Some Livingston County groups that help women deal with unplanned pregnancies are planning a rally against making sure birth control is easily accessible to all women.
If that sounds backwards, it's because it is.
Common sense would say that if you really were concerned about the impact of unplanned pregnancies, you would help women avoid unplanned pregnancies in the first place.
But not Life Force Livingston and Pregnancy Helpline.
An application by the groups to use the grounds of the Livingston County Historic Courthouse in Howell for a "Stand Up for Religious Freedom" rally at noon on March 23has been filed with the Livingston County Commission, according to the agenda for the commission's meeting on Monday night (March 5, 2012). The application states that the event will be a "peaceful informative rally lead (sic) by local religious leaders speaking on the HHS mandate."
The HHS mandate, apparently, is the requirement by the Department of Health and Human Services that insurance companies offer free birth control under their policies, even those offered by Catholic-run schools, hospitals, and universities -- but not churches. The requirement has the bishops up in arms, demanding that they should be able to block even non-Catholic employees from having easy access to birth control on the grounds that the bishops' religious freedom trumps that of their employees.
The bishops' absurd position has turned into a nightmare for Republicans, after Rush Limbaugh attacked a Georgetown law school student as a "slut" and a "prostitute" and demanded that she post videos on line of herself having sex because she dared to stand up for women's right to have access to birth control. Limbaugh ignored the fact that Sandra Fluke wasn't even talking about the use of birth control for avoiding pregnancy, but for treating medical conditions such as ovarian cysts.
The local groups did not mention who their speakers will be, but Life Force Livingston involves representatives of many Catholic churches in the area, according to minutes of Life Force Livingston's meetings posted on its website. Pregnancy Helpline's attitude toward birth control is pretty clear from its website, too. If offers "abstinence education" and says its goal is to "empower women."
Seems like policies opposing access to birth control and pushing "just say no" will keep crisis pregnancy phone lines ringing for years into the future.
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Just What Does Mike Rogers' Vote for Repealing Health Care Reform Mean?
We all know that Republican Rep. Mike Rogers voted to repeal health care reform, but we don't know exactly what that means for us.
For example, Medicare recipients in the prescription drug donut hole received a $250 rebate check as part of health care reform. At least 3 million people have received their checks already. If health care reform is repealed, do those people who have received the check have to pay back the $250? If they can't pay, will Mike Rogers send IRS agents out to make them pay? If they don't have to pay it back, how is that far to other Medicare recipients who won't be getting a check?
What about those Medicare recipients who have taken advantage of the dozen or more preventive health care screenings such as annual physicals that Medicare now covers due to health care reform? Are they going to have to repay Medicare for those services? If not, why not? How is that fair to Medicare recipients who haven't yet taken advantage of those covered services?
Many children with pre-existing conditions are now receiving health care coverage due to health care reform. Does Mike Rogers want the coverage for those children yanked now? Couldn't that result in catastrophic consequences for some seriously ill children? You know, sort of like death panels.
And what about adult children, up to age 26, who were able to stay on their parents' health insurance? Are they now kicked off?
Haven't heard word one from Mike Rogers about how he is going to deal with these people if repeal were to succeed.
Why am I not surprised?
For example, Medicare recipients in the prescription drug donut hole received a $250 rebate check as part of health care reform. At least 3 million people have received their checks already. If health care reform is repealed, do those people who have received the check have to pay back the $250? If they can't pay, will Mike Rogers send IRS agents out to make them pay? If they don't have to pay it back, how is that far to other Medicare recipients who won't be getting a check?
What about those Medicare recipients who have taken advantage of the dozen or more preventive health care screenings such as annual physicals that Medicare now covers due to health care reform? Are they going to have to repay Medicare for those services? If not, why not? How is that fair to Medicare recipients who haven't yet taken advantage of those covered services?
Many children with pre-existing conditions are now receiving health care coverage due to health care reform. Does Mike Rogers want the coverage for those children yanked now? Couldn't that result in catastrophic consequences for some seriously ill children? You know, sort of like death panels.
And what about adult children, up to age 26, who were able to stay on their parents' health insurance? Are they now kicked off?
Haven't heard word one from Mike Rogers about how he is going to deal with these people if repeal were to succeed.
Why am I not surprised?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Taxpayers and Transplants
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose health problems even as a much younger person are well known, said recently he may decide to have a heart transplant.
Taxpayers, of course, will pay for it through his government health care. No problem.
There has been no outcry that we can't afford it, even though he will be on expensive anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life.
In Arizona, though, talk of taxpayer-funded transplants has Republicans doing their usual rant against anti-government spending. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer decided to cut funding for transplants for sick poor people because she says the state can't afford it. About 100 people who were told they would get transplants had the rug pulled out from under them.
Protests mounted, and two people who had been on the list for transplants died after the funding was cut -- the result of a real death panel that was entirely of Republican making rather than merely Republican imagination.
Finally, on Friday (Jan. 21, 2011), Brewer relented and came up with the $800,000 for transplants this year.
So why is it one person deserves a heart transplant at taxpayer expense, no questions asked, and sick poor people who were eligible for care one day can be kicked off the rolls at the whim of a Republican governor, and it takes a national outcry to get her to change her mind?
Taxpayers, of course, will pay for it through his government health care. No problem.
There has been no outcry that we can't afford it, even though he will be on expensive anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life.
In Arizona, though, talk of taxpayer-funded transplants has Republicans doing their usual rant against anti-government spending. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer decided to cut funding for transplants for sick poor people because she says the state can't afford it. About 100 people who were told they would get transplants had the rug pulled out from under them.
Protests mounted, and two people who had been on the list for transplants died after the funding was cut -- the result of a real death panel that was entirely of Republican making rather than merely Republican imagination.
Finally, on Friday (Jan. 21, 2011), Brewer relented and came up with the $800,000 for transplants this year.
So why is it one person deserves a heart transplant at taxpayer expense, no questions asked, and sick poor people who were eligible for care one day can be kicked off the rolls at the whim of a Republican governor, and it takes a national outcry to get her to change her mind?
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Health Care Bill's Tax Break a Winner with Employers
You won't hear Republicans talking about this provision of the health care reform act when they try to repeal it next week. It would be too hard to explain to business groups why they want to take it away.
But a tax credit for small businesses is expanding the number of companies offering health insurance to their employees -- private health insurance.
The Los Angeles Times reports that some insurers have seen increases of as much as 58 percent in small businesses buying insurance since the health care reform measure was passed in March. The tax credit for health insurance premiums, which can amount to as much as 35 percent of the premium, is already in effect.
The newspaper reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City has been aggressively marketing the tax credit to small businesses and "is reporting a 58% jump in the number of small businesses buying insurance since April, the first full month after the legislation was signed into law."
So the question for Republican Mike Rogers and other Michigan Republicans in Congress is, why do you want to take away this tax credit that is helping small businesses?
But a tax credit for small businesses is expanding the number of companies offering health insurance to their employees -- private health insurance.
The Los Angeles Times reports that some insurers have seen increases of as much as 58 percent in small businesses buying insurance since the health care reform measure was passed in March. The tax credit for health insurance premiums, which can amount to as much as 35 percent of the premium, is already in effect.
The newspaper reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City has been aggressively marketing the tax credit to small businesses and "is reporting a 58% jump in the number of small businesses buying insurance since April, the first full month after the legislation was signed into law."
So the question for Republican Mike Rogers and other Michigan Republicans in Congress is, why do you want to take away this tax credit that is helping small businesses?
Friday, December 24, 2010
Making Michigan a World Health Care Leader
It's not news to me that Michigan attracts people from all over the world because of the quality of its health care. Unfortunately, in the last few years, I've had to learn more about the quality of Michigan health care and the way it stacks up against the rest of the world than I ever wanted to.
While studying health care options, time and again people would recommend Mayo Clinic or specialists in California, but research into the statistics always pointed to Michigan doctors and facilities being the best for the problem at hand. Friends from other states were surprised and made borderline racist comments about the quality of nursing care and other problems they imagined we would encounter. They couldn't imagine that a city from the rust belt would be leading in anything, but they were wrong.
But all the homework on health care in Michigan vs. elsewhere got me thinking about how Michigan was able to build up expertise in these fields. And I came to the conclusion that in many ways the outstanding hospitals and programs we have are houses that organized labor built.
The men and women who bargained for health care coverage in lieu of other compensation for their labor created a demand for health care and a way to pay for it that otherwise would not have existed. Union employees with health care coverage paid for the care they got instead of depending on charity. And when hospitals and doctors are being paid, they can take risks with new treatments and specialists. And the demand and the payment stream were secure, guaranteed by union contracts, rather than depending on the largesse of some philanthropist.
It's one of the ways that organized labor benefited everybody in this state, whether they were members of a union or not. It's one of the ways that organized labor is part of the fabric of this state.
While studying health care options, time and again people would recommend Mayo Clinic or specialists in California, but research into the statistics always pointed to Michigan doctors and facilities being the best for the problem at hand. Friends from other states were surprised and made borderline racist comments about the quality of nursing care and other problems they imagined we would encounter. They couldn't imagine that a city from the rust belt would be leading in anything, but they were wrong.
But all the homework on health care in Michigan vs. elsewhere got me thinking about how Michigan was able to build up expertise in these fields. And I came to the conclusion that in many ways the outstanding hospitals and programs we have are houses that organized labor built.
The men and women who bargained for health care coverage in lieu of other compensation for their labor created a demand for health care and a way to pay for it that otherwise would not have existed. Union employees with health care coverage paid for the care they got instead of depending on charity. And when hospitals and doctors are being paid, they can take risks with new treatments and specialists. And the demand and the payment stream were secure, guaranteed by union contracts, rather than depending on the largesse of some philanthropist.
It's one of the ways that organized labor benefited everybody in this state, whether they were members of a union or not. It's one of the ways that organized labor is part of the fabric of this state.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Health Care Reform Even a Child Can Follow
Opponents of health care reform have tried to make the issue unnecessarily complex, figuring that Americans would automatically be scared off if they said the bill was 1,000 pages long and therefore must be full of nasty stuff nobody is telling us about.
It's only one of the scare tactics that Republicans have come up with justify their opposition. But the Kaiser Foundation has come up with an easy way to explain the bill -- a cartoon.
The cartoon explains problems with the current system and the provisions of the bill -- requiring companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions (starting first with children), the end of coverage caps, allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26, high-risk pools for people needing costly treatment, more coverage of preventive care, and yes, the individual mandate.
And it makes that the point that the law saves money over the next 10 years. It doesn't add to the deficit, which people supposedly were so worried out. It reduces the deficit.
So take a look at the video here. Pass it on, and strike a blow against ignorance.
It's only one of the scare tactics that Republicans have come up with justify their opposition. But the Kaiser Foundation has come up with an easy way to explain the bill -- a cartoon.
The cartoon explains problems with the current system and the provisions of the bill -- requiring companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions (starting first with children), the end of coverage caps, allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26, high-risk pools for people needing costly treatment, more coverage of preventive care, and yes, the individual mandate.
And it makes that the point that the law saves money over the next 10 years. It doesn't add to the deficit, which people supposedly were so worried out. It reduces the deficit.
So take a look at the video here. Pass it on, and strike a blow against ignorance.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wonder How He Feels About Mitt Romney?
It's pretty clear Rep. Mike Rogers won't be supporting Mitt Romney for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. And if Romney gets the nomination, it's pretty clear Rogers will not lift a finger to help him.
How can he? After all, as governor, Romney supported the Massachusetts law that requires people to buy health insurance -- the same kind of requirement that Rogers says is so wrong in President Obama's health care reform measure.
And also the same kind of requirement that Republicans proposed in the 1990s when President Bill Clinton was trying to reform health care.
But that was then. This is now.
How can he? After all, as governor, Romney supported the Massachusetts law that requires people to buy health insurance -- the same kind of requirement that Rogers says is so wrong in President Obama's health care reform measure.
And also the same kind of requirement that Republicans proposed in the 1990s when President Bill Clinton was trying to reform health care.
But that was then. This is now.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
What Mike Cox and the Tea-Baggers Want to Repeal
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox thinks he can make headway in the Michigan gubernatorial race by getting in bed with the far-right extremists of the tea-bagger movement by trying to block implementation of the health care reform measure in Michigan. Cox and his buddies are trying to scare the public into believing the health care is somehow a threat to motherhood and apple pie.
In reality, blocking the measure -- through a lawsuit that Cox has filed or by trying to get voters to approve a ballot issue as the tea-baggers want -- will mean a lot of suffering for a lot of Michigan residents.
Organizing for America has prepared an on-line video summing up what health care reform really means for people in Michigan.
The reforms are so common sense -- many based on Republican ideas dating back to the 1994 health care reform debate -- that it's hard to see why anyone would oppose them. Which explains why the right-wing extremists had to make up lies about 16,000 armed federal agents coming to your door to enforce the law.
It's easier to say that than to admit you are against making sure sick kids get insurance coverage or giving tax breaks to small businesses to pay for health insurance premiums.
In reality, blocking the measure -- through a lawsuit that Cox has filed or by trying to get voters to approve a ballot issue as the tea-baggers want -- will mean a lot of suffering for a lot of Michigan residents.
Organizing for America has prepared an on-line video summing up what health care reform really means for people in Michigan.
The reforms are so common sense -- many based on Republican ideas dating back to the 1994 health care reform debate -- that it's hard to see why anyone would oppose them. Which explains why the right-wing extremists had to make up lies about 16,000 armed federal agents coming to your door to enforce the law.
It's easier to say that than to admit you are against making sure sick kids get insurance coverage or giving tax breaks to small businesses to pay for health insurance premiums.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Cox Fighting for Insurance Companies -- Not You
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is charged with consumer protection. Instead, he's using his office for insurance company protection -- and to try to promote his own political future.
Cox's decision to go to court to try to block the health care reform measure is designed to get him all kinds of publicity during his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. It's not about you. It's not about the constitution. It's about him.
Instead of protecting consumers, Cox will punish them.
This is what Cox wants to do:
Deny health care coverage to sick kids.
Block health care coverage through high-risk pools for people of all ages who are sick.
Let insurance companies drop you if you get sick or file too many claims or your care costs too much.
Take away coverage of young adults instead of allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.
Take away help for senior citizens who fall into the Medicare prescription drug donut hole coverage gap.
Deny preventive health care such as annual physicals without co-pays and deductibles.
Block tax credits for small businesses equal to 35 percent of the cost of insuring their employees.
If you'd like to let Cox know how you feel, call his office at (517) 373-1110. Ask him to represent you, not himself.
Cox's decision to go to court to try to block the health care reform measure is designed to get him all kinds of publicity during his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. It's not about you. It's not about the constitution. It's about him.
Instead of protecting consumers, Cox will punish them.
This is what Cox wants to do:
Deny health care coverage to sick kids.
Block health care coverage through high-risk pools for people of all ages who are sick.
Let insurance companies drop you if you get sick or file too many claims or your care costs too much.
Take away coverage of young adults instead of allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.
Take away help for senior citizens who fall into the Medicare prescription drug donut hole coverage gap.
Deny preventive health care such as annual physicals without co-pays and deductibles.
Block tax credits for small businesses equal to 35 percent of the cost of insuring their employees.
If you'd like to let Cox know how you feel, call his office at (517) 373-1110. Ask him to represent you, not himself.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Does Wall Street Think It's Socialism?
If the historic health care measure passed by the House and signed by President Obama (with a "fix-it" bill soon to follow) is truly a government take-over of health insurance, if it truly is socialism, if it truly is communism, then why is it stock prices went UP Monday (March 22, 2010) on the strength of increases in health-related stocks?
One would think that all those great minds in the Republican Party who are supposed to understand the business world so much better than the rest of us could explain this to us.
But they haven't mentioned it. Not even Michael (It's Armageddon!) Steele.
One would think that all those great minds in the Republican Party who are supposed to understand the business world so much better than the rest of us could explain this to us.
But they haven't mentioned it. Not even Michael (It's Armageddon!) Steele.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Whose Waterloo Is It?
President Obama and the Democratically-led Congress have just scored a historic legislative victory. And Republicans think they've got them right where they want them.
Not so fast, says one Republican strategist -- David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush, whose comments were highlighted on Huffington Post.
It is likely the Republicans who have met their Waterloo. By refusing to negotiate, the Republicans shut themselves out of having any input into the legislation at all. Like all health care legislation before it, the measure will provide popular with the public. And any idea of repealing it is a mirage, Frum says.
"No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the 'doughnut hole' and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?
"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat."
Frum points the finger at right-wing radio and TV hosts for stirring up hysteria among the base for their own financial gain.
"Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds," Frum wrote.
"...For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours."
Bet he won't be invited to many Lincoln Day dinners.
Not so fast, says one Republican strategist -- David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush, whose comments were highlighted on Huffington Post.
It is likely the Republicans who have met their Waterloo. By refusing to negotiate, the Republicans shut themselves out of having any input into the legislation at all. Like all health care legislation before it, the measure will provide popular with the public. And any idea of repealing it is a mirage, Frum says.
"No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the 'doughnut hole' and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?
"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat."
Frum points the finger at right-wing radio and TV hosts for stirring up hysteria among the base for their own financial gain.
"Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds," Frum wrote.
"...For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours."
Bet he won't be invited to many Lincoln Day dinners.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Why Hasn't Rogers Condemned Tea-Bagger Abuse?
Anybody heard Mike Rogers condemn the tea-baggers use of abuse racial and homophobic epithets against members of Congress on Saturday (March 20, 2010)? Anybody heard our 8th District member of Congress chastise the tea-bagger who had to be forcibly removed from the House chambers on Sunday (March 21, 2010)?
My email in-box regularly shows a Rogers email full of lies about the health care reform bill. If he was upset by any of these tactics, I would have expected to receive an email from him by now.
But there's nothing. The party of No can say No to everything except racism and homophobia.
My email in-box regularly shows a Rogers email full of lies about the health care reform bill. If he was upset by any of these tactics, I would have expected to receive an email from him by now.
But there's nothing. The party of No can say No to everything except racism and homophobia.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Was Rogers Hiding from the Public?
Either Rep. Mike Rogers is taking a lot of heat for his opposition to the health care reform bill. Or he is so afraid of his constituents that he refused to answer the phone.
Rogers' Washington, D.C., office line was busy all day Friday.
And why shouldn't people in the 8th District be upset with Rogers? After all, the bill only helps 150,000 families and 15,100 small businesses in the district with tax credits and other help affording insurance.
It also closes the prescription drug donut hole for 90,000 senior citizens.
And it provides health insurance coverage to 20,000 people who don't have it now -- people who are clogging our emergency rooms and seeking expensive health care that hospitals are never reimbursed for.
And it allows 63,000 young adults get health insurance coverage, allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.
And it provides $29 million to area hospitals for care they give to the needy, costs that the hospitals have had to pass on to other people.
It does all that, while cutting the budget deficit $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years.
No wonder people were jamming Rogers' phone lines.
Rogers' Washington, D.C., office line was busy all day Friday.
And why shouldn't people in the 8th District be upset with Rogers? After all, the bill only helps 150,000 families and 15,100 small businesses in the district with tax credits and other help affording insurance.
It also closes the prescription drug donut hole for 90,000 senior citizens.
And it provides health insurance coverage to 20,000 people who don't have it now -- people who are clogging our emergency rooms and seeking expensive health care that hospitals are never reimbursed for.
And it allows 63,000 young adults get health insurance coverage, allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.
And it provides $29 million to area hospitals for care they give to the needy, costs that the hospitals have had to pass on to other people.
It does all that, while cutting the budget deficit $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years.
No wonder people were jamming Rogers' phone lines.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Mike Rogers Sounding Desperate on Health Care Bill
Rep. Mike Rogers' interview in the Livingston Press and Argus is a low-point, even for him. He piles one lie on top of another to justify voting for big insurance companies and against his own constituents, and then tops it off with a stunning who-gives-a-damn-about-anybody-else statement.
The whole performance has a desperate-sounding tone, as if he knows that once health care reform passes, he is going to have to explain voting against his own district's best interests.
Rogers lies when he says the bill will cut Medicare. He knows its only the private Medicare Advantage programs, that are exorbitantly wasteful, that are being cut. He knows that in fact seniors will receive a big bonus when the Medicare prescription drug donut hole is closed by the bill.
Rogers lies when he says small businesses will face heavy taxes, when it fact the bill includes subsidies for small businesses -- including more than 15,100 in his district alone.
Rogers lies when he says the bill is too expensive. It actually cuts the deficit -- by $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years. And cutting the deficit is something that Rogers and the Republicans never managed to do, not once, when they were in power under George Bush.
Rogers lies when he says some states get special deals in the bill, when he knows those are being stripped out.
Rogers lies when he says letting small businesses join "pools" would be a better alternative, when he knows that the bill's exchanges will create far bigger pools and thus greater savings than any group of small businesses could achieve on their own.
But Rogers is downright stupid when he says, "I don't really care about the other 49 states when people are losing their homes in the state of Michigan." Apparently, he doesn't understand that the reason people are losing their homes here is that people in the other 49 states aren't buying cars and other products Michigan sells. Is he really so stupid that he doesn't understand that Michigan needs a healthy American economy to thrive?
I'm used to lies from Mike Rogers. But the stupidity is breath-taking.
The whole performance has a desperate-sounding tone, as if he knows that once health care reform passes, he is going to have to explain voting against his own district's best interests.
Rogers lies when he says the bill will cut Medicare. He knows its only the private Medicare Advantage programs, that are exorbitantly wasteful, that are being cut. He knows that in fact seniors will receive a big bonus when the Medicare prescription drug donut hole is closed by the bill.
Rogers lies when he says small businesses will face heavy taxes, when it fact the bill includes subsidies for small businesses -- including more than 15,100 in his district alone.
Rogers lies when he says the bill is too expensive. It actually cuts the deficit -- by $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years. And cutting the deficit is something that Rogers and the Republicans never managed to do, not once, when they were in power under George Bush.
Rogers lies when he says some states get special deals in the bill, when he knows those are being stripped out.
Rogers lies when he says letting small businesses join "pools" would be a better alternative, when he knows that the bill's exchanges will create far bigger pools and thus greater savings than any group of small businesses could achieve on their own.
But Rogers is downright stupid when he says, "I don't really care about the other 49 states when people are losing their homes in the state of Michigan." Apparently, he doesn't understand that the reason people are losing their homes here is that people in the other 49 states aren't buying cars and other products Michigan sells. Is he really so stupid that he doesn't understand that Michigan needs a healthy American economy to thrive?
I'm used to lies from Mike Rogers. But the stupidity is breath-taking.
Monday, March 1, 2010
John Dingell Still Inspires on Health Care Reform
John Dingell has been working for health care reform longer than just about anybody else in America. Despite all the setbacks of the last year, he is still out there fighting.
That was obvious on Saturday (February 27, 2010) at the Michigan Democratic Party State Central Committee meeting in Livonia. Congressman Dingell brought people to their feet with a stirring call for reforming a system that is both the most expensive in the world and ineffective.
He laid out the case for reform: Health insurance premiums now average $25,000 a year for American families. They have doubled in the last 10 years and are expected to double again in the next 10 years. Yet we still rank 19th in the world in infant mortality. The number of people without insurance is at 47 million and growing.
Dingell admitted the bill doesn't do everything he would like. It doesn't even do everything Teddy Roosevelt wanted. Teddy Roosevelt pushed for national health care in 1912. That's TEDDY Roosevelt.
But Dingell said it does a lot of good things -- extending the solvency of the Medicare trust fund for nine years, ending discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, ending the ability of insurance companies to just cut off your coverage even as you are being wheeled into the operating room, expanding coverage to 31 million people, and ending the extravagant subsidies to the private Medicare Advantage programs.
Dingell says it's time to end Republican obstructionism in the Senate, where he said Republicans "vote No on everything from the prayer to the motion to adjourn."
The rules of the Senate, he said, shuold not "deny the American people the right to have a simple majority vote on one of the most pressing issues of our time."
Amen to that.
That was obvious on Saturday (February 27, 2010) at the Michigan Democratic Party State Central Committee meeting in Livonia. Congressman Dingell brought people to their feet with a stirring call for reforming a system that is both the most expensive in the world and ineffective.
He laid out the case for reform: Health insurance premiums now average $25,000 a year for American families. They have doubled in the last 10 years and are expected to double again in the next 10 years. Yet we still rank 19th in the world in infant mortality. The number of people without insurance is at 47 million and growing.
Dingell admitted the bill doesn't do everything he would like. It doesn't even do everything Teddy Roosevelt wanted. Teddy Roosevelt pushed for national health care in 1912. That's TEDDY Roosevelt.
But Dingell said it does a lot of good things -- extending the solvency of the Medicare trust fund for nine years, ending discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, ending the ability of insurance companies to just cut off your coverage even as you are being wheeled into the operating room, expanding coverage to 31 million people, and ending the extravagant subsidies to the private Medicare Advantage programs.
Dingell says it's time to end Republican obstructionism in the Senate, where he said Republicans "vote No on everything from the prayer to the motion to adjourn."
The rules of the Senate, he said, shuold not "deny the American people the right to have a simple majority vote on one of the most pressing issues of our time."
Amen to that.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
And They Say There Isn't a Problem with Health Care in This Country
If the American health care system is so great, why is it people in Livingston County are forced to have a spaghetti dinner and bake sale so that one of their friends can afford to be be treated for lung cancer?
With all the stress involved in being treated for a deadly disease such as cancer, worrying about how to pay the bills for the treatment is one thing that people in a wealthy country like the U.S. should not have to go through.
I just know all the county's tea-baggers will show up and make a donation to help the individual involved.
With all the stress involved in being treated for a deadly disease such as cancer, worrying about how to pay the bills for the treatment is one thing that people in a wealthy country like the U.S. should not have to go through.
I just know all the county's tea-baggers will show up and make a donation to help the individual involved.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Good for Stabenow!
Sen. Debbie Stabenow was taking no crap from Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee on Friday (Sept. 25, 2009).
Check out what she told Sen. John Kyl of Arizona, who wanted to cut maternity coverage from insurance policy coverage.
Check out what she told Sen. John Kyl of Arizona, who wanted to cut maternity coverage from insurance policy coverage.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Joe Wilson--a Republican Doing What Republicans Do
Anyone who watched President Obama's awesome speech last night couldn't miss the Republican behavior -- highlighted by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina's shouting that the president was lying.
As we know from the last few weeks, that is all Republicans have to offer in this debate about rising health care costs -- name-calling and shouting. Now that it has been done by a member of Congress in a formal setting, Republicans can no longer disassociate themselves from the right-wing fringe. This is the heart of their party. If Republicans can't act civilly in one of our democracy's most hallowed chambers, do they belong there at all? Why should anyone take them seriously as people trying to solve the problems our nation faces?
Rep. John Dingle put it best when Huffington Post asked for his reaction to Wilson's rudeness. "Well, you've got to understand: They're Republicans. They're just doing what comes natural," he said.
Wilson apologized afterwards, but it's too late.
Independents and moderate Republicans need to ask themselves why they want to be associated with people like that.
As we know from the last few weeks, that is all Republicans have to offer in this debate about rising health care costs -- name-calling and shouting. Now that it has been done by a member of Congress in a formal setting, Republicans can no longer disassociate themselves from the right-wing fringe. This is the heart of their party. If Republicans can't act civilly in one of our democracy's most hallowed chambers, do they belong there at all? Why should anyone take them seriously as people trying to solve the problems our nation faces?
Rep. John Dingle put it best when Huffington Post asked for his reaction to Wilson's rudeness. "Well, you've got to understand: They're Republicans. They're just doing what comes natural," he said.
Wilson apologized afterwards, but it's too late.
Independents and moderate Republicans need to ask themselves why they want to be associated with people like that.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Some Things Left Out of Tea-Bagger Coverage
Funny how reporters managed to overlook the uglier aspects of the tea-bag express rally in Brighton on Tuesday (Sept. 8, 2009).
Where was the mention of the huge sign depicting President Obama in African dress, tapping in to old cultural myths about the inferiority and savagery of tribal cultures? Or the buttons being sold depicting Obama as the sinister-looking master-criminal Joker character from Batman, playing in to whites' racial fears of urban black men? Or the sign calling Obama a "Muslim marxist"?
No mention of the man who asked one of our Jewish members, "How do you spell 'Auschwitz?'" -- an implied threat.
Nor any mention of the man who tried to grab our bull horn away, of the men who felt free to poke us in the chest with their fingers or otherwise touch us without our permission. Or the teabaggers who told two of our members standing near the mill pond that it would be a shame if they ended up in the pond.
Nothing about the man who walked past us and shouted that we should have "retroactive abortions."
Or the three people who at various times were shouting, "Kill Obama."
Real nice people, just concerned citizens.
Nor was there any mention of the more stupid aspects of the rally -- The elderly people obviously on Medicare saying they don't want government involved in health care. Do they really not know that Medicare is run by the government?
Or the people chanting, "No health care." They don't want any health care at all? Really? They would actually let a parent or child die rather than seek health care?
And no mention of the thoroughly debunked, "Obamacare is genocide for the elderly" claims.
How pathetic. Livingston County presented a pretty ugly face to the country, and despite claims to the contrary, it was orchestrated by the increasingly extremist Livingston County Republican Party, which promoted it heavily.
Moderate independents and Republicans in this county need to take a close look at the ugliness at the rally and ask themselves if that's what they want to be associated with.
Where was the mention of the huge sign depicting President Obama in African dress, tapping in to old cultural myths about the inferiority and savagery of tribal cultures? Or the buttons being sold depicting Obama as the sinister-looking master-criminal Joker character from Batman, playing in to whites' racial fears of urban black men? Or the sign calling Obama a "Muslim marxist"?
No mention of the man who asked one of our Jewish members, "How do you spell 'Auschwitz?'" -- an implied threat.
Nor any mention of the man who tried to grab our bull horn away, of the men who felt free to poke us in the chest with their fingers or otherwise touch us without our permission. Or the teabaggers who told two of our members standing near the mill pond that it would be a shame if they ended up in the pond.
Nothing about the man who walked past us and shouted that we should have "retroactive abortions."
Or the three people who at various times were shouting, "Kill Obama."
Real nice people, just concerned citizens.
Nor was there any mention of the more stupid aspects of the rally -- The elderly people obviously on Medicare saying they don't want government involved in health care. Do they really not know that Medicare is run by the government?
Or the people chanting, "No health care." They don't want any health care at all? Really? They would actually let a parent or child die rather than seek health care?
And no mention of the thoroughly debunked, "Obamacare is genocide for the elderly" claims.
How pathetic. Livingston County presented a pretty ugly face to the country, and despite claims to the contrary, it was orchestrated by the increasingly extremist Livingston County Republican Party, which promoted it heavily.
Moderate independents and Republicans in this county need to take a close look at the ugliness at the rally and ask themselves if that's what they want to be associated with.
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