COVID-19 & Healthcare

Court cases to watch in the coming weeks

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Our lawless legislature has several cases in court to keep an eye out for a decision in the coming weeks.

The first case of importance is Biggs, et al. vs. Brewer, et al. (CV2013-011699), the Tea-Publican legislature's challenge to Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan heard in Maricopa County Superior Court by Judge Kathleen Cooper on December 13, 2013. A Minute Entry dated December 18 says the matter is "under advisement." Judge Cooper did not indicate at the December 13 hearing when she would rule on pending motions, but there is a deadline of sorts — the "ObamaCare" Medicaid expansion provisions become effective on January 1, 2014.

Harris, et al. v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (CV-12-0894-PHX-ROS-NVW-RRC), the Tea-Publican legislature's challenge to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission's (AIRC) state legislative districts map, was heard by a three judge panel of federal judges on March 22 and concluded on March 30, 2013. Supplemental briefs addressing the effect, if any, of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder on this case wrapped up by August 9. A decision has been pending for more than 120 days.

We are already well into the 2014 election cycle with the primary filing deadline in May. I would argue that time has already expired on the game clock — there needs to be certainty in legislative district lines, and the 2012 legislative district lines should remain in place for 2014. I anticipate a decision in this case shortly.

Arizona needs a ‘Moral Mondays’ movement

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The most fascinating political development of 2013 to observe was the rise of the progressive "Moral Mondays" movement in North Carolina in response to the radicalized extremist Tea-Publican controlled state legislature.

"Moral Mondays" engages in civil disobedience protests, organized in part by local religious leaders including William Barber, head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. Members of the protest movement meet every Monday to protest an action by the North Carolina legislature and then enter the legislature building. Once they enter, a number are peacefully arrested each Monday.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently reported that a Moral Mondays organization was being established in Georgia. Your daily jolt: Moral Monday protests coming to state Capitol:

The Moral Monday protests that rocked North Carolina (and led to hundreds of arrests each Monday) last year may be coming to Georgia.

A group called Moral Monday Georgia (moralmondayga.org) has quietly begun gathering supporters and planning organizing meetings this month. They plan one of the first actions on the Jan. 13, the first Monday of the session, and the platform focuses on a call to expand Medicaid, restore funding to public schools and raising the minimum wage.

On Christmas Day, the AP reported that the "Moral Mondays" movement will spread to other Southern States (i.e., Red States). Moral Mondays to continue, spread to other states:

The Moral Monday movement to protest changes in North Carolina public policy that organizers believe are extreme and hurt the state won’t abate in 2014 and will spread to other states, its leader said.

Activists from a dozen states attended a meeting in Raleigh earlier this month to learn how to hold similar protests in their states.

Shopping the ACA Marketplace: One Small Business’ Route to ‘Affordable’ Healthcare

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ACA-paper12-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

With full implementation of the  Affordable Care Act (ACA), January 2014 marks the beginning of a new era in health insurance in the US.

For the chronically uninsured and for those with pre-existing conditions, it's been a long and financially perilous wait for all of the ACA benefits to kick in.

For anti-government, conservative ideologues, the three-year waiting period gave them time to mercilessly attack reform that will provide insurance for millions of Americans, spread layers of misinformation about "Obamacare," hold dozens of meaningless repeal votes in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and hold the country hostage for 16 days in a multi-million-dollar government shutdown fiasco.

Today, December 23, 2013 is the cut-off date for enrollment in ACA insurance plans which begin January 1, 2014; the final deadline for ACA enrollment is March 31, 2014. Since the beginning of December, I have been shopping the healthcare marketplace on behalf of the ultra-small business that I work for–The American Journal of Medicine. On Friday, I submitted our final paperwork to our insurance broker.

This is the story of one small business' route to "affordable" care.

Our Journey

Our journey began long before the premier of Healthcare.gov, the much-maligned ACA enrollment website, and even before the ACA was signed into law in 2010. At the Journal, we had been unhappy with our health insurance plan through Aetna for years. Like clockwork, the cost went up 10-25% each year, forcing us to rethink coverage multiple times in order to live within our budget.  We also were dissatisfied with the limited number of even more expensive alternative plans offered to us. The Journal's editorial pages have been pushing for Medicare for all for years and broke the stories about medical bankruptcy in 2009 and continued medical bankruptcy under Romneycare in Massachusetts in 2011. Consequently, we were ready for the public option back in 2009; today, we're just glad that the ACA made it through the Republican gauntlet and the Supreme Court. Unlike recent news stories about people and small businesses wanting to keep their existing healthcare plans, we were waiting with baited breath for three years to dump our plan.

The bottomline is that with Obamacare, the Journal — and the emplopyees– will pay less for healthcare insurance. Read about our ACA Marketplace experiences and lessons learned after the jump.

Sen. John McCain wants to recycle his 2008 agenda – rejected in a landslide

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mcain grimaceI read that Arizona's angry old man, John McCain, still embittered by his humiliating landslide defeat to Barack Obama in 2008, has decided to introduce a bill to repeal Obamacare and replace it with his own set of reforms (well, not really his reforms but a companion bill to Rep. Tom Price's bill in the House.) McCain Introduces Obamacare Repeal And Replacement Legislation.

I was going to do a post on McCain's latest cry for attention from his media villager base, but Jed Lewison at Daily Kos has already said everything i could say. President McCain reveals his Obamacare replacement plan:

President Senator John McCain has unveiled his plan for replacing Obamacare … and its centerpiece is the very same plan he ran on and lost with in 2008.

Aside from repealing Obamacare, the centerpieces of McCain's plan would be (a) to replace current tax deductions for employer-provided health insurance with a one-size-fits-all health care tax credit of $5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals and (b) to allow Americans to purchase insurance from any state in the country, whether or not they live in that state. McCain would also provide subsidies to states to cover people who can't otherwise get coverage.

Yes, the GOP is responsible for denying millions of Americans access to health care under the ‘Medicaid Gap’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Rush Limbaugh of the Republic, GOPropagandist hack Doug MacEachern, has his panties all in a bunch about an AP (All Propaganda) report in which the reporter, David Lieb, dared to stray from the GOP narrative that the AP usually provides by actually reporting the truth: ObamaCare is fairing considerably worse in Red States run by Republicans. Newsy report finds Republicans cause of Obamacare woes.

I don't know what alternate reality this hack lives in, but perhaps he hasn't noticed that damn near the entire GOP caucus of the Arizona legislature is in court right now trying to prevent thousands of Arizonans from gaining access to expanded Medicaid (AHCCCS). He could have read about it in the pages of the Republic. Medicaid battle heads to court.

Since this hack only trolls the conservative media entertainment complex for his material, he likely ignored this New York Times report from October about Red State sabotage of the expanded Medicaid provisions of ObamaCare, which has resulted in a GOP-created "Medicaid gap," denying millions of Americans access to health care under "ObamaCare." Millions of Poor Are Left Uncovered by Health Law:

A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years.