COVID-19 & Healthcare

The House GOP lawsuit against ‘ObamaCare’ sees some action this week

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ObamacareIf you thought that the GOP was done with the disgraced and discredited Charles Murray’s call to use the judiciary to cripple the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, as he describes in his latest book By the People after the King v. Burwell decision, think again.

Remember the frivolous lawsuit that House Republicans filed against President Obama last year and couldn’t get any lawyer to represent them for that reason, until media whore Jonathan Turley stepped in? House Republicans Hire Third Lawyer For Obamacare Lawsuit. Yeah, this case is still in court and the parties filed pleadings this week.

The Hill reports, Clash over ObamaCare, use of executive power intensifies:

The Obama administration and House Republicans are clashing over the healthcare law in court, with the Justice Department blasting a GOP lawsuit as “unprecedented.”

House Republicans are suing President Obama over what they call executive overreach, saying Obama is unconstitutionally spending money on an ObamaCare program Congress declined to appropriate money for.

The Obama administration counters it does not need an appropriation because the funds were made permanent and mandatory by the Affordable Care Act. The funds in question are for “cost-sharing reductions” that help insurers lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income people.

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Practically no one thinks they’re the bad guy

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

david brooks

David Brooks wrote (quelle surprise) an insipid NYT column advising social conservatives to tone down their devotion to litigating other people’s sex lives and instead embrace the “compassionate conservative” shtick of George W. Bush circa 2000. It reads like a stump speech for Jeb(!) Bush.

Social conservatives could be the people who help reweave the sinews of society. They already subscribe to a faith built on selfless love. They can serve as examples of commitment. They are equipped with a vocabulary to distinguish right from wrong, what dignifies and what demeans. They already, but in private, tithe to the poor and nurture the lonely.

The defining face of social conservatism could be this: Those are the people who go into underprivileged areas and form organizations to help nurture stable families. Those are the people who build community institutions in places where they are sparse. Those are the people who can help us think about how economic joblessness and spiritual poverty reinforce each other. Those are the people who converse with us about the transcendent in everyday life.

This culture war is more Albert Schweitzer and Dorothy Day than Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham; more Salvation Army than Moral Majority. It’s doing purposefully in public what social conservatives already do in private.

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SCOTUS temporarily blocks Texas abortion law

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After its Conference today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief order (.pdf) temporarily blockimg Texas from enforcing two new requirements that abortion clinic operators say will force many clinics to close. The Court was divided 5-4.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court blocks Texas abortion law:

uterus-stateThe order will keep those rules on hold at least until the Court decides whether to rule on their constitutionality.

One provision requires all doctors performing abortions in the state to have the right to send patients to a nearby hospital, while the other requires all abortion clinics in the state to have facilities equal to a surgical center.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld both provisions.

In a one-paragraph order, the Justices did not explain why they were postponing the law.  If review of the law is denied later, the order will be lifted; if review is granted, it will stay in effect until a final ruling emerges.  The actual petition for review has not yet been filed by the doctors and clinics involved.

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Oh brother

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

scotuscare

A little while back Rachel Maddow did a wonderful segment that had me nodding my head in furious agreement and applauding (I seriously clapped my hands at the TV, you guys). She expressed her bewilderment at certain political concepts that aren’t really meaningful when closely examined or helpful when put into practice, but are wildly popular with some segments of the public. Things like term limits (which regular people looooove but aren’t really conducive to effective governance), or nepotism (thinking someone is qualified to hold office simply because his or her relative did). It culminated in her main thesis about Donald Trump (to quote John Oliver, why is he still a thing?) but I’m going to draw from her build-up to laugh at the latest stunt by the GOP majority in the House to get back at the Supreme Court for upholding the ACA subsidies in their decision announced Thursday.

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AZ State Senator equates affordable health care to slavery…

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By Craig McDermott, crossposted from Random Musings …and spent the rest of the day saying “No, I didn’t!”… Yup, she went there, “she” being State Senator Kelli Ward (R-LD5), an ostensible challenger to US Senator John McCain (R-never met a war he didn’t monger). Right now, she’s exploring a run at McCain; many more days … Read more