Where Does It Say the Supreme Court Has the Constitutional Power to Hike Medicine Prices to 5x Their Cost? | Alternet

Where Does It Say the Supreme Court Has the Constitutional Power to Hike Medicine Prices to 5x Their Cost? | Alternet
"How the industry uses the high court to allow bribery and evade the FDA."

STUDY: CVS, Rite Aid, And Other Chain Pharmacies Mark Up Generic Drugs By Up To 18 Times Their Cost

STUDY: CVS, Rite Aid, And Other Chain Pharmacies Mark Up Generic Drugs By Up To 18 Times Their Cost: According to a new Consumer Reports investigative study published Thursday, there is rampant variation in the price of generic drugs as large U.S. pharmacy chains — including CVS, Rite Aid, and Target — marking up the prices of generic drug versions for common medications by as much as 18 times what wholesale chains like Costco [...]/p

Without Medicaid Expansion, Poor Americans In The South Are Less Likely To Get Medical Care

Without Medicaid Expansion, Poor Americans In The South Are Less Likely To Get Medical Care: Low-income Americans in the South, where states impose some of the nation’s most restrictive Medicaid eligibility requirements, are being forced to put off the medical care they need because they can’t afford it. According to a new study from the New England Journal of Medicine, the American adults who don’t qualify for Medicaid assistance in [...]/p

Healthcare lottery...may the odds be forever in your favor

Tennessee’s Republican Governor Rejects Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion

Tennessee’s Republican Governor Rejects Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion: Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) announced on Wednesday that he will not accept Obamacare’s optional expansion of the Medicaid program, which would extend health coverage to an additional 140,000 uninsured Tennesseans and bringing in $1.4 billion in federal funding in the first year. Eight of Haslam’s fellow Republican leaders have come out in support of this [...]/p

The Latest Attack On Obamacare Conveniently Ignores The Law’s Cost-Cutting Provisions

The Latest Attack On Obamacare Conveniently Ignores The Law’s Cost-Cutting Provisions: On Tuesday, the Associated Press (AP) published an article recounting a Society of Actuaries (SOA) study that finds Americans’ health insurance premiums “will jump an average 32 percent for Americans’ individual policies under President Obama’s overhaul.” That titillating claim formed the basis of multiple news agencies’ headlines Wednesday morning, including NBC News, Fox News, and [...]/p

STUDY: States Refusing To Expand Medicaid Will Leave Over 200,000 Low-Income Veterans Uninsured

STUDY: States Refusing To Expand Medicaid Will Leave Over 200,000 Low-Income Veterans Uninsured: Adding to the extensive body of evidence that participating in Obamacare’s optional Medicaid expansion is both smart fiscal policy and the right move for securing poor Americans’ health care, a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute study concludes that states refusing to expand Medicaid will leave over 200,000 low-income, uninsured veterans and two-thirds [...]/p

Sanders Amendment on Social Security, Disabled Veterans

Senate Unanimously Votes Against Cuts to Social Security: Media Don’t Notice

Senate Unanimously Votes Against Cuts to Social Security: Media Don’t Notice
"There are few areas where the corruption of the national media is more apparent than in its treatment of Social Security. Most of the elite media have made it clear in both their opinion and news pages that they want to see benefits cut."

‘The Health Care Reform Case Of 2013′ Heads To The Supreme Court Today

‘The Health Care Reform Case Of 2013′ Heads To The Supreme Court Today: In addition to the high-profile cases on marriage equality that are slated for consideration this week, another crucial legal battle that begins on Monday could have huge implications for the future of the health care industry. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Actavis could save consumers and the government hundreds of billions of dollars in health [...]/p

Single-Payer Health Care Is Still Right Way To Go | Common Dreams

Single-Payer Health Care Is Still Right Way To Go | Common Dreams
"Obamacare is surely better than anything we’ve had up until now and once it is fully implemented will remove millions of Americans from the roles of the uninsured.
But a single-payer plan is still the way the nation ought to go."

On Obamacare’s Third Anniversary, Here Are Three Ways The Reform Law Has Helped Real Americans

On Obamacare’s Third Anniversary, Here Are Three Ways The Reform Law Has Helped Real Americans: Saturday marks the three year anniversary of President Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. While some the law’s most significant provisions won’t go into full effect until next year, many of its important [...]/p

Say No to the Chained CPI

GOP Hijacks Budget Process To Dismantle Obamacare

GOP Hijacks Budget Process To Dismantle Obamacare: The Senate plans to begin considering the Democratic-sponsored budget resolution on Friday or Saturday, including the slew of amendments that Republican senators have tacked onto the legislation. Since budget amendments only need a simple majority to pass, GOP lawmakers have seized the opportunity to push their agenda by rushing to file hundreds of them — [...]/p

House GOP Approves Budget That Cuts Taxes For Millionaires, Slashes The Social Safety Net

House GOP Approves Budget That Cuts Taxes For Millionaires, Slashes The Social Safety Net: The House of Representatives this afternoon approved the Republican budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) by a vote of 221-207, with 197 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting against it. Three Democrats and one Republican did not vote. For the third consecutive year, the House GOP has approved a budget that ends the traditional [...]/p

Obamacare Has Helped Seniors Save Over $6 Million On Their Prescription Drugs

Obamacare Has Helped Seniors Save Over $6 Million On Their Prescription Drugs: As the health reform law approaches its third birthday, Obama Administration officials are noting that one of its provisions has already helped seniors on Medicare save $6.1 billion on their prescription drug costs. Obamacare ensures that more prescription drugs are covered under Medicare by closing the “donut hole” coverage gap, one of its most popular [...]/p

As Obamacare Turns Three Years Old, Americans Still Have Big Misperceptions About What It Does

As Obamacare Turns Three Years Old, Americans Still Have Big Misperceptions About What It Does: Thursday marks the three-year anniversary of Congress’ passage of the health care reform law. And although Obamacare has had a high profile throughout the past several years of political fights over health reform, that hasn’t ensured that Americans understand what the law actually does. Even after three years, many Americans are still confused about Obamacare’s [...]/p

The Grand Bargain Could be Grand Sellout | Common Dreams

The Grand Bargain Could be Grand Sellout | Common Dreams
"We need a budget that keeps the promises we have made to our seniors, veterans and the most vulnerable by protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits."

As More Americans Die From Alzheimer’s, Annual Treatment Costs Could Top $1 Trillion By 2050

As More Americans Die From Alzheimer’s, Annual Treatment Costs Could Top $1 Trillion By 2050: According to Reuters, a pair of new studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alzheimer’s Association find that a combination of factors — including an aging population, more targeted early diagnosis efforts, and the failure to discover a viable cure — have contributed to a sharp rise in recorded American deaths [...]/p

Access to Health Care, Basic Necessities a Matter of Life or Debt

Access to Health Care, Basic Necessities a Matter of Life or Debt
"The US has used a market-based health system for so long that most people probably feel that it is normal, but in truth, the US health system is an aberration. Most industrialized nations have publicly-funded universal health care systems paid for through taxes that cover virtually 100 percent of necessary care. Their systems have been in existence for many decades, and while no system is perfect, other countries spend half what the United States  does per person on health care, cover everyone and have better health outcomes."

Conservative Think Tank President: Don’t Cut Medicaid

Conservative Think Tank President: Don’t Cut Medicaid: No one would accuse Arthur Brooks of being a shrinking violet when it comes to defending a right-wing economic vision. The President of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has accused President Obama and the Democrats of being opposed to “capitalism” and “free enterprise,” and supports “actual sacrifice” in the form of “cut[ting] spending and [...]/p

PERRspectives: How the GOP Gets It All Wrong on Medicare in 5 Charts

PERRspectives: How the GOP Gets It All Wrong on Medicare in 5 Charts
"Of course, the real culprit is the very private insurance market Republicans want to put in charge of Medicare. And as the five charts above show, that won't be a pretty picture."

PERRspectives: 10 Signs Paul Ryan is Dropping Acid

PERRspectives: 10 Signs Paul Ryan is Dropping Acid
"For years, the centerpiece of Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America" has been the privatization of the Medicare system now serving almost 50 million American seniors. But even in its latest incarnation keeping traditional government-run Medicare as a "public option," Ryan's "premium support" scheme still dramatically shifts costs to seniors as the value of his voucher invariably fails to keep pace with inflation and increasing prices from private insurers."

REPORT: Over Half Of U.S. States Get An ‘F’ On Health Care Price Transparency

REPORT: Over Half Of U.S. States Get An ‘F’ On Health Care Price Transparency: In a new state-by-state study of price reporting provisions for medical services in America, over half of all U.S. states receive a failing grade. The report, which was compiled by two major American health care consulting firms, judges states based on both their price reporting laws and the availability of that information to the public [...]/p

Stop Freaking Out About the Debt! 5 Reasons There Is No Debt Crisis | Alternet

Stop Freaking Out About the Debt! 5 Reasons There Is No Debt Crisis | Alternet
"In conclusion: the “debt crisis” is a mere phantom — only one of many possible futures, and far from a certainty. The interest America is paying on its debt  is currently lowerthan it was in the 1990s, despite a lower debt-to-GDP ratio then. When inflation is factored in, current real interest rates on our debt  are negative. Financial markets are willing to pay us to borrow from them.

Meanwhile, every dollar we cut — nay, every dollar we fail to borrow — is a dollar that isn’t going to shore up the safety net, to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, or to support struggling Americans while their livelihoods remain on the line. That we’re passing on this opportunity to repair our country, much less even considering the monstrosity that is the Ryan budget, really is absurd."

House GOP Budget Would Give Millionaires A $200,000 Tax Cut

House GOP Budget Would Give Millionaires A $200,000 Tax Cut: The latest House Republican budget would grant taxpayers with incomes above $1 million at least $200,000 in tax cuts even if the GOP closes tax loopholes to help pay for the plan, according to an analysis from Citizens for Tax Justice. The GOP plan, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), aims to reduce [...]/p

With Inequality Spiraling Out of Control It's Insane to Consider Cutting Social Security | Alternet

With Inequality Spiraling Out of Control It's Insane to Consider Cutting Social Security | Alternet
"The United States already has a poverty rate among the elderly of 24 percent."

Moody’s: Refusing Medicaid Expansion Will ‘Put Pressure’ On State And Hospital Credit Ratings

Moody’s: Refusing Medicaid Expansion Will ‘Put Pressure’ On State And Hospital Credit Ratings: Investor services and credit rating agency Moody’s has some news for GOP governors hesitant to expand their state Medicaid programs under Obamacare: either hospitals in states refusing the expansion, or the states themselves, will feel pressure on their credit ratings due to higher uncompensated care costs and cash-strapped budgets. In a press release regarding a [...]/p

Path to Prosperity? How about Path of Austerity | Economic Policy Institute

Path to Prosperity? How about Path of Austerity | Economic Policy Institute
"The majority of Ryan’s changes to Medicare, which include raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67 and turning Medicare into a voucher program, would not have budgetary effects in the immediate ten-year budget window, as Ryan vows to preserve Medicare as it is for those in or near retirement (though adverse selection would likely cause even those 55 and older to be negatively impacted)."

What's Not to Like? It Raises Needed Revenues and Curbs the Beasts of Wall Street | Common Dreams

What's Not to Like? It Raises Needed Revenues and Curbs the Beasts of Wall Street | Common Dreams
"Let’s get one thing straight: The United States doesn’t have a public debt problem. Net interest payments on the federal public debt are less than 1 percent of GDP [PDF], which is about as low as they have been in the post-World War II era.  In the long run, projected debt problems are a result of rising health care costs  – driven by the private sector – and would disappear if we were to reduce these costs to the level of other high-income countries."

Medicare Spending May Fix Itself, Without Republicans’ Budget Cuts

Medicare Spending May Fix Itself, Without Republicans’ Budget Cuts: As Republicans push the country toward draconian spending cuts, it’s important to remember the uncertainty built into the debt projections that the GOP touts to justify their policies. Health care spending is a big part of this: Medicare spending is one of the biggest single drivers of long-term debt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we [...]/p

Back To 1948: Ryan’s Fantasy Budget Cuts Spending To Its Lowest Level In 65 Years

Back To 1948: Ryan’s Fantasy Budget Cuts Spending To Its Lowest Level In 65 Years: Over at Investors.com, Jed Graham ran the numbers on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) new budget for the House GOP, and found that by 2023, it would drive all government spending that isn’t either Social Security or interest on the debt to its lowest level since 1948. On only three other occasions in the last 60 [...]/p

Inequality and the Social Security Debate | Common Dreams

Inequality and the Social Security Debate | Common Dreams
"Next time you see one of these CEOs on TV lecturing about belt-tightening, keep in mind who’s talking. The stakes in this debate are extremely high for ordinary Americans who work hard every day but still have to worry about their retirement security. For CEOs with mega-million retirement funds, there’s not much to lose."

Right-Wing Group Spent At Least $300,000 To Keep Scott Walker Ally on Wisconsin Supreme Court

Right-Wing Group Spent At Least $300,000 To Keep Scott Walker Ally on Wisconsin Supreme Court: The Club for Growth, a right-wing group that supports tax cuts for the rich, privatizing Social Security and writing Tea Party ideology into the Constitution, spent $300,000 to keep a key ally of anti-union Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — and that was just in the primary: Now, another member of [...]/p

Progressive 'Back to Work' Budget Wins Praise for Anti-Austerity Approach | Common Dreams

Progressive 'Back to Work' Budget Wins Praise for Anti-Austerity Approach | Common Dreams
"In the midst of ongoing hysteria about a 'non-existent deficit crisis' in Washington, the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday unveiled an alternative approach to destructive austerity economics by releasing their 'Back to Work Budget' plan for 2014."

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: Taking Paul Ryan Seriously Is Dangerous

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: Taking Paul Ryan Seriously Is Dangerous
"There were a lot of good points made about Ryan's ridiculous op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and the fact that he just wants to go after programs that help the poor, the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society and that his "budget" has a lot of numbers that don't add up."

McConnell: GOP Will Likely Take Debt Ceiling Hostage For Spending Cuts — Again

McConnell: GOP Will Likely Take Debt Ceiling Hostage For Spending Cuts — Again: Republicans and Democrats agreed to increase the debt ceiling for three months at the end of January, but with another deadline approaching in May, the top Senate Republican is hinting that the GOP will again demand spending cuts in exchange for any increase. That is par for the course for Republicans, who have repeatedly threatened [...]/p

Which Members of Congress Are Standing Up for Economic Decency – And Which “Progressives” Aren’t | Common Dreams

Which Members of Congress Are Standing Up for Economic Decency – And Which “Progressives” Aren’t | Common Dreams
"In the real politics of the emerging struggle over Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, there’s a very big difference between expressing opposition to benefit cuts and promising not to vote for them. It’s only when members of Congress make a firm public commitment that Obama White House strategists may feel a need to recalibrate their deal-making calculus with Republicans."

What Ryan's Budget Really Says: 'I Love Rich People' | Common Dreams

What Ryan's Budget Really Says: 'I Love Rich People' | Common Dreams
"Let's look at some of Ryan's trademark policies. Ryan repeatedly has proposed replacing Medicare with a voucher system or "premium support" as he likes to say. Note that Ryan has not proposed just eliminating Medicare and telling people when they turn age 65 (or 67) that they are on their own. 

What's the difference between handing people a voucher to buy insurance from private insurers and giving them access to a government-run Medicare system when they turn age 65? Over Medicare's 75-year planning period the difference is tens of trillions of dollars in additional money for private insurers and the health care industry, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

As CBO and many other independent analysts have documented, using private insurers raises rather than lowers costs."

Faith Leaders Slam House GOP Budget As ‘Immoral And Counter To Our Values’

Faith Leaders Slam House GOP Budget As ‘Immoral And Counter To Our Values’: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) unveiled the House GOP’s latest budget proposal this morning, championing it as “an exit ramp from the current mess — and an entry ramp to a better future.” But the proposal, [...]/p

What Paul Ryan’s Budget Means for Women | The Nation

What Paul Ryan’s Budget Means for Women | The Nation
"The latest iteration of Paul Ryan’s budget is out today, and while you might expect it to look very different than the one proposed before he was part of a losing presidential ticket, he seems to have dug in his heels on some of his most extreme proposals, like block granting vital programs, voucherizing Medicare and drastically slashing spending. As with the first rounds of Ryan budgeting, this one would be bad for nearly everyone (except perhaps the wealthy), but it would especially take an enormous toll on the country’s women."

PERRspectives: New Budget, New Name, Same Old Ryan Medicare Rationing

PERRspectives: New Budget, New Name, Same Old Ryan Medicare Rationing
"But over time, traditional Medicare itself would become more expensive, as private insurers shun the sicker, older seniors the federal government would be forced to accept. The result is that more and more Americans would be left to the tender mercies of the private insurance market."

Paul Ryan Keeps Up the Bad Work | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan Keeps Up the Bad Work | Common Dreams
"But forget reality. On Tuesday Paul Ryan will release his latest budget plan, aiming to balance the budget in ten years by making $5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, food assistance for the poor, and other domestic programs--and through his signature plan: Medicare privatization."

How Bad Are Republican Cuts?

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True Aim of Deficit Scare-Mongering: To Gut Social Security and Medicare | Common Dreams

True Aim of Deficit Scare-Mongering: To Gut Social Security and Medicare | Common Dreams
"Attacks on entitlement programs and income supports raise a troubling question. Why are conservatives so intent on cutting them? To be sure, there is the general conservative hostility against government spending, and against those they look down on as “dependent” on the government. Entitlements, however, also place a floor under wages and substantially reduce the pain of unemployment. Pulling this floor out from under American workers would almost certainly cause wages to fall precipitously for most working-class people. A cynic might wonder whether this isn’t, after all, the real goal of conservative deficit hawks and their big-business backers."

Economist Tells GOP Senator: ‘Your Facts Are False’ On Social Security

Economist Tells GOP Senator: ‘Your Facts Are False’ On Social Security: The Social Security trust fund is solvent through 2038, and the program would almost certainly have long-term solvency were it not for the Republican-backed cap on payroll taxes for income above a certain level.

Sequester This! A Story of Sabotage and Theft

Sequester This! A Story of Sabotage and Theft
"The bottom line is the deficit is in sharp decline. The sequester monster has little to do with the deficit or even the debt. And it’s not even really about taxes. That’s a smokescreen. The sequester, and all of the related fiscal “crises,” are really all about sabotaging our government’s ability to function and creating opportunities for private/corporate corruption and pillage."

Why Mississippi’s GOP Governor’s Risky Bet On Medicaid Expansion Could Come Back To Haunt Him

Why Mississippi’s GOP Governor’s Risky Bet On Medicaid Expansion Could Come Back To Haunt Him: Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the nation, is grappling with what to do about its Medicaid program. A deeply red state where the GOP controls both state houses and the governor’s mansion, Mississippi lawmakers are highly skeptical of Obamacare’s optional Medicaid expansion. So, in a last-ditch effort to protect the state’s low-income residents [...]/p

Bush Leaves Mess, Elderly And Poor Clean It Up?

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Has NPR Joined Peter Peterson's Crusade Against Social Security and Medicare? | Common Dreams

Has NPR Joined Peter Peterson's Crusade Against Social Security and Medicare? | Common Dreams
"Peter Peterson, the Wall Street investment banker, has been most visible in this effort, committing over $1 billion of his fortune for this purpose. Recently he enlisted a group of CEOs in his organization, Fix the Debt, which quite explicitly hopes to divert concerns over income inequality into concerns over generational inequality. It argues that programs like Social Security and Medicare, whose direct beneficiaries are disproportionately elderly, are taking resources from the young."

GOP Governor Begs Her Party To Expand Medicaid: ‘The Human Cost Of This Tragedy Can’t Be Calculated’

GOP Governor Begs Her Party To Expand Medicaid: ‘The Human Cost Of This Tragedy Can’t Be Calculated’: Jan Brewer (R), Arizona’s combative GOP governor, stunned political observers and health care reform advocates when she became the third Republican governor to endorse Obamacare’s expansion of the public Medicaid program. That decision is great news for Arizona’s poor and uninsured, as well as for the state’s budget. But it’s been met with fierce resistance [...]/p

Back To The Future With Paul Ryan's Budget Plan

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Cheaper Generic Drugs Help Lower Health Costs, But Big Pharma Works To Keep Prices High

Cheaper Generic Drugs Help Lower Health Costs, But Big Pharma Works To Keep Prices High: A new report by Express Scripts Holding Co. finds that, while the total costs of U.S. drug payments rose slightly last year, 2012 was the first time in two decades that spending on drug treatments for common ailments such as high cholesterol and diabetes declined. That drop is largely due to Americans’ increasing use of [...]/p

Drug Companies Push Expensive, Less Effective Drugs on Consumers

Americans for Prosperity Organizing To Defeat Medicaid Expansion

Americans for Prosperity Organizing To Defeat Medicaid Expansion
"Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded astroturf gang, had a Big Conference Call Monday evening to discuss their Super Seekrit Strategy for defeating the Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania."

#GOPSequester: 98 Percent of What They Wanted

80th Anniversary of Roosevelt and The New Deal

The Average ER Trip Costs 40 Percent More Than What Most Americans Spend On Monthly Rent

The Average ER Trip Costs 40 Percent More Than What Most Americans Spend On Monthly Rent: The rising cost of medical services is driving up the price of health care throughout the industry. There’s perhaps no better illustration of that phenomenon than hospitals’ emergency departments, since ER trips are the most expensive type of health care delivery. In fact, a new NIH-funded study finds the average cost for an ER visit [...]/p

The Federal Government Robbed 19 Million Meals From Senior Citizens | Alternet

The Federal Government Robbed 19 Million Meals From Senior Citizens | Alternet
"Across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to kick in today will eliminate 19 million meals for low-income seniors, according to the Meals on Wheels Association of America. In other words, the federal government’s incompetence will come at the cost of senior citizens nutritional wellbeing."

In A Bucket of Hurt: The Pain Doctors And Gov. Rick Perry

In A Bucket of Hurt: The Pain Doctors And Gov. Rick Perry
"Here’s how the story goes:

There’s two brothers named Kemel and Mark Cereceda who run a pain clinic in Hialeah, Florida.  They wanted to influence legislation to keep their chiropractic pain relief clinic in the business of  making a boatload of money."