For Immediate Release: March 21, 2011
Contact: Roy Moskowitz, Reciprocal Results (718) 370-3977 Mobile: (917) 992-1873 Email: R2ceo@aol.com
Richard Reichard, SIDA ((718) 440-6717 Email: ReichardRA@aol.com

Staten Islanders protest Congressman Michael Grimm's "Obamacare" repeal support

Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA) rally celebrating "Affordable Care Act" anniversary

2:30 p.m. Wednesday March 23 outside Grimm's Staten Island office, 265 New Dorp Lane

SIDA will cite 10 reasons why healthcare bill repeal would be bad for families, seniors and the deficit

(Staten Island) The Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA) will protest Staten Island and Brooklyn Congressman Michael Grimm's Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) repeal support during a press conference celebrating the healthcare bill's anniversary, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday March 23 outside Grimm's Staten Island office, 265 New Dorp Lane.

SIDA cites 10 reasons why repealing the legislation would be a mistake.

1. Under Obamacare Children, up to the age of 26, can be covered under their parent's health insurance.  read more »

This past Friday marks two weeks since I made my first ever 911 call.

It was around 4pm that I had told my kids to make sure they had their cell phone with them so I could call them in for dinner. I was sitting here in living room, doing some web development work when I felt a bit of a twitch on my right side and what I thought was a hunger pan.

So up I go and into the kitchen to prepare a salad and have some fruit given I've been doing some massive retooling for the past 4 months of my food intake with Jamie, my nutritionist. I wash and cut some lettuce and a piece of grapefruit which I proceed to eat.

Within 5 minutes I was howling on the floor in pain as if someone had suckered punch me in the chest whilst all the muscles on my right-side froze, seized in a painful spasm.

I had to crawl to the nearest phone so I could call my kids and their father, to warn them I was calling 911. The dad, as usual, was skeptical. I hang up to call 911 not thinking that I was using my cell phone and that they couldnt track me. So here I am trying to describe to the operator what was going on when the phone rings and the dad realizes that indeed I am in a medical emergency.  read more »

1. How can a charity that worked with a big chunk of public funding, run up 1 BILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT that rendered it insolvent and incapable of fulfilling the public duty we paid them to deliver with our taxes? From Crain's:
   

   The bankruptcy documents for Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers list many reasons for its financial failure. Some of the financial travails are shared by all New York City hospitals. But others were clearly the result of poor decisions by SVCMC's leadership.

   The documents trace the roots of the current bankruptcy to the previous one. The system's leadership signed off on a reorganization plan in August 2007 that was unworkable.

   “Despite a long Chapter 11 process,” writes chief restructuring officer Mark Toney in his affidavit, SVCMC “emerged from Chapter 11 with a complex capital structure consisting of various layers of secured debt, as well as substantial unsecured liabilities, totaling over $1 billion.”

   But SVCMC filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2005 with $1.1 billion in liabilities—the same amount as when it emerged. Why did the board and management sign off on such a plan, SVCMC critics have long wondered.

   Even after it had restructured, SVCMC couldn't pay off $1 billion in post-bankruptcy debt from its ongoing operations. The new bankruptcy filing on Wednesday states that its “operating revenues have remained relatively constant.” It had operating losses of $43 million in 2008 and $64 million in 2009. St. Vincent's Hospital itself generated $81 million in losses in 2008 and $107 million in 2009.

2. Why weren't the state and city comptrollers on the ass of the Catholic Church back in 2005 when the hospital first declared bankruptcy for such a staggering amoung of money?


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The criminally negligent cancer that has led the Catholic Church to become the number one defender of child rapists and abusers within their priesthood and leadership, has reared its ugly head in the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. The 160 year-old institution was eerily quiet yesterday when I paid a visit to the place. It shut operations on April 15th and now the fate of what could end up being a community clinic lays in the middle of political theater and takeover bluffery.

I am personally not in favor of a bail out of the Catholic Church anytime soon. Am particularly enraged by the mismanagement and closing of the Elizabeth Seton Childbirthing Center. I gave birth to my second son with the assistance of the ESCbC midwives; albeit at the hospital because he was a VBAC. I will never forgive St. Vincent's for denying thousands of women in Manhattan the best midwifery and doula services we've ever had.
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Have you read Team Obama's proposal for health care reform? If you haven't, I suggest you do so immediately. Right on Page 3 of the PDF is what prompted me to write this blog post:

Invest in Community Health Centers. Community health centers play a critical role in providing quality care in underserved areas. About 1,250 centers provide care to 20 million people, with an emphasis on preventive and primary care. The Senate bill increases funding to these centers for services by $7 billion and for construction by $1.5 billion over 5 years. The House bill provides $12 billion over the same 5 years. Bridging the difference, the President’s Proposal invests $11 billion in these centers.

Those who know me personally, know the history of chronic illnesses and allergies that afflict my family. And they know that for a good 5-6 years we had to do without health insurance. Had it not been for Dr. Robert Schiller and the staff at Institute for Family Health (Sydney Hillman Framily Practice), we would have been in deep financial shit.

Our family doctor is not only the head of Family Health at Beth Israel Hospital. He is also a renowned homeopath with a vast knowledge and respect for non-allopathic (aka alternative) medicines. Every single MD in the practice is known for attacking allergies, chronic illnesses, addictions, AIDS & STDs using a mixture of western and alternative medicines. Why? Because it ultimately reduces costs.
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