave a little speech, had a dance… and about 15 minutes later, President Obama showed up with Michelle! We were probably 50 yards away… very cool.
After the ball, we ran in the freezing cold across the street to the Renaissance hotel. There were SO many people, and not enough cabs. We sat and had a couple more drinks there at the bar at the Renaissance, and finally, got a car back to the hotel, where we went to bed about 3 AM.

Day 4: We got up and just did a little walking around DC. I was amazed how CLOSE everything actually was… and at how far we had to walk the previous day to get the same place that was really only a couple of blocks away! We had lunch with a friend, then caught a car to the BWI airport!

Overall, it was an AMAZING trip. It was so cool to be a part of it all, a part of what will surely go down as one of the most important inaugurations in history!

This is issue #1 to me this time around… It has gotten absolutely outrageous! I am a 26 year old, very healthy, active, non-smoking female, who can NOT get health insurance coverage because of a small spot of Melanoma that I had removed from my back over 3 years ago. It’s considered an “uninsurable condition”, and I’ve been declined numerous times.

My ONLY option in the state of Utah is a state insurance pool called HIPUTAH. They have to accept anyone, but they are still allowed to exclude coverage for a period of time on whatever the “pre-existing” condition is/was. And for me, a single, 26 year old, non smoker, coverage is a WHOPPING $400 PER MONTH, for CRAPPY coverage. I mean crappy, it has high deductibles (you can opt for lower ones, but a LOT more $$), it does not cover chiropractic, and physical therapy, and does not cover most preventative treatments.

It is absolutey outrageous that the United States is still the only civilized nation that does not provide health care for all of it’s citizens. This plan is definitely a huge step in the right direction!

For more information, and to download a full pdf of the Obama/Biden health plan, visit http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

Yes… “that one” definitely has my vote!

A little can go a long ways here, if you have a little time, work as a volunteer on a “green” candidate’s campaign. As a volunteer, you can canvas neighborhoods in your local community, make phone calls, and help with fund-raisers! This is also a great opportunity to meet some like-minded individuals to network with, perhaps you will even get some business!

As always, feel free to comment with any questions or if you have anything to add!