"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Thursday, October 08, 2009

Keith Olbermann puts his sledgehammer to good use
Posted by Jill | 5:28 AM
Sometimes Keith Olbermann can be the Stephen Spielberg of television news commentary in that sometimes he doesn't recognize when less is more, and instead of using a scalpel he uses a sledgehammer. The Ben Affleck parody on Saturday Night Live wasn't really all that far off the mark. You either love Olbermann's bombast or you hate it.

But even if you hate it, if you missed his hour-long Special Comment last night about health care reform, it's worth your time. Start with this clip and then go over to the Countdown site and watch the rest.



Olbermann is the kind of rich, famous person who gives Republicans fits, because he hasn't lost his soul just because he's got some money. Here's a man who recently lost his mother to breast cancer, and has spent much of the last month navigating the health care system with his ailing father, to whom he appears to be clinging like a shipwreck survivor clutching at a fragment of deck chair.

It's rare that we see a big hulk of a middle-aged man talking about his parents the way Olbermann does about his. Even after an hour, we still don't know much about his father the way we know his mother after his heartfelt remembrance back in April. But last night's polemic wasn't about Keith Olbermann's father, but a story of one family's navigation through the health care system in this country -- a family with the resources to do what's necessary to return a sick member to quality of life, and a recognition that millions of Americans don't have the luxury of that kind of peace of mind while dealing with the very real possibility of loss that Keith Olbermann has experienced this month. Because unlike the "I got mine and fuck you" attitude that Republican fearmongers and Democratic Senate whores who are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the insurance industry have succeeded in spreading like H1N1 flu to the frightened, the uninformed, the uneducated, and the willfully ignorant, Keith Olbermann hasn't lost his ability to understand the plight of those who are losing their homes in an effort to save their ill children, who now face death because they didn't have money to get that breast lump checked out, and those who face every month a decision on whether to pay for insurance or pay the rent. He understands that the REAL fear of the people -- not the paid shills, but the actual people -- at the town halls this summer wasn't even ultimately about socialism, or even about ZOMG THERE'S A BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, but about the fear we all have -- the fear of death. This is what Betsy McCaughey is relying on, this is what Dick Armey's astroturf groups are relying on, and the irony is that it is the very DENIAL of not coverage, which is just words on paper, but actual PAYMENT OF CLAIMS that is what kills.

On Monday of next week I am going for another colonoscopy. I am going after three years because there is history in my father's family and I had a benign polyp removed when I had the last one. I made sure to check my insurer's web site and call the insurer to make sure that the doctor and the surgical center are in-network. Yesterday I was looking up dermatologists on the web site and find that all of a sudden, there are no providers of any kind in New Jersey that show up in the provider search. Is it a simple programming error? Did someone accidentally delete New Jersey from the provider database? Or is the insurance provided by my employer no longer providing coverage in New Jersey? Who knows? Try getting hold of someone on the phone with this company. Between myself and my employer, the annual premium for Mr. Brilliant and I is upwards of $12,000. We're lucky. We can pay for this procedure out of pocket if we have to. And it's just a procedure. But can you imagine if, say, your child suddenly fell seriously ill with, say, H1N1. It's after 8 PM, the customer service line is closed, and your insurer's web site lists NO providers in your state? Would you automatically assume it was a system error, or would you panic, wondering what to do?

Labels: ,

4 comments
Bookmark and Share
4 Comments:
Blogger Bartender Cabbie said...
good post.
10/8/09, 9:36 AM  
Anonymous Georgette Orwell said...
As a cancer survivor (thanks to a routine colonoscopy my doctor talked me into), having colonoscopies was my hobby for a while. I was about to schedule another, due to worrisome symptoms, when I lost my health insurance. Now even if I could afford insurance (which I can't at the moment), my pre-existing conditions will bar me from coverage. You may never hear this from another living soul, but I envy you your colonoscopy.
10/8/09, 10:41 AM  
Blogger Jayhawk said...
Keith Olbermann is rapidly becoming the Rush Limbaugh of the left. I still watch him, but I always turn him off when he begins one of his pontifical special comments.

His present crusade against insurance companies is over the top. They do need reform and regulation, but they are a long way from the evil that he paints them and a significant portion of the "information" that he presents is false or distorted propaganda from special interest groups. The California Nurses Association, which he quotes often, is very active in various "Proposition" battles here, and many of their ads are just unbelievably and blatantly dishonest.
10/8/09, 11:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
but they are a long way from the evil that he paints them

They want to make money. Once we are in the situation where everyone has health insurance and medical costs are going up, the only way to continue to make money is to deny care.

They could be nicest mutherfuckers on earth, but they would still be doing bad things. Because they don't have any choice.

On Monday of next week I am going for another colonoscopy. I am going after three years because there is history in my father's family and I had a benign polyp removed when I had the last one.

Late, but I will keep my fingers crossed for you sweetheart.

max
['Let's see what blogger wants me to do to get this up.']
10/9/09, 3:08 AM  
Post a Comment
<< Home