HealthCare Notes

12/19/16

Texas Cuts $350 Million From Medicaid, Disabled Children Hit Hardest

Trump Considers FDA Chief Who Says People Should Use Medicines “At Their Own Risk”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-considers-fda-chief-who-says-people-should-use-medicines-ldquo-at-their-own-risk-rdquo/
"President-elect Donald Trump is weighing naming as Food and Drug Administration commissioner a staunch libertarian who has called for eliminating the agency’s mandate to determine whether new medicines are effective before approving them for sale. “Let people start using them, at their own risk,” the candidate, Jim O’Neill, said in a 2014 speech to a biotech group. O’Neill, has also called for paying organ donors and setting up libertarian societies at sea—and has said he was surprised to discover that FDA regulators actually enjoy science and like working to fight disease. A source close to the Trump transition team told STAT that Peter Thiel, the billionaire Trump donor who is helping shape the new administration, is pushing for the FDA appointment for O’Neill, his managing director at Mithril Capital Management. Trump’s focus on O’Neill was first reported Wednesday morning by Bloomberg. O’Neill would be an unusual choice. He is not a physician, and lacks the strong science background that nearly all former commissioners have had in recent years."

12/13/16

Senator Elizabeth Warren at a hearing on the financial abuse of older Americans

After Darkness Fell, Republicans Unveiled Their Sinister Plan To Dismantle Social Security

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/09/darkness-fell-republicans-unveiled-sinister-plan-dismantle-social-security.html
"There is a reason why this bill was put forward on Thursday night, instead of in the light of day. Republicans are trying to stealthily gut Social Security. They are hoping that the American people won’t notice that the program has been hollowed out until it is too late. The Republican course of action is both sinister and dishonest. If Trump and the Republican Congressional majority want to cut Social Security, they should look the American people in the eyes and own it. Republicans in Congress are setting themselves up to dismantle Social Security, and they are hoping that the American people will be too distracted by Trump’s Twitter account to catch on. Social Security will only be saved if the public is informed and ready to fight."

Republicans Block Attempt To Lower Drug Prices In U.S.

The Obamacare Economy: More Jobs (+15M), Rising Middle Class Incomes (+$3K), Lower Deficit (-2/3rds)

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/8/1564305/-The-Obamacare-Economy-More-Jobs-15M-Rising-Middle-Class-Incomes-3K-Lower-Deficit-2-3rds
"The Republican Repeal Plan would deliver a massive tax cut to the wealthy at the expense of workers and small businesses, who would lose access to valuable tax credits that help make coverage affordable. All told, the Republican Repeal Plan would cause nearly 30 million people to lose their health coverage by 2019, and it would leave states, cities, and counties with a huge new bill for uncompensated care. Of course, the Republican assault on Obamacare also threatens to eliminate basic protections against insurance company abuses, reopen the Medicare donut hole, and shorten the life of the Medicare trust fund. Each and every one of those points should be highlighted in the weeks ahead."

How Repealing Obamacare Will Make The Rich Richer

12/11/16

Congress Introduces Legislation To Destroy Social Security | Crooks and Liars

Congress Introduces Legislation To Destroy Social Security | Crooks and Liars
"Billionaires like the ones in Trump's cabinet will rejoice, however, because they'll get a nice big fat tax cut as their reward for pushing these cuts."

12/7/16

Big Pharma Is Getting Ready to Celebrate Gluttony at the Expense of Health

Big Pharma Is Getting Ready to Celebrate Gluttony at the Expense of Health:
"So the lobbyists -- and the campaign cash flowing like milk to the coffers of congressional members and senators -- yielded exorbitant profits for the pharmaceutical industry. Now, they are back (not that they ever really went away) to push another bill that will enrich their bottom line while increasing consumer prices."

"Millions Of Americans Have Been Sucker-Punched. They Just Don't Know It Yet."

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/2/1606333/--Millions-Of-Americans-Have-Been-Sucker-Punched-They-Just-Don-t-Know-It-Yet
"One fact that got lost in this Presidential campaign was that the number of people uninsured in this country has plummeted over the past two years, solely because of Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” Approximately 13 million formerly uninsured were instead receiving health care coverage. Among those, about 8 million were whites without college degrees, who voted for the Orange Swindler by a ratio of two-to-one. Just doing the math (I know, math is very fact-based), Krugman points out: [W]e’re probably looking at more than five million Trump supporters, many of whom have chronic health problems and recently got health insurance for the first time, who just voted to make their lives nastier, more brutish, and shorter."

Kentuckians Fear Loss Of Obamacare Coverage

12/5/16

Privatization of Medicare and Social Security on the Trump Agenda

Democratic Senators Bust GOP Scheme To Secretly Confirm Social Security Privatizer

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/01/democratic-senators-bust-gop-scheme-secretly-confirm-social-security-privatizer.html
"Republicans are trying to jam through a confirmation to the Board of Trustees who if his positions were publicly known would spark backlash and outrage."

Mike Pence Giddy Over The Thought Of Taking Away Your Health Insurance

Democrats Drop A Bombshell Report That Exposes Trump’s Planned Devious War On Seniors

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/05/democrats-drop-bombshell-report-exposes-trump.html
"What it looks like the Trump administration is planning for is a destruction of the social safety net while handing massive tax cuts to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations."

Medicare is a battle for survival

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/4/1600918/-Medicare-is-a-battle-for-survival
"Republicans have been trying to destroy Medicare for 50 years"

Warning: This Trump Hire Is Hazardous to Your Health (And Not Just Your Medicare) @alternet

Warning: This Trump Hire Is Hazardous to Your Health (And Not Just Your Medicare) @alternet:
"Donald Trump’s latest cabinet pick endangers the health and well-being of millions of Americans. From tax cuts to surgeons’ income, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia — Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services — has repeatedly fought for the wealthy and privileged at the expense of ordinary Americans. As a trained physician, Price is supposedly bound by the Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.” Unfortunately, he’ll soon be in a position to do a great deal of harm — and his widely publicized desire to gut Medicare is only part of the problem."

Obamacare and prochoice policies help reduce abortion rate to pre-Roe levels; lowest in 45 years

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/5/1607432/-Obamacare-and-prochoice-policies-help-reduce-abortion-rate-to-pre-Roe-levels-lowest-in-45-years
"Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that abortion rates in the United States in 2013 were the lowest recorded since 1971, a full two years before Roe v. Wade established a woman’s right to choose."

Republicans Just Realized They Have No Idea How To Govern

12/4/16

Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Hinges on American Stupidity. Prove Him Wrong.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a51081/paul-ryan-medicare/
"You may recall that C-Plus Augustus—having been re-elected by a margin of 35 electoral votes in 2004, and I didn't remember that it had been that close—decided that he had accrued enough "political capital" to monkey around with Social Security. That attempt got body-slammed and its defeat started the downward spiral of his approval ratings from which he never recovered fully. This same thing should happen as regards any attempt by Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin, to enact his golden dream of demolishing safety-net programs that he believes make old people with Medicare less "free" than old people who slowly waste away in darkened apartments. His idea is to set up a program with criminally inadequate vouchers, slap the name "Medicare" on it, and hope that people are as stupid as he thinks they are. There is every indication that HHS nominee Rep. Tom Price is more than willing to play Johnny Hooker to Ryan's Henry Gondorff."

12/3/16

Pay more and get less: The Ryan plan to privatize Medicare

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/27/1602925/-Pay-more-and-get-less-The-Ryan-plan-to-privatize-Medicare
"It’s another “privatize the profit, socialize the risk” scheme. You will be told: There’s a crisis We have to do something There will be more choice We need to be “patient centered” Our solution is better, stronger, faster The market will produce savings through private sector “magic” and efficiency Don’t buy it. You will pay more and you will get less. This is the only “magic.” And if we sell off Medicare, we will never get it back."

Meet The Man Who Will Kill Obamacare