Health Care Reform
This year I will be 71 years old, assuming I make it and I have close family now into their eighties. I was born in the first year of WW II and my older relatives born in the 1930s during the Great Depression.
When I was a kid grandparents lived with their children and their grandchildren. One of the kids took in their mom and pop while the rest of the kids were expected to kick into the pot to provide for their support.
That’s the way it was before Social Security.
Folks were expected to work until they died which usually wasn’t long. The average life expectancy for a male in the 1920s was 49 years. If you lived longer there was no expected retirement age. You worked until you could no longer work or until you could no longer find work.
Then you were expected to live on your savings. Home ownership at the time was below 20% in the lower working class and the average wage adjusted for inflation in today’s purchasing power was around $13,000. So usually old folks didn’t have sufficient resources to live on.
So you went to your children if you had any. It was expected. Grandma usually got one of the children’s bedrooms. Read more
If there is ever a deal between Congress and the president, to divert cuts and find some common ground, or should I say some fair trades, the big three entitlements
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Medicare and Social Security Can Expect Cuts appeared first on
Fidlerten Place.
“So how much does an x-ray cost?” my mom asked me when I called her from Urgency Care. Following an unfortunate mishaps with a dresser drawer that came loose and fell onto my foot, I decided to seek a little medical care. Waiting 24 hours to see if the swelling went down on its own, I was reluctant to go in. I have no idea how much an x-ray costs, which was why I waited to seek care.
Here’s the thing: I have medical insurance- but I have a high deductible to keep the premiums down. I’m nowhere near my max for the year so much of the cost of the quick trip to Urgency will be out of pocket. I have to be fairly hurt to invest in a doctor’s opinion, but in this case, my foot looked broken, and I didn’t want to injure it worse with carelessness. Read more
I live in one of the states whose governor decided to refuse cooperating with the federal government on implementing ObamaCare — in Oklahoma. I am also one of many who do not have health care but needs it. My income is not low enough to qualify for Medicaid and not high, enough to afford health care, that is — under the old system.
ObamaCare is the first time I will be able to afford health care. I will still have to pay for part of my health care but at a rate, I can afford. However, my governor, Mary Fallon, does not seem to care much about my health care or others like me. Even though I am a full-time working Oklahoman who pays state taxes, what I need and many other Oklahomans need does not seem to be of a concern to Governor Fallon. Read more
When President Obama gave his final call to volunteers Tuesday, my kids and I were of the thousands of people listening. Piped in through my laptop, the brief speech was experienced at my house in the kitchen, where I was making dinner. The part that struck me- the sentence I will always remember- was when he said “I love you.” Our president said it three times that I counted.
The leader of the United Stated felt this victory in his heart, which is exactly why he won; this is why we all won in this election. Whether you’re Republican, Independent, or Democratic, you won with the reelection of President Obama. When things are done with heart, they benefit many.
Rep. Boehner is already talking compromise, and the feeling of forward movement towards ending the stalemate in D.C. is growing in the lame duck session. This is because Republican leadership knows they were handed their asses when they tried to figure out how to maintain control, instead of put together a platform that honors the better angels of the American spirit. What the heart knew, GOP brains couldn’t guess at. Read more
I haven’t written anything more than an email for a couple days, spent as my writer’s mind is from Campaign 2012. In addition to posting here, I was a regional digital lead for Organizing for America. For many months, I gave my best energy to the cause of reelecting President Obama- and it was worth it. I know all volunteers and staff feel it was worth it following our big electoral win. We are the champions, the victors, the big winners. But what does it all mean, anyway?
What this means is the winning work of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party continues for four more years.
The first major effort of President Obama’s Administration was the Affordable Care Act, which will be fully realized in 2014. Health care reforms will continue to come online, helping save millions of people’s lives and financial futures. It is an inalienable human right to receive health care, and our nation is closer than ever to achieving full coverage. Read more
About four or so months I attended a progressive town hall meeting hosted by my Rep. Eddie B. Johnson, with Rep. Barbara Lee from California. An old-aged attendent asked about the healthcare ruling (this was about two weeks before the final ruling) and Rep. Johnson answered, but I don’t remember the question or answer. That’s not important. What’s important is what happened afterwards.
The next attendant, a middle aged woman, assumedly Rep. Johnson’s supporter, asked what difference is the Obamacare tax mandate from other programs like Social Security. Both are “mandatory” she says, why aren’t the other programs, Social Security specifically, being challenged. How are they in law, she asked in confusion. After Rep. Johnson gave her an “answer,” (to be fair, she said we’ll see if it’s constitutional when the court rules) I whispered to her about FDR’s “court packing” controversy in the 40′s and how America copied the same socialist countries policies whom we had tension with. Read more
Chief Justice John Roberts proved himself an independent thinker last month, siding against his fellow conservatives (and Republican appointees) in upholding the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Roberts agreed that Congress could not force a citizen to buy insurance, but allowed the individual mandate to survive as a tax. In the meantime, the ruling placed limits on federal power to expand Medicaid, leaving 16 million people in the lurch. Read more
Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters has posted the second of two parts in the special edition of Health Wonk Review responding to the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act: Part I is here, and Part II is here.
I’m delighted with the Court’s decision to uphold the law as a whole, but concerned about its making the Medicaid expansion optional. One Slate article and two posts on the Health Affairs Blog (one of which was included in Part I of the special-edition HWR) are especially helpful in thinking about the Medicaid aspect of the decision: Read more
It’s very clear that a lot of Americans are concerned a great deal with the new health care law the Affordable Care Act . It’s also quite understandable to be concerned; it does turn the health care system in this country up on its heels. It will change a lot of lives and yet for many, just force them to tighten their budgets more.
The way I see it, the health care law is a rough draft of what this country really wants. It is up to us, the American people to see that our legislators give it to us. We do that by demanding change, not repeal but a fix on the issues we’re mainly concerned about. Read more
The day that the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, I was expecting the worse and the end of hope for millions like me. After seeing the conservatively controlled court delivered several rulings that reflected what I believed was their partisanship, I expected the justices to throw the health care bill out on a 5-4 ruling.
So I was very happy to see Chief Justice John Roberts come out of the conservative fold and show that he was more than just a partisan player but someone who saw the need that was spread out over America; families hanging on the edge because of a health care crisis, along with the financial devastation it caused in its wake. Read more
After the supreme court ruled in favor of the healthcare mandate, many conservatives lost their heads and said some really ridicules things. I made a list!
10.
Michael Reagan:  |
“This kept us on the path to socialism. … And we have to work hard, harder at being engaged so that we truly replace those people in the House, in the Senate that want to stay on the path to socialism.” — Michael Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan.
9.
Ken Klukowski:  |
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I presume the right wing is foaming at the mouth today over the Chief Justice.
The GOP was getting ready to celebrate. Their spokespersons were at the high Court, waiting for Obamacare to be struck down, ready to come out of the Court and make a prepared statement to the media. "The American people have triumphed and our Constitution is secure blah blah blah."
But no.
The Chief Justice stabbed them in the back. I know my goombah Antonim was foaming. Too bad. He’s a fascist anyway. We Italians know them when we see them. Alito immediately got on the line to the Pope. Clarence Thomas shook his head - he hasn’t made a sound in Court in years. Read more
A SOMBER VICTORY, BUT IT’S NOT OVER YET
Well, he did it, gangers. He managed it. We now have universal health care, sort of, counrtesy of our President.
I’ll tell you, folks: this is not what I expected, and I think that we should all e-mail Chief Justice Roberts and tell him “THANK YOU” for his following the law. I’ll admit it, I did not think that he would have the courage to defy his masters, but he did, and I’m glad. He went out of his way to find a way to keep the individual mandate by putting it under the taxing authority of Congress, rather than the Commerce Clause, which basically confounded just about everybody. Read more
