Fortunately, the food industry has learned to manufacture cheap foods that can keep the masses fed. Unfortunately, those foods are full of sugar, salt, fat, fillers and chemicals … and those things aren’t good for us to consume.

Which leads to how being broke equals “wide rear syndrome”: With less money, people have to skimp some where, so they often skimp on food. C-ya organics. C-ya healthy meals. Bring on the Velveeta.

As the unemployment rate passes 10 percent and consumers find themselves increasingly strapped, they turn to cheap but effective means to fill their families’ tummies. And those who have jobs are working longer hours, forgoing exercise and searching for foods that are not only economical but convenient.

As a result, more consumers are turning to processed foods – either already prepared, frozen or canned and typically filled with fat-generating calories, refined grains and sugars. That’s making more Americans chubbier and prone to obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes in what has been dubbed “recession fat.”

“Eating healthy has been one of the big casualties of this economic downturn,” says Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group and author of the research company’s annual Eating Patterns in America report. “Last year, consumers cut back on eating ‘better-for-you’ and organic foods.”

The culprit is cost. About 70 percent of respondents to a recent Technomic Inc. survey said healthier foods are increasingly difficult to afford.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer / Market Watch article here.

Further reading: Fat Pride community pushes back on health debate

Here’s some tips for how to eat healthy on a budget:

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Last week, we posted a blog item called “CIGNA wants woman dead.” This is a new blog post related to that one. From MoveOn.org:

Last week, you were one of over 100,000 MoveOn members who stood with Dawn Smith to demand that CIGNA cover the treatment for her brain tumor.

CIGNA had been denying Dawn’s requests for two years, but when she went public, with the help of MoveOn members across the country, CIGNA reversed course. They took the first step toward resolving Dawn’s case — agreeing to pay for the test she needs to determine her treatment plan. By reversing their denials, CIGNA made it clear that they didn’t think their decision would stand up to public scrutiny.

But they didn’t offer any explanation for all the previous denials. And they didn’t guarantee that they’ll approve the next step in Dawn’s treatment. And for all we know, they’re still doing this same thing to thousands of other people whose stories haven’t caught national attention.

That’s why Dawn is insisting that CIGNA explain the policies that led them to deny her care for so long. And — for herself and all the others who are suffering — she’s demanding proof that they’re changing those policies so this never happens again.

Dawn recorded a short message for the MoveOn members who are standing with her. Can you watch the video and then pass it on so that even more folks stand with Dawn?

Since Dawn went public, we’ve heard from hundreds of others who have been hurt by CIGNA. The stories range from simply frustrating to absolutely heartbreaking. If you or someone you know has been denied needed coverage by CIGNA, or by another insurance company, please share your story with us.

All of these stories paint a picture of an insurance company that, as one former CIGNA executive pointed out, has every incentive to deny coverage.

* In the case of Nataline Sarkisyan, CIGNA denied a liver transplant — reversing themselves only when public pressure became too intense. Unfortunately, their decision came too late for Nataline, who died.

* Christopher Hanna told us the story of his wife’s battle — she had to spend “hours every week browbeating [CIGNA] over the phone,” fighting to get treated for the ovarian cancer that would eventually take her life.

* And of the stories we heard, there were a stunning number where CIGNA authorized a procedure but then came up with an excuse — any excuse at all — to not pay.

It’s clear that Dawn’s experience with CIGNA isn’t unique — in fact, it isn’t even out of the ordinary. And even though CIGNA would love for Dawn to just go away, she isn’t backing down. She’s demanding answers and proof that CIGNA is changing their policies so that their mistreatment of her and their other customers comes to an end.

P.S. If you have a story about CIGNA or another insurance company denying needed care to you or someone you know, please share it with us.

P.P.S. To read more about Dawn’s struggle, check out her blog.

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If this is the first you’re hearing about it, you’re not invited to attend. Sorry. But, you can follow the senator’s tweets. Hooray!

I like how McCain calls the invitation-only meeting a “town hall.” The only other people invited to attend are employees of Carolinas Medical Center. What, are they scared of citizens of the Q.C.? The largest and most diverse — and largely Democratic — population in the state?

And, really, this is less about health care than it is about North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr getting some face time with two-time presidential loser, Sen. John McCain.

Here’s hoping a few brave doctors share some of their patient’s insurance horror stories with the crowd.

Hospital staff and invited guests are expected to make up the crowd this morning when Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, John McCain and Mitch McConnell host a health care forum at Carolinas Medical Center.

The three senators will tour the Levine Children’s Hospital near uptown Charlotte at 8:30a.m. and meet with employees, doctors and patients until 10. The event is nominally open but will take place in an auditorium that can seat only about 250 people.

“We have tremendous interest from our employees,” said hospital spokeswoman Gail Rosenburg. “We are such dominant players in this whole issue of reform that we’re pleased to be able to have this event for our employees.”

More from Charlotte.com.

There’s a new book out: Money-Driven Medicine, by Maggie Mahar. In it she looks behind the curtain and explains to her readers that insurance isn’t about them, it’s about money and power — for those who already have money and power, of course.

“We’re now treating medicine as if it were an industrial product.”

In related news, Obama’s Organizing for America group will be in town on Thursday.

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We’ve been watching the wave of rowdy hecklers at meetings across the nation, it was only a matter of time before they hit our state.

They obviously got the memo about being disruptive. Too bad they didn’t get the memo that they’ve been bought and paid for by Washington lobbyists bent on keeping hardworking Americans under Big Business’ thumb.

Amid heckling and boos Tuesday night, North Carolina held its first congressional health-care forum since the issue has become a national flash point.

Congressman G. K. Butterfield was continually interrupted by jeers as he voiced support for President Barack Obama’s health-care plan that seems to have increasingly polarized the country in recent days. Tuesday’s two-hour forum in a steamy Rocky Mount middle school gymnasium was marked by frequent sharp exchanges.

“Read it!” shouted one man, speaking of the House health-care reform.

“How do you know I haven’t read it?” Butterfield shot back.

He was pummeled with questions about whether the health- care legislation would benefit illegal immigrants, about whether he would give up his own congressional health insurance plan, whether he would vote for something unconstitutional, and whether it would allow abortion.

Butterfield, a career judge, maintained his composure.

Read the rest of this Raleigh News and Observer article here.

Watch Rachel Maddow explain who is behind the order to disrupt town hall meetings:

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Ever wondered about the insurance premium food chain?

Guess whose the little fish? You. You are the shrimp. The crap on the ground that’s cheap to gather, batter and fry.

Do the math:

Uncle Joe works for the insurance company. He gives great gifts and has a nice house, and everything that comes with it. He throws great parties at his lake house every Labor Day.

The company he works for owns the three tallest buildings in the state.

Every Christmas, Uncle Joe and his whole family get to go on a cruise — all expenses paid! I got to go once. The limo was killa. It followed us wherever we went.

Meanwhile, your insurance rate goes up every year. Uncle Joe says you should call another department, his doesn’t have anything to do with your bill.

Why is it a surprise that insurance companies pull legislative strings, spending millions per day to keep things as is? They’ve got a good thing goin’.

Watch PBS’ Bill Moyers interview industry insider, Wendell Potter:

Full disclosure: The author of this post is a former insurance agent who once enjoyed trips, limo rides and bonuses paid for by insurance companies. That was before she connected the dots.

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It’s impossible to deny that the U.S. economy is unhealthy.

When people with private insurance are forced to file bankruptcy because they can’t afford their medical bills, we’ve got a major societal problem.

The bad news: The problem’s now decades old and only getting worse.

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.

Medically related bankruptcies have been rising steadily for decades. In 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy cited a serious medical problem as the reason, while a 2001 study of bankruptcies in five states by the same researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to 50% of all filings. This newest, nationwide study, conducted before the start of the current recession by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Deborah Thorne, a sociology professor at Ohio University, found that the filers were for the most part solidly middle class before medical disaster hit. Two-thirds owned their home and three-fifths had gone to college.

Read more from Business Week.

Here’s a news report about this very issue — from two years ago:

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Never thought I would read the following in a news report: “Democrats are becoming less tolerant of dissent from their supposed allies in the health care industry.” But there it was, in a Los Angeles Times story picked up by Charlotte’s daily paper.

The story was about the strong health care reform legislation approved by the Senate Health Committee yesterday, which would “provide nearly every American with insurance regardless of income or medical condition … create a government program to compete directly with private insurers … [and] place new requirements on many employers to provide coverage.”

Apart from concern over how the bill would impact small businesses (something that can hopefully be worked out to small business owners’ satisfaction), it is very encouraging that the momentum in Congress is on the side of reforming health care delivery in America and making it into a more humane system. Particularly if Congress adopts the House of Representatives’ idea of largely paying for the program with a surtax on wealthy Americans. What it will take to truly revamp health care is, incredibly enough, exactly what has been happening: Democrats telling insurance companies, AKA “the tick that’s sucking America dry,” to take a hike. Kudos to Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, who voted for the bill in committee yesterday.

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Yesterday, Sen. Kay Hagan announced her support of the health care reform package proposed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which she is a member. Hagan’s announcement means that, after contradictory statements by the senator triggered a huge grassroots campaign to push her toward support of a public option as part of the health care plan, she has given her supporters what they wanted.

Probably.

There’s still some confusion about Hagan’s position, as her descriptions of the public option plan appear to contradict the actual words of the proposed law. Sigh. Whatever. Sometimes the best you can do with a politician is to get her to vote for your position whether she’s on top of the issue or not. Come what may, Hagan will vote for committee’s health care reform plan, which includes a public option, which is the reason NC progressives contacted her office in droves over the past couple of weeks. Although Hagan is generally more conservative than many of her supporters, she’s also a bright rookie senator who realizes that she’s in Washington due to a huge wave of progressive support. In other words, sometimes this democracy thing — as in, calling your representatives — actually works.

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As a follow-up to my column this week on health insurance companies, which has triggered an, er, healthy online discussion (along with the usual name-calling), here’s an interesting sidelight to the debate in Congress. Just how out of touch are some politicians when it comes to average Americans’ struggles with insurance companies? Some of them, specifically Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, say that the one thing they want to avoid is cutting into health insurance companies’ profits.

Snowe is expected to support health care reform in the end, but Shelby is adamant in opposition, saying that Pres. Obama’s plan for a public option would “destroy the marketplace for health care,” to which most Americans would answer, “*What marketplace?” Since when do Americans enjoy anything resembling a competitive marketplace for health care?

A new report from the reform group Health Care for America Now (HCAN), using AMA data, shows that 94 percent of the country’s insurance markets are “highly concentrated,” according to Dept. of Justice standards. Rather than offering much choice for consumers, the report states, the current health insurance system is “a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments in the markets they dominate.”

Gee, no wonder premiums have nearly doubled in the last six years, while profits for 10 of the largest health insurance companies shot up over 400 percent. That kind of “marketplace” we can, and should be able to choose to, do without.

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From MoveOn.org:

Last week Republicans on Capitol Hill held a strategy summit on how to defeat key parts of the president’s health care plan.

At one point, Republican pollster Frank Luntz declared, “You’re not going to get what you want, but you can kill what they’re trying to do.”¹

Luntz wrote a confidential memo that laid out the Republican strategy: Pretend to support reform. Mislead Americans about the heart of Obama’s plan, the public health insurance option. Scare enough people to doom real reform.

Since most people don’t know much about the public health care option, these lies could take root if we don’t fight back. Can you send this out to all your friends and neighbors?

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OBAMA’S PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION

The choice of a public health insurance plan is crucial to real health care reform. But right now, it’s being smeared by conservatives and insurance-industry front groups. Here’s what you really need to know:

1. Choice, choice, choice. If the public health insurance option passes, Americans will be able to choose between their current insurance and a high-quality, government-run plan similar to Medicare. If you like your current care, you can keep it. If you don’t—or don’t have any—you can get the public insurance plan.²

2. It will be high-quality coverage with a choice of doctors. Government-run plans have a track record of innovating to improve quality, because they’re not just focused on short-term profits. And if you choose the public plan, you’ll still get to choose your doctor and hospital.³

3. We’ll all save a bunch of money. The public health insurance option won’t have to spend money on things like CEO bonuses, shareholder dividends, or excessive advertising, so it’ll cost a lot less. Plus, the private plans will have to lower their rates and provide better value to compete, so people who keep their current insurance will save, too.⁴

4. It will always be there for you and your family. A for-profit insurer can close, move out of the area, or just kick you off their insurance rolls. The public health insurance option will always be available to provide you with the health security you need.⁵

5. And it’s a key part of universal health care. No longer will sick people or folks in rural communities, or low-income Americans be forced to go without coverage. The public health insurance plan will be available and accessible to everyone. And for those struggling to make ends meet, the premiums will be subsidized by the government.⁶

We all need to speak out to make sure we get real health reform. Please pass this email on, then call your senators and ask them to support the choice of a public health insurance plan. Here’s the info for your state:

Senator Richard Burr
Phone: 202-224-3154

Senator Kay Hagan
Phone: 202-224-6342

The public health insurance option is a big part of the change we fought so hard for last fall. We didn’t let the smears beat Obama then. And we can’t let new lies beat us now. Please forward this to everyone you know.

Sources:

1. “Words Designed to Kill Health Care Reform,” Huffington Post, May 7, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51414&id=16121-3563042-IIhWhex&t=4

2, 3, 4, 5, 6. “The Case for Public Plan Choice in National Health Reform,” Institute for America’s Future
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51396&id=16121-3563042-IIhWhex&t=5

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