It's a Tough Call

I think I want to make a point about health care.  Maybe not a point.  Maybe just a hypothetical question.  Perhaps not about health care ,  but the more general question of a society taking care of it's own.  Or man's humanity to man.  Or inhumanity.  Bear with me,  it may be a while before I get to the point.  "Really Lloyd?"  "What a surprise".

I have been getting some annoying calls on my cell phone.  From numbers unrecognized by my contact list.  You all know exactly what I mean.  Of course I do not answer calls from unexpected numbers.  If you answer and it is a nasty, toxic, telemarketing scheme,  it can lead to more annoying calls.  Or something even worse.  It could be that you will find yourself the victim of a clever criminal computer scheme that winds up charging calls to your phone and the calls show up on your providers bill and the money gets routed from your provider to the criminal hacker.  And it can lead to idenity theft.  Because the more you fight it,  the more the criminal finds out about you.

So what happens is:  I don't answer these unidentified calls.  Sometimes it is a legitimate call and a voice message is left for me.  Fine and good.  I simply label a new contact.

But if no voice message is left,  and the call is repeated: of course I still never answer.  But I type the number into Google.  I almost always find out enough info on the number to know it is toxic. For free.  Then I label that number in my contacts with the name "do not answer".  The calls keep coming maybe once or twice a day,  but it doesn't frustrate me quite as much because I know what it is.  Immediately.  And I feel as if I have some control.  After a few days,  or weeks,  that number will give up and try someone else.  It's still a pain,  but not that bad.  Then another toxic number will start calling and the process starts over.  When I have two toxic numbers calling during the same week,  that is indeed unfortunate.

I am no closer to getting to my point about health care and humanity.  But let me forge on.

Lately I have been getting an even nastier type of calls.  The sender has to be a devious, sadistic, son of a witch.  The calls come up without a number and have the word "unavailable".  I don't answer and there is no voice message left.  What possible reason could the sender have except viral harrassment?  Is this a young hacker who has outgrown ripping the wings off flies?  So today I called my cell phone provider.  I won't mention their name,  but their initials are Verizon Wireless.  The technology in the way they fielded my call was pretty amazing.  I was put on hold after a long and arduous voice response conversation with a computer.  The "on hold" part was a series of short and not so short infomercials.  This went on and on.  New phones.  Minutes deals.  Upgrades. Features. Sales.   I pads.  Smart phones.  Video tablets.  I listened to a hundred of these and they never started to repeat.  I put the phone on speaker and moved it away from me far enough to stop the torture,  but close enough to hear in the remote case that a human would come on the line.  Finally someone did and they didn't sound like they were in India.  The young lady was very nice and listened patiently for my geezer rant about the harrassing "unavailable" calls.  One possible solution, she said, was changing my phone number.  They would do this for free.  How nice.  I didn't do that because:  1.  nobody would have my number  2.  the bad guys could start doing the same thing to my new number!  Next was "Call User Contol".  With this system the phone rejects any call that is not 10 digets.  So the word "Unavailable" trying to come in would be a rejection that the receiver never knows about.  This costs five dollars a month.  And does nothing to help about those telemarketing calls which do show a phone number,  toxic as they are.  I tell her to sign me up.  She tells me according to her records I am due for an upgrade and she gives me a pitch I think she is reading from a script.  I tell her no thanks.  Even though my phone charges up and discharges way too fast: meaning battery is dying.  And now and again when I hit the 5 key it feels too stiff and puts up 3 numbers on the screen in a blink.  That malfunction would be a deal breaker,  but the problem goes away after I fret for eight minutes.

Again,  I'm no closer to the point about health care.  I better get to the point or I will forget what it is.
I started thinking about my nice new Verizon service which fights off one kind of phone virus. I told my wife about it and I heard myself say something like "you know it really isn't fair that I have to pay 5 bucks a month because my phone has a germ attack and Joe Blow my neighbor has been lucky about computer calls and he doesn't have to pay 5 bucks a month."  Then I stopped talking and started thinking.  I would not wish these toxic calls on Joe Blow or anyone.  But Joe Blow might start getting them tomorrow.  I think if Verizon can stop it for me,  they should stop it  for everyone as part of their service.

Bing.  My point.  Maybe if every Verizon customer  paid a penny a month we could all have the insurance against this type of call.  It just comes with the phone.  It's part of the phone like having a ringer.  You have to have it.  You can't opt out and not pay the penny a month.  Everyone wants it and they don't want to even have to think about it.  It's a no brainer.  Once it's in the system it probably won't cost Verizon a thing.  It will be a done deal.  It will have the power of every single customer quietly enjoying the protection of the service.

My point Part 2.  I was unlucky about getting toxic calls.  Joe Blow was lucky.  I've been lucky to be somewhat healthy  all my life along with my wife and son.  Some problems of course.  I don't want to be without health coverage.  There's more.  I don't want any family in my country (or on the planet) to not have health care available to them.  I don't want any child to not be insurable.  Or have any family become bankrupt due to health expences.  ANY FAMILY.   ANYONE.  Rich or poor.  Paid up premeums or not.  Black or White.  Gay or not.  Christian or not.  Pre existing condition or not.

I'm not making a pitch for Obama care.  I don't care what politician gets credit for it.  This is a simple thing.  First we make sure no one goes hungry in the United States.  Then we make sure everyone gets the medical care and treatment they need.  Period.  This takes priority over having wars against countries we don't like. And wars to protect oil we think we need so some of us can get richer.  I don't know a damn thing about Obama care.  And I know you don't know much about it either.  I don't care if they keep Obamacare or get rid of it.  The Genie is out of the bottle now.  If Romney wins,  he won't be able to just say that our new health care system,  under him, will be no Obama care.  The lack of something is not something.

 Yesterday my brother told me he is glad the Supreme Court upheld the Constitutionality of Obama care.  He said he likes the provision that no lawyer can ever, under the system, deny someone a treatment because the lawyer has an expert witness that can say the treatment might not work,  the patient might die anyway, etc.  And no insurance company can put a top on the expenses that have been spent on a patient,  so they get no more treatment under insurance because of the top out.

Again,  I'm not selling Obama care or Obama.  I don't like that Obama rammed this program thru congress in the middle of the night.  But myself.  I'm glad the Supreme Court upheld it too.  My son is turning 24.  So now we have two more years of him on our insurance.  If the vote went the other way,  he's on his own.

I know lots of people that really hate Obama.  Hey,  politics is politics.  Just like religion.  I'll say it again.  I want EVERYONE in our country to have health insurance.  And I want EVERYONE to chip in and pay for it.  Whether they need it or want it or not.  Just like highways and schools.  It's more important than highways and schools.

46% of us like Obama.  46% of us hate his guts.  So come November the 8% will decide.  And Obama and Romney and every Senator and Congressman and Governor and Commisioner and Alderman and Sheriff and Dog Catcher will be kissing the behind of that 8% and promising the moon and their first born child to that 8% and spending more money than has ever been spent on an election in the history of the world on courting that 8%.  It won't matter who wins.  Again the Genie is out of the bottle.  The system has been about money for a long time.  But now the system is about and controlled by money.  It won't matter who wins.  The rot is too far gone.  It won't matter who wins.  We will still have to have a universal health care system.  We already have it.  We never called it universal.  After all we're not socialists!  But the Supreme Court has decided it's OK to have a universal system within our Democratic Republic.

I have to admit,  this election is entertaining.  Our country is literally "on hold".   I do miss the reality show comedy of the Republican Primary.  Sarah for President!

I contacted my congressman,  Andrew P. Harris.
I got a message back.   "Unavailable"

LLITTY    ::::+::::