Tag: Trumpcare

Health Care In America

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Health Care In America

D. S. Mitchell

The GOP nicknamed the Affordable Care Act, “ObamaCare” and spent seven plus years condemning the program, and promising to “repeal” the entire act, and  “replace” with some nebulous unspecified improvement.  Remember Trump telling the country’s voters they “will have great health care. Cheaper health care.  Everybody will be covered.” What the GOP Congress has offered, and Trump claims he will sign, is a bill that would gut services, slash Medicaid expansion and strangle insurance subsidies.

It has been made obvious since Trump’s inauguration that this candidate had no plan and his rhetoric was a total and complete fabrication.  In the recent struggle, the repeal forces are re-energizing and narrowing its focus to eliminate at least the most unpopular mandates of the ACA, such as mandating that everyone buy insurance, and companies with 50 or more employees provide employee insurance.  Those two issues, along with the rapidly rising costs, and decreasing policy options in the private marketplace deserve immediate attention.

Republicans have made hay deriding and chastising the Democrats for a less than democratic process during the drafting of the ACA (ObamaCare).  Truthfully, the drafting of the ACA was an example of transparency compared to recent efforts by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to bring their repeal and replacement to resolution by passage of a new health care law.

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Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

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Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

D. S. Mitchell

I haven’t written much about health care for awhile, not because I haven’t had plenty to say, but there have been a lot of other people speaking up and saying it probably better than I could, so I let them take the lead. But, now after the Republican attack on health care has been stymied for a short time at least, I think it is time that we thank all the individuals and groups that came together to stop the Repeal and Replace train.

Who could ever forget the images of disabled protesters being pulled from their wheelchairs and zip tied and carted off to jail. Absolutely riveting. Horrific images that labeled the Republican lawmakers as heartless and unresponsive to the needs of the American public.

The protests by the grassroots disability rights organization ADAPT I think were what turned the tide in favor of the protesters. The ADAPT protesters set the stage for the subsequent heroic votes cast by three Republican Senators, John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

In 1974 a non-disabled former nursing home recreational director and several disabled associates formed the Atlantis Community. The mission of the group was to assist disabled persons to escape institutionalization and live in the community at large. On 7/5/1978 a historic protest for wheelchair access to public buses was initiated by the group. The protest took place at a Denver intersection where protesters stopped buses and disabled individuals placed themselves in front and behind the buses and then others would leave their wheelchairs and dramatically crawl up the bus steps to bring attention to their plight.

In 1984 after several years of bus protests, as the group struggled to obtain wheel chair access lifts to Denver city buses, the campaign went national. ADAPT became the designated  arm of the Atlantis group to form protests and civil disobedience. ADAPT became the militant wing of the disability rights movement and is well known for its non-violent direct action with a mission to bring public awareness to the civil rights violations of the disabled.

The group has successfully used Twitter and Facebook to dramatize their issues. ADAPT strategies used so effectively in the health care fight include using civil disobedience as a tool to gain public attention to direct change in laws, policies and services affecting the disabled and those strategies were used effectively to bring attention to the drastic Medicaid cuts proposed under the TrumpCare plan.

Also important to note were the hundreds of thousands of people who marched, went to town halls, visited lawmakers offices, wrote letters, sent emails and faxes and called their congressional representatives. It was each of these people as individuals and as organized groups that stopped the Republicans from erasing health care for a projected 20-30 million people over the next decade.

Thank you. For whatever you did, large or small, your participation in the resistance changed the direction of this callous legislation.

Join the Resistance

Dar

80 Reasons To Smile

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80 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

The last two days have been full of drama and emotion. Jared Kushner is on Capitol Hill and talking to members and staffers from the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, behind closed doors. @POTUS spent 35 minutes last night giving a rambling disgusting speech to 40,000 boy scouts at their annual Jamboree. New Tweets from the president attacking Sessions hit the internet today, which brought significant push back from the conservative branch of the Republican party, including Rush Limbaugh and Breitbart News. The Senate is voting to bring TrumpCare out of committee today and I worry for the possible 30 million people that will lose health care.

I am jumping up and down and I am about to self-combust. But, I know that will not help. I know I need to keep up my efforts to derail TrumpCare. I have made twelve calls to Senators this morning asking a certain few Republican Senators to resist the White House and do what is best for the American people.

Calamity Politics is a political blog with a progressive leaning agenda. Calamity Politics intends to present relevant and engaging political conversation on a daily basis. Usually once a week I try to find something to smile about and share those thoughts with my readers.
As agitated as I am, I thought the best thing for my attitude and my blood pressure was to think of a substantially large number of reasons to smile. So, here are 80 Reasons to Smile, even on a day as disturbing day as today.

1.) Being part of a team 2.) Sunrises 3.) Sunsets 4.) Watching the turntable as an old vinyl plays 5.) Dimples 6.) Warm Apple Fritters 7.) Night games 8.) A checklist 9.) Arched doorways 10.) Search lights 11.) A day at the museum 12.) Finding a 4 leaf clover 13.) A loft for the little ones 14.) Antique claw foot tubs 15.) Sprinklers 16.) Popping bubble wrap 17.) Seeing a dream come true 18.) Baked potato “loaded” 19.) A “free month” of anything 20.) The sweetness of fresh corn on the cob 21.) Flipping pancakes 22.) Paper Airplanes 23.) Tic Tac Toe games 24.) Nervous energy 25.) Homemade onion rings the size of bracelets 26.) Cutting my own bangs 27.) Old perfume bottles 28.) Last nights spaghetti reheated 29.) Shari Lewis’ Lambchop 30.) Old things re-used and re-purposed 31.) Mozart 32.) Holding hands 33.) Salt water aquariums 34.) The caverns and mesas of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico 35.) A reading corner 36.) A secret admirer 37.) A talking parakeet 38.) Lingering over coffee with the Crossword Puzzle 39.) Persistence 40.) Celery filled with crunchy peanut butter 41.) Knowing you are appreciated 42.) Yes or No answers 43.) Floor to ceiling views 44.) Marinas and harbors 45.) Beachcombing 46.) Honeysuckle 47.) Ancient ruins 48.) History 49.) Jazz 50.) A window box garden 51.) Barge homes 52.) Potluck with family and friends 53.) A winning basket scored at the buzzer 54.) A weekly play break 55.) Sunday afternoon poker 56.) A lake cabin 57.) Black licorice 58.) Cobbled streets and tiled roofs 59.) Cast iron skillets 60.) Six layer cakes 61.) Magnolia trees 62.) The buddy system 63.) Old dolls and Teddies 64.) Caramel apples 65.) The Fusion of Tex-Mex 66.)Bead board ceilings 67.) Watching my grand daughter play hop scotch 68.) Loving what you do 69.) Koala bears 70.) Corner cabinets 71.) Elvis music 72.) The ability to change 73.) Tongue twisters 74.) Garden benches 75.) Losing weight 76.) Molasses cookies 77.) Nasturtiums 78.) Afternoon Croquet at the beach house 79.) Clean countertops 80.) Essential oils

Well by the time I got to the number eighty John McCain strode in to the Senate chamber, and cast a deciding vote to bring the Repeal the ACA bill out of committee. Some Republican Senator that I didn’t recognize came on Hardball and said he thought Kushner had been “open and straight forward and appeared to answer all questions thoroughly and honestly.”

I’m not in the mood to add a couple more reasons to smile, cuz I’m really angry and I think I need to take the dog for a walk.

Join the Resistance

Darlene

Heartbreaking

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Heartbreaking

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity politics woke up early this morning to more health care debate on the the cable news channels. I have been making my calls to Senators and voicing my disgust for the emerging  disaster identified by many as, “TrumpCare”.

I have written several posts recently about the health care subject and again this morning Calamity Politics is urging political action by everyone.  If you’re reading this post don’t forget to write, call, protest, run for office, anything to further the Resistance.

One of the things that never gets people excited is organizing.  But, grassroots organizing is essential. Knock on doors, talk to people, ask them what they are looking for in a candidate, and find a candidate that matches what that community is talking about.  Whatever you do, don’t lose faith.  If you take a hammer and you hit it against a concrete wall, over and over again, that wall will breach.  We are that hammer.

The secret writing of the Republican health care bill was enough to convince many people of its dubious underpinnings. The opposition to the pending legislation by hospitals, nurses and doctors, American Cancer Society, Diabetes Foundation,  and reportedly 76% of the U.S. population is unprecedented.  Those factors alone should be enough for the Republicans to sense the way the wind is blowing, but they cannot get past the “Repeal ObamaCare” thinking.  If the Republicans are allowed to pass the TrumpCare bill many American citizens will suffer, maybe you, maybe your mother, or an uncle, a friend from work. Someone you know will be negatively effected if this bill passes.

Paul Ryan (R. WI) said he had dreamed of this bill, this moment, “since he used to talk policy at kegger parties, in college.”  Are you fucking kidding me? Someone who is still holding on to dumb ass, drunk ‘college kid’ ideas is drawing up national health care policy that potentially effects everyone in America either directly, or indirectly, makes me furious.

These folks are so removed from everyday life that they don’t even realize what they sound like. The other day Senator Lindsey Graham (R. S.C.) made the comment, “If we don’t pass a bill, we”ll  just wait until ObamaCare collapses.  Maybe then we can get something passed.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Graham’s comments are both heartlessness and offensive.  Somebody has cancer, guess we’ll watch his treatment interrupted, his life turned up side down, and most likely his hastened death.  Why, when we have the technology to save his life? Because, some guy in college fell in love with the Ayn Rand idea of ‘me’ over everyone else, or an old guy that acts as if no action is acceptable. That’s like watching someone drown and you standing on the dock ignoring the event, and it’s potential.

Maybe you guys, back there in Washington, D.C. need a reality check.  Sometimes a bad ‘promise’ should be broken, and the Republicans have made some really bad promises over the last eight years., without any regard to the negative effect, those promises will have on a large portion of the American population.

Dar

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Time To Plug-In

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Time To Plug-In

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics had a “plug-in failure” Sunday night.  The failure involved temporary loss of multiple features on the blog.  This failure was extremely aggravating, and it wasn’t resolved until Jane worked her magic.  However, she hasn’t been able to fix everything, yet. But, she is on it, and I’m sure all of our features will be available again, soon.

The reason I’m even mentioning our Calamity Politics catastrophe is because it demonstrates a life truth: shit happens. And when that shit happens to concern health care, there are several subsistence safety net programs for Americans. The big three are,  Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

My anger has grown steadily as the Republicans prepare to destroy American health care. Just  watching Mitch McConnell smirk into the camera surrounded by the Republican caucus sends me into a rage.   They are all looking tail-wagging happy with themselves.  Is that the way you are supposed to look when you are throwing millions of people’s lives  into chaos?

Last week in the Capitol of the United States of America handicapped individuals, protesting the proposed draconian cuts to Medicaid, were pulled from wheel chairs, zip-tied, and arrested.  It was one of the most disturbing and disgusting sights, I believe I have ever seen.

I believe the next 2 days are vital if we are to have any chance of stonewalling this legislation. Call Republican Senators and tell them to put conscience above party. Phone calls are very effective. Please call and demand they “vote no” on the Senate Repeal and Replace ACA bill.  Stop TrumpCare.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Senate Death Panel: Thirteen, Old, White, Men

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Senate Death Panel: 13 Old White Men

D. S. Mitchell

It’s nice to say, “Hi,” when you pass a person in the hall, or when seated next to each other at a luncheon, but what would really be a good thing is for the Democrats and the Republicans to stop the bullshit, and hold their noses if they have to, and come together for the benefit of this country.

If it is a big piece of legislation such as the health care law, let’s take our time, let’s have some hearings, let’s find out who will feel the brunt of this new proposed bill.  The looming behemoth TrumpCare legislation will effect 1/6 of the United States economy and reportedly force 24,000,000 or more people completely off of health care.

The Republicans screamed that the Dems shoved the ACA down their throats.  That is an absolute lie. There were months and months of hearings, all the while President Obama and his surrogates stumped the country selling the program. So, if you don’t believe me, go back and check the records yourself. With the 24 hour news cycle, we often forget what happened just a few days ago, much less 7 years ago. In fact, I truly believe a little less conversation would have been beneficial for the ACA.  There was fatigue, overwhelming fatigue, by the time it was all said and done. Hell, it wasn’t until the Republicans threatened to repeal ObamaCare that people even figured out what a great deal it was.

Now that the Republicans are in power, Mitch McConnell has picked 13 old, white, men to his own secret Death Panel. I use that term with caution. But, quite honestly, I can think of no more appropriate name.  If you collapse in the street they will haul you to the hospital and they will do emergency care. Period.

I worked as an RN for thirty five years and have seen the situation pre-Obama and post-Obama, and I would not be able to work, ever again, in a system that tells people their cancer won’t be treated because they have no insurance. Or, to know that a child’s broken leg could literally be the straw that sends an uninsured family that is already financially challenged toward a spiral of bankruptcy.

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Flag Day shootings

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Flag Day Shootings

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a political blog where we try to post relevant political news, tart commentary, engaging analysis, focusing on progressive opinions and speculations primarily written by me, Darlene Mitchell, a life long agitator and troublemaker.  Due to some recent health issues I have been silent for several days.  I’m doing fine, but I have a few tests and doctors visits in my near future.  So, enough on my medical condition, let’s get to what’s going on in the United States political news scene.

Flag Day, June 14, 2017, ironically is my son’s birthday and the birthday of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.  June 14, 2017 was also another day of gun violence in the United States.

In an upscale Alexandria, Virginia neighborhood, a well armed lone gunman, opened fire at a Republican baseball team practice, wounding 4. Three Capital Police officers, assigned to Majority House Whip Stephen Scalise returned gunfire, by witness accounts, saving multiple lives.  The legislators and aides had been practicing for the last several weeks for their up coming annual benefit game against the Democrats.

Within minutes, officers from local police departments converged on the site in response to numerous 911 calls.  The arriving officers immediately engaged the shooter. Two of  Scalise’s security detail, Capital Police officers, were wounded in the gunfire. Crystal Griner  was wounded in the ankle and another Capital Police officer, David Bailey was wounded in the leg. Bailey was treated and released, while Griner remained hospitalized for her injuries.

Representative Scalise was shot in the hip.  The rifle bullet tore through internal organs and left the Louisiana House Rep, near death.  Also critically wounded was Matt Mika. Mika was shot multiple times and was at last report on a respirator. Mika is a former congressional staffer, now working as a lobbyist for Tyson Foods.

A staffer for Representative Roger Williams, Zachary Barth, was also shot and is hospitalized with undisclosed injuries.  Roger Williams (R. Tx) was also injured in the melee, spraining his ankle as he ran for cover from the hail of gunfire. Roger Williams, was treated and released on crutches.

The shooter has been identified as 66 year old, caucasian, James T. Hodgkinson from Belleville, Illinois. Hodgkinson was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.  Hodgkinson, a former home inspector, who had sold his business and allowed his Illinois contractor license to expire last November was identified by his Illinois driver’s license. His wife told reporters that “he sold everything and went to Washington, to work on taxes.”

Neighbors state that Hodgkinson has been visible in the Alexandria, Virginia up scale enclave for the last 4-5 months.  Hodgkinson, who was described as “quiet, but a bit gruff,” had been seen daily at the local YMCA, and appears to have been living in his white cargo van.

Hodgkinson’s motives are unclear. Multiple anti-Republican and anti-Trump postings were found on his Facebook page.  Posts condemning Clinton were also noted, however not to the extent of his rants and ravings on social media against the Republicans. Hodgkinson claimed to have worked for the Bernie Sander’s campaign, however Sander’s quickly came out denying any connection with the shooter after reviewing volunteer records from Illinois.

Additionally, the names of six Republican law makers along with their Capitol Hill office numbers were discovered among the shooter’s personal effects. And, at least one bystander reported the shooter asking, “Who’s playing, Republican or Democrat?”  Early information seems to support the theory that Hodgkinson may have been specifically targeting Republican office holders.

Statements from President Trump, and both Democratic and Republican leadership, stress a need for folks on both sides of the political argument to turn down the heated rhetoric and focus on getting the people’s work done.  It looked like a real Kumbayah moment for everybody. Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor and spoke of a unified voice against violence.  I guess when gunshots are flying by your ear, it might be a ‘Pass Jesus in front of you moment’.

Grab hands; forget that we have had knives at each others throats for nearly a generation.  Since the time of the divisive, combative and disgraced former Speaker, Newt Gingrich, the tone has been hot and nasty. Very nasty.

Speaking of the divisive Mr. Gingrich he has been making the rounds of the cable news networks, working to gin up the right wing base with attacks against any and all “liberals,” “lefties,” and the “Democrats” specifically, because these groups are “inciting radical violence” against President Trump, and the GOP. Citing the Alexandria shooting on “liberals.”

The Republicans have sunk so low that a SuperPac promoting the Republican candidate for congress Karen Handel in Georgia’s 6th District is using attack ads against Democrat Jon Ossoff showing pictures of wounded Rep. Scalise being carried from the field alleging it to be a “liberal attack” against the Republican baseball team. Mind blowing.

Cynic that I am, I think any moderation in tone is a momentary thing.  It can’t and won’t be sustainable.  But, I’m willing to watch and comment along the way.

I must mention that firebrand musician Ted Nugent is calling for a cool down of the rhetoric. Thank you, Ted.

Lastly, I want to say that I am appalled at the second mass shooting on Flag Day, in San Francisco, where three people were killed and two wounded by a disgruntled UPS worker at a packaging center, where after shooting his co-workers, the gunmen turned the gun on himself, committing suicide.

At some point, we as a country need to decide if the killing of thousands of people in this country annually by gun violence is worth examining.

Dar

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TrumpCare 2: All In One Place

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TrumpCare Two: All In One Place

D. S. Mitchell

First 100

I had intended to talk about Trump’s first 100 days, today. However, I decided it was more important to talk about the proposed Republican health plan, TrumpCareTwo.  The 17% of Americans that supported TrumpCareOne should be thrilled with Episode 2.

Rural Perspective

Rural isn’t just about cows and open spaces. There are many faces to rural health care. I live and write from the beautiful Oregon coast.  I live half way between Seaside, Or. to the south, and Astoria, Or. to the north. The small beach development that I inhabit has a heavy preponderance of seniors. Most people living in my little enclave are old, medically fragile with pre-existing conditions, and living at the poverty level, dependent on Medicare or Medicaid for government supported health care.  In this little community, people will be negatively effected by the Republican proposed health care changes.

Critical Access Hospitals

Health care in the rural areas of the country is very different from urban health care.  Within forty miles of my house there are two small hospitals.  In that sense I am very fortunate. I know that Columbia Memorial Hospital, in Astoria, Oregon, is a Critical Access Hospital.  CAH is a designation given to certain rural hospitals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under a 1997 Budget Act. The CAH designation was in response to a tsunami of hospital closures, particularly in rural areas between 1980 and 1997.

Closures Still Happening

Closure of rural hospitals continues today. Maintaining hospitals in rural areas is vital for a large section of the American population. These CAH hospitals are dependent on ‘rural access’ benefits, and cannot be sustained without them. Dramatic changes to Medicaid and Medicare could potentially end up with nation wide hospital closures, most particularly again in rural communities, as occurred in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Andy Slavit Breaks It Down

Andy Slavitt @ASlavin provided a complete review of TrumpCare 2.  Take a look at what this know nothing president and his henchmen put together in a couple of weeks. They held no hearings. There was no bipartisan advice. Here goes:

  • Eliminates access to care for 24 million people. One million more people lose coverage than if ACA was repealed and had no replacement.
  • 7 million employed Americans, and 1.2 million veterans will lose coverage. Many employers will be able to avoid providing lifetime cap protection.
  • Premiums expected to jump 15-20%, $2,400 average. Up to $13,000 increase for people over 50, and up to $10,000 more for rural residents
  • Deductibles would increase 60%
  • Medicaid cut by 25% and then capped.  Seniors, babies, children, low-income, people with disabilities, addiction treatment hurt. 3.6 million kids expected to lose coverage.
  • Medicare Trust Fund put into crisis.
  • Insurance companies permitted to underwrite and charge sick people–like $5,000 more for Autism, $17,000 for pregnancy, $140,000 for late stage cancer treatment.
  • Projected premiums in high risk pool? Estimated $25,700.
  • Eliminates pre-existing condition protections which could impact 100,000,000+.
  • Lifetime caps and limits would be allowed if your upon state request.
  • Because they intend to allow selling across state lines, all these waived rules would apply anywhere.
  • 1.2 trillion pulled from health care to pay for massive tax cuts to pharmaceutical companies, insurers, insurer CEO’s, tanning salons & medical device companies.
  • In the average congressional district 55,000 people would lose coverage and 300,000 people could lose pre-existing protections.

A Generational Impact

“Doctors, nurses, hospitals, seniors, patient groups–not one of them agrees with these dangerous changes to health care”, states Slavitt. The Republican strategy has been to rush, get it done with no public hearings, no updated Congressional Budget Office score, suspension of rules, no debate, secret drafting, all closed-door sessions. For a bill that would have generational impact. Thanks again, to Andy Slavitt for laying it all out for us. He told me to share.

Suzanne Bonamici Speaks Up

Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon 1st District Representative, said this in an email: “The latest version of Trumpcare has a lot in common with the first-except this time it’s worse. It would allow states to opt-out of providing essential health benefits –like maternal care, mental health treatment, prescription coverage, and emergency services-which would be harmful to millions of people across the country.  Once again we would go back to the days when people paid for insurance and then found out it didn’t cover them when they needed it. No one should have to choose between putting food on the table and paying for lifesaving medical procedures.”

The United Nations Is Concerned

Slavitt and Bonamici laid it out pretty clearly.  TrumpCareTwo is worse than TrumpCareOne. The state of health care in the United States is so alarming that the United Nations issued a statement.  The UN addressed an “urgent appeal” to the Trump Administration warning that repeal of ObamaCare (ACA) without adequate replacement could violate international law”.

My Opinion

All I can say is, it’s a sad day when the world community is more worried about the health care of the American citizens than their own government. Truly alarming.

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Trump Sucker Punches His Voters

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Trump Sucker Punches His Voters

D. S. Mitchell

It’s freaking Cold

It seems to have been a colder than usual winter. I’m not talking about climate change at the moment, more a comment on how a string of seventy days of freaking’ cold days, ran both my electric, and my gas bills to unimaginable heights. Natural gas prices are low, but my consumption went through the roof. I wore sweaters and sweats continuously and haven’t gone to bed in the buff, since last December. So, I’m out of bed, fireplace is going and the chill is slowly being driven off. I’m about to check out the morning political shows and plan on getting to Calamity News and Politics after I brew a cup of coffee.

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