I posted yesterday an idea on how and why Google should throw it's enormous financial weight and business smarts at the American healthcare problem. If I were in charge of the world, this is the press release I would write announcing a new plan from Google to help their uninsured users.
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GOOGLE TO OFFER HEALTHCARE BENEFITS TO USERS
The company of “firsts” strikes again with new program that lets millions of U.S.-based users participate in company benefit programs
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (September 11, 2007) - No stranger to innovation, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it would extend benefits to its user and customer base. Under Google’s Well America Plan, U.S.-based users of the company’s enterprise and web-based tools may apply for benefits. For $100 per month per individual, or $250 for a family of three or more, Google’s user base can select from a range of Google-sponsored benefits, including major medical, prescription drug, hospitalization, and alternative health programs. Three pricing tiers are available, with rates varying depending upon the annual deductible selected.
Google-sponsored dental plans are available from $9.99 per month, and Google will offer a complementary vision plan to all users.
“In its current form, the American healthcare system is not working,” said [[I WOULD PROBABLY GET IN TROUBLE IF I PUT A REAL NAME HERE]. “With a U.S. population of more than 301,000,000 -- an estimated half of whom are using Google or related applications at least occasionally -- our estimated U.S. user-base of 150,000,000 deserves access to affordable healthcare in the same way our employees do. We provide benefits to our employees, and now we will offer them to our customers and partners at an affordable rate.”
There are currently 45.8 million uninsured in the United States, half of whom live below the poverty level and as such are eligible for Federally and state-funded healthcare programs. That leaves 25 million Americans uninsured and ineligible for government-sponsored programs. Many of these individuals are self-employed knowledge workers and Google users.
“In a networked economy, the lines between users and employees, between partners and other stakeholders, are blurring,” said [[DON’T WANT TO GET SUED]]. “The search industry is based on content, and that content is provided by the millions of users who publish content to the web. That’s just one reason why this program is the right thing for Google to do.”
Google’s Well America Program will begin taking applications October 1. To apply for Google benefits, visit www.GoogleSaveUS.com.
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Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
September 11, 2007
September 10, 2007
Google Could Fix Healthcare
Dear Google,
On the eve of making a decision whether to go up to a $3500 deductible and $600/month for health insurance (six sick visits a year before having to pay out of pocket up to the 3,500 and paying 30 percent after that), I turn to you for help. Because you have demonstrated by developing web apps that change the way we work that you are a problem solver of magnificent proportion.
With all this foundation money, which is growing faster than you can spend it, You are in a better position than the U.S. government to fix health care in America. The country is bankrupt, while you are flush. So, who should we trust more to make thing happen quickly--the government and health care industry that have let us down again and again, or the company that makes it possible for us to make a living globally without leaving home?
Google, above all do no harm, okay... but if you want to lend a real helping hand to the challenges of web workers -- to give us what we are REALLY missing -- tell us how you'd make it so we can have access to good health care for our bodies and teeth, ourselves and our kids, without losing our homes, our families, or our lives?
Web app that if you would.
I thank you.
-me
p.s., I am not kidding. What if you extended benefits to your users -- your customers and partners -- not just your employees. the lines are blurred. we already work for you. i have worked for blogger.com for six years. let us in.
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On the eve of making a decision whether to go up to a $3500 deductible and $600/month for health insurance (six sick visits a year before having to pay out of pocket up to the 3,500 and paying 30 percent after that), I turn to you for help. Because you have demonstrated by developing web apps that change the way we work that you are a problem solver of magnificent proportion.
With all this foundation money, which is growing faster than you can spend it, You are in a better position than the U.S. government to fix health care in America. The country is bankrupt, while you are flush. So, who should we trust more to make thing happen quickly--the government and health care industry that have let us down again and again, or the company that makes it possible for us to make a living globally without leaving home?
Google, above all do no harm, okay... but if you want to lend a real helping hand to the challenges of web workers -- to give us what we are REALLY missing -- tell us how you'd make it so we can have access to good health care for our bodies and teeth, ourselves and our kids, without losing our homes, our families, or our lives?
Web app that if you would.
I thank you.
-me
p.s., I am not kidding. What if you extended benefits to your users -- your customers and partners -- not just your employees. the lines are blurred. we already work for you. i have worked for blogger.com for six years. let us in.
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August 31, 2007
I feel your pain
(even though i am not teething)...
Yep. I hear that. WTF are we going to do?
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5. Charlie and Tori's health insurance premium is going up $150/month. Bringing our household total premium to over $1,100. A MONTH. But there's no health care crisis in this country! Everything's fine! Nothing to see here! We have the best health care in the world! Yadda yadda yadda ug.
Yep. I hear that. WTF are we going to do?
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June 21, 2007
this could BE something.
Was looking over the folks involved with the Freelancer's Union. I mean, what if we U.S. bloggers really decided that we were going to do this thing. We're going to join and get involved and help power this union. Am I crazy? One of us is writing their blog. They've set up a wiki. They're even trying to get gig info out there. I'm not saying that this makes them legit, but it shows someone is tending the garden.
We've got the dispersed, miscellaneous voice thing covered here on the net. But when it comes to counting in the wasteland of non-affordable healthcare in this country, we lack a centralized voice.
Affordable Health Care is now nothing more than a mantra. It's not going to happen. And if WE (you know who WE are) lose the next election, some of us are going to have to leave or die. It's that simple.
If you worry about healthcare once a week and are an indie worker, think about this union thing. What about disability? How often do you independents -- solo or with families -- fear having to take 8 weeks off to have surgery? (my hand's up!) Life insurance? At my last job I paid $2.50 per month for a policy that would have bequeathed my family $200K. Now I pay $150/month for something that would give them half of that.
Dental? not. Vision? not.
I don't know the answers for any of this stuff, but I wonder, could this union thing actually work? Would it hurt to put our shoulder to the wheel and see if we can make it work?
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We've got the dispersed, miscellaneous voice thing covered here on the net. But when it comes to counting in the wasteland of non-affordable healthcare in this country, we lack a centralized voice.
Affordable Health Care is now nothing more than a mantra. It's not going to happen. And if WE (you know who WE are) lose the next election, some of us are going to have to leave or die. It's that simple.
If you worry about healthcare once a week and are an indie worker, think about this union thing. What about disability? How often do you independents -- solo or with families -- fear having to take 8 weeks off to have surgery? (my hand's up!) Life insurance? At my last job I paid $2.50 per month for a policy that would have bequeathed my family $200K. Now I pay $150/month for something that would give them half of that.
Dental? not. Vision? not.
I don't know the answers for any of this stuff, but I wonder, could this union thing actually work? Would it hurt to put our shoulder to the wheel and see if we can make it work?
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June 16, 2007
in the event of an actual emergency
the first time my skin turned inside out
i was six
and you were dead.
he must have talked to you
he must have said:
she is my daughter,
I will take care.
I will sell our house,
we will move here.
he must have said:
I give you my word,
I will make it okay.
permission for you
to fall away.
the next time my skin turned inside out
it was three weeks later
and he was dead.
routine visit, nothing serious,
discharged tomorrow.
one dose, two dose, cardiac arrest.
"a terrible mistake" / "these things happen."
my skin never fit right after.
no feeling when he took me
turned promises into warnings:
'don't tell.'
didn't he know
I had no words for this?
missing language for something missing.
I will spend my life finding words.
pieces cut away
innocence removed like a tumor.
hope festers
eyes drink pain
skin on fire.
aware, we are not broken.
alive, we mend eachother,
darn souls like socks
writing seams together
before they disappear
for good.
---
i was six
and you were dead.
he must have talked to you
he must have said:
she is my daughter,
I will take care.
I will sell our house,
we will move here.
he must have said:
I give you my word,
I will make it okay.
permission for you
to fall away.
the next time my skin turned inside out
it was three weeks later
and he was dead.
routine visit, nothing serious,
discharged tomorrow.
one dose, two dose, cardiac arrest.
"a terrible mistake" / "these things happen."
my skin never fit right after.
no feeling when he took me
turned promises into warnings:
'don't tell.'
didn't he know
I had no words for this?
missing language for something missing.
I will spend my life finding words.
pieces cut away
innocence removed like a tumor.
hope festers
eyes drink pain
skin on fire.
aware, we are not broken.
alive, we mend eachother,
darn souls like socks
writing seams together
before they disappear
for good.
---
June 14, 2007
ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
All this time I thought they were saying One-a-Day VICODIN for Women!!!
No wonder I've been in such a good mood!
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No wonder I've been in such a good mood!
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