ltss3yr2's blog

Reading the grounds on which the attorneys general of states with Tea Party and fringe GOP right-wing leanings intend to sue heartens me. If they were to prevail on the grounds that people should not be forced to buy private insurance, then clearly the only alternative would be an expansion of Medicare and Medicaid and the public option. So let them have at it!

According to the Senate website--

Kathleen Parker's op-ed piece today at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR200910... supporting the gang of 30 Republicans supporting no legal recourse for victims of rape defies all logic.

She says these senators were correct not to approve the amendment because it was "overbroad and might not be enforceable." Say what? The requirement in writing that legal recourse be denied a woman employee serving the government of the U.S. through its contracting authority can't be discovered to exist? And so, it's unenforceable to deny contracts to those requiring such employment conditions in writing?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0910/p09s03-coop.html is an interesting article providing insight into possibilities for states such as Vermont and California to consider single-payer health care plans in order to save their state budgets. Perhaps such a change could happen in North Carolina as well, if it were touted as a great states' rights agenda piece. And it would save money to boot. Why move north or west? Stay home and make change!

It has come to my attention that Medicare does not reimburse for counseling by Ph.D. licensed professional counselors (LPC), while c licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) are so reimbursed. MDs, who do very little psychological counseling and often may have no extensive training in the area, are the only other mental health professionals reimbursed.

In the process of developing a very good reimbursement system under the new health care system, let's make sure that our representatives understand the need to cover these licensed professionals across the country and to extend the Medicare coverage to their services as well.

It has occurred to me that perhaps seniors are considered so near the end of life by the Republicans that they shouldn't have the most professional and precious mental health resources wasted on them.