Health Care Reform Will Help Everybody

Many Americans assume the new health care reform act will benefit mostly the poor and uninsured and hurt everyone else, according to polls. As Matt Yglesias wrote, “Basically, people see this as a bill that will take resources from people who have health insurance and give it to people who don’t have health insurance.” Those who still oppose the reform say that people ought to pay for their own health care.

We all believe in the virtues of hard work and self-reliance, but these days it’s a fantasy to think that anyone but the mega-wealthy will not, sooner or later, depend on help from others to pay medical bills. And that’s true no matter how hard you work, how much you love America, or how diligently you take care of yourself. The cost of medical care has so skyrocketed that breaking an arm or leg could cost as much as a new car. And if you get cancer or heart disease — which can happen even to people who live healthy lifestyles — forget about it. The disease will not only clean you out; it will leave a whopping debt for your survivors to pay.

And the truth is, we all pay for other peoples’ health care whether we know it or not. When people can’t pay their medical bills, the cost of their health care gets added to everyone else’s bills and insurance premiums. When poor people use emergency rooms as a doctor of last resort, their care is not “free.” You pay for it.

Another common fantasy about medical care is that the “free market” provides incentives for medical companies to develop innovative new drugs and treatments for disease without government subsidy. It’s true that private enterprise is very good at developing profitable health care products. But not all medical care can be made profitable.

For years, the U.S. government has been funding medical research that the big private companies don’t want to do because there is too much cost for the potential profit. This is especially true for diseases that are rare and expensive to treat. An example of a recent advance made possible by government grants include new guidelines for malignant pleural mesothelioma treatment developed by MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers. Another is a blood screening test for mesothelioma developed by thoracic surgeon Dr. Robert Taub. The health reform act provides for more dollars for such research, from which even many of the tea party protesters will benefit.

The biggest fantasy of all was that people who had insurance didn’t have to worry about health care costs. But the fact is that in recent years millions of Americans have been bankrupted by medical costs, and three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had health insurance. And yes, insurance companies even dumped hard-working, law-abiding patriots. But the health care reform act will put an end to that, and now America’s hard-working, law-abiding patriots are more financially secure, whether they like it or not.

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BP’s ‘Top Kill’ Effort Fails to Plug Leak; Company Readies New Approach

The New York Times

Sat, May 29, 2010 — 6:37 PM ET

BP said Saturday that its latest attempt to stop the gushing
oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was unsuccessful, and the
effort, known as a “top kill,” was being scrapped in favor of
yet another maneuver to stem the flow spreading into the
waters.

The announcement marked the latest setback in the attempt to
plug the spill that is polluting gulf waters at an estimated
rate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.

Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said the next
step is called a “lower marine riser package cap” and
involves sawing off the riser and placing a device atop it to
capture the escaping oil. Equipment has already been deployed
on land and on the sea bed, he said.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

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Barbara O’Brien Is New Author On Suzie-Q Blog

Good afternoon Justice Bloggers,

Please welcome  Barbara O’Brien to the Suzie-Q blog!  Barbara will be writing on a regular basis and we welcome her interesting articles.

Barbara blogs at The Mahablog, Crooks and Liars, AlterNet, and elsewhere on the progressive political and health blogophere.  She has earned the notoriety of being a panelist at the Yearly Kos Convention and a featured guest blogger at the Take Back America Conference in Washington, DC.

We look forward to her articles beginning Monday, May 31, 2010.

Also, I wish everyone a nice and safe Memorial Day Weekend!  😉

Suzie-Q

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Dennis Hopper, Actor and Iconoclast, Has Died

May 29, 2010, 2:56 pm
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Dennis Hopper, in the film “Easy Rider,” which he directed, edited and starred in.

Dennis Hopper, whose portrayals of drug-addled, often deranged misfits in the landmark films “Easy Rider,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Blue Velvet” drew on his early out-of-control experiences as part of a new generation of Hollywood rebel, died at his home in Venice, Calif., on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. He was 74.

The death was announced by Alex Hitz, a family friend, according to The A.P. A cause of death was not immediately given, but Mr. Hopper was recently being treated for prostate cancer.

Mr. Hopper, who said he stopped drinking and using drugs in the mid-1980s, followed that change with a tireless phase of his career in which he claimed to have turned down no parts. His credits include at least  six films released in 2008 and at least 25 over the past 10 years.

Most recently, Mr. Hopper starred in the television series “Crash,” an adaptation of the Oscar-winning film of the same title. Produced for the Starz cable channel, the show had Mr. Hopper portraying a music producer unhinged by years of drug use. During a promotional tour last fall for that series, he fell ill; shortly thereafter, he began a new round of treatments for prostate cancer, which he said was first diagnosed a decade ago.

More…

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Lawsuit Over Arizona Immigration Law?

DOJ, Arizona officials meet over immigration law

Huff Post- PAUL DAVENPORT and PETE YOST | May 29, 2010 02:08 AM EST |

PHOENIX — Justice Department officials told Arizona’s attorney general and aides to the governor Friday that the federal government has serious reservations about the state’s new immigration law. They responded that a lawsuit against the state isn’t the answer.

“I told them we need solutions from Washington, not more lawsuits,” said Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat.

The Justice Department initiated separate meetings by phone and face-to-face in Phoenix with Goddard and aides to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to reach out to Arizona’s leaders and elicit information from state officials regarding the Obama administration’s concerns about the new law.

The strong message that the Justice Department representatives delivered at the private meetings – first with Goddard, then with Brewer’s staff – left little doubt that the Obama administration is prepared to go to court if necessary in a bid to block the new law, which takes effect July 29.

Goddard said he noted that five privately filed lawsuits already are pending in federal court to challenge the law.

“Every possible argument is being briefed,” said Goddard, who is running unopposed for his party’s nomination for the governor’s race.

Brewer, who is seeking re-election, later said in a statement that her legal team told the Justice Department officials that the law would be “vigorously defended all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary.”

MORE HERE

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Chernus: Neocon Vampires Sink Their Fangs Into the Tea Parties

Like vampires, the neocons never die. They constantly revive themselves, going where the vein is richest, eager to feed upon new blood.

By Ira Chernus, AlterNet, May 27, 2010

Remember the neoconservatives? Maybe you don’t. Their death was announced on the cover of Time magazine long before George W. Bush left the White House. By now you might think that they’re, thankfully, only a footnote to the history of a frightening bygone era.

But no. Like vampires, the neocons never die. They constantly revive themselves, going where the vein is richest, eager to feed upon new blood. Now — we should have seen it coming — they are sinking their fangs into the Tea Party. That’s where the fresh political blood is, so that’s where the neocons are.

Continues >>

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Republicans Demand a Government Takeover and Bailout of the Oil Spill

The words “government takeover” were originally injected into the discourse by Frank Luntz in the early stages of the health care reform process and have been repeated in the pejorative sense by Republicans across the board.

Despite the fact that thousands of Americans die every month from a lack of affordable health insurance, the Republicans have argued that the government isn’t allowed to “takeover” the industry. It goes without saying that the president wasn’t proposing any such thing and, in fact, publicly denounced single-payer health insurance, but okay. The Republicans truly believe the health care reform bill is socialism and a total takeover of the industry. It’s not.

Likewise, the Republicans and tea party people have been screeching about the bailouts. They insist that the banks and financial institutions (and GM) should have been allowed to fail, rather than receiving emergency loans from the government in order to, at the time, prevent the American economy from being dragged down along with these institutions had they not been hoisted with an infusion of cash.

Speaking of which, the Republicans also loudly opposed the recovery bill, which included, as a total dollar amount, the biggest middle class tax cut in American history as well as a considerable amount of funding for the states. Yet the Republicans, once again, screeched about state’s rights and tried to block the funding.

In his response to the president’s first address to a joint session of Congress, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana famously mocked such obviously hilarious things as volcano monitoring in the recovery bill. Volcanoes? Why should we monitor those?

The dominant centerpiece to all of this outrage has been the Republican idea that the states and the free market should be left alone to deal with problems and crises on its own without “socialist” — or even “communist” depending on which AM radio station you listen to — interference from big government and our America-hating president. No government takeovers. Freedom! Liberty! And no stupid volcano thingees also.

Americans dying from a lack of health insurance? Too bad. No government takeover. The economy about to sink into a second Great Depression? Too bad. No government takeover. The Earth growing warmer due to the burning of fossil fuels? Too bad. No government takeover.

That is until last month.

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How Obama’s Election Drove The American Right Insane

How Obama’s Election Drove the American Right Insane

For huge numbers of dedicated right-wing Americans, November 5, 2008, was the end of the world. Or at least, the end of America as they knew it.

PoliPoint Press / By John Amato and David Neiwert

May 26, 2010 |

The following is adapted from “Over the Cliff: How Obama’s Election Drove the American Right Insane,” due out next month from PoliPoint Press.

On the day Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, much of the nation — particularly those who supported and voted for him — celebrated the election of the first African American to the country’s highest office. For those who voted for his opponent, John McCain, there was naturally the usual bitterness and disappointment.

Among a certain subset of those Americans, however — especially those who opposed Obama precisely because he sought to become the nation’s first black president — it went well beyond the usual despair. For them, November 5, 2008, was the end of the world. Or at least, the end of America as they knew it.

So maybe it wasn’t really a surprise that they responded that day with the special venom and violence peculiar to the American Right. Like the noose strung in protest from a tree limb in Texas.

Students at Baylor University in Waco discovered the noose hanging from a campus tree the evening of election day, near a site where angry Republican students had gathered Obama yard signs and burned them in a big bonfire. That same evening, a riot nearly broke out when Obama supporters, chanting the new president’s name, were confronted outside a residence hall by white students who told them: “Any nigger who walks by Penland [Hall], we’re going to kick their ass, we’re going to jump him.” The Obama supporters stopped and responded, “Excuse me?” — and somehow managed to keep the confrontation confined to a mere shouting match until police arrived and broke things up.

MORE HERE

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Obama To Send Troops To Arizona Border: McCain Still Not Happy

Obama to Send More National Guardsmen to AZ Border: McCain of Course Still Not Happy

Crooks and Liars- By Heather Wednesday May 26, 2010 6:00am

How’s that pandering working out for you President Obama? Sen. Get-Off-My-Lawn McCain is never going to be happy even if he sent the 6000 troops he’s demanding. As Digby pointed out “it’s paranoid, wingnut crap that has no bearing on reality”. I agree with her here as well:

Mean Old Man McCain says we need 6,000 troops on the border, so I’m guessing President Goldilocks will say his “compromise” on this is “just right.” But hey, ratcheting up xenophobia is so good for everyone right now, why not just pretend there’s a huge problem that doesn’t really exist? We don’t have enough real ones apparently. After all, there are some Democrats who apparently think they need to show how much they hate Mexicans in order to win, so it’s all good.

(Oh, and remember that while there’s a huge “appetite” for expensive, stupid bullshit like this, there’s none for extending unemployment benefits to the lazy bums who want to live like kings on 250 bucks a week from government rather than get a non-existent job.)

That money would be better spent doing something about this disaster in the Gulf as well. Arizona’s Attorney General Terry Goddard on the other hand seemed pleased with the decision and was critical of the tone of McCain’s rhetoric. I’m sure he knows full well we wouldn’t see McCain acting like this if he didn’t have wingnut J.D. Hayworth for a primary challenger.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Transcript via CNN below the fold.

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Deepwater Oil Benzene BP & Exxon Valdez

Folks in Florida have been reporting oil smell and a black oily substance in the rain which is probably benzene from evaporation of the crude oil.

Benzene, which was encountered in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, was responsible for detrimental health effects on clean up workers who were among the 32,000 fishermen and Alaska Natives who had been waiting for nearly 20 years to hear whether Exxon Mobil Corp. would have to pay punitive damages for grounding the tanker on Bligh Reef and spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound.

By ERIKA BOLSTAD / Anchorage Daily News

Published: June 26th, 2008 12:25 AM

WASHINGTON — In a victory for corporations seeking to limit big-dollar lawsuits, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday sharply reduced the $2.5 billion in punitive damages awarded in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. An Anchorage jury originally set the award at $5 billion in 1994, but that was cut in half on appeal. The court reduced the award to $507.5 million.

Read more: Read more

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