Are We Being Pandered To?

Slate's Timothy Noah thinks so.

If you haven't been following the healthcare debate very closely lately (and really, who could blame you?), Max Baucus, the Democrat from Montana who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, recently released a version of the healthcare reform bill that is something of a compromise between Obama's vision and the Republicans'.  Like most compromises, it's gone over like a lead balloon, but it's probably pretty close to what the final thing will look like.  Noah writes:

One of the more annoying components to Sen. Max Baucus' just-released "chairman's mark" is its creation of a special category of private health insurance policy to be offered to a group known in insurance circles as "young invincibles." These are people 25 years or younger who don't understand what all this health care fuss is about because they are going to live forever and therefore have no use for doctors. One-third of them carry no health insurance, and they account for nearly one-third of the uninsured.

...

As Erika Lovley noted recently in Politico, President Obama's enthusiastic supporters among the young aren't particularly enthusiastic about health reform. It will, after all, require them to buy something they probably won't need. Baucus' young-invincibles option is a sop to them. By isolating invincibles from people far more likely to draw health benefits, Baucus guarantees they won't have to pay much in health premiums

Don't you feel special?

Unfortunately, this also means that when healthcare reform comes, and the individual mandate requires everyone to buy insurance, it will be much more expensive for the old folks, since us young, inexpensive folks won't be sharing their costs.

So, young people: Do we like this? They're obviously trolling for our votes with this bill.  They'll listen to us if we don't.

Stay informed.  Stay involved.

Senator Max Baucus
http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

Senator Charles Grassley, IA (Ranking Republican on Baucus' committee).

http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm


Senator Tom Harkin, IA
http://harkin.senate.gov/c/

Flu Season Cometh

It's flu season again, and this year it's coming with a vengeance.

In my experience, at Dordt last year, swine flu was not taken very seriously. It was a punchline, like West Nile or "bird flu." But according to the Washington Post, 72% of college campuses across America have reported cases of swine flu. It is infecting college students at a rate of 18 cases per 10,000 students.

Dordt's health office website has some good tips to avoid contracting the flu this season:

Protect Yourself:
1. Get vaccinated. The single best way to prevent influenza is to get vaccinated.
2. Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
3. Avoid close contact with the people who appear sick. A distance of 6 feet is recommended to protect yourself.
4. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
5. Frequently clean your living quarters. If you live together with other students, you should frequently clean commonly-used surfaces such as doorknobs, refrigerator handles, remote controls, computer keyboards, countertops, faucet handles, and bathroom areas.

Protect Others:
1. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder; not into your hands.
2. Stay home or at your place of residence if you are sick for at least 24 hours after you no longer have a fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius) or signs of a fever (have chills, feel very warm, have a flushed appearance, or are sweating). This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medications (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). Staying away from others while sick can prevent others from getting sick too. Ask a roommate, friend, or family member to check up on you and to bring you food and supplies if needed.

Thoughts?

Save Darfur Coalition Petition

The war and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan began six and a half years ago. Since that time, nearly 400,000 people in Darfur have been killed, and three million have been forced to flee their homes. These millions now live in massive refugee camps spread across Chad and Darfur, dependent on outside aid for survival.

At the Save Darfur Coalition website, you can sign a petition to President Obama asking him to make peace in Darfur a top priority when he addresses the United Nations next week.

The petition is here:
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/ungapoll?rk=v7MJvh7q2JLCE

Learn more about the genocide in Darfur here:
http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/primer