Repealing Obamacare = Repealing Veterans Health Care
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 2nd, 2014
Good morning!
Well it certainly has been a Monday morning.
I was watching this topic on the Rachel Maddow show this past Friday night. For all that our military women and men have done for our country, their lack of getting health care is inexcusable.
From Think Progress.
Scandals
What Conservatives Should Do If They Are Really Concerned About Veterans Health Care
The scandal at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs over long wait times to receive health care and fraudulent reporting by hospital administrators is a serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Yesterday, a preliminary report from the VA Inspector General confirmed many of the initial problems, finding that:
a) at least 1,700 veterans waiting for care were purposely withheld from the official electronic wait list because administrators knew they could not receive care within a 14-day period that was the goal;
b) at the Phoenix VA hospital at the center of the controversy, the average wait time for an initial primary care appointment was in fact 115 days, and not 24 days as reported by the Phoenix hospital;
c) there were multiple paper wait lists used to track patients in addition to the electronic wait list that were invisible to federal oversight.
Other reports coming out indicate that “cooking the books” is a much broader problemwithin the VA.
Secretary Eric Shinseki has called the findings “reprehensible” and is “not waiting to set things straight.” In fact, Shinseki, a disabled Vietnam veteran who served in the Army for 38 years, has fought an uphill battle to reform the VA bureaucracy in a number of ways, according to experts at the Center for American Progress. But that hasn’t stopped numerous elected officials from calling for his resignation, including, at last count, 74 Republican members of Congress.
We all agree that veterans deserve the best possible care. But if conservatives were truly outraged at the prospect of veterans not receiving the health care they deserve, there’s another step they could take right now to expand coverage to not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of veterans, and almost 5 million Americans overall. Instead, they are standing directly in the way.
There are over a quarter million uninsured veterans in states that are currently refusing to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. These veterans are not receiving delayed care, they aren’t receiving any care at all. While many people assume that all veterans have health benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, as of 2013 only two-thirds were eligible and just one-third were enrolled. The map below shows a state-by-state breakdown of those affected:
Conservative legislators have been quick to condemn the VA’s actions, but that hasn’t stopped them from voting again and again to repeal the Affordable Care Act that expands coverage to millions of people, including veterans. And it hasn’t stopped them from defending state lawmakers who continue to refuse to expand Medicaid under the ACA and deny coverage to veterans and millions of other Americans.
BOTTOM LINE: The scandal at the VA is serious, and those at fault should be held accountable. But those who would repeal the Affordable Care Act are at the heart of another scandal: over 250,000 veterans in 24 states have no access to care at all because of conservative lawmakers’ refusal to expand Medicaid.
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Readers: So what else is new with the right? They are most always trying to stand in the way and take away. Thoughts?
Blog me.
Connie, Wanda, Janet, Irene, Jackie, Helen: Exactly. I like all of you, do not give a damn about the “why men do what they do.” All I care about is putting women in office that will legislate laws, and women on the bench that will put men away for the things that they do to harm women and try to take away our rights. Men will change when the laws no longer allow them to get away with their atrocities. Let’s make sure our voices are heard by voting women into office that will be our voices.
Zelda, Debra: Thanks for the sweet kudos.
Karen: Thanks for making your comment the first time on such an important topic. I appreciate your candid and professional opinion from all of your many years in practice. I cannot argue with anything you said. I too HOPE that my efforts, along with all of the other women, will wake women up. We certainly need big change in women’s attitudes and actions to make a big difference in how we are going to live our lives.
Patricia: Yes, we have to plan not to get raped or assaulted. The operative word here is “plan.” Every time I get ready to go out, whether I am taking Lucy for a walk or getting into my car to take a drive, I make sure to “plan” and bring what I need, “just in case.” When I walk to my car in a parking lot or get into an elevator where I am the only woman, I am aware of my surrounding. I am “planning” in my head what I may need to do, “just in case.” It is no way for a woman to have to live. And no man, no matter how many red high heels he walks in to support women, will understand how we as women feel. That is why it is up to us to change.
Joyce: I am so disappointed when I hear stories such as your of women not supporting women and using the excuse that “men will be men.” Ugh. So infuriating. My suggestion is that if you aren’t getting the help from your female superiors, is to go higher until you do get help. And I would let them (your superiors) know that you will not put up with this behavior anymore, and you are going to seek help from higher places if they are not going to help you. Getting harassed, is unacceptable. Having to deal with this every day is just unconscionable and so not good for your self-esteem, quality of life, etc.
Do you have a counselor at your work? I would check out that avenue. Perhaps other women in your department are getting harassed too and are afraid to speak up. I would do a little investigating and see if you can pair up with others who are experiencing the same harassment. There is power in numbers. I realize the job market is not easy but if you continue to not get help, you might want to start looking. Good luck.
Erica: I am sorry that you had to experience rape and then on top of that, feel that you can’t get help from your local authorities. I know how isolated you must feel. That is why it is so important that we women help each other out. We should not have to experience such an atrocity and feel that we have no recourse because we don’t have a system that supports us…because we don’t feel we can get justice against the perp who did this. Until women really support each other and the right women are voted in, we are going to feel helpless in many situations.
That is why it is very empowering for us when we take away the blame from the men and put it on ourselves. It means that we don’t have to feel powerless HOPEing men will change for us, because men won’t change. Instead, all we have to do is change. And we can if we women all come together.
Ok Readers: Now I need to end. Your turn. Thanks for being here with 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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June 2nd, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Kimberly Says:
June 1st, 2014 at 8:25 am
I agree that men look the other way when they see another man abusing a woman. But sometimes, a guy can surprise you. I was impressed when I heard about this:
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“The lead singer for Staind stopped the grunge rock band’s concert Saturday to berate concertgoers who were inappropriately touching a crowd-surfing teenage fan.
Aaron Lewis interrupted the band’s performance of “Something To Remind You” during Rockfest in Kansas City to make an announcement.
“Alright, listen up, you f*cking *ssholes,” Lewis said. “That f*cking girl right there is, like, 15 f*cking years old, and you f*cking pieces of sh*t are molesting her while she’s on the f*cking crowd.”
Video shot by a concertgoer captured the singer’s rant, which was cheered by the crowd as the girl apparently continues crowd-surfing.
“Your f*cking mothers should be ashamed of themselves, you pieces of sh*t,” Lewis continued. “You should all be f*cking beaten down by everyone around you for being f*cking pieces of sh*t. If I f*cking see that sh*t again, I swear to God, I will point you out in the crowd and have everyone around you beat your f*cking *ss.”
A Reddit user claimed Lewis made similar comments about two years ago, during an X-fest concert, when a man tried to pull off the sweatpants of a young woman who was crowd-surfing.
http://videos.rawstory.com/video/Aaron-Lewis-Rockfest-2014-Rant
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We need more men like this one! Men only listen to other men so if there is anyway this despicable behavior is to be stopped, it’s by good men calling out the bad ones.
June 2nd, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Well, a girl says…Kimberly…good start and he’s well known, excellent, let’s get some rock stars on it and maybe there’ll be some change. (who are the F’ing pieces of shit who would do that? & just bc you can doesn’t mean you should, pieces of shit – and you all know who you are)
& Mischa, I’ve noticed your male audience is quite silent on this topic, I’m kinda done with calling any of you ‘good ones’ if you don’t stand up and speak up and do what Aaron Lewis did at a minimum.
- ZL
June 2nd, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Republicans couldn’t care less about veterans. They use “country first” to appeal to the idiots who think lib service to our country is the same as actually doing something for the country.
June 2nd, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Zen Lill I have always spoken up when someone in my presence abuses anyone, male or female.
The fact is there are way to many sexual perverts and bullies able to act on their baser instincts because others look the other way.
June 2nd, 2014 at 6:56 pm
I’m with you on this one Zen Lill. Did you read some of the comments from the males on the uTube video? Many are from sick men who make every excuse to take advantage of women.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:01 pm
Imagine being around this piece of shit.
================================
Justin Ellis3 hours ago
Maybe the dumb girl shouldnt have been putting herself in that position. What happens when a girl crowd surfs. Everyone fucking knows what happens. Guys cop a feel. Not saying its right. But its what happens. Its not like the girl isnt going to go get fucked by her 23 year old bf that took her to the show later anyways.
Dont want to be treated like a whore? Dont do whore-ish things.
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This sounds a bit like the creep, Elliot Rodger, in Santa Barbara. To them women are sluts or whores if they don’t put out for their sick needs.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:03 pm
Just more proof that so many men are willing to take advantage of a female who puts herself in a vulnerable position.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:04 pm
Zen lill, If I had been at the concert I would have made it clear to those pedophiles that I didn’t like their behavior.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:09 pm
There were plenty of deranged comments to go around. Here’s one from a racist and a misogynist.
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Vitliy53 minutes ago
THEY DO IT BECAUSE THEY LIKE IT, BECAUSE THEY ENJOY IT. I dont go to dark alleys, because dont want some black or muslim to rape me.
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All this really implies is that he is dying to take advantage of some female who puts herself in a bad situation and he is dying to get some big black dick shoved up his ass.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:16 pm
Notice this asshole is calling the girl a “bitch” in the beginning of his misogynist rant. Another Elliot Rodger disappointed he wasn’t there to grope her.
———————————-Why do bitches crowdsurf anyways? Not like they’re famous or anything so what do they expect? Of course the guys want to grope her she’s just a random ass girl. They’re getting nothing else in return.
————————————-
I really like this answer to him.
“crimsontears178 hours ago
Sick, victim-blaming mentality you have there. They’re not getting anything in return?! The hell. You are not entitled to a woman’s body period. The next time a guy crowdsurfs I guess I should just yank his balls?”
——————————-
Unfortunately, though creeps like that will never get the message that it is NEVER okay to molest a woman.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:22 pm
Zen Lill I teach both my daughters(2 teenagers) and my sons( 3 younger lads) to respect the privacy of others. But you are correct if more men told off other men when they insinuate that a woman “deserves it” this would stop sooner.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Kent#10, I read the thread. My favorite was from Marella Gonzalez.
“First of all, why do you feel the need to refer to a girl/woman as a “bitch”? couldn’t your family teach you any better? Ha, well, the answer is obvious. Second, well, I guess there is no use in explaining why your reasoning is misogynistic shit… go offline, you are only embarrassing yourself.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The fact that this guy felt that it was okay to say what he did is exactly why Elliot Roger felt it was okay to kill women who didn’t find him attractive.
Some men see women as commodities for their personal accommodation.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:36 pm
Who are these men who think that crowd-surfing is only something for men. When I crowd surf I expect people to touch my butt to move me along. I DON’T expect that touch to turn in to groping!
Only sick men try to turn it in to an opportunity to satisfy their perveted sexual desires.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:38 pm
Let’s hope no one gives that Justin Ellis a gun permit. He is a wanna be alpha ready to explode.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:42 pm
Zen Lill, I have no problem speaking up when I see men behaving disrespectful towards women. I left the republican part for that very fact. I may have even lost business because of it.
June 2nd, 2014 at 7:43 pm
I just love it when a man shows that he is a human being first and a male second.
June 2nd, 2014 at 8:24 pm
Larry, Bruce and Phillip, thank you for showing up.
I was starting to feel like ALL men (even here) are going this route be default, just not caring, I was seriously disappointed so really – thanks for showing up here and as men in day to day life.
- ZL
June 2nd, 2014 at 10:46 pm
Greg, sorry just spotted your comment, great and please keep it up and tell your pals…bc Roberta is right, we need for men to act human first.
I know many men who say they don’t condone this and that but I also don’t see them openly voice anything when blatantly sexist bs gets blurted by one of their friends and sometimes you just have to man up and say, that’s sick shit don’t say that or do that…(why do I have to be the ‘bitch’ who does, not that I mind it lets them know right away where I’m at, start saying disparaging things about women and we will be have a charged convo) – & most men don’t become conscious of any of it till they have daughters and THEN they see it. So, go pretend you have a daughter and you want the best for her and speak up…
G’nite, Luv, ZL
June 3rd, 2014 at 9:11 am
I’ll add this: I know some men never learn even after having daughters, they even abuse them, sick Aholes.
For all males though, even the ‘good ones’ – I wish you this:
Next lifetime, you come back as a FEMALE (the word empathy will have a whole new meaning for you : )
Have a nice day!
June 3rd, 2014 at 9:31 am
[…] A Girl says: Yes, many men do look the other way when a man is abusing a woman. And yes, there are exceptions, but, as I stated, I am not counting on men changing. I am counting on the women to step up and woman up. […]