Even before the Election, Scott Walker tries to limit access to Birth Control!!!

Scott Walker said he supports women's rights and loves a debate on abortions? All gentle reelection words. But even the election won't stop Walker's wheels from rolling over access to birth control drugs. He really couldn't wait?

WSJ: Two family planning providers serving low-income women say their operations will be at serious financial risk if state auditors stand firm on claims that they overbilled Medicaid by $3.5 million, largely for birth control drugs and devices.

Department of Health Services Inspector General Alan White defended his auditors’ choice of targets and their findings. “This administration, this agency has put a great deal of effort into improving program integrity,” White said. “And protecting the taxpayers of Wisconsin is their predominant responsibility.”

"Integrity." A Republican buzzword for “your next” for cuts, in this case the end of contraception for low-income women. The state has decided to change and interpret the rules differently for contraception, even though providers were never told or given the ability to itemize their services with the state. Here's the basics of Walker's scheme to supposedly "protect taxpayers:" 

The auditors are challenging a reimbursement price for oral contraception that providers say the state itself set and is what their peers use. The claims concern the clinics’ use of Medicaid’s 340B drug-pricing program, in which pharmaceutical companies are required to provide discounted drugs to safety net providers. They say the state never asked them to track those costs individually, and instead told them to bill for each monthly pack of birth control pills the “usual and customary charge up to the maximum allowable fee,” which the state set at $26.02 in 2009 … the higher reimbursement rates help the clinics avoid losing money. The auditors faulted the providers for failing to bill Medicaid for the actual cost of each pack of oral contraception, plus a dispensing fee.

Here's their sneaky way to go after contraception for low income women:

Office of Inspector General’s White argues that the rate does not apply to the 340B drug-pricing program — it was directed at “family planning clinics” — and so is irrelevant. But virtually all of the family planning clinics are enrolled in the 340B program.

Jennifer Waloway, NEWCAP’s director of community health services said NEWCAP may have to close; “I don’t understand how they can expect anybody to be sustainable in a business when all you can charge is acquisition price,” Waloway said. “Nobody can run a business like that.”

And it gets even more transparently obvious:

The state is also claiming money on the grounds that the providers entered claims incorrectly. It states the providers did not note the invoice price for medications. But providers say the state’s own computerized claim-entry system does not include a way to enter the cost. Public policy director Nicole Safar said, “This is a very under-the-radar way to block access to birth control.”

And as usual, Democrats were silent in their outrage, working behind the scenes I guess:

Two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison and Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay, wrote the inspector general last week saying “there appears to be no legal basis” for the claims.

If this had happened to the Republicans, we wouldn't be hearing the end of it.

RNC Chair Reince Priebus would much rather change topics than change policy on women's issues.

The RNC's Reince Priebus is so wonderfully clueless that it's actually fun to post his commentary.

Onion News

This bumbling Barney Fife like character continues to inadvertently reveal the elaborate con behind the his party's "secret" policy decisions.

After an internal poll discovered conservative women are not at all happy with the party's direction on women's issues, instead of changing their position on contraception, transvaginal probes, choice, equal pay and charter schools, Reince told Chuck Todd that changing the subject was the better way to go.

Reince thinks women will forget everything else if Republican men can just present a plan to create jobs, because...:

"Women don't really...ah, don't really...aren't really moved on these issues... In fact if Republicans talk about things like the economy, the debt and make the case for jobs and schools and education and push back, I think Republicans will win it by more..."

Politico reported on Wednesday that the Crossroads GPS and American Action Network report found that women think the GOP is "intolerant," "lacking in compassion," and "stuck in the past." According to the report, 49 percent of women view the Republican Party unfavorably, and 39 percent of women view Democrats unfavorably. 

At least the GOP has an advantage with young guys that look like old men. The Onion;

GOP Maintains Solid Hold On Youth That Already Look Like Old Men

Americans won't be happy if Hobby Lobby wins.

While D.C. Republican politicians insist on doing just the opposite of what the American public want, polling keeps telling them to wake up. Let's just say that if the conservative activist Supreme Court decides Hobby Lobby has the First Amendment right of religious freedom, there's going to be big trouble in this country. I've highlighted a new polls responses supporting employer provided birth control:

Most Americans support the Obamacare provision requiring employers to provide birth control coverage for their workers at no additional cost, according to new polling conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), and don’t believe that corporations should be able to claim religious liberty exemptions to get out of this policy.

6 in 10 Americans believe that both publicly held and privately owned corporations should be required to follow Obamacare’s birth control provision ... even in the cases of religiously affiliated institutions, like colleges and hospitals. Churches shouldn’t have to offer copay-free birth control.

The Journal of the American Medical Association found even stronger majority ... 7 in 10 respondents said that companies should cover the full cost of contraception in their insurance plans.

Another poll found that two thirds of female voters hope that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood lose their Supreme Court case. PRRI has consistently found that most religious Americans are supportive of expanding birth control coverage, too.

How many Americans would be affected?

About 14,000 workers are employed at the two companies that are currently seeking to eliminate coverage for birth control prescriptions and counseling … more than 70 other companies also sued over this Obamacare provision, and likely wouldn’t hesitate to remove contraceptive coverage if the ruling goes their way.

Research has also shown that ensuring women have access to the pill helps them invest in their careers and remain in the workforce. 

Catholic Hospitals Okay Obamacare Birth Control Plan.

There’s no reference in the Bible about birth control. None. Any ban on birth control is a choice by that religious organization. This should guide the Affordable Care Act’s policy on contraception.

So the following decision is a fair compromise, where no compromise was really needed:

WisGazette: In a split with U.S. bishops, a trade group for Catholic hospitals said this week it can accept the Obama's administration latest compromise on birth control coverage by religious employers. "We are pleased that our members now have an accommodation that will not require them to contract, provide, pay or refer for contraceptive coverage," said the Catholic Health Association.

However, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are suing to overturn the entire requirement, saying it trespasses on freedom of religion. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the bishops' conference, said … the bishops have also sought a religious exemption for owners of for-profit businesses.  

The argument against birth control is a reach by anyone’s standard. It was once used as a way of populating and increasing a churches membership. I would hope we were beyond that now, leaving such medieval thinking far behind.

I found this explanation at Desiring God.Org, just one of many opinions that makes practical sense:

Is birth control consistent with the truth that children are a gift from the Lord?

It is very important to delight in the reality that "children are a gift of the Lord." But some people go further and argue from this that since children are gifts from God, it is wrong to take steps to regulate the timing and number of children one has.

In response, it can be pointed out that the Scriptures also say that a wife is a gift from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22), but that doesn't mean that it is wrong to stay single (1 Corinthians 7:8). 

Catholic Church tests Religious Influence and Control over U.S. Constitution.

What a set up. Even if insurance companies are required to provide contraception to all Americans, the Catholic Church is still claiming they’ll end up paying in some small way for the pills. What’s to stop the church from telling insurers what they can or cannot provide in general. How about the co-mingling of their insurance premiums with a company that provides contraception to different groups of policy holders?

If the church wins this one, they will have found a way to manipulate and set in place religious dogma into the Constitution. That’s why they have a full court press on now to win the big one.

Never mind that contraception has other medically necessary uses.

CBSNews: Roman Catholic leaders opened a new front against the Obama administration mandate that employers provide workers birth control coverage, filing federal lawsuits Monday on behalf of dioceses, schools and health care agencies that argued the requirement violates religious freedom. Among the plaintiffs is the University of Notre Dame, which in February had praised President Barack Obama for pledging to accommodate religious groups … Rev. John Jenkins, said the school had since decided to sue because "progress has not been encouraging" in talks with administration officials. The lawsuits have been filed in eight states and the District of Columbia by the Archdioceses of Washington and New York, the Michigan Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities in Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Indiana, health care agencies in New York and two dioceses in Texas.

We're Debating Contraception...are you kidding me? Welcome to the Dark Ages.

Do you believe this? We debated this in the 60's for crying out loud. Now a religious organization can infringe on my right to access the health care services I want. Sure I can go somewhere else and buy the treatment, if I can afford it, but that infringes on my right to obtain services available to everyone else free of religion and without the added cost.

The incredible has happened. Under the deceptive guise of religious freedom, we would be able to completely dismantled health care for all in this country?

And if our now radical and disingenuous Republican politicians who have jumped on this bandwagon got their way, medical care in this country would be based on the whims and prejudices of the provider.

Bullying Bishops, feeling emboldened by issue avoiding GOP presidential candidates, want their doctrine to influence government policy.

Politico: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the administration’s plan still includes a “nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients.”

“It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write,” the bishops said.

Health care in America will be nothing more than emergency room visits, charity from religious organizations, school car washes and touch football fund raisers. Are we mad?

Just wait till stem cell research cures everything, but is deemed religiously off limits by some arbitrary edict of the church, like contraception?

Here's the debate in a nutshell, featuring right winger Laura Ingraham and guest Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, who absolutely dismantles the idiocy of this debate:



Why couldn't health care include all medical services and treatments in general, and every individual had a First Amendment right to refuse any given care based on religion or a bet they lost at work?

I thought this analysis was spot on;

Salon: It is Santorum, not President Obama, who is waging a war against religion.  It is the fear-mongers who endanger religious freedom.  Why should the Catholic Church impose its doctrines on employees who are not Catholic?  Why should any who are not Catholic be deprived of access to a health insurance benefit solely because they are employed by a Catholic hospital or university?  Why should the Church be permitted to impose its doctrines on an individual who not a member?  The First Amendment does not grant any church the power to deprive individuals of rights.

Santorum is waging a war not only on religion but on all Americans who do not share his faith.  The Catholic Church has every right to impart its doctrines; its members can accept or reject them.  

Uh Oh! Pope Supports Condoms, throwing religious right under bus to Heaven.

Now what will the religious fear mongering birth control and disease prevention opponents do?

After decades of fierce opposition to the use of all contraception, the pontiff will end the Catholic Church's absolute ban on the use of condoms.

While he will restate the Catholic Church's staunch objections to contraception because it believes it interferes with the creation of life, he will argue that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death can be a responsible act – even outside marriage.

Related articles

• Pope approves use of condoms in fight against Aids (telegraph.co.uk)

Political Fact checking the fact checkers on Scott Walker’s “small government” support for allowing pharmacists to refuse to sell contraception.

I dare you anyone reading this to find a blanket statement from Planned Parenthood that insinuates Scott Walker would allow pharmacists to block contraception in ALL CASES!!!

PolitiFact starts with this setup:

jsonline: Planned Parenthood Advocates, the lobbying and political action arm of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, is painting Barrett’s rival, GOP nominee Scott Walker, as "just too extreme." In a flier mailed to voters, it frames Walker’s views this way:

"Scott Walker tried to pass a law to allow pharmacists to block women’s access to birth control."

Is that really the case?

My own fact checking says yes. PolitiFact even confirms it's true, but then after a convoluted analysis, claims Planned Parenthood is saying Walker would allow a total block on contraception. That's just not true, according to their own research:

Planned Parenthood Advocates spokeswoman Amanda Harrington said her organization’s statement about Walker is based on Assembly Bill 168, a measure Walker sponsored in 2001 while serving in the state Assembly. It would have applied to pharmacists and other health care providers … But both Harrington and Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin say the protections for pharmacists in Walker’s bill would have applied to the dispensing of all types of birth control. Planned Parenthood says flatly: Pharmacists would have been able to block women from getting birth control. Walker says he supports allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill emergency contraception prescriptions on moral grounds.

The claim by Planned Parenthood is still off the mark. In an effort to paint Walker as extreme, the group’s lobbying arm says in a direct mail piece that Walker "tried to pass a law to allow pharmacists to block women’s access to birth control." That bill might have made it more difficult for some women to get contraceptives at some pharmacies, depending on who was on duty. But words matter -- the possible narrowing of access to birth control in some cases isn’t the same as blocking it in all cases.

We rate the claim as Barely True.

PolitiFact is “Pants on Fire” wrong.

The final paragraph’s quote from Planned Parenthood, "tried to pass a law to allow pharmacists to block...birth control" does not suggest, as they claim, to "blocking it in ALL cases." It ALLOWS a pharmacist to refuse the sale, it isn’t a total block.

Their "Barely true" conclusion is wrong, based on all the statements of proof supplied by supporters of the failed Walker bill, and the exact language of Planned Parenthood.

The response from PolitiFact for drawing the wrong conclusion:

The statement in question provided no mitigating words … such as “limit access” to birth control or “block access in some cases.” I’m sure you understand that the approach of campaign ads and literature is to make the strongest statement possible.

The role of PolitiFact has been, and will continue to be, to help readers
understand the full context of the matter. You are free to disagree with our
conclusion, as are others.

The sad fact is these “fact check” gimmicks are deceptive and are removed from reality. Maybe they should try a new category like "In your Face Obvious."

Related articles

• Planned Parenthood Launches Campaign For Free Contraceptives As Part Of Health Law (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Barrett: Abortion and Health Care (freedomeden.blogspot.com)

Barrett opponent Walker sings his way “out” of the hearts of Women Voters…

I do like love these revealing conservative musical interludes.

(Here’s) Planned Parenthood's new online video highlighting Scott Walker's extreme stance on women's health. As noted in the video, while in the state Legislature:

Scott Walker voted to allow pharmacists to deny birth control prescriptions.

Scott Walker voted to eliminate prevention-based family planning health care.

Scott Walker voted to deny insurance coverage of birth control.

Scott Walker has pledged to advance policies restricting access to birth control, sex education and abortion access for Wisconsinites. He supports outlawing abortion across the board—even in cases of rape and incest, or if a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. He supports Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth and other extreme politicians who work to keep lifesaving information about preventing teen pregnancy and STDs out of Wisconsin public schools.