tagged w/ AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
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And to those Republicans who want to repeal 'ObamaCare,' you can keep your MITTS off our money!
Thank you, Mr. President!
http://veracitystew.com/?p=35829And to those Republicans who want to repeal 'ObamaCare,' you can keep your... more
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Interesting responses to our latest "Stew Word Storm" on the Affordable Care Act. Turns out, 'Obama(does)Care'
http://veracitystew.com/?p=34534Interesting responses to our latest "Stew Word Storm" on the Affordable Care... more
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Mark of the Beast? -- The religious right brings back the 'death panels' with a high-tech touch...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=34502Mark of the Beast? -- The religious right brings back the 'death panels'... more
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What are the Nuns guilty of? -- According to the Vatican, they failed in their duty to sufficiently attack things like gay marriage, abortion and ordination of female priests. Not only that, but they did the unthinkable – endorsed President Obama’s health care reform bill.
Methinks the Sisters have aspired to too much for ol’ Pope Benny, who seems to be a Catholic hard-liner. But many of the nuns are not backing down. Even in the face of Inquisition-like scrutiny, many of the Sisters remain defiant, but they’ll need to gird their loins for this round, because it seems the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops are determined to break them and force them into submission...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=34194What are the Nuns guilty of? -- According to the Vatican, they failed in their duty to... more
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WATCH: In a BIG group of conservative idiots and fools, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) truly stands out...
"If Hannibal Lecter was ever elected to Congress, it'd look like this. And sound like this. And wear that suit." ~ Daily Kos
http://veracitystew.com/?p=32901WATCH: In a BIG group of conservative idiots and fools, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) truly... more
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WATCH: The ad centers on one particular statement from a 2008 Obama campaign mailer:
“Hillary’s health care plan forces everybody to buy insurance, even if you can’t afford it.” But what is Karl Rove not bothering to mention?...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=32723WATCH: The ad centers on one particular statement from a 2008 Obama campaign mailer:... more
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Today the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held its second day of hearings on the Affordable Health Care Act, aka “Obamacare”, Jeffrey Toobin the legal analyst for CNN is describing today's SCOTUS hearings which covered the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act as a "train wreck" for the Obama Administration and is predicting a 5-4 decision (no surprise).
"This was a train wreck for the Obama administration," he said. "This law looks like it's going to be struck down. I'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong... if I had to bet today I would bet that this court is going to strike down the individual mandate."
Video and Links here:
http://www.examiner.com/democrat-in-las-vegas/video-supreme-court-hearing-on-obamacare-described-as-a-train-wreckToday the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held its second day of hearings... more
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“The hard, hard times, the inaction of the government in helping; the action of the government in dispersing war veterans---all had their effect on the election of 1932. Democratic party candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover overwhelmingly, took office in the spring of 1933, and began a program of reform legislation which became known as the “New Deal.”“The hard, hard times, the inaction of the government in helping; the action of... more
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The Affordable Care Act goes on trial today before the Supreme Court
On March 23, 2010 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama, and today, March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is set to hear three arguments over three days from opponents and proponents of the new health care law.
The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on three different items:
Monday, the justices will hear 90 minutes of argument on an old 19th century law, the Anti-Injunction Act, which says that the Supreme Court cannot pass judgment on the law until its key provisions go into effect in 2014. Both the Whitehouse and the republicans want the case heard now and do not want to put it off until 2014.
Tuesday, the Supreme Court will take up the question on whether the individual mandate is a tax. This is the portion of the Affordable Care Act that has some American citizens upset. The mandate requires everyone to have health insurance. For those that cannot afford health insurance the federal government will provide a subsidy, and those that can afford health insurance and refuse to buy coverage, they will be fined. The mandate will go into effect in the year 2014
Wednesday, the court will hear arguments over whether the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the Medicaid program violates the Constitution. The law requires states that accept federal matching funds for Medicaid to expand that program to cover everyone under 133 percent of the poverty line.
The Supreme Court said that they will announce their rulings sometime in June of this year.
It should be noted that 23 States filed law suits against the new health care laws. Of those 23 States all but one are controlled by the Republican Party. Two of the current Republican candidates running for President, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were in favor of the individual mandate. Gingrich proposed an individual mandate in 1993 as a counter to President Bill Clinton who proposed a form of universal healthcare. And former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney signed into law individual mandates for his State, which the Affordable Care Act is modeled on.
And this year republican controlled States have proposed and or passed into law mandates that force women to have unwanted and unnecessary medical procedures as well as placing obstacles in their way in order to receive health care.
The Republican Party has been crying and whining against health care mandates that were originally their idea, yet they are currently passing laws that create health care mandates. The irony and the hypocrisy from the Republican Party is so palpable you can cut it with a knife.
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Affordable Care Act, as many as 40 million more Americans will have access to health care, and in just about every country on this planet that would be seen as a great accomplishment for their citizens, but not here, not in the United States of America.
www.examiner.com/democrat-in-las-vegas/scotus-will-hear-three-separate-arguments-on-the-affordable-care-actThe Affordable Care Act goes on trial today before the Supreme Court
On March 23,... more
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Subcommittee Kills Non-Existent "Death Panel" in Affordable Care Act --
Democrats scoffed at the idea that conservatives would use Medicare as their excuse for defeating this portion of healthcare reform when the Republicans voted last year for a budget plan that would have replaced Medicare entirely....
http://veracitystew.com/?p=31436Subcommittee Kills Non-Existent "Death Panel" in Affordable Care Act --... more
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Freedom of Religion means that even as the government cannot dictate how a church operates neither can a church dictate how the government operates. In this case, the Catholic Church, in the form of its bishops, is attempting to control not just Catholic women, but all women, ostensibly because of its religious beliefs.
http://veracitystew.com/?p=31116Freedom of Religion means that even as the government cannot dictate how a church... more
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Thomas’s wife, Ginny has personally profited from working for right-wing organizations that openly oppose Obama’s healthcare reform law. Thomas has also been directly linked to private meetings hosted by the Koch brothers...(sign the petition and watch the video)...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=30855Thomas’s wife, Ginny has personally profited from working for right-wing... more
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The U.S. Supreme Court has officially scheduled oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of President Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act, particularly the healthcare reform’s individual mandate. The announcement confirms earlier speculation that the high court would issue a ruling on the healthcare law next year, during the heat of the 2012 presidential campaign.
http://veracitystew.com/2011/12/19/supreme-court-schedules-three-day-review-of-healthcare-reform/The U.S. Supreme Court has officially scheduled oral arguments regarding the... more
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"It is reasonable, in every sense of the word, to believe that a member of the highest court in the land should know how to properly disclose almost $700,000 worth of income. To not be able to do so is suspicious, and according to law, requires further investigation. To accept Justice Thomas's explanation without doing the required due diligence would be irresponsible."
http://veracitystew.com/2011/09/30/increased-calls-for-clarence-thomas-investigation/"It is reasonable, in every sense of the word, to believe that a member of the... more
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The NFIB is asking the high court not only to weigh in on the law’s mandate, but also whether the entire law should fall if that provision is deemed unconstitutional. The 11th Circuit ruled against the plaintiffs on that issue and agreed with the Obama administration that the mandate is severable from the rest of the law.
http://veracitystew.com/2011/09/28/supreme-court-officially-petitioned-to-review-healthcare-law/The NFIB is asking the high court not only to weigh in on the law’s mandate, but... more
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CINCINNATI -- A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has upheld President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
The three-judge panel delivered a long opinion Wednesday with disagreement on some issues. But it affirmed a Michigan federal judge's earlier ruling that Congress can require Americans to have minimum insurance coverage.
More at http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/29/6974889-appeals-court-upholds-obama-health-care-law-CINCINNATI -- A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has upheld President Barack... more
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By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Robert Parry in In These Times examines how Paul Ryan’s budget test would turn healthcare for the elderly into one big free-market death panel.
Ryan’s plan privatizes Medicare, replacing it with premium support for insurance companies. That means the government would kick in a fixed amount of money towards insurance premiums for Americans over age 65. Ryan also wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions. Ryan’s plan doesn’t guarantee that Americans over 65 could get insurance in the first place. Even if they could find an insurer willing to take them, there is no reason to believe that premium support would cover more than part of the cost.
Maybe the plan is to save money by pricing most seniors out of health insurance entirely. If you can’t get insurance in the first place, you don’t qualify for premium support.
Mitt Romney and health care
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney kicked off the exploratory phase of his campaign this week, Lynda Waddington reports in the Iowa Independent. Ironically, this prospective frontrunner is best known for bringing Obama-style health care reform to Massachusetts.
Aswini Anburajan of TAPPED wonders whether Romney’s record on health care will hurt him in the primary. Repealing health care reform is one of the major themes for the Republican Party, and Romney is the architect of a similar system. However, Anburajan notes, campaigning to all but abolish Medicare hasn’t hurt GOP Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s political status, even though seniors are a big part of the GOP base..
Part of the reason why Ryan hasn’t felt a backlash from seniors is that his plan preserves Medicare for people who are currently over 55 and will only decimate the program for younger people.
Demonizing pregnant users
At RH Reality Check, Lynn Paltrow takes the New York Times to task for a sensationalized story about children born to women who are dependent upon prescription painkillers. Paltrow notes that the same alarmist language was used to hype a non-existent epidemic of crack babies in the 1980s. The evidence suggests that the impact of drug use during pregnancy on the developing fetus is relatively minor compared to the effects of other factors that are correlated with drug use, such as poverty, poor nutrition, and lack of prenatal care.
If we assume there’s a clear causal relationships between using drugs and hurting babies, it’s easier to lay all the blame on the mother. The truth, Paltrow argues, is much more complicated. Drug use is just part of a constellation of unhealthy factors that conspire to give the children of poor and marginalized women a worse start in life.
Positing a distinct syndrome caused by drug abuse is often a first step towards stigmatizing, and even criminalizing, poor women who give birth to sick children.
Hungry women and children
Speaking of threats to the health of poor women and their children, the new budget deal slashes $500 million from nutrition programs, with the Women Infants and Children (WIC) food support program at the USDA taking the hardest hit, Tom Laskawy reports for Grist.
If you get your meals through an umbilical cord, the Republicans want to protect you; but if you have to eat groceries, you’re on your own.
Big Pharma hikes HIV drug prices
Elizabeth Lombino at Change.org reports that more than 8,000 people nationwide are on the waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), a government program that helps poor people living with HIV/AIDS pay for medications. Lombino notes that even as the ranks of patients who can’t cover their drugs continues to swell, pharmaceutical companies continue to raise their prices. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is calling upon pharmaceutical companies to lower prices to help grapple with what has come to be known as the ADAP crisis. So far, it’s been to little effect.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Robert Parry in In These Times... more
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by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Flickr user DonkeyHotey, via Creative CommonsWith millions of Americans out of work, House Republicans are focusing in on real priorities: decimating private abortion coverage and crippling public funding for abortion, as Jessica Arons reports in RH Reality Check.
In AlterNet, Amanda Marcotte notes that the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, or H.R. 3, also redefines rape as “forcible rape” in order to determine whether a patient is eligible for a Medicaid-funded abortion. Under the Hyde Amendment, government-funded insurance programs can only cover abortions in cases of rape and incest, or to save the life of the mother. Note that the term “forcible rape” is legally meaningless. Supporters of the bill just want to go on the record as saying that a poor 13-year-old girl pregnant by a 30-year-old should be forced to give birth.
Feminist blogger Sady Doyle has launched a twitter campaign against the bill under the hashtag #dearjohn, a reference to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). Tweet to let him know how you feel about a bill that discriminates against 70% of rape victims because their rapes weren’t violent enough for @johnboehner, append the hashtag #dearjohn.
Everybody chill out
A federal judge in Florida ruled the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional on Monday. However, as political scientist and court watcher Scott Lemieux explains at TAPPED, the ruling is not necessarily a death blow to health care reform:
[T]his ruling is less important than the controversy it will generate might suggest. Many cornerstone programs of the New Deal were held unconstitutional by lower courts before being upheld by the Supreme Court. This ruling tells us nothing we didn’t already know: There is a faction of conservative judges who believe the individual mandate is unconstitutional. Unless this view has the support of five members of the Supreme Court — which I still consider very unlikely — it won’t matter; Vinson’s reasoning would have a much greater impact if adopted by the Court, but for this reason it is even less likely to be adopted by higher courts.
In a follow-up post, Lemieux explains the shaky legal reasoning behind Judge Robert Vinson’s decision. The judge asserts bizarrely that being uninsured has no effect on interstate commerce. That premise is objectively false. Health insurers operate across state lines and the size and composition of their risk pools directly affects their business.
Given the glaring factual inaccuracies, Judge Vinson’s decision may be overturned by a higher court before it gets to the Supreme Court.
Scamming Medicare
Terry J. Allen of In These Times win’s the headline of the week award for an article entitled “Urology’s Golden Revenue Stream.” She reports that increasing numbers of urologists are investing millions on machines to irradiate prostate cancer in the office. The doctors can bill Medicare up to $40,000 per treatment, but they have to use the machines a lot to recoup the initial investment. So what does this mean for patients? Allen explains:
Rather than accessing centralized equipment and sharing costs, physicians are concentrating their own profits by buying expensive in-practice technologies that pay off only if regularly used. One result is overtreatment, which is driving up health care costs, exposing patients to unnecessary radiation and surgeries, and is frequently no better than cheaper approaches.
One third of Medicare patients with prostate cancer undergo the expensive IMRT therapy, as the procedure is known. In 2008, Medicare shelled out over a billion dollars on a treatment that has not shown to be any better for patients than less expensive therapies.
Obstetric fistula in the developing world
Reproductive Health Reality Check is running a special series on the human rights implications of obstetric fistula. Fistula is a devastating complication of unrelieved obstructed labor in which the baby’s head gets stuck in the birth canal and presses against the soft tissues of the pelvis. If labor goes on long enough, the pressure will starve the pelvic tissues of blood, and they will die, creating a hole between the vagina and the bladder, and/or between the vagina and the rectum. Fistula patients face lifelong incontinence, chronic pain, and social ostracism.
The condition is virtually unknown in the developed world, where women with obstructed labor have access to cesarean delivery. However, an estimated 2 million women, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, have untreated fistulas with an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 new cases occurring each year. Without reconstructive surgery, these women will be incontinent for life.
Sarah Omega, a fistula survivor from Kenya, tells her story. Omega sustained a fistula when she delivered her first child at the age of 19. She suffered for 12 years before she finally obtained the surgery she needed. As Agnes Odhiambo explains in another installment in the series, fistula is a symptom of a dysfunctional health care system. Women suffer needlessly because they can’t get access to quality health care.
The most likely victims of fistula are the most vulnerable members of their respective communities. Early childbearing increases a woman’s risk of fistula. Pregnant rape victims may face even greater barriers to a safe delivery, thanks to the social stigma that accrues to victims of sexual violence in many societies. (Not to mention any names, House Republicans…)
Preventing and repairing obstetric fistula is a major human rights issue. The U.S. should make this effort a high priority for foreign aid.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
Flickr user DonkeyHotey, via... more
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