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10 Mar 2011 14:39

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U.S.: Ohio Gov. John Kasich would like you to know he can crush unions too

  • Wisconsin As anybody with an even mild interest in politics now knows, Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget” bill is not about the budget, so much as it’s a duplicitous effort to crush public unions at seemingly any political price. Police and firefighters, being somewhat harder to scapegoat than teachers, are exempt.
  • Ohio Don’t look now, but Gov. John Kasich is the mega-Walker. The newly elected Republican (and former Bill O’Reilly fill-in host) has an even more draconian hope for unions, stripping broad bargaining rights (like health care), and even disallowing strikes. Oh, and no free pass for police or firefighters. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Mar 2011 00:47

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Politics: Mitt Romney rips Obamacare (which was based on his own plan)

  • You may have noticed that the president and his people spend more time talking about me and Massachusetts health care than Entertainment Tonight spends talking about Charlie Sheen.
  • Mitt Romney • Trying to get a whip-dash burn in on Obama while being hip and of the moment. Romney was in New Hampshire today making the kind of inroads a presidential candidate might make. Which, of course, means that he has to eventually talk to the elephant in the room – he health care plan he enacted, on which the federal plan was modeled. Romney’s take? He was dealing with problems “unique to Massachusetts” with his plan, and Obamacare is “Misguided and egregious.” Because hey. As long as I look good and I can take credit for something, it doesn’t matter what you do. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 21:30

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Politics: Health Care-blocking Judge Roger Vinson: Supreme Court or bust

  • Almost everyone agrees that the constitutionality of the act is an issue that will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is very important to everyone in this country that this case move forward as soon as practically possible.
  • Senior US District Judge Roger Vinson • In offering a deal to the Obama administration –  he’ll put a stay on his health-care decision – but only if he appeals it, possibly directly to the Supreme Court. Vinson’s decision is notable in that he said the entire law was unconstitutional in his decision, which was the result of a 26-state class-action lawsuit. So, how do you guys think that the Supreme Court will decide? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 21:31

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U.S.: Scott Walker’s deficit-cutting plan: Let’s cut everything, stat!

  • » The end result: Walker hopes to reduce the state’s structural deficit 90 percent to around $250 million – a deep, austerity-focused cut that may stop the deficit but could greatly hurt the state in the process, if you think that way. Walker, well, doesn’t. “I have often repeated references to our state’s constitutional lesson, that it is only through frugality and moderation in government that we will see freedom and prosperity for our people,” he said. Or, you could just raise taxes if you’re really that hard up about fixing this budget problem.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 15:31

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U.S.: Justice Department nabs Medicare fraud suspects in sweep

  • 111 people were charged with defrauding Medicare, a record bust
  • $225 million the amount defendants reportedly attempted to defraud source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 23:17

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U.S.: New rules pose problems for cigarette-loving surgeons

  • If you’re an unemployed smoker, don’t bother trying to be a nurse. Around the country, hospitals are implementing no-smoking-allowed policies for their employees, subjecting new applicants to urine tests and treating smoking as a terminable offense. This isn’t entirely without merit: an average smoker costs their employer about $3,391 per year in health costs and lost productivity. On the other hand, it may set a troublesome precedent for other lifestyle choices that result in higher-than-average health costs (skiing, eating meat from Taco Bell). Oddly, though both the SEIU and the tobacco lobby have voiced opposition to the law, neither are aggressively campaigning against it. (thanks for the tip, toutlejour)  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jan 2011 10:57

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Politics: Should Obama turn health-care debate back on Republicans?

  • If the president said, ‘Okay, John Boehner, you bet, now that you’re in power, as soon as you pass a version that covers the same number of people for less, I’ll be happy to put my approach aside and cut a deal,’ he’d remind Americans about the discussion Republicans refuse to have.
  • Washington Post opinion writer Matt Miller • Arguing that Obama should frame the debate around health care not in terms of what the Republicans are claiming to do (save money), but in terms of what they as of yet have been unwilling to do – find a comprehensive approach to insuring 30 million Americans that saves more money than Obama’s plan, which he says is imperfect but still important. “Back in the universe in which we actually live, Obamacare was a historic first step. We need to mend it, not end it.” What do you guys think? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

18 Jan 2011 13:34

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U.S.: America needs the healer’s touch

  • 129 million may suffer from preexisting conditions source
  • That’s the high-end estimate, thankfully. The study by the Department of Health and Human Services, aimed at Americans under 65, does state a low-end estimate of 50 million, but notwithstanding- that’s a whole lot of sick.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 21:15

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Politics: House GOP plans useless, ineffective Obamacare repeal vote

  • You’ve seen that the more people learn about Obamacare the less they like it. So we will put forth a clean repeal bill of Obamacare, and you’ll continue to see us make that fight because that’s what the American people want us to do.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann • Speaking about the House GOP’s plan to vote on a repeal of the health care bill – before the president’s State of the Union later this month. Between this and the reading-the-Constitution thing, the GOP is big on symbolic measures that waste everyone’s time, aren’t they? Then again, the Democrats did something similar with the tax compromise, so maybe we should just hush. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 13:18

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U.S.: Alabama at top of Medicaid bonus class … and then some

  • So, fun fact about Medicaid for children: Around two-thirds of uninsured children are eligible to receive it. But nearly 4.7 million children who are eligible for the service don’t receive it. Why? Well, to put it simply, state and federal governments are absolutely terrible at informing parents that it’s an option. It’s something the Obama administration has been working on, however, and thanks to some incentives, 15 states are being rewarded for insuring more children (around 874,000 in total) in the last year. Or, actually, Alabama and 14 other states:
  • $309
    million     the amount in Medicaid bonuses that the Obama administration is handing to the states
  • $55
    million     the amount that Alabama – *ALONE* – is taking in, more than double any other state on the list source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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