Is being a woman a preexisting condition?

[texastoast]

To Texas' Pete Sessions, apparently so.

As our Members of Congress debated health care reform legislation late into the night this weekend, our incumbent Congressman Pete Sessions likened the insurance industry’s practice of charging higher rates to women to their practice of charging higher rates for smokers. According to Sessions, being a woman is a pre-existing condition – and it merits higher insurance rates.

read it here

http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/rep-pete-sessions-stirs-up-a-tornado-sow-the-wind/

[Mari333]

1. Perhaps he could pay for us all to have temporary penises

we could wave them around and salute the flag and everything.
write our names in the snow.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Great idea! I've always wanted to be able to pee standing up.

[ensho]

5. reading the famous novel The Dollmaker I learned that women can

pee standing up. I've never tried it but know if I have to I can. :)

[Mari333]

6. well, Ive tried that

you have to have a really FULL bladder and strong muscles..you just let er rip, full force, and think of Niagra Falls.
or, if your bladder is half full, a wide wide stance might work, or one leg up in the air really high and tilt your body.
otherwise it just ends up running down your leg.

I really shouldnt know this, should I.

[MineralMan]

10. Ewwww....

Some things are just best not known. :spank:

[Mari333]

11. happy to have grossed you out

:)

[MineralMan]

13. Actually, I've always enjoyed water sports.

:evilgrin:

[ensho]

23. you have to use your fingers to aim the stream

nt

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I've tried, but I've never gotten the hang of it (so to speak).

[pitohui]

17. well half the world uses squat toilets, you'd never sit on those

maybe i can't write my name in the snow but as a hiker and a traveler i can certainly pee standing without having it run down my leg

sort of a basic survival skill!

[texastoast]

18. I got an email once

That was very cleverly animated in HTML with little stick figures. It was sort of like a decision-tree, showing all of our "issues" about peeing in a public bathroom (where to hang your purse, are there seat covers available, if yes, take this route; if no, take another; has someone peed on the seat previously?--if yes, to wipe or not to wipe it, depending on TP availability and sufficiency; etc.). Of course, the women's part of the email was the major part. The man's decision was just let it rip wherever. I thought I saved it, but can't find it.

[Le Taz Hot]

19. OK, I can't believe I'm actually putting this in writing

but here goes. I've been camping most of my life and I usually do so in an "unimproved area" (no bathrooms, no water, pack it in/pack it out) so I speak from experience. Find a good, sturdy tree. Take off pants AND underwear. Hike your leg up so your foot is resting on the tree and your leg is parallel with the ground. Bend the knee that is ON the ground slightly. Let 'er rip. And because I don't like to litter the forest I like to use the drip dry method.

Yeah, that ought to do it for my embarrassment quote for the day. :blush:

[Mari333]

27. dont be embarassed I think its wonderful advice

everyone should have camping skills. this should be in the Girl Scout manual

[uppityperson]

33. practice in the shower.

[ensho]

4. kick

nt

[pitohui]

2. i suppose it is manifestly a pre-existing condition

however i thought the whole point of reform was to do away w. bullshit like pre-existing conditions

people don't ask to be dealt the genetic hand they got, look, if i'd had a choice, i would have certainly chosen to be tall, rich, male, and not to have been born with a disfiguring disease, however, i didn't get the choice, i got what i got

i should not be charged more my entire life for something beyond my control -- my life of 13 years of being a freak was hell enough punishment for being born

may mr. sessions come back in his next life as a VISIBLY disabled woman -- may all the women in his life also suffer an interesting variety of illnesses, esp. unusual headaches when he's in the mood for some "fun"

[mrcheerful]

7. Breathing after getting a pay cut is a preexisting condition to the

insurance companies. Not having a penis is a double whammy.

[Lerkfish]

8. the answer is yes, of course, but that doesn't mean it is or should be an EXCLUSIONARY

preexisting condition.

[MineralMan]

9. To the insurance companies, it's a genetic disorder.

[pitohui]

15. no doubt but why should people w. genetic orders be charged more?

i was born w. a genetic disorder, i mean, besides being female which has certainly had lifelong consequences that i wouldn't have chosen to endure

i mean ANOTHER genetic disorder which caused me to spend my entire childhood basically hoping and praying that i would die, because that's how awful life was for me

i do not see why it would be fair to punish me with high fees for something i was born with on top of the suffering caused by the condition

i do not believe it can be right or fair to have different prices for different people based on their DNA -- any DNA

[MineralMan]

16. I agree completely. In fact, with a single-payer system

that would be eliminated entirely. Single payer; single pool.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Apparently.

[texastoast]

20. Women need to just stop

Stop paying more for shoes. Shop paying more for drycleaning. Stop paying more for haircuts. Stop paying mroe for underwear. And stop paying more for insurance.

I asked a hairdresser once why he charged guys $20 for haircuts and women $45. His response? "They will pay it."

[lukasahero]

21. How do you suggest we do that?

Do we have a choice of not paying for goods and services? Has the barter system come to America and I just didn't get the memo?

When you say we should 'stop paying more', you seem to lose sight of the fact that we aren't given the option of paying less. What would you have us do?

I have argued with hairdressers and stopped giving them my business when my hair that needs a straight trim across the bottom costs more than my husband's styling but I'm running out of places to go. I guess in your world I should just stop getting my hair cut. Yeah, ok. Thanks for making it all women's own fault - again.

[texastoast]

24. Oh, we call that round heels in Texas

Laying down real easy.

Get active. Organize women's groups. Find one woman who will cut hair for less and send all of your friends to her. Wear men's underwear (you can find some really cute ones nowadays that fit quite nicely ;)).

How do you think any progress was ever made? Yes, you are given a choice. It's not always the easy one.

[lukasahero]

29. I am active

In fact, I choose to focus my activism on teaching women how to negotiate for better salaries but whatever. I assure you, I'm not about to call wearing men's underwear significant social activism.

[texastoast]

31. Every protest counts

Comfy underwear is one that is not difficult for me. It's one I can do when there's no event planned to take it out in the streets. Our culture trains us from birth to be less than we can be in so many subtle, minute ways. And if we all, ahem, stick together on the little things (like underwear and haircuts) and big things (like salary negotiations :yourock:, learning of political purposes behind religious dogma, and health care differences), it all adds up to make a culture-wide difference. :hi:

[lukasahero]

34. You're right

And I'm sorry. I guess your first post just made it sound like it was all women's fault that we get charged more and we could (easily) change that circumstance. Now that you've elaborated a bit, I agree. Little changes and individual protests do add up.

I already stage my own little financial protests to not buy in to women's marketing (no make-up, twice yearly haircuts, Hanes vs. Victoria's Secrets, men's jeans and other clothes as I can) but I've been doing it so long and it hardly seems to be affecting change. Anyway, I will continue to plug away at the little things while I work on the big ticket items. Thanks.

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. Aside from medical condition, gender is the biggest determinant of the cost of health care.

Absent healthcare reform, women will continue to pay 40% more than men - because that's how much more is spent on their care.

[texastoast]

26. Not necessarily

I spend much less than my spouse does.

I guess the discussion goes to the question of whether the healthy women/men should be penalized or does that digress into a lifestyle/genetic tendency canoworms?

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. It is easy for a healthy person to become a sick person through no fault of their own.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361028/

"Per capita lifetime expenditure is $316,600, a third higher for females ($361,200) than males ($268,700). Two-fifths of this difference owes to women's longer life expectancy. Nearly one-third of lifetime expenditures is incurred during middle age, and nearly half during the senior years."

There are exceptions to every rule, but in general a woman spends $4 for every $3 spent by a man.

... which might help to explain why we live 8% shorter lives.

Strangely enough, lifestyle makes a comparatively trivial difference. The average smoker only incurs $6,000 more lifetime health care expenses than a non-smoker.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

25. I thought the same thing..........

when I heard the Sessions quote. These fuckers would institute scarlet letters if they could.

[cynatnite]

30. Hysterectomy...fastest insurance approval ever...

I've been told that by a a couple of women.

[defendandprotect]

32. k i c k