Amazing Republicans are trying to skew the peaceful (so far) protests of pro-choice consisting mostly of women as being violent. Not that they never get angry . . . they can and will. They are not happy with SCOTUS and are making it known peacefully. Cruz and others are trying to make this into something else similar to what Cruz was supporting January 6, 2021.

Waiting on V.P. Pence

Ted Cruz smugly sitting in the capitol building January 6th waiting for Pence to object to the Electoral Count. It did not happen.

January 6, 2021 Republican Party inspired Insurrection Timeline

1:05 PM, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bangs the gavel to call the joint session of Congress to order.

1:12 p.m., Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Andrew writes on healthcare, mostly the PPACA plan and the various metal plans, and the latest gig (ARPA) resulting in lower costs for anyone under 250% FPL and lower costs for anyone higher than 400% FPL.

All made possible due to Biden and Democrat’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. It will expire EOY 2022 and I doubt Manchin will help with it. Without it and other aid, This all could have been a 2008 Redux. Mostly, what you will catch me writing about is prices versus costs. How can you set a price or accept one if you do not know costs? The same applies to healthcare. Eighteen percent of GDP appears to be kind of high. . .

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“John Roberts, James Joyce, the individual mandate, Medicaid Estate Recovery, and “affordable”

Steve Schmidt has created his own Substack to tell his story. It is about lying, lying in politics, lying as a politician, and his lying. It is one hell of an interesting read, I only put part of this up. You can see the rest “here” or clicking on part of the title.

Steve Schmidt’s Substack, “The Warning”

Intro; “Steve Schmidt is a strategic advisor, who has counseled Heads of State, CEOs, leading athletes, major corporations, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations on a range of highly sensitive issues.”

The Why of this Substack?: “There is a very significant, “exhausted majority” of Americans looking to move past this rotten moment in American life. They have lost trust and faith in government, business, media and

In April 2019, “I finished an article entitled A Woman’s Right to Safe Healthcare Outcomes.” I spent six weeks reading about this for a group which asked me to write on it from a male’s perspective. It took me all of that time. I could have doubled the size of the article I wanted to write to get the information out there. There was much to be said about the dangers women face becoming pregnant and giving birth.

What prompted the resurrection of this post from 2019 was reading the efforts of SCOTUS to turn the clock back on abortions and other care. The men in black are not your local doctor or obstetrician. These are lawyers who became judges who will walk away once Roe v Wade is overturned. It is just a start of the courts interfering with

Was still waiting to hear more on the SCOTUS leak of Alito’s draft opinion to Politico. Pulled up Hullabaloo. I was reading Digby post tonight “Oh my, look who’s leaking (again).” It caught my attention, you think???

It isn’t a Liberal . . .

I am still guessing “Ginni” ratted to Politico.

The Washington Post Reporting:

The leaked draft of Alito’s opinion is dated February 10 and is almost surely obsolete now, as justices have had time to offer critiques, dissents and revisions. But as of last week, the five-member majority to strike Roe remains intact, according to three conservatives close to the court who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.A person close to the court’s most conservative

Who is Alito or the conservative court majority to decide what is best for women? The court is engaging in a pattern and practice of discrimination against a group of citizens which is of ‘general public importance (related directly or indirectly with the interest of citizens).’”

I expected Prof. Chemerinsky to write on the SCOTUS intention to overturn Roe V Wade. It is a good read and his points are opposing the court’s stance.

The brazenly political Supreme Court takes away the right to abortion – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

OP-Ed Prof. and Constitutional Lawyer Erwin Chemerinsky

Although it is shocking that someone in the Supreme Court leaked a purported draft of the opinion overruling Roe v. Wade, no one should be the least bit

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average slumping 3.3 percent. The S&P 500 index sinking 165 points, or 3.8 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was losing biggly, giving back 651 points, or 5 percent.

I am not looking at investments today. The drop was wiping out the gains from the previous session’s massive rally. All reactions to the FED jumping the rates up 1/2 of 1%.

What remains to be seen???

Nancy Davis, founder of asset management firm Quadratic Capital Management: “The market is way too optimistic about the Fed’s ability to tame inflation. The Fed is hiking aggressively into a weakening economy. They can raise rates as much as they want — rate hikes don’t put more truckers on the roads.”

A few posts down in “Getting It

Letters from an American May 4, 2022, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson

Overturning Roe v. Wade

The uproar over the leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade continues. You can tell just how furious the reaction has been by the fact that establishment Republicans are desperately trying to turn the public conversation to the question of who leaked the document. They are baselessly blaming the opposition to the decision—a Newsmax host blamed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who hasn’t even taken her seat yet—for the leak, although observers point out that the leak seems more likely to have come from a hard-core right-wing antiabortion activist, since it will make it very hard for any of those justices currently in the majority to

As CNN reports . . . “Sen. Susan Collins: Referencing the Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade (Politico) is ‘completely inconsistent’ with what Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh ‘said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office.’”

Wow, whata surprise! Political appointees to SCOTUS might fib a little, ok more than a little, and probably a lot more to become a SCOTUS Justice. There is such a thing as leaving the old cell phone out and recording. Maine is a one-party consent state unless you are in a bathroom or dressing room. They still would have done it. At least the public can hear what hypocrites and liars both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are.

About Kavanaugh: “‘We talked about whether he considered Roe to

Jacob Seitz, Twitter Users Roast Mitch McConnell After Statement on Roe v. Wade (dailydot.com)

Comments from Twitter , , ,

As one commenter put it bluntly, “Get Bent McConnell.”

In the statement, Republican Senate Leader McConnell refers to the leaked majority opinion drafted by Justice Samuel Alito as a “stunning breach” and an “attack on the independence of the Supreme Court.” McConnell said the leak was “yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law.”

Twitter users were quick to levy criticism at the 80-year-old Senator.

“The leak came from the Supreme Court, and you are criticizing the leaker, so if anyone is “attacking the

Introduction to Bankruptcy Discharge for Student Loans

I know the image on the right, my other right is small. To enlarge it, click on the picture. A plus sign may show up to make it even larger.

I have been following the student loan crisis (and it is such) well over a decade. I have engaged certain politicians on the issue in public. I have worked with Alan Collinge at Student Loan Justice Org for well over a decade. He is in the process of completing his 1 million signature petition asking for relief from Joe Biden and Democrats.

My three children have each had loans and I parental loans funding their education. Been in forbearance when work was hard to find. I do not recall paying interest only which seems to be happening

What happens when the USPS decides to close a Post Office? The closure does not happen over night. A Post Office may close immediately due to an emergency, a suspended lease, less business over time, etc. In any case the USPS follows up. This post by Steve Hutkins is a review of the process and where the USPS is with regard is suspended Post Offices.

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Lost in Limbo: Post Offices Under Suspension – Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins

When the Postal Service considers closing a post office, it must go through a lengthy discontinuance process, with 30 steps of administrative review and opportunities for public input. But when there’s an emergency, like unsafe building conditions after a weather event, the Postal Service can close a post

Copy and Paste for now until I can get into the Health Affairs article. Hospitalization averages a third of all healthcare costs. The pricing (Pricing equals costs in this instance) varies by region which kind of tells me there “may” be variation due to the strength of ACOs in regions.

Trends in Hospital Prices Varied Widely Across the United States | RAND

The average prices charged to commercial health plans by hospitals, as compared to what Medicare pays, remained relatively stable between 2012 and 2019, but there was a large amount of geographic variation in the trends, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Using national data capturing most U.S. hospitals, researchers found that the ratio of commercial-to-Medicare hospital prices

I was reading the commentary on student loan forgiveness since Joe Biden has said he would do something. It is not going to be $50,000 in forgiveness as Senators Warren, Sanders, and Schumer are pushing. Biden has said it is unlikely it will be this amount. Indeed, he suggested $10,000. The $10,000 might be worthy if we canceled all of the penalties, consolidation fees, and the excess interest along with the $10,000.

If you are not aware, Joe Biden has been helpful in promoting the false narrative since the nineties of students scamming the student loan system to offload debt. This is not true according to sources since then. These are not typical loans.

Tom Sullivan has a good take on the issues with student loans bringing us to this point and

Was thinking about this one and Dale Coberly asked if I would write on this. For “Arne,” this post is about Supplemental Security Income. 🙂

How can that be?

“The Supreme Court’s Callous Blow to Puerto Ricans” | Washington Monthly

The majority opinion relies on precedent, Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., Congress. Congress does not have to treat it as a real part of the nation. Puerto Rico citizens do not pay federal income tax. Apparently, it makes a difference. The citizen living on the mainland, was paying income tax and payroll tax like other citizen for almost three decades.  

A little history;

The issue is being assessed as part of a case involving José Luis Vaello-Madero, 67, a disabled man who lived in New York from 1985 until

Follow up to; “Section 2 of the 14th Amendment” – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com)

No Republican fears Democrats or the use of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment either. Gaetz is still prancing around, McCarthy lies to the public, Eastman writes a memo to VP Pence to nullify state electoral votes, Cawthorn again caught with a pistol at TSA checkpoint, Cruz and Hawley makes stuff up as usual, etc. And marjorie green suffered a loss of memory in administrative court and smirks about it while the observer’s clap or laugh in another instance. Are there no reprisals for poor court room behavior?

To refresh your memory.

“Section 2 is a clause largely unused and forgotten for 154 years. Using it would put representation in the House in jeopardy for

This is mostly a C&P with editing involved. Taken from Altarum Health Sector Economic Indicators, and “Insights from Monthly National Health Spending Data through December 2021.” I have added the link Altarum to return to the original article.

Without the additional government spending covering Covid costs and a recession during 2020 -2021, overall healthcare spending would have been higher.

The nation is also having one Covid issue which is being construed due to a lack of accurate reporting. “Republicans” (as told by McConnell) have been holding up the compromise (BBB) $10 billion to fund Covid assistance until there is a vote on Title 42. A vote to enforce the racist (SPLC) Steven Miller’s Title 42 which Republicans support is being pushed.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission on planes – Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com)

This substack article came to me by way of a commenter asking if I was interested in it. Of course, I am. It is a part of healthcare and covers a topic I believe is important to all of us. Stopping the transmission of Covid.

Introduction

On Monday, a Florida judge voided the U.S. mandate for public transit, which includes planes, trains, and buses. Several airlines immediately announced they dropped the mask requirement. In true pandemic fashion, an intense debate about masks ensued.

In a peer review by the American Bar Association pre-appointment, the rating for the deciding judge was “unqualified” to be a district judge. The ABA took issue with the short time she

Congressional Representative Marjorie Green is playing cat and mouse with an Administrative Judge who took to questioning her as her memory keeps failing on certain things she has said in the past. Green was continuously reminded of past comments to the point of her being declared a “hostile witness.”

CNN — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was in court on Friday over past social media posts and commentary advocating violence to Pelosi, Democrats, etc. The hearing in Atlanta is to determine if barring Greene from reelection is proper and constitutional. This comes from her alleged role in the January 6 insurrection and making comments on shooting Pelosi, etc.

Marjorie could be disqualified for office resulting from the Hearing

These are sections of healthcare news articles which I thought might catch your eye and may interest you on topics in healthcare. I added the links to each article so you can read “the rest of the story” if you care to do so.

Georgetown Center for Children and Families – What can be found in the News:

“Pandemic’s end could surge the number of uninsured kids” (axios.com)

Once the temporary reforms to Medicaid are lifted the ranks of uninsured children will sell by 6 million or more. The formal end of the pandemic could aggravate this even more.

Why it matters: Gaps in coverage could limit access to needed care and widen health disparities, by hitting lower-income families and children of color the hardest, experts say.

The big

Rachel Maddow: Except there is a taped recording existing between McCarthy, Cheney, and others. Rachel Maddow “sharing an audio of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy saying that he would call Donald Trump and recommend that he resign in the wake of the January 6th attacks and with a second impeachment looming, as reported by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns of the New York Times in their new book “This Will Not Pass,” and contradicting McCarthy’s multiple denials. 

Audio: “McCarthy said he’d recommend Trump resign; contradicts McCarthy’s denials” (msnbc.com) Rachel Maddow 

Also, here is McConnell and what he thought.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell privately said he thought former President Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the Jan.

For twenty-something years, I was in Livingston County and living with Republicans and Republican politics. It is not easy being a Democrat there. If it was not for the stupid things many Republican constituents say, it would have been downright difficult if they had a brain. They kept pitching down the center with their remarks and I kept hitting homeruns on Facebook and in replies locally.

Some background;

Livingston County population makeup is 96.4% White. It is also the richest, or one of the richest counties in Michigan. The rest of the county population make up consists of minorities of which less than 1% is African Americans.

When there were issues with police interactions with Black citizens, the local newspaper asked the county

Coming from a different source of information . . . Employ America emphasizes a rapid recovery in 2020 as measured from a pre-recession peak till now. If you recall the 2008 recovery after Wall Street and banks were faltering was by far longer. In this case, we are looking at a Covid inspired period of layoff as compared to previous recessional layoffs.

Due to Joe Biden programs and the support of Dems, the nation and labor’s 2020 recovery proceeded at a far more rapid pace than previous recoveries.

“Managing The Endogenous Slowdown: Transitioning From A Rapid Recovery To Non-Inflationary Growth” (employamerica.org)

“If you liked this chart last month, you’ll like it even more this month. We are on track to have our first prime-age

Why Less Oil Production and Higher Gasoline Prices?

I mean the obvious answer is Demand is outstripping Supply. Oil companies and refineries are not the charitable type either. No oil/natural gas pipeline would have helped either.

Digby had the answer up on Hullabaloo (15th) which I read first so credit goes there first. Digby did reference Dean Baker at CEPR (14th) which I am reading right now to add his comments momentarily. And we do have our own experts at Angry Bear in the form of New Deal Democrat and RJS. Both offer excellent commentary and detail on oil and gasoline manufacture and production.

Anyway, here is the story from CEPR:

Trump demanded that Saudi Arabia cut back production back in 2020. According to Trump, he worked out a

For those up north in the hinter lands of the US. Nineties today in AZ and more of the same tomorrow.

Have some dinner with family, friends, and take in a stranger too. Give to those who need help. Practice the religion of your choice, if you have one you favor. Say hello to neighbors. Color some eggs. Easter baskets for the kids. Enjoy some marshmallow bunnies, a bunch of jellybeans, and chocolate rabbits.

And above all, be safe.

If you celebrate or observe in a different way, please let AB know. We don’t slight anyone.

In AZ? The rest of our furniture will show up in the next two weeks. We will have a table in which to eat our meals rather than a countertop. Coffee table is showing up too! And finally, the special-order drapes are

The same as turning Medicare over to commercial healthcare, having a nine-member panel and a critic of the VA in charge does not bode well for Veteran Healthcare. Denis McDonough is not a veteran and it is hard to imagine how he would relate to many of us.

Senators Joe Manchin and Michael Rounds penned a letter to President Joe Biden, enjoined by other senators in a bipartisan request to maintain quality veteran care across the nation in VA facilities without cutting services. They asked for the commission to seek their advice.

Suzanne sees Denis and his hoard on the wrong track to close VA facilities in rural places. Smaller, already threatened hospitals are having issues staying afloat as it is and many have already closed. More facilities

Some History

2014:

A frenzy of hospital mergers into ACOs as detailed by Philip Longman and Paul Hewitt could leave many families having lesser amounts of healthcare paid for by healthcare insurance due to healthcare industry consolidation leading to higher prices.

We have seen this happen with higher prices for insurance plans, increased deductibles, and less covered. I think we have all experienced this in the last couple of years, Except, this is not a recent comment by Longman and Hewitt. It was written in 2014 and I made it a part of my post in 2021, “Increasing Hospital Prices and Insurance Payments Lead to Higher Costs” – Angry Bear.

2017:

Using information from “Here’s What’s Really Driving Healthcare Costs” | MedPage Today

This comes by way of New Deal Democrat who was doing some research and ran across a not so recent Krugman article via the late Economist’s View blog. Krugman’s prescient words of things to come?

Hat tip to New Deal democrat and a thank you for sending this to me.

“The Great Illusion” Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times

So far, the international economic consequences of the war in the Caucasus have been fairly minor, despite Georgia’s role as a major corridor for oil shipments. But as I was reading the latest bad news, I found myself wondering whether this war is an omen — a sign that the second great age of globalization may share the fate of the first. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, . . . our great-great grandfathers lived, as

Tough Guy, senator Mitch McConnell making political hay over President Joe Biden extending a student loan moratorium for a few more months. The mistake Joe is making or has made is not deciding what to do. It is getting late in the game of politics.

Here is senator Mitch McConnell.

“I think in this country, it’s important to remind people that we ought to pay our debts,” McConnell opined. “We all pay our debts. And with regard to extending the moratorium, quoting Larry Summers again, he said it’s exactly the wrong thing to do in the middle of this over-heated economy producing this rampant inflation.”

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You already know my thoughts on why inflation is so high. Lets take a moment and review who Mitch McConnell and “Dana

People keep asking about when will Biden fire trump appointee Louis DeJoy? President Biden can not fire Dejoy. Federal law prevents the president from terminating the postmaster general under any circumstances. The nine-member board of governors nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate has the power to do so. Only five members of the board may belong to the same political party. In turn the board selects the postmaster general. The PG is not subject to Senate approval. Once appointed, the postmaster general can only be removed by the board and it need no justification for doing so. With the appointment to three vaccines, Biden can flip the Board.

“How slower mail has become a fact of life: USPS Service Performance and Postal Reform,”