HealthCare Notes

5/5/19

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Refuses to Sell Out Veteran Health Care | NowThis

Fox News Dumbfounded by Simple Aspect of Bernie's Medicare For All Plan

Bernie Schools Fox News on Medicare For All

'Siding With Big Pharma at Expense of the American People,' Republicans Warn CEOs Not to Cooperate With Drug Price Probe

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/09/siding-big-pharma-expense-american-people-republicans-warn-ceos-not-cooperate-drug?fbclid=IwAR1uZVgoOaXeLXse_TF2To3rdpMHksLCp_3HcHrkhCW8Q3f98pwOnEpE1Qw
"As Democrats on the House Oversight Committee attempt to investigate soaring drug prices in the U.S., Republicans are warning the CEOs of some of America's largest pharmaceutical companies against cooperating with the probe."

Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows warn Big Pharma execs not to cooperate with drug-price probe

https://www.salon.com/2019/04/10/jim-jordan-mark-meadows-warn-big-pharma-execs-not-to-cooperate-with-drug-price-probe/?fbclid=IwAR1kFbDUXpA6LWWv_NvQZr3EV5jn5jrwtLMdQUHgNq0Xz0z-NblcVJkttjU
"Two prominent Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus warned pharmaceutical companies not to cooperate with a House probe into their drug pricing."

Republicans Beg Drug Company CEOs To NOT Cooperate With Investigations

GOP Reps Suck Up To Big Pharma, Warn CEOs Not To Cooperate With Investigation

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/04/gop-telling-drug-companies-not-cooperate?fbclid=IwAR0yY76GT_Ci3Pl3zQoX0z65ahmJKC0xKWcrmBnZETa8vO9BwUvwvoBNmjE
"Republicans Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan from the House Oversight Committee sent letters to CEOs to drug companies encouraging them to not cooperate with any investigations being conducted by the Democratic led committee. They warned them that any information they provided "could be leaked to the public" and stated that this could affect stock prices. The letters alleged that the Democrats may be trying to "collect the information in order to bring down the industry’s stock prices." Wow. That is quite the threat. So what is this investigation about? The House Oversight Committee is looking into how the industry sets prescription drug prices. That is it. No industry secrets."

Republicans To Big Pharma: DON'T Comply With Congress

Woman Destroys Chuck Grassley At Town Hall

3/5/19

Medicare for All Will Drastically Lower Prescription Drug Prices by Taking on Pharma’s Greed

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/01/medicare-all-will-drastically-lower-prescription-drug-prices-taking-pharmas-greed?fbclid=IwAR1EyDzuDQIBW1Riu9EWMOU-xW3z9OG3EM_ZpJFTsH9cCNdADcijMNzkUoY
"The Medicare for All Act includes a key provision, modeled after the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act, which would lower drug prices for all Americans by allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices with corporations. And if a corporation refused to lower the price and threatened patients’ access to the medication, generic competition would be allowed using a competitive license."

11/6/18

Reminder: Republicans Want to Take Your Health Care

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republican-health-care-plan-750976/?fbclid=IwAR3H_vaeua43oU84lWQqhPoXdi-E09qnEBzob8dCFoq2GWIzW6o4ytZ2ns8
"Despite what they may claim in the final days before the midterms, Trump and the GOP are doing all they can to strip protections for pre-existing conditions"

GOP author of the amendment that pushed Trumpcare through the House faces the music

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/31/1808848/-GOP-author-of-the-amendment-that-pushed-Trumpcare-through-the-House-faces-the-music?fbclid=IwAR1OFc_1YLBo31ebSwbNXMd-rKmITMTmBYaaMI51FBJdGYyS11ks6QUd3JU
"Rep. Tom MacArthur was the only New Jersey Republican in the House to vote for both Trumpcare and the tax bill. For those reasons, he is in a very tight race right now against Democrat Andy Kim. That made a recent telephone town hall he did with 1,200 AARP members challenging for him."

Pre-existing positions come back to haunt key Republican candidates

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/pre-existing-positions-come-back-haunt-key-republican-candidates?fbclid=IwAR3OgMjavyo9cNwAMhyhETL6XsnMHQeap5-Z723_vHfibWzOYjUvyuELnYI
"Obviously, it’s an election season, and it’s to be expected that assorted politicians are going to engage in spin, exaggerations, and hyperbole. But McSally’s claims are more offensive than the usual campaign palaver. For one thing, there is no “fight” to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions. That fight ended when Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act – which McSally voted to repeal and replace with legislation that would’ve gutted those safeguards."

11/5/18

Republicans Are Still Rewriting History On Pre-Existing Conditions

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mcsally-republican-pre-existing-conditions_us_5bc62785e4b055bc947ade8a?fbclid=IwAR1ZSVl6LRj4Xr0zpAAjb_anh7KDaOVwPmu6PkDYgCibDY3fqjxknJOV7yI
"Now it’s Senate candidate Martha McSally telling whoppers about her record on health care."

Editorial: No, Republicans are not the party of pre-existing condition protection. Never have been.

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-no-republicans-are-not-the-party-of-pre-existing/article_b6622234-f1b3-5bdf-8f4f-7a3441270567.html?fbclid=IwAR0OPd49kXly8x3yJg61Y1H3NrHS8jPdVWuwk55xnQtbwZivaor7rFjlyGM
"With Election Day looming, Republicans around the country, at every ballot level, are engaged in a party-wide effort to pull the proverbial wool over voters’ eyes on health care. It’s best summed up in a recent tweet from President Donald Trump, which is, even by his mendacious standards, astonishing: “Republicans will totally protect people with Pre-Existing Conditions, Democrats will not!” This isn’t just an attempt by Republicans to jump on a popular train; it’s an attempt to jump on a train they have been trying to derail for years, and will finally dynamite if they maintain control of Congress."

'If You Vote Against Health Care, I Vote Against You.'

On health care, some Republicans ‘are stealing Obama’s rhetoric’

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/health-care-some-republicans-are-stealing-obamas-rhetoric?fbclid=IwAR0TVXfqzZHR1GnTgM5qfiZxCVlTwzmTYulDgDPmAr-teODqObNOEX8NlTM
"On health care, however, the GOP is lying about the details and the broader sentiment behind them. The party is, for all intents and purposes, pretending to be Democrats, despite everything they said and did up until a few months ago. The fact that Republicans are parroting Obama’s rhetoric from a decade ago is extraordinary, but the fact that they expect voters to believe it is laughable."

Believe Republicans When They Say They’re Coming After Your Health Care

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-health-care-obamacare-medicare-medicaid_us_5bd72b78e4b055bc948eb3d9?fbclid=IwAR2uPTYrkTOZzlTRJmZHzSb3sTKGzg2ZdKN4coofLkCYO0oglALg5FjZQE8
"It’s not just the lies about pre-existing conditions. The GOP still wants to go after Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare."

GOP Hypocrisy On Obamacare

Minnesota GOP Senate Candidate Says People With Pre-Existing Conditions Are ‘Wealthier’

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/karin-housley-pre-existing-conditions_us_5bd8e577e4b01abe6a192135?fbclid=IwAR3u1M0Ck6LObsNtA3cNdom2WQT3_b6ZmN0Nw7n8cvCsAP0kA-3rpybDF-E
"Housley’s claim that she supports coverage for people with pre-existing conditions is dubious."

10/26/18

GOP Lies About Pre-Existing Conditions May Have Reached Peak Absurdity

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-tweet-pre-existing-conditions-gop_us_5bd0a4f9e4b0a8f17ef35bab?fbclid=IwAR3Yb_kuMdCGvI5xzLFf3HeYVRAJM9SXPt_KVPM1mE51dvexh3OeB3T6r5w
"Republicans are desperate to fool the public about what they did ― and would still do."

Republicans Are Now Running as the Defenders of Healthcare—While Simultaneously Trying to Gut It

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23835562/republicans-health-care-preexisting-conditions-donald-trump/?fbclid=IwAR22vtfbmnO8moh7Na84lB5seue_6prH0OgzJH18cF4ZkgTJ2K74dEECOjQ
"it was never about the debt or the deficit, was it. There are no Tea Party Patriots holding rallies on the National Mall now that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that debt will rise to 96 percent of GDP by 2028. (Tea Party organizer Tim Chapman told The New York Times Tuesday that "the Tea Party wave of 2010 was animated by federal spending, but that has definitely subsided." Strange! Perhaps it has something to do with changes to The Presidential Complexion.) As others are increasingly saying outright, the plan was always to slash taxes on the wealthy, then cite the resulting budget shortfalls as a reason to cut "entitlement" programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on the basis they constituted out-of-control spending. There are a lot of things to change in this country. One is that we ought to call Medicare and Social Security what they actually are: earned benefits that recipients have been paying into their whole lives. We ought to call Medicaid part of the social safety net that any humane society with the means provides. And we ought to find a new way to categorize what Republicans are doing right now when they cast themselves as The Real Defenders of Healthcare. "False" is no longer sufficient. "Flip-flop" is useless. Hypocrisy is drowning in a tsunami of shamelessness, and threatening to take us all under if we don't keep fighting the swirling current."

Republicans try to rewrite history and paint themselves as the real defenders of Medicare

https://thinkprogress.org/ahead-of-midterms-republicans-suddenly-pretend-they-havent-opposed-medicare-for-decades-d4026a87c684/?fbclid=IwAR3ENkgAy2B6H2b_vUKqgcOL3Glg_Mp534HJj2J1PBoxNuZi8dgqNAHl4AE
"Once a upon a time, conservatives cautioned against the creation of a government-run health insurance program for people over 65, calling Medicare “socialized medicine.” But now — in campaign ads and speeches — Republicans across the country are positioning themselves as the real defenders of Medicare. The new posturing helps conservatives claim they’re the ones preserving the status quo. Nevermind Republican lawmakers’ long quest to privatize Medicare."

McConnell sets his sights on Medicare and Social Security, saying the debt is ‘very disturbing’

https://thinkprogress.org/mcconnell-tax-cuts-budget-deficit-debt-very-disturbing-f7d976976996/?fbclid=IwAR3zeizmi8HvHZU6idQePx__34xyq07o2aVcB7kCWSwvGYjTF2CG1i7bhxk
"The same lawmakers who exploded the federal deficit by gifting millionaires and billionaires a favorable corporate tax bill are now telling the public that the way to fix the deficit is to shred the social safety net."

10/4/18

Trump pick to run Social Security allegedly impersonated police officer to avoid trespassing charge

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-pick-social-security-allegedly-impersonated-police-officer-666aa57d9212/
"Like other Trump nominees, Saul has no background in the field he was chosen to lead."

Republican Senate hopeful Martha McSally lies about her pre-existing condition record

https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-senate-martha-mcsally-lies-pre-existing-conditions-71d974ab3df9/
"Rep. Martha McSally (R), her party’s nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, was a staunch supporter of the Trumpcare legislation to repeal Obamacare, literally telling her Republican House colleagues that they needed to get the “f**king thing” done. Now that she is under fire for her vote for the wildly unpopular legislation, she is simply lying to her constituents and pretending that the bill would not have eliminated insurance protections for the more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing medical conditions."

10/3/18

In Destroying Social Security, GOP Has No Plans for Elderly Americans

https://truthout.org/articles/in-destroying-social-security-gop-has-no-plans-for-elderly-americans/
"For decades, congressional Republicans have been rigorously supported by Republican presidents like George W. Bush and Donald Trump in vain attempts to steal the trillions from the “lock-box” of the self-sustaining Social Security Trust Fund. In 2017, it stood at $2.9 trillion, an astronomical sum that could easily cover those tax-cut bills today."

GOP congressman lies to his constituents about his vote for Obamacare repeal

https://thinkprogress.org/gop-iowa-congressman-david-young-pretends-he-stood-up-to-party-pre-existing-conditions-95f66a6ac579/
"Rep. David Young (R-IA) voted for TrumpCare but hopes his constituents won't notice."