GAO suggests 9 ways to replace Affordable Care Mandate.

Yes, Republicans will never allow a fix to get people to sign on to the Affordable Care Act's benefits, but the GAO made these suggestions anyway. They received input from those listed at the bottom of this post. After hearing the partisan lunacy of the conservative activist Justices compare the mandate to forcing people to buy broccoli, food, and health club memberships, its no secret which way these guys will legislate from the bench.

Results in Brief: The experts we interviewed discussed several specific approaches to encourage voluntary health insurance enrollment during our interviews. The approaches are summarized below, generally presented in the order of frequency with which they were proposed by the experts for consideration.

• Modify open enrollment periods and impose late enrollment penalties.

• Expand employers’ roles in auto-enrolling and facilitating insurance enrollment.

• Conduct a public education and outreach campaign.

• Provide broad access to personalized assistance for health coverage enrollment. 

• Impose a tax to pay for uncompensated care.

• Allow greater variation in premium rates based on enrollee age. 

• Condition the receipt of certain government services upon proof of health insurance coverage.

• Use health insurance agents and brokers differently.

• Require or encourage credit rating agencies to use health insurance status as a factor in determining credit ratings. 

Four key themes emerged. First, experts emphasized that most people would prefer to purchase health insurance coverage; however, to the extent that high cost is a barrier, the use of financial incentives is key. Second, they stated the availability of affordable, high-quality health care plans with a basic set of benefits, and full coverage of preventive care services is essential to encouraging voluntary enrollment in the coverage. Third, experts said that strong marketing and public education from trusted, community-based sources informing people about their health care choices, their costs, and the consequences of not enrolling in a timely manner are important. And fourth, they said convenient access to multiple access points staffed by knowledgeable individuals would further facilitate enrollment.  

The problem with any marketing campaign to get the message out, is that most sources have been vilified by the conservative media already. And if they haven't been trashed yet, they will be. Expect corporate front groups like Concerned Women for America to advance their paranoid "what if" scenarios, that play so well on the conservative "someones getting something for nothing" psyche. 

America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Enterprise Institute, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Assurant Health, Blackstone Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbia University, Consumers Union, Council of State Governments, Harvard University, Kaiser Family Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, The Lewin Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Business Group on Health, The Urban Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Hovde's Plea to the press to stop food stamp sob stories get Moyer'ed.

Bill Moyers couldn't help but point out Eric Hovde's incredibly arrogant comment to the press, to please stop covering those whining food stamp losers.

After listening to Hovde's comments again, I'm beginning to believe he's now more concerned with how the down economy is going to affect him,  when he says, "it's going to devastate everybody." Like Eric Hovde maybe?

Moyers also takes a nice shot at Paul Ryan via Nun's on the Bus.



Just what we need, another millionaire with the "courage" to dump on the poor and middle class.

Deceptive Faux Women's Group tool of Big Insurance, Doctors and Health Care Industry.

Really, "Concerned Women for America?" God I hate these contrived names used by conservative crooks to deceive and destroy their special interest targets.

Their new ad stood out for me as I casually watched Sunday morning news talk on TV. It's so heavy handed, fearful, and factually wrong that I had to post it here.

According to their website spin: 

"As the Supreme Court decides the fate of government-mandated health care, we must continue to seek real reform, not President Obama's plan which costs hardworking taxpayers too much money and gives Washington too much control over our personal health decisions."

Here's the ad's text and my corrections. 

"As a doctor, I do everything I can to make sure my patients get the very best care. But look at our health care system. Everyone agreed we needed reforms -- but this new health care law -- it just isn't fixing things.

It has fixed things.According to the latest CBO report, health care costs have started to stabilize, and in some cases, come down. That's because the whole industry knew they had to do something, forced by the Affordable Care Act, so they changed their business models. This would not have happened otherwise. 

President Obama promised my patients that they could keep me -- but what if because of this new health care law -- I can't keep them?

It's the tiresome "what if" conservative argument. Think of this: How many got to keep their physicians when they lost their jobs or their employer change insurers? That happens all the time, so this "keep your doctor" promise was always an empty one, even before the Affordable Care Act. 

Forewarning for the next part of the script: "Denied care" has been happening for decades, and will no longer exist with the Affordable Care Act. This deceptive ad states just the opposite. Additionally, it warns of "projected billions" when in fact, it's paid for. The same is true of the $1 trillion in spending, also paid for with citizen premiums. That's according to the CBO's latest report, which was turned inside out in the conservative media. 

I've looked at this law. I know the consequences: delayed care and worse yet -- denied care.Studies show the president's health care law is projected to add hundreds of billions to our deficit -- and increase spending by more than a trillion dollars. And the truth is -- we still don't know how much this law will eventually cost.

And finally, who would you trust, your own government guaranteeing you the right to health care, or an insurance company turning you down for coverage in the pursuit of profits? These concerned women really aren't. 

I don't want anything to come between my patients and me -- especially Washington bureaucrats. We need real reform that improves care, and the President's health care law just isn't it. It just isn't worth it. This is where health care decisions should be made. Not in Washington."

Again, between you and your doctor...is an insurance bureaucrat, denying you care. If you want to tell these corporate whores with the touchy feely women's name just what you think, here's their contact information. 

For Information Contact: Alison Howard (609) 517-7235   ahoward@cwfa.org    media.cwfa.org

Big Business Advice to keep down health care costs; "find the cheapest hospital."

So, a big shot corporate owner solved the problem of rising health care costs for himself, so what? The trouble is, his solution works for larger companies, ones that might have a few more spending options...like supplying in house health care centers and sticking everyone in a health savings account. Health savings accounts don't work well for the middle class and poor in smaller businesses and sole proprietorship's, because people on those plans would just end up rationing their own care.

But what's worse is the snake oil advice from John Torinus, from Serigraph in West Bend, who wants you to believe that the LOWEST COST HEART SURGEON will be your best choice. Like he said, it's counter intuitive. Yes it is. As an adult, consumer of really bad cheap products, and a long time small business owner shopping for insurance almost every year, I've found that not to be true.

Yet Torinus found one hospital he can recommend that might just be the exception. Anyone for cheap surgery, cheap doctor, cheap facility? Hey, it would be nice to think it could happen, but it would also be crazy.

Torinus: "So if you want to go get your heart bypassed, go find the cheapest hospital. Now that's counterintuitive, but if you think about it, it's not."

Yeahhhh, right. Mike Gousha couldn't end the interview quick enough.


 

Tommy Thompson muffs his own official Senate site address!!

After watching Tommy Thompson bullshit Mike Gousha on Upfront about the Affordable Care Act, I had to take a look at the plan he said was at tommyforsenate.org. Expired! The actual web address; tommyforwisconsin.com.

The only thing close to that is his Twitter page. This is no small mistake, this is incompetence.

One more thing, Thompson claims the Affordable Care Act isn't paid for...he's wrong. It's the one big talking point lie that the media never seems to want to correct. Heck, reporters could just read the latest estimates from the CBO and know Republicans are full of it. More on that in my next post featuring Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher. From Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-shay):

Media Gets Challenge for Covering Fast and Furious; are they still Fox News Suckers?

There's a gun crazy loon behind the whole Fast and Furious phony controversy ginned by Fox News, and other rabid low information politicians. It really is amazing how something like this is taken so seriously by the news outlets without some context.

Rachel Maddow wonders if the media will play the suckers again. Gee, I wonder. This is Maddow's second attempt at trying to change the Fast and Furious media narrative. Still no change....

Walker's Act 10 to cost Hard working Taxpayers $87 million.

"Laws should be examined more carefully before they're passed!"

That's according to the Secretary of the Department of Employee Trust Fund Robert Conlin.

I know, conservative voters won't give a hoot over laws rammed down their throats, if its got an "R" behind it. From WKOW:

Baldwin gets tough on China in first, takes message to pub?

Only a communist would try to save American JOBS I guess, according to senate candidate Eric Hovde. The socialist rantings by Democratic senate candidate Tammy Baldwin will not be tolerated, especially the attack on China in her TV ad. Maybe Hovde, like dumb Ron Johnson, find China a great place for business expansion?

This serious ad (no smiling uplifting expressions of weakness) by Baldwin, is topped off with a final scene...in a bar? That's what it looks like, and it's so Wisconsin. The guy behind her should probably call it a night though.

Message to Free-Market/Anti-American Extremist Eric Hovde: “We’re not Communists, we’re Americans!!! Who’s Got the Sob Story Now?

Senate candidate and billionaire Eric Hovde is finding it difficult to reach out to, and talk to, the low life rabble in society otherwise known as working class Americans. 

Name calling and the vilification of the Democratic Party as commies is so…50’s. It’s odd too how conservatives want to take out country back to, what, a pure capitalist system? When was that? Please Eric, name the other industrialized countries that are pure free market systems?   From The Hill :

"I fundamentally disagree with Tammy on almost everything. She has a more liberal voting record than almost anybody in Congress. Her philosophy has its roots in Marxism, communism, socialism, extreme liberalism — she calls it progressivism — versus mine, which is rooted in free-market conservatism."

What is Hovde trying to do, channel Joe McCarthy? Our representative democracy is also rooted in the free-market experiment as well. It’s two systems in one, how original.  Republicans can’t image the possibility that half or more of the businesses in the country may very well be owned and run by liberals.

jsonline: Baldwin's campaign took sharp issue with Hovde. Spokesman John Kraus told the Hill that Baldwin has worked with Republicans to protect manufacturing in the United States against unfair trade practices by the Chinese. "Hovde clearly has no interest in bipartisan work to create jobs and move our economic recovery forward," Kraus said.

A better response; capitalism has resulted in offshoring, and the outsourcing jobs. Without worker protections put in place by the same government they pay taxes to support, the bloodletting of American jobs will continue. Hovde would consider that just another “sob story” though.

The Outrageous Republican Double Standard on Immigration Deportation. More Phony Outrage.

Why do we have to rely on a comedy show to present to Americans, what the news media should be doing without hesitation. The upside down political nature of the Republican Party is ripe for parody, sure, but it's also perfectly suited to provide the same entertain value cable and prime time news viewers, and isn't that what the networks are dying to accomplish?

Take this simple bit of research by the writers of the Daily Show. Obama's move to put in place a small piece of the Dream Act dealing with deportations, mirrors other previous administrations that made similar decisions. This should embarrass the hell out of "serious" all news channels. What, not enough time in the day to do a little work?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Scott Walker supports job killing Health Insurance "Freedoms" and Premiums.

What ails Milwaukee County, local and state federal governments is health care coverage. It's the most expensive in the world, yet we won't opt into a much less expensive single payer plan for purely ideological reasons.

But instead of going single payer, which would be a socialist commie takeover according to Republicans, conservatives have decided to take health care away, or at least make individuals pay exorbitantly more out of pocket.

Nice solution?

The story of Milwaukee County's financial woes can be laid at the feet of it's former county executive, Scott Walker. Two terms and near bankruptcy, Walker was given a pass on the Greater Milwaukee Committees devastating report that should have, and would have, taken down any potential candidate for governor. Instead, we put Walker in control of the state, and he has in turn, done everything he can to let health care take its toll on businesses and price consumer out of life saving services.

jsonline: Despite deep budget cuts and shifting substantial pension and health care costs onto its employees this year, Milwaukee County still faces a projected $28 million shortfall next year, a gap that could grow to $92 million in five years, according to a long-range forecast. Among the reasons for an ongoing county budget shortfall: high and still growing health care costs; continued steep pension costs; and the expectation of flat state and federal aid … expenses growing by an annual rate of 5.1% but revenues climbing by just 3.5%.

County Supervisor Jim "Luigi" Schmitt said the county has gone about as far as it can in program cuts and shifting benefit costs to employees. "The only answer seems to be we need another revenue source," Schmitt said during a meeting of the board's finance committee. "It's as plain as the nose on my face."

Actually, the answer lies in what could be a Democratic argument for universal health care. The door is wide open for it, inviting the clueless uncommitted Democrats, who continue to shy away from a fight, to finally make the case and appeal to the public’s desire for change. Instead though, it appears to still be off the table. 

Affordable Care Act Refund!!! Repeal, repeal...huh!

The Affordable Care Act required insurers to put most of your premium money into health care, not their pockets. If they take too much, they have to refund that amount. Simple, right?

But wait, Republicans want to repeal the law, and will probably get the activist Supreme Court to legislate from the bench and rule it unconstitutional. How lucky is that? Yeh, we get to pay more in premiums so tea party losers, who don't have coverage, can be free and freeload off the rest of us.

We've got a radically activist conservative Supreme Court legislating from the bench.

The media has fallen down on the job again. With all their 5-4 decisions, on highly controversial laundry list Republican issues, how could we as a nation not be talking about their activism? 

Especially now when a national health care plan is about to offend every small government Republican in the country, even though its not a government run program. Here's a great article from the Daily Beast tracing the historical nature of this court: 

We've heard conservatives say many times that the Warren Court overreached, legislated from the bench, and divided America. It’s typically called the most controversial court in American history … But the numbers tell a very different story. Even though Roberts has reigned on Maryland Avenue for just seven years as opposed to Earl Warren’s 16, the Roberts nonet (more accurately, quintet) has issued far more aggressive and in-your-face 5-4 rulings on controversial and high-profile cases and done far more to divide the country. I don’t know what they’ll do on health care, but they already deserve to displace the Warren Court in the controversy sweepstakes.

First I looked at (seven) representative and major Roberts Court decisions in hot-button issue areas.

Race: Parents v. Seattle & Meredith v. Jefferson, also known as the Seattle/Louisville desegregation case. The Court ruled that local school districts basically couldn’t do anything to ensure racial diversity in their schools.

Abortion: Gonzales v. Carhart upholding the federal partial-birth abortion ban.

Campaign finance: Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission, which prohibited restrictions on many independent expenditures; also McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life, which weakened key provisions of the McCain-Feingold law.

Equal Rights: Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which made it harder for (female) employees to sue employers on equal-pay grounds.

Free Speech: Morse v. Frederick, the so-called Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, in which the court limited free-speech rights of students.

Punitive Damages: Philip Morris v. Williams overturning an Oregon court’s smoking-based award to one ex-smoker.

(ALL) Seven of them were 5-4 decisions. Exactly the same five in the majority, and exactly the same four in the minority. Then I went back and looked at eight historic hot-button Warren Court rulings. In fact, of the eight, only one was a 5-4 ruling.

Once Roberts and Samuel Alito hit the bench, the Federalist Society clock started ticking loudly: We’ve got our five now, boys, and we don’t know how long we’ll have them, so let’s get moving. Desegregation? Boom, 5-4! Equal pay? Bang, 5-4! Campaign finance? Zap, 5-4! And so on. The express point has been to radically remake society, without a hoot of concern about whether it was being done by five or seven or nine.

In fact, to most conservatives, if a decision infuriated the Court’s four liberals, so much the better. Some might argue here that I’d better just face the fact that the country has gotten more conservative … America has if anything become more liberal than it was 40 years ago. So no, we’re not “more conservative.”

The main thing that changed is that rabidly right-wing billionaires started throwing many millions of dollars into politics, forming and funding groups like the Federalist Society, which have managed to assert their will.

And so: If we get a 5-4 ruling against the Affordable Health Care act or any part of it, this is the context to keep in mind. It will be another in a series of ferociously ideological one-vote-margin decisions from the court that we do not need history’s perspective to decide is far and away America’s most ideological.

When Walker Won, it was a Mandate, When Republicans Lose, it's Voter Fraud. Get used to this Meme.

From Sly in the Morning, John Nichols highlighted a mounting portrayal and frame pushed by conservatives; they can only lose elections due to voter fraud.

A sidelight to this important movement to watch, is dumb Ron Johnson's claim busloads of out of state voters came to Racine and cast their ballots. From a previous blog I highlighted Johnson's source of all information; Fox News and conservative talk radio. It's true. WTDY reporter Dylan Brogan interviewed him, prodded him for more, and hit the mother lode:

Radical Communist Nuns on a Bus? The Genius flowing out of Talk Radio....

Upside down, inside out, black is white, down the rabbit hole of life, Vicki McKenna knows no bounds or limits on how low she'll go. The blathering talk host actually said,

Vicki: "I find it so amusing that the left wing, they love the Catholic Church today, because a bunch of radical communist nuns..."

That's odd; aren't the Republicans loving the Catholic Bishops right now, standing with them to oppose contraception in health care?  The word hypocrite is sounding a bit mild these days, ya think?

And that's only the beginning. In Vicki's mind, downsizing food stamps and Medicaid, kicking millions off the programs, will save the programs for those who "really need it"...like themselves, those hard working conservatives displaced by their own failed policies. Their dumb, but they're not that dumb. Here's the audio...it's short:

Fast and Furious, the real story.

I haven't paid any attention to the Fox News creation against AG Eric Holder, Fast and Furious. But had I known just how bizarre this whole thing really was, I might watched the congressional panel vote and charge Attorney General Eric Holder with contempt of Congress.

Ah, but the real story....Rachel Maddow will blow your mind. We, as a country, are in real trouble.

I thought this analysis later with Bob Herbert offered proof, this wasn't a wild liberal conspiracy theory by Rachel:

Finally, Stephen Colbert said in about 20 seconds what almost no news outlet has been able to explain for months, and what Rachel explained above. You might say it's the cliff notes, tea party version:

Average 270 Premature Deaths per Year in Wisconsin Resulting from our Current Free Market Health Care System.

While I don't believe the Affordable Care Act's mandate is unconstitutional, the manufactured interpretation of our founding document still allows the far right to grab at any possible excuse to get rid of it. It's all part of their new freeload society. Tea party losers and the Republican Party for the last 2 years, have encouraged the idea that they don't really have to buy health insurance anymore, so they won't now. No one takes away their freedom with mandates.

But this Looney Tunes attitude toward health care is deadly serious, and here's why:

Milwaukee: A new report from national health care advocacy organization Families USA, co-released by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, documents the number of premature deaths that result from lack of health care coverage.  This important report demonstrates the life and death significance of the impending decision by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

According to the report, 1,204 Wisconsinites have died prematurely for lack of health insurance over the past 5 years for which data is available.  That is 22 deaths per month and 270 premature deaths per year in Wisconsin which are directly a result of our broken health care system.  As a comparison, that is almost 50% of the number of traffic deaths in Wisconsin each year.

“For thousands of Wisconsinites, whether the Affordable Care Act survives is not a political football but a matter of life and death,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

“These thousands of individual and family tragedies offer a compelling moral reason to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, which will guarantee affordable health coverage to 30 million additional Americans.

How original, Eric Hovde blames Liberal media for his comment, "Stop writing about...the person (who) couldn't get...food stamps. Another sob story..."

Oh boy, looks like another millionaire can't quite identify with the poor and middle class without taking a crap on them, and then whining about getting caught in the act.

That's our Eric Hovde. Great piece by jsonline's Dan Bice:  

U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde is lashing out at a liberal national website (Huffington Post) and its chief for posting a video this week in which the Republican businessman complained about what he said were too many sob stories about the plight of poor individuals.

In a press release, Hovde - a millionaire many times over - accused the Huffington Post of taking his remarks out of context to try to make him appear anti-poor during his Friday speech to the Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce.

Hovde then challenged Arianna Huffington to a debate. “I will gladly debate Ms. Huffington any time and any place in front of a room full of journalists on what she has done for the less fortunate versus what I have done," said Hovde, who ticked off a list of his charitable deeds.

But Huffington doesn’t have to respond, because his comments weren’t pulled out of context, and it’s not what you do personally for the poor, it’s what you want to do nationally to the them with public policy. What a childish reaction...a debate, really? Here's what he said, in context:

Hovde told the Brookfield business group: "I see a reporter here. I just pray that you start writing about these issues. I just pray. Stop always writing about, 'Oh, the person couldn't get, you know, their food stamps or this or that.' You know, I saw something the other day - it's like, another sob story, and I'm like, 'But what about what's happening to the country and the country as a whole?' That's going to devastate everybody."

Tough luck Eric, your wild high pitched adlibbing was all wrong, arrogant and downright asinine. But oh sure, blame the liberal media when you finally run through your list of weak excuses.

Hovde said he was decrying the "spin of liberal, elite media." “Nothing ever gets fixed in our country because you can’t even talk about the serious issues without suffering attacks against your character." 

Wood County votes to spend my money on their road repairs, not the frac haulers.

Hey Folks, Wood County wants me, a Dane County resident, to help pay for their frac sand mining road repairs. I say, go to hell. I guess this where industry can now insist it doesn’t even have to take responsibility for the public roads to and from their mine?  You got it! Marshfield News Herald:

Wood County officials are commended for taking a positive stance on frac sand hauling. At Tuesday's County Board meeting, supervisors voted 17 to 2 to approve a resolution to ask the state for assistance to improve local roads to withstand the weight of trucks hauling frac sand.

The approach is the right one for county leaders to take, and the tone is positive. Previous … Wood County Highway Commissioner Doug Passineau has been working with frac sand haulers to get commitments to repair any damage done by hauling.

It's more a heads up to the state that counties like ours will need some help to improve roads for this new industry … Perhaps the state can help by freeing up some road funds for these projects.

No wonder industry thinks they can do anything they want, because they can. But they can't spend my money for their servitude to industry and their own bad business behavior. 

It's the Bush Tax Cuts Stupid!!

The numbers are in on who is offering the best deal for the poor, middle class and rich. It's not even close, and yet, the Mitt'ster is still doing well in the polls. Voting against ones own best interest is the name of the game, and the tea party has bought into the scheme completely.

Citizens for Tax Justice: New figures from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) compare Congressional Republicans’ proposal to extend all the Bush tax cuts to President Obama’s more limited proposal to extend most, but not all, of the tax cuts ... the richest one percent would pay $50,660 less under the GOP approach than under the President’s approach next year. 

The situation is the reverse for lower income groups ... in 2013 taxes for the poorest fifth of Americans would be cut by $120 on average under the Republican approach and by $270 on average under the President’s approach ... the poorest fifth of would pay $150 more on average under the Republican approach than under the President’s approach.  

There's more bad news coming our way if Republicans get what they want:

The President’s approach would cost $1 trillion dollars less (including interest payments on the resulting debt) over the next decade than the GOP approach,