Don’t let the Michigan House GOP fool you. They don’t really want Medicaid expansion in Michigan. They just want you to think they do.
Click through for the full story.
The race to win South Carolina’s 1st District Congressional seat in a special election on Tuesday is virtually a dead heat. Former Republican Governor Mark Sanford has closed in on Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch’s early lead, with at least one poll putting him one point ahead.
From what I’ve seen, Sanford has largely achieved this through attack ads and accusations. Although, honestly, I can’t believe voters aren’t shaking their heads over his talking-to-a-cardboard-cutout-of-Nancy-Pelosi stunt. I’m not even going to get into his personal transgressions.
But some Democrats aren’t exactly helping Colbert Busch’s cause, vilifying her for the comments she made about Obamacare during her debate with Sanford.…
Considering all the shenanigans in the Michigan legislature lately, you might have forgotten about Michigan Senate Bill 136, the “Religious Liberty & Moral Conscience Protection Act.” Well, I haven’t — and I hope you won’t, either. It could come up for a vote in the Senate at any time and we need to let our Senators know this bill does not represent the will of most Michiganders, including many in the healthcare field.
As I wrote here previously, the bill would give healthcare providers, facilities and insurers the right to refuse to provide or cover “objectionable” healthcare services on religious or moral grounds. But the bill is alarmingly vague, opening the door to discrimination and refusal to provide care to almost anyone, for almost any reason.
Worst of all, there are no genuine protections for patients in this bill. Those are even more vague because the bill isn’t about patient care at all. It’s about legislators and a vocal minority who want to put up roadblocks to anything even remotely related to Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act.
Click through for more.
There’s a piece in today’s Livingston County Press & Argus that starts with this statement: “Both those for and against the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” agree on one thing: Emergency room visits by those with little or no insurance are driving health-care cost increases.” The article then goes on to prove that’s not entirely correct. Apparently Republican state Senator Joe Hune DISAGREES with this.
All the facepalming details after the jump.
The percentage of Michigan residents covered by health insurance through their job has dropped from 78.1 percent in 2000 to 62.9 percent in 2011 according to a new report out by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That’s the second highest decline in the entire country, second only to South Carolina.
The study was done to get baseline information prior to the implementation of many of the core components of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) so that we’ll have something to compare to as the ACA is rolled out.
Some of the key findings and more after the jump.
Tea party groups in Michigan appear to have succeeded in preventing an expansion of Medicaid that would have given health insurance to nearly a half million working poor Michiganders and preventing the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. The actions will cost the state millions and millions of dollars, ensure that fewer people have health coverage than would have under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and, ironically, help take the country a step closer to a single-payer health care system in the long run.
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations subcommittee passed their annual budget bill without the inclusion of the expansion of Medicaid that Governor Snyder, doctors, and hospitals across the state supported emphatically. Even tea party governors like Florida’s Rick Scott support this element of “Obamacare” since it would mean coverage of millions of their residents while relieving the burden on their hospital systems. They also kicked poor people in the teeth in a couple of other ways, as well.
Click through for details.
Governor Rick Snyder is warning Michigan Republican legislators that time is running out to set up a state-run health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”.) As Gov. Snyder points out, we have the choice of doing this in a way that is customized for Michigan or letting the federal government do it for us.
Meanwhile, tea party groups in Michigan are working overtime to kill it, a position I have come to cheer on. Click through to see why.
South Carolina Republicans have decided not to expand Medicaid in their state as provided under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”.) By doing this, they are turning down $11 billion in federal funds and risk the creation of upwards of 44,000 jobs.
Why did they do this? According Republican state House Representative Kris Crawford, it’s because President Barack Obama is black.
You think I’m kidding but I’m not. Details after the jump.
Despite support for creating a public health insurance exchange in Michigan under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) from Democrats, some Republicans and even Governor Rick Snyder, it’s looking more and more like it won’t happen in Michigan. Why? Because tea party groups across the state are out-hustling and out-organizing progressive groups that could be making a difference.
On Tuesday MIRS news service quoted sources in the state senate who say there aren “not even close” to enough votes to pass legislation that will create the exchanges and cite a deluge of calls from tea party and other conservative groups that have flooded the phone lines of lawmakers for the past several weeks.…
This week, a Florida Senate committee rejected the expansion of Medicaid to its poorest residents, a vote that followed a similar vote in the House and a surprise endorsement by its tea partying governor. Not only that, the bill’s Republican sponsor declared that he wants Florida out of the Medicaid business altogether.
Click through for details.
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