Spokesman For Health Insurance Industry Says System is Broken

When a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the leading health insurance lobbying group, says the health care system is broken, who is left to argue that it isn't? Here is his response to the sharp increases in insurance rates in California this year.

"A lot of what you see today is a product of the way the market works," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's Washington-based lobbying arm. "The market is broken. Those people who do need the coverage wind up covering the cost of everyone else." Link

While there is a lot broken about the system, what Zirkelbach is referring to here is the number of people covered by insurance. And in this case, he is right. More Americans need to be covered to lower costs for everyone, that's why there is the individual mandate in the Senate bill.

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Seeing The Forest Through The Trees: Health Reform Popular if Pitched Right

One of the frustrating elements of the whole health care debate is how reforming America's health care system has turned into something negative. There is no debate that something needs to be done. Even Republicans admit it — they just have no plans to fix it. The Democrats have put together a plan that has plenty of Republican ideas (even without Republican votes), yet the health reform bills passed in Congress are not nearly as favorable as they should be. Why? Because the public doesn't understand what is in the bills. Republicans, with the help of a clueless mainstream media, have lied about health care for a year. And Democrats have been very timid in fighting back.

But if you pull out some of the major elements of the health care bills and poll them, the popularity of the provisions are striking. After viewing these results, not only does passing health care reform make for good policy, it makes for good politics as well.


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Republicans Mock Obama's Use of Telepromptors While Using Them

The fact that Republicans use this as some line of attack on President Obama makes them look like they are in grade school. But is it asking them too much not to use teleprompters while mocking the use of them?

Mitt Romney


Dick Armey


Liz Cheney


Dick Cheney


Jim DeMint

President Obama Has Caught More Taliban Leaders in 1 Month Than Bush/Cheney Did in 6 Years

This headline sums up everything. The difference between talking tough (Republicans) and actually being tough (Obama & company).

Two senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days inside Pakistan, officials said Thursday, as American and Pakistani intelligence agents continued to press their offensive against the group’s leadership after the capture of the insurgency’s military commander last month.

Afghan officials said the Taliban "shadow governors" for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan. Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s leader in Kunduz, and Mullah Mir Mohammed of Baghlan were captured about two weeks ago in a raid on a house in Akora Khattack, according to a leader at the Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqaniya madrasa there. Link

The arrests come on the heels of the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s military commander and the deputy to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the movement’s founder. Mullah Baradar was arrested in a joint operation by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s military intelligence agency. Link

Fact: The Stimulus Has Helped Turn the Economy Around

This short video demonstrates how the American Recovery and Reinvestment act has turned the dramatic job losses that were occurring when President Obama took office. While we have a lot of work still to do, we are in a much stronger position today because of the recovery act.

Republican Hypocrisy Turns Hilarious

Teabagger Marco Rubio, the favorite to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Florida, mocks President Obama's use of TelePrompters...while standing in front of a TelePrompter of his own:

Republicans Consider Blocking Bill They Agree With

And why would Republicans reject a bill they mostly agree with? Because lobbyists told them so:

Given the divisions within the GOP Conference -- and the fact that Republicans have largely backed most of the bill's provisions in the past -- leadership aides told lobbyists that the GOP plans to attack Reid's bill over process, rather than policy.

More than 100 lobbyists representing the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and other associations attended the meeting with staff from the offices of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Thune (S.D.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Grassley.

"The feeling is they aren't going to say anything in opposition to the bill, except to say it's incomplete," a lobbyist who attended the meeting said. "They are not opposed to the bill, they just believe their rights as the minority have been abridged." Link

Tea Partier Calls For Senator To Be Hanged

I'm sure the Teabaggers will dismiss this as an isolated incident that doesn't represent their movement. While it is true that this isn't typical, it is not isolated either. Plus, if this doesn't represent the Tea Party, why does this behavior go unchallenged?

"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?," asked one speaker from the podium. "What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray." Link

Polling Shows Opposition to Health Reform Don't Support Democrats Anyway

Public Policy Polling has a poll that details where the opposition to health reform comes from. Democrats, take note, the vast majority of people opposing health care would never vote for a Democrat under any circumstance.

The vast majority of opposition to health care and allowing gays to serve openly in the military is coming from people who already say there's no chance they'll vote Democratic this fall. That's an indication of minimal fallout for Congressional Democrats by acting on these issues.

37% of Americans say they will definitely not vote Democratic for Congress this year. 34% say they definitely will and that leaves roughly 30% of the country up for grabs.

Right now 50% of voters say they oppose President Obama's health care plan to just 39% in support. Digging a little deeper on those numbers though 64% of respondents planning or open to voting Democratic this fall support it with only 22% opposed. The overall numbers are negative only because of 94/1 opposition among folks who have said there is no way they'll vote Democratic this fall.

Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success

I know using facts has become optional in political discourse these days, particularly when Republicans are talking, but in the real world, that is how something is judged. David Leonhardt of the New York Times does a tremendous job of detailing exactly how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act accomplished its goal of stopping the economic slide in a depression and laying the groundwork for a recovery.

Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked.

Let's say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let's also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs -- employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now.

If that had happened, what would the economy look like today?

Well, it would look almost exactly as it does now. Because those nice descriptions of the stimulus that I just gave aren't hypothetical. They are descriptions of the actual bill. Link

Health Rankings Report Gives Ohioans A County-By-County Snapshot Of How Multiple Factors Influence Their Health

COLUMBUS – The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute today released its 2009 County Health Rankings Report. The County Health Rankings are the first to rank the overall health of the counties in all 50 states – more than 3,000 total – by using a standard formula to measure how healthy people are and how long they live.

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) will be working with local health officials across the state to engage communities on the challenges identified in Ohio’s report, which ranks all 88 counties within the state. The report also looks at various health factors, which include adult smoking, binge drinking, teenage pregnancy, rates of high school graduation, number of children in poverty, rates of violent crime, access to healthy foods, air pollution levels, and number of liquor stores within a given geographic area.

“I encourage community leaders to not only acknowledge the county’s challenges and take steps to improve them, but also to celebrate their strengths and build upon them,” said ODH Director Alvin D. Jackson, M.D. “By joining together I believe we can make Ohio a better place to live, learn, work, and play.”

Over the next few months, ODH will be convening public health officials and community leaders, statewide, to join in a constructive dialogue regarding the best ways to improve Ohio’s well-being. ODH and local health departments will use the county health rankings in addition to the 2008 Healthy Ohio community profiles, which were created by ODH to provide residents with an in-depth look into what is making their community unhealthy.

“The County Health Rankings Report highlights how important other factors such as education and employment are to the overall health of a community,” Jackson said. “ODH will be working with our partners at the state and local level to identify creative and cost-effective solutions to the challenging health issues facing Ohio’s communities.”

The online report, available at www.countyhealthrankings.org, includes a snapshot of each county in Ohio with a color-coded map comparing each county’s overall health ranking. Researchers used five measures to assess the level of overall health or “health outcomes” for Ohio by county. They are: The rate of people dying before age 75; the percent of people who report being in ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ health; the number of days people report being in ‘poor’ physical and/or ‘poor’ mental health; and, the rate of low-birth weight infants.

Senator Sherrd Brown Announces More Than $72 Million in New Federal Funds to Promote High-Tech Health Care in Ohio

Last week, Senator Brown announced more than $72 million in new federal funds to ensure that our state can employ health information technology and so that Ohioans are training for the health care jobs of the 21st century. "Ohio leads the nation in providing cutting-edge health care services and the industry is a major driver of Ohio’s economy," Brown said upon the announcement. "These funds will provide training to Ohioans so they can pursue good-paying, high-tech health care jobs and will ensure that our state utilizes the latest in cutting-edge health information technology. Health information technology helps reduce medical errors and improves patient care. By helping health care providers consult with one another through technology, we will improve the quality of medical care offered across our state – particularly in rural areas. And by helping medical facilities adopt new information technologies, we will reduce medical errors and lower health costs.

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Republicans Now Opposing Their Own Ideas

The Republican Party's sole mission of defeating President Obama and the Democrats has led to quite an interesting development — the GOP is now opposing ideas and positions they used to support. On almost every issue from government spending, to national security issues and the economy, Republicans only support the opposite of the President's position. One example that has gone virtually unnoticed is the sudden opposition by Republicans to the individual mandate in the health reform bill. In fact, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea:

For Republicans, the idea of requiring every American to have health insurance is one of the most abhorrent provisions of the Democrats' health overhaul bills.

"Congress has never crossed the line between regulating what people choose to do and ordering them to do it," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). "The difference between regulating and requiring is liberty."

But Hatch's opposition is ironic, or some would say, politically motivated. The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, Hatch and several other senators who now oppose the so-called individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it.

In fact, says Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea. "It was invented by Mark Pauly to give to George Bush Sr. back in the day, as a competition to the employer mandate focus of the Democrats at the time." Link

A Closer Look at Taxes: 2009 Filing Edition

Below is a summary of one person's tax return for 2009. It highlights the tax savings and employment benefits that came as a result of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. It clearly shows, contrary to what the Teabaggers want you to believe, that vast majority of Americans are getting a pretty good deal when it comes to taxes and government services:

I lost my job on January 14, 2009 and was unemployed during the rest of 2009. (Thanks to the efforts of President Obama and the Democrats in stabilizing the economy, things have perked up and I am actually starting my NEW JOB tomorrow! Only 50% of what I was making before, but, hey, at age 56, I'm thrilled). So my 2009 return was a bit of a comedown from previous years.

Income consisted of the following:
My Salary, Commission and Severance: $22,385
Spouses Salary (teacher): $42,899
Unemployment: $27,034 (over $1000 came from extra benefits from stimulus bill)
Interest income: $972
Total AGI: $90,890

Total Deductions: $38,364. These consisted of: mortgage deduction, personal exemption, student load interest, state taxes, real estate taxes, charitable contributions, educator expenses.

Total Taxable Income: $51,256

I also received the following credits: $1000 Child Care Credit, $288 Education credit, $800 Making Work Pay credit.

Total Taxes Paid: $6,125 Tax Rate: 6.74%

That's right: 6.74%

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