GOP Actions Speak Louder Than Rhetoric

The GOP won in landslide fashion last November by running on job creation, effectively blaming the Democrats for the sluggish economy (how quickly voters forgot Bush) and how they'll fix the budget. Guess what? All they've done so far is strip abortion rights, bust unions, give tax cut bonuses to the wealthiest and defund programs for the middle-class. Jobs, shnobs say the right wing regressives. We win, you lose! Ha ha suckers!!!

In the latest chapter of Republican oppression of womens reproductive rights; women who want an abortion in South Dakota will face the longest waiting period in the nation – three days – and will have to undergo counseling by anti-abortion amateurs at pregnancy clinics that discourage abortions. The measure was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Didn't the right wing also complain that the new health care reform bill was going to allow the government to get in between a patient and their doctor? How is this not doing that exact thing. Imagine the outrage in any of these red states if someone proposed a three day wait to get a gun and take a mandatory gun safety course? All hell would break loose.

Instead of spending so much energy preventing abortion, maybe Republicans should focus on helping prevent pregnancies. FACT: Abstinence does not work. FACT: Education about sexuality does. Meanwhile they try to defund Planned Parenthood who assists in contraception. The truth of the matter is the GOP wants every woman possible, pregnant for their own antiquated reasons. The GOP believes women are brood mares and nothing more and their two month reign as House majority and capturing many governorships has proved that.

I really hope American women and secure men are waking up to this radical agenda. These radicals are the result of what happens when you don't exercise your right to vote. This is also an example of how much your vote counts. I know several women who would personally never consider the procedure, but don't feel it's their place to make the call for someone else. That's why it's called "choice." Don't get fooled again.

Rachel Maddow, as usual, explains it like no one else can:

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If all Americans can get health insurance, life as we know it will never be the same...oh, wait

A funny thing happened this morning...the sun rose like it always has, there was no armegeddon overnight and since the religious zealots haven't mentioned anything, I guess it's pretty safe to say that hell didn't freeze over. Why is this so shocking? Because the Health Care Reform bill passed in the Congress last night with a gavel strike by *gasp* Speaker Nancy Pelosi! I've been mostly quiet about this because it's a very complex issue with complicated language, daily changes and with all the posturing from both sides, I wasn't comfortable putting my thoughts on the blog without complete confidence that all my facts were lined up. One thing I am sure about, when private insurance companies start randomly raising rates by as much as 40%, it was clear that the situation needed to be addressed. Today, a list of the top 18 immediate changes were listed on Huffington Post and I think it's important to point them out since Republicans are already promising to repeal this law once they regain power. After reading these new laws, I hope the GOP really is dumb enough to run on that platform. I think it's a bit misleading for them to keep pointing out that 52% of the country is against this bill. Statistically, that might be true, but at least half of those don't think the bill went far enough, not that we didn't want to see changes to the status quo. And because I've listened with interest to Wendell Potter, the former Cigna executive-turned-whistleblower and Dr. Howard Dean who managed to get universal coverage for children in Vermont under his Governorship, that this at least gets our foot in the door I would say our 26% + the already established support from 48% gives the Dems a 74% to 26% advantage!

• Health Insurers cannot deny children health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. A ban on the discrimination in adults will take effect in 2014.

• Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will get tax credits covering up to 50% of employee premiums.

• Seniors will get a rebate to fill the so-called "donut hole" in Medicare drug coverage, which severely limits prescription medication coverage expenditures over $2,700. As of next year, 50 percent of the donut hole will be filled.

• The cut-off age for young adults to continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance rises to the age 26.

• Lifetime caps on the amount of insurance an individual can have will be banned. Annual caps will be limited, and banned in 2014.

• A temporary high-risk pool will be set up to cover adults with pre-existing conditions. Health care exchanges will eliminate the program in 2014.

• New plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pays. All plans will be affected by 2018.

• Insurance companies can no longer cut someone when he or she gets sick.

• Insurers must now reveal how much money is spent on overhead.

• Any new plan must now implement an appeals process for coverage determinations and claims.

• New screening procedures will be implemented to help eliminate health insurance fraud and waste.

• Medicare payment protections will be extended to small rural hospitals and other health care facilities that have a small number of Medicare patients.

• Non-profit Blue Cross organizations will be required to maintain a medical loss ratio -- money spent on procedures over money incoming -- of 85 percent or higher to take advantage of IRS tax benefits.

• Chain restaurants will be required to provide a "nutrient content disclosure statement" alongside their items. Expect to see calories listed both on in-store and drive-through menus of fast-food restaurants sometime soon.

• The bill establishes a temporary program for companies that provide early retiree health benefits for those ages 55‐64 in order to help reduce the often-expensive cost of that coverage.

• A two‐year temporary credit (up to a maximum of $1 billion) is in the bill to encourage investment in new therapies for the prevention and treatement of diseases.

• The Secretary of Health and Human Services will set up a new Web site to make it easy for Americans in any state to seek out affordable health insurance options The site will also include helpful information for small businesses.

• A ten percent tax will be imposed on indoor tanning services. This tax, which replaced the proposed tax on cosmetic surgery, would be effective for services on or after July 1, 2010.

I'm pretty sure that last one is the one that really makes orange Minority Speaker John Boehners blood boil. The nerve of those sneaky Democrats sneaking this into a health care reform bill just to spite him!

Pass HCR Now...if only to get rid of Limbaugh!

Hate radio host Rush Limbaugh has been one of health care reform’s most viscious opponents, warning that “human beings will die earlier than normal” under the “freedom killing” and “life threatening” plan, and calling for it to be “aborted.” Yesterday, Limbaugh uttered a few simple words that we could've only dreamed hearing. He said that if health care passes and all his fears are realized, he’ll leave the country. A caller asked him where he would go if health care reform passes and his response was,

"I’ll just tell you this, if this passes and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica."

If ever there was a rally cry to get a health reform bill passed, that was it! There's something we've got to keep to ourselves though; Costa Rica has universal health care, one of the best health systems in Latin America...don't tell Rush!

The Costa Rican healthcare system is rated very highly on an international level, and the country’s citizens enjoy the health and life expectancy equal to that of more developed nations. These accolades come courtesy of strong, universal health insurance and excellent public and private hospitals.
Costa Rica’s public health insurance system, commonly known as the Caja, is available country-wide to all citizens and legal residents. There are ten major public hospitals – four in San Jose, including the Children’s Hospital – affiliated with the Caja. For non-emergencies and everyday medical care, small clinics, known as EBAIS (pronounced ay-vy-ice), are located in almost every community. Read more on Huffington Post

While we can't be sure exactly what Limpy is looking for, it's clear he doesn't want to be anywhere with government run health care so Costa Rica is out. When asked where Rush might find his absolute, perfect private sector health plan, Markos Moulitsis (Daily KOS) said, "Well, it wouldn‘t be Costa Rica, but I‘ll tell you, what would probably work—I think Somalia would be great for Rush. I mean, it‘s a libertarian paradise. Everybody has guns. There‘s not much of a government. There sure as heck isn‘t government-run health care. So, I think, if you‘re talking about Rush‘s world view, I can‘t imagine a better place than Somalia—as long as he can find himself a nice $20 million pad in Mogadishu."

Brown, Boehner and Bipartisanship...oye vey

I seriously have to ask, do we ever learn? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Today, Scott Brown (R-MA) broke rank with fellow Republicans and supported a Democratic jobs bill in an important procedural vote. Brown says the bill is not perfect but he will support it. I hope people don't read too much into this vote. This is a soft toss that the Republicans will look foolish fighting. Since Brown's election was largely a protest vote, he can't walk lock step with the party of no. Expect him to act like a moderate on these types of votes. Wait until Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy expire, or ending DADT comes close to fruition, or closing Gitmo becomes reality. Don't get suckered. This boy supports Bush policies and only supports enough moderate positions to get him elected in Massachusetts.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (the orange Republican ventriloquist from OH) said the President has crippled the credibility of this week's summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected. Yeah, ok "Boner", Republicans have garnered so much credibility on this topic. Obama made his own 11 page health care proposal public on Monday morning, giving participants three days to examine them before the meeting. Obama has asked that the summit be televised. It's rumored that he will add one or two Republican-backed measures to the legislation as a show of bipartisanship. These steps satisfy previous GOP demands...which means they'll have new one's. This bipartisan outreach is really getting old, it's not going to happen! Saying no to everything is working for them. It is why Democrats are getting killed in the polls. ENOUGH ALREADY! Get something good done so the public can see that Democrats can govern.  Let's see, what is the Republicans idea of HCR? Tort reform, tort reform! Sorry, I'm not buying into something that adds less than one half of one percent to the cost of health care coverage, but will limit people's ability to sue incompetent doctor's as beneficial across the board. I agree that someone shouldn't be awarded $10K for a scar on their finger, but someone who has the wrong kidney removed (happened in CA last fall) should not be limited to damages. The good news? In this case the doctor apologized for the error after surgery. I guess Republicans think that's enough. Hey, shit happens! The other thing they want is to allow private health insurance companies to sell across state lines. My first reaction to that is, "Yeah, that'll work. I'm sure they won't all be in cahoots to keep premiums high!" However, after doing a little research I found that states have regulated health insurance since the 1945 passage of the McCarran Ferguson Act, which forbids interstate sale of insurance. What Republicans are suggesting would require a federal law that replaces state regulation of insurance with federal regulation. This is an odd policy for Republicans to pursue since they generally claim to reject federal regulation in favor of state independence. They're a confusing little bunch of whiners.