Archive for the 'Health & Well Being' Category

Women: Do you have control over your body?

Posted by Michelle Moquin on 19th December 2013

Not if the GOP has any say?

Good morning!

The Worst

BY CAP ACTION WAR ROOM ON DECEMBER 13, 2013 AT 5:28 PM

The 6 Worst Attacks on Reproductive Health in 2013

Yesterday, we discussed the latest GOP assault on reproductive rights: rape insurance in Michigan. As we mentioned, 2013 has been another banner year for opponents of abortion rights, with at least 84 new anti-abortion measures enacted in states across the country.

ThinkProgress’ Tara Culp-Ressler rounds up the six worst attacks of the year in the GOP’s ongoing war on women:

1. North Dakota and Arkansas approved the harshest abortion bans in the nation.

In March, Arkansas enacted a 12-week abortion ban, cutting off access to reproductive care far before the parameters established under Roe v. Wade, which guarantees legal abortion rights until around 24 weeks of pregnancy. At the time, it was the harshest abortion ban in the country. But not to be outdone, anti-choice lawmakers in North Dakota soon surpassed that record. Later that month, North Dakota enacted a six-week abortion ban, outlawing the procedure at a point before many women even realize they’re pregnant. North Dakota’s governor admitted that he approved that law because he wants to provoke a Supreme Court challenge to Roe. Both laws are currently awaiting their day in court.

2. Texas passed a sweeping law that’s forced one third of the state’s clinics to shut down.

Over the last six months, Texas is the state that’s most frequently landed in the headlines because of its abortion policy. This summer, as Texas lawmakersconsidered a package of stringent abortion restrictions that inspired massive grassroots protests, the fight captured national attention. Despite the outcry against the proposed measure — one poll estimated that 80 percent of Texas voters opposed the anti-choice bill — it passed, and was upheld by Texas’extremely conservative appeals court. It began going into effect at the beginning of November.

That’s created a bleak landscape for the estimated 26 million people who live in the Lone Star State. About one third of the state’s abortion clinics have shut down, and the remaining ones are dealing with huge patient loads while operating at a reduced capacity. According to the ACLU’s estimations, about 9 million Texans don’t live within easy access to a nearby clinic anymore, a new reality that’s taking the biggest toll on low-income and rural women in the state.

3. South Dakota, home to the nation’s longest abortion waiting period, extended it even further.

In South Dakota, women are required to wait 72 hours before they’re allowed to have an abortion, a requirement that’s intended to give them the opportunity to think about their decision and ultimately change their minds. Waiting periods arecondescending anti-choice policies that have spread across the country, and typically mandate a 24-hour wait. But in South Dakota, women must wait three full days before proceeding with an abortion procedure — and this year, lawmakers voted to exclude weekends and holidays from that time period. Apparently,women can’t think on weekends. The new requirement means that some women won’t be able to access abortion for six days, if they first visit a clinic right before a three-day holiday weekend.

Studies have proven that mandatory waiting periods don’t actually influence women’s decisions at all, since the majority of women seeking abortions have already made up their own minds before seeking out a doctor.

4. Abortion opponents consistently refused to make exceptions for rape victims.

The issue of rape and abortion access has become particularly contentious over the past year, after several Republican lawmakers made controversial commentson the subject in the lead-up to the 2012 election. At least in terms of messaging, this tends to be a losing area for abortion opponents, since Americansoverwhelmingly favor legal abortion access for victims of sexual assault. But in terms of policy, there were lots of advancements in this area. The majority of state-level abortion restrictions enacted in 2013 didn’t include an exception for rape victims. Even on a national level, when the House advanced a 20-week abortion ban, lawmakers only added a rape exception as an afterthought following a public outcry. Despite the outrage over Todd Akin, his worldview is prevailing.

Indeed, this issue came to a head very recently. Earlier this week, Michigan lawmakers approved an anti-choice measure that requires women to purchase a separate insurance ride if they want abortion coverage, even in cases of rape or incest. Opponents have decried the measure as “rape insurance.”

5. Mississippi’s governor tried to end abortion for good in his state — and actually admitted what he was doing.

At the very beginning of the year, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) acknowledgedsomething that most anti-choice lawmakers prefer to leave unspoken: His goal isn’t to make abortion safer. He’s trying to end abortion for good.

Mississippi only has one abortion clinic left in the entire state, and it’s been on the brink of shutting down ever since state lawmakers enacted stringent regulationsrequiring abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges from local hospitals. That’s a medically unnecessary requirement, and most abortion doctors aren’t able to comply with it — so it’s an effective way to force them to stop practicing. On the surface, though, the anti-choice community typically claims admitting privileges are simply intended to ensure patient safety. Bryant acknowledged that’s not exactly true. “My goal is of course to shut it down,” he said in reference to the state’s lone clinic.

Even though Mississippi’s only clinic has managed to hang on — in April, a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the stringent law — anti-choice groups are still fighting to shut it down.

6. State lawmakers pulled out all the stops to sneak through unpopular anti-choice laws.

One of the things that defined 2013 was the unorthodox manner by which many of these new abortion restrictions made it into law. Many of this year’s anti-choice legislation was extremely unpopular among voters, inspired massive protests, and got approved anyway because lawmakers pulled out all the stops.

Again, Texas is the best example of this. After a proposed anti-abortion law failed to advance during the regular session, Gov. Rick Perry (R) simply called multiple special sessions over the summer to give lawmakers more time to push it through. This process involved rushing the bill through in the middle of the nightand cutting off public testimony. The legislature spent so much time focusing on passing the abortion restrictions that they didn’t have time to get anything else done, like pass a transportation bill to keep the roads paved, so Perry ended up needing to call lawmakers back for a third special session in the summer.

But the Lone Star State is hardly alone. Ohio enacted harsh abortion restrictions by attaching them to an unrelated budget bill. North Carolina forced abortion restrictions through as a rider on a motorcycle safety bill. Lawmakers in Arkansasand Michigan circumvented their top state executives to enact abortion laws without gubernatorial approval. “These extreme restrictions are so unpopular that politicians can’t pass them through the regular democratic process. Instead, they’re using every trick in the book,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s Cecile Richards recently noted in a statement.

*****

Readers: I know the questions just keeps being broached but so far we haven’t had any answers. So I will ask it again…”Why are these women voting for, hanging out with, married to…the GOP?” Sylvia said it recently, “I don’t understand why women support these idiots.“ Ugh. Neither do I. I just want to say, “Get a life. Or at least get a voice, and blog me.”

Ohh…there is some fiery stuff in your comments. Keep ‘em coming. Blog me.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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Thank you for your loyal support!

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Posted in Health & Well Being | 38 Comments »

What Is Going On In Australia?!

Posted by Michelle Moquin on 17th December 2013

Good morning.

What is going on in Australia?! If yesterday’s post wasn’t sick enough – thank you for the additional info Emily - this write should do it for you.

I couldn’t embed the video so click here if you want to watch it. Warning: The video contains explicit sexual references depicting the disgusting lives of two men who pretend to be loving parents in a gay relationship.

I’m including the transcript if you prefer to read.

Disturbing child abuse case links Australians to paedophile ring

Updated Tue 2 Jul 2013, 8:13pm AEST

Two Australian men hid their role in a disturbing child abuse case behind an image of two doting fathers, but the shocking evidence against them is part of a police effort to break an international paedophile ring, and a warning that this report contains confronting material.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: It’s a case that defies belief and goes against every principle of parenthood.

An Australian man and his partner purchased a baby boy in Russia in 2005, presenting themselves as a devoted pair of gay fathers.

In reality, behind closed doors, they were sexually abusing the boy and allowing others to do the same from when he was less than two years old.

On the weekend Australian citizen Mark Newton was sentenced in the US to 40 years in prison. His partner Peter Truong is awaiting his sentence.

Caro Meldrum Hanna has this report and a warning this story contains disturbing and explicit sexual references.

GINGER GORMAN, ABC RADIO: Testing this is Ginger from ABC far north.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA, REPORTER: It was June 2010, ABC local radio presenter Ginger Gorman was setting out to meet an interesting family in Trinity Beach in Far North Queensland.

GINGER GORMAN: I was putting together a series of interviews on gender. This particular interview was with a couple who were gay dads, and they had been on a long journey to have a child via surrogacy.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: On all appearances American man Mark Newton and his Australian partner, Peter Truong, were a proud couple. Pictured here posing with their adopted son who we will call Boy one. These are the sounds Ginger Gorman recorded that day, playing with the boy and his pet baby chickens in the backyard.

PETER TRUONG: Have you fed them this morning?

BOY ONE: No.

PETER TRUONG: Oh, here’s one.

BOY ONE: One’s harder to get.

PETER TRUONG: Yeah?

GINGER GORMAN: Do you know what this chicken’s name is?

BOY ONE: No, I haven’t figured out the name.

PETER TRUONG: I don’t think he’s named them yet.

BOY ONE: I gonna call them chick nasty.

GINGER GORMAN: I felt no sense that anything was wrong. For all intents and purposes this appeared to be a loving family and a loving household. And I’ve gone over and over it in my brain and I just did not feel that anything was wrong.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Mark Newton and Peter Truong were masters of deception, starting with finding a surrogate mother abroad.

(ABC RADIO, JUNE 2010)

PETER TRUONG: I gave up my career and my job and went to Russia to oversee the process and so obviously we’re very dedicated to making this work. Our budget was anything that we earned, anything we had saved and anything that we could borrow to make this happen.

GINGER GORMAN: And why was it your sperm that was used, and not Pete’s, Mark?

MARK NEWTON: A flip of the coin I think. We’d gone back and forth several times.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This was the first of many lies told by Newton and Truong, whose depraved secret life was uncovered a year and a half later, when in February 2012 the men were arrested in California. Charged with producing and sharing child pornography and extreme acts of sexual exploitation.

GINGER GORMAN: I’m profoundly shocked and disgusted by what’s happened. Since then I am just revolted and I find myself quite despairing about the turn of events.

JON ROUSE, QUEENSLAND POLICE: The purchase of a child to bring the child into your life for the explicit and sole purpose of exploiting him across a network of men is incredibly depraved and a very, very sad tale for that little boy.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The sad story of Boy 1′s life begins here in Russia. According to US court documents, in July 2005 his mother sold him to Newton and Truong for US$8,000. His birth papers were falsified to list Newton and his biological father, paving the way for Boy one to be adopted and brought to Queensland. Six years would pass until August 2011 when a chance discovery was made here in Wellington, New Zealand, by Jon Peacock, a senior internal affairs investigator.

JON PEACOCK, NZ DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS: During the investigation of a Wellington man, the forensic analysis of his machine identified a series of images of Boy one who was shirtless. And they were quite contrived staged photos, if you like that just, as I said, didn’t sit right in terms of standard family holiday type snap shots.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Peacock sent the images to police attached to Operation Argus in Brisbane. The specialised branch responsible for investigating online child exploitation and abuse.

JON PEACOCK: Our reaction is exactly what Jon’s was, and that’s what sparked the investigation.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The images were the tip of the iceberg. Police discovered chat logs between Truong, Newton and the New Zealand man, where they bragged about having sex with their son Boy one, since he was little. And had given him to several other men around the world for sex, including two men based in Indianapolis in the US who are being investigated by police.

STEVEN DEBROTA, DEPUTY US ATTORNEY, INDIANAPOLIS: When he was about five years of age the conspiracy was joined, we allege, by Mr Powell who is an attorney in Florida in the United States, and Mr Beda who is a tennis coach in Illinois in the United States. They got involved with Boy one, we allege, when he was about four to five years of age.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The four men form part of a network known broadly as the Boy Lovers Network, men who believe that the sexual abuse and rape of boys from as young as two years old to 10 years old, is a form of consensual love between man and boy. At its height, this chat board, Boylover.net had 70,000 members worldwide. In 2009 Boylover.net was smashed in a series of global raids with several Australian men arrested.

UNKNOWN: Six hundred and seventy suspects have been identified. One hundred and eighty four arrests have already been made, and 230 children as victims of this terrible crimes have been identified and rescued from further harm.

JON ROUSE: They are intrinsically networked, they have a very strict code of communication between themselves and certainly as this case highlighted, their level of cooperation is usually very, very low.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: When task force Argos raided Truong and Newton’s Cairns home in October 2011, a mountain of material was discovered on encrypted hard drives and computer networks. It was handed over to US prosecutors.

STEVEN DEBROTA: Took me personally one solid week working 10 hour days to get through all of the child pornography that was just the videos filmed in Australia, in France and in different places across the US.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: One video showed Boy one performing sex acts on Newton, with a disturbing level of sophistication when he wasn’t even two years old. When the boy turned five, in one month alone, Newton video himself engaging in sexual activity with Boy one on more than a dozen different occasions.

STEVEN DEBROTA: One way they control and manipulated this child was to appear to the outside world as a good parent. And one of the things they did was they trained this child how to answer questions from potential investigators.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: US authorities have found videos involving two more boys at Truong and Newton’s Cairns home.

STEVEN DEBROTA: I can’t say too much about the identity of that child. I can say that the victimisation of Boy two occurred in Australia. We can confirm that this conspiracy we allege involving Boy one, Boy two and others was international in scope.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The authorities are now determined to track down every man who abused Boy one.

JON ROUSE: With this network just be rest assured that we will pursue them to the ends of the Earth to make sure each and every one of them faces justice for what their role has been in crimes against this child.

*S*I*C*K*O*S*

Readers: I think that is about as sick as a man can be towards a child. And to think how many men joined a sick site as the one shown. What is wrong with the men on this planet?

Juan: After reading these past two days it isn’t hard to imagine.

Jacob: I think you are speaking about the write that I blogged today. Are you psychic? :)

Karen: Oh…that is just so sad. My heart goes out to you. How are you? I agree with Martha, please get some help if you haven’t already done so.

Vincent: Well…I would like to say that you are one unique set of siblings. But I have a feeling it is more than just a few siblings in this world that have this kind of intimate relationship. Who am I to judge as long as both of you are consenting to it.

Patrick: Thank you for the compliment of the photo. The rest…not sure what to say to that except, I’m sure your imagination is doing its thing.

That’s it for me today. Your turn. Blog me.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Posted in Health & Well Being, Human Rights and Equality, Travel | 21 Comments »

Mich-ogyny

Posted by Michelle Moquin on 14th December 2013

Good morning!

This one is for Doug…who posted a link to an article that talked about this sick action taken by an overwhelmingly male Michigan legislature that would ban insurers from offering basic health plans that would include coverage for abortion. But, in all of the many comments coming in the past few days, I neglected to make a comment. However, today I wanted to address this as well since it has to do with us girls, and is worth the repeat.

From The Raw Story

Mich-ogyny

shutterstock_55866400

The overwhelmingly male Michigan legislature yesterday passed a bill that would ban insurers from offering basic health plans that would include coverage for abortion, telling women that, if they want to kill their babies for the “purpose of sexual convenience” or because they don’t understand that rape culture is more about guys getting together to watch the game over a few beers than, you know, viciously assaulting women because the bitch actually ‘wanted the D’, well, you ladies are going to have to pony up for some separate rape insurance because we already paid for dinner and drinks:

Michigan lawmakers passed a controversial measure on Wednesday that will ban all insurance plans in the state from covering abortion unless the woman’s life is in danger. The law, which takes effect in March, will force women and employers to purchase a separate abortion rider if they would like the procedure covered, even in cases of rape and incest.

Supporters of the “Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act” argue that it allows people who are opposed to abortion to avoid paying into a plan that covers it. Opponents have nicknamed it the “rape insurance” initiative, because it would force some women to anticipate the possibility of being raped by purchasing the extra abortion insurance ahead of time.

*S*I*C*K*O*S*

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I am off to celebrate the Holiday season and Champagne is the drink of this beautiful day. I HOPE yours is just as good.

Blog me.

Peace & Love.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Posted in Health & Well Being, Human Rights and Equality, Love, Sex & Relationships, Political Powwow | 92 Comments »

Flap Your Lips Friday

Posted by Michelle Moquin on 13th December 2013

Good morning!

Lynch: Thanks for the post from Huff Po. This one is for you. – it is what I found that supports the article you posed on Obamacare as well.

Surging

BY CAP ACTION WAR ROOM ON DECEMBER 11, 2013 AT 5:35 PM

Obamacare Enrollment Gaining Steam

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the enrollment figures for Obamacare through the end of November. Unsurprisingly, about four times more people enrolled during the month of November as did during October, when HealthCare.gov was largely non-functional. Reports indicate that enrollment has continued to surge over the past two weeks ahead of the December 23 deadline to purchase coverage taking effect January 1, 2014.

Here are the topline numbers to know:

110,410 Americans signed up for private coverage through HealthCare.gov just last month.

1,900,000 people have made it through the process but have yet to select a plan.

803,077 people have been determined to be eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

364,682 Americans selected plans through the state-run or federal insurance marketplaces (137,204 through HealthCare.gov and 227,478 in state-run exchanges).

The surge resembles Massachusetts’ successful launch of Commonwealth Care, where most people signed up later in the open enrollment period:

OctNovEnrollment

Enrollment for Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Care in 2007:

MA2007

In other good Obamacare news, a report out today found that the number of women who are receiving birth control at no additional cost — a key Obamacare benefit — has jumped 25 percent since the requirement went into effect last year.

“This data confirms that the Affordable Care Act is already working for millions of women and their families — and we expect that number to keep growing,” said the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Cecile Richards.

For their part, Republicans continued to attack the law during another predictably one-sided hearing.

Things did not go so well for Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), who botched an attempt to compare HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to North Korea’s totalitarian dictator and then totally freaked out. A Democratic Member admonished Shimkus, who was shouting at Sebelius, to allow her to actually answer his questions. “I do not have to allow her to answer the question!” Shimkus screamed in reply.

(Shimkus was attacking the aforementioned no-cost preventive care benefits under Obamacare, which include birth control and cancer screenings.)

BOTTOM LINE: Obamacare is working and more than a million Americans have gained access to health coverage because of the law, many for the very first time.

*****

Readers: I cannot tell you how delighted I am that Obamacare is helping so many Americans get health care…some for the first time in their lives. This will most certainly go down in history as one of many incredible things that Obama has done for the American people.

Zen Lill: Congrats that your house sold and you found a cool place to live! I HOPE that you and Lily will be very happy there.

Brittany: Sweet sister, first of all, thank you for being a loyal reader here with me for 4 years! I am sorry that I have not responded to you earlier. Secondly, I realize the topic has already been broached by you, but being that you were upset, I wanted to clarify it for everyone as well, to make sure that everyone (especially your friends :) is clear as to whom which “Brittany” I was addressing with my “:).”

Readers: My “:)”comment to Brittany on December 9th was responding to Brittany #1 on the December 8th blog write, where she made the comment: “Michelle, literally squealed when I saw you picked me to respond to. I’ll be your bitch any day.“

I was not responding to Brittany #13‘s comment on the December 8th blog write. (Note: This comment was actually posted on December 9th)

If you go to the blog write where my comment to Brittany was a “:),” and click on Brittany’s name, which is a link, you’ll see that link will click over to the comment section on December 8th, right below Brittany #1′s comment to me that inspired that “:).”

I know it may feel like we are going around in circles but I trust if there was any confusion, it is clear now. If it isn’t, I will try to explain it more clearly.

TGIF. I’m done flapping my lips for today. Your turn. Blog me.

Peace out.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Posted in Health & Well Being, Political Powwow | 42 Comments »

Obamacare Is Working For Women

Posted by Michelle Moquin on 11th December 2013

Good morning!

One can only imagine what women’s health care would look like if the GOP were in charge. I don’t want to go there this morning. I am just so grateful that we have a president who cares about women and our health by making affordable health care available so that we can make the right choices for ourselves. Thank you president Obama.

Another good write from Think Progress:

Thanks To Obamacare, The Number Of Women Who Aren’t Charged For Birth Control Has Jumped 25 Percent

Under Obamacare, privately insured women are increasingly accessing contraceptive services without paying an additional co-pay, according to a new study from the Guttmacher Institute. The study’s authors point out that their data proves there’s a real demand for affordable birth control among U.S. women.

The researchers surveyed data from women between the ages of 18 and 39, comparing the co-pays they paid for their birth control method before and after Obamacare’s contraceptive coverage requirement took effect for most insurance plans. Between those two time periods, they saw a sharp increase in the number of women who had no out-of-pocket costs for their birth control pills, jumping from just 15 percent to 40 percent. There was a similar increase among women using the vaginal ring, from 23 percent to 52 percent:

CREDIT: GUTTMACHER INSTIUTUTE

In August, the Health and Human Services Department estimated that 27 million women had already gained access to this contraceptive coverage. But that didn’t reveal how many people were actually taking advantage of this benefit. The Guttmacher researchers point out that, considering the dramatic uptick in the number of women paying no out-of-pocket costs for contraception, it’s clear that it’s being put to good use.

“Our analysis provides the first quantitative evidence that the cost-sharing protection under the ACA is indeed working as intended,” Lawrence B. Finer, the lead author of the study, noted in a statement. “Large numbers of women who couldn’t previously do so are now obtaining birth control without co-pays or deductibles, which allows them to more easily attain contraception’s well-documented health, social and economic benefits.”

And the researchers point out that this trend is only likely to continue, as more insurance plans lose their “grandfathered” status and adopt Obamacare’s new coverage requirements. But there’s still somewhat of a public awareness gap. Most women don’t actually realize that the health law’s contraceptive provision is in effect, or don’t understand exactly what types of services are covered. Furthermore, some insurance companies are still charging co-pays for services that the law now requires them to fully cover, a mistake that muddies the waters even further.

It’s important to note that Obamacare’s birth control provision doesn’t mean these women are getting “free birth control,” even though that’s a common tropeamong conservative opponents to the law. These women are accessing birth control through their private, employer-sponsored health insurance policies — in other words, it’s a benefit that’s directly tied to their job. Women do pay for the benefits that are included in those insurance plans, both by working for their employer and by paying a monthly premium. Under Obamacare, they simply don’t have to pay an additional out-of-pocket cost for the benefits that are specific to their gender.

The long-term societal benefits of providing women with access to affordable contraception have been well-documented. Nonetheless, controversy over this aspect of the health reform law hasn’t abated. Right-wing lawmakers continuallypush to repeal this provision, and the Supreme Court recently agreed to take up a court challenge against it.

*****

Thoughts? I would love for some of you girls to share how The ACA Effect has had a positive affect on your health care. And guys, if you’ve got a lady in your life that has benefitted too, feel free to speak up. Blog me.

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michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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Archive for the 'Health & Well Being' Category

Not if the GOP has any say?

The 6 Worst Attacks on Reproductive Health in 2013

1. North Dakota and Arkansas approved the harshest abortion bans in the nation.

2. Texas passed a sweeping law that’s forced one third of the state’s clinics to shut down.

3. South Dakota, home to the nation’s longest abortion waiting period, extended it even further.

4. Abortion opponents consistently refused to make exceptions for rape victims.

5. Mississippi’s governor tried to end abortion for good in his state — and actually admitted what he was doing.

6. State lawmakers pulled out all the stops to sneak through unpopular anti-choice laws.

Peace out.

Mich-ogyny

Peace & Love.

Obamacare Enrollment Gaining Steam

Peace out.

Peace & Love.