Tag: AHCA

It’s Not Just Trump: Republicans Constantly Lying About Health Care Means Reporters Face A Growing Challenge

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the Media Matters website May 14, 2017:

As the Beltway press scrambles to keep pace with the White House’s shifting explanations as to why President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey — explanations that seem built on a laundry list of daily deceptions — journalists are now fighting a multiple-front war versus the Republican crusade to embrace fabrications as a rule.

The erratic new president has unleashed a torrent of lies in the place of public policy discussion, but the serial mendacity on the right is hardly limited to Trump. That means journalists face a growing challenge in trying to ferret out the facts. Continue reading “It’s Not Just Trump: Republicans Constantly Lying About Health Care Means Reporters Face A Growing Challenge”

Don’t kick them when they’re down

To the Editor;

Brain cancer. Organ transplant. Heart Disease, Asthma.

These represent just a few of the health issues many of our friends and colleagues have dealt with in the last year. Many of you likely have a list of your own. Some of us have lost loved ones to sickness, while others have struggled to make ends meet, while they battled for their lives.

No one asked to be sick. It’s often thrust upon us — even when we’re trying to prevent it. It could happen to anyone. That’s the one truth about sickness and disease: It’s blind to the contents of our wallet; it doesn’t have a plan. Continue reading “Don’t kick them when they’re down”

Paulsen vote deplorable

To the Editor:

Rep. Erik Paulsen voted fro the TrumpCare bill last week. It appears that Paulsen is a man without a conscience. How else do you explain his vote to rip away health insurance from 24 million Americans? How else do you explain his vote that may stop covering pre-existing conditions? How else do you explain his vote taking away a phenomenal amount of money to help the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick so he can additionally line the pockets of the wealthiest people in America, people that do no need the additional tax cuts? Does Paulsen have a conscience, a heart, a soul, and a mind of his own?

The day after this disgraceful and deplorable vote, I heard on Minnesota Public Radio that Paulsen had declined their requested interview. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. Paulsen’s one word — NO — also speaks a thousand words. That one word paints a picture of a man so embarrassed by his disgusting vote that he could not even face this constituents in the form a brief radio interview. What a shame! What a shameful act! Continue reading “Paulsen vote deplorable”

Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance

The following article by Lesley Clark with the McClatchy Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website May 11, 2017:

Photo: Reuters

WASHINGTON — Do people die because they lack health insurance?

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, found himself in a pickle (and in a cameo in a Jimmy Kimmel monologue) when he suggested they don’t. He later elaborated that he was making the point that no one would “die in the streets” under the Republican health care plan, because hospitals are required by law to treat any patient in need of emergency care.

But health care advocates say his explanation falls short of reality, pointing to a host of studies that show access to health care does prevent premature death, in the case of Americans with conditions such as cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, respiratory failure and asthma. Continue reading “Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance”

States In Shock As Republicans Unleash Health Care Chaos

The following article by Froma Harrop was posted on the National Memo website May 10, 2017:

The final total on the vote on the Republicans health care bill was displayed at the Capitol in Washington on Thursday, May 4, 2017. Relieved Republicans muscled their health care bill through the House, taking their biggest step toward dismantling the Obama health care overhaul since Donald Trump took office. HOUSE TELEVISION VIA AP

Social desperation tends to land on the doorsteps of the governments closest to the people. Happily for states and cities, the Affordable Care Act turned their challenging populations of sick, low-income residents into customers for local health care businesses. Unhappily, President Trump and congressional Republicans are in full sabotage mode and threatening to bus these unfortunates back to their doorsteps.

Obamacare has created an estimated 240,000 jobs in health services. These are high-paying jobs and a godsend for cities reeling from factory layoffs. Continue reading “States In Shock As Republicans Unleash Health Care Chaos”

Fake

To the Editor:

My congressman, Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie) has convinced me. He is a fake.

Mr. Paulsen didn’t earn my vote last November. But the Star Tribune had endorsed him as a reasonable, moderate Republican, so his re-election didn’t worry me then.

Now, I’m paying attention. Rep. Paulsen before Nov 9 was opposed to candidate Trump. After the election Paulsen proved too weak to stand up for Minnesotans against either President Trump or the Republican leadership. The fivethirtyeight.com website finds Mr. Paulsen’s votes are 100% supportive of President Trump. That makes him a fake moderate. Continue reading “Fake”

They Voted to Repeal Obamacare. Now They Are a Target.

While the following article by Kate Zernike posted on the New York Times website May 8, 2017 doesn’t mention Rep. Erik Paulsen, it does speak to the upset many of his constituents feel after his vote FOR the unscored, unread AHCA bill:

Outside of U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen’s office, protesters carried signs and chanted, and then went into his office to demand he hold a town hall. Peter Cox | MPR News

For months, protesters have been rallying outside Senator Cory Gardner’s offices in Colorado, urging him not to join fellow Republicans in their push to repeal the Affordable Care Act. When he refused to hold town hall meetings, protesters staged them in his absence, asking questions to a cardboard cutout of him.

Now they are escalating their tactics.

With the controversial Republican health bill heading to the Senate, organizers of opposition groups say they plan to bird-dog Mr. Gardner’s whereabouts and show up at his events, buying seats at fund-raisers if necessary. They want to remind him that he promised to protect the expansion of Medicaid and guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, both provisions undone by the bill the House narrowly passed last week. Continue reading “They Voted to Repeal Obamacare. Now They Are a Target.”

#QuestionableVotes Paulsen Vote Tracker: HR487 Better Care, Low Cost Act

Summary:  Introduced to the House on March 23, 2016, this is an amendment to the existing Medicare/Medicaid Rules. In the Republican-controlled House members’ eyes it is intended to bring to the forefront chronic injuries and illnesses and making sure that as they call it “BCP”‘s (Better Care Program”) is available to those who qualify. It lists MANY situations and conditions and coverages that seem to apply only to certain people based on Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D.

Takeaway:  Rep. Paulsen voted for this amendment.  While there doesn’t appear to be any major wording changes from what’s already law, the most recent Medicare coverage booklet was release in October of  2016.

Although this bill died,  it’s worth re-reading your booklets.ANYONE, who is on Medicare or Medicaid  should review their booklet to become completely aware of what does affect you based in your situation.

 

Trumpcare’s Medicaid Cutbacks Will Bring The Real Death Panels

The following article by Joe Conason was posted on the National Memo website May 8, 2017:

The real death panels are coming.

Back in 2009, during the shrill hours of debate over the Affordable Care Act, Sarah Palin warned us solemnly that defenseless Americans “will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panels’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.”

Many a snooty elitist dismissed those ominous Facebook pronouncements by the former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee, but she was hardly alone in uttering such predictions. Palin and many others on the right claimed that President Obama’s struggle to expand health coverage — considered a human right in most of the modern world — was really a nefarious plot to save money by rationing care. All too soon, some tribunal in Washington, D.C. was bound to condemn Grandma to a cruel and untimely doom to save a few bucks. Continue reading “Trumpcare’s Medicaid Cutbacks Will Bring The Real Death Panels”

50 Preexisting Conditions That Can Make You Lose Your Insurance If Trump and GOP Have Their Way

The following article by Kali Holloway was posted on the AlterNet website May 6, 2017:

In the Republican approach to health care, the sick could be priced out of the insurance they so desperately need.

Credit: ABC News

Republicans have made more than 50 attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act since its passage in 2009. They made their most successful attempt to date on Thursday, when House GOP members voted to repeal and replace the ACA with their own health care plan. According to estimates, the Republican bill “will create tax breaks worth about $600 billion that will mostly go to health insurance companies, prescription drug manufacturers and the wealthy.” The GOP plan will also cut Medicaid by about $880 billion, draining funds for special education programs in K-12 schools around the country and leaving an estimated 24 million Americans without insurance, among many other consequences. Brand new bill, same GOP cruelty and greed.

One of the most discussed problems with the American Health Care Act, or Trumpcare, is that it would allow states to let health care providers charge people more for coverage. That means the sick could actually be priced out of the insurance they desperately need. The people most likely to suffer under the new Republican are older people and people in rural America, who overwhelmingly went for Trump. In fact, the 11 states with the highest number of adults with preexisting conditions all voted to live in Trump’s America. Continue reading “50 Preexisting Conditions That Can Make You Lose Your Insurance If Trump and GOP Have Their Way”