Today is a happy day for many GOP freshmen Congressmen. Why? Because as of today, their government-subsidized health care is in effect. And that health care plan is robust. For starters, no one can be excluded or penalized for pre-existing conditions, regardless of age. Dependents are covered up to age 26, whether they're students or not, and even if they have a pre-existing condition.

But wait, there's more:

Beginning today, a new Republican Member of Congress with high blood pressure, diabetes, or any chronic condition is immediately covered at the same premium cost as 8 million other federal employees. The same is true for his or her spouse and dependent children, regardless of age, gender or prior illness.

So, no pre-existing conditions, no rate hikes, and best of all, the government pays about $700/month for each enrollee. Isn't that nice of them? Let it sink in: Taxpayers are paying $700 per month for Congressmen like Darrell Issa, and Virginia Foxx to have access to quality health care while they go about the business of repealing it through the courts and Congress for the rest of us.

In the this-is-no-surprise category, we have current polls which say a majority of Americans think those who seek to repeal the Affordable Care Act should decline their own government-subsidized health insurance.

Most Americans think incoming Congressmen who campaigned against the health care bill should put their money where their mouth is and decline government provided health care now that they're in office. Only 33% think they should accept the health care they get for being a member of Congress while 53% think they should decline it and 15% have no opinion.

Nevermind hockey. Canada still gets the last laugh. via Zaius Nation.

Open Thread below....

Because she can see it from her house.

From The Canadian Press (syndicated)

Marg Delahunty has braved the wilds of the American Midwest to come face-to-face with Sarah Palin. Comedian Mary Walsh’s beloved character button-holed the former Alaska governor at a recent book-signing in Columbus, Ohio...

"Marg Delahunty" has been compared to the more famous Dame Edna, and Stephen Colbert owes her five bucks, too. Marg is a character, dressed up as some kind of "Canadian Warrior" right winger, etc. Here's a pic of her in full regalia:

I think she's got a Palinesque look to her, but anyhoo...

“We told her we’re from Canada, and we’re just looking for a few words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so tirelessly to destroy the socialized medicare that we have,” Walsh recalled Tuesday from St. John’s.

After being kicked out of the book-signing, Walsh and her crew then waited outside at a loading dock close to where Palin’s bus was parked. When Palin emerged from the Borders bookstore, Walsh said, Delahunty — dressed in a more toned-down version of her trademark warrior princess costume — called out to her.

“Hey, remember us, we’re the Canadians! We came all the way here from Canada!” Delahunty yelled. “When we asked you that question, we didn’t hear your answer.”

Palin strolled over, looking down on Walsh and her crew to tell them that “Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”

“Basically, she said government should stop doing the work that private enterprise should do,” Walsh said.

There are no words, Sarah Palin. No words.

crossposted from Blue Gal; h/t TD in comments for the tip

RaceWire: Best photo from the 9/12 Tea Party

Harold Meyerson: The "values" of the largest private-sector employer in the U.S. are shaping our national economy -- and that's a very bad thing.

The Agonist: Monsanto

uggabugga: Interested in a deep-think read?

Multi Medium: Healthcare perspective from Kristof

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Delusions of Lucidity, Republican Dirty Tricks, Blue Heron Blast, Alien Truth

Paul Hipp, We're number 37!

Open Thread below....

Satirical Political Report: Steve Martin's ‘Tribute' to McCain: King Glut

VoteGopher: Joe Biden on the issues

Good Girl Roxie: Obama on Healthcare

Media is a Plural: Arizona, home to John McCain and new capital of hate radio. Coincidence?

Consortium News: Don't look now, but neocons might (gasp!) get rich off of the Georgia/Russia meltdown.

Guest hosted by Blue Gal, who had a terrific time in Springfield, Illinois yesterday. Boy, that Biden fella sure can sprint.

Download | play Download | play (h/t BillW)

I admit to being completely biased to the appeal of Denmark, as my family is Danish and I travel to Denmark as frequently as I am able to see them. But a recent study has borne out what I've experienced myself for years: the people of Denmark are the happiest people on Earth. (study here-U.S. is #26)

But Danish happiness is one that most Americans don't seem to grasp, because most Americans confuse well being with being well off. Danish happiness is derived from lower expectations, rather than having to be #1. The need to be superlative is supplanted with a contentment of where you are and not needing to keep up with the Joneses. It is also a contentment of not worrying about some basic necessities: healthcare, childcare, education, retirement and long term care. Republicans are quick to demonize the socialism as something akin to the scary Red notion of communism, and it's true that in a socialist democracy like Denmark, the average person is taxed at about 50%, which is uncomfortably high to our American ears, but ask yourself how much of your paycheck goes to health insurance, childcare, college savings plans and retirement accounts. Few people in the US can say that less than 50% of their paychecks don't go towards those needs already. In fact, one of my friends discovered that they actually brought home more money by having the wife stay at home with the kids, because her entire paycheck went to childcare and costs relating to her work.

In The Science of Happiness, author Stefan Klein at this phenomena and comes to some conclusions on a meta-level on what creates happiness in a society and the results might surprise you. He finds that there are three critical standards that must be met: a civic sense, social equality and control over our own lives. The more participatory the democracy, the more equal the social and income distribution among the citizens and the more self-determination (meaning not being forced to do a job you dislike because you have to pay the bills), the happier the society is.

That's not so scary, is it?

You can get the full segment and transcripts on CBS.com

We got an email from The California Nurses Association:

The California Nurses Associaton are working with the family of Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17 year old from Northridge, California, who is lying in the intensive care unit at UCLA Medical Center hoping that CIGNA will approve the liver transplant she desperately needs.

You heard that right, folks. A seventeen-year-old needs a LIVER TRANSPLANT and the insurance company is making up their mind whether to pay for it. And certain presidential candidates think we should all be required to buy "affordable coverage" from these people. Bless their hearts.

At a minimum, can you go read and comment on nyceve's dkos diary on this situation to help build a tsunami of public anger and embarass Cigna into approving this medically-necessary treatment?

Cigna? I got yer embarrassment right here. Please recommend and comment at the Kos Diary and digg this story. And thanks.

UPDATE: (Nicole) FANTASTIC news! Apparently, Cigna's offices were flooded with phone calls and all the work that CNA/NNOC coordinated to support Nataline paid off as Cigna decided late this afternoon to reverse its previous denial.

...(I)t is deplorable and appalling that CIGNA needed to have hundreds of people pounding on their doors and besieging them with calls to take the humanitarian step they should have done long before today," said Geri Jenkins, RN, a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents, who spoke at the Glendale rally.

Nataline's mother, Hilda Sarkisyan, expressed her profound thanks to CNA/NNOC. "We couldn't have done this without you helping us to stand up against this insurance company and forcing them to finally do the right thing. It is not right in this country for it to take a rally, a protest, and a major press conference to get an insurance company to listen."

"Every politician who thinks the answer to our healthcare crisis is more insurance should stop and think about Nataline Sarkysian," said (CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann) DeMoro. "Insurance is not care. Paying for insurance coverage is not the same as assuring you will receive appropriate care, even when recommended by a physician as it was for Nataline. Insurance corporations profit by denying care to the sick, and that is no way to run a humane healthcare system."

UPDATE #2: A heartbreaking end to the story. Literally as Cigna was reversing their position, Nataline took a turn for the worst. Her family opted to remove her from life support and she passed away this evening. Our hearts and prayers go to her family.

Following up on an earlier item, the president’s decision to veto a bipartisan bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is scandalous, but it’s not without a foundation. Bush didn’t just reject the expansion out of some kind of craven disgust for children’s health; he’s offered specific policy rationales for rejecting the legislation.

The problem, of course, is that these rationales happen to be spectacularly wrong.

What's worse than undermining healthcare for kids for no reason? Undermining healthcare for kids for demonstrably false reasons.

From Strange Tales:

Mary Wohlford, 80, of Decorah, Iowa, had the words “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” tattooed on her chest [last year, tattoo shown above] to make her medical wishes clear, but at least one doctor thinks that isn’t enough to stop medical personnel. Dr. Mark Purtle of the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines told the Des Moines Register that state law defines when caregivers are permitted to end life-sustaining measures, and a tattoo isn’t enough. Wohlford noted that she also has a living will hanging on the side of her refrigerator.

Update: Zennurse wrote a comment and added to it in a separate email:

"I'm concerned about the limits of the post; she has a living will on her fridge and that is where the EMT's will look for it if needed. As a retired nurse, she decided to have the tattoo done after seeing what happened to Terri Schiavo, but she has family who know about her living will and she is apparently aware that it will cover her in an emergency. As a nurse myself, I feel certain she knows the tattoo will not. I think what I'm concerned with is that after reading through the comments, I find no mention of the fact that

having a living will or advance directive is the best way to exercise freedom of choice, in fact that is where such protections came from.

(Kind of like the labor party bringing you vacations) I see this woman's choice as more of a snarky statement of despair at the state of healthcare in this country and the pretty rational fear of overtreatment out of fear of litigation should she be "found down", or have a medical event outside her home which renders her unable to make choices for herself.

I'm glad you were prompted to post the petition link and have signed it. I just wish there had been a little more research into who she

was, why she did what she did and what the implications of it might be beyond a knee-jerk reaction that it was government out of control. I just don't think that's the case here.

I'm a hospice nurse and understand all too well the risks involved. I have stood over patients to prevent CPR while waiting for family to deliver the correct paperwork and have also, in earlier days, done CPR on patients who had no hope of surviving because the family insisted on taking the chance. The basic premise of the post is correct, it is about choice, but it says more about the disaster that is healthcare in the country than some underhanded effort by the government to limit our freedoms."

This story just came to my attention today, and it seems timely to run this video from last year. The whole thing is good, but particularly the story from Lucy at 2:02.

An 80-year-old woman should not need a tattoo on her chest in order to protect her right to refuse resuscitation if she has made the choice of sound mind. There is a petition online that covers this and other issues at the First Freedom First website.