Why Nurses Support the Affordable Care Act

post from Kmareka.com on 02 May 2012 08:00:19 AM. © Kmareka.com

Known by its opponents as ‘Obamacare’ because the very words, ‘affordable care’ would explain why it is urgently needed.

I’m on an email list for medical professionals, just got this call to support affordable care. This is pretty much in sync with what we see and hear every day. Healthcare for private profit wastes resources and fails the public.

The House of Representatives has voted to repeal the ACA and the already compromised funding necessary to administer it remains in jeopardy. In short, the obstacles appear to be expanding. Given this situation, it would appear easier to just give up and not push Congressional Representatives to continue the fight against this onslaught. However, with the need so great, and with so much effort having been put forth by so many people, it would be a shame to give up now. Nurses need to continue to educate themselves about the ACA and the issues it is designed to address. It is my hope that by reviewing some of the legislation’s key areas for change that it will re-energize and reinforce the idea that as the battle rages on for reform, nurses must be involved to help sustain the positive momentum sparked by this new legislation.

And here’s a doctor on the subject…

As a practicing physician, I see investments in prevention and public health quite differently. Engaging in preventive care in my primary care practice allows for the early detection of disease, which eases the treatment of so many illnesses. Obtaining a mammogram, considered preventive care, allows for the early detection of breast cancers. Catching a breast cancer at its earliest stage allows for a cure, whereas detecting breast cancer at a late stage often means engaging in chemotherapy and radiation in an effort to extend survival without hope for a cure.
But we are not just talking about funding prevention at the individual level. We need to shift the focus of our health care system from one that only treats disease, to a more sensible system that prevents disease and encourages wellness.

Another world is possible, where the public good is valued by enough Americans to influence our vote, and our representatives.

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Romney's War on Words

post from Connecting.the.Dots on 02 May 2012 08:00:09 AM. © Connecting.the.Dots

So soon after eight years of W circumlocution ("Mistakes were made"), could Americans bear as president another aging frat boy who instinctively mangles language into meaninglessness?

Mitt Romney provides a preview of his brand of highwire linguistics by torturing a five-year- old declaration by Obama that he would unilaterally pursue Osama bin Laden into Pakistan: "I thought it was a mistake of him as a candidate for the presidency of the United States to announce he would go in--rather than to say, as I did, we reserve the right to go wherever we feel is appropriate to secure the interests of the United States of America, and certainly to track Osama bin Laden anywhere he could be found.??

Say what? For years now, critics have accused Romney of flipflops on issues when the problem may actually run deeper, a venture-capital pitchman's instinctive impulse to fuzz up promises and claims for self-protection.

What Obama actually said in 2007 was "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

A clear statement of intent of what President Obama actually did in 2011, not a boardroom salesman's slippery fine print on an investment.

On Romney's breathtaking joyride of issue-switching--about gays, abortion, etc.--sympathetic onlookers may have given him latitude for having to straddle a wide range of his party's social and political attitudes.

Now the question arises: Is there any there there? Or is it too much to expect real talk from an empty suit?

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is in a war zone, dealing with specifics, "Last year, we removed 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Another 23,000 will leave by the end of the summer. After that, reductions will continue at a steady pace, with more of our troops coming home. And as our coalition agreed, by the end of 2014 the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of their country."

Like it or not, Americans can understand what the President is saying. Do they really want to go back to the unintelligible world of another George W. Bush?

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http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/2012/05/romneys-war-on-words.html

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Morning CheckUp: May 2, 2012

post from ThinkProgress on 02 May 2012 08:00:05 AM. © ThinkProgress

Massachusetts payment-reform bill would overhaul how health-care providers are paid: “In 2006, under Gov. Mitt Romney, Massachusetts became the first state to extend insurance coverage to all its residents. Now it?s looking to slow the growth of its health-care costs in equally groundbreaking ways.” [Washington Post]

In Massachusetts, hope for higher salaries if health care inflation slows: “As Massachusetts’ state legislators put the finishing touches on a major health care cost-control bill, there is still one big question: How much could it save? A recent report claims employers and employees could see between $8 billion and $34.5 billion in savings over nine years.” [WBUR]

Advocates worry states are moving too fast on dual eligibles: “Some states likely will begin testing new ways to care for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid early next year?a timeline that has some advocates urging officials to slow down.” [Kaiser Health News]

$728 million awarded for health-center projects: “HHS awarded $728 million for nearly 400 community health-center construction and renovation projects. Of the amount, 171 health centers received $629 million to expand facilities and capacity, and improve services, according to an HHS news release. Another $99.3 million was awarded to 227 health centers to fund projects related to facility needs and equipment.” [Modern Healthcare]

Legislation to avoid mandatory cuts awaits budget panel: “Next week, House Budget Committee members will consider legislation that includes healthcare spending reductions and the repeal of some provisions of the reform law as part of a package to avoid across-the-board cuts to federal programs set to begin next year.” [Modern Healthcare]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/02/475033/morning-checkup-may-2-2012/

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Justiceline: May 2, 2012

post from ThinkProgress on 02 May 2012 08:00:05 AM. © ThinkProgress

Welcome to Justiceline, ThinkProgress Justice?s morning round-up of the latest legal news and developments. Remember to follow us on Twitter at @TPJustice

The Department of Justice is investigating the University of Montana at Missoula due to concerns that the university is not adequately addressing sexual assaults on its campus. According to DOJ, eighty reported rapes occurred on the campus in just three years.
A New York judge rejected former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss Kahn?s claim that he is immune to a civil lawsuit for allegedly sexually assaulting a hotel maid.
The Sixth Circuit upheld the conviction of two Kentucky lawyers who scammed their clients out of nearly half of a $200 million settlement over the diet drug fen-phen.
Hustler Magazine wins a truly ghoulish case concerning whether they could publish 24 year-old nude photos of a woman after she was killed by her professional wrestler husband.
And, finally, you can’t say “fuck” in the Supreme Court.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/02/475050/justiceline-may-2-2012/

Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: New poll has
Sen. Joe Manchin up 52 points in West Virginia

post from Daily Kos on 02 May 2012 08:00:04 AM. © Daily Kos

Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here.Leading Off:

? WV-Sen, WV-Gov: Holy smokes! Okay, I mean, I know they love Sen. Joe Manchin down in West by-God Virginia, but these poll numbers are berserk. A new survey from R.L. Repass & Partners on behalf of the Charleston Daily Mail finds Manchin up over Republican John Raese (the guy he beat in 2010) by a beyond-comical 74-22! Meanwhile, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is also crushing his own rematch-seeking Republican opponent, Bill Maloney, by a hefty 60-32 spread. And while numbers this extreme have to make you wonder a bit, here's one sign that this poll may in fact be well-grounded: Mitt Romney is cruising over Barack Obama, 54-37. The willingness of Mountain Staters to split their tickets between federal Republicans and local Democrats has long been a pretty remarkable phenomenon, but seldom has it been as stark as this.

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orning-Digest-New-poll-has-Sen-Joe-Manchin-up-52-points-in-West-Virginia

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Mike's Blog Round Up

post from Crooks and Liars on 02 May 2012 08:00:00 AM. © Crooks and Liars

Cracked - learn to spot a BS political story in under 10 seconds;

Gothamist - Ghouliani, Mittens photo-op at NYFD fire station, roundly jeered by New Yorkers;

The American Prospect - come on people, it's Dan Savage;

The Booman Tribune - liberals have known for years Rupert Murdoch wasn't fit to run NewsCorp;

Towleroad - anti-gay wingnuts force out-gay Romney advisor to quit;

blogenfreude blogs at stinque.com and will finish that screenplay one day, dammit.

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http://crooksandliars.com/blogenfreude/mikes-blog-round-13

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How much does a political ad cost New FCC ruling
will help us figure it out

post from Occasional Planet on 02 May 2012 08:00:00 AM. © Occasional Planet

How much does it actually cost to run a political ad on television? We’re about to find out. Until Friday [April 27, 2012], the only way to learn how much a candidate was spending on tv ads was to go to a local television station and request to see something known as the “public files.” But a [...]Related posts:

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http://www.occasionalplanet.org/2012/05/02/how-much-does-a-political-ad-cost-new-
fcc-ruling-will-help-us-figure-it-out/

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West Wing Talks Walks

post from TheGreenMiles.com on 02 May 2012 07:55:00 AM. © TheGreenMiles.com

I still prefer this video on the benefits of walking, but there's no better way to reach the DC political nerd crowd than a West Wing reunion:

Walk & Talk - The West Wing Reunion from Martin Sheen

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGreenMiles/~3/hB5AY59Qbs8/west-wing-talks-walks
.html

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Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Obama is Commander
in Chief while Romney plays pretend

_{Visual source: Newseum}

AP:

President Barack Obama answered political taunts with presidential muscle Tuesday, addressing the nation from Kabul as Republicans said he's overdoing the celebration of Osama bin Laden's death one year ago.
The president's secret flight to Afghanistan ? where he signed off on details for withdrawing U.S. troops from the decade-long war there ? was the type of campaign counterpunch that may play out many times in his re-election battle against Republican Mitt Romney.

Every Republican complaint reminds people that Obama got Osama, while Bush failed to do so.

WaPo:

Mitt Romney on Tuesday ate cheese pizza with firefighters and held a news conference to declare that he would be a tough commander in chief.
At the same moment, President Obama was aboard Air Force One on a secret trip to Kabul, putting the finishing touches on an address to the nation marking the first anniversary of the Osama bin Laden raid he oversaw.
The contrast was both a testament to the power of incumbency and a fresh illustration of one of the more difficult challenges Romney confronts as the GOP?s presumptive presidential nominee: to press the case that Obama is weak abroad despite having ordered the raid that killed the world?s most-hunted terrorist.

There's a simple conclusion: Romney can't pull it off.

Ross Douthat:

Whereas on domestic issues the Romney camp can answer almost every Obama attack by changing the subject to the unemployment rate, on foreign policy the Republican message is much more muddled and uncertain. In the usual order of things, Romney would be simply try to out-hawk the president, but this is not a hawkish moment in American politics. Outside of the most Republican portions of the electorate, the Iraq War is still widely regarded as a bad blunder, and even conservatives are increasingly supportive of a speedy exit from Afghanistan. Public opinion on Iran is unsettled, but there is next to no support for the kind of stepped-up American intervention in Syria that some Republicans have championed.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. (I'll go hunt up all of Douthat's columns about how over the top Bush, Giuliani, Cheney and the Republicans were on this issue from 2001-present. Be back in a few years when I find them. I think they are somewhere in Iraq next to the weapons of mass destruction.)

And on the domestic side, Jennifer Granholm:

No, he didn?t! Did Romney?s adviser Eric Fehrnstrom really say that President Barack Obama did ?exactly? what Mitt Romney advised on the auto industry?
OK, I admit that I have a particular animus toward a guy that knifed us in the back when Michigan was on its knees. But let?s just look at the facts on the auto bailout. It?s straightforward.

George E Condon Jr:

In going to Afghanistan and addressing the nation about the state of the decade-long war, President Obama did exactly what Republicans long have been urging him to do. But in doing so on the anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, he sure didn?t do it the way they wanted him to?certainly not if it reminded voters of the single greatest accomplishment of his presidency.

Dana Milbank:

To call this 112th Congress a do-nothing Congress would be an insult ? to the real Do-Nothing Congress of 1947-48. That Congress passed 908 laws. To date, this one has passed 106 public laws. Even if they triple that output in the rest of 2012 ? not a terribly likely proposition ? they will still be in last place going back at least 40 years.

Ian Reifowitz:

Many Americans?in particular those who are white and middle-aged or older?remember growing up in a far more homogeneous place than the present. The sense of mourning for ? and the desire to restore ? that world is powerful, as is the fear of what is to come in the new, far more diverse America. The question is whether politicians choose to exacerbate that fear through divisive rhetoric, or to assuage it with language that seeks to unify us as Americans and encourages us to transcend our differences. Mitt Romney must openly declare which kind of politician he is.

Ian's panel at NN12 (Providence), Promoting People of Color in the Progressive Blogosphere, will run Friday June 8.

Read The Full Article:
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und-up-Obama-is-Commander-in-Chief-while-Romney-plays-pretend

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Lakeside Diner

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.[...]

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