Tag Archives: United States

Health Care Changes Point To More Good News For The Affordable Care Act

Remember that old health care law, the Affordable Care Act, that conservatives used to spend all their time disparaging? They’ve stopped talking about it and it’s media coverage has dropped, but there’s (even) more good news to report. Some pieces are going up, other pieces are going down, but it all means one thing: the Affordable Care Act is working.

DOWN: Hospital costs. A report released yesterday by the Department of Health and Human Services revealed that hospitals will save $5.7 billion in uncompensated care costs — money spent by hospitals on people who go to the emergency room and are unable to pay their bills. In particular, states that have opted to expand Medicaid through the ACA are benefiting the most: $4.2 billion of these savings, or 74 percent, come in states that expanded their Medicaid programs. Meanwhile, conservative leaders in 21 states have refused to expand, a move that is crippling hospitals in their states who aren’t benefiting from these savings.

UP: Number of insurers in the marketplace. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a speech earlier this week that people looking to get health insurance on federal and state exchanges will have 25 percent more insurers to choose from than they did during last year’s open enrollment period. In some states, the number of insurers is doubling from 2014. Insurance companies are having more and more faith in the ACA marketplaces to attract customers, and they want a piece of the action. More competition is great news, both for people looking for more health insurance choices, and for premiums, which are…

DOWN: Premiums. Earlier this month, Kaiser Family Foundation released a study that shows health insurance premium rates across 15 states and DC would actually fall in 2015. As the chart below shows, the average premium change for those with the second-lowest-cost silver insurance plans (a typical plan) is -0.8 percent.

CREDIT: KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION

Kaiser concluded that this was due to increased competition in the marketplace and more people signing up for insurance through the exchanges in 2015. Even for those states in which premiums are rising, it is important to remember that given how fast premiums were rising before the ACA, in context many of these increases don’t actually look like increases.

BOTTOM LINE: The Affordable Care Act is working. With costs down for both hospitals and consumers, more competition, and not to mention 7.3 million people who are covered as a result of the law’s passage, it’s clear the law is already a success, whether conservatives want to talk about it or not.

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Defeat :::::: Anti Woman Agenda :::::::: a repost from 2013

09/25/2014 Nativegrl77

Want to know the kind of world we live in? We live in a world where extremist groups actually brag about becoming a “political machine” to be able to more effectively marginalize and actually endanger women who don’t agree with them.

The Susan B. Anthony List is one such group. And this organization is raising millions of dollars to test its power in Virginia’s 2013 gubernatorial race — with the intention of electing a slate of anti-woman candidates in 2014. And we know this will only lead to even more horrific state-level anti-choice laws in states across the country.

We have to match them dollar for dollar to protect women, to protect choice, and to protect our constitutional freedom. Will you help us stand up to the SBA List and other anti-choice organizations like them?

SBA List’s positions are like a greatest-hits collection of anti-choice, anti-woman zealotry. They’ve called Todd Akin “an excellent partner.” They said they supported former Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s comments about pregnancy from rape that “life is always a gift from God.” They even defended Virginia’s forced ultrasound bill.

The SBA List is raising millions of dollars to elect a governor in Virginia who will try to pass even more extreme laws. And it’s coming for states across the country.

I’m trying to stop them. Will you help me stop them, and protect choice at all levels?

Ilyse G. Hogue President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

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Who’s Up and Who’s Down

09/22/2014 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War Room

Corporations Are Doing Great. Workers, Not So Much.

Burger King is the latest American-born company that is ditching corporate patriotism in favor of exploiting a tax loophole by moving its headquarters abroad. Companies like this and others insist that they make these decisions because America’s corporate tax rate is too much of a burden for them to be competitive. But the reality is that America’s corporations have never done better. It is America’s workers, with wages stagnating and prices increasing, that are having a harder and harder time to make ends meet.

Let’s look at corporations first. Corporations are capturing a greater share of the national income overall. In 1946, corporate profits accounted for 4.5 percent of all the money earned over the course of the year. Now they have more than doubled that share to 11.2 percent.

corps1

Meanwhile, corporate tax obligations make up a smaller share of federal revenue. In 1946, 30.2 percent of all taxes collected by the federal government came from corporations; now corporate income taxes only cover 9.9 percent of federal revenue.

corps2

Center for American Progress fiscal policy expert Harry Stein explains the backward logic of corporations complaining that taxes are too high: “The claim that taxes are somehow ‘crushing’ corporations gets it backward—corporations could not survive without taxes. To list just a few examples, federal taxes fund education and training for the American workforce, a national transportation network to deliver products to market, a navy to keep shipping lanes safe from piracy around the world, and a legal system to protect copyrights and patents.”

While corporations have been doing better than ever, workers have not been capturing their fair share of these profits. Simply put, trickle-down isn’t trickling. In 2013, the share of corporate income that went to workers hit its lowest point since 1950, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute.

corpincome

Workers aren’t earning less because they’re working less. Oppositely, their productivity increased 8 percent between 2007 and 2012 while their wages actually fell.

BOTTOM LINE: These new economic numbers are more proof that our economy is not working for most Americans. Companies may point to the tax code as a reason for their corporate desertion, but the fact is they are doing better than ever. It’s middle and working class families, the real engines of the economy, that are left with less. We need an economy that works for them.

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Climate March … Join the Largest Climate March in History

09/21/2014 Nativegrl77

Earth Day Network Logo
This Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people and over 1,400 organizations will come together for the largest climate rally in human history.

Please join Earth Day Network at the People’s Climate March to make your voice be heard!

We are done waiting! We’ve reached a tipping point in the struggle to fight climate change. Immediate, aggressive international action must be taken or the entire world will face grave consequences. That is why UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called together world leaders for a climate summit this September. While they are debating, we will march in historic numbers demanding that they make aggressive commitments to fight climate change now.

As a major partner of the People’s Climate March, Earth Day Network will be there en force. Join us to take a stand and change the course of history by demanding a world with an economy that works for people and planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities. Beyond the march, there are dozens of events planned for the weekend of the People’s Climate March, to plan your climate action weekend, the the schedule of events here.

The march will begin at 11:30 am in Central Park on Sunday September 21st. The route of the march and staging information can be found at the March’s website. Join the largest climate rally in history and help to ensure history moves in the right direction. Show up, bring your best sign and change the future!

If you can’t be there in person, be there in spirit and support Earth Day Network’s delegation. $100 will cover the cost of one person on our team. Donate now and help us show the world we need climate action NOW!

— The Earth Day Network Team

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save the Honey Bees ~~ Kristin Brown, League of Conservation Voters

09/20/2014 Nativegrl77

Stop the Bee-pocalypse! You can help save our nation’s honeybees >>Could you imagine a fall without fresh apples, Carmen? Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie?If we don’t take actionright now to protect honeybees, our favorite fall foods — and the U.S. economy — will be at risk.Honeybees, our number one food security guard, are dying at an alarming rate due in part to pesticides being used across America. In recent years, nearly one-third of commercial bee colonies in the U.S. have been dying over the winter, and 50,000 honeybees died in Oregon last year alone!

We need Congress to take action and protect the honeybee. Tell them to ban the pesticides that are killing honeybees off. Speak out now!

Why should Congress care about losing the honeybee? It would be a crushing blow to our economy. One-third of the foods produced in North America, including nearly 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables like apples and pumpkins, rely on honeybees for pollination — that means we could lose more than $15 billion a year in agricultural production in the U.S.

The good news is that some in Congress have taken notice. A bill to save honeybees by temporarily banning certain pesticides, H.R. 2692, recently reached 71 co-sponsors.

Let’s tell Congress that we want to pass this bill! Tell your member of Congress to support H.R. 2692 and save our honeybees!

www.lcv.org/SaveTheBees

We can save the bees, our economy, and our favorite fall foods.

Thanks for taking action,

Kristin Brown
Director of Digital Strategy
League of Conservation Voters