Tag: Health Care Reform

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contraception Healthcare News ObamaCare Politics

GOP Targets Contraception, Again!

“The country wants Congress to focus on jobs and the economy, not on pushing an extreme agenda against birth control,” – Dawn Laguens, EVP, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

House Republicans have included a so-called “conscience clause” in the government funding bill in a plan they approved early Sunday.

The House voted 231-192 on a bill that would delay much of the 2010 health care reform package for a year. The bill also would try to repeal a tax on medical devices that helps finance the health care law.

The stated purpose of the measure is to allow employers and insurers the opportunity to opt out of providing health care services that they find morally or religiously objectionable, reigniting the debate over a portion of the health care reform law that requires most insurers to cover women’s preventative health care, including contraception. The provision would allow them to opt out of coverage for the next year.

House Republican leaders confirmed that the provision was added into the one-year delay of Obamacare during a House Rules Committee meeting on Saturday evening.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens called the move “desperate, misguided, and extreme”.

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Immigration Immigration Reform Politics

Tough Week For The Right

Remember the beginning of June? Lousy jobs numbers, Obama’s muddled message and the popular assumption that the president was going to lose court cases on immigration and health care? Hope and change came quickly and it’s the Republicans who are back on their heels. For now.

Not only was the Supreme Court’s health care decision a deflating coda to the term that also saw most of Arizona’s immigration law struck down (though the right can still claim a victory over checking papers), the news that Chief Justice Roberts actually changed his decision is proving to be too much on the rightward flank. Never mind  that the court struck at the heart of the left wing’s argument that the Commerce Clause allows Congress to require people to buy health care, or that the states would lose all of their Medicaid funds if they don’t comply with ACA. That turncoat Roberts voted to uphold the law!

What’s worse is that the Republican message machine went into overdrive, using the court’s ruling to call Obama a taxer gone crazy, only to have Mitt Romney say that it’s not a tax. Conservatives already suspicious about Mitt’s devotion to their cause will turn even redder over that.

The polls are not being any kinder to Romney as support for the health care law rose after the decision, though a majority still do not support it. The silver lining is that the GOP base is fired up big time and that could pay dividends in November.

But Mitt is not the only Republican facing headwinds. Chris Christie called a special session of the New Jersey Legislature on Monday to get the Democrats to support his proposed tax cut, but to no avail. He even tried to make some room in the budget by line item vetoing $650 million dollars worth of social programs that serve women and children, but those darn lefties wouldn’t budge. 

This is but one week in a long campaign, but the GOP was banking on a health care win to bolster their summer message. It might actually work to their advantage to have the ruling go against them because their fundraising has increased and Obama is still polling below 50% in most surveys. Still, I think they saw a different scenario and Mitt’s going off message will not help. More fireworks for the fourth of July.

Ain’t this a great country?

There’s more patriotic gore at www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

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Healthcare Repeal

Thanks ObamaCare – Over 6 Million Young Adults Insured, And Counting…

Even though much of the Affordable Care Act does not go into effect until 2014, conservatives insist the bill is making things worse for Americans. But a new study shows that one implemented provision of the ACA is already providing millions of young Americans with health insurance.

According to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, 6.6 million young adults have signed up for coverage through their parents’ health insurance plans. Under the ACA provision, young people can now stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 26. About half of the 19-to-25 year-olds interviewed for the study reported opting in to their parents’ plans between November 2010 and November 2011.

Last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote college presidents and student organizations urging them to remind students they can stay on their parents’ plans after graduation. “Now, graduating students are free to make career choices based on what they want to do, not where they can get health insurance,” they wrote.

[Think Progress]

But according to Republicans, giving Americans life saving health care is obviously not a good thing. They are in the process of Repealing the President’s Health Care Reform Law, which will result in 6.6 million young adults dropped from insurance policies all over this country. And for those seniors who are now saving money on their prescription drugs by having the donut hole closed? Republicans think you should spend more and if you can’t afford it, then just die already.

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Politics Repeal

President Obama Confident Supreme Court will Uphold the Affordable Care Act

While the Judges on the Supreme Court lose sleep over the upcoming health-care decision – they’re not really losing sleep. We already have a pretty good idea what this historically activist court will do – President Obama chimed in today for the first time with his opinion on what he believe the Court will do.

“Ultimately, I am confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” Obama said at a news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

Conservative leaders say the law, which once fully implemented will require Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty, was an overreach by Obama and the Congress that passed it.

The president sought to turn that argument around, calling a potential rejection by the court an overreach of its own.

“And I’d just remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law,” Obama said.

“Well, this is a good example, and I’m pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step,” he said.

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Domestic Policies trayvon martin

Skittles and Broccoli

Every once in a while, a week comes along that brings clarity and definition to the world and enables us to find meaning in the beautiful things that make up our lives.

Perhaps next week will be such a week.

For the parents of Trayvon Martin, this was a week that saw the world finally notice the tragedy that befell their child. It’s a story that is easily told but terribly difficult to understand:

The circumstances – an unarmed teen carrying Skittles, a gated suburban community and a man with no official authority – along with simmering economic frustrations in the nation’s African-American community turned the death into a social touchstone. Social media, black radio and cable television drove the debate about racial profiling and the state of black males, helping give rise to an indelible image that seems to be everywhere: Trayvon Martin and his hoodie.

It shed light on the Florida Stand Your Ground Law, which essentially allows people with guns to decide who’s a threat and who’s not, and to allow suburban vigilante justice in the guise of neighborhood watch. And as more evidence comes out about what might have happened on that fateful night, more questions are raised. Finally, what about Wrigley, the company that makes Skittles? That’s complicated. Sales are up, but for all the wrong reasons.

As if the Martin story wasn’t complicated enough, this was also the week of health care. Ironic, no?

Enough words have been senselessly killed since Monday in an effort to describe, analyze, parse, interpret, divine, enunciate, explicate and pontificate on what exactly the justices meant, when it’s fairly clear that the conservatives would rather make love to a broccoli stalk than rule the law to be constitutional.

And the broccoli bit is the heart of the problem. Is it just me or did anyone else get the sense that Antonin Scalia didn’t merely complain about having a 2,700 page law to leaf through, he never actually read any of the briefs related to it? How else to explain his repetition of the broccoli conundrum that was standard fare in the mainstream press for the past 6 months? Or his mis-citation of the Cornhusker Kickback, which was troubling enough for a man of his intellect?  I thought the justices were supposed to focus on the law, not repeat the talking points that radiate from all corners of the Cable News/Twitter/Blogosphere Axis.

At least we’ll know the outcome of the health care law at the end of June. After that, President Obama and Mitt Romney can adjust their campaigns and move forward with their lives.

Trayvon Martin’s parents might not get that kind of closure for many months after that. And they’ll always have more questions than answers.

Justice indeed.

Please join me on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest  

 

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Politics

Initial Report on Health Care Reform – It’s Not Looking Good

Based on the some of the questions asked today by the more Conservative majority in the Supreme Court, political analysts are suggesting a possible bad outcome for the Health Care Reform passed over a year ago by the Obama administration.

The New York Times Reports: With the fate of President Obama’s health care law hanging in the balance at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a lawyer for the administration faced a barrage of skeptical questions from four of the court’s more conservative justices.

“Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy asked the lawyer, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., only minutes into the argument.

Justice Antonin Scalia soon joined in. “May failure to purchase something subject me to regulation?” he asked. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked if the government could compel the purchase of cellphones. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. asked about forcing people to buy burial insurance.

The conventional view is that the administration will need one of those four votes to win the case, and it was not clear on Tuesday that it had captured one.

The court’s four more liberal members – Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan – indicated that they supported the law, as expected. Justice Clarence Thomas, who asked no questions, is thought likely to vote to strike down the law.

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Politics Repeal

Things I Know – The Health Care Law will be Upheld By the Supreme Court

I know that the Affordable Care Act will be upheld by the Supreme Court.

How do I know this?

Because before it was a good Democratic idea it was a good Republican idea. I’m sure the GOP vetted the law as an alternative to the Clinton health care plan. I’m sure that Mitt Romney and his attorneys vetted their Massachusetts plan before they proposed, passed and signed it. I also know that the Obama Administration is not “rolling the dice” on the law in the months just before the election. They have reasonable, rational motives in doing so because they know that the law, if the court relies on precedent, will be upheld.

I know that the Tim Tebow trade will end up to be a disaster for the Jets, and that the entire nation, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa will enjoy watching the nuclear meltdown that will occur next season.

How do I know this?

The team just signed Mark Sánchez to a contract extension and has now traded for another, more charismatic player who manages to confound the football experts with his unorthodox style and steely determination. The Jets have also said that Tebow will be involved in the offense during the season. What other backup quarterback gets that kind of promise? Answer: A quarterback who will be given every available chance to take the job from the starter. All Mark Sanchez has to do, assuming he keeps his job coming out of training camp, is to throw a couple of interceptions or lead the team to two first half field goals (only) in the season opener, and you can bet that everyone from Billy Graham, Jr. on down to the local church ladies will be calling for his head. And St. Tim will be ready. This won’t be a season; it will be a reality show. As a triumphant Giants fan, I can’t wait.

I know that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. So do you. So does the general media. So does the right wing media. So does Intrade. So do the Vegas odds-makers.

How do I know this?

Mitt is the only rational, reasonable Republican candidate of the bunch. He’s said some gaffey-type things, but most people are either shrugging them off or comparing them to the scary-ee things that Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are saying. Remember your history lessons. The United States doesn’t elect radicals to the highest office in the land. Of course, the Democrats thought Barry Goldwater was a far right kook and the Republicans thought that Walter Mondale was a socialist, but they were both wrong. Mitt’s a moderate who ran a liberal state in a moderate way and achieved some moderate success in Massachusetts. He’s not a religious zealot and he doesn’t have the anger issues that the other candidates have. Of course, how can you be angry when you make about $20 million dollars per year?

These are but three of the things I know. I welcome what you know. If you’re really in the know, you’ll go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest  

Knowledge is power.

Categories
Politics

Seniors Already Benefiting From Obama’s Health Care Reform

The nay sayers will say otherwise, but the facts are here and they’re here for all to see. The benefits of President Obama’s Health care Reform have already began to kick in, and seniors are benefiting tremendously.

Here are a few of those benefits:

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius talked about these announcements during her trip to Florida, where 238,362 Florida residents with Medicare saved $141,948,339 on their prescription drugs in 2011 thanks to the health reform law, the Affordable Care Act.

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Health Care Politics Repeal young people

Insurance, Young People And A Healthier American Future

A new report issued last week by the CDC contained some very good news – young Americans are taking advantage of a provision in the health care reform, signed into law by President Obama.

Before President Obama’s historic health care reform law was passed, young people were generally dropped from their parents plan when they turned 18 or left college. Obtaining coverage through an individual plan could be cost-prohibitive for young adults, especially those with pre-existing conditions, so many went without health insurance altogether.

The Affordable Care Act includes a provision that allows young adults to stay on their parent’s health insurance until their 26th birthday. When that provision went into effect in September of 2010, about 64 percent of 19 to 25 year olds had health insurance. By June of 2011, that number jumped to nearly 73 percent.

This is good news in more ways than one.

Providing medical insurance for young people  encourages a more progressive attitude in regards to looking after one’s own health. Individuals can easily see the importance of maintaining good health – eating right, proper medication, getting exercise,  early diagnosis’ for disease, birth control, as well as having regular check-ups with a doctor.

And although a more health conscious  mentality will be a good improvement for anyone, it also benefits the nation as a whole, for the health of a nation greatly depends on the health and wellbeing of its citizens.

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Cancer Politics

ObamaCare Hater Apologies To President Obama After Cancer Diagnosis

She said she was “pretty mad” at the president for “ObamaCare.” So mad she was, that she changed her registration from Democrat to Independent and “blacked out the top of the “h” on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, “Got nope” instead of “got hope.”” But something happened to Mrs. Spike Dolomite Ward, that caused her to write an apology to President Obama in today’s LA Times. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and she now calls the Pre-Existing Condition part of the Health Care plan her savior.

I’ve been saved by the federal government’s Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, something I had never heard of before needing it. It’s part of President Obama’s healthcare plan, one of the things that has already kicked in, and it guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. The application was short, the premiums are affordable, and I have found the people who work in the administration office to be quite compassionate (nothing like the people I have dealt with over the years at other insurance companies.) It’s not perfect, of course, and it still leaves many people in need out in the cold. But it’s a start, and for me it’s been a lifesaver — perhaps literally.

Which brings me to my apology. I was pretty mad at Obama before I learned about this new insurance plan. I had changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and I had blacked out the top of the “h” on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, “Got nope” instead of “got hope.” I felt like he had let down the struggling middle class. My son and I had campaigned for him, but since he took office, we felt he had let us down.

So this is my public apology. I’m sorry I didn’t do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that he really has stood up for me and my family, and for so many others like us. I’m getting a new bumper sticker to cover the one that says “Got nope.” It will say “ObamaCares.”

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health care law Politics Repeal

Next Stop For Health Care Law – The U.S Supreme Court

In a move some are describing as  pure confidence, the Obama Administration has allowed the September 25th deadline to pass without filing their appeal to the 11th Circuit Court, in the ongoing battle by Republicans to repeal the President’s Health Care Law. Republicans have claimed that the individual mandate in the law is “unconstitutional.”

Former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, who supports the law, told Politico that this move to allow the case to be heard now by the Supreme Court, “confirms what I had already concluded: That the government is confident that it’s going to prevail in the Supreme Court and would like to have a decision sooner rather than later.”

But opponents to the law are looking at this decision differently.  Randy E. Barnett, a Georgetown Law professor who is working with the plaintiffs, credits the President for not delaying the case anymore and for sending it to the Supreme Court for their decision in what he refers to as a “constitutional controversy.”

Politico Reports:

The issue of the constitutionality of the individual mandate has been widely expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. The key question has been the timing. The Justice Department’s apparent decision to ask the Supreme Court to review the case greatly increases the chances the issue will be heard in the 2011-12 term, which begins Monday.

The Supreme Court now has several strong reasons to accept the case. The court rarely declines requests from the government to take a case, especially in situations in which a circuit court has struck down a piece of a high-profile law.

The current political make-up of the Supreme Court is 5 to 4 in favor of the Republicans/Conservatives. In a perfect world, one would expect these justices to strictly adhere to the rule of law and judicial precedent. But this particular court is an activist court, implementing decisions that benefit their political party’s ideology over the rule of law.

Expect justice to eventually prevail, but with the current political occupants of this Court, justice will be delayed then detoured until the new occupants move in.

For more on this story, click here.

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Barack Obama Featured Republican United States

Republican’s Next Target – American Association of Retired Persons

Since gaining power in the House of Representatives, Republicans have attacked just about every major group of middle class Americans it could classify. So there should be no surprise that the American Association of Retired Persons also known as the AARP is next in line for the GOP’s crosshairs.

Republicans are now asking the IRS to investigate the AARP, in an effort to cut off funding to the organization. Their reasoning is that because of AARP’s support for President Obama’s Health Care reform, the group is than bound to profit from the reform and thus, should be stripped of its federal funding. The Boston Globe reports;

Three veteran GOP representatives released a report that estimates the seniors lobby could make an additional $1 billion over 10 years on health insurance plans whose sales are expected to pick up under the new law. They also questioned seven-figure compensation for some AARP executives.

“Based on the available evidence, substantial questions remain about whether AARP should maintain its tax-exempt status,” said the report, released by Reps. Wally Herger of California, Charles Boustany of Louisiana and Dave Reichert of Washington.

AARP said profit had nothing to do with its support for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which expands coverage to nearly all Americans, a longstanding goal of the organization.

“We are very disappointed in the report and reject its conclusions,” said AARP President Lee Hammond. “AARP is no more an insurance company than we are an online travel company … the royalties we receive allow us to keep member dues low.”

Can we expect to see massive protests from the seniors in the Teaparty? After all, this organization represents them and provides benefits for their well-being in their golden years. When will the first march on Washington take place?

Don’t hold your breath. Defunding AARP, although it will eventually hurt TP seniors currently under the program, has  absolutely no effect on the millionaires and billionaires who fund the Teaparty. In fact, taking away from AARP works in favor of the wealthy. Republicans lackeys will make certain that this money get’s to them in the form of another well deserved tax-cut.

 

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