Paul Ryan’s Healthcare Reform Crusade

“We are not going to give up on destroying the healthcare system for the American people.”

— House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R, WI-1)

Source: The Hill

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GOP Healthcare Plan

Republicans have an eight-point healthcare plan to replace “Obamacare” insurance coverage with tax cuts for the rich.

“This isn’t a plan to ‘replace Obamacare.’ It’s a plan to do the opposite of replacing Obamacare. It’s as if I said I had a plan to fix the house by replacing the leaky roof, and you said you had a plan to fix the house by getting rid of the roof.”

– ”The Republican plan for replacing Obamacare doesn’t replace Obamacare,” Ezra Klein, Washington Post blog

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Dr. Goldacre’s American House Call

Writer and physician Ben Goldacre is coming to the USA and Canada this month:

“Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma North American Tour,” Scott Gavura, Science-Based Pharmacy

Healthcare Reform & Jobs

Will “ObamaCare” kill jobs? The new Affordable Care Act healthcare reform law is modeled after the Massachusetts healthcare law, “RomneyCare,” and the Urban Institute recently studied the situation there. So has RomneyCare killed jobs in Massachusetts?

No.

“Will the Affordable Care Act Be a Job Killer?” Lisa Dubay, John Holahan, Sharon K. Long, and Emily Lawton, Urban Institute Health Policy Center

But beware. ObamaCare will affect your job if your boss is a lunatic, right-wing, GOP ideologue:

Ryan Tells His Medicare Plans to Oldsters. They Boo.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke to the national AARP convention on Friday about his plans to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal Obamacare, because it represents the worst of both worlds,” he said. In response, the jolly gathering of grandparents booed the pompous little twerp. He went on to propose privatizing Medicare and giving seniors healthcare coupons. He was heckled by an audience old enough to remember the that same plan was pushed 12 years ago by another Republican financial genius, George W. Bush. You know, the GOP MBA President who crashed the world economy. Hey, Paul Ryan’s running mate is a Harvard MBA too!

Dr. Romney Prescribes Government-Controlled Healthcare

While visiting Israel, Republican presidential hopeful and skilled international statesman Mitt Romney praised that country’s healthcare policy:

“Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel? 8 percent. You spend 8 percent of GDP on health care. And you’re a pretty healthy nation. We spend 18 percent of our GDP on health care. 10 percentage points more. That gap, that 10 percent cost, let me compare that with the size of our military. Our military budget is 4 percent. …. We have to find ways, not just to provide health care to more people, but to find ways to finally manage our health care costs.”

Israel’s health success isn’t due to cultural differences or “the hand of Providence.”  It’s because the Israeli government mandates universal health insurance and actively limits medical costs. Mr. Romney instituted mandatory health insurance as governor of Massachusetts, calling it a matter of personal responsibility. So his flight from that successfully proven public healthcare measure is then “irresponsible,” right? Must be due to an opportunistic infection of political expediency. There’s a lot of that going around.

More:

“Romney praises health care in Israel, where research says ‘strong government influence’ has driven down costs,” Sarah Kliff, Washington Post blog

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Healthcare Reform on a Postcard

The Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act yesterday. So what does that mean to you?

– No more lifetime coverage limits on your insurance.

– Annual insurance benefit caps eliminated by 2014.

– No more preexisting condition exclusion for kids.

– Adults with preexisting conditions get help finding coverage; after 2014, all insurers will have to cover everyone.

– Insurance companies can’t drop you when you get sick.

– Kids can stay on thier parents’ insurance until age 26.

 – Seniors get help with that “doughnut hole” in their prescription drug coverage.

– No more co-pays for preventative services in Medicare, and a free annual doctor visit to plan prevention.

– Small businesses get tax credits — up to 50 percent of premium costs—for offering workers health insurance.

– Insurers with excessive administrative costs must give rebates to customers, and all insurance companies must disclose overhead spending.

– Free birth control and other preventative services for women, unless they work for a faith-based organization that opposes it.

“10 Things You Get Now That Obamacare Survived,” Andy Kroll and Nick Baumann, Mother Jones

Want a second opinion? Take your pick:

What Makes Your Medical Bills So High?

Created by: MedicalBillingAndCodingCertification.net

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Dick Cheney Gets a Heart

Former U.S. Vice President and war criminal Dick Cheney had a cadaver’s heart put in his chest at Inova Fairfax Hospital last weekend. Think how many thousands would be alive today if he had had a heart while in office. We do not know if Mr. Cheney’s Medicare paid for the procedure but, unlike you, he was an oil industry robber baron and can probably pay cash.

Related:

“Vice President Dick Cheney Still Undead,” Rebecca Schoenkopf, Wonkette

“Classical Music Boosts Heart Transplant Survival in Mice,” Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune

 Heart Gelatin Mold, Archie McPhee

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Health Care

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressing the Medical Committee for Human Rights, 1966

Image source: Library of Congress.

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