Category: News and Politics
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Single payer health care on the rise
We see fresh indications that public and legislative support for a single payer health care system are on the rise. Bernie Sanders is one of a growing number in Congress who support the HR 676 “Medicare for All” bill this week. A long list of Democratic Congressional representatives co-sponsored the House bill. The president even took time…
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Yiddish Curses for Republican Jews
(I copied, edited and reformatted this lighthearted humor from Facebook but do not know the original source. The original was attributed to Rabbi Aaron Spiegel). May you sell everything and retire to Florida just as global warming makes it uninhabitable. May you live to a hundred and twenty without Social Security or Medicare. May your…
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Aetna locked in legal battle over ACA pullout
An interesting lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania last week against Aetna Inc., a Connecticut-based insurance company that has been one of the nation’s largest alternate insurance choices for decades. Aetna pulled out of the individual health insurance markets in 11 states claiming that this was a business decision to prevent the company from losing money.…
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Five health care strategies for small businesses in 2017
Only hours past the point where we thought that Republican leaders in Washington DC had reached an agreement on minimalist proposal to begin “repeal and replace” of Obamacare, the measure known as “skinny repeal” (covered in my last blog post) has been defeated. Many of us went to bed last night thinking that the healthcare…
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“Skinny Repeal” explained
The lowest common denominator Obamacare repeal and replacement plan is said to get rid of the "O" and keep the "bamacare". It is specifically designed as the most likely health care bill that could gain the support of the required 5o Republican senators. It is called "skinny repeal" because it would only repeal the requirement…
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The five “D”s of opposing political opinions
1. Deny: It’s a total lie, it never happened, it’s fake news. 2. Dismiss: Ok, it happened, but it’s not a big deal. 3. Downplay: Ok, it might be a big deal only because of the other side’s fanatics, but it’s not illegal. 4. Deflect: Ok, it’s illegal, but the other side did something worse, so…
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5 things we know about the Republican health care reform plan
We know more about the Republican plan to reform national health care policy now that the Senate has released its ‘secret’ plan. These are a few things that are all but certain at this point: Obamacare will not be repealed or replaced. Both the House and Senate reform bills keep most features of the prior…
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How will you fare under the Senate health bill?
Summary of Senate health bill’s effect on small businesses: eliminates requirement to be insured protects insurers in the marketplace shifts but retains tax credits lowers the number of people eligible for free or reduced price coverage cuts taxes for the wealthy suspends the ‘Cadillac Tax’ strips federal funding from Planned Parenthood is surprisingly light-weight; only about…
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Outrage over Senate’s health care reform bill spreads
US Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey joined with many health care advisers, including myself, in expressing his outrage over the secretive process used to draft the replacement bill for health care reform that is apparently designed to hide the details from public scrutiny. I’ve been an advocate of health care reform and an active…