Posts filed under “Health Care”
Promises Made, Promises Forgotten
Kevin Drum at Mother Jones makes a good point when talking about the GOP’s unfulfilled 2010 election mantra to “repeal and replace” Obamacare: I consider this a highly metaphysical question. Is something really a lie if no one was intended to believe it in the first place? Consider the various audiences. The Republican base certainly [...]
Replace the Sacred Cows
I’m fair weather fan of center-left economist/ domestic policy “wonks” Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein (who I suspect is his long lost son). They are both excellent at pointing out fundamental flaws in mainstream press’ coverage of economics and some of the more complicated domestic policy issues that arise. However, both have recently downplayed the [...]
Pro-Life?
CNN/Tea Party Express Debate (9/12/2011): Blitzer: Let me ask you this hypothetical question. A healthy, 30-year-old man has a good job, makes a good living, but decides, “You know what, I’m not going to spend $200 or $300 a month for health insurance because I’m healthy, I don’t need it.” Something terrible happens, all of [...]
If they don’t like you, why bother?
So Paul Ryan and a handful of other Republican Congressman are opting out of town hall meetings during the August recess. From Politico: It will cost $15 to ask Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a question in person during the August congressional recess. The House Budget Committee chairman isn’t holding any face-to-face open-to-the-public town hall meetings [...]
Heathcare Reform And The Enthusiasm Gap
By now it’s a truism that the state of the economy, coupled with the enthusiasm gap that afflicts Democrats, is likely to allow Republicans to make huge gains in the midterm elections (even though Americans think the Republican Party really, really stinks). Short of divine intervention, the economy isn’t going to get turned around in [...]
The Corporate Mind Of Employee Benefits Administrators
Companies in the employee benefits administration business must have a monthly contest to see who can get caught trying to pull the meanest-and-dumbest denial of coverage stunt. It’s early days still, but this month all the smart money is likely to be on North-Dakota-based Discovery Benefits. According to them, Discovery Benefits is not only “a [...]
The Health Of Our Healthcare System
How has the health of our healthcare system changed over the last three years? The Commonwealth Fund has updated its 2007 study which compared the US system to that of six other developed countries. And the results are just as embarrassing. The short version is: “Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed [...]
The Emergency Room Model Of Free Universal Health Care
Remember the compassionate conservative meme which gained wide currency in the time of Bush, that we already have free universal health care because anyone can show up at an emergency room and be treated for free? That model of free universal health care just took a gunshot wound to the shoulder: An unemployed Michigan woman [...]
Swami Sarabeth Speaks
When the Republicans have taken Congress (in 2010) and the presidency (in 2012), and repealed the Affordable Care Bill, what happens then? Alas, we cannot paint you a complete picture, but we offer one important prediction, and analyze its downstream effects. Whatever else he does, President Scott Brown will have to replace the individual mandate [...]
How Would A Politician Do it?
Sue Lowden is the leading candidate in the Nevada Republican primary to pick a challenger to Harry Reid. She was widely expected to win the primary, and go on to defeat Reid in November. But that was before she began to spell out her views on how the American health care system can be improved. [...]