ThinkProgress » ‘Pro-Life’ Alaska GOP Kills Health Bill To Insure Thousands Of Low-Income Women And Children
Twitter Post | thinkprogress
'Pro-life' Alaska GOP kills bill that would have insured thousands of low-income women + children http://thkpr.gs/ehZPQM
"According to Davis, the program expansion “might” fund 22 abortions. But that hypothetical number was enough for 9 Republicans and 1 Democrat to block coverage for over 1,000 Alaskan women and children. “Six Senators who voted for the measure last year voted against it today.” Only one Republican — state Sen. Lesil McGuire — supported the measure, stating “that the Senate cannot turn its back on pregnant women who need help.”"
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services | Autonomous Solidarity Organization
Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services | Autonomous Solidarity Organization
Home » Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
Submitted by thomasmbird on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 14:02
In a statement released on January 25th, 2011, Dennis Smith offered the following:
“I would like to thank Governor Scott Walker for the honor and privilege of joining his Administration as Secretary of the Department of Health Services. I also want to thank Senator Vukmir for her leadership of the Senate Health Committee as well as all of the Committee members; Senators Galloway, Moulton, Erpenbach and Carpenter and all of the Senate leadership members for their courtesy and support. I look forward to a successful working relationship with all members of the state legislature – especially the health care related committees.
There is no question that these are challenging times but we are ready to meet these challenges head on. I have dedicated my career to public service and I am proud to have the opportunity to serve the people of the great state of Wisconsin.”
While this appears to be a relatively normal statement released by a newly appointed public official, the implications of Dennis Smith taking this position deserve serious consideration. This statement was accompanied by a brief history of Dennis Smith’s employment:
“Dennis Smith previously served as the head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Secretaries Tommy G. Thompson and Michael Leavitt. Smith has also worked as Medicaid director in the Commonwealth of Virginia and as Chief of Planning for the California Department of Developmental Services.”
One interesting omission in this history of Dennis Smith’s employment is the time he spent as a Senior Fellow in the Center for Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. As a Senior Fellow, Smith wrote extensively on government-run health insurance programs, something extremely relevant to his new position. Let us now begin looking into Dennis Smith’s published writings on Medicaid and how they are relevant to his new position.
Attacks on Medicaid and Medicare from the Heritage Foundation are largely based on misleading, intellectually dishonest arguments. Arguments against these programs are almost exclusively fiscal in nature, claiming we cannot afford to operate these programs. It is a noteworthy argument once one considers that, for example in the 2010 Federal Budget, Medicare and Medicaid combined cost $793 billion while the Defense Department alone was allotted $693 billion. Total spending on military efforts brings this figure closer to a trillion dollars. You can spend days reading through The Heritage Foundation’s statements on how unaffordable these healthcare programs are, yet the subject of why such defense spending is necessary is strangely given less attention. These fiscal arguments are only remotely reasonable if considered in a vacuum, in which no other aspect of federal spending or taxation could be adjusted.
More specifically, some of Dennis Smith’s work at the Heritage Foundation attacks Medicaid under the misleading argument that those in Medicaid would be better off with no insurance at all.
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services | Autonomous Solidarity Organization
Home » Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
Submitted by thomasmbird on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 14:02
In a statement released on January 25th, 2011, Dennis Smith offered the following:
“I would like to thank Governor Scott Walker for the honor and privilege of joining his Administration as Secretary of the Department of Health Services. I also want to thank Senator Vukmir for her leadership of the Senate Health Committee as well as all of the Committee members; Senators Galloway, Moulton, Erpenbach and Carpenter and all of the Senate leadership members for their courtesy and support. I look forward to a successful working relationship with all members of the state legislature – especially the health care related committees.
There is no question that these are challenging times but we are ready to meet these challenges head on. I have dedicated my career to public service and I am proud to have the opportunity to serve the people of the great state of Wisconsin.”
While this appears to be a relatively normal statement released by a newly appointed public official, the implications of Dennis Smith taking this position deserve serious consideration. This statement was accompanied by a brief history of Dennis Smith’s employment:
“Dennis Smith previously served as the head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Secretaries Tommy G. Thompson and Michael Leavitt. Smith has also worked as Medicaid director in the Commonwealth of Virginia and as Chief of Planning for the California Department of Developmental Services.”
One interesting omission in this history of Dennis Smith’s employment is the time he spent as a Senior Fellow in the Center for Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. As a Senior Fellow, Smith wrote extensively on government-run health insurance programs, something extremely relevant to his new position. Let us now begin looking into Dennis Smith’s published writings on Medicaid and how they are relevant to his new position.
Attacks on Medicaid and Medicare from the Heritage Foundation are largely based on misleading, intellectually dishonest arguments. Arguments against these programs are almost exclusively fiscal in nature, claiming we cannot afford to operate these programs. It is a noteworthy argument once one considers that, for example in the 2010 Federal Budget, Medicare and Medicaid combined cost $793 billion while the Defense Department alone was allotted $693 billion. Total spending on military efforts brings this figure closer to a trillion dollars. You can spend days reading through The Heritage Foundation’s statements on how unaffordable these healthcare programs are, yet the subject of why such defense spending is necessary is strangely given less attention. These fiscal arguments are only remotely reasonable if considered in a vacuum, in which no other aspect of federal spending or taxation could be adjusted.
More specifically, some of Dennis Smith’s work at the Heritage Foundation attacks Medicaid under the misleading argument that those in Medicaid would be better off with no insurance at all.
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Dennis Smith: From the Heritage Foundation to the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services | Autonomous Solidarity Organization
Friday, April 1, 2011
OpEdNews - Article: Let's Drop Healthcare Access on One Another, Not Bombs
OpEdNews - Article: Let's Drop Healthcare Access on One Another, Not Bombs
Posted on Twitter by:
opednews opednews
Let's Drop Healthcare Access on One Another, Not Bombs http://bit.ly/gXcQIp
About Donna Smith:
Healthcare reform activist; Appeared in Michael Moore's SiCKO; Founder, American Patients United;
National Co-chair, PDA (Progressive Democrats of America)Healthcare Not Warfare campaign; Community organizer, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Married to Larry Smith, 33 years; mother of six and grandmother to 14.
Graduate, Colorado College, 1985.
Writing is my passion -- mostly political pieces, sometimes human interest.
I belive healthcare is a basic human right. I believe that the American people are champions of basic human rights and that we will win universal healthcare in my lifetime.
My political hero was and is Sen. Tom Daschle (former U.S. Senate majority leader from South Dakota) because of his personal decency to me when I was a constituent. Though I have not always agreed completely with him, and he has made the hugest mistake, he never looked down his nose at any person of lesser station in life. I wish he had fully paid his taxes and that we were engaged together in the fight for healthcare for all.
I was born and raised in suburban Chicago, but have lived in the western U.S, for most of my adult life until returning to Chicago in February 2008 to work for CNA/NNOC. Now I am relocating to Washington, DC, to work more directly on healthcare reform issues.
Posted on Twitter by:
opednews opednews
Let's Drop Healthcare Access on One Another, Not Bombs http://bit.ly/gXcQIp
About Donna Smith:
Healthcare reform activist; Appeared in Michael Moore's SiCKO; Founder, American Patients United;
National Co-chair, PDA (Progressive Democrats of America)Healthcare Not Warfare campaign; Community organizer, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Married to Larry Smith, 33 years; mother of six and grandmother to 14.
Graduate, Colorado College, 1985.
Writing is my passion -- mostly political pieces, sometimes human interest.
I belive healthcare is a basic human right. I believe that the American people are champions of basic human rights and that we will win universal healthcare in my lifetime.
My political hero was and is Sen. Tom Daschle (former U.S. Senate majority leader from South Dakota) because of his personal decency to me when I was a constituent. Though I have not always agreed completely with him, and he has made the hugest mistake, he never looked down his nose at any person of lesser station in life. I wish he had fully paid his taxes and that we were engaged together in the fight for healthcare for all.
I was born and raised in suburban Chicago, but have lived in the western U.S, for most of my adult life until returning to Chicago in February 2008 to work for CNA/NNOC. Now I am relocating to Washington, DC, to work more directly on healthcare reform issues.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Tea Party's Latest Scheme to Kill Health Reform | Mother Jones
The Tea Party's Latest Scheme to Kill Health Reform | Mother Jones
Posted on Twitter: AndrewKroll Andy Kroll
A look at the tea party's latest grand scheme to kneecap health care reform. Shocker, I know: http://bit.ly/gUufG8
"The tea party has a new plan to attack health care reform. While some conservative activists are still fighting to get the law defunded and eventually repealed, others are organizing behind a radical, states'-rights proposal that would go beyond merely derailing health reform. Egged on by tea partiers, at least a dozen states are now contemplating legislation that supporters believe would allow them to seize control of and administer virtually all federal health care programs operating in their states and exempt them from the requirements of the health care law. That includes Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly on which a sizable number of tea partiers rely."
Posted on Twitter: AndrewKroll Andy Kroll
A look at the tea party's latest grand scheme to kneecap health care reform. Shocker, I know: http://bit.ly/gUufG8
"The tea party has a new plan to attack health care reform. While some conservative activists are still fighting to get the law defunded and eventually repealed, others are organizing behind a radical, states'-rights proposal that would go beyond merely derailing health reform. Egged on by tea partiers, at least a dozen states are now contemplating legislation that supporters believe would allow them to seize control of and administer virtually all federal health care programs operating in their states and exempt them from the requirements of the health care law. That includes Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly on which a sizable number of tea partiers rely."
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