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Tag Archives: United States Congress
Hard to Resist
More GOP-Led States Are Moving To Expand Medicaid
A successful first open enrollment period with 8 million enrollees. The uninsured rate at a record low 13.4 percent. Insurers clamoring to join state exchanges for next year. Health insurance premiums for 2015 beating expectations. The successes of the Affordable Care Act are clear.
Supporters of the law in competitive races have taken notice, and are increasingly running on, not from, the ACA. But they are not the only ones acknowledging the changing political landscape; the ACA’s opponents have also seen it, and are taking action. In particular, some GOP-led states who have been putting politics over people by opposing Medicaid expansion are now taking steps to accept it. Here are some of the latest to change their tune:
Pennsylvania: The Keystone State will become the 27th state, and the 12th Republican-led state, to expand its Medicaid program in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. The Obama Administration announced last Thursday that it had granted a waiver and reached agreement with the state to provide health care coverage to 500,000 low-income residents through private insurance. Gov. Tom Corbett (R), the deeply unpopular Pennsylvania governor, has previously fought against expansion but trails in his re-election bid by 25 points while 59 percent of voters support expanding Medicaid.
Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslem indicated late last week that the state will likely submit a Medicaid expansion plan this soon. “I think we’ll probably go to [the Obama Administration] sometime this fall with a plan … that we think makes sense for Tennessee,” Haslem said. While he did not comment on any further details, the move could mean health coverage for 162,000 Tennesseans.
Wyoming: After initially rejecting Medicaid expansion that would provide health insurance to 17,600 low-income Wyoming residents, Gov. Matt Mead has now said he is now in negotiations with the Obama Administration to find a way to expand the program next year. The LA Times reports that “the reason for Wyoming’s wavering is clear: It’s money.” The state stands to save $50 million per year by expanding. Meanwhile, Wyoming hospitals are losing $200 million per year by treating people who lack insurance.
Another thing for these states, and all other conservative-led states who continue to deny health care to their low-income residents, to consider: they are sending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to other states who are expanding Medicaid, and receiving nothing in return.
BOTTOM LINE: As candidates who support the ACA increasingly embrace it on the campaign trail, conservatives nationwide are downplaying their opposition to the law. In the latest sign, more conservative states are finally changing course by pushing forward with Medicaid expansion to provide health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income working people and save billions of dollars.
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Silicon Valley’s narrative ~~~ On Black folks …ColorOfChange team
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Last year, when confronted with criticism about his appointment of an all-white, all-male Board of Directors, Dick Costolo – the CEO of Twitter – responded with a dismissive, joking tweet.
“The whole thing has to be about more than checking a box & saying ‘we did it!’,” he later typed.1
It’s been months now since Costolo’s defensive response and although Twitter later added a white woman to its Board,2 the company has yet to publicly address the failure to appoint a single Black person despite data that confirms that Black folks make up a disproportionate share of Twitter’s user-base.
Much worse, in recent weeks as other Silicon Valley tech companies like Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and LinkedIn took the historic first step to release depressing data about the racial and gender composition of their staffs, Twitter has remained silent — refusing to jump on the data-release-bandwagon.3
Twitter is unlikely to break any trends
To date, most of the data disclosures have confirmed that Silicon Valley prefers its workers to be male and either white or Asian.4, 5 And although Twitter is unlikely to break any diversity trends that have emerged, transparency and a public commitment to improving the recruitment and retention of Black employees are critical first steps.
Though its minority representation numbers may mirror other Silicon Valley tech companies, Twitter has a unique role to play in this national conversation about hiring discrimination. Via the cultural force known as “Black Twitter,” Twitter has been built off the creativity of Black people, though they’re not on the payroll. 6, 7, 8 As such, the company owes our community more — more transparency, and a more thoughtful, solutions-oriented approach that addresses its failure to be more inclusive without blaming Black people.
Shifting the blame
Unfortunately, many of the tech companies (and their pundits) have been quick to incorrectly blame a leaky “talent pipeline” for the extreme racial hiring disparities revealed by these disclosures; pointing to statistics about the dearth of computer science degrees awarded to Black men and women, and bragging about their own philanthropic-investments in tech education for minorities. Silicon Valley apologists are working to divert blame.
Completely ignoring the fact that Black people are also severely underrepresented in nontechnical Silicon Valley roles, these blame-shifting tactics are not only misleading, they also serve to reinforce the false and problematic narrative that Black people are simply “unqualified,” undeserving and not valuable — that Black-thought is unqualified, underserving, and not valuable.
We cannot allow a corporate culture that seems hell-bent on making excuses for its replication of tired “good ol’ boy” networks to malign the intellectual and creative capacities of Black people in the process.
Will you join us in this fight?
Thanks and Peace,
–Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Aimee, Bhavik, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
July 17, 2014
References
1.”Twitter CEO Takes Fire Over All Male Board”, ValleyWag, 2013-07-10
2. “Twitter appoints first woman, Marjorie Scardino, to board of directors“, The Washington Post, 2013-11-15
3. “Some in Silicon Valley Publicize Diversity, While Others Shy Away“, U.S. News, 2014-06-18
4.”Silicon Valley Firms Are Even Whiter and More Male Than You Thought“, Mother Jones, 2014-05-29
5. “Status Update: Facebook not so diverse“, USA Today, 2014-06-26
6. “Black Twitter: A virtual community ready to hashtag out a response to cultural issues“, The Washington Post, 2014-01-20.
7. “Mama I Made It: Pew Poll Study Confirms The Existence of Black Twitter“, okayplayer, 2014-01-01
8. “Black Twitter FINALLY Gets Recognized…so that Twitter can Sell Ads“, ValleyWag, 2014-21-01
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Blair Mountain …
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Blair Mountain used to be an idyllic place in southwestern West Virginia where the hills rolled for miles. Blair is also a historical treasure—the mountain is the site of arguably the most important post-Civil War battlefield in the US. Now, Arch Coal is planning to decimate this historical treasure for the tiny seams of coal that lie beneath the mountain. This is mountaintop removal coal mining at its worst. These devastating coal mining practices could not happen without nine big banks (Bank of Montreal, BBVA, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial, Royal Bank of Scotland, Union Bank, and Bank of America as a lead lender) pumping $250 million dollars into keeping Arch coal afloat last November. Protect Blair Mountain and tell these 9 big bank CEOs to STOP funding Arch Coal. Blair used to be a thriving community of 700 people—and now has merely 50 residents because of the extreme dangers posed by existing mountaintop removal mines near the town. And the people who stayed behind live with constant dynamite blasts behind their town, carcinogenic dust rolling off the mine sites, and heavy metal contamination. Enough is enough. When bank financing enables Arch Coal to displace an entire community and wreack havoc on mother nature we cannot remain silent. If we want to protect the future of these communities and our climate we need to cut funding for coal.
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#Infrastructure
Why We Need to Invest in Infrastructure
The United States was once a leader in infrastructure, but we’re slipping. Repairing our crumbling roads and bridges will help position our economy for long-term growth.
“Every time we’ve invested in infrastructure, as Democrats, as Republicans — every time we’ve done it, the economy grows,” said Vice President Biden. “And it grows good, decent-paying jobs.”
Listen to the Vice President explain why we need to invest in our infrastructure:
President Obama and Vice President Biden Honor America’s TOP COPS
The President and Vice President welcomed some of the country’s best law enforcement officials to the White House, honoring their remarkable service and sacrifice.
A Numbers-Based Case for Why It’s Time to Act on Infrastructure
President Obama is calling on Congress to pass a bill to put Americans to work repairing our crumbling roads and bridges — avoiding a crisis in the short term, and helping to position our economy for long-term growth.
Be a Seed for Change 
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