COVID-19 & Healthcare

New report finds premiums in the Health Insurance Marketplace will be nearly 20 percent lower in 2014 than previously expected

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report on Thursday that analyzes the 2014 premiums in
the Obamacare insurance marketplaces in 11 different states, including
Virginia, Colorado, Ohio, and Oregon. Surprise! New report finds competition lowers premiums by nearly 20 percent in the Health Insurance Marketplace:

New report finds competition lowers premiums by nearly 20 percent in the Health Insurance Marketplace

Affordable Care Act gives consumers access to better coverage at a greater value in 2014

HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released a new report that finds
premiums in the Health Insurance Marketplace will be nearly 20 percent
lower in 2014 than previously expected.

The Affordable Care Act
requires health insurers in every state to publicly justify any premium
rate increases of 10 percent or more.  Health insurance companies now
generally have to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on
health care or improvements to care, or provide a rebate to their policy
holders.  In addition, when the Health Insurance Marketplace opens for
enrollment on October 1, 2013 consumers will be able to make apples to
apples comparisons of quality health insurance plans.

“Today’s
report shows that the Affordable Care Act is working to increase
transparency and competition among health insurance plans and drive
premiums down,” said Secretary Sebelius.  “The reforms in the health
care law ensure consumers will have access to better coverage at a lower
cost in 2014.”

Boehner’s bad timing on ‘ObamaCare’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

As if the first 39 failed attempts were not good enough, the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, has scheduled yet another vote to repeal "ObamaCare," or at least a portion of it today. Boehner's bad timing: the New York Times reports today Individual Cost of Health Plans in New York Set to Fall 50%. Doh!

This follows lower than expected rates in the states of California and Oregon earlier this year. States implementing 'ObamaCare' in good faith are seeing good results.

Steve Benen reports today, The House GOP's futile, poorly timed efforts to gut Obamacare:

House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) timing could be better. Hoping
to capitalize on the bad press surrounding delay in the implementation
of the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate provision (even though
the move was substantively meaningless), House Republicans are set to
move on their latest idea: a vote on delaying the individual mandate,
too.

From DC to Texas: Men Behaving Badly (video)

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Texas-flagby Pamela Powers Hannley

From the failure of the Farm Bill to the ups and downs of Immigration Reform to last-minute,late night anti-abortion bills– it’s been a wild ride lately. And, the craziness is not likely to stop any time soon.

After the jump, check out several news stories and two videos which highlight [Republican] men behaving badly in the Congress and multiple state legislatures. Heavy sigh. Will this strategy of "subtraction" work for them in 2014 or 2016? I personally don't see how it can.

The GOP war on women: ‘This is Texas, baby. Remember the Alamo’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While the Christian Taliban is still working on its anti-abortion bill in the North Carolina Legislature, the Christian Taliban in the Republic of Texas Gilead wrapped up its work today, just in time for Sunday services!

The Texas Senate voted 19-11 early Saturday to pass sweeping
restrictions on abortions, the conclusion of a weeks-long standoff over
reproductive rights in the state.

Although the bill’s passage was all but assured, opponents still turned
out in droves. One T-shirt favored by protesters invoked another lost
cause: “This is Texas, baby. Remember the Alamo.” Fearing a disruption,
Department of Public Safety officials confiscated anything that could be
thrown from the gallery — leading some protesters to lose tampons,
condoms, glitter and other potential projectiles.

Tampons of mass destruction — who knew? You can carry a gun in the Texas Lege, but security will confiscate tampons? Wow.

Screenshot from 2013-07-13 15:36:54

“The fight for the future of Texas is just beginning,” said Sen. Wendy Davis (D) as the vote on the legislation she successfully filibustered last month neared.

Questions for Martha McSally: What is your position on women’s access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to
the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics — I am
not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Preface: The GOP war on women continues unabated. Halfway Through 2013, States Have Already Enacted More Than 100 Provisions Related To Reproduction, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute. On Thursday, the North Carolina House Passed New Restrictions on Abortion. The Texas Senate takes up abortion this afternoon.

In 2012, the Arizona legislature enacted a 20-week ban on abortions, and attempted to defund Planned Parenthood clinics. Both measures have been enjoined by the federal court as violative of federal law, and the constitutional right to a abortion recognized in Roe. v. Wade.

The Arizona legislature also enacted a law granting an exemption to religious organizations to provide contraception coverage in health care insurance, and a Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law creating arbitrary standards that apply only to abortion clinics and providers aimed at closing down abortion clinics. A bill for unannounced surprise inspections of abortion clinics died late in the legislative session this year, because it would have been in violation of a court decision.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) last month introduced a similar 20-week ban on abortions in Congress to extend the ban to all states, which the GOP controlled House recently approved.

Martha McSally frequently refers to herself as a "woman warrior" (because she was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force). But will she be a "warrior for women"?

What is Martha McSally's position on women's access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?