What happens when clinics providing healthcare services to women close? Among other things, American women will needlessly die. That’s the horrifying conclusion from a recent study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology. Designed to gauge the impact of the closures of 100 women’s health clinics nationwide between 2010 and 2013, Dr. Amar Srivastava…
Category: AffordableCareAct
NC-Sen: Cal Cunningham (D) Reminds Voters That Thom Tillis (R) Is Coming For Your Health Care
Received this e-mail today from Cal Cunningham’s (D. NC) U.S. Senate campaign: Cal Cunningham (D. NC) Team — One of the most common concerns I hear from voters across North Carolina is the issue of health care in America today. Everyone knows that our system is broken and costs are too high. But partisan politicians…
SC-Sen: DFA, “Graham (R) wants to repeal health care. Jaime Harrison (D) wants to expand it.”
Received this e-mail today from Democracy for America in support of Jaime Harrison’s (D. SC) U.S. Senate campaign: We knew Republicans weren’t finished attacking our healthcare,Samuel, but Lindsey Graham just confirmed it for us. That’s right: yesterday, the conservative Senator from South Carolina made a promise that if Republicans keep their stranglehold on power in the…
Donald Trump’s color-coded geography of hate
“When I am president, I will work to ensure that all of our kids are treated equally, and protected equally,” Donald Trump declared on July 22, 2016, as he accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for president. “Every action I take, I will ask myself: does this make life better for young Americans in Baltimore, Chicago,…
IA-Sen: Theresa Greenfield (D) Goes After Joni Ernst (R) For Constantly Attacking Your Health Care
Received this e-mail from Theresa Greenfield’s (D. IA) U.S. Senate campaign: Theresa Greenfield (D. IA) Mitch McConnell and Republicans in Washington — including my opponent, Senator Joni Ernst — have made it their mission to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), not caring that it would spike costs and strip health care protections away from…
Biden's Comments About Medicare For All Reinforces “Meh” For His Own Healthcare Proposal.
Peope wonder why Joe Biden’s healthcare proposal was met with a “Meh” by some in progressive circles and on Daily Kos. I admit to being one of those who was not impressed. And this was before Biden tipped his hand and made further critical comments about Medicare for All. In announcing his plans to shore…
The most important issue for Democrats in 2020? The courts
As the 2020 election season heats up, voters’ priorities are coming into sharper focus. As in years past, there is a great divergence in what each party ranks as its top issues. Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center found that Republicans identify terrorism, the economy, Social Security, immigration, and the military as their five greatest…
Hazards Of Being a Pro-Trump Democrat Running In a Redstate.
I will vote for Amy McGrath, and I have given her money before. I will support her to the best of my ability. I want to get all that on the record because I’m going to layout what I think is some caution about her political strategy. McGrath is going to pound on McConnell for…
Meet the Press host disappoints serious journalist Chuck Todd
In late May, President Donald Trump shocked many when he rejected the assessments of his own administration and U.S. allies about recent North Korean violations of United Nations resolutions regarding its ballistic missile program. In response to Trump’s support for the “very smart man” in Pyongyang, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd offered a novel…
AZ-Sen: Mark Kelly (D) Slams McSally's (R) Record Attacking Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions
Received this e-mail from Mark Kelly’s (D. AZ) U.S. Senate campaign: Mark Kelly (D. AZ) No American deserves to go bankrupt, simply because they cannot afford health care. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that far too many Americans have no health insurance, are underinsured, or cannot afford the prescription medicine they need. What’s worse is…
IL-03: DFA Fights Back Against THe DCCC's Efforts To Stop Marie Newman (D) From Unseating A Blue Dog
Received this e-mail today from Democracy for America in support of Marie Newman’s (D. IL-03) campaign: The DCCC is trying to push a progressive candidate out of a primary against one of the worst Democrats in Congress. Can you chip in to Marie Newman's campaign and DFA today so we can fight back? “Progressive groups are coming…
Trump hoping to con Americans on health care for one more election cycle
Boy, this is rich: Everybody agrees that ObamaCare doesn’t work. Premiums & deductibles are far too high – Really bad HealthCare! Even the Dems want to replace it, but with Medicare for all, which would cause 180 million Americans to lose their beloved private health insurance. The Republicans….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2,…
Republicans’ message to Jewish Americans: Everything we hate is like the Holocaust
For Republicans, the gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has become an annual ritual in their hyperbolic effort to peel away Jewish Americans who overwhelmingly give their votes to Democrats. But the GOP brought an extra sense of urgency to last week’s 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference. Less than six months after Democrats captured…
McConnell Goes Into His Shell and Tells Trump To Come Up With His Own Replacement for the ACA.
Just as with Trump’s government shutdown, McConnell has decided to go into his shell and wait for Trump to come up with a “replacement” plan for the ACA. Instead, McConnell will act like the snapping turtle he is and just keep attacking Democrats on healthcare. As for Trump, “You are on your own!” I’m not…
The “Everything Terrible Trump Has Done So Far” Omnibus (Week 114)
As part of the ongoing project to catalog every awful thing the Trump Administration has done as a reference for future political arguments and whatever few posterity survives to see 2020, here’s everything awful the Trump Administration has done this week. ____________________________________________________________________________ 1303. Used unofficial communication devices to discuss sensitive government information 1304. Introduced new sanctions…
The Mad King Continues to Scare Republican Senators.
Some of the gutless GOP Senators decided to blab to the Washington Post and Politico about the latest meeting they had with the Mad King Trump. The Mad King is feeling GREAT! and wants to fuck over Puerto Rico and take away healthcare from millions. We have the usual frauds that go on record about…
Republicans and “Political Capital.”
Give Republicans a victory, and they think they have “political capital” to gut the social safety net. Crooks and Liars has this link to the latest version of the Tigerbeat on the Potomac with regards Trump’s latest efforts to eliminate the ACA. Appears that Trump is feeling like Tony the Tiger! about the Barr Opinion,…
LA-Gov: GOPer Caught On Tape Trashing Medicaid Recipients “Voting for a Living Instead of Working”
Asshole: During a $250 a plate luncheon on March 19th in Natchitoches, Louisiana, U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham (R- LA-05) claimed that rising healthcare costs are the result of the economically disadvantaged caring more about “voting for a living instead of working for a living,” according to an audio recording provided exclusively to the Bayou Brief. Abraham,…
IL-Sen: Dick Durbin (D) Builds Momentum For The Medicare At 50 Act
Received this e-mail from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s (D. IL) re-election campaign: For too long, quality, affordable health care could only be accessed by the healthiest and wealthiest Americans. The Affordable Care Act helped level the playing field, but our work isn’t done until health care is seen as a human right and afforded to…
KY-Gov: Rick Santorum Helps Promote Matt Bevin's (R) Plan To Take Away Your Health Care
Gross: Governor Matt Bevin hosted a round table discussion on healthcare and Medicaid reform this afternoon. The discussion centered on a current proposal known as the Health Care Choices Act. Representatives from think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Pegasus Institute, joined Gov. Bevin and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum for the talk in…
An “A” For Effort
Ya know, ever since the Democrats regained control in the House last November, I’ve noticed that national media reporting on the newly emboldened Democratic House has gone chugging down two parallel tracks. There is the “investigative track,” where the media gleefully foretells the Scorched-earth-march-to-Atlanta havoc that the Democratic led committees can wreak on all things…
Guess where the biggest Senate critic of Canada's healthcare system is going for major surgery?
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul needs hernia surgery after his neighbor, former doctor Rene A. Boucher, physically attacked him last year, in apparent retaliation for constantly piling brush and sticks near his property line. Despite myriad U.S. hospitals that can and do perform this surgery, Sen. Paul isn’t taking any chances with his health. Instead, he’s going to Canada. Specifically, he’s…
The “first step” is to admit there's a problem. The GOP may be taking that step on healthcare.
I’m shedding a tear here. It’s kind of like the day when you finally throw out your favorite old pair of socks because you can put them on from either end, a melancholy sense of loss. Apparently, the GOP is finally putting the repeal of Obamacare out to pasture. Never again will we hear “Repeal…
Progressive Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth As Budget Committe Chair Is Good News.
While we all have been focusing on Speaker Nancy Pelosi returning to power, I want to give a shout out to Congressman John Yarmuth who will be chair of the House Budget Committee. I know that many of us in the progressive movement are scared of Democrats handcuffing themselves with PAYGO. It is a legitimate…
Deep thoughts, by Paul Ryan
In the future, historians and political scientists will speak of the “Ryan Gap.” That moniker will be used to measure the yawning chasm between the shining image a politician manufactures for him or herself and the brutal truth of their failed ideas and meager accomplishments. Of course, the inspiration for that damning delta between perception…
Republicans Want It Both Ways on the ACA: Destroy It Without Getting the Blame.
According to Republicans, pay not attention to that crazy Texas judge behind the curtain who ruled that the ACA was invalid. In an appearance on “Meet the Press,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) — who like every Republican senator voted for the tax bill that stripped away Obamacare’s penalty for qualified individuals who didn’t buy health insurance —…
Cut and gut: How Republicans helped the rich raid the U.S. Treasury
And now for today’s thought exercise. Imagine you are a member of Congress. Recent assessments from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warn that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2018, which ended on Sept. 30, jumped to $779 billion and annual trillion-dollar shortfalls will return beginning in FY 2020. But then you learn of a miraculous…
Republicans are coming for your Medicare in 2019
Eight years ago, Republicans steamrolled their way to an overwhelming victory in the 2010 midterms. Powered by demonstrable falsehoods about a “government takeover of health care,” Obamacare “death panels,” and Americans being “taxed enough already,” the GOP gained 63 seats and a huge new majority in the House of Representatives. Perhaps the biggest factor in the…
Republican senator suddenly concerned about (white man's) preexisting conditions
… because the white man in question is friends with the guy who could very well destroy Obamacare, which ensures that all insured Americans have coverage for addiction, depression, and cancer — all of which this particular white man has. (Full disclosure: I’m also a white man, but please don’t hold that against me.) Shameful: Ds and…
NV-Sen: Kamala Harris (D. CA) Wants To Punish Dean Heller (R) For Voting To Repeal The ACA
Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D. CA) in support of Rep. Jacky Rosen’s (D. NV) U.S. Senate campaign: Sen. Kamala Harris (D. CA) You have to see this quote from a recent Politico article: “Democrats have almost no shot at winning back the Senate majority if Jacky Rosen can’t defeat Sen. Dean Heller in the…
Scott Walker vows to save the preexisting conditions protections he's trying to kill
Once again, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is talking out of both sides of his rectum. Like nearly every other Republican governor, Walker has been hatin’ on Obamacare for a long, long time, but now that he finds himself in a dogfight in a blue-wave election year, he’s promising to defend what is arguably the Affordable…
MT-Sen: Jon Tester (D) Hammers The GOP's Assault On Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions
Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Jon Tester’s (D. MT) re-election campaign: Sen. Jon Tester (D. MT) For too long, politicians and special interest groups have attacked the health care of the 152,000 Montanans with pre-existing conditions. A few months ago it was Washington bureaucrats expanding “junk” insurance plans that allow insurance companies…
WV-Sen: NYT, “Joe Manchin (D) Counts on Health Care to Stave Off Republican Tide in West Virginia”
The New York Times has a great must-read piece out about the West Virginia U.S. Senate race between the incumbent U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D. WV) and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R. WV). Manchin was considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election because of the conservative makeup of West Virginia along…
Three stories of media failure
In the Age of Trump, the tidal wave of major news stories is often overwhelming, sometimes drowning even the most informed in a state of cognitive shutdown. Occasionally, though, even seemingly unrelated revelations tell a larger tale whose lessons shouldn’t go unnoticed. So it was this week. As John McCain was laid to rest, news…
MO-Sen: HuffPost, “GOP Candidates Are Scrambling To Rewrite Their Record On Pre-Existing Conditions”
The Huffington Post is filled with must read 2018 election pieces today: Josh Hawley, the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, says he is all about making sure anybody can get health insurance, regardless of their medical status: “We need to cover pre-existing conditions,” he said earlier this summer. But Hawley, who is currently Missouri’s attorney…
TX-32, NY-22, MN-02, NJ-03 & IL-14: Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D. MA) Helps These Dems Win The House
Received this e-mail from Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D. MA-04): For the past 18 months, you all have been by my side for one of the biggest fights of our lifetime: the fight to ensure every American has access to quality and affordable health care. We've banded together as President Trump and Congressional Republicans come…
The dangerous veto power of right-wing rage
Many Congressional Republicans were shocked—SHOCKED!—this week at Donald Trump’s humiliation in Helsinki. Like the rest of the world, they watched in real time as an American president kowtowed on foreign soil to a dangerous adversary of the United States. Siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the repeated conclusions of the unified American intelligence community…
Confronting Senator Mitch McConnell.
I have at least two problems with those in this article bemoaning the confrontations of Senator Mitch McConnell in public. First up, is WHAS radio show host Terry Meiners: WHAS radio show host Terry Meiners expressed that concern on Twitter in the aftermath of McConnell's first encounter with protesters. He said people have the right to…
Kentucky Republican Governor Bevin's Attacks on Medicaid Part II.
Now kids who are on Medicaid in KY are being turned away from dentists’ offices because of Bevin’s decision to eliminate vision and dental coverage for Medicaid recipients. The state's decision to abruptly cut Medicaid dental and vision benefits for about a half-million adults has created chaos and, in some cases, forced dentists to turn away children…
The budget reform America needs most? Government rate-setting for health care
In the spring of 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump promised Americans he would eliminate the entire $19 trillion national debt of the United States “say over a period of eight years.” His pledge was ludicrous on its face. With the CBO already forecasting $6.7 trillion in new debt and Trump proposing a tax plan that would…