Romneycare's Birthday

Romneycare, the Massachusetts health care law that was championed by former governor Mitt Romney, has had its sixth birthday, and Romney did not attend the party. That would have been awkward, since he is opposed to the rest of the country having the same health care his home state has.

See:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/politics/massachusetts-health-law-is-celebrated-with-a-poke-at-romney.html?_r=1

Update to Representative Jimmie Smith's False Claim

Regarding the cliam by Rep. Jimmie Smith that the Florida legislature cannot submit its members to drug testing due to a Supreme Court ruling on "elected officials," Politifact.com has weighed in on the issue.

Their conclusion: "Smith's claim can be decided by the Truth-O-Meter. It's False."

The Miami Herald has also come to the same conclusion, stating, "Jimmie Smith and other supporters of the bill didn't produce any proof that drug abuse was rampant in the state work force. They just wanted to look like tough guys." Article here.


Previous blog post on this new drug testing law:
http://blog1990a.blogspot.com/2012/03/drug-testing-and-jimmie-t-smiths-lies.html

Health Care is a Human Issue

Sometimes we all get caught up in technical issues, or legal arguments.

It is important not to forget that it's really all about people.

See this story: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/27/health/health-care-insurance-lifetime-caps/index.html

Will the Republicans and Tea Party be telling that little girl to get a job and quit freeloading?

Health Care Is Interstate Commerce

Opponents of the federal health care law argue that it goes to far for the Constitution's grant of power to regulate intestate commerce.

There is an article at the Boston Globe that shows just how intertwined health care is with interstate commerce, and the consequences of each state coming up with their own widely differing solutions.

An example:

The doctors and nurses in the emergency room of Holy Family Hospital in Methuen routinely treat patients who lack health insurance. 

How can this be, given that Massachusetts requires its residents to obtain insurance and has achieved near-universal coverage since its landmark health-care law passed in 2006? Simple: many of the uninsured showing up at Holy Family hail from across the state border, a mere three miles away in New Hampshire, which has no such mandate.

. . .

Uninsured New Hampshire residents using the emergency room account for 11 percent of the hospital’s bad debt each year, said Lester Schindel, president of Holy Family.

"Inspirational Message" in Florida Schools

There is a new law in Florida designed to reduce drug use and return respect and civility to schools. It was recently passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.

This solution to drug abuse took two years of work in getting it passed. According to a sponsor, who said that the moral decline started when state sponsored prayer in schools was outlawed , "Before we removed inspirational messages, the No. 1 problem was talking out of turn. Now, it's drug abuse."

So now student led "inspirational message" are going to fight drug abuse? How long will it take before the number on problem again is "talking out of turn"?

Of course, this is silly. It was (and will be) a lot of time spent on something that will achieve nothing at all, but will cause all kinds of hard feelings and conflict.

When we have people this stupid in the legislature, is there any hope for sensible policy being passed at all?

The great majority of people who contacted Governor Scott had urged him to veto the bill.

Reference: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-23/news/fl-scott-school-prayer-bill-20120323_1_school-prayer-student-messages-school-districts

Romney's Sampling of States for Health Care

On March 23, 2012, while campaigning in Louisiana, Mitt Romney said, "This presidency has been a failure, and the centerpiece of that failure is this piece of legislation back here, Obamacare." According to  Nia-Malika Henderson and T.W. Farnam at The Washington Post,

"I'm going to return to the states the authority and the responsibility that states have always had to care for their poor and their uninsured," Romney said. "The solution for Massachusetts is quite different than, let's say, the solution for Texas."

Now that he mentions it...

NPR recently had a couple of segments on its All Things Considered program on the state of Health Insurance in Texas and Massachusetts.

For Texas, listen here:

 http://www.npr.org/2012/03/19/148939368/texas-has-highest-percentage-of-uninsured

For Massachusetts, listen here:

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/19/148939370/mass-boasts-highest-insured-rate-in-u-s

According to the blog article at The Washington Post mentioned above, Romney didn't really talk much about the plan in Massachusetts, which he helped create as governor. That's would be inconvenient, because "Obamacare" is kind of like a clone of that. Given the figures that NPR cites, RomneyCare seems to be hugely successful in getting the state's people insured. And "the solution for Texas" seems to be to leave as many people as possible uninsured and at risk. And Romney thinks that's just fine.

What local circumstances could there be in Texas that makes it preferable that the health insurance situation there be in such a miserable condition?

Since Romney has vowed to get rid of "Obamacare" which is like the plan in Massachusetts, it is clear that for the American people as whole, Romney would prefer the level of coverage that we see in Texas.

Anti-Female Steamroller continues

New Hampshire is now on the bandwagon. In their zeal to stick it to Obama, they have joined the war on women.

See this article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/birth-control-debate-new-hampshire-contraception_n_1327382.html

Note that there is a video in that article. You might want to check that out.

Does anybody really believe this is about "religious freedom" or "saving costs"? And if so, which one?


In the video for that article above, notice that one of the questioners suggested the use of condoms? Does that lady not realize that some members of the Catholic church (and some other religions as far as I know) frown on the use of condoms as a method of birth control? Will the church now rise up in indignation for this public insult to the church and all the Catholics of the world? Am I being silly? Yes, I am. So is that stupid, self-righteous woman who made such a suggestion.