COVID-19 & Healthcare

SCOTUS agrees to review Texas abortion case: does Roe v. Wade hang in the balance?

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Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court to rule on abortion clinic restrictions:

ProChoice2Eight years after its last major ruling on abortion rights, the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to decide the constitutionality of a 2013 Texas law imposing new rules for clinics and doctors.  The earliest that the case would be heard is February.  The Court granted review of one of two appeals on such laws; the other was from Mississippi.

In a second order, the Court said it would hold a hearing on a constitutional test of a new congressional districting map for Virginia, but left open the possibility that the case would be dismissed for a procedural reason.  The case (Wittman v. Personhuballah) involves District 3, the one congressional district in the state that has a majority-black population.  The question is whether race was used unconstitutionally in shaping that district’s lines.

The new abortion case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, is focused on two new restrictions in the Texas law: doctors who perform abortions must have the right to send patients to a full-scale hospital no further than thirty miles from the clinic, and each clinic must have the same facilities as a surgical center.

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ColoradoCare YES qualifies citizens initiative for single-payer health care system on the 2016 ballot

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The Affordable Care Act aka “ObamaCare” permits states to experiment in creating their own health care systems that are at least equal to the federal system in coverage and benefits.

VermontIn 2011 the state of Vermont, with a population of less than the City of Tucson, was the first state to enact a single-payer health care law in the United States, known as Green Mountain Care. Private insurers were allowed to continue to operate in the state.

The Vermont experiment with a single-payer health care system did not come to fruition. Governor Peter Shumlin abandoned Vermont’s single-payer health care system in December 2014. Governor abandons single-payer health care plan:

Calling it the biggest disappointment of his career, Gov. Peter Shumlin said Wednesday he was abandoning plans to make Vermont the first state in the country with a universal, publicly funded health care system.

Going forward with a project four years in the making would require tax increases too big for the state to absorb, Shumlin said. The measure had been the centerpiece of the Democratic governor’s agenda and was watched and rooted for by single-payer health care supporters around the country.

“I am not going (to) undermine the hope of achieving critically important health care reforms for this state by pushing prematurely for single payer when it is not the right time for Vermont,” Shumlin said to reporters and two boards advising him on health care changes.

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SCOTUS grants review of religious objections to contraceptive coverage in ‘ObamaCare’

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ProtestorsThe broadly expanded “religious liberty” argument which is being wielded like a sword by the religious right to exempt themselves from having to comply with any law with which they disagree as a matter of a “personal sincerely held moral conviction or religious belief” is once again being  wielded against contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act aka “ObamaCare.”

This is the natural progression of appeals resulting from the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (.pdf). The coming decision on the birth-control mandate will have the title of the first such case filed at the Court: Zubik v. Burwell.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog writes, Court to hear birth-control challenges (UPDATED):

On Friday, for the fourth time in three years, the Supreme Court agreed to rule on challenges to the new federal health care law — this time, religious non-profit institutions’ objection to the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate, which requires employers to provide their female employees with health insurance that includes no-cost access to certain forms of birth control.  The Court accepted parts of all seven cases on that issue filed with it under the ACA.  It has not yet spelled out how those will be consolidated for a hearing — planned for late March.

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When good people do bad things by not voting

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It may be time to revisit the eternal question Why good people do bad things in the context of voting behavior, specifically NOT voting even when their own self-interest is at stake.

Ballot-boxOn Tuesday, Kentucky held an election for governor. According to the Secretary of State’s web site, Unofficial Election Results, there are 3,201,852 registered voters in Kentucky, but only 982,259 bothered to vote, for a shockingly low 30.68% voter turnout, which is even lower than the low 46.37% voter turnout in last year’s midterm election with a marquee race between  Senator Mitch McConnell and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes that received so much national attention.

Kentucky voters elected  far-right Republican Matt Bevin governor over Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway.  From GOP ‘con man’ to newly elected governor:

A year ago, the right-wing candidate, who’s never served a day in public office, launched a primary fight against incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Republicans quickly labeled Bevin a “con man” who lies “pathologically.” The first-time candidate was exposed a man who lied about his educational background, and who even struggled in the private sector — his business needed a taxpayer bailout.

At one point, he even delivered a speech at a cockfighting gathering and then lied about that, too.

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The Planned Parenthood Inquisition

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In case you missed this last week, the caption from Charles Pierce at Esquire sums it up perfectly: Because Benghazi Went So Well, We Have a New Planned Parenthood Committee (and it’s chock full o’ wingnuts):

handmaids-tale_0Things went so well for the Republicans in Thursday’s Benghazi, Benghazi!, BENGHAZI! snipe hunt that departing Speaker John Boehner, who may just be pranking the bastards at this point, on Friday announced the members of the next Special Committee For Expanded Ratfcking. This one will look into the fictitious sale of baby parts by Planned Parenthood. Here are your dogged GOP inquisitors tasked with “investigating” “evidence” produced by phony videotapes:

Marsha Blackburn, Chairman (R-TN); Joe Pitts (R-PA); Diane Black (R-TN); Larry Bucshon (R-IN); Sean Duffy (R-WI); Andy Harris (R-MD); Vicki Hartzler (-MO); Mia Love (R-UT).

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