COVID-19 & Healthcare

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rejecting advice from health-insurance companies, hospitals, business groups, consumer groups, an editorial opinion in the Arizona Republic(an), and quite probably Arizona's shadow governor, Chuck Coughlin, Governor Jan Brewer decided that she would rather rage against the machine of the big, bad federal "guvmint" and "ObamaCare," because that is how she personally benefits from her "star" status in the "conservative entertainment complex," as David Frum calls it.  Sell some more books, grab some more speaking fees, and pull in some more donations to JanPAC. She is cynical and pathetic.

She is also a coward. Brewer would have had to obtain approval from the GOP-dominated legislature that is just as cynical and unhinged about "ObamaCare" as she is. Brewer’s spokesman, Matthew Benson, acknowledged the odds of the Legislature approving a state-based exchange “appeared to be dim at best.” Well, you're not so tough after all, are you Guv? So much for that "Scorpions for Breakfast" bullshit.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: On the same day that the top campaign advisor to Willard "Mittens" Romney, Stuart Stevens, penned an op-ed in in the Washington Post saying that Romney can take solace in the fact that he won the right kind of voters — “On Nov. 6, Mitt Romney carried the majority of every economic … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sarah Kliff at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog has followed up last week's post, Millions will qualify for new options under the healthcare law, the vast majority have no idea, by answering the challenge, “So, since nobody knows what benefits are in the bill, shouldn’t you be ‘Reporting’ what they are?” FAQ: Everything you need to know about Obamacare’s coverage options, in one post:

Without any further delay, I thought now would be a good time for a
short primer on what the Affordable Care Act will change about insurance
benefits come 2014. If there are other questions that seem to be
missing from this list, feel free to leave them in comments and I’ll do
my best to answer them.

Who qualifies for new benefits? There are a lot of
benefits that anyone with insurance coverage will be qualified to
receive: Contraceptive coverage without co-pay, for example, or an end
to lifetime limits on benefits. The biggest new benefits, however,
arguably will go to those who earn less than 400 percent of the federal
poverty line. These are the people who will either qualify for insurance
subsidies or, in some states, Medicaid coverage (the health-care law
extended Medicaid to cover everyone below 133 percent of the poverty
line, but the Supreme Court made that expansion optional).

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have been posting about the media  enablers of Pete Peterson's war on social security and Medicare since 2010. Pete Peterson's war on social security – and his media enablers:

In coming weeks you are going to see the name of Pete Peterson pop up frequently in news reports, but the reporting will not contain a disclaimer identifying whom he and the think tanks he funds are nor what his relationship is to the news organization. I warned you about this back in April, Republicans resurrect "welfare" charge for Tax Day: More GOP Tax Day Lies:

CNN even gave four hours of right-wing propaganda to Pete Peterson ("I.O.U.S.A. Solutions") who wants to repeal social security and Medicare. With More Deficit Hysteria Propaganda, CNN Becomes "Most Busted Name In News". The Washington Post recently partnered with Pete Peterson to write about the deficit, er, spread his propaganda. The Washington Post Lets Pete Peterson Write The News On The Deficit. The result of that unholy partnership is evident today. Washington Post Misinforms Readers About Deficit.

You need to maintain a wary eye for any reporting by the Washington Post or its stable of conservative syndicated columnists (David Broder, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, Richard Cohen, Robert Kagan, Robert Samuelson, Kathleen Parker, etc.) on the Obama Deficit Commission or the separate Peterson-Pew Commission (a partnership of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget). Bipartisan commission proposes strict budget rules to stabilize U.S. debt. (Post reporting and syndicated columnists fequently appear in The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star, so beware).

As I predicted, the Washington Post has never included a disclaimer disclosing its partnership with Pete Peterson, and by extension, neither have any of the newspapers that subscribe to the Washington Post news service, including The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There was some consternation among liberals and progressives on Monday when word leaked that senior White House advisor David Plouffe was making noises again about a "grand bargain" and that Democrats would have to compromise on "entitlements." Top Obama Aide On Fiscal Cliff: "This Is Going To Get Hairy":

Obama senior adviser David Plouffe predicted that the fiscal cliff
negotiations are "going to get hairy" in the coming weeks, saying
President Barack Obama is committed to achieving the elusive "big deal"
on taxes and spending he and Speaker of the House John Boehner have
tried to strike for more than 18 months.

In post-election remarks
at the University of Delaware, Plouffe warned of "paralysis" if both
parties remain beholden to their base, saying Obama is looking for a
deal that sets the country on the right fiscal path for a 10- to 20-year
period.

"The only way that gets done is for Republicans again to
step back and get mercilessly criticized by Grover Norquist and the
Right, and it means that Democrats are going to have to do some tough
things on spending and entitlements that means that they'll criticized
on by their left," Plouffe said at his alma mater in conversation with
former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt.