Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate are not satisfied with the Tom Price appointed CBO chief, who insists that there are four fingers in front of his face and apparently won’t make numbers up to help take away health insurance from 22 million people. So Mitch McConnell and the Republicans will rely upon, and I am not making this up, “ALTERNATIVE SCORING” to further the Ted Cruz amendment to Obamacare repeal through the Senate. Republicans are...
Read More »California Single Payer
Reader EM put this comment up in the AB open thread. I thought it was interesting enough to place on AB as I also wonder about the question being asked and the answer; “can a state divert Medicare funds to support a state single payer system?” The simple answer is “no,” Medicare funds can not be allocated to states and the same holds true for VA funding for healthcare and the tax credit to companies for healthcare insurance. Congress would have to approve it...
Read More »Senate AHCA Version – Premium Increases and Subsidy Reductions
CBPP has this pictorial analysis of the increased premiums resulting from the Senate version of the AHCA for a 60 year old at 350% FPL with an ACA Silver plan. “For a 60-year-old with income of 350 percent of the poverty level (about $42 ,000 today) facing the average premium on HealthCare.gov, out-of-pocket premiums would jump by an estimated $4,994. Premiums would rise by $ 2,022 for a 45-year-old at this income level, and fall by $75 for a 30-year-old....
Read More »McConnell’s AHCA Bill Text and WP Interpretation
I have not had a chance to read through this; but, I thought I would put this out here for all of us to read, Senate Version AHCA McConnell Updated this post with the changes proposed in the McConnell Senate Bill as taken from today’s Washington Post. Washington Post Version How Senate Republicans Plan to Dismantle Obamacare; Washington Post; Haeyoun Park and Margot Sanger – Katz; June 22, 2017
Read More »Mitch McConnell, Healthcare, and the ACA
I am always curious about why certain people make it a mission to get rid of things. I think it truly is about Addison Mitchell McConnell trying to erase the accomplishments of what the first black President Barack Obama did as the president. I did some rather easy digging and pulled up Wikipedia. here is what they said about Mitch. As a youth, Addison (Mitch) McConnell overcame polio. He received “government-provided healthcare” in Warm Springs saving him...
Read More »Blue Dogs in NY State Legislature.
Diane Ravitch points to the New York State legislature in her blog this week. NY is a Blue State having gone Dem in presidential elections; however, the state legislature is divided with the Dems controlling the Assembly and Repubs the Senate. What makes the New York state legislature interesting is the emergence of a Blue Dog Democrat segment of the State Assembly, which sides with the Senate Republicans on various issues. Blue Dogs (which I kind of like as...
Read More »“Flat Earthers”
President Trump has proposed budget cuts to programs and the departments running them. Amongst those departments impacted by Trump’s proposals is the Department of Education and it’s Office of Civil Rights. “ The DOE Department of Civil Rights function is to investigate discrimination complaints in school districts across the nation and create standards for responding to allegations of sexual assault and harassment.” Trump’s decreased budget would force cuts...
Read More »Republicans Can Seize a Political Opportunity by Backing Student Loan Reform
Allan Collinge is the founder of the Student Loan Justice Organization a grassroots citizen’s organization dedicated to returning standard consumer protections to student loans. The group was started in March of 2005 and has focused primarily on research, media outreach, and grassroots lobbying initiatives. located in Washington DC. From time to time Angry Bear has publicized Allan efforts to restore bankruptcy protection for student loan. In a rare...
Read More »Dean Baker’s Articles on Healthcare
Barkley has mentioned this particular article several times now. I would be negligent if I did not post a link to it so we could read it. New Health Care Plan: Open Source Drugs, Immigrant Doctors, and a Public Option, 25 March 2017, CEPR, Beat The Press, Dean Baker. There are two obvious directions to go to get costs down for low- and middle-income families. One is to increase taxes on the wealthy. The other is to reduce the cost of health care. The latter...
Read More »Medicare does “NOT PAY FOR ITSELF”
In the comments section of an earlier post (1/3 of Medicare is Wasted), Maggie Mahar had stated to everyone; “Medicare Does Not Pay for Itself.” This is what I meant by that comment: “For more than a decade the the federal government has borrowed to pay for the rising cost of Medicare. Debt-financing of Medicare will increase sharply as the population over 65 doubles from 2010 to 2030 and the number of beneficiaries over 85—with the greatest medical...
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