Thursday, September 21, 2017

All I heard during the time Congress worked to pass the ACA, "The people don't want it." It was the Republicans demanding the people had rights.

The former RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, spoke about the Republican health care bill. He was extremely reasonable. He made the best sense of the issue than any other Republican I have heard. 

He doesn't believe the American people's health care should be a focus of politics.


He also said that the Democrats would have a real reason to win elections in 2018 should this bill pass. It is completely obvious this is a political issue and not a national health care issue.


‘‘(h) SHORT-TERM ASSISTANCE TO ADDRESS COV- 7 ERAGE AND ACCESS DISRUPTION AND PROVIDE SUPPORT 8 FOR STATES.— 


‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS.— 24 ‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall issue guidance to health 7 LYN17709 S.L.C. 


1 insurance issuers regarding how to submit a notice of intent to participate in the program established under this subsection


‘‘(B) NOTICE OF INTENT TO PARTICI- 5 PATE.— to be eligible for funding for a calendar year under this subsection, a health insurance issuer shall submit to the Administrator a notice of intent to participate not later than March 31 of the previous fiscal year, in such form and manner as specified by the Administrator, and containing— 


Even if the health care insurance issuer notifies the administrator they will participate there is no requirement to do so. It leaves the government wide open to fraud. Cassidy knows it, too, because the following verbiage becomes narrower and narrower about fidelity to the law. Insurers won't participate because of the specificity to participate. The CEOs will worry they will be caught up in bureaucracy that will lead to the dedication of funds to lawyers. They won't do it. Their bonuses are more important and this law will lead to litigation of participation for fraud and potential fines.


‘‘(B) WAIVERS.— 20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 21 (ii), the Secretary shall waive the requirements of the following Federal statutory provisions with respect to health insurance coverage in a State for a plan year during which the State has an application ap- 13 LYN17709 S.L.C. 


1 proved under this subsection and to the extent that such application includes a request for such a waiver and the informaion described in subparagraph (A)(iv): 


In order to get participation by insurers every state will file for a waiver. They won't get participation because the costs to these people are higher.


Why would a state accept an enormous amount of money to do as it pleaes and then accept pre-conditions into their insurance law?


‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—Only the 50 States and the 23 District of Columbia shall be eligible 


This is racist. NONE OF THE USA TERRITORIES ARE PROVIDED FOR. The ACA provides for all Americans including those in the territories including Gaum. So all the people not displaced from the Caribbean islands will never receive health insurance if they have a pre-condition. There are many people in the territories that have difficult health problems because of IMPROVERISHMENT!


‘‘(B) ALLOTMENTS; AVAILABILITY OF AL- 6 LOTMENTS.—


‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State with an application approved under this subsection with respect to a year


Even IF the state voluntarily participates in the program it is not assured to receive allotments because the state has to be approved by the administrator. There will be lawsuits to the Supreme Court for years.


‘‘(G) 2026 REDUCTION FOR STATES RECEIVING ADVANCED PAYMENTS IN 2020.—For 24 calendar year 2026, the amount determined for a State for such year under subparagraph (C) 31 LYN17709 S.L.C. and adjusted under subparagraphs (D), (E), and (F), shall be reduced by the amount of any increase to the State’s allotment for calendar 4 year 2020 under paragraph (9).


What a payoff up front to provide incentive to participate. The states can request ADVANCED PAYMENTS. That means come 2026 the state may not even receive payments.


There is no obligation anywhere in this bill to provide health insurance period, yet alone Americans with pre-condition. After this bill is passed and any time afterward a state can discontinue Medicaid and end all health care insurance programs. While not participating in this law. After this bill is passed and Medicaid is dissolved there is no obligation for a state to provide coverage to anyone. The state can dissolve the insurance administration for health care within it's administration. The entire bill seeks to provide incentive based in money payments and states need for balancing a budget.


There won't be any payments in 2026 because participating states will have received that money in advanced payments. So, this bill actually ends in 2025.


‘‘(I) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—In this 10 paragraph, the term ‘low-income individual’ means an individual— 

‘‘(i) who is a citizen or legal resident;
 ‘‘(ii) whose income (as determined under section 1902(e)(14) (relating to modified adjusted gross income)) is greater than 45 percent but less than 133 percent of the poverty line (as defined in section 19 2110(c)(5), subject to subparagraph (O)(ii)) applicable to a family of the size involved. 

For familes that are receiving health insurance within the 400 percent of the poverty line will NOT BE ELIGIBLE for help under this program.

This bill, if it passes into law, will be in litigation for years and tie up courts worse than exists for the Undocumented immigrants.

THE BILL DISCRIMINATES BASED ON THE DIAGNOSIS.

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘clinical risk category’ means a grouping of low-income individuals based on their clinical characteristics that is established by the Secretary under this subparagraph. 

I need some coffee. This bill is horrible. It sets standards that can permeate laws into the future filed with the redefinition of an American. They currently don't consider the territories as American. The territories, under this bill, has no definition at all as if they don't exist.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

I hate it, but, I am going to have to dedicate some time today to read this mess. It is worse than I thought.

Later.

If Bill Cassidy has't read his own bill, perhaps someone should.

US Senator Cassidy is one of the authors of the controversial bill. He didn't read it?

SEC. 101. ELIMINATION OF LIMITATION ON RECAPTURE OF5 EXCESS ADVANCE PAYMENTS OF PREMIUM6 TAX CREDITS. (CLICK HERE)

This is Title I of the bill. The bill reaches back to 2010 to the monies accumulated over four years to implement the Medicaid Expansion. 

WHAT IS CASSIDY GOING TO DO WITH THE MONEY?

Allow cronies to get their monies back out of the federal government since 2010?

(2) REPEAL.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV 20 of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal 21 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 22 section 36B. 

§36B. Refundable credit for coverage under a qualified health plan (click here)

This entire section is to be eliminated.

(a) In general

In the case of an applicable taxpayer, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for any taxable year an amount equal to the premium assistance credit amount of the taxpayer for the taxable year.

SEC. 103. MODIFICATIONS TO SMALL BUSINESS TAX CRED- 14 IT. 

Everyone is listening to lies. No one is stopping to ask, "Is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reducing health care costs?" This study found the costs are decreasing. (click here)







June 24, 2016
By Vann R. Newkirk II

...The Affordable Care Act (click here) is likely reducing the country’s medical bills. A new report from the Urban Institute provides strong evidence that the law is directly lowering total health-care spending, even as it expands coverage to unprecedented levels. The report shows that projected national spending on medical services, doctors, drugs, and devices between 2014 and 2019 is now $2.6 trillion less than what was projected when the ACA was passed in 2010, and $2.1 trillion less than pre-ACA estimates. Most of this decrease in spending is likely due to external factors such as the sluggish economic recovery—people generally spend less when they have less, even on health....

Stop listening to the lies by people that want to defeat the ACA for political reasons. 

The Republicans are talking about complaints they receive from some of their constituency. What about the larger percentage that aren't complaining?

Regardless, the bill at hand is simply just bad law. There needs to be studies conducted and DEFINITIVE directions to move when legislating the health care of the American people. The ACA was based upon methodologies already established in Massachusetts that work. It was not pulled out of the sky that someone thunk up. 

Americans always think Medicare is untouchable. Right? How many Americans knew the Sequestration bill of 2011 reduced Medicare (NOT Medicaid) spending?

This sequestration (click here) results from provisions in the Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the debt ceiling and will reduce net federal spending by $2.1 trillion over ten years. ... This sequestration is projected to reduce Medicare spending by $11 billion in Fiscal Year 2013.

Remember Sequestration and the Republicans bellyaching about the military spending? Remember that? Why weren't they bellyaching about the reduction in Medicare spending?

This is the country's health. It takes much more preparation than a knee-jerk political reaction for politics by Republicans.\

The paragraph below is from the Cassidy bill. It needs to be known how popular the idea of grants are and whom if any will be seeking them.

‘‘(II) UNUSED AMOUNTS TO BE USED FOR DEFICIT REDUCTION.— Amounts allotted to a State for a calendar year that remain unobligated on April 1 of the following year shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury and shall be used for deficit reduction 

The health care insurance industry is not interested in the Republican bill. As a rule the private sector isn't interested in EXPERIMENTATION when focused on profits. See, if there is no interest by the industry, just put those grant monies into the treasury and leave it there. 

September 20, 2017
By Robert Pear

Washington — The health insurance industry, (click here) after cautiously watching Republican health care efforts for months, came out forcefully on Wednesday against the Senate’s latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, suggesting that its state-by-state block grants could create health care chaos in the short term and a Balkanized, uncertain insurance market....

If there is no or little interest by Wall Street of the experimental policies for people with pre-existing conditons; which has to be far more that 50 percent of the country (very few women have no uterus on birth) then most people will be dumped off their health insurance and won't get it back.

So, there are billions in the federal budget for the Medicaid Expansion. I know that for a fact. What happens to all that money when the Republicans end that program? 

The Republicans are stating that monies left over from the experimental grants are going to pay down the national debt. What happens to the budgeted Medicaid money? More military spending? And with those billions and trillions of dollars floating around and are supposed to be dedicated to the national debt WHAT KEEPS CONGRESS FROM SPENDING IT ALL OVER AGAIN ON MILITARY ADN WARS? 

The Cassidy bill is lacking a great deal of SPECIFICS and reasonable answers to the future of American Health Care.

All the programs in the Republican bill are voluntary. No one is compelled to participate in a major industry in the USA.

There is no compliancy within the bill. 

The ACA also had a lot of money set aside for education of health care workers including Primary/Family Physicians or General Practitioner. What happens to that money? Where are we going to get our new doctors, nurses and assistants?

Paul Manafort's celebrity will bring alerts to his past activities, like "Was he involved with the Panama Papers?"

Ukraine has been pursuing a case against the former President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort's name is going to come up. It would be interesting if Manafort becomes a witness for the prosecution in more than just the USA.

March 21, 2017
By Gabrielle Levy

...In documents (click here) released by Serhiy Leshchenko, a journalist and lawmaker, Manafort is alleged to have laundered $750,000, via a Belize-based company, in October 2009. That would have pre-dated Manafort's work for the Trump campaign.

 have found during this investigation that [Manafort] used offshore jurisdictions and falsified invoices to get money from the corrupt Ukrainian leader," Leshchenko said during a news conference in Kiev on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

In August, when Manafort was the chairman of then-GOP nominee Trump's campaign, Ukrainian anti-corruption officials revealed the discovery of a so-called "black ledger" that included Manafort as the recipient of 22 payments totalling $12.7 million in under-the-table cash payments between 2007 and 2012....

It is an ongoing process in Ukraine.

July 24, 2017

The prosecutor of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, (click here) Ruslan Kravchenko, who is conducting the high treason case against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych , was arrested in absentia in the Russian Federation for allegedly "unlawfully bringing to justice" an admiral from the Russian Federation, Russian media reported.

Reports say that according to Russia, "Russian citizen Admiral Alexander Vitko was deliberately, unlawfully brought to justice for political reasons in Ukraine in 2014." Kravchenko oversaw the procedural activities in this case. The second person arrested in absentia is Vadym Pryimachok who led the investigation.

"At the request of the investigator, Basmanny District Court chose in absentia a punitive measure against Kravchenko and Pryimachok in the form of detention," the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said.

Vitko, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is accused of encroachment on the integrity of Ukraine in connection with the annexation of the Crimea....
Mexico won't be paying for a US border wall.

Restructuring Mexico's infrastructure may be a priority.

Kindly let me say one thing about the circumstances in Mexico.

This was a very severe earthquake. It will be some time before the dead are known and the degree the infrastructure is damaged.


There may be a loss of expertise among the dead that would normally expedite these rescue efforts. The international community may want to send experts to the degree there is safety in this region. Communicate by cell phone and provide stability to the efforts.


Shake Map (click here)

September 21, 2017
By Ross Logan and Will Kirby
Relief efforts have not stopped (click here) since the quake struck with volunteer rescue teams, known as 'moles', crawling under the rubble to locate and rescue those trapped by falling debris.
Some Mexico City residents slept in the street while authorities and volunteers set up tented collection centers to distribute food and water.
Volunteers, soldiers and firefighters formed human chains and dug with hammers and picks to find dust-covered survivors and dead bodies in the remains of apartment buildings, schools and a factory.
Del Valle, a middle-class neighbourhood in the capital, was among those hit hardest by the quake and all but a few buildings on one street were reduced to rubble....
Mexico City, (click here) the country's capital, has been reduced to rubble and what isn't rubble may not be safe. I am wondering how appropriate it would be for the military to move into the region and assist people from the danger zone. When and if that happens exposure to towns and cities OCCUPIED by drug cartels may become a danger to displaced Mexicans.

The international community may want to assess the deepest needs of Mexico at this time.
It may be time for the IMF to reassess the ideas for a safer population away from the fault zones causing these issues. If there is a vision of a stronger and more peaceful Mexico that can come out of these two enormous earthquakes then maybe that should happen. 

If the earthquakes are this much of a disruption of the government it may also be as much a disruption to the cartels. There shouldn't be missed opportunities.

Children found alive in Mexican earthquake, but, are still in peril. NEEDS INTERNATIONAL HELP!

September 21, 2017
by Matt Gutman, M.I. Nestal and Morgan Winsor


Rescuers continue (click here) to frantically dig through the rubble of a collapsed school in Mexico City two days after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck, killing hundreds.
It has become a race against time to save the children inside the crumbled structure. A pediatrician who is caring for the children once they have been extricated said the biggest threat facing those still inside the rubble is hypothermia....
Basic rescue equipment such as inflatable pillows to raise concrete off sensitive areas. There are basic medical supplies direly needed.

The USA has it's own problems, but certainly there is equipment that can find itself to Mexico to assist the people there.

There are at least three major storms in that satellite, but, the National Hurrican Center is no longer tracking Lee.

September 21, 2017
1230.17z

Jose is a tropical storm and still causing problems.

Jose

37.90 -70.80 09/20/00Z 60 973 TROPICAL STORM
38.40 -70.30 09/20/06Z 55 975 TROPICAL STORM
39.00 -70.00 09/20/12Z 60 976 TROPICAL STORM
39.20 -69.10 09/21/00Z 60 976 TROPICAL STORM
39.50 -68.20 09/21/00Z 50 982 TROPICAL STORM
39.80 -67.80 09/21/06Z 50 982 TROPICAL STORM

Maria is a deadly storm and continues it's trouble.

Maria

17.30 -64.70 09/20/00Z 150 909 HURRICANE-5
17.90 -65.60 09/20/06Z 135 917 HURRICANE-4
18.40 -66.50 09/20/12Z 120 930 HURRICANE-4
18.80 -67.30 09/20/18Z 95 957 HURRICANE-2
19.20 -67.90 09/21/00Z 95 959 HURRICANE-2
19.60 -68.40 09/21/06Z 100 959 HURRICANE-3

I thought there would be a tornado or two, but, Oregon?


September 20, 2017
0430.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere

September 20, 2017


Five barns on a dairy farm (click here) were heavily damaged Tuesday afternoon when a tornado touched down near Lebanon.

The National Weather Service confirmed it was an EF-0 tornado that traveled 1,200 feet. Its path was 500 feet wide. The weather agency said maximum winds were between 65 mph and 75 mph. It touched down at 1:07 p.m....

September 21, 2017

Eugene, Ore. - The tornado (click here) that tore through rural farmland in Oregon on Tuesday was more powerfully than initially rated by field observers.

The tornado cut a 500-foot wide, 1-mile long path through Lacomb, Oregon, just after 1 p.m.

The National Weather Service said staff visited the site for a second time and revised the rating for the tornado from an EF-O to a more powerful EF-1.

The tornado damaged 5 farm buildings and tore limbs off trees.

The Weather Service estimated the tornado delivered wind speeds up to 105 mph....
The message is the same by every US Republican regarding health care.

In an email from the RNC it most likely stated:

Focus on the still uninsured in your state. Focus on those that earn under $50,000 income per year or less. Build empathy for the people complaining about doubled health care costs and how they need relief.

So, no matter the state, Wisconsin or Arizona the complaints are the same and it is a monotonous message.

There are answers for those Republican senators. They can stop setting a poor example of extremist values. There would be far more folks with an income under $50,000 without Medicare to seek the Medicaid Expansion if their politics didn't prevent them from doing so. God forbid President Obama be given credit in leading the initiative that brought Americans health care insurance to all Americans. 

KNOCK IT OFF!

The high cost of health care insurance is because ther are no cost control regulations.

Arizona: On June 17, 2013, (click here) Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed into law legislation that will expand Medicaid to an additional 350,000 people in the state. The signing came after Brewer called a surprise special session on the 2014 budget and Medicaid to try to resolve a deadlock among lawmakers on the two issues.

US Senator Jeff Flake states there are 183,000 Arizonans with an income under $50.000 per year that pay the fine to the federal government every year. That is their right. ONLY 183,000 uninsured Arizonans is a far cry from 903,000 Arizonians in 2014 that did not have health care.

September 15, 2015
By Ken Allucker

...The report said (click here) that about 215,000 Arizonans secured health insurance in 2014, but about 903,000 still had no health coverage at the end of the year. Those figures, culled from a survey, have a margin of error of less than 1 percent and do not account for those who gained or lost coverage this year....

Arizona proves the corruption within the Republican Party and arguments of the GOP. There are vastly more Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act. There are issues that have to be resolved. Congress has to control the cost of health care. The USA's costs for health care are ridiculous.

Currently, in Chapel Hill, State of NC has provided construction on still yet more medical facilities. The construction never stops at UNC-Chapel Hill. The population that uses UNC-Chapel HIll doesn't grow that fast. High Point University, with $50,000 plus tuition costs and fees wants to build ANOTHER medical school. Really? The previous Governor and the current legislature tosses as much money to High Point U. as possible with ambitions to shut down the public medical schools. Corruption. The city of High Point is disappearing for the construction. Soon HPU will have it's own zip code. The construction in the state of NC is because of corruption and the ridiculous clout of the construction lobby. Construction in NC is one of the few industries still in NC providing jobs.

The cost of health care in the USA is artificially inflated for political reasons and greed. The costs are ridiculously out of control and need be reviewed and cost controls placed.

Now, if regulations are not instated where the costs occur, the USA can institute "SIngle Payer." Those are the two choices. The Affordable Care Act is a great law. The fact the industry decided to institute greed when it should have sought greater numbers of insured is the majority of the trouble with the ACA. Cost controls have to be instituted because the industry decided exploitation of the insured was not only legal but advantageous.

There will be no more return to crowded emergency rooms, long waits for care or Americans that die because they did not have insurance. The country needs to continue to improve health care, research and quality of life of Americans; the cost of health care is part of that. I don't want to hear there are still waiting times in the ERs, because it was a lot worse or there were simply Americans that did not go to the ER because they did not have insurance.

The problems with health care needs to be realized, including what is driving costs and end the high costs to Americans. There can be no more foot dragging by politicians to seek the answers to the cost to Americans.

October 31, 2014
By Kate Ashford

...“If you are in a high-deductible health plan, (click here) you have a financial incentive to shop for a lower priced MRI, but it’s incredibly difficult to do so,” says Neeraj Sood, Ph.D., director of research at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California and one of the authors of the aforementioned study....

There will be no more dirt cheap policies with ridiculous deductibles that prevents Americans from seeking health care, either!

The cost have to be standardized. Massachusetts once again comes to mind. It's health care has thrived under the state's health care laws. I think it is a good start, but, a country wide cost containment has to be instated in one form or another. THE FREE MARKET does not work for health care. I don't see someone in Maine looking for care in California because the costs are lower, do you?

Portability will do little to nothing except to build enormous health care insurance providers that will then have control to do what they want to charge as much as they want. The insurance commissioners in every state probably have all the statistics Congress needs. They probably can make recommendations as well to improve the costs. But, the industry has to be addressed.

The employees within the healthcare industry has been squeezed as much as possible by the CEOs and will need unions to protect their interests as the USA institutes cost containment. The CEOs will never give up their bonuses.

Americans paid well for their skills and hard work equate to higher GDPs and growth. No unfair labor practices to reduce costs will be tolerated. There are plenty of places the costs can be improved and the salaries of the non-medical personnel can be one of the first places to look.

The health care industry is primarily non-profit at the level of the hospital, but, yet the costs are never contained. The industry is exploited by others outside of health care and it needs to stop. Doctor corporations have to be studied to find answers for cost containment. There may need to be specific standards for non-profit and incorporation for the health care industry; the exploitation is hideous today.