Category: Healthcare
[C-L]Obama Introduces a New Universal Health Care Plan
2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama introduced a health care plan that “would provide every citizen a means for coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.” According to Obama, the implementation of his plan would provide health care to all people and save each consumer an average of $2,500 a year. The estimated cost of the program is anywhere from $50 billion to $65 billion and would be made possible by eliminating the tax cuts for the wealthy that were executed by President Bush.
“We have reached a point in this country where the rising costs of health care has put too many families and businesses on a collision course with financial ruin and left too many with no coverage at all,” Obama said. “This cost crisis is trapping us in a vicious cycle.”
Obama’s plan retains the private insurance system but injects additional money to pay for expanding coverage. It would also create a National Health Insurance Exchange to monitor insurance companies in offering the coverage.
Those who can’t afford coverage would get a subsidy on a sliding scale depending on their income, and virtually all businesses would have to share in the cost of coverage for their workers. The plan is similar to the one covering members of Congress.
Obama’s package would prohibit insurance companies from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
“My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is that the amount of money you will spend on premiums will be less,” Obama said. “If you are one of 45 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, you will after this plan becomes law.”
Posted by kate at 11:43 AM on 05/29/07. Discuss (3)
[Analysis] Abortion Still Legal in Mississippi--No Kidding
Charlie Mitchell of The Vicksburg Post explains to Mississippians that abortion is still legal in Mississippi even after the Legislature spent so much time supposedly outlawing it. Surely to goodness people knew this was just a political stunt, right? It’s not like we have other important issues they need to be dealing with, like the state of foster care or mistreatment of kids in training schools they should be spending their taxpayer-funded time on.
Sigh.
Posted by ladd at 06:18 PM on 04/05/07. Discuss (3)
[Analysis] Abortion Bills Motivated by Politics?
The Associated Press is analyzing last week’s abortion bills by quoting Sen. Gloria Williamson saying that it was all about getting votes in an election year.
When the Mississippi House debated a bill to ban most abortions in the state, 16 of the 121 members eventually voted no, but none of them stood up to argue against the plan. Some lawmakers say it was no coincidence that the contentious issue came up for debate just a week before candidates’ qualifying deadline for this year’s elections.
“I think this was done in a political year for political reasons,” Sen. Gloria Williamson, D-Philadelphia, said the day after the bill passed the House. Thursday is the final day for candidates to file qualifying papers for a host of offices in Mississippi, from governor to county supervisor.
Posted by ladd at 06:17 PM on 02/26/07. Discuss (0)
[News] Doctor: Low Cig Tax ‘Subsidized Stupidity’
Today at a rally in the Capitol, a doctor lit into?pardon the pun?Mississippi’s low cigarette tax level. The halcyon days of undying devotion between Barbour and the state’s doctors may be over. The Associated Press reports:
Keeping cigarette taxes low is “subsidized stupidity” that hurts Mississippi, the immediate past president of the American Medical Association said Wednesday.
“The public health implications of this are just horrendous,” Dr. Ed Hill of Tupelo said during a rally at the state Capitol.
Posted by ladd at 01:34 PM on 01/24/07. Discuss (3)
[Release] Justice Diaz, Experts to Testify for Juvy-Justice Report Act
Verbatim statement:
What: Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, Psychologist Dr. Criss Lott, and attorneys Jim Waide and Robert B. McDuff will testify before the House Juvenile Justice Committee in support of House Bill 727, the Juvenile Transfer Reform Act.
When: Thursday, January 18 2007 at 8:00 am.
Where: Mississippi State Capitol, Room 204
Why: Prominent legal and adolescent behavioral experts will explain both the social science research supporting House Bill 727, the Juvenile Transfer Reform Act and the legal implications of the bill, authored by Chairman George Flaggs, Jr. House Bill 727 ensures that the adult criminal justice system accommodates the special needs of children and allows some children who have been successfully rehabilitated a second chance at life.
For more information: Please contact Chairman George Flaggs: 601-942-0492
Posted by ladd at 11:53 AM on 01/17/07. Discuss (2)
[Desk] Mississippi GOP ‘Liberal’-Baits Sen. Gloria Williamson
It seemed to really tick off the state GOP when a Democratic senator made the political statement that voters need to elect a “genuine Democrat” to take back the seat of state Sen. James Shannon Walley who just defected from the Dems to the GOP for the upcoming election. She stated in a Democratic press release:
?This district is made up of hard-working people who support Democratic issues such as strong public schools, a higher minimum wage, strong health care, lower grocery taxes and Medicaid,? Williamson said. ?A Democrat will win this seat on these issues.?
In a snarky press release posted on their Web site, the GOP ripped at the senator from Neshoba County for daring to say the g-word:
Senator Gloria Williamson, the chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Party Caucus, recently boasted that Democrats will re-take the seat of Sen. James Shannon Walley, qualified for re-election as a Republican. “A Democrat will win this seat...,” said Williamson. In that statement Keelan Sanders, Executive Director of the Mississippi Democratic Party, echoed Williamson: “The voters will elect a genuine Democrat.”
What does the Mississippi Democratic Party consider a “genuine Democrat?” Further more, does Mississippi really need more of them? Let’s look at Gloria Williamson:
Posted by ladd at 11:38 AM on 01/17/07. Discuss (0)
[News] Restaurant Association Will Support Statewide Smoking Ban … of a Fashion
The Clarion-Ledger is reporting:
The Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association says it will support a bill for a statewide smoking ban, in part, because it would allow smoking in age-restricted bars with closed-off areas. It also would prohibit new municipal bans, helping give all restaurants a level playing field. Given the current national trend ? which has communities adopting more and more anti-smoking measures ? the head of the association said it is better to look at a statewide bill now than deal with dozens of municipal bans. ?Given the current political climate, it?s in our best interest to look at a state ban,? said Mike Cashion, the association?s executive director. [...]
The smoking ban bill would amount to a compromise in which virtually every restaurant would be smoke free, but would have the option of closing off bar areas where customers could light up, Cashion said. [...]
The legislation also says that if a restaurant owner is following the law, he or she cannot be held responsible if a customer lights up in a smoke-free area.
Posted by ladd at 06:37 PM on 01/15/07. Discuss (3)
[Desk] House Approves Wind Pool Funds, State Pay Increase, Partnership Bill
by Adam Lynch
Jan. 10, 2007
The Mississippi House approved three different bills Thursday, two of them leftovers that were stalled by a largely Republican minority last week that would not vote to change the rules to allow an early vote. HB 243 and HB 240 were the holdovers that passed the House after a second round of floor negotiations. HB 243 provides state funds to wind pool to reduce premium rates on commercial property, while 240 provides a pay increase for state employees. HB 240 passed with a unanimous vote while 243 passed with a lone holdout from Republican Dannie Reed, of Ackerman.
The House also passed HB 349, a bill that creates a program to replace the now unfunded Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi. The Bill collected 101 yes votes, with 18 mostly Republican nays, though the bill initially looked doomed by dissenting votes from black legislators. Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, led arguments that the board of the fledgling tobacco-cessation program did not adequately represent minorities?who statistically engage in heavy use of tobacco products. Scott was one of the Democratic votes against 349.
All three bills will now face the Senate.
Posted by ladd at 11:11 AM on 01/11/07. Discuss (0)
[Analysis] Legislative Round-up, Week 1
Here’s Adam Lynch’s take on Week 1 in the JFP:
Rep. Bill Denny, R-Jackson, called the bill onslaught a ?political action,? by House Democratic leaders to characterize Republicans as unsympathetic to Mississippi Adequate Education Program and state employees.
?What leaders have done is cut off one-half of that membership,? Denny said. ?In my 20 years of working in the House, we always had a reasonable situation in the House where we could disagree in a manner that would get something done. But (House Speaker) Billy (McCoy) putting forward those bills without letting us review them, the idea of him doing these kinds of things doesn?t serve the public at all. I can?t imagine that he wouldn?t have considered that a rule suspension?wouldn?t have happened.?
Posted by ladd at 03:43 PM on 01/10/07. Discuss (2)
[News] Lawmaker Says State Trauma System Underfunded
From the Clarion-Ledger:
The state’s trauma-care system, designed to get victims of traumatic injuries to the right hospital as quickly as possible to minimize death and disabilities, needs major funding, a key lawmaker says.
“I’m concerned that many trauma patients are being immediately shifted to the University Medical Center ... When they are appropriately Level 2 or Level 3, it could be handled at hospitals outside (UMC),” said Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee. “The program is significantly underfunded.”
http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070108
Posted by admin at 09:59 AM on 01/08/07. Discuss (1)
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