Walker out to prove rising health care Obama's fault, not the insurers jacked up prices.

Scott Walker’s plan to raise health care insurance prices in Wisconsin is working. Why would he do that? To pour more money into for profit insurers pockets, and to make “ObamaCare” look like a failure. 

The fact is, the outrageous cost for medical services by three of the biggest insurers in the state raised everyone's premium.

And don't forget about the state insurance commissions hands off approach to premium increases on the exchange. Walker voters, I'm guessing, don't mind handing their property tax savings over to the insurance industry, as long as it supports a very costly "free market" system. JS-Guy Boulton:

Claims data for three of the country's largest health insurers, (UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna) including two of the largest in southeastern Wisconsin, rank the state as having the second-highest medical prices in the country, behind only Alaska.

A study by the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit organization created to make claims data from health insurers available to researchers, found that prices for 235 common medical services grouped as "care bundles," ranging from basic tests to back surgery, were on average 81% higher in Wisconsin than the national average.

The supposed "best health care system in the world," still inaccessible to millions of Americans, continues to pick our pockets...because they can in the private sector. After checking out the stat below, you have to wonder why every Republican continues to make the false claim that moving to a single payer system won't save money:

The United States spends 50% more on health care than any other developed country — an average of $9,523 a person, or $38,092 for a family of four in 2014. And health insurance is expensive because health care is expensive.

The corporate response from the health care lobbyists in the state was laughable, if not a tad bit insulting. They claimed the report wasn't fair because the 3 biggest insurers weren't major players in other parts of the state, so...?

"The fact that the three insurers that provided data to the HCCI are not major players in most markets around the state makes this study misleading to readers, and largely irrelevant in Wisconsin," Brian Potter, senior vice president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said in a statement.

But UnitedHealthcare had 54% of the Milwaukee market, 49% of the Green Bay market and 37% of the Appleton market in 2013, according to a study by the American Medical Association.

The states industry lobbyist are telling us the same thing they said after the GAO released their study last year. Will we ever really know if we're paying too much in Wisconsin? No. Are we really that happy about cost of health care costs? We must be:

The same contention — that the claims database is not representative of the state — also was raised about a study by the Government Accountability Office released last year that found that Milwaukee and Madison were among the seven most expensive metropolitan areas in the country for three common procedures.

Further, even if the claims data used in the recent study by the Health Care Cost Institute is not representative of prices in some markets, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna still are paying the prices — and those prices are much higher than the national average.

Here's the sad truth about treating health care like a consumer product, like a market product:

If nothing else, the wide variation in prices strongly suggests a market that isn't working like other markets.

Government health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, set the prices they will pay.

The Republican argument against the Affordable Care Act has been successful because most people know little about it, and because they get coverage through their employer, which shields them from the actual cost:

But the U.S. health care system relies on the market to set prices paid by commercial health plans. It is a market in which the cost is largely hidden from the consumer — the patient — because medical bills are paid by health insurers and employers once someone hits his or her deductible and maximum out-of-pocket expenses. The result is that most patients are indifferent to the cost. 

And having gone through a futile attempt myself to get a hospital to tell me the actual price of their treatment, because prices vary depending on what insurer their working with (add to that a different price for cash), this might be the best argument against a market based system:

Getting information on prices also can be difficult. Even when insurers make prices available to the people in their health plans, few make use of the information.

When you're sick, injured or unconscious, how can anyone make the kind of choices necessary for the healthiest outcome? Who wants to burden relatives, even if you're lucky enough to have a few? The article wrapped up with this:

Employers have been reluctant to embrace health plans designed to encourage people to get care from doctors and hospitals that provide quality care at a lower cost.

For instance, few employers have moved to health plans based on so-called reference pricing or on tiers. A health plan based on reference pricing pays a set amount for certain medical services, ranging from MRIs to colonoscopies to back surgeries. People still are free to get care from anyone in a network. But they must pay the cost above the reference price.

Health plans tied to tiered networks give people an incentive, such as waiving the deductible, when they get care from hospitals and doctors that provide quality care at a lower cost. "Now the question is how do we fix health care. We know it is too expensive."

Having had cataract removal, the chart below is even more interesting to me. The U.S. average represents what I paid directly to the doctor and surgery center, bypassing my insurer and the $7,000 deductible. Yes, it was cheaper to pay directly than use the deductible and insurer. So is the the free market insurance model bad. Yes, and that's where Republicans want to take us:

 

Finally, Walker's criticized by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and Democrats.

Since I’m not a hunter, it seemed odd to me that I was one of the few bloggers writing about hunting and the irresponsible state control over wildlife. I just wanted to protect the sport my dad and so many others enjoyed here in Wisconsin.

Walker trolls liked to bash my coverage, putting all their faith and supposed rugged “individualism” into their near infallible leader, Scott Walker. My defense of hunting and criticism of the new Rube Goldberg set of hunting regulations was met with snide remarks.

  

Now that the issue if front and center, I’m hoping the state will make the necessary changes, and the trolls stop giving up their freedoms to their big government conservative leaders like Walker. WPR:

Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Asks Walker To Be Stricter With Deer Farms To Fight CWD: A prominent sportsmen's group wants Gov. Scott Walker to crack down on deer farms as he revises the state's chronic wasting disease tactics. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation announced Thursday that it sent the governor a letter asking him to require farms to double-fence, install devices to detect open gates and kill their herds within a month if CWD is detected on their farm and it's not double-fenced.

The federation recommended more testing of wild deer for CWD and suggests returning to in-person carcass registration in disease zones. The group also demanded more transparency from the state on the disease's spread.

That sounded reasonable, right? Nope. Republicans are settling in on their now standard answer for everything; 'there’s nothing we can do.' Now that’s governing:

Whitetails of Wisconsin Association President Rick Vojtik said the captive herd isn't spreading the disease and double-fencing won't stop its spread.

Scott Walker's pick, Ted "Lucifer in the Flesh" Cruz, proves he's still a bad judge of character

It's fun to watch "stand with Walker" drones struggle to explain their party leaders choice of Ted Cruz. Even funnier still were the words John Boehner used to set the record straight about the Senate's most disliked SOB.

With Borg-like precision, Republicans marched in lockstep to vote for Ted Cruz, a guy they really hated, just because Scott Walker said so. Then they tried to explain away what was essentially a Trump protest vote, as if they were sincerely trying to elect the best man.

After six Walker associates were convicted in the first John Doe investigation, Walker again proved that he was still a bad judge of character, appearing in this Wisconsin get out the vote ad for Cruz:



Check out Boehner's actual words...and the crowds reaction:

Walker's got us where he wants us, begging for more.

Scott Walker continues to treat us like a cheap date. 

Let's  begin by saying...wow, I’m so not impressed by my tax cut, especially after Wisconsin had dumped public investments previous taxpayers spent billions of dollars building. We gave up state parks, DNR environment and wildlife protections, funding for the University of Wisconsin, investments in our kids K-12 education, local control of just about everything, and for what...?

...an average tax filer making about $50,000 saw an average cut of about $160.

Just $160 to vote again for Scott Walker. Of course I didn't see any of that money because Walker didn't keep down health insurance costs in the marketplace, by rejecting 20-50 increases in premiums. Oh and don't forget how many school districts voted for higher taxes to keep their schools open. But hey, Walker and his band of legislative plundering pirates weren't the ones who increased taxes, blame your local officials.

The fact that lower income families got the biggest percentage of the 2013-14 tax cut is no big deal folks, even though the media will play that up. That's just $55.

If you made under $30,000 you got a whole $55. Under $55,000? A rooten-tooten $117. On a good week at the department stores, I can save twice that. You can save $500 with one purchase at Costco.

This is the price of "freedom and liberty" under Scott Walker. A fire sale of public investments for a measly 55 to 117 bucks. 

The chart above should have been paired with corporate tax savings, and the devastating depletion of our general revenues because of them. But its not over yet, because as we all know, Walker needs to provide a tax cut in every budget, even if it's just an insulting $1 a year. It's ad campaign gold.

And in rare instance of honesty, Rep. Dale Kooyenga said he never intend to help the poor:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, one of the chief architects of the tax cut package, said the tax code is now more progressive than when Democrats were last in control of state government, something he said Republicans weren’t initially intending to do.

“We set out to cut taxes in proportion to the taxes being paid. What happened is it was compromised in the process. We ended up cutting taxes more for people who pay less in taxes (in percentage terms).”

Wisconsin wage earners and state coffers saw a $423.6 million reduction in income taxes as a result of rate cuts enacted in 2013 and 2014, according to new data from the state Department of Revenue. That’s about $30 million more than the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated in July 2014. 

Walker politicizes Civil Service Reform, Ignored Warnings by his own Department!

Remember when Governor Scott Walker's reason for reforming the civil service rules focused like a laser on the "silliness" and "ridiculous stuff." You'd have to be crazy not to want to get rid of that:

"What we keep intact is the good. We keep intact the merit (hiring). We keep intact the just cause. What we get rid of is the silliness and the ridiculous stuff," Walker said.

Funny thing, his own Department of Personnel Management never found anything that bordered on silly or ridiculous. WSJ:

The personnel agency in Gov. Scott Walker’s administration privately blasted changes to the state’s civil service days after they were proposed, telling his office the overhaul would slow hiring, turn away qualified job applicants and trigger more lawsuits against the state, public records show … Walker has touted the law as a signature achievement … a bid to put state hiring more tightly under the governor’s control.

Walker: "This is really about bringing Wisconsin into the 21st century when it comes to recruitment and retention."

Walker ignored his own personnel agency because ideology trumps reality every time.

And proving once again just how bad Republicans are at governing, the civil service bill’s author never even saw the critical memo from the personnel department:

The bill’s sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said he read the memo for the first time last week when it was provided to him by the State Journal.

Still, at the time he pushed the bill he did say...:

"We can't afford to be working with the same rules as we have for 100 years." 

Of course not, because things were so bad....?

Walker has always favored cronyism, so developing a civil service reform plan had to become easier to manipulate and game. Remember this...:

A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report last weekend found that the administration made sure that the new get-tough top cop at the state Capitol got a hefty raise by moving him and his top deputy into phantom jobs for a couple of weeks before returning them to their real posts.

Now it's easier, and anything goes:

The memo is dated Oct. 16, or 15 days after the bill was introduced … undercuts several key contentions … that it will streamline and expedite the hiring of state workers. And it raises questions about the speed with which lawmakers planned to pass the law. “Notwithstanding such unpredictability, it is reasonable to forecast that hiring in the state generally will take longer (under the proposed changes) than it does under the current statute.”

The memo questions the bill’s shift to a resume-based hiring system for state employees, predicting it will “increase the number of qualified applicants inadvertently turned away and the number of unqualified applicants who inappropriately reach the interview stage.”

It also decries the law’s new standard for what is “just cause” to seriously discipline or fire a state worker, saying it is “unclear, limits the agencies in being able to administer discipline and creates the potential for increased litigation.”

Never taking responsibility, Walker decided to hide away from the media this one, or at least until he can come up with a way to blame former Gov. Doyle: 

Walker’s office initially asked to meet with the State Journal on Friday to discuss the memo but later declined to do so. 

Ryan: The biggest Con Artist in Politics.

Every few years Paul Ryan takes one of his party's biggest liabilities and tries to pin it on the Democrats. And it looks like his plan is working.

What was Paul Ryan's most recent political con: Ripping on crony capitalism. He said that all the while Republican governors were creating crony "capitols" in every red state.

President Barack Obama’s most recent tax overhaul for corporations is just “crony capitalism,” Rep. Paul Ryan says. “It’s a raw deal and I think it’s more crony capitalism. The president likes to pick winners and losers. He lets some businesses off the hook…”

His latest attempt to shift blame: Obama's failed "trickle down economic" agenda. Yea, you read that right. 

ALERT: Ryan is stating emphatically, trickle down economics doesn't work, the core policy of the Republican Party;

"I think the Federal Reserve has given us, in combination with Obama policies, more regulations, higher taxes, more uncertainty; has given us trickle-down economics.”

In a debate with his 2014 challenger Rob Zerban, Ryan doubled down on trickle down's failure, again denouncing it and saying it was Obama's fault:

Debate Question: "Who is actually experiencing the  benefits of our economy? The sad reality is that millions of Americans have not had a pay increase in years. Many who lost jobs went back to work at substantially lower paying jobs ... the stock market/bank accounts bulged as a result of corporate profits averaging 20%. What will it take, and what will you do to ensure a continued recovery is better shared by all Americans, instead of just those at the top?" 

Paul Ryan: "Hundred percent, 100% agree with that...why is that? Guess what, we're practicing trickle down economics right now ... that growth is not translating down to the middle class. It's not lifting people out of poverty ... This is what we're practicing right now."

Criticizing Ryan (in an actual debate setup between them), (David Brooks) said, "Paul's prose is sometimes at war with his policy." Sometimes?

Paul Ryan's Con is working on Moderates and Independents...even Democrats: The Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert took a look at Ryan's popularity in the state. As it turns out, Ryan's favorable's are up, unlike his national numbers. What is it about Wisconsin Republican voters?

Paul Ryan’s popularity has ticked upward in his home state of Wisconsin since he became House speaker.Ryan is getting his best ratings in years from moderates and independents. His image has improved among Democrats and liberals, too. Ryan’s numbers with moderates, averaging three Wisconsin polls during his speakership (last November, January and March): 45% favorable, 31% unfavorable.

Here are his numbers with independents: 46% favorable, 29% unfavorable. In both cases, they are the best ratings Ryan has gotten with those groups in 16 different surveys by Marquette over the past four years. And it’s far less negative among liberals, Democrats, and union households (Ryan is plus 15 among union households in Wisconsin; Walker is minus 32).

Republican Billionaire Says GOP Pathological about Deficit, country needs Stimulus.

I thought I would let a conservative billionaire tell the trolls the truth. CNBC:

Icahn: Republicans don’t understand economics and it’s killing the country: Republican lawmakers are suffering from a near "pathological" misunderstanding of the national economy, and they may be hurting markets and Americans alike, billionaire investor and Donald Trump supporter Carl Icahn told CNBC on Thursday.

Icahn, who Trump had previously suggested could serve as his Treasury secretary, warned that markets will have a " day of reckoning " without fiscal stimulus, and argued that the U.S. government "certainly could do more spending."

"The Republican Party that I used to be more sympathetic with — I'm right in the middle now but what I would say is Congress is in this massive gridlock," he said, explaining that the Republican-controlled body is "obsessed with this deficit to a point that I think it's almost pathological."

The result of this gridlock and a lack of fiscal stimulus has been that the Federal Reserve has been forced to keep interest rates low, and that has created "tremendous bubbles" and "the wealth gap."

Additionally, worrying about a deficit when there is no significant inflation and the dollar remains the global reserve currency is not a smart way to govern, Icahn said, adding that "a country is not a company."

While a company would go bankrupt if it owed too much money, the same could not be said of the United States anytime soon, Icahn explained, reiterating that he can't "understand this obsession" that many Republican politicians have with the deficit.

"They keep saying we owe all this money to China , but we're really not going to pay it back ever in a normal way," Icahn said. "So China decides 'I want my money back.' OK, well how do you want it back? You want dollar bills, you want Treasurys, what do you want?"

Icahn said, "And I never thought I'd agree completely with guys like (economist Paul) Krugman, but in this sense he's sort of right: I mean, you absolutely need fiscal stimulus in this economy."

Walker is one Ghoulish Sick As**ole.

What does it take to wake the news media up? 

Scott Walker has been so upfront and fascinated with schemes to make insurance company more money soaking the sick and dying, that it stuns the senses. Every other country in the world thinks its appalling and wrong to profit from the sick. 

He didn’t want to extend Medicaid (BadgerCare) because as he said he wanted people to buy insurance. Yes, he said that over and over, and no reaction from the media. His pal Paul Ryan wants to throw more of our money into the insurers pockets by partially privatizing Medicare with no cost containment. 

Now he wants insurers to make money off the elderly and disable. JS:

Gov. Scott Walker's administration wants to shift multibillion dollar programs serving more than 55,000 elderly and disabled people from long-standing nonprofits to national for-profit health insurance companies … affecting the Family Care and IRIS programs.

And Walker doesn’t want insurers to miss a month’s worth of profits either…uh, at the request of insurers:

The Walker administration wants the Legislature's budget committee to allow the program to be implemented in coming months ... “we believe the sooner we can transition to improved services, the better off consumers and taxpayers will be," said a statement from Walker spokesman Tom Evenson.

The insurance industry wants the committee to take up the plan by the end of May. "The sooner the committee acts, the sooner reforms may be implemented, and the sooner both service recipients and Wisconsin taxpayers will reap the benefits of these needed, person-centered reforms," said a statement from R.J. Pirlot, executive director of the Alliance of Health Insurers. His group includes Anthem, Molina, United Healthcare, Humana Inc. and other insurers.

Gee, the insurer that whine it couldn’t make enough of a profit from the ACA exchanges, United Healthcare, wants in on Walker’s plan. Wonder why?

And as we all know, insurers are determined to save premium payers money, even if it hurts their profits, right? And like ObamaCare, Walker’s plan won’t DECREASE the cost of care:

The saving represents smaller cost increases than those currently projected…

In May 2015, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said "Because the Department (of Health Services) has indicated that primary and acute care savings have already been realized...it is unclear what additional savings would be realized or other benefits gained from the integration of these services," the fiscal bureau wrote.

Oh and the other Walker connection? Let’s just say this isn’t so much that magical free market solution Republicans are always talking about. This isn’t getting government out of the way, It’s using government to get what private business wants:

Walker's former chief of staff, Eric Schutt, went to work for UnitedHealth Group this year as senior vice president of external affairs. Schutt was the top aide to Rhoades when she was in the Assembly and a co-chairwoman of the Joint Finance Committee … skeptic of Family Care. 

Walker angry about money spent challenging Voter ID, will punish us by opposing cash for information campaign on the new Law.

Scott Walker doesn't like it when Wisconsinites question his authority. Those who challenged his voter ID law are now going to regret speaking out against him. They'll think twice next time, as Walker ponders punishing everyone by not telling them about the new voter ID regulations. JS: 

Republican legislative leaders showed an openness this week to spending $250,000 on ads informing the public about the state's voter ID law even as GOP Gov. Scott Walker expressed skepticism about the idea.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the committee's co-chair. "I think it's something we should look for. It contributes to more people knowing what has changed in the system."

But Walker: "The fact is that the state had to spend a whole lot of time and money defending the law, and continues to do so today," he told WBAY-TV. "If people were really serious about that, they should have allowed the state to use all that money to fight in courts to use that in promoting the system."

Yes Scott, we've all learned our lesson, dissent will not be tolerated and may be costly, that whole 1st Amendment thing. 

Republican Entitlement: their own Tax Delinquency's are okay, despite being 5 Times more prevalent than IRS employees.

In what should have been a completely embarrassing moment of elitist thinking and flat out hypocrisy by House Republican (including all WI Republican members except Ryan), oddly turned out to be anything but. They're in charge, and they get to work under a different set of rules than the rest of us. It was a high five moment for Democrats, who decided not to sit back and take it anymore. Roll Call:

IRS STAFF WITH TAX PROBLEMS: The House passed a GOP-drafted bill (HR 1206) that would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from adding staff until it either (a) vouches that none of its 80,000 employees have a “serious” tax-delinquency not being resolved or (b) reports to Congress on why it cannot provide such a certification. Republicans said it was “hypocrisy” for IRS employees to have their own tax problems.

Real Hypocrisy? The Democrats made an important point to ivory tower Republican political elitists:

Democrats said tax delinquency by congressional staffs is five times more prevalent than at the IRS.

So the Democrats made Republicans vote on it. Republicans didn’t back down though, essentially saying they were special, more deserving, entitled, and aren't subject to the same standards than the people they serve:

The House defeated a bid by Democrats to negate HR 1206 (above) whenever serious tax delinquency on congressional staffs exceeds that at the Department of the Treasury, the parent agency of the IRS. The congressional rate is about 5 percent, compared to 1.19 percent at Treasury and 9 percent in the population at large, according to floor debate on this motion.

Voting yes were Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore.

Our elitist father figure authoritarian “leaders” voted in their own self interest; Jim Sensenbrenner, Glenn Grothman, Shawn Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Like Food Stamps, Republicans want you to Work for Health Care! Oh, and getting dropped for Preexisting Conditions returns.

I hope Republicans get their ObamaCare replacement plan together just in time for the elections.

The conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) on Friday submitted its recommendations to shape a plan ...  The recommendations come from the RSC’s already-existing legislation, the American Health Care Reform Act, which would completely repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a new system. 

I promise, it will be ugly, and Americans aren't going to like it. Who's brilliant idea was it to bring back preexisting conditions? Republicans of course, as away to protect insurance company profits, by dumping sick people into the state high risk pools with even higher premiums. The Hill:

The law would undo ObamaCare’s provision that bars insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions and instead set up a system of high-risk pools for them.

You'll also like their insulting suggestion only lazy people take advantage of health care subsidies. Republicans think you should work health care, pay out of pocket for all your premiums, and then wait a year to write them off as a tax deduction when you file. Not many can afford that. And tax deductions don't count as much as tax credits. Currently, the ACA deducts that subsidy off your monthly premium immediately, so you don't have to shell out money you don't have.

The proposal would replace ObamaCare’s refundable tax credits with a tax deduction, which tends to provide less help to low-income people by reducing the taxes people owe rather than allowing for the possibility of getting money back in a refund.

If you were ever faced with a hypothetical choice between a $100 tax deduction and a $100 tax credit, you would want the credit. Unlike a tax deduction, a $100 tax credit reduces your tax dollar-for-dollar($100). On the other hand, a tax deduction reduces your taxable income by $100. If you are in the 25% tax bracket, a $100 tax deduction reduces your taxes by $25.

Conservatives Lost Principles: Drug testing food stamp recipients and requiring them to work has been a Republican goal for years, now being realized in many red states, so why not health care? Their idea to block grant money to the states for Medicaid would result in the same draconian regulations and right wing social engineering we're seeing on choice and voting. We're talking about basic life saving health care. Think about it, what does working have to do with broken legs, contagious diseases, heart attacks and cancer?

The RSC argues this change would “encourage work while ensuring the federal government does not create another new entitlement program.”

Those in Poverty Dumped Again, Guess they can't Keep Their Doctors!!! Medicaid expansion would die, and so would people: 

By repealing ObamaCare, the measure would also undo the law’s expansion of Medicaid, which has provided much of the coverage gains that have led to an estimated 20 million people gaining insurance from ObamaCare. The RSC says Medicaid spending is climbing at an unsustainable rate and is too often providing care for able-bodied adults.

Yes, there's that term again, "able-bodied adults," like that somehow makes health care affordable?

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, part of the task force put together by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), said recently the group needs “another month or so” to come up with a plan.

Almost all of these free market proposals has already been a part of our health care system before the ACA, and it was a disaster. Republicans want to go back to that:
 

Conservative Radio's Jay Weber wants Democrats to Apologize to Scott Walker for demanding Medicaid Expansion!

There's more people on Medicaid than there should be? Saving money is "compassionate," not saving lives by providing health care? Republicans shouldn't have to pay anything to keep the public healthy, magical wizards should do it? Oh no, Medicaid participation turned out to be more than originally thought!

The genius that made these clueless comments, WISN's Jay Weber, is telling "every moron Democrat" to apologize to Scott Walker now. You see, Walker was right about states still having to pony up to pay for Medicaid expansion. The other half of the story Weber was too big a "dope" to look at was the higher costs states would have to pay turning down Medicaid expansion.

Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature's opposition to the law is projected to cost $678.6 million in state tax dollars through the 2017 fiscal year.

All the while covering fewer people while resulting in higher health care costs overall for everyone else. What a deal? In the audio clip below, Sen. Alberta Darling admitted to Weber the state had a $700 million hole in the budget for gods sake, and that's without expansion. Gee, I wonder how much Ohio has to pay for covering more people?

Ohio taxpayers will be on the hook for over $130 million to meet the 5 percent state match, more than double the projected $55.5 million.

Yup, that's it, and a whole lot less than Wisconsin, unless you have a different way of doing math. Walker is also doling out $30 million from the general fund so hospitals won't lose money caring for the uninsured (the fed is giving $30 million as well). Oddly, Republicans screamed about a similar backstop plan in the ACA marketplaces that helped insurers recover some of their lost revenues. Guess that's somehow different? 

Weber should be fired for not just radio malpractice, lying, but for being such a sycophantic Walker "stooge."  Dope and stooge were two of Weber's words in the clip below...back at ya.



Liberal Media? Weber started as a news reporter, and then became news director. Yea, real liberal media...

Scott Walker’s message is absolutely clear on this; he wants to save money by cutting off as many people as he can from health care via reductions in access to Medicaid (BadgerCare). This isn’t about saving people’s lives, saving them years of agonizing pain, or reducing the rising cost of health care, this is about saving general revenue dollars for future tax cuts.  

Weber brought up the usual one-sided trashing of Medicaid expansion by such publications as the Wall Street Journal and National Review, and gave no attribution this time around. Right wing tabloids never report how much states would pay if they didn't expand the program (they paying about 40% of the cost, not the ACA's a measly 10%). Analysts have found that without change, costs would skyrocket for everybody else. So instead of right wing spin, here are the facts:

States opting out of the expansion of Medicaid is projected both to drive up insurance costs and to save the States relatively small amounts (with some, like Minnesota, showing up to a billion in new revenue under the program).

The 22 states that didn't expand Medicaid eligibility last year saw their costs to provide health care to the poor rise twice as fast as states that extended benefits. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey of Medicaid directors showed that those that didn't broaden coverage saw their Medicaid costs rise 6.9 percent in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2015. The 29 states that took President Obama up on his offer to foot the bill saw their costs rise only 3.4 percent.

That 3.4% rise is what Walker is whining about. Keep in mind, that’s modest when you consider participation rose 18% – 3 times as much as non-expansion states.

A National Review article inadvertently ripped into a purely Republican “private plan” for expansion that increased costs...but sure, that's Obama's fault?

Arkansas reached an unprecedented agreement with the administration to accept the Obamacare expansion, but only under the condition that the newly eligible population would enroll in private health plans … They called it the “private option,” and claimed it would control costs.

The private option was supposed to be “budget-neutral” for the federal government, but federal auditors have calculated it will cost $778 million more than expected over just the first three years. The Arkansas Republican “private option” ended up increasing the cost of the ACA and the state.  

Moral and Ethical Choice? Kansas Republican tax cuts Cut Children’s programs, road work, education funding.

It's coming Wisconsin....

Democrats keep waiting for that tipping point, when die hard Republican voters realize supply side economics doesn’t working. Don’t hold your breath for their moral enlightenment.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback led the way, prompting similar cuts by Scott Walker, although technically, Walker cut college funding before Brownback. Even Republican legislators in Kansas are now hoping to reverse some of the cuts, like the ones Brownback (and Walker) made for farmers and manufacturing:

Some Republicans want to reverse a key policy that exempted 330,000 farmers and business owners from personal income taxes. Republicans in some other states have watched the Kansas tax-cutting experiment closely … a way to generate business investment and economic growth. But it hasn't worked out as envisioned and the state has struggled to balance its budget ever since.  

Again, failure just results in more cuts:

Brownback prefers the borrowing backed by part of the state's tobacco revenues, which now are set aside for children's programs.

The state Department of Transportation announced it would delay 25 major highway projects set to begin before July 2018 ... carry forward $17 million in immediate cuts ordered on state university campuses last month into the next fiscal year that begins in July.

Wisconsin State Sen. Alberta Darling exposed right wing thinking when a reporter asked if tax cuts fail, producing large deficits, what next?

Darling: "Well when you see that coming then you further have to reduce spending."

It's a no fail plan for failure. There's no down side to their argument. Failure is rewarded:

It was the fourth consecutive semiannual forecast to be more pessimistic than its predecessor. Tax collections have fallen short of expectations 11 of the past 12 months.

We're getting the same results in Walker's Wisconsin. And no lesson learned. What a surprise.

Walker takes credit for Wisconsinites finding jobs. Taking away their food really works?

If it sounds too good....well, that's the rule I go by anytime I hear Republicans brag about a law they say is working.

And so it is with Scott Walker's latest pronouncement that reaffirms the right wing idea that every one of those starving unemployed workers are lazy "takers." They had to be pushed into jobs by cutting off their food supply, a cruel punishment that requires 80 hours a month in work training to get food stamps. That's the going rationale that makes it acceptable to envious conservative voters.

Walker: "We will take care of our neighbors and fellow citizens, but for those who are able to work, we expect something in return."

Some of those on the FoodShare program got work, but was it because of the work requirement? Walker wants us to think it was, despite any lack of proof:

32,193 people food stamp recipients enrolled in the program since April 2015 and 11,971 participants gained employment in the past year.

More than 41,000 people lost access to food stamps within the first year of a new state law after the state said they failed to seek employment. 

But here's where Walker makes himself look good due to the lack of information:

The department does not track how many of those who gained employment are no longer enrolled in the FoodShare program.

Nor does the administration track how many people who are eligible for the program found work on their own.

Walker's Wisconsin Tanking, poll says!!!

Scott Walker can do no wrong:

1. Scott Walker supporters say it's a lie voter ID was meant to suppress votes, despite a Republican senators chief of staff witnessing such discussions.

2. After Rep. Glenn Grothman admitted voter ID will play a part in  helping defeat Hillary, stand with Walker drones said "that's not true."

3. When it comes to Scott Walker turning the state around with big bold policies, a template he says the nation should follow, Wisconsinites are no longer willing to play the fool...except his drone army. According to the WPR/St. Norbert College Poll, we stink even worse than the Great Recession?:

Walker has only his the low unemployment numbers to brag about, but that's because he signed reform that makes it harder to get unemployment benefits.

In one of the most jaw dropping examples of just how bad those changes were, pushed by big business...well, thankfully, the courts stepped in...CapTimes:

Employers can’t deny unemployment benefits to employees fired for inadvertent errors, the 4th District Court of Appeals said Thursday in a ruling that an attorney in the case said could affect “thousands” of workers … follows a challenge to a 2013 law that allows employers to deny unemployment benefits for “substantial fault,” a legal concept that the court said is legally untested.

The case pertains to former full-time Walgreens employee Lela Operton, an elderly woman who made eight “cash handling errors” over the course of 20 months ... Her total number of transactions during this time were estimated to number 80,000. The errors involving the WIC checks included the acceptance of a $6 check for a $6.17 purchase for a 17-cent loss, another check overdraft for $2.89, accepting a check before its valid date, handing a check back to a customer instead of retaining it for deposit, failing to get a customer's signature on a check and inadvertently placing another check in a customer's bag.

And this is Walker’s message to hard working Wisconsinites? No mistake…none:

The state Department of Workforce Development initially denied her unemployment benefits on the grounds of “misconduct.” An administrative law judge later ruled that because Operton never “intentionally or willfully disregarded the employer’s interests by continuing to make cash handling errors,” her dismissal was due to substantial fault. The state Labor and Industry Review Commission upheld the administrative law judge’s ruling, which was also upheld by Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert.

The appellate ruling notes that in the 2013 law, the Legislature enacted ... “’Substantial fault’ a completely new legal concept not previously in existence,” Appellate Judge Paul Reilly wrote in the decision. “LIRC is not applying an old statute in a new way; it is applying a new statute to a new concept" ... discounted Walgreens’ and LIRC’s argument that the cumulative effect of Oberton’s errors “cross over the line” to disqualify her for benefits. “Repeated inadvertent errors do not statutorily morph into ‘infractions’ ... Reilly noted that the law was expected to reduce benefit payments from the unemployment insurance trust fund by $19.2 million, the same amount of the fund’s deficit.

Options include appealing the case to the state Supreme Court.

That's why Wisconsinites woke up:

Despite division, protests and predatory enticement of minors, Jesus Lunch organizers feed on attention and anger.

I'm mystified by the number of people who don't seem to be concerned about minor children 14 to 17 being approached by adults tempting them with food and a off kilter right wing religious messages. 

Today a protest sign read "Jesus would Compromise," which pretty much says it all. The Jesus Lunch "moms" didn't do this to compromise, they did it to indoctrinate and introduce what Thomas Jefferson was afraid would happen without the separation of church and state - religious intolerance and division.

The scene today with a growing crowd of student protesters is their new Jesus inspired normal:

Jesus Lunch organizer Melissa Helbach. "For as much as some people think it's dividing, other people are saying it's bringing the school together."

What about the funding? A February 8 Wisconsin State Journal story reported:

The Madison Christian Giving Fund aims to help faith-based programs … (said) Scott Haumersen, the fund’s chairman. Mama’s Lunches, which gives free lunches and a gospel message to students across the street from Middleton High School ($5,000). Mama’s Lunches, which gives free lunches and a gospel message to students across the street from Middleton High School ($5,000).

WISC had this coverage:



The lack of action by Middleton High Schools Principle Plank also had a lot to do with it. Zealot infestations like this usually start off small. Parents are now opening up about what they do know, and it paints an ugly picture:

Dear School Board, I learned today that at least some of the parent organizers of the Jesus Lunch were violating the MHS rules as early as 2014 when they hosted unauthorized "brunches" inside the high school on late start days. As a parent of an MHS student, I am frustrated that this occurred, apparently without the knowledge of school staff, and am concerned for my students' safety. 

When I learned of statements made by one of the children of the Jesus Lunch parents during class last fall, specifically "Muslims are like rabid dogs and should be shot." I was even more angry that this has been allowed to go on for so long.

All students deserve to feel safe at school. As parents, we should be able to send our children to public school without the fear that they will be enticed by adults pushing a religious or political agenda in exchange for free food. I am disturbed by my friends' accounts of their children being pressured to attend the lunches by upperclassmen on their sports teams. It's not as simple as "If you don't like it, stay away."

 Another unsettling story is revealed:

My son went to two of these brunches to do a little recon. At one of them, when he was asked to sit down there were already plastic cups with blue liquid in them at each seat. Towards the end of the meal, the women encouraged the students to imagine what life would be like if they woke up with no sense of taste because they had not prayed to God the night before, asking him to allow them to have it. They then told the students to drink the liquid, apparently to simulate the sensation of loss of the sense of taste. My son said he thought the liquid was mouthwash, but the moms refused to identify it. Since the majority of mouthwash contains alcohol, I'm pretty sure they were coercing students into drinking alcohol.

More....

It seems that the JL organizer (Helbach) was in constant contact with the PD asking to have the protesters removed or backed up because she felt threatened. From what I’m hearing she wasn’t the one being assaulted, but it certainly goes nicely with her story of being persecuted.

Students have had enough of the division, from forced inclusion by peers, or vilification of students who are vocal opponents:

Students and adults opposed to the event protested Tuesday, demanding the event be stopped or moved to a different location.

"It's just inappropriate. They should go to a church and in their own time invite students. It shouldn't be this kind of predatory, opportunistic, bribery of big lunches and handing out Bibles and Jesus literature at the same time," Annie-Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, said.

As one story goes, some students needed protection from the their wicked classmates:

Last semester they gave away surgical masks inscribed with the words "This is my Muzzle," citing Psalm of David:  "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked."

You really have to look for this crazy stuff to even think to bring it up. Check out this from Cognitive Dissidence  and the MacIver Institute video which features participant responses.

AG Schimel lets Lincoln Hills John Doe Probe of Youth Abuse expire, protecting Scott Walker!!!

Scott Walker’s AG lapdog Brad Schimel apparently never asked for an extension to end the abuse of boys and girls…in fact, Walker and Schimel asked a judge to shut down the investigation. JS:

The do-nothing AG

Under a law Gov. Scott Walker signed last year limiting how such investigations can be conducted…made them automatically shut down after six months unless an extension was approved by a panel of 10 judges.

Walker just did away with at least one threat that would have held him accountable for his inaction on the horrific abuses at Lincoln Hills for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls in local media. The FBI is still involved:

Prosecutors for more than a year have been looking into claims of child neglect, prisoner abuse, sexual assault and record destruction at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls.

And that's why the John Doe law was changed. Worse? Anybody watching the AG race knew why Schimel had to be AG, and conservative voters made it happen:

"It's not because of the law," Walker said of winding down the John Doe probe within six months. "The reason they (AG) gave to us (for shutting down the John Doe probe) was that he felt they were complete with the work they did and that they were deferring to federal authorities."

Of course Schimel would say that. He promised, said with absolute clarity, that he would uphold whatever law Walker and the Republican majority passed.

Jesus Lunch, shaping young minds with sandwiches and chips.

The arguments are now bordering on lunacy. Suddenly, minors have all the sensibilities and wisdom of mature adults. And here I thought Republicans didn't think young people were smart enough to even vote. Even more amazing is the divisive and combative ugliness of self righteous Jesus freaks turning Middleton into a religious battleground for their own selfish reasons. Yea, real community minded.

Their names are missing on their website. If you really want to see where Melissa Helbach's family is coming from, check out hubby Casey Helbach's Facebook site. Islamophobia comes to mind.

So what is their Christian message? After all, people are under the impression it's all about the teachings of Jesus, no big deal. Perhaps organizer Melissa Helbach's own kid gave us the answer, via one concerned parent:

"My daughter has had classes with one of the Helbach (sp) kids. He has openly advocated for killing Muslims as the solution to global terrorism. He's spewed hateful rhetoric while touting himself as "self made". She's been upset and frustrated by his behavior."

Another parent chimed in...

Moreover after my son criticized those comments, both cars in front of our house were vandalized. By someone. Lots of Christian behavior here...

Nice group, prince of peace message, you know. 

Rules are posted and clear

These are minors under the supervision of the school district. They protect and educate our kids, like my two sons. Who are these strangers spreading the "Christian" message, which is whatever they think it is. Imagine other groups trying to influence and indoctrinate a whole school filled with curious minors. Their parents should still call the shots, not Jesus Lunch "moms."

The following video clip is a two parter. . Think they weren't looking for a fight? This video was featured at the Education Action Group Foundation, a supposed "non-partisan" right wing group making the rounds on the Fox News Channel, The Blaze, and the Fox Business Network.

The first half recorded by Melissa Helbach's husband shows the group being greeted by Middleton's Superintendent Don Johnson, who calmly shook hands with them and asked for a little conversation.  You'll hear "talk to our attorney" a number of times. The last half (3:57) features conservative radio's biggest BSer Vicki Mckenna, who fed into the religious rights manufactured hysteria with Jesus Lunch's attorney Phillip Stammen.

This poster was handed out at the last Jesus Lunch

McKenna: "They physically blocked them, is what you're saying. They actually physically tried to block them from accessing the park? 

Stammen: "Yes, yes, they put cones in the way, and then they confronted them when they walked up, and they wanted to repeatedly keep talking to them..."

Heaven forbid we keep talking...needless to say, the superintend did little to block their efforts.

Just a note, I'm a Lutheran. One of my sons has already been confirmed, and the other is currently taking classes. We're just like any other liberal progressive church going family. McKenna, like all Republicans, have to paint a different picture to make the following hate filled comment work:

McKenna: "What the left needs to do is make believers bigots. They need to turn Christians into monsters, and they need to kill off God."

If you were wondering where the Freedom from Religion Foundation has been, well, their waiting in the wings....here's the last part of their letter to the school district:

You can keep up to date on all this at the Facebook site, All Middleton Students Deserve Respect.

Sick Jesus Lunch Child Enticement continues...

Want to put a face to the pushy Jesus Lunch loons? Meet Melissa Helbach, one of five women who need to feel loved and accepted, and who thinks they could be my kids "mom" too. Does she believe in contraception? Is she part of the "pro-life" movement against abortion but won't lift a finger to make sure everyone has life saving health care? Does she believe Jesus is the answer and not science?

Why is Melissa Helbach motivated to spread the word to minors next to a public school? Why not camp out at one of the many private Christian schools using the public's money to conduct weeklong Sunday schools? What's her message? From the many comments I've read, no one is asking what it is they're talking about, their positions. People seem to think Christians have the same message as Jesus. Forget about the radical Christian right or past Christian messengers like David Koresh, all is well when it comes to influencing minors away from their parents:

Their website does not include their names. Brave Christian soldiers...?

Helbach didn't intend to cause a controversy, but hell, with the threat of suing the district, guess she's hit the media jackpot. District administrators sadly played right into their hands. WISC:



One parent in northern Wisconsin had this to say:

Middleton Schools just needs to institute or enforce with threat of expulsion as they do at my town's high school, that students don't leave the grounds during the school day.  For reasons of legal liability and foremost student safety. Access to student autos and parking lot thus controlled for the school day, also.  I guess no booze or pot behind that reasoning also.

No one has mentioned that policy yet on line or WPR.  Our rural high school Gibraltar township Door County, the school doors are locked during the day.  Admittance by office personnel only, immediately into the school office to sign in and get a guest pass.  Staffed until the buses leave the school grounds about 3:20 PM and after school activities commence.

Simple school policy issue not involving property rights or park permits. 1997 we students held a cafeteria boycott for better lunches, outside serving eventually shut down by county sanitarian, but we got real food in school after that.

Here's my own response in the comments section, where oddly no one could grasp the idea we were talking about kids under 18, being manipulated by adults. This is about parents raising their children, and not handing them over to right wing religious fanaticism:

   

Walker fails to warn public about dangerous killer bacteria, thinks we can't handle it, waits 3 months.

The disturbing father complex that underlies everything Scott Walker does as governor could have killed a lot of people. He always knows what's best for us, doesn't he? WISC:

Records show Wisconsin health officials waited several months to announce an outbreak of a rare bloodstream infection to the public.

Gov. Scott Walker said when it became clear health officials couldn't find the source of the outbreak on their own, they went to the public. The department said it wanted to avoid inspiring fear among the public.

Like Walker and Republicans never did to inspire fear of terrorism, left wing socialist anti-American protesters, voter fraud, and killer drug dealing immigrants? 

WBAY-TV obtained the records under an open records request. The station reported Friday the Wisconsin Department of Health Services began investigating the outbreak of the bacteria known as Elizabethkingia in December.  but waited to announce it to the public in March. Eighteen deaths have been linked to the outbreak in Wisconsin.

And maybe if someone knew about it we'd know more about what caused the outbreak?