Tag Archives: Facebook

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Ballot #594

06/28/2013 Nativegrl77

It’s official.

Last week we got our ballot number — 594.

And this week, we got the language from the secretary of state, which will be finalized the week of July 8. After that, we can start our petition drive to make sure that criminal background checks are on the ballot in 2014.

With your help, we’re going to make sure that every single person purchasing a gun in Washington has to pass a criminal background check — and keep our families safe.

Thanks for pledging your support to help us make this simple, commonsense reform the law.

We’d love to hear your ideas about the campaign. Click here to join us on Facebook!

We’re very excited by how quickly this campaign has been coming together, and that is a direct result of the support of thousands of folks just like you.

Thanks for stepping up.

Talk to you soon,

Zach

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Tara McGuinness, The White House : Health Care costs

06/24/2013 Nativegrl77

Hi, all!

We wanted to share some really good news for consumers about health care costs so that you can also help to get out the word.

First, health insurance premium rebates, which average nearly $100 per family, are on their way to 8.5 million Americans. That is because the Affordable Care Act now holds health insurance companies accountable to consumers and ensures that American families receive value for their premium dollars. If an insurance company spends less than 80 percent (85 percent in the large group market) of your premium on medical care and efforts to improve the quality of care and instead spends it on overhead and corporate salaries, they must rebate the portion of premium that exceeded this limit. Thanks to the law, millions of Americans will get savings from their insurers.

The law is protecting consumers from rate hikes that don’t go to care. It, along with other provision of the Affordable Care Act, has already helped consumers save a total of $3.9 billion in 2012, and $5 billion counting the 2011 rebates.

Second, Americans know health care prices for decades were skyrocketing, but the health law is changing that. This week, we learned that the official measure of health care prices, the medical price index, fell in May. The average for the last year was the lowest it has been in over four decades — a sign that health care is getting more affordable.

And third, a new report demonstrates this good news will continue. A new PriceWaterhouseCooper report projects that medical cost growth will be lower in 2014 than in 2013. As they say: “defying historical patterns.” The report points to how the ACA, though its policies to promote value, reduce unnecessary care, and cut waste from the system, is driving down the cost of health care for all of us.

Meanwhile, we received a number of questions in response to our last email. Here are a couple answers:

If the pre-existing limitations are no longer allowed can an insurance company still decline to cover an applicant?

No. No new applicants may be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition starting in 2014, and permanently thereafter. Insurance companies will also be prohibited from charging more or carving out health benefits due to a pre-existing. Charging women more will become a thing of the past. And you won’t pay more based on the type of work you do or your family’s health history.

How does the ACA help people on Medicare?

People with Medicare now have free checkups and preventive services – you don’t have to be sick to see your doctor to stay healthy. They have a new discount on their prescription medicine in the so-called “donut hole” that’s already saved over six million seniors more than $700 each. The increases in their monthly Medicare premiums, like those for private insurance, have slowed down – with the Medicare Trustees projecting that they may actually drop in 2014. And, the part of the law that prevents insurance companies from spending premium dollars on overhead not care will begin in the Medicare Advantage next year, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

We’ll tackle more of your questions in future emails, so be sure to let us know what’s on your mind.

Thanks!

Tara

Tara McGuinness Senior Communications Advisor The White House

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The Daily Traveler

06/24/2013 Nativegrl77

Stunning Natural Bridges and Arches
John A. Roebling and Joseph Strauss designed impressive spans in their time, but Mother Nature has engineered some equally awe-inspiring structures…

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In Social Security We Trust

06/03/2013 Nativegrl77

National Women's Law Center - Don't Discount Women: Social Security Is Women's Security

Did you hear?
This morning the Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report. Here’s the bottom line: Social Security is still going strong.
Even with no changes to the current program, Social Security can pay 100 percent of promised benefits for the next 20 years, and 77 percent of promised benefits after that.
We need your help to get this positive message about Social Security out far and wide. The sad fact is that there are entire organizations (and even some wealthy individuals) dedicated to weakening public support for Social Security. That’s why we need your help to share this image and let people know that they can still count on Social Security. Share it on Facebook now.

Infographic - Social Security Will Be There When We Need It

You can:

Share the image on Facebook
Share it on Twitter
Share it on Pinterest
Or, simply forward this email to friends and family

Why is the news about Social Security especially good news for women? Consider this — women 65 and older rely on Social Security for more than half their family income. Minority women disproportionately rely on Social Security disability benefits. And without Social Security, nearly half of all women 65 and older, and more than 1.1 million additional children, would be poor.
It’s true that there’s a long-term Social Security shortfall. But there are ways to close that financing gap — like having the highest earners pay their fair share by paying payroll tax on all of their earnings.
The new Trustees’ Report proves that we can still trust in Social Security.
Let’s share this image and let everyone know!
Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher Vice President, Family Economic Security National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Check out this blog post for more details on the Social Security Trustees’ Report.

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Really, Facebook?!

05/29/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

Grassroots Campaign Pressures Facebook Over Rape, Assault Imagery

More and more companies are dropping Facebook advertising over the social network’s refusal, heretofore, to address offensive imagery about rape and domestic violence posted by its users. More than a dozen companies have now dropped ads because of Facebook’s apparently permissive attitude toward images like this.

When asked about their policy, a Facebook spokesperson told ThinkProgress that content featuring battered women, rape, and violence falls under “poor taste” or “crude attempts at humor” and therefore does not violate its policies.

Meanwhile, just this weekend Facebook rejected an ad aimed at debunking the false claim that abortion leads to breast cancer because the ad featured the image of a breast. Facebook claimed the educational ad violated a ban on “adult products.”

The ad boycott has been gaining steam as a result of a grassroots campaign launched last week by Women, Action & the Media, the Everyday Sexism Project and other activists. According to Women, Action & the Media, “participants sent over 60,000 tweets and 5000 emails, and our coalition has grown to over 100 women’s movement and social justice organizations.”

This is not the first time in recent weeks that Facebook has come under pressure from progressives. After Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg founded and bankrolled a political group backing immigration reform that instead spent millions of dollars on ads touting dirty energy production and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, progressive groups launched their own ad boycott and even held a protest outside Facebook’s headquarters. Facebook further enraged activists when it then banned ads going after Zuckerberg on the issue. The Zuckerberg group, FWD.us, also came under fire from others in Silicon Valley and two of its founding members — and top funders — dropped out of the group in protest.

BOTTOM LINE: Imagery celebrating rape and domestic violence is not merely in “poor taste” or just a “crude attempt at humor.” It’s time for Facebook to get serious about addressing the offensive and violent imagery posted by some of its users and to learn the difference between “adult content” and educational materials.

Late Breaking Update: Just as we were about to click send, Women, Action & the Media announced an agreement with Facebook:

Facebook addressed our concerns and committed to evaluating and updating its policies, guidelines and practices relating to hate speech, improving training for its content moderators and increasing accountability for creators of misogynist content.

Facebook has also invited Women, Action & the Media, The Everyday Sexism Project and members of our coalition to contribute to these efforts and be part of an ongoing conversation. As part of these efforts, we will work closely with Facebook on the issue of how Community Standards around hate speech are evaluated and to ensure best practices represent the interests of our coalition.

Here’s more from Facebook:

In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate. In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want. In other cases, content that should be removed has not been or has been evaluated using outdated criteria. We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards. We need to do better – and we will.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Drudge’s latest bogus scoop.

The Washington Post and sexist coverage of women leaders.

Gay soccer player became the first out male athlete to play in a major team sports league after coming out.

Former GOP senator: Republicans need to “rethink their approach as a political party.”

A part of Obamacare that’s working even though it hasn’t even gone into effect yet.

George Zimmerman’s lawyer went on national TV with inadmissible evidence in order to smear Trayvon Martin.

Here’s what it’ll take to turn Texas blue.

Big news on the housing market — and it’s good!

Justice Scalia wants innocent people to just sit in prison.