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Elections and the New Health Care Law
Yesterday was obviously a huge day in politics that will have a big impact on health care and other progressive issues. While it was certainly a dissappointing day, our collective job is to keep fighting to make sure the new law is fully implemented and fulfills its promise. I know people have lots of questions about the election and health care. For starters, below is a Huffington Post blog entry from HCAN‘s Ethan Rome on the federal elections.
In Soldarity,
Melinda Gibson
Here’s a crucial fact that should not be obscured by the ballyhoo surrounding the shift in control of the House: Most of the Republicans who won last night got a lower percentage at the ballot box than the percentage of Americans who support the new health care law‘s requirement that insurance companies cover people regardless of pre-existing medical conditions.
That’s why yesterday was hardly a repudiation of the health care law.
Furthermore, this election was clearly dominated by voter worries about the economy and jobs. Only 19 percent of voters named health care as their top concern, a distant second to the 61 percent most focused on the economy, according to CNN. There were winners and losers among both supporters and opponents of health reform. For example, more than half of the 34 Democrats who voted against the health care legislation still lost their races.
After a wildly toxic political debate over the issue, people are split over the larger question of “reform” and key components of the law enjoy overwhelming public support. Specifically, over the last several months, even as the public has been divided on reform, two-thirds of Americans have supported the outlawing of pre-existing condition exclusions (Anzalone Liszt Research poll conducted for the Herndon Alliance of 1,000 2010 likely voters, conducted April 19-25, 2010. Margin of error +/-3%). For example, while a recent New York Times/CBS poll showed the public split over on the new law, only one-quarter of repeal supporters stuck with their position when told repeal would mean that insurance companies would no longer be required to cover people with medical conditions or prior illnesses.
This is the reality even after a contentious political season marked by an unprecedented deluge of attack ads that spread one lie after another about health reform. In fact, opponents of the new law spent $108 million since March to advertise against it – six times more than supporters.
That’s something members of the new Republican majority will have to navigate as they square real-world legislative proposals on health care (if they have any) with their campaign rhetoric about repeal. They may try on Day One to repeal the health care law’s individual mandate, but they can’t do that without also throwing out the many new consumer protections, including the prohibition on insurers denying people care simply because they’re sick or ending lifetime limits on coverage. Both of those provisions are more popular with the American public than the Republicans are.
The Republicans also talk about de-funding the law, interfering with its implementation and holding endless oversight hearings to gratuitously harass Obama administration officials. That’s not progress, that’s pointless, cynical politics.
We all know that the law is not going to be repealed, so the debateisn’t going to be about what gets done–it will be about defining whose side members of Congress are on. For Republican repeal-mongers, that will be clear. They’re for the insurance companies and against consumers.
The Republicans want to protect the excessive profits of the insurance companies and the bloated salaries of company CEOs, no matter how badly that hurts America’s consumers. That’s what repeal means. It means rolling back the clock and letting the insurance companies deny people coverage due to pre-existing conditions and drop people’s coverage when they get sick. It means that small businesses will continue paying higher rates for health insurance than big corporations. It means repealing measures to cut down waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare. It means opposing much-needed relief in prescription drug costs for seniors. That’s the Republican repeal agenda – the insurance companies get the profits and we get the shaft.
The American people don’t want to give our health care back to the insurance companies. Repeal would cause real harm to real people. That may not matter to the Republican majority, but it matters a great deal to the people they now represent.
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Update: Arkansas school board member officially resigns over anti-gay post (via Anderson Cooper 360)
Video: On the defense: Candidate Joe Miller (via Anderson Cooper 360)
mindful Monday &some News
President and Mrs. Obama are hosting a Science Fair
Today. I have been hearing more BS than ever from “the Media” which is sad …people need to stop listening to the cable noise, the radio and get the facts -media opinion news is just that -an opinion!!- The Democratic and or President’s message that they speak of was not just held up by Republicans but cable and or mainstream tv that feature politics have held up the message as well choosing to move more right of center each and every day as the Midterm elections come closer. I blame Republicans of course but the fact is”the Media” has to take some responsibility for their lack of getting any sort of fair and or balanced News from the Democratic Party out to the people wondering just what is the truth behind any story getting airtime. It is obvious that some people unfortunately believe the panel, guests or so-called experts who talk about an issue or a politician but ask yourself why don’t they just have the subject of discussion on for a rebuttal -that would be too easy right
I received and appreciate all the comments on the articles posted here. This week two articles got several responses but one person responded to two of them; one article was about Saving the Country, Murdoch style by MMA and the other was a response to one that came from Senator Barney Franck directly. My responses to both articles are below with some adjustments.
The first Comment was in response to Senator Barney Frank …
(1)Well isn’t Barny the guy who said, “it’s okay to have buddies with money”? I guess he must of meant it was only okay if they were democrats. So much for tolerance, eh?
Senator Frank is a politician and anyone with any sense knows that the fight is on to keep their seats in Congress and in doing so that not only means great campaigning, politicking or having the preferred ideology but money. If money meant nothing people would not be backing Angle, Fiorina, Whitman, Brewer, Palin or Christine O’Donnell because none of these embarrassing women are qualified to hold public office. I have no idea what you are asking me when you say – tolerance. The fact is people with or without money can be offensive.
Comment(2)
Tell me something, did you mind when Murdoch supported Hillary not so long ago? http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2006/05/rupert-murdoch-backs-hillary-clinton.html Do you have a problem …
Actually, my personal comments and or complaints when reading articles are about what I read first. I honestly do not care what side of the aisle the writer, journalist, cable and or mainstream view given to us by them is even though I am a democrat; I call them as i see them and when one side decides to push the envelope too far for me i respond… ah the wonders and need to tweet, FB or blog …and your comments about liberals having all the cable, major newspapers, magazines and whatnot …i know you are joking right? if you listen folks like Murdoch give to both sides of the issue and when one side becomes more of a commodity and gets more airtime he feeds it…everyone knows that -right? Again, people like him do not care just like the NRA they support 58 democrats as well as a whole lot of Republicans. What i do object to are the lies coming from Fox News the race baiting this station engages in …even CNN has moved right and that rhetoric though has 1st amendment on its side is offensive. As a person of colour and as a mom hearing Glenn beck send subliminal nonsense out into the airwaves with actual people choosing wrong instead of right -and people get hurt or worse …that is my prob. My sense of democracy means total cooperation from both sides of an economic collapse yet RTP has decided oh we will take all the money you’re handing out but we will vote no or scale it down as well as throw our own constituents under the bus to regain power -that is not democracy.
Other News …
**Best milk? Chocolate
**Sharron Angle makes some really ugly racist things to Hispanic High School Students
**Washington State- Election 2010 midterm information,tune in 10/19/2010 KING5 7pm
**President Obama will appear on Mythbusters to help kids excited about science
**Celine Dion hospitalized -baby is due next month
**Msnbc claims only 1/2 of the people who voted in 2008 election will be voting in the mid-terms
**Speaker Pelosi announces that the $250 bonus Soc.Sec checks will be voted on after Nov.2nd elections
**Chest pressures first then give breaths
**NOW backs jerry brown
**Federal tax credit ends 12/31
**11thousand cribs,made in China and sold at JCPenny 2003-2007 hardware problems
**did you know that Olympic College decided to ban the 1st Amendment
CSPAN …
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Steven Rattner, Author ‘Overhaul’
Be a Seed for Change 
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