COVID-19 & Healthcare

In which I express my fervent wish that Laurie Roberts will shut up forever about child abuse.

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

There’s a terrible, awful story in the news right now about a Phoenix couple who starved their baby nearly to death. So it’s no surprise that Phoenix’s own Nancy Grace, AKA Laurie Roberts, was quickly on the scene to flare her nostrils about it on her column. I mean, I totally could see it coming but, dear sweet Christ on chimichanga platter is this thing dreadful.

What profound insight does Laurie have to add to this horrible situation? Why, slut-shaming, of course.

The case of Veronica Marie Diaz showcases much about what is wrong with our society, about why CPS is so overrun and just how daunting the task will be as the state rebuilds our child-welfare system. Here’s a 27-year-old woman with multiple children and no father apparently in sight. But, of course, there is a boyfriend.

There’s always a boyfriend.

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The good news and bad news about ‘ObamaCare’

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First the good news. The Obama administration announced today that it has surpassed the target of 6 million private insurance enrollments on the Exchanges in advance of the March 31 deadline on Monday. Millions more Americans have gained access to health care through expanded Medicaid. BREAKING: Obamacare Enrollment Tops 6 Million:

Image: Supreme Court Upholds Obama's Affordable Care ActOn Thursday, President Obama announced on a call with volunteers that the number of Americans who have enrolled in health insurance plans under Obamacare has hit six million.

With several days left to go before open enrollment ends on March 31, the administration has met its target. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare enrollment would hit six million by the end of its enrollment period. Although the CBO initially projected a seven million enrollment figure, that number was revised down after technological issues plagued the insurance marketplaces’ websites this past fall.

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The ‘Kochtopus’ Death Star still trying to kill Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion

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DeathStarThe “Kochtopus” Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, seamlessly representing the GOP leadership of the Arizona Legislature, is appealing from the dismissal of their case on grounds of lack of standing to sue to block the state of Arizona from expanding Medicaid (AHCCCS), with the intended consequence of taking away medical care to many thousands of Arizonans who now have gained access to health care thanks to “ObamaCare.” Their preferred health care plan for the poor is the Ebeneezer Scrooge Plan: “Perhaps you should die, and decrease the surplus population.” Republican lawmakers fighting against Medicaid program in court:

Republican lawmakers asked the state Court of Appeals Wednesday to give them a chance to prove that hundreds of millions of dollars being used to support an expanded Medicaid program are being collected illegally.

Attorney Christina Sandefur [self-described “libertarian constitutional lawyer and freedom fighter”] told the judges the Arizona Constitution is clear: Any measure that raises taxes or increases revenues can be enacted only with approval of two-thirds of both the state House and Senate.

But last year’s vote to impose the levy on hospitals to finance the program – Gov. Jan Brewer calls an assessment and not a tax – did not get that margin. That, she said, makes it not only illegal but also deprives her lawmakers, who make up more than a third of both chambers, of their constitutional right to block the fee.

Sandefur is making her case to the appellate court because Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper ruled last year the lawmakers who opposed the tax, who make up more than a third of both the House and Senate, have no right to sue because they had not been injured.

Judge Cooper said only those injured by the tax, meaning the hospitals, have standing to challenge it.

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D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel engages in judicial activism on ACA appeal

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While everyone’s attention in the Beltway media was focused on the Hobby Lobby case before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, an equally important case regarding the Affordable Care Act aka “ObamaCare” was taking place about a mile away at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

ObamacareThe case is Halbig v. Sebelius, an appeal from the D.C. Circuit Court. The appeal turns on an alleged drafting error in the ACA and congressional intent. Appellants argument is based on a line in the ACA which provides that the insurance subsidies shall be available to individuals enrolled in insurance “through an Exchange established by the State, under section 1311,” which Appellants argue excludes individuals enrolled through the federally-assisted Exchanges.

The import of this is that GOP-controlled state legislatures which sought to sabotage the ACA by not setting up their own state-run Exchanges, could further sabotage the ACA by eliminating the insurance premium and tax credit subsidies to enrollees in the federally-assisted Exchanges (including Arizona) if the plaintiffs are successful with this specious argument.

Just 14 states and the District of Columbia are running their own exchanges in 2014, while the Department of Health and Human Services is operating 36 state exchanges.

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Tea-Publican economic terrorists cave, release the ‘Doc Fix’ hostage

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A couple of weeks ago I posted about the latest extortion attempt by Tea-Publican economic terrorists to take a hostage and manufacture a crisis by refusing to extend the Medicaid “Doc Fix” provision unless  Democrats agreed to a five year delay in the individual mandate of “ObamaCare.” Hundreds of thousands of doctors who participate in Medicare would have faced a 24 percent pay cut on April 1.

The Congressional Budget Office said the delay in ObamaCare would cause health insurance premiums to go up and lead 13 million Americans to go without insurance. “GOP lawmakers said they didn’t care — they had a hostage demand and they expected their ransom to be paid, regardless of merit.” Until today.

WhiteFlagSteve Benen writes, House GOP caves on ‘doc fix’:

Democrats, of course, dismissed the [GOP] ploy as ridiculous, sat back, and waited for Republicans to cave. That happened this morning.

House Republican leaders are preparing to pass a new “doc fix” bill that would prevent a 24 percent cut in reimbursements to physicians under Medicare.

Republicans plan to bring up the bill this week to prevent the cut, which is set to happen on April 1.

According to the 121-page bill posted on the House Clerk’s website late Tuesday night, the House will pass a year-long extension, through the end of March 2015. The bill also extends several related healthcare measures until the end of March 2015.

As you might have guessed, the demands for a five-year delay in the individual mandate are gone. The House is expected to vote tomorrow, and the Senate will reportedly follow soon after.

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