Democrats: Sell Health Reform Now
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 29th, 2012
Good morning!
Well…yesterday’s ruling by SCOTUS was quite amazing. Justice Roberts surprisingly pulled through, thankfully. But I have to say big kudos go to the girls on the SC as well: Ginsberg, Sotomayor and Kagan, the latter two appointed by Obama, let me remind you. I have to say this was a big win for the Democrats, as well as all of the American people, even if the stupid ones who are against Obamacare don’t realize yet. The republicans are seething and I am smiling. :)
Obamacare / the Affordable Health Care Act survived. It is a historical victorious moment, and one that I am so grateful and proud of. We fought so hard for Obamacare and we prevailed. Congratulations Obama! Ha! His hat is certainly getting filled with feathers.
Speaking of benefits, just in case you’re wondering…just in case you are one of those that oppose, here are the benefits of the Affordable Health Care Act, and what it means for you. Watch a clip from Rachel Maddow’s show last night:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Listen to the full speech given by our president Obama:
Obama Responds To Supreme Court Health Care Ruling (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama praised the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision that his signature health care law was constitutional Thursday, calling the ruling “a victory for people all over this country.”
“The highest court in the land has now spoken. We will continue to implement this law,” he said, speaking to cameras in the East Room of the White House. “With today’s announcement it is time for us to move forward, to implement and when necessary improve on this law.”
The ruling is a huge win and a big relief for the administration, which spent 18 months and heavy political capital pushing health care reform through Congress. The president has had other achievements on the domestic and foreign policy fronts, but it’s fair to say that the passage of the Affordable Care Act was at the top of his list of accomplishments. That the court upheld the law’s constitutionality was almost as momentous as the law’s passage in the first place.
The political fallout from the ruling seems clear. Congressional Republicans and the party’s presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney have pledged to replace the law with a new set of reforms. And in the immediate aftermath of the decision, they reaffirmed their pledge to wipe the law off the books following the 2012 elections.
The president, for his part, used his address to detail the policy prescriptions within the law — an implicit recognition that the administration has done a poor job selling it to date.
“It should be pretty clear that I didn’t do this because it’s good politics,” Obama said. “I did it because it’s good for the country.”
The president also addressed the court’s decision to uphold the most controversial component of the bill, the individual mandate, arguing that it was essential to making the rest of the reforms work. He acknowledged that he himself had once opposed the idea, only to come around. The president added that conservatives, including Romney, had supported the concept in the past.
“We ultimately included a provision in the Affordable Care Act that people who could afford to buy health insurance should take the opportunity to do so,” he said.
********
Readers: I am so elated over this result. I’ll echo Maddow’s thoughts…with the presidential election coming up, the Democrats need to run with this win. Let’s keep Obama in the White House.
Thoughts? Start flapping your lips and blog this BABE.
Jack: I understand about people not changing, but to stand by and not say anything to your friends making racist remarks about Obama or anyone else is just wrong. Preferring someone or thinking that someone is better because of the color of their skin is ridiculous and just wrong. I’m not saying that you have to love every OTW or condone what every OTW says or does, but that goes for anyone no matter what color they are.
So, if you friends are complaining about policy that is one thing, but calling Obama a Nigger, spook, etc., is just wrong, and in my opinion unacceptable. I see nothing wrong with sticking up for someone, not because you think it will change them but just because it is the right thing to do. When nothing is said, it is like you are accepting this kind of behavior, which is simple disgusting.
Irene: With respect to the Loch Ness monster, all I can say is “stupidity alive and well”. With respect to comparing muslim women and western women, that is like comparing apples and oranges. I just have to jump in and say that I agree with Zen Lill, Nawzad, and the others: There is no comparison.
Laura: How ignorant can you be? Being gay is not something to cure – it is not an illness….unlike what Michele Bachman claims, you can’t pray away the gay. What happened to god loving and accepting all? There is no “Love and accept all except…”. Love and accepting all means just that…love and accept all.
I’m with WC – we shouldn’t even be having this conversation. We should be “beyond that”. Unfortunately we’re not. And as much as serious things such as the plight of women, etc., are REAL issues to be concerned about, being gay and not be accepted is unfortunately a REAL issue as well. But hey, so much easier to resolve. All you have to do is “accept”…accept the preferences of others…live and let live. Easy. The plight of women…not so easy to resolve, and certainly the control, abuse, murder of women worldwide is unacceptable.
Doug: Are you kidding me? God loves and accepts all. It is you that does not. And you’re logic is twisted. You are comparing two consenting adults, whether it be a man and a man or a woman and a woman, loving each other…deciding to have sex with each other…and comparing it to incest? Wha’at?!
Nick: Right on. How can Peter say how you, a gay person feels…what is your state of being or not, when he is not in your body and heart feeling what you feel? Aren’t you just sick and tired of people telling you how you should feel, how you should be, and assuming that you have a choice of this mode of behavior? When will people just stay out of other peoples lives and let people live how they want to live, especially when it has no impact on their own lives. Why do we spend so much time in other people’s business…in women’s VAGINAS, when they have no right to be there? How much less conflict there would be in the world if we just let people be…if we just loved our fellow world citizens a little more.
The comments are just deeply disturbing to me, when it is all so simple…so easy to just love, accept, and be amazed at the diversity and differences.
Juanita: Being in the fashion industry my entire life…believe me, I see what you say every day.
Zen Lill: Cute pants but with that kind of sizing I guess that leave me with no size that fits. :( That’s what we call “vanity sizing” :)
Social Butterfly: Thanks for the addition. And yes, I bet they were fun.
Amy: Succinctly said.
Robert,RT: You know how my readers and I feel about you. I HOPE you are OK.
I am having posting issues, so I must sign off and resolve.
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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June 29th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Mischa, have to run to a meeting (or wait, it’s here at my home office, they are running to get here : ) but yes, vanity sizing to be sure, wtf I am an XS? Nevah…I’m an Amazon and I have to wear them low on the hip bc the length is eh, one woman’s need to hem is another’s need to add several to the length (and width) in short, yep, not for you!
RobertRt, I’ll say same as Mischa, and trust me, the fall from grace or anyone/everyone’s pedestal can be a long drop, I also hope that you’re okay no matter what’s going on…stay safe…
I have to view video later, peeps arriving now…
Luv, Zen Lill
June 29th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Reposting a FB friends update (for all you naysayers about Obamacare…just one other way to think about it…that is all.) :-)
“For two years, I had no health insurance and a very low salary while working on my master’s. Every month, I had to actually beg a doctor at the student clinic to write a prescription for a medicine, without which, I wouldn’t have survived. The costs of having a personal care physician and appointments were simply unaffordable for me then. It was an often-humiliating and ultimately humbling experience. So if you question whether today’s Supreme Court decision was a victory, think of people like me just trying to stay alive in tough situations – and now having options.”
June 29th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
I hope this gets in. Been trying all day. I am hope I am in time to tell everyone to check out the UFO information done by National Geographic channel tonight .
It is the start of a regular study of the extraterrestrials in out mist. There is a two hour premier tonight.
I wonder is that is why we haven’t heard from Howie. Hope you are doing well my man.
Scott
June 29th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Social Butterfly:
Thanks for you concern. I am not especially worried about myself. As the saying goes “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” (My caveat here is I don’t consider it a crime to retaliate against those who pursue me hatefully)
I was alerting my friend that I would be backing off to avoid any of my stink rubbing off on her. My presence on the blog may be curtailed a bit, but I don’t intend to let the Just-US system change me other than common sense self preservation. Otherwise the bigots win.
Thanks again for your concern. I look forward to reading your insightful writes. So even if I am not posting as much, I will continue my daily reading of this fantastic medium for discourse constructed by Michelle.
Robert,rt
June 29th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
My story is similar to Nicole’s and surely countless others. Obamacare(rest assured that that title will change to ACA when it becomes as popular as SS and Medicare to those who use it because then the Right will be so against allowing a black man to share in the celebration) has been a godsend to my family’s health needs.
Kelly
June 29th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
The Secrets Hotels Don’t Want You to Know
Hotels are supposed to be restful oases away from the stresses of the road. Instead, they often are sources of stress for travelers. Some hotels are not as appealing as their ads or Web sites suggest…many pad their bills…and/or they suffer from security problems or bedbug
infestations.
What hotel guests need to know…
WATCH OUT
Online hotel reviews and descriptions often are not what they seem.
Hotel managers—and the marketing companies they hire—sometimes pretend to be travelers and write phony rave reviews about their own hotels on travel Web sites such as http://www.TripAdvisor.com.
Negative hotel reviews are not necessarily on the level either. They sometimes are written by competing hotels or guests less interested in accuracy than in exacting revenge for perceived problems during their stays.
The descriptions and photos provided on hotels’ own sites can be deceptive as well.
Hotels that claim to be “minutes from the airport” or “steps from the beach” might be much farther away than those phrases imply. Photos of rooms might have been taken with lenses that make those rooms seem much larger than they are…and photos of views might crop out nearby highways or buildings.
What to do: Compare reviews by unbiased professional reviewers at http://www.LonelyPlanet.com, http://www.Oyster.com and my family’s site, http://www.Frommers.com.
High-end hotels now are the most likely to nickel-and-dime guests with excessive fees. Travelers tend to assume that low-cost hotels are where excessive fees are likely. Nicer hotels seem above such tactics.
In reality, most economy chains have learned that their budget-minded customers won’t come back if they are charged too many fees, while luxury chains have learned that their guests tend not to complain about fees.
Example: WiFi is now free at most midpriced and budget hotels, yet it often costs $10 to $12 per day at luxury hotels, sometimes even more.
In fact, luxury chains are dreaming up new fees all the time.
Among the latest are porterage fees for carrying your bags to your room (on top of the tip you likely already paid the porter)…bag-check fees for asking the hotel to hold your luggage…groundskeeping surcharges…energy surcharges to cover the hotel’s electricity bills…increasingly strict reservation-cancellation policies…and steep early check-in fees if you arrive before 3 or 4 pm. These fees often are not even disclosed when the service is provided.
What to do: Check the fine print, and/or call the hotel. Before making a reservation, ask whether any surcharges, such as resort fees or grounds keeping surcharges, will be added to your daily room rate, particularly when you are staying at an upscale hotel.
Ask about fees before requesting any hotel service.
Scan your bill upon checkout, and question fees that you don’t understand or that you were not warned about in advance.
Upscale hotels sometimes waive fees when guests politely complain about them, particularly when this complaining is done in the lobby in the presence of other guests.
If avoiding such fees is your top priority, skip the luxury hotels and stay at chains such as Microtel Inns & Suites (800-337-0044, http://www.MicrotelInn.com), an economy chain with hotels in 46 states that does extremely well in customer satisfaction surveys, in part because it keeps fees to a minimum. Microtel even offers free domestic phone calls.
Your luggage faces a greater bedbug danger than you do. Bedbug bites can cause itchy red welts, but those welts will heal. The more substantial risk is that hotel bedbugs could hitch a ride back to your home on or in your luggage, then feast on you and your family again and again.
What to do:
Place your luggage on a folding luggage rack with metal legs from the moment you enter your hotel room—never on a hotel bed, carpet or upholstered furniture.
Bedbugs cannot climb metal.
If there are not enough folding racks of this type for all of your luggage, a tile bathroom floor or entryway is the next best alternative.
Dressers or desks are safer spots than beds or carpets, but bedbugs do sometimes infest hotel dressers or hide behind pictures or mirrors hung above this furniture.
The good news is that despite well-publicized recent bedbug outbreaks, the odds of encountering these pests in a US hotel room remain very low.
To improve your odds even further…
—Pull back a corner of your bedding when you first check in, and scan the seams of the mattress for tiny bugs or pepperlike droppings. If you see any, immediately request a new room. Inspect the mattress in that room, too.
—Inspect your luggage carefully inside and out when you return home. Ideally, do this in the garage before the bags enter the living area of your home.
Even if your hotel room was not infested, bedbugs might have climbed onto your bags in an airplane luggage compartment or carry-on compartment.
For tips on spotting bedbugs and what to do if you find them, search for The Washington Post video entitled “How to check your hotel room for bedbugs.” Or go to the Web site http://www.BedBugCentral.com.
Insider advice from a hotel concierge might not be on the level.
Hotel concierges sometimes steer guests to certain restaurants, bars and/or tourist attractions because they receive kickbacks from those establishments, not because they are the best in the region.
What to do: Check guidebooks and/or ask locals who seem knowledgeable.
Identity thieves have targeted hotel chain computers.
Major hotel chains, including Wyndham, Westin and Destination hotels, have experienced security breaches in recent years.
High-tech crooks have learned that if they break into the computer system of one hotel in a chain, they often can access the entire chain’s reservation records, obtaining the credit card and debit card data of tens of thousands of current and former guests.
What to do:
Use a credit card, not a debit card, when you book a hotel room.
Debit cards do not always provide the same level of consumer protection for fraudulent charges.
Use just one credit card for all hotel reservations, if possible, so that only one card is at risk. Call that card’s toll-free number, or pull up your account online, to check for suspicious account activity as soon as you return home, and scan subsequent statements carefully.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Hotel loyalty programs are quietly improving as airline frequent-flier programs spiral downward. Frequent-flier programs get all the attention, but good luck redeeming your miles for a ticket these days.
Meanwhile, many hotel loyalty programs are adding perks for frequent guests such as breakfast, WiFi, room upgrades and later checkout times.
It is rarely a problem to get a free room when you earn enough points in a hotel program. In fact, programs sometimes offer special deals that provide free rooms much sooner than you might expect.
Example: Choice Hotels recently offered program members a free night after just four nights as long as those four nights included stays in at least two locations.
What to do:
Remain loyal to one or two chains when you travel, and sign up for their loyalty programs.
Consider applying for these chains’ cobranded credit cards, too, if they are offered—such cards often provide an accelerated path to loyalty program perks.
Marriott’s loyalty program receives high rankings in surveys, but the best hotel loyalty program for you is the one offered by the chain that you like the most, assuming that it has locations in the places you travel to most frequently.
Source: Pauline Frommer, creator of the Pauline Frommer Guidebooks (Wiley) and cohost of The Travel Show, a nationally syndicated radio show.
Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, she is a two-time winner of the North American Travel Journalists Association’s “Guidebook of the Year” award. http://www.Frommers.com/pauline
June 29th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
My family is benefiting from the fact that me and my two sisters can stay on our parents medical insurance policy. This has been the kind of money saver and piece of mind help that is immeasurable.
However, my parents and two sisters are strict anti-Obamaists. I was too. But common sense says to me that if not for this we would be hurting real bad financially in this area.
What is my party proposing but words for their solution. I ask my parents and they just ask me if I’ve become a nigger lover.
I will vote for Obama this election.
Vincent
June 29th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
SCOTUS Post-Mortem:
The Economist: John Roberts’ Art of War
Rasmussen: Supreme Court keeps Obamacare on ‘life support’ after ruling
VA AG Cuccinelli finds some silver lining in ruling
Erick Erickson: John Roberts has awoken the beast
NYT in 2007: Roberts drugs ‘can have troubling side effects, mental slowing and forgetfulness’…
That’s a good round up of commentary re. SCOTUS. Now on to other stuff from us:
Democratic Primary Voters to Obama: You’re no Bill Clinton – Jay O’Callaghan
Book Review: ‘An American Son’ by Sen. Marco Rubio — Gov. Jeb Bush
NObamacare: In the end, you’re going to have to convince the people anyway — David Harsanyi
Take a look at those links, and the other links from around the web.
Have a good weekend,
-Adam