This right here is a big doozy when it comes to the hypocrisy of Tea Party politicians: Tea Party aligned Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan — which his attorney argued is […]
The House has just passed the Ryan budget plan: The House has passed a Republican budget blueprint proposing to fundamentally overhaul Medicare for future beneficiaries while combating out-of-control budget deficits. It would impose sharp spending cuts on social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid. The GOP proposal passed 235-193, with every Democrat voting […]
Including their deficit: This month the state’s part-time legislature goes back into session, and the state is starting at potentially a $25 billion deficit on a two-year budget of around $95 billion. That’s enormous. And there’s not much fat to cut. The whole budget is basically education and healthcare spending. Cutting everything else wouldn’t do […]
After having spent the past four years in the minority, you would think congressional Republicans could actually come up with some sort of plans. Instead they lay out their “wish list”, but never present any path to make these wishes a reality. That was scene again last week with the Republicans new “Pledge to America”. […]
Just received this breaking news alert from the Washington Post: President Obama signed an order Thursday night requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney. The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo […]
Ezra Klein, one of the most vocal bill-backers, has a really good plan – scrap the bill. But that doesn’t mean healthcare reform is dead. Instead he offers up items that could easily go through reconciliation: Democrats could scrap the legislation and start over in the reconciliation process. But not to re-create the whole bill. […]
Something I have been meaning to do is figure up the cost impact of health care for people with diabetics. Most insurance policies don’t cover diabetic testing supplies. That gives diabetics an extra $100-$120 expense every month. I want to take a minute and figure up what premiums plus average out of pocket expenses would […]
Ben Nelson’s deal to get the federal government to foot the bill for Nebraska’s Medicaid costs isn’t sitting well with many people, including Nebraskans: Just 17 percent of Nebraska voters said they support the deal their senator cut in the last round of health care negotiations, in which the federal government will pick up the […]
I am going to stick with 1980 for my discussion on the federal poverty level because in this post it also works to exemplify the problems. In 1980 families didn’t have as many costs. Two costs are internet and cable. Some might argue that those are luxury items, but when you are talking about a […]
With Obama claiming that he never campaigned for the public option a new probelm is presented – the “fix it later” argument. This comment by Obama has taken a lot of people by surprise. Even Ezra Klein, a strong bill backer, is calling the President’s bluff on this: Oy. I’ll defend the argument that the […]