Margaret and Babe in 2010.

Today commemorates the first anniversary since Babe died.  Margaret takes her place at my side, a veteran of one year as a service dog.  Tonight, we are remembering Babe as we look at a giant moon on the horizon, closest than it’s been for nearly 20 years.
There is a tradition among Native American people that one does not speak of the dead in the first year.  After that time, their names are voiced aloud, together with those who have gone before.  These are moments where grief meets praise.   In the Spring those who once walked the earth are acknowledged in their spirit form and through the bonds that connect all things, they intervene.   It is said our ancestors encourage the rains to come, and the plants to grow.  When a voice from the people resonates with the Great Unseen we become a channel for healing and unity.
I can’t imagine a more significant time on this planet, when we all might cease our distractions, and speak in one voice to honor the dead, pray for living, and all that are suffering intolerable conditions with restraint and courage.   Stop for a moment and in our hearts reaffirm our deep connectedness.   Open ourselves to grief and praise, sacrifice a clock tic of our good fortune, honoring the still small voice within that guides us on a different path.

Babe shortly before she died.

I have a story to tell you.
Long before Babe got cancer, before the many struggles that looking back, seemed impossible to endure, we attended a ceremony lead by Martin’ Prechtel.   Babe was recovering from an operation.  Border collies are so energetic, they can blow out their own kneecaps in a single leap.  I made such a big deal over this thing.  The Bionic Leg, as we referred to it.   A titanium reinforced right hip and knee built to last a lifetime.  God if I only knew.
So Babe’s bionic leg was on the mend, and I had brought her to be in ceremony with Martin’ Prechtel.  It’s unusual for dogs to be included in ceremony.   I don’t remember what I told Martin’; only that he gave the ok after meeting Babe eye to eye.  Unlike her human companion, she knew when to keep her mouth shut, and where to draw the line.

If you have ever been in ceremony with Martin’ Prechtel, you know it’s going to be a long haul.  We were given a list of materials to bring.   A young sapling, flowers, some willow for weaving, beeswax, turquoise, shells, cornmeal, red cloth, string, a pocket knife, a blanket, and “happy” water (Not from the grocery outlet).   We sang and prayed and danced and prayed and stood and prayed.  We learned how to make prayer ties and other offerings.   Through all of this we were told stories.  We learned about the meaning behind them, but more, Martin’ unwound his story of personal holocaust.  The story of what happened when his village in Guatemala was attacked, how he crawled under once lush jungle as the bullets flew.   Many he had come to know as family were slaughtered. The women, the children, the elders, even the chickens. The dogs.  “There is a smell you never forget, a mist that smells like rusted rain. The blood of the dying and the dead.” Martin returned to New Mexico for a time, unable to communicate with anyone through his bitterness and grief.   He was the only one left to carry on spiritual teachings of his mentor, the village shaman.  Sounds woke him in the night, visions plagued him, the faces, the singing.  He was being called and he had to choose. Martin’ found a way to transform his hatred, his unspeakable grief.  His people had a ritual for this too.   A ceremony honoring the departed, and this was what he had been teaching us.

Some of the things used in ceremony for Babe on her last day.

So here we were dancing and praying and standing and listening, making prayer ties filled with cornmeal hour after hour.  It goes on for days.  “For you life is easy, you just go out and buy food, you go to the nursery and get yourself a potted plant.   We grew everything, and nothing was consumed without honoring that plant or animal for sustaining us.”   He spoke of grief and praise; that they are two sides of the same coin, that you cannot authentically have one without the other.  Grief and praise genuinely felt are not about you, but the way you experience connection to others even though they may be unseen.
There were some two or three hundred of us packed into a gymnasium set against Forest Park.   By now we had constructed a large cradle on which the shape of a simple house had been built from willow.  On it had been woven flowers so that the walls floor and roof were covered in a thousand varieties of orchid, rose, and most of all, our local Rhododendron which comes in so many scents and colors it’s dizzying.   We had constructed a Flowering Mountain.

Always in charge of the sleeping arrangements.

Martin was praying, making his blessings honoring the ancestors, then suddenly grew quiet.  The room fell silent as people tried to hear.   Was it the beginning of another story?   We were asked to lie on our blankets and let one cover the other like a cadaver, completely enclosed.  This took some time until everyone had been entombed. We were as the dead.   Silence but for the lightest of rains.
Babe really got into it.  She actually saw this as my spiritual death, and while I lay covered with red and blue cloth she crawled up to my body, her paws vibrating, and nuzzled under the covers to reach my hand to see if I was still warm.

Long on the tooth, heart of gold.

Then Martin shouted, “Jump up! Jump up and live again!”  Babe leaped from my side and barked. “Jump up and Live again!”  We were all confused at first.
“Jump up and live again!”
BARK!
“Jump up and live again!”
BARK!
Babe followed Martin’ into the center of the great room and danced.  He was ecstatic.   “See, the dog understands!  WAKE YOURSELVES!  Jump UP and Live Again!”  Babe showing her most excellent teeth, raised up on her hind legs with each bark. “Do you understand?  Live again.   Live again!”
Bark. BARK!
Some people laughed. Others cried.
And then Babe made a leap for my right butt cheek and bit me!  Later someone said, “Hey. That’s what Mamma dogs do when they have a pup that isn’t fully alive. They’ll bite on the hind end to get it to take a breath.”
Babe barked so joyously that day.   She knew when to take a stand.  That was the extraordinary soul she was.  She got it.   She got suffering; she got compassion, the power of being present and being part of.

The ceremony was over.   We were exhausted, we were hoarse.  I looked around and saw people who had entered this room with slumped shoulders and soft mushy voices, slightly unsure in the correctness of their words.  They all seemed taller now, more dignified, more clear.  Was I taller too?
The Flowering Mountain was carried out as we returned to the many places we had traveled from.   This house of flowers, the labor of days by three hundred souls would be taken to a remote place, some place deep in wilderness and left to decay.  A place you might come upon and be unaware, save for the strange sense that Others are watching, an extraordinary hue in the grasses there.  Put your ear to the ground.  You might hear voices.

Consulting with the managing editor of The Collie Report.

So tonight Margaret and I are Remembering Babe and looking at the full moon.  I go inside and flop on the couch like and old fart, to watch TV.  A repeating ticker tape of floating houses and tsunami flotsam; exploding this and exploding that. Goliath ships where they don’t belong, cracked earth and radioactive spinach.
I watch the TV framed by portraits of Babe.   I grumble something under my breath. Margaret bounds into the living room, nibbles at the threads of my sweater and barks. Was it something I said?

Today I understand grief and praise in a different way.   It’s deeply physical.  The heart is tempered yet made stronger much as steel is tempered under heat and pounding and cold.   I understand why it’s important to honor the dead, whose presence we struggle to make sense of as we distinguish what is palpable versus what we wish were so.   There are no direct answers.   The question of life after life, of missing what you believed was that person or entity.   You may find that in your grief you are walling off your heart to anything new.  We wish to extinguish the struggle, the pain and discomfort and so become locked inside ourselves.  But life embraces it all.   The power of ceremony comes from a singular process.  We are asked to go outside of self.   We are asked attend to our deep relatedness to one another, to all things, everywhere.

On the beach where Babe's ashes were poured.

Margaret has brought me a stuffed goose.   She thrusts him onto my lap and his honker bleats.  Mister Goose is one of many possessions Babe passed on while she was still alive.  His tail feathers are gone and he is missing an eye.   Margaret rests her long nose on my knee and sighs.   When this doesn’t work she climbs onto the couch, stands over me with that huge mane of hers, shakes it furiously and barks.
Jump up and live again!
Jump up.  And live again.

Visiting the home of our ancestors.

Click on any image for a closer look!

On behalf of Babe, I approve this message.

Last night all four of the major broadcast networks collaborated in the 2010 Stand up to Cancer campaign. This unprecedented event symbolizes the innovative approach Stand uptoCancer.org has achieved. For the first time since cancer research began, independent researchers, scientists, hospitals, and treatment facilities have formed collaborative networks, or dream teams with the goal of vastly accelerating the time it usually takes from discovery of new anti-cancer agents, to their productive use in humans.  For the treatment of some cancers, A cycle that traditionally can take twenty years is being reduced to as little as 18 months.

Over a lifetime, it is now estimated that one out of every three women, and one out of two men will have cancer.   In my immediate family of six, there are four of us who have experienced some form of cancer.  Of the two females, both had breast cancer.  There isn’t a family in this country that has not been impacted, yet how much time do we commit to stopping the pandemic?

There is something you can do. In addition to contributing to Stand up to Cancer, you can take preventative steps.  We all know that eating healthy, exercise, and regular screening are positive steps we can take.  But do you know that many cancers have been correlated to environmental factors such as chemical agents and toxins that could be present in your everyday environment?   In particular, pesticides and herbicides are known to have accelerating negative health effects for children, pregnant women, and our companion animals.

This summer, while visiting the Guide Dog School for the Blind, I discovered that cancer in guide dogs had increased at an alarming rate.  While participating in a graduate program for Project Braille, I met several blind adults who are now working with their third or fourth, and even fifth guide dog.  Many factors were involved, but cancer is appearing more frequently, and at early ages in dogs across all breeds, some at or before the age of 5 years.  This was unheard of just a decade ago. Our dogs are the canary in the coal mine.

My own service dog Babe contracted Histiocytic Sarcoma while we were goose chasing  at a local golf course. This always fatal cancer used to be is so rare most vets never saw it in a lifetime of treating animals.  Originally caused by a genetic disorder only seen in the Bernese Mountain Dog, Malignant Histiocytic Sarcoma is now appearing in dozens of breeds.  Every year the numbers rise.   Until researching scholarly papers on MHS and pesticide/herbicide were linked, or that I was walking my dog through a minefield of chemicals. I discovered that the Portland Public schools  banned the use of  herbicides/pesticides like Casoron, Roundup, and Genesis on all school property  after having reviewed the scientific data on the health risks of these chemicals.  However, these known carcinogens are being applied on golf courses and in public parks as we speak. You may be unknowingly using the same agents in your own yard!
Do not trust the labels!   You can research any chemical agent online through Google scholar or other evidence based non industry affiliated resource.  Unless you’re sure of the spray policies where you walk your dog, wash their feet and underbelly after going out, especially on rainy days.  Dogs can absorb these toxins directly through their feet and skin, or through their lungs.

But getting cancer isn’t all you risk. Next time you go for a walk notice how much time your dog spends with their nose to the ground or in the shrubbery.  Casoron is commonly used in ornamental gardens and on roadsides for weed control.  A single exposure to Casoron can lead to permanent olfactory damage.

I don’t know about Babe, because she never complained, but I lost my once very canine sense of smell while we were on the goose chasing gig.   Since that fall in 2008, I am generally able to detect only four distinct odors. Everything comes through to me as either car exhaust, coffee, bad cologne or dog shit.  Those are my four scents for life.  I used to be able to smell bread through the bag, fresh laundry being dried from my second story window,  the first hint of spring, or the sea air riding on a storm front.  Falling snow. Sometimes I get a whiff of something that reminds me of Christmas off of a German pancake, or the hint of cottonwoods when bury my nose in their resinous leaves.  Can you imagine what this means to a dog, not having a decent sense of smell?

While we goose chased for nearly nine months, a cocktail of chemicals was being applied to the grounds on a regular basis. After the first tumor, I asked the management if the chemicals they were using were safe, but I took their word for it. Several months later, Babe was fighting for her life.   I learned a terrible lesson as I watched the one I love endure four surgeries, and year and ten months of relentless decline. Take personal, proactive responsibility for your world or be prepared to bear the cost!

Even with her cancer, on good days and bad, Babe barked for affordable healthcare.  She spoke out on this blog, over internet radio, and every night at ten’ o’clock, (most of that time) until the new legislation was passed.  She died just days short of that landmark event.

It’s sort of humiliating, it should be, to watch a dog do more for human beings even as she suffers, than human beings are willing to do for themselves. There are over 30 commonly used industrial pesticides and herbicides.  Get educated and save yourself  the agony, the cost, the waste of  good living just because you were too lazy to look into things.

Take a Stand.  
Start by wiping off your dog if you’ve been somewhere you don’t know is safe.  Pay attention to spraying practices in your neighborhood, to the chemicals you use around the house.  Wash or peel vegetables, better yet, buy locally organically grown foods.  I know, they cost.

Compare that cost to the 100k you may fork out if you land in the hospital.  Compare the cost of a little proactive learning to the $30,000.00 I spent treating my Service dog and training her replacement, not to mention the the pain we all experienced along the way. Thirty grand buys a lot of squeaky toys. Thirty thousand dollars is an all expense paid trip to anywhere on the planet for you and Mitsey.

If you enjoy paying for the privilege of ignorance, go to your ATM and pull out five hundred every week or so, and start lighting twenties on fire.  Burn four twenties a day for a year and you’ll get there.

Why not Get Smart, save yourself a bundle, and feel good doing it.

I’ve got a deal for you.

Why not just pull out your debit card and fire off a measly hundred to (click me now!) Stand Up to Cancer!

UPDATE 9/12/10

Just since writing this post, I have learned that my sister is having yet another biopsy for breast cancer, and my brother has been diagnosed with bladder cancer, which was discovered only a few days ago. They are both having medical procedures tomorrow. That makes five individuals out of a family of six, confronted with cancer in their own lives.

If anyone believes that standing up to cancer is not a personal issue, or will not one day become personal, please get your head out of your ass and get a cololonoscopy (if you are over 50) while you are at it.

Become part of the solution. You will be glad you did. The life you save may be your own.

On your side, when it comes to affordable healthcare,

monopoly |məˈnäpəlē|

noun ( pl. -lies)

1 the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service : his likely motive was to protect his regional monopoly on furs.

• [usu. with negative ] the exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something : men don’t have a monopoly on unrequited love.

• a company or group having exclusive control over a commodity or service : areas where cable companies operate as monopolies.

• a commodity or service controlled in this way : electricity, gas, and water were considered to be natural monopolies.

2 ( Monopoly) trademark a board game in which players engage in simulated property and financial dealings using imitation money. It was invented in the U.S. and the name was coined by Charles Darrow c. 1935.

ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek monopōlion, from monos ‘single’ + pōlein ‘sell.’

Since the 1940′s Health Insurance Companies have enjoyed benefits of exemption from Federal Antitrust Laws that virtually every Corporation in America must abide by.  Two Healthcare Giants dominate coverage for the general population in 40 states. Those who shout FREE TRADE in the marketplace while claiming Healthcare Reform is disguised socialism might want to take a hard look.

If I could get the same healthcare that all government employees and the military are entitled to;  If I and millions of Americans willing to pay for affordable healthcare could be eligible for membership in the government insurance pool (composed of private competitive insurance providers), where NO EXCLUSIONS are allowed…Just doing this would transform healthcare.

Tell me, please. Why isn’t this possible?

I am a Border collie.  I think in Black and White.

Tell me what I’m missing here? How is this idea communist medicine?  What are the subversive elements?  We pay. We compete in a fair and balanced marketplace, on a level playing field for all providers.  Every American gets access to the same healthcare that government employees, including members of Congress and the military are entitled to right now…. Show Me the Commies!

We need fair and equitable healthcare Today.  When you see all the debate and rabble rousing going on, ask yourself, who is making the noise?

Commit to being informed.  (follow the money)  Do not give up your rights just because the big guys are running things. Start making some noise of your own! Don’t be complacent.  Don’t be resigned.   Act up!   Speak up!

Bark for affordable healthcare!

Contact your Senator, your Congressman, the White house, Insurance Providers, Special Interest groups.

(there are links to several resources on our blogroll)

Join others in your community as they engage the healthcare debate.

Take it to the streets!  Let your voice be heard!*

Don’t stop barking until we get affordable healthcare!

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border collie

*p.s. We bark every night at 10p.m. PST on Word of Dog,

prevention |priˈven ch ən|

noun

the action of stopping something from happening or arising : crime prevention | the treatment and prevention of AIDS.

PHRASES

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure proverb It’s easier to stop something from happening in the first place than to repair the damage after it has happened.

I love my work, and I am good at it.  As a service dog my primary responsibility is to be alert to advance warnings of my partner’s endocrine disorder.  Thing is we both love to do other stuff.  I am fond of goose chasing in particular.  I cleared geese from a prominent golf course in Portland, Oregon for nearly a year.  We chased geese from one half hour before sunset until the job was done come rain or shine.

What we did not know that were were being exposed to a toxic recipe of various herbicides and fertilizers and fungicides.  Our path took us across three miles of golf course every day.  We had no idea of the health risks until I began getting tumors.  First on my legs, and then, a very rare cancer was found in my lungs.  A tumor nearly the size of a grapefruit. This cancer is so rare most vets never see it.

Histiocytic Sarcoma was once seen only as a genetic disorder in the Bernese Mountain Dog.  Now this cancer affects many breeds, among them Golden retrievers, Flat Coat retrievers, Shelties, German shepherds, and dozens more.

After reviewing the scholarly studies, I was horrified to learn that many commonly used herbicides give rise to histiocytic sarcomas in dogs and lymphomas in humans.  Some herbicides, like Casoron damage the olfactory bulb, resulting in loss of the sense of smell on inhalation. My partner lost his sense of smell on the golf course. The cost for my surgery, chemotherapy, and my partner’s healthcare arising out of our exposure exceeds $20,000.00 so far.  This could have been prevented.  Had we known, and had YOU the public been informed about the health risks of these and many more environmental toxins, some in our own homes right now, the total savings for our healthcare system, more over, for our personal savings accounts is incalculable.

I am a Border collie, so don’t take my word on the math, but affordable healthcare, which includes prevention in all of its forms, could bring the price tag down by many billions of dollars. WE KNOW that a healthy diet reduces the risk for cancer and heart disease.

We KNOW that routine exercise promotes better health.  We KNOW that environmental toxins are suspect for enormous increases in certain cancers and  birth defects,  including Autism Spectrum Disorder, which has increased nearly 100 per cent in just the last 20 years.  There are huge multinational corporations who deliberately obfuscate (as in cover up) the public health risks of herbicides, fertilizers, and other agricultural chemicals for the environment.  (p.s. That includes you.  You ARE the environment)

Get educated.  Get involved.  Use the common sense and curiosity God gave a DOG.  Go online.  Study the scholarly reports.  Do an inventory of household chemicals you use.  Re-evaluate the foods you eat.  (Try reading the labels.)  Cook for your self!  Buy local produce. Learn about nutrition, and the benefits of  organic foods. (i.e. no chemical fertilizers or artificial agents used in their production)

Be open minded enough to receive new information, even if this may require you to make major changes in your lifestyle.

And don’t forget to go for regular walks.  Just be sure that if that place is a golf course or a public park, to be informed about the maintenance practices there.

If you don’t know, for Dog’s sake, wipe your feet!

very truly yours,

Babe T Border collie.

Bark with us on the air! Visit the Word of Dog internet radio Broadcast.

To learn more about our Goose chasing experience, my cancer and ongoing recovery, or even if you just want to get the inside word on the daily life of a service dog

Visit our home blog and explore the stories there.

On your side, when it comes to affordable healthcare.

verb

1 [ trans. ] take hold of suddenly and forcibly : she jumped up and seized his arm | she seized hold of the door handle.

• capture (a place) using force : army rebels seized an air force base.

• assume (power or control) by force : the current president seized power in a coup.

• (of the police or another authority) take possession of (something) by warrant or legal right; confiscate; impound : police have seized 726 lb of cocaine.

• take (an opportunity or initiative) eagerly and decisively : he seized his chance to attack as Delaney hesitated.

• (of a feeling or pain) affect (someone) suddenly or acutely : he was seized by the most dreadful fear.

• strongly appeal to or attract (the imagination or attention) : the story of the king’s escape seized the public imagination.

• formal understand (something) quickly or clearly : he always strains to seize the most somber truths.

2 [ intrans. ] (of a machine with moving parts or a moving part in a machine) become stuck or jammed : the engine seized up after only three weeks.

3 (also seise) ( be seized of) English Law be in legal possession of : the court is currently seized of custody applications.

• historical have or receive freehold possession of (property) : any person who is seized of land has a protected interest in that land.

• be aware or informed of : the judge was fully seized of the point.

4 archaic Nautical fasten or attach (someone or something) to something by binding with turns of rope.

PHRASES

seize the day make the most of the present moment. [ORIGIN: see carpe diem .]

PHRASAL VERBS

seize on/upon take eager advantage of (something); exploit for one’s own purposes : the government has eagerly seized on the evidence to deny any link between deprivation and crime.

DERIVATIVES

seizable |ˈsizəbəl| adjective

seizer |ˈsizər| noun

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French seizir ‘give seisin,’ from medieval Latin sacire, in the phrase ad proprium sacire ‘claim as one’s own,’ from a Germanic base meaning ‘procedure.’

If you are commited to afforddable healtcare, Just do the RED words.

Do these things, join in the transformation of health care in America

We can Make it SO!

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border colie

Laying Low today, but still barking for healthcare!

A new word for you:

bankrupt |ˈba ng kˌrəpt; -rəpt|

adjective

(of a person or organization) declared in law unable to pay outstanding debts : the company was declared bankrupt | he committed suicide after going bankrupt.

• impoverished or depleted : a bankrupt country with no natural resources.

• figurative completely lacking in a particular quality or value : their cause is morally bankrupt.

noun

a person judged by a court to be insolvent, whose property is taken and disposed of for the benefit of creditors.

verb [ trans. ]

reduce (a person or organization) to bankruptcy : the strike nearly bankrupted the union.

ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Italian banca rotta ‘broken bench,’ from banca (see bank ² ) and rompere ‘to break.’ The change in the ending was due to association with Latin rupt- ‘broken.’

I have a rare cancer Border collies shouldn’t get.  Histiocytic Sarcoma.  I got it after exposure to herbicides known to cause this lethal disease.

After multiple surgeries, and the chemo, I am still defying the odds.
So far, my partner has spent over $20,000.00 on medical costs.
What’s he gonna do? I am his service dog!  Without me to keep an eye on him he’d have checked out a long time ago.
That money came from savings… his self insurance fund, because policy exclusions make any realistic coverage for his endocrine disorder impossible.  His condition is stable for the moment, thank God.  (We’re both into preventitive healthcare)
Even so, we are just one crisis away from bankruptcy.

Every year millions of Americans, your friends and neighbors, face bankruptcy because they cannot obtain affordable healthcare.

I’ve had a good run.   In fact, so far, I am the longest living dog with Histiocytic Sarcoma.

Today has been a rough patch.  I don’t feel so good.

And I am worried.

I would like to be around to see my partner get decent health coverage.

Nevemind Us Dogs…

If you people can’t get it together we are all screwed.

I gave my word. What about you?

Commit yourself to being a part of the solution!

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border collie

Ps:  Visit these links to learn more about our experience with cancer:

The Longest Living Dog

Life, Death and Possibility

Discover what it takes to be a service dog at

Christopher Kliks’s blog…

Browse for stories in the Word Cloud

*Get the Low Down on Histiocytic Sarcoma in Dogs.

]]> http://thecolliereport.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/a-dogs-word-on-healthcare/feed/ 0 christopherkliks P1090491 http://thecolliereport.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/the-collie-report-new-word/ http://thecolliereport.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/the-collie-report-new-word/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:17:45 +0000 christopherkliks http://thecolliereport.wordpress.com/?p=80 Continue reading →]]>

The Naked truth on Healthcare.

We just looked up a new word:

This is exactly as the definition appears in the New American Heritage Dictionary:

exclusion |ikˈskloō zh ən|nounthe process or state of excluding or being excluded : drug users are subject to exclusion from the military.• an item or risk specifically not covered by an insurance policy or other contract : exclusions can be added to your policy.PHRASESto the exclusion of so as to exclude something specified : don’t revise afew topics to the exclusion of all others.DERIVATIVESexclusionary |-ˌnerē| |ɪkˈskluʒəˈnɛri| |ɛkˈskluʒəˈnɛri| adjectiveORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin exclusio(n-), from excludere‘  shut out’ (see exclude ).

Yesterday I was listening to a call in radio talk show in Portland. Oregon.   Mark and Dave were talking about this insurance guy, Joe I think his name was from Ohio who got some press for shouting He had enough of this crap  from the presidnet about how the insurance industry is only out for the big bucks.  He said that in “Thirty five  years of selling insurance policies in Ohio, his company had NEVER dropped a single claim or client after discovery of a health condition.”

Will good for you Mister Joe the Insurance guy.

I just want you to know that when this topic was discussed live on the radio in Portland, (KEX 1190) The phones were ringing off the hook.

EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING had a nightmare story to tell about how their insurance companies not only DROPPED them mid trauma (or shortly after) but even billed these people for the entire sum of their treatment after the fact.  In each case the excuse was some obscure or ill defined detail which could be interpreted as a “Pre-existing Condition“

Explain this, Joe from Ohio.  Please explain to me  how on a reltively conservative radio talk show, Every Single Caller shared the personal experience of being

dropped on account of the EXCLUSION dance.

Now I am just a Dog, so I may not be smart enough to get this, but Something Smells like a dead carp here.

Insurance companies admit they pay people just to look for ways to get out of providing coverage.  Assurity experts, I think they call them.

I am not at all assured by this process.  Is this Health Insurance or  Health Lotto?

I swear.  Sometimes I think I’d  stand  a better chance of getting affordable healthcare if  I bought a Powerball ticket and hit the jackpot.

Even Doctors admit that exclusions are routinely used to cut costs by eliminating the people who need health care the most.

Hey!  Got an idea!

Instead of looking for ways to undermine an insurance claim, why not REWARD people for being proactive in their healthcare?  Why not push PREVENTION?  Why not give incentives to patients who get well instead of sending them into bankruptcy.

Just a thought.

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border collie.

ps: just found another word:

assure |əˈ sh oŏr|

verb

1 [ reporting verb ] tell someone something positively or confidently to dispel any doubts they may have : [ trans. ] Tony assured me that there was a supermarket in the village | [ trans. ] “I quite understand,” Mrs. Lewis assured her | [ trans. ] they assured him of their full confidence.

• make (someone) sure of something : you would be assured of a fine welcome | she assured herself that he was asleep.

2 [ trans. ] (often be assured) make (something) certain to happen : victory was now assured | [with clause ] their influence assured that the report would be tough.

• chiefly Brit. cover (a person) with life insurance.

• secure the future payment of (an amount) with insurance.

DERIVATIVES

assurer |əˈʃʊ(ə)rər| noun

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French assurer, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ (expressing change) + securus (see secure ).

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Join in the  CONVERSATION!

Me and my Human, we agree...When it comes to Healthcare... You are either ON the Bus or you are OFF the Bus .

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Follow this blog.   Join us as we explore the bottom line.

Beginning with the key words DEFINED!

(We are using the New Oxford American here)

Get into the healthcare game and have a say about your well being.

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Be a part of creating affordable healthcare!

Get on the horn with YOUR government!

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The Collie Report homepage. Check links to YOUR government.

Tweet the White House. (see twitter links) The conversation is happening as we speak!

Get your Butt online and BARK Now!

It is time You and I took some initiative, instead of like, just letting Others blather on and on in our Name.

Bark with us!  Bark at 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.  Bark at 10 p.m. your time.  In the mean time, we invite you to get into the center of this issue!

Learn something new about health care in this country each day.

Commit to taking just one simple action a day to play your part in reinventing affordable healthcare!

Your life depends on it.

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border collie

Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Here’s the Deal. This whole national healthcare legislation logjam? It a sham. I can’t make heads or tails of it. We have allowed our representatives to engage in carnival barking and obfuscation (the art of rendering an idea unclear or unintelligible) over an issue We ALL Agree is a train wreck about to happen. The engine is OFF the Tracks, and we, the people…ALL of us; The United States of US, are being dragged along on a runaway train that is heading straight for Armageddon. We aren’t even traveling first class! When it comes to affordable healthcare most of Us are riding along with the luggage in the caboose. But we’re all gonna crash together just the same!
Hell. Even a Dog can see that.
Dogs know all about dogfights. This is a dogfight. We are supposed to be about the business of fixing a damaged system that costs more than it delivers, while failing to serve those that need it until they are too sick to take care of themselves and end up in an emergency room.

Most all of us agree that we willing to pay a REASONABLE price for healthcare. Eleven hundred dolars a month for a family of 3 is obscene. Five hundred dollars for a single man over fifty (with exclusions) is pure insanity. Forget it when it comes to MY Heathcare… Insurance for an old die hard Scottish Northern Border collie? Unobtainable.

When your only option is to go to the county hospital when you are on your last legs, who do you think ends up paying the bill? If you happen to be insured, and exclusion clauses allow denial of treatment, or worse, enable Insurance companies to revisit a claim after the fact, and sue for the entire bill based on any number of obscure “pre-existing” conditions, Who do you think pays for that?
How obscure are the pre-existing conditions? Read your policy and be afraid. If you have one.

My companion has an Endrocrine disorder. Any condition arising out of, or in any way related to the endrocrine system is not covered. Outside of falling off a cliff at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday during the full moon, My guy has no coverage. Oh, if he falls because he passed out or something…all bets are off.

This issue is not about the red states and the blue states, This is not about the communists versus the global Illuminati. It’s about Homo Sapiens agreeing to find common ground in the name of what is best for Everyone living Now, and for generations to follow.

I don’t know about you but I AM MAD AS HELL.

I Watch my companion and his friends barely getting by with minimal healthcare and they are mostly wage earners, just one accident away from a financial meltdown.

It affects me too, frankly, because I am a Service Dog. How can I do MY job if you people do not do yours?
Get. Involved. Take charge of your healthcare future. Learn about the issues. Participate, question, and be Heard!

Don’t be lead like lambs to the slaughter!
Bark!
Bark for affordable healthcare!
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