Mother Jones has sifted through the 50 states and cobbled together a list of state governors who have effectively chosen to deny the poorest of their constituencies health care coverage and the opportunity to attain basic medical care through their refusal to accept Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion provision. They represent the who’s who of Republican governors whose states occupy the core of stalwart opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
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February 21, 2013
Meet the Governors denying uninsured health care coverage
October 24, 2012
Daily Scoop: Gender Gap in Election Coverage
October 3, 2012
Politifact gives Conservative PAC a Smackdown
Newspapers in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio were riddled with ads from the conservative political action committee Government is Not God claiming the darndest things. Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize winning factcheck website, took notice and essentially gave what can only be described as a serious smackdown.
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August 2, 2012
The Daily Scoop: Paul Ryan’s Budget Challenged to Show how it’ll Lower Health Care Costs
Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposals to control health care spending by slashing the federal government’s contribution to Medicare and Medicaid and shifting that spending on to future retirees or the states, has dominated Washington’s conversation about entitlement reform.
But on Thursday morning, a group of health care economists and former Obama administration officials laid out an alternative approach that could achieve health savings by encouraging providers to deliver care more efficiently.
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August 1, 2012
The Daily Scoop: Studies reveal Romney-GOP plans place burdens on poor & Seniors
Romney tax plan would shift burden to poor
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Mitt Romney’s tax plan would provide large tax cuts to the very wealthy, while increasing the tax burden on the lower and middle classes, according to a study released Wednesday.
The report — produced by researchers at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center — illustrates just how difficult it would be to recoup government revenue lost under Romney’s plan.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tax plan calls for 20% cuts to today’s Bush-era income tax rates. He would also eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Those tax cuts would lead to a sharp decline in government revenue. Yet Romney insists he will make up the difference in-part by limiting deductions, exemptions and credits currently available to top-level income earners.
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July 26, 2012
The Daily Scoop: Rest of 1st World Astounded by US’s Enduring Gun Culture
Just as with the Health Care Reform debate here in the US, the rest of the developed world’s industrialized countries are astonished that, in the wake of such tragedies as the Aurora, Colorado shootings, the need for gun control is still a debate. For many of our friends abroad this is a non-issue, gun control is a necessity and debating it makes little sense. But here in the US, we still feel the right to bear arms is one that should not be hindered with troublesome regulation even if it saves lives, in the same vain so many feel increasing access to basic health care for millions of Americans is tantamount to treason. It makes one wonder where our priorities lie in this country. Why are we so unwilling to accept a relatively small level of inconvenience if it means improving or protecting the lives of our fellow citizens? Perhaps this is simply a symptom of our own immaturity as a nation.
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July 12, 2012
The Daily Scoop: ACA “Largest Tax Increase in History”
A new ad attacks Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on the health care law and claims to have “the facts.” But then it trots out a series of well-worn distortions.
The ad is from an outside spending group called American Commitment, which said on its website that it supports “free markets, economic growth, constitutionally limited government, property rights, and individual freedom.” It’s a 501(c)4, so it doesn’t have to disclose its donors. (For more details about American Commitment’s connections and spending, check out this report from the Washington Post.)
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July 9, 2012
Health Care vs. Politics: Who Wins?
In light of the growing number of Republican governors’ refusals to implement provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the most prominent of which being Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas, it becomes prudent to contemplate the trends of access to care, residents’ health status and the political leanings of individual states across the country.
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July 2, 2012
The Daily Scoop: Should Small Businesses Really Fear Obamacare?
One of the Affordable Care Acts’ opponents ‘most repeated claims is its “job killing” nature. According to the law’s critics, it has caused widespread uncertainty for the business community throughout the US keeping them from effectively budgeting for premium costs which results in companies putting off hiring. Other claims call the law’s coverage requirements prohibitive which will cause small businesses to choose between retaining costly employee health insurance plans & eliminating coverage and just pay the cheaper penalty. Opponent are positive the burdens of the health care reform will eventually drive people out of business and kill the entrepreneurial spirit in the US.
But is any of this true?
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