As the DCCC writes, “There is still much work ahead, but today’s numbers make clear that President Obama’s economic policies, including the HIRE Act, which provides tax breaks for small businesses that hire new workers, have brought us back from the brink of disaster and are putting America on the road to economic recovery.”
As always, Republicans create a mess, Democrats grab a mop and get to work cleaning it up!
It has now been a little over a month since I signed health insurance reform into law. And while it will take some time to fully implement this law, reform is already delivering real benefits to millions of Americans. Already, we are seeing a health care system that holds insurance companies more accountable and gives consumers more control.
Two weeks ago, four million small business owners and organizations found a postcard in their mailbox informing them that they could be eligible for a health care tax cut this year – a tax cut potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars; a tax cut that will help millions provide coverage to their employees.
Starting in June, businesses will get even more relief for providing coverage to retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare. And a little over a month from now, on June 15th, senior citizens who fall into the prescription drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole” will start receiving a $250 rebate to help them afford their medication.
Aside from providing real, tangible benefits to the American people, the new health care law has also begun to end the worst practices of insurance companies. For too long, we have been held hostage to an insurance industry that jacks up premiums and drops coverage as they please. But those days are finally coming to an end.
After our administration demanded that Anthem Blue Cross justify a 39% premium increase on Californians, the company admitted the error and backed off its plan. And this week, our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, wrote a letter to all states urging them to investigate other rate hikes and stop insurance companies from gaming the system. To help states achieve this goal, we’ve set up a new Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, and will provide grants to states with the best oversight programs.
In the next month, we’ll also be putting in place a new patients’ bill of rights. It will provide simple and clear information to consumers about their choices and their rights. It will set up an appeals process to enforce those rights. And it will prohibit insurance companies from limiting a patients’ access to their preferred primary care provider, ob-gyn, or emergency room care.
We’re holding insurance companies accountable in other ways, as well. As of September, the new health care law prohibits insurance companies from dropping people’s coverage when they get sick and need it most. But when we found out that an insurance company was systematically dropping the coverage of women diagnosed with breast cancer, my administration called on them to end this practice immediately. Two weeks ago, the entire insurance industry announced that it would comply with the new law early and stop the perverse practice of dropping people’s coverage when they get sick.
On Monday, we’ll also be announcing the new rule that allows young adults without insurance to stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26 years old. Even though insurance companies have until September to comply with this rule, we’ve asked them to do so immediately to avoid coverage gaps for new college graduates and other young adults. This also makes good business sense for insurance companies, and we’re pleased that most have agreed. Now we need employers to do the same, and we’re willing to work with them to make this transition possible. These changes mean that starting this spring, when young adults graduate from college, many who do not have health care coverage will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance for a few more years. And you can check healthreform.gov to find a list of all the insurance carriers who have agreed to participate right away.
I’ve said before that implementing health insurance reform won’t happen overnight, and it will require some tweaks and changes along the way. Ultimately, we’ll have a system that provides more control for consumers, more accountability for insurance companies, and more affordable choices for uninsured Americans. But already, we are seeing how reform is improving the lives of millions of Americans. Already, we are watching small businesses learn that they will soon pay less for health care. We are seeing retirees realize they’ll be able to keep their coverage and seniors realize they’ll be able to afford their prescriptions. We’re seeing consumers get a break from unfair rate hikes, patients get the care they need when they need it, and young adults get the security of knowing they can start off life with one less cost to worry about. At long last, this is what health care reform is achieving. This is what change looks like. And this is the promise we will keep as we continue to make this law a reality in the months and years to come.
Thanks so much.
Yep, it’s official: Catherine Crabill, Tea Bagger extraordinaire and certified loon, is on the VA-01 Republican primary election ballot, opposing incumbent Rob Wittman.
The Old Redneck has heard suggestions that VA-01 Democrats should vote for her in the Republican primary just to see what happens. Not that I’d do anything like that.
What went wrong at BP Deepwater Horizon? President Obama has said repeatedly that whoever is responsible for the spill will pay to clean it up, and the evidence points so far to BP (formerly British Petroleum)—- but the mantra in the media is: wait for the final report. One investigative reporter has already published his own findings. Greg Palast, writing here on 7 May says that the primary culprit in the recent Gulf oil spill is BP, the same outfit which was ultimately responsible for the Exxon Valdez Prince William Sound spill cleanup back in 1989—- and both times were botched jobs because “BP is cheap. Deadly cheap.”
According to Palast, BP both times was charged with carrying out the “OSRP,” or Oil Spill Response Plans, which are drawn up by the company and filed with the government. The key to containing an oil spill is rapid response, which means having crews on standby at all times, just like a fire department. The system is simple, but definitely not inexpensive, because it includes having plenty of rubber containment booms, helicopters, trained workmen, and containment barges at the ready. In Alaska, BP, as principal owner of the Alyeska pipeline consortium, certified that it had all this at the ready, including specially trained Native Alaskans, all at Bligh Island within 5 hours’ sailing time of any point in Prince William Sound.
BP lied, says Palast bluntly. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground, there were no booms at all there, BP had fired those Native Alaskans and replaced them with “phantom crews,” and the barge was in drydock 12 hours away. Because of BP’s failure to respond promptly, 1,200 miles of shoreline were slimed (and the fishing livelihood of the Native Alaskans was destroyed).
And what about the Deepwater Horizon spill? Last year, BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, “boasted that, despite increased oil production in exotic deep waters, he had cut BP’s costs by an extra one billion dollars a year. Now we know how he did it,” writes Palast, explaining that once again BP has cut corners, lied, and fabricated another phantom OSRP in order to save money.
Palast interviewed Daniel Becnel, Jr., a Louisiana lawyer who represents oil workers on those deepwater platforms. Becnel told him that the spill response crews were told they were not needed because BP had already sealed the well—- that was a lie. He said one of the platform workers told him privately that BP had drilled the well deeper than the 18,000 feet it reported, but failed to inform Halliburton, whose workmen were pouring the cement to seal the well, so Halliburton, unaware of the deeper well, poured too small a cement cap to withstand the higher pressure at the extra depth, and that was probably the reason the well blew. Halliburton, by the way, failed to check on the depth, so they, too, were negligent.
Where were BP’s required containment booms and barge? Too little, too late again. The US Coast Guard frantically tried to make up for BP’s failures. Is was the USCG which picked up the evacuation capsule, began laying their own containment booms, and burned off some of the escaping oil.
How did it come to this, that BP could again and again get away with such lies and negligence? Palast blames the “anti-regulatory mania which has infected the American body politic.” Americans despise government regulations and what he calls “the little bureaucrat with the fat rule book”—– until, that is, something goes wrong, and then those same Americans demand instant government help. While Palast does not name names, it is clear that the de-regulation festival under Reagan, the Bushes, and, yes, Clinton, is the reason BP’s CEO could cut corners, lie, and be so lazy and lax about his company’s responsibilities.
(Update: Senator Donald McEachin contacted me to say he strongly supports freedom from harassment and freedom to do research. – promoted by lowkell)
Cooch has gone so far to the extreme in his attack on academic freedom at the University of Virginia that even some climate skeptics are denouncing his actions. Per Andrew Revkin’s DotEarth blog, these critics include Paul “Chip” Knappenberger, who writes:
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has placed scientists, past and present, from the state’s public universities (a group that includes me) under notice: You may be prosecuted for your work. […] In no way will the threat of a civil lawsuit move science along more efficiently. More than likely it will have the opposite effect as intimidation will result in fewer ideas being put forth.
Also Steve McIntyre:
This is a repugnant piece of over-zealousness by the Virginia Attorney General, that I condemn. […] To the extent that Virginia citizens are concerned about public money being misappropriated, Cuccinelli’s own expenditures on this adventure should be under equal scrutiny. There will be no value for dollar in this enterprise. […] To the extent that there are issues with Mann or Jones or any of these guys, they are at most academic misconduct and should be dealt with under those regimes. It is unfortunate that the inquiries at Penn State and UEA have not been even minimally diligent, but complaints on that account rest with the universities or their supervising institutions and the substitution of inappropriate investigations by zealots like Cuccinelli are not an alternative.
And Thomas Fuller:
Sir, As co-author of a book (Climategate: The CRUtape Letters) that was harshly critical of the performance of Michael Mann and his colleagues, I write in criticism of your decision to investigate Mr. Mann for potential violations of state laws on fraudulent payment of claims. […] No matter what has prompted your investigation, there is no doubt that it will be interpreted as a witch hunt. If you are in fact investigating a credentialed scientist for results that do not suit your political opinion, that interpretation is correct. Unless you can reveal to the public prima facie evidence that shows cause for this investigation, I beg you to reconsider. There are ample avenues of professional and academic recourse for people like me who think he has done something wrong. But being wrong is not a crime, and intimidating scientists not a path that this country, including I presume Virginians, should ever pursue. You may consult with colleagues in Salem to determine how long it takes to live this type of thing down.
If even those who question the scientific consensus on climate change are willing to publicly oppose Cuccinelli’s appalling attempt to use state power to intimidate innocent academics, might Governor McDonnell find his backbone on this issue soon?
In light of Attorney General Cuccinelli’s abuse of his power to intimidate climate scientists who produce research that he finds politically convenient to attack, I have two questions for every single one of my Virginia elected officials:
1) Do your support or oppose Cuccinelli’s assault on academic freedom?
2) If the latter, when will you make a public statement announcing your position?
Sorry, no mealy-mouthed evasions of the issue allowed this time. Freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression is not some minor issue – it is the lifeblood without with democracy cannot function. And it is by no means merely a progressive or Democratic issue. Conservative Supreme Court Justices in recent years have demonstrated such a strong commitment to the First Amendment that they have chosen to protect even such repugnant forms of speech as flag burning, videos showing violence against animals, and depictions of child pornography. Considering that, how can conservatives not support the freedom of scientists to conduct their research free from bullying by government officials?
Republicans, Tea Partiers, and other right-wingers talk endlessly about freedom and liberty. So let’s put all of Virginia’s elected Republican officials on record to see if – when faced with a case where academic freedom is openly threatened by state power – they will put their money where their mouth is. Governor Bob, of course, needs to be questioned most relentlessly, but all the officials below him need to be heard from too.
Virginia Democrats, led by Delegate Mark Herring, have taken a strong stand on this issue. But we cannot allow them to take their eyes off the ball. We need every Democrat in Virginia to speak out publicly against this outrageous act in order to keep the pressure on the McDonnell-Cuccinelli Administration and continually ratchet it up – until they back off.
I strongly encourage you to contact your own elected officials and ask these same questions. You can find contact information and links for all of them here.
We elect our leaders to safeguard our freedoms. Will they come through for us this time, or not?
I agree with Mark Warner regarding offshore oil drilling that we should pause, I just believe that “pause” should be “forever.” Instead, we need to focus on energy efficiency, offshore wind, wave, solar, even nuclear power. The bottom line, though, is that we need to wean ourselves off of polluting fossil fuels and move to the next generation of carbon-free, clean energy. Offshore oil drilling certainly does not put us on that path.
P.S. Instead of more disastrous oil spills, how about “The Five Percent Solution?”
If there was any doubt that Ken Cuccinelli is wasting the Attorney General’s office’s time and resources (aka, Virginia taxpayer dollars) on his frivolous lawsuit against health care reform, I’ve got some material for him to read.
Specifically, I refer Cooch to this:
…neither of the courts handling these cases, nor any other federal court, is likely to address-let alone resolve-the merits of the issue in the context of an attorney general’s lawsuit. Instead, these cases are all but sure to be promptly tossed out of court for procedural reasons obvious to a first-year law student.
The first problem is that state governments are the wrong plaintiffs to challenge the individual insurance mandate. No state will ever have to pay a penny in taxes or be told to take out health insurance: The law applies only to individuals. The attorneys general might have attempted to plug this gap by adding individual plaintiffs to their complaints. But even if they found those people, the AGs couldn’t sue on their behalf right now, because the mandate does not take effect until 2014. Between now and then, all kinds of things could cause plaintiffs to lose their standing to sue: Their health could deteriorate and they could actually need health insurance; they might get a job with health benefits; or they might just have a change of heart. Any or all of these contingencies are quite likely, if a Massachusetts state government survey showing that only 2.6 percent of Massachusetts residents do not comply with the mandatory insurance requirement in that state’s law is any indication. In lawyers’ language, not only will the state attorneys general never have standing to bring these claims on their own; even the claims of real individuals are not yet “ripe.”
So, no “standing,” not yet “ripe,” utterly clueless. Other than that, Cooch’s lawsuit is a great idea! Heh.
By the way, I checked with Chap Petersen – a far better attorney than Ken Cuccinelli will ever be, and that is not meant as a “backhanded compliment” – and he said “I agree with it in respect to the fact that the Fed law does not take effect til 2014 so the issue is not yet ripe.” Chap added that, “[i]n the meantime, the requirement could be amended or repealed — or the state law (like Virginia’s) that prohibits the requirement could be repealed.” In other words, Cooch’s lawsuit is premature from a legal perspective and should be promptly thrown out of court. If only we could throw Cooch out office for gross incompetence and overall insanity…
