The Effort To Take Down Obamacare Is Still Here
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 6th, 2013
Good morning!
Healthcare and more specifically, the continued to effort to take down Obamacare, is still in the news. Get over it repubs. The ACA is here to stay. Can we move onto something that propels us forward instead of trying to throw us back? Oh right, you love the “good ‘ol days” – the days of ”what’s good for me and mine.” There is rarely the touted “I want what’s best for the country.” (LSOS speak) It is usually “We will do whatever we need to do, to bring Obama down in any way we can.”
And that means convincing repubs to shut down the government in a ploy to defund the Affordable Care Act. Here’s A write from Think Progress:
Conservatives Finally Announce Alternative To Obamacare: Just Go To The Emergency Room
Heritage president and former South Carolina senator Jim DeMint continued his campaign to convince Republicans to shut down the government in a ploy to defund the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, telling a town hall in Tampa, Florida that “This might be that last off-ramp to stop Obamacare before it becomes more enmeshed in our culture.” The law “is not about getting better health care,” he continued. Uninsured Americans “will get better health care just going to the emergency room.”
The claim may be a standard line for today’s Republicans, but it is a stark departure for DeMint and the think tank he now leads. In 1989, the Heritage Foundation was at the forefront of advocating for a requirement to purchase coverage through as system of regulated health care marketplaces, the very centerpiece of Obama’s health care reform, and later lobbied Congressional Republicans to offer the initiative as an alternative to President Bill Clinton’s health proposal.
More than a decade later, Heritage boosted former Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R-MA) health reform law and the individual mandate included in it, describing the requirement as “one that is clearly consistent with conservative values.” A Heritage health care analyst said Romney’s proposal would reform the state’s “uncompensated-care payment system,” force residents to take “personal responsibility” for their health care and prevent them from simply showing up “in emergency rooms.”
Indeed, DeMint himself backed the effort when he endorsed Romney for president in 2008.
“That’s something that I think we should do for the whole country,” DeMint told Fox News. “And the governor just looked at the numbers like a good businessman and realized that we could give people private insurance policies cheaper than we could provide free health care.”
The so-called “free” care at emergency rooms is a result of The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding to treat patients for emergency medical conditions regardless of legal status or ability to pay. But EMTALA only applies to medical emergencies like heart attacks or serious injury. It does not offer any treatment for chronic conditions, leaving the millions of Americans with diabetes who need regular access to medication to stay alive, or asthma patients, or women diagnosed with breast cancer without access to care.
Studies also show that not all emergency room patients have equal outcomes. The uninsured who suffer “traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance.”
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Readers: So there you have it – As usual repubs had similar ideas of legislation. That is until it became too much like the legislation Obama was promoting. Then no…it was no longer a good idea. Who cares if people without health insurance are almost twice as likely to die in emergency rooms. “As long as I can afford it and me and mine are covered – I don’t care if ACA helps keep people alive – we don’t need it.”
And that is the sick truth the repubs won’t say to you, but will certainly show you with their actions.
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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September 6th, 2013 at 12:47 pm
These guys ares just sick. Who are the sick motherfuckers that are supporting them?
September 6th, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Hafa adai, did you hear about the guy who is supposed to have shot his mother in the head?
What’s up with this guy? And why hasn’t his brothers kicked his ass if he did it?
September 6th, 2013 at 1:26 pm
Hafa Adai. I want to talk about this white asshole who has filed a claim with the 9th circuit to “strike down” the voting qualification section of the Guam law authorizing a self-determination plebiscite.
These white bastards do everything in their power to disenfranchise the OTWs in their own country and here the pieces of shit come to our home and complain about not being a Chamorro on a Chamorro’s island.
The hypocrisy and pure fucking gall of that degenerate race just makes me want to take up my own personal jihad against them.
I fear the 9th will reject his bullshit and he will get a 5 to 4 reversal from the creepy STARK.
If it does happen, I would not be adverse to putting together a hit squad to start knocking off these anti-christ vermin masquerading as human beings.
Hafa gottdamn adai.
September 6th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
We really need a wellness system fr health care (like the UK) docs should be financially rewarded fr assisting people in staying healthy and preventing preventable diseases. Though fr now, rethugs really need to stand down on this one (seriously, they’re just pissed bc it’s happening w a dem president, and a black man at that, gasp) what a bunch a maroons!
I’m on the road today but I have some words on the ecology of your household if you are following the health and weight loss program. Be at you with those words later tonight or in am.
Luv, Zen Lill
September 6th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
Those of you who support Obama, can stand down against our proposal to teach Japan a lesson. As of 30 August 2013, Obama ceded the land that was once part of Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler to the government of Japan.
September 6th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
Hafa Adai Peter, ome crimes on Guam scream for the availability of the death penalty!
September 6th, 2013 at 9:48 pm
Hafa adai, Peter:
I like the way you reported that story about my friend. There is always more to the story than what is released in press releases. That’s why there are trials with both prosecutors and defenders presenting the story.
September 6th, 2013 at 9:53 pm
SHAME!!!!!!! Allan, your mother had a lot of friends who adored her and you took her away from people in the blink of an eye all for the sake of $$.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Scott Walker Backs Down, Rescinds $500,000 Grant
Last week, CMD reported that a small GOP lobby shop tied to the Tea Party and David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity group was awarded a $500,000 grant in a backdoor, sweetheart deal cooked up by ALEC leadership in the State Legislature and sanctioned by the Walker administration.
The United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation was the only applicant for a newly-created grant to promote hunting, fishing, and trapping in the state, despite the organization having no record in outdoors training.
The organization does have a record of lobbying on extreme gun measures, controversial mines, and other GOP priorities. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the grant was slipped into the budget bill by outgoing Majority Leader Scott Suder with terms that excluded most sporting groups in the state. The grant was not properly advertised, conveniently leaving United Sportsmen as the sole applicant.
CMD documented Suder’s ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council and the extensive ties United Sportsmen staff had to the Kochs and the Tea Party, plus their history of partisan electoral politics in the state. Listed as “educators” on the grant were Americans for Prosperity’s Luke Hilgemann, Sauk County Tea Party leader John Keegan, and Annette Olson, Americans for Prosperity “Activist of the Year” for 2012. CMD uncovered that the web domain for the group was registered by an Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin staffer named John Connors.
We sent out an alert prompting almost 1,000 Wisconsinites to contact the committee overnight. The United Sportsmen representative couldn’t be bothered to show up at last week’s committee hearing (joining by phone) and couldn’t answer basic questions, prompting one committee member to say that the “whole deal just doesn’t smell right.” One Wisconsin Now uncovered a loophole in the bill regarding the group’s tax status and later United Sportsmen apologized for misleading legislators into thinking it was a tax-exempt charity.
Thanks to these efforts and yours, Scott Walker is backing down and rescinding the grant, showing that even in the land of the shameless, the people can sometimes win.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:11 pm
I agree with you Zen Lill. We need good quality health care.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:13 pm
Looking Toward Tomorrow
September 6, 2013
Bringing Women to the Business Table
On Wednesday, I was thrilled to take a behind-the-scenes look at Square, a remarkable San Francisco-based company that helps Americans hoping to start and run a small business by allowing them to accept credit cards with just one easy application on their smart device.
After the tour, I joined with Square employees and merchants for a women’s economic roundtable to learn about the company’s efforts to support women entrepreneurs, students, and employees, and discuss how the private and public sectors can work together on these issues.
Square has a unique understanding of the strength, creativity, and savvy women bring to the business table—and insists on workplace policies that support women and families.
And Square’s “Code Camp” initiative will help create a 21st-century workforce by teaching, mentoring, and molding the next generation of coding engineers that will ensure America remains a global leader in technology and innovation.
Unleashing the power of our country’s women is at the core of House Democrats’ economic agenda for women and families: When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.
This agenda stands on three pillars:
Fair pay—raising the minimum wage and ensuring paycheck fairness
Work and family balance—guaranteeing paid sick leave
Affordable, quality child care—the lynchpin for a working mother’s success in the workplace.
When women earn equal pay, we know America’s economy will prosper. When women ensure fairness and balance between work and family, we know American society will thrive. And when all women succeed, we know America succeeds.
Congresswoman Pelosi participates in a women’s economic roundtable with Square employees and merchants to discuss efforts to support and provide affordable tools to women entrepreneurs at Square’s headquarters in SoMA.
A Foundation for the Future
For generations, San Francisco has stood on the cutting edge of progress: in economic development, in new technology, in transportation and sustainability.
That tradition of leadership continued this week as we poured concrete into the first permanent part of the new Transbay Transit Center, which is scheduled to open in late 2017.
With this Transbay Transit Center, we are setting the cornerstone of a new “Grand Central Station of the West”. We are staying on-track to connect cities and communities throughout the region and across the state. We are opening new doors to public transit options, reducing congestion on our roads, cutting carbon emissions and creating jobs.
This center will be the place where riders can board high-speed trains as part of the development of California’s high-speed rail system. It will bring capital, commuters, and consumers to our city through a system that is that is better, faster, cheaper.
Once the Transbay Transit Center is complete, it will bring 11 transit systems together under one roof – meaning more convenience for commuters, more efficiency for workers, and more growth for our city.
Our actions serve as a marker that this entire city – leaders in public service, in labor, and in business – is united behind the success of the Transbay Transit Center.
Standing together, these leaders are keeping San Francisco at the forefront of good jobs, a growing economy, and a thriving middle class. Working together, we will keep this city on the cutting edge of progress.
Shana Tova!
For Jewish families around the world, Rosh Hashanah is a moment of reflection and renewal, joy and prayer, repentance and introspection. With hope for a future of health and happiness, the new year is an opportunity to reiterate the core commitments and values of the Jewish people: to repair the world, and perfect it; to cherish justice, and pursue it; to seek peace, and secure it.
As Jewish households gather to hear the sound of the shofar, to celebrate with loved ones, to dip apples in honey, to rejoice and to pray, let us hope that this Rosh Hashanah will bring a year of peace and security to Israel and her neighbors across the Middle East.
Let us hope that this new year ushers in a time of joy, good fortune, and progress for the Jewish community in the United States and around the world. Shana tovah u’metukah – may you have a happy, healthy, sweet new year.
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best regards,