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Hooray for Nancy Pelosi
I hope I am not the only geek watching this historic vote on C-Span tonight.
I must say Nancy Pelosi has earned her place in the history books with this bill. It would not have passed without her leadership. The bill is not perfect, but it is the first time in US history that Health Insurance Companies will be regulated. Can you believe we have been living under the boot of those thugs all this time? Tomorrow I plan to call Speaker Pelosi's office to thank her. I hope you will join me. I am sure she is going to get an earful from the other side. So please take a moment to let her know you appreciate her hard work on this. :party: |
no doubt it. It was a special report here. No its not perfect but its something.
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This is only the beginning of what may or may not come. I'll be interested in seeing how the overall picture will play out with the insurance companies. Will they still be able to drop those that have a sickness they deem to expensive to pay for? Doesn't matter to much if they regulate the price insurance companies can charge us if everyone can't be covered under this new bill for equal amounts of monies.
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I am also interested in if there is a cap insurance companies can charge for those with pre-existing illness. They can no longer " deny", but I have yet to find any statement regarding how much they can charge. The brief summary of the 2004 page bill from CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...46-503544.html |
People are saying this is the greatest speech of Obama's presidency thus far. I haven't watched it yet, but I thought I'd put it up to share (and maybe it will help me to remember to watch it!). Scroll down for video:
Obama Quotes Lincoln To House Dems: 'I Am Bound To Be True' (VIDEO) |
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no clue--it's gibberish. |
If You'd like to send Your thanks to Speaker Pelosi, here is her contact information:
http://www.speaker.gov/contact/ |
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Yes, I spent the entire day and evening watching it until the very end on CNN. I will admit I chose CNN coverage because I like and respect Political Analyst Donna Brazile. Many times when I am about to keel over from the hypocrisy, the spin and all the other B.S. I gather strength and composure from listening and watching Ms. Brazile and Roland Martin. Both, are some of the handful of Political Analyst that happen to be POC. I would like to just take a moment to point out did any of you notice as the camera scanned the US Congress over and over how few POC faces you saw during the entire proceedings? I know there are many qualified POC in the country that should be active, participating members of the various power structures in government and the private sector. Sometimes it is daunting when I really open my eyes and accept the realities of the society I live in. It still is not a level playing field. I am not sure it will ever be. I am sure that no matter what, I will continue to keep talking about and taking action about the things in our society that are our "dirty little secrets." Yes, good idea to take the time this morning to contact our Congress women and men who took a stand and made health care more accessible to all Americans. |
I hate to admit this, but the idiot that yelled out "BABY KILLER" during last evening's vote of the Health Care Bill was none other than GOP Rep. Randy Neugebauer of the great state of Texas. He represents the Abilene/Lubbock/Amarillo area ~ several notches in the Bible belt.
It took me a while to find a way to contact Mr. Neugebauer....seems his website is mysteriously down. Gee. Wonder why? But I found him on Facebook and this is the message I sent to him..... "Once again, an out of control person in our government has made the great state of Texas a laughing stock. No matter what your personal beliefs are, if you wanted to call someone a 'baby killer', could you not have done this in private? "Freedom of speech" does not mean "Freedom to be a horse's rear". Check your Baptist tongue, Sir. ~Janey Hall" I'm so embarrassed. The entirity of Texas, while mostly conservative, is not ALL like this, folks. Thank God for places like Austin and Houston...that's all I have to say! |
I strongly believer that a huge part of Health Care Reform should have included a cap on the price of procedures, ER visits, Prescriptions...just everything across the board. Frankly, if some of those things had been capped long ago, some of the problems we are all experiencing may have been alleviated. Who in their right mind believes for one second that a $100,000 Hospital stay should equal bankruptcy, the loss of ones Home, and all the things that it takes a lifetime to achieve...because of illness or injury? :sadangel: I'll tell ya who...the same folks that seem to think charging $25 to your Insurance for a fucking band aid during an ER visit...that's who. :| :daywalker: |
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/...ex.html?hpt=T1
So 10 States have lined up to sue once Obama signs the HealthCare bill into law. I'm not clear as to why they feel they can sue. It seems the argument is that the gov't is forcing individuals to spend (isn't car insurance similar?) and that States must spend the money for Health Care (aren't similar laws in place for education? No Child Left behind did that, didn't it?) |
I think its their last ditch effort to mess with the law. I am writing our AG in our state to ask him if he wants to be re-elected. Perhaps if we all wrote these bigots and racists they might get the idea that they are wrong...oh wait, their egos will get in the way of reason.
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Didn't Rush Limbaugh promise to leave the country if this health care bill passed? And aren't we holding him to it?
Although when he said he'd go to Costa Rica, he was responding to a caller who asked him where he'd go (for health care) if the bill passed (since according to the repubs, the care will be so, so terrible) I was unclear as to whether he meant because he opposes the bill or to actually go get some health care since Costa Rica offers government-financed universal. I bet he's been sneaking anyway, like Palin did in Canada. Either way, he should go. Sorry, Costa Rica. |
They're on it.
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Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
Senate will have to return health bill to House Senate Republicans learned early Thursday that they will be able to kill language in a measure altering President Barack Obama's newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval. linkyloo |
I truly believe that the GOP will stop at nothing...see below (emphasis mine)
March 23, 2010, 7:18 pm Senate Republicans Offer More Amendments By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN The amendments are piling up. Here are a few of the Republican amendments, as described by the authors, that were submitted on Tuesday in the Senate. The senators referenced below are David Vitter of Louisiana, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, Bob Bennett of Utah and John McCain of Arizona. Vitter amendment: Prohibiting use of funds to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). (#3554) Grassley amendment: To make sure the President, Cabinet Members, all White House Senior staff and Congressional Committee and Leadership Staff are purchasing health insurance through the health insurance exchanges established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (#3564) Inhofe amendment: To exclude devices for persons with disabilities from the medical device tax. (#3565) Gregg-Coburn amendment: To prevent Medicare from being raided for new entitlements and to use Medicare savings to save Medicare. (#3567) Bennett amendment: To protect the Democratic process and the right of the people of the District of Columbia to define marriage. (#3568) Grassley amendment: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure Medicare beneficiary access to physicians, eliminate sweetheart deals for frontier States, and ensure equitable reimbursement under the Medicare program for all rural states. (#3569) McCain Amendment: To eliminate the sweetheart deals for Tennessee, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, Connecticut, and frontier States. (#3570) See earlier post on amendments offered by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma.http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...al-amendments/ Link to this NY Times article: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...bennett&st=cse |
Conservative Think Tank Healh Care Experts Agree With Obamacare
New York Times
The Conscience of A Liberal - Paul Krugman March 25, 2010, 5:21 pm David Frum, AEI, Heritage And Health Care David Frum* has been fired by the American Enterprise Institute; one has to assume that this is a response to his outspokenness about the Republican failure on health reform. In discussing the Frum firing, Bruce Bartlett asserts that AEI has muzzled its health-care experts, because the truth is that they agree with a lot of what Obama is proposing. I find this quite believable; back in 2003 Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation, which is supposedly harder-right than AEI, proposed a health care reform consisting of … drumroll … an individual mandate coupled with subsidies to make insurance affordable. In short, Obamacare. I was struck, by the way, by Butler’s recommendation that we Provide support to people to obtain health care based on their need, not where they happen to work, or their eligibility for welfare, or their military record, or their age. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need? *I’m informed, by family members, that Frum is a distant cousin of yours truly. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/david-frum-aei-heritage-and-health-care/?pagemode=print |
Goes to show that all this GOP grandstanding is really just about trying to regain power!!! They are acting like a bunch of 2 year olds with very entitled parents! Serving in Congress is about nothing but campaigning and re-election. Until we have public funding/regulation (ONLY) for elections, we will have an ineffective, broken Congress full of trust-fund babies. It isn't about We the People.... its about We the Elite.....
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That link doesn't have anything that indicates a second return. It may have happened yesterday and was completed last night. AFAIK, Obama signed it into law today. I do believe it's political suicide to repeal it after so many will benefit from it in the next 6 months.
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I am really saddened by the shooting of the office buildings, and the threatening vm's left for Senators and Congressmen & Women - all over this bill. Now Glen Beck is having a revival starting in Orlando, FL. What is wrong with these people? Oh, that's right...they are republican and have good healthcare benefits. Talk about frustrating. :brainsucker: |
"Of course, a lot of right wingers are very upset about this because they believe this health care bill will cost a lot of money. You know what I think? Just pretend it's another unnecessary war. You'll feel better about it already." -Jay Leno
(caveat: not that I like Leno or believe that this will amount to the billions (trillions?) that the wars have cost) "If conservatives get to call universal healthcare 'socialized medicine,' I get to call private, for-profit healthcare 'soulless, vampire bastards making money off human pain.'" --Bill Maher (caveat: not that your HCR is universal HC! at all!) |
What I find totally baffling is that these nuts are whining about so called "high cost" of the recent legislation which only put limits on some of the abuses of Big Health Insurers. These same foolios didn't make a friggin' PEEP when the Bush Administration passed laws giving the wealthiest top 1% insane tax cuts that cost (and are continuing to cost) waaaaaay more.
I still maintain that "cost" is not the issue.....at least where these right wingnut Repugs are concerned. They just cannot STAND that there is a BLACK man in the WHITE House and they are determined to see or cause him to fail at *everything*, no matter how it would harm this country. They'd rather sabotage this country and throw the populace under the bus. Idiots. :rant: ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/he...health.html?hp
This is why this country seriously needs single-payer. Really. The insurance companies will try and wiggle their way out of providing support because it hits their bottom line. They truly do not care about the health and welfare of the individuals they insure. They only care about how many shares/stocks they sell in a year. |
yes, we progressives know this
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:thud: or :ninja: |
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This (today) in an email newsletter from my union (AFGE - American Federation of Government Employees). This lines out what the recently passed health care legislation will do.
How Americans Benefit from New Health Care Law Last year as nearly six million people lost their jobs and most economic sectors saw their profits plummet, the nation's five largest health insurance companies – WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, Aetna, and Humana – took in combined profits of $12.2 billion, up 56% from 2008, but at the same time covered 2.7 million fewer Americans. Each of these five CEOs was compensated up to $24 million in 2008. This was happening when Americans saw their premiums skyrocket and went though the worst recession since the Great Depression. One CEO – WellPoint's Angela Braly – recently admitted to Congress that Anthem Blue Cross of California has raised its individual plan premiums by 39% to feed its profits, not to cover health care cost. Besides California, WellPoint has raised or is about to raise premiums in 11 other states. Meanwhile, Braly's 2009 pay went up 51% from $8.7 million in 2008 to $13.1 million. Insurance companies and their CEOs prosper at the expense of working families. They make money by raising premiums and dropping people when they get sick despite the fact that these people have been paying their premiums for years. A recent study shows that more than 60% of bankruptcies are because of medical bills, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners. For decades, we have seen more and more companies eliminate health insurance coverage as premium costs have risen. We all know relatives and friends who are without coverage. Young people are finding it more difficult to get coverage. Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) premiums are taking a larger share of our paychecks. And if federal employees want to leave government, they fear losing their coverage. As more and more companies drop providing health insurance, it makes our health insurance benefits a target for anti-federal employee politicians. Making sure everyone in America gets covered is not only the right thing but protects our ability to have health insurance coverage as well. That's why the American Federation of Government Employees strongly supports the new health care law that will end the worst insurance company abuses and make sure they are held accountable. Like Medicare and Social Security, Americans will be able to secure affordable health care. Under the law signed by President Obama March 23, 2010: * Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children who were born with illnesses or have pre-existing conditions. * Insurance companies are prohibited from dropping people because they get sick. * They must allow children to stay on their parent's insurance plans until age 26. * Starting in 2014, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. * Insurance companies in 2014 will be barred from imposing annual limits on the amount of coverage people can get. There also will be no lifetime coverage limits. * 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured will be covered. * The uninsured and self-employed people will be able to buy insurance through state-based exchanges with government subsidies given to those who can't afford it. * There will be limits on what people have to pay for premiums and out-of-pocket costs based on income. * Wasteful spending on insurance company executive salaries will be stopped by limiting how much of people's insurance premiums can go toward company administration and profits. A company that goes over the limit has to rebate it back to consumers. * Insurance companies will be forced to end discrimination against women by charging more for groups with high percentage of women. * Large employers will pay a penalty if they don't provide health coverage and their employees have to get subsidies in the exchanges to buy their own insurance. * Small businesses that provide their workers with insurance will get tax credits that cover 35% of premium costs immediately and 50% in 2014. * Seniors will get additional help for prescription drugs by closing the Medicare "donut hole" or coverage gap, which requires patients to pay the full cost of prescription drugs that cost between $2,830 and $6,440. The donut hole affects about one in four Medicare recipients, forcing them to start splitting their drugs or stop taking medications altogether. Seniors who fall into the donut hole will get a $250 rebate this year, a 50% discount on brand-name drugs starting next year and the donut hole will be completely eliminated by 2020. * In 2018, there will be an excise tax on employer-provided health plans costing more than $27,500 for family coverage and $10,200 for individual coverage. The tax is imposed only on the amount of the premium that goes over the threshold. It is to be paid by the insurance companies. How does the new law affect federal employees? * Dependent coverage: AFGE was successful in persuading the Office of Personnel Management to apply the dependent coverage provision to federal employees so they can keep their children on their FEHBP plans until age 26, up from 22. OPM recently informed the union that the dependent coverage provision will apply to federal employees, effective Jan.1, 2011. * Premiums: Federal employees who are enrolled in FEHBP are in a separate risk pool from uninsured Americans, so there will be no effect on their FEHBP premiums. In the long run, reform is expected to slowly reduce the growth in premiums. ~Theo~ :bouquet: |
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