Tag: “Obamacare”
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Here’s why the improved economy means so little
The stock market is reaching record highs again, which make us moneyed people woozy. I’m modestly including myself here although I’m not that well moneyed. But I am retired on a nice pension with plenty of assets to draw on should things go south. The Dow Jones Industrial Average passed 27,000 yesterday and closed for…
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So what’s wrong with democratic socialism?
We are told socialism is bad and un-American, but is capitalism really all that great? Consider how poor a job the free market is doing in providing affordable health care. Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies did their best to keep their insured pools as pristine as possible. They had no problems canceling people’s…
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Republicans continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer
It’s pretty hard to keep up with the inanities coming out of the mouth our “president”. As a Democrat he sure embarrasses me, but I often wonder why Republicans are not. If retiring Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) is correct, most Republicans in Congress are embarrassed by Trump, but can’t summon the political will to say…
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At the health care inflection point
Back in January I mentioned a mindful eating course I was enrolled in. A full discussion of the course is probably for another time if I think it warrants a blog post. (I’ve become pickier about what I blog about, as I post less frequently and am trying hard to make my posts more relevant…
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Republicans fall into their own health care trap
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s laughably named American Health Care Act bill went down in defeat yesterday. It was abruptly withdrawn before yet another planned vote Friday afternoon. Millions of Americans, particularly those who stood to lose under the law, breathed a sigh of relief. I was not surprised by its defeat. It was inevitable. Without…
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Slowly boiling the frog
Yesterday House Speaker Paul Ryan finally released a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, i.e. Obamacare. The bill came out of the Capitol basement, literally, where it was under lock and key. Wonks are still sorting through the bill, which hasn’t been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. The plan is not to repeal…
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Four weeks in, a Trump update
At four weeks into the Trump Administration things are about as bleak as I expected them to be. And yet there are signs of hope. The Trump Administration so far has proven staggeringly inept. Moreover, the protests arising to his administration are passionate, largely organic and growing in intensity. Trump’s stubbornness and dogged determination to…
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Letting freedom (and common sense) reign
It was just a year ago that I blogged about the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius decision. While not entirely unexpected due to its earlier disastrous Citizens United decision, this decision, which let a “closely held corporation” opt out of the birth control provisions of the Affordable Care Act, still felt like a kick…
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The point of the Affordable Care Act
Sometimes you want to cheer and shake your fist at the same time. That was my reaction to this Washington Post article that curiously arrived on my birthday, Saturday, when I turned 57: Nine days into the new year, the 41-year-old call-center worker headed to the health clinic on Highway 15. She saw a doctor…
Occam's Razor 