There is a moribund bill, HR 676 by John Conyers, to provide single payer healthcare for all Americans. To my mind it is the single greatest cause Americans can pursue for real progress in our nation. And, for me, it hits home solidly now.

Kristi, my roomie of over 5 years now, has a herniated spinal disc. I am sure of it. As I type this, Bonnie is on the way to take her to Parkland Hospital, where Kennedy was taken and where the uninsured flock, for whatever free 'healthcare' they can provide for this injury - care that will by its very allopathic root be woefully insufficient. Many folks do not know, but in 1987 the American medical association was found guilty of violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
http://www.chiro.org/Wilk/
for its efforts to contain and eliminate the profession of Chiropractic. Today, this reality of the big business of medicine continues to be reflected in public policy which makes no provision for no-cost care provided by chiropractors. As a consequence my roommate, who depends on her physical integrity to make a living, is on her way to a regimen of care that will be nothing more than palliative relief by drugs, if the ones she will get are more effective than the ones she has already spent hundreds of dollars to acquire, and the typically inexorable slide to a surgical situation.

Having treated hundreds of patients and shot thousands of x-rays personally in my early working years, I am convinced she is dangerously close to needing surgery now. And while effective non-surgical treatment exists,
http://www.vax-d.com/Pages/VAXDCenters/Texas.html
http://www.coxtable.com/
it remains very likely out of our reach though I will be making calls tomorrow and plotting to use my unemployment compensation and necessarily secretive remodeling income to cover her half of the rent this month so she can pay for at least some effective care.

This very truly could knock us both off the proverbial cliff and for no other reason that our Vicious CULTure and its bootstrap ethic masking outright exploitation of workers cannot see that healthcare for all it a not merely a possibility but rather is a foregone conclusion proved up by the numerous countries where it is available.

So, I encourage you to keep us in mind as we enter a new, harder chapter. And I encourage you to make a stink to the PTB about HR 676, lest an economic 'death penalty' come our way that, for too many including us now, is frighteningly close to home right about now, and that neglects my own history which includes an old bulged disc I have become reacquainted with as I have done serious physical labor in recent weeks...

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...As I type this, Bonnie is on the way to take her to Parkland Hospital, where Kennedy was taken and where the uninsured flock, for whatever free 'healthcare' they can provide for this injury - care that will by its very allopathic root be woefully insufficient. Many folks do not know, but in 1987 the American medical association was found guilty of violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
http://www.chiro.org/Wilk/
for its efforts to contain and eliminate the profession of Chiropractic. Today, this reality of the big business of medicine continues to be reflected in public policy which makes no provision for no-cost care provided by chiropractors. As a consequence my roommate, who depends on her physical integrity to make a living, is on her way to a regimen of care that will be nothing more than palliative relief by drugs, if the ones she will get are more effective than the ones she has already spent hundreds of dollars to acquire, and the typically inexorable slide to a surgical situation...

I am glad to report that my roomie, though by no means fully recovered, is now enough better to be mostly fully functional despite some lingering evidence of neural irritation from her ongoing problem.

As I expected, her trip to the county hospital was fruitless - nothing more than a seven hour wait after answering a few cursory questions.

With remarkable efficiency though, the hospital took only 16 calendar days to deliver to our mailbox a $ 177 bill...

Chiropratic works good within bounds. We got Sherman here, one of the more respected schools(I think) and probably more shops per capita than any place in the US. My prespective is prejudiced as I've known chiropractors who were real screwheads.