This is a little complicated to explain, but bear with me. On Facebook, there are games you can play that require money to advance. They are simulation games — like running your own farm, or rollercoaster theme park, or mafia crime family, or something like that. Of course, these games doesn't involve real money, but fake money — usually given names like … Read More
Health Care Reform News
Well, this much I understand: the Senate defeated the amendment which attempted to ban all abortion-related healthcare coverage from the public option. So that's good. The other piece of news escapes me. It seems that the public option didn't have the votes in the Senate, so a compromise was worked out. What is it? This: Under the agreement, people ages … Read More
Why We Need Health Care Reform
This says it all: Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations. In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an … Read More
Why Is The Gun Lobby Weighing In On Health Care Reform?
Steve Benen writes: "It's not an abortion bill, but the debate managed to turn to abortion. It's not a gun bill, but the debate has managed to turn to guns. It's funny how the culture-war issues manage to sneak their way into everything." How did guns get into the picture? Well, about a week ago, Gun Owners of America told … Read More
Vaccine Waiver For Creationists
This guy has a good point. If you don't believe in evolution, you should not be getting any flu or H1N1 vaccines. Why not? Because flu strains evolve each year, and since you don't believe that living things evolve, then why are you taking a vaccine shot every year? Especially this year, when flu vaccines are in short supply? Instead, … Read More
If You Are A Republican, Guess What’s Covered Under the RNC Insurance Plan?
Abortion. (No further comment from me required) NEXT MORNING UPDATE: Okay, not anymore. That was quick. But Steve Benen notes: But does that actually "settle" the matter? The new RNC policy, apparently, is to have insurance through Cigna, opting out of abortion coverage. But let's not lose sight of the original fungibility problem — the RNC is taking Republican money … Read More
The Stupak Amendment
It won in the House – the amendment to the health care bill that makes sure that no government health care plan will subsidize abortions, which — last time I checked — are legal medical procedures. You see some people don't want their insurance premiums for the health care plan to be used for a purpose that they find immoral. Never … Read More
Symbolic Tea Party Protest Going Symbolically Wrong
So the tea partiers boarded the corporate-sponsored buses to come to Washington DC today to let their Congressmen know that they don't want socialism blah-blah-blah. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, who fell out of the right wing crazy tree and hit every branch on the way down, was the one who called for the protest. She's not known for her truthfulness when … Read More
The CBO Scores The Republican “Health Care” Plan
The House Republican caucus has been working behind closed doors since June on a health care plan. Last week — five months later — they unveiled their plan. Key features: it does nothing for the uninsured, nothing for those with pre-existing conditions, and nothing for those worried about losing coverage when it's needed most. Republicans admit this — they say that … Read More
Virginia Foxx (R-NC): Still Fearmongering on Health Care
Her past hits include: Health care reform means that Americans will be "put to death by their government." "There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare.." Today, on the floor of the House, Rep. Virginia Foxx rolled out another song to complete the crazy con hyperbole fear trilogy — a little ditty called "I … Read More
…. And There Are No Pictures!
Healthcare reform has focussed on the Senate bill these past few months. But as we know, there is another important legislative body: the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveild the House Democrat health care reform bill today. And what's the insta-reaction from the conservosphere? "OMG. It's 1990 pages long! That's a mega-mega-bureaucracy! Like Hitler!" Okay, first of all, if you are talking … Read More
Public Option: Back From The Dead
In case you haven't heard, the "public option" which many (including me) lamented as "dead" only a few weeks ago, appears to be quite alive. The Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill (the only one to come out of the Senate — there are several in the House), lacked the public option. Even after it came out of committee, … Read More
How Many Republicans Are Out There?
The answer may surprise you. There's a lot of meat to this Washington Post-ABC News poll. The Washington Post leads with the most relevant to today's political debate: health care. Specifically, people are warming up to the public option: On the issue that has been perhaps the most pronounced flash point in the national debate, 57 percent of all Americans now … Read More