For about a year now, teabaggers and GOp operatives have been lamenting “ObamaCare”. Either out of ignorance or dishonesty, the right’s use of the phrase “ObamaCare” is, quite simply, wrong. Obama has never put forward a health care plan. He’s left it to Congress. And that turned out to be a waste of time, as the GOP repeatedly called for … Read More
Does Putting Your Bra Color On Facebook Really Increase Awareness of Breast Cancer?
Some say no: To be sure, it's been fun to share a cyber-laugh with girlfriends; after a day or so of the Facebook bra color campaign, it started to get silly: One of my favorite status updates was "commando," and my aunt told me a friend of hers who recently had a baby updated her status with the quip "soaked … Read More
Cost/Benefit Of Health Care
Rush thinks American health care is boffo, but a great graphic making the rounds lately (one originating from National Geographic) says otherwise. Give it a couple minutes of your time — it plots U.S. health care versus the health care of other nations. Here's all you need to know: the left side is the cost of health care per person for … Read More
Rush Unwittingly Praises Socialist Health Care
Rush Limbaugh thought he was being so000 clever, utzing it to the left. Rush took some time out from his near-heart attack recovery to ooze his considerable mass in front of a microphone at the hospital in Hawaii where he recuperated. He wanted to tout how the experience showed him what he already know — how great the American health … Read More
Look At This, Joe Lieberman
Jackie Kelly, 61, with cancer: Kelly was a stay-at-home mother who raised her six children and went on to help raise her grandchildren, while her husband John worked as a truck driver for 50 years. When John Kelly, 68, retired he was able to go on Medicare, but Kelly was not old enough. With no private insurance, the couple was also … Read More
Health Insurers Bribe Facebook Users
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