Old Leaves: The ACA is Upheld by SCOTUS

For the last decade Americans have had much better access to good medical care than before the ACA. I hope we can soon move further toward full access for all to good health care. I support removing the profit motive from healthcare and making equal access to heath care a right for all rather than a privilege for those who can afford it.

----------------------------------

June 28, 2012

It is a wonderfully historic day in America.

I am proud to support a former Constitutional law professor as President of The United States,

And I am proud to support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (derisively called “Obamacare” by his political enemies). The American people support this act in almost all its parts, though a strong minority oppose it on principle amd a smaller group are confused about it and oppose the Act though they support its parts. A pretty large minority of the bill's opponents feel the bill does not go far enough!

First impression of the Results: 

• it will energize the far right- but they are already pretty well all-out enthusiastic opponents of the President.
• it will also energize the President’s supporters. He has been validated as a Constitutional expert and as a leader. He has accomplished what Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Bill Clinton failed to do. What many of us have had as a major political goal for decades has been accomplished.
• many independents and conservative Democrats will change their opinions as they see the benefits of this act and it has the increased authority of having been tested and having passed Constitutional muster in the Supreme Court.
• the only part of the Act that was found wanting was the Romney/Republican idea of an individual mandate. The Democratic more-straightforward tax idea (which Roberts found in the Act de facto) has been accepted.

My joy is overflowing.  Just imagine:

• Health insurance providers can NOT cancel your policy because you get sick. 
• Kids won’t be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions, NOW.
• Ordinary folks will be no longer be just one catastophic ilness or injury away from bankruptcy.
• Parent’s health insurance policies can cover young folks until age 26, NOW
• Grown-ups won’t be denied health insurance because to a pre-existing condition, as of 2014. 

Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership. You took a lot of grief from your base over your compromises, but I believe you got through a great, but flawed, reform that was probably about the best bill that could have gotten a majority in the Congress. You went for "what you can get" as Edward Kennedy advised you. The reform will be refined and improved over the years.

Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice, for putting, in this instance, right and law ahead of politics. I wish (barring an opportunity for another Breyer, Stevens, Souter, or Ginsberg) you had been on the Court in 2000. I wonder if things would have been different.

Gleaning Facebook: Why We Fight For ObamaCare

A reminder of why we fight for the Affordable Care Act. Shame on those trying to repeal it. It is not perfect, but it has wonderfully improved our system. Let's fix it, improve it, make sure it is affordable for all.

Mother Had the Measles

My mother had measles when she was a baby. She'll be 96 in a few weeks. Her three-year-old brother had measles at the same time. The same measles Mama has survived for nine and a half decades killed her brother before he turned 4. My grandmother kept Leon's little shoes in her cedar chest till the day she died. She had no picture of him. She said his hair was a light brown like Tom and Jack not red like Charlie or Grice. Had Leon survived measles he would likely have been gone like all five of his older brothers by now. If not he would turn 100 this October. Even long life is short from my current perspective.

John Franklin Enders "The Father of Modern Vaccines"

My first cousin Lavay is only ten years younger than his Uncle Leon. He and my high school friends David and Robert were all crippled by polio. I got the vaccine. The polio forced Robert to spend most of his short life in bed and killed him before he turned 20. David has spent his life hobbling around, remarkably well, on crutches. Lavay managed despite a bad limp to walk all his adult life thanks to leg shortening surgeries as a little kid. David and Lavay both are now dealing with greatly reduced mobility due to the horrible effects of post-polio syndrome. I managed to avoid the disease long enough to take the vaccine in the mid-fifties along with all my classmates. And I have been awfully grateful for Dr. Enders and Dr. Salk and their vaccines every time I think of those three contemporaries of mine and little Uncle Leon whom I never got to meet.

Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine

Of course we must keep good records and always work to study the effects of all medicines and seek to improve outcomes. There are no guarantees. Even aspirin has side effects. But in the end I believe we must do what science tells us is most likely to protect our kids. 
Vaccines are in the news again as measles outbreaks occur here and there across the nation. A few cases have cropped up here in Georgia. No other vaccine preventable disease causes as many deaths as measles. Vaccines save many lives.
Give a listen to this man who has a unique perspective; he is a vaccine researcher and also the father of an autistic child ----
Anti-Vaxxers Brought Back the Measles

Gleaning Facebook: When The Political Gets Personal...

 From Sarah Fedchak...

I try to avoid getting political on here, as I believe the best conversations happen in person. But right now, the personal is political. I understand, as our current Congresswoman Elise Stefanik Representative (who voted for the bill) has repeatedly said, there is still a long legislative process ahead. I also understand that there are things in the current health care system that need to be fixed. But I honestly cannot understand the idea that "health care is a privilege, not a right," as I have been hearing over and over again in interviews with members of the House and Senate. Our own Declaration of Independence states that we have the "right to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Is it just the right to life if you are born healthy and have no mishaps along the way?

Friends, my husband almost died because he couldn't get the care and insurance he needed to manage a chronic illness. Not just once, but several times. I watched him starve himself in attempts to reduce his debilitating symptoms so he could continue to work. I saw him go to the hospital every four to six months because of severe anemia due to internal bleeding. We joke that we started dating because I saved his life, but it isn't actually funny. It's true. I've sat the hospital waiting room countless times while he endured hours of surgery, only for there to be complications and the need for another surgery days later. Yes, this happened multiple times.

Want to know a confession? My oldest daughter's middle name is Dare, after her daddy. While it's not unusual for children to carry some part of their parent's name, the reason she does is. When Darrell and I were first talking about our dreams for a family, I had this fear that we would have a child and that Darrell would not live long to watch her grow up. So in my head, I decided that she would be named after him, so he would be a constant presence in her life. Sounds macabre, but on the day we said our wedding vows, Darrell was bleeding internally so much he could hardly stand, In our wedding pictures, he is as white as a ghost. I honestly thought my future would be that of a widow.

It is only by the grace of God, and His provision of hardworking physicians, the compassion of many people who helped us afford to go through this ordeal, and eventually Darrell's ability to get government sponsored health care that he is alive today. But all of this could have been avoided if he had been able to get insurance and afford the medicine that would have kept his symptoms in check. The ACA's provisions protecting pre-existing conditions literally changed everything for us.

Darrell's version of the story is below. I couldn't share his original post, but here it is shared (with some extra notes) by our good friend Mr. Shaw. I am sorry for being overly emotional and writing a book, but this issue is close to my heart. Thanks for reading.

Click the picture to read Darrell's story...

Gleaning Facebook: Medicare for all!

I wrote this simple two sentence post on Facebook and sparked 56 replies. I enjoy these discussions.

Rid Congress of Ryan, Graves, and all Tea Partiers in 2018.

Make it simple: Medicare for all!

Comments:

Tom Barclay I'd go for ridding Congress of EVERYONE and starting over!

Sam Burnham Socialism: ideas so great they have to be mandatory.

Don Henderson There's always that one person who doesn't understand how civilized society works. This isn't the 18th century, in case you didn't notice.

Sam Burnham Our country is based on the idea of Liberty, which has no expiration date, in case you didn't notice.

Don Henderson You have the liberty to not participate in society.

Sam Burnham Not if I'm being forced onto welfare at gun point

That's the essential difference in our stances. I want to leave you free to make choices. You wish to force me to make the same choices you do because your system can't work without violent force.

That's not society. That's tyranny.

Don Henderson If you don't participate, no one is forcing you. Enjoy the 18th century on your own time. Don't force me to move backwards in time.

Sam Burnham No, if I refuse to participate I am fined. If I don't pay, I'm arrested. If I resist, I'm beaten into submission or shot. That's force.

Don Henderson You're free to move to Alaska and disappear. Cell phones and paved roads are too modern anyway.

Sam Burnham Your only argument is "it's 2017" and "modern". You do realize that paved roads and cell phones have nothing to do with socialized medicine or the present year, right?

Don Henderson You do realize your only argument is you hate humanity?

Sam Burnham Umm, no. And you reducing it to that highlights the lack of your own argument

Sam Burnham I'm arguing for the liberty of all people, for the right of them to not be forced into anything by big government, and for not just accepting whatever some progressive politician proposes just because it's 2017.

Laurie Craw Freedom is not just something only government gives or takes away and freedom is never absolute. If there was no government at all, we would not be free. We would be enslaved by a small group of private citizens who control all land, all natural resources, all the tools and means to grow food, build homes, travel,and get medical care,and they would obtain and maintain their power over us with violence. "Big Government" installed by the majority of citizens in free, fair elections is a necessary counterweight to "Big Capitalism" motivated by insatiable greed and unconstrained by morality and ethics in the interest of a common good. In America, we always seek a balance between these two powerful forces that impact our daily lives.

Sam Burnham Big government and big capitalism are two heads of the same monster and if you think for a minute that either of these two heads doesn't benefit from the relationship with the other, you're lying to yourself. Do you want Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, for that matter, would you want Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich in charge of your healthcare?

Laurie Craw No, I don't want Aetna or UnitedHealth in charge either. The only way I can be in charge is if I choose to treat myself with home remedies or accept the consequences of no treatment at all. Otherwise, I have to pay for doctors, drugs and hospitals who set their own prices, take 'em or leave 'em. But if I could choose how I get and pay for modern medical care, I would choose government insurance and private medicine.

Sam Burnham But what if we shaped a system that allowed a more community approach with access to smaller providers rather than huge hospital companies running all the hospitals and all the offices that used to be operated by physicians with private practices?

What if we're in an overmedicated society because big businesses are putting us on whatever medications insurance companies and/or Medicare will pay for because that feeds their bottom line?

Don Henderson If civilized society isn't your thing, that's fine, but don't try to impose your antique philosophy on me.

Raymond Atkins I always find it interesting that in the ongoing argument about healthcare, one of the first of the talking points is always that the government has no business in our personal choices, and I always want to reply, "You're kidding, right?"

Raymond Atkins The government makes us buy mortgage insurance, makes us buy car insurance, makes us pay taxes, makes us educate our children, makes us have our own personal identification number--assigned at birth--to make sure they can keep track of us and see that we are doing as we are supposed to.

Additionally, they make us buy licenses for everything we do, enforce sometimes foolish laws on us whether we agree with them or not, and have the power to enforce all of the above with penalties up to imprisonment.

Sam Burnham And that's way too much for them to be holding over us

Raymond Atkins I think those are all good things, Sam. They are the fabric of our society.

Sam Burnham " our own personal identification number--assigned at birth--to make sure they can keep track of us and see that we are doing as we are supposed to." Is the fabric of our society?

Raymond Atkins So given that we do not live in some sort of utopian fairyland where everyone does just as they wish, a single payer system--in at birth, out when you die--is not some huge leap over that mythological line between government and the people. The precedents have all been set. The ONLY way to rein in our broken medical system in this country is to put the big 3 (Insurance, Pharma, and Medicine) in the position where they no longer call the shots.

Raymond Atkins Incidentally, NO one walks away from a base of 350,000,000 insureds. All we need is some politicians with guts to say no to their corporate masters.

Sam Burnham There is no such thing as a "single payer" system. Everyone will pay. A lot.

Nancy Parrish We already pay a lot; it is just hidden. Nations that are less than we already offer single payer, and most of them receive some sort of help from the U.S. Our people deserve at least that much consideration from their government.

Sam Burnham Then we can become less than we are and be more like them.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham why don't you google the countries that are ranked higher than us in standard of living, healthcare, or ranked best nations to live in and why. You know what we rank first in when comparing nations...military spending, gun ownership and incarceration...

Sam Burnham Gun ownership isn't a problem or negative. We lead in military spending because we're committed to defending all of Europe who spends their money on socialism rather than defense. And I'm not exactly sure how more government is going to lead to less incarceration but it seems to be the answer to everything these days so let's give it a shot.

Howard Smith yeah right, it has has nothing to do with a massive military industrial complex that feeds off of our tax dollars requiring us to spend more on our military than Russia, China, Great Britain, France and a bunch of other countries combined. And, you're right, these social democracies that are ranked above have a higher standard of living, less poverty, less crime, better healthcare, better education, etc, precisely because they invest in their citizens, not in military bases all over the world. You know we have more bases outside our borders than all the rest of the nations of the world put together. And, yes gun ownership IS a problem as we have by far the highest rate of gun related deaths per 100,000 citizens of all the developed nations. And, since it is government that incarcerates either Americans are far worse people than are found in any other developed nation or our criminal justice system has issues. I've read enough on this issue to draw my own conclusions. And, one thing I know for certain, among other concerns, is for profit prisons and probation services aren't good ideas, nor are outrageous prison sentences for minor drug offenses...and, I won't even get into racial bias in sentencing.

Sam Burnham Massive military industrial complex can't do anything that Washington doesn't pay them to do. Perfect example of Big Government & Big Business, the two headed monster. So let's go ahead and feed the monster our healthcare system. The same people buying $750 toilet seats can start buying $1000 Tylenol. And if you think they'll institute reasonable price controls you might want to look at that military industrial complex again.

Sam Burnham

$20 trillion in debt. $20 trillion.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham I realize, like Trump, you are never wrong, but the fact of the matter is government sponsoreed universal healthcare is working pretty well in every, that's every, other developed nation, far better for more for their citizens that our capitalistic private sector healthcare system does for us and less of their GNP goes for healthcare...image that. Medicare, for seniors works pretty goo here, too. Try doing away with it. And, since you mentioned Tylenol, surely you are aware they pay pennies to our dollars for medicine. As for the national debt, a lot of that is, in fact, due to military spending...more than 2 trillion on the Irag War alone, and a fair amount due to Republicans being unwilling to raise taxes in proportion to their spending habits, preferring to let the rich get richer.

Sam Burnham So turn our medical care over to people who can't deny their corporate masters?

Raymond Atkins Nope. Get new people. This batch is ruined.

Raymond Atkins But the problem is not Obamacare or Trumpcare.

Raymond Atkins The problem is egregious corporate profits.

Sam Burnham A new batch will be ruined in a week. They'll have too much power to not be hit by the corporate lobby.

Raymond Atkins The government tells everyone who does business just what they'll pay. The exception is medicine, drugs, and the insurance companies.

Raymond Atkins I think eventually we'll get there, just as most of the First World already has, but it will be a struggle.

Raymond Atkins And, of course, many people will die who might have lived.

Sam Burnham And then we'll all just be slaves of the tyrants

Raymond Atkins Sam Burnham we're already that. The vast majority of the people in this country and in this world are subject to the whims and the agendas of the very few.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham I don't think our neighbors to the North, that enjoy universal healthcare and pay far less for prescription drugs, consider themselves slaves of tyrants.

Sam Burnham No, because they're conditioned to waiting years for non emergency surgeries and crossing their southern border if they need anything serious

Raymond Atkins Sam Burnham That's simply not true.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham. Why don't you just google comparative ratings of how citizens of various countries, including Canadians, view their heath care systems....(hint...America...not near the top).

Sam Burnham Then I guess the lady from Alberta who told me she had to wait two years for her surgery was a liar. I guess that's possible.

Howard Smith No, she was probably not a liar. Do some folks come here...and, lots of Americans go to other countries, too, sure. I have even known folks who have MOVED to Europe because of the cost of health care....met some Americans over there, too, who said they moved there for healthcare. Even had a friend that went to Mexico for a particular procedure because it was so much cheaper and another to Romania for dental care...saved enough to pay for the whole trip. But, I'm not basing my opinion on one or two examples and neither should you. However, if your entire frame of reference is some lady from Alberta, well...enough said. However, again, I would suggest you do a little more homework on the subject. It is a fact that nations with universal health care spend less of their GNP on it, it is a fact that medical care costs less for their citizens and so do prescription medicines, and it is a fact that their citizens have a higher level of satisfaction with their health care systems. When you add all these facts with the one about their citizens living longer...well, you draw your own conclusions. Of course, you can always argue alternative facts. You got me there.

Deanne E Daniell Voters must be reminded many times between now and then what these Republican monsters tried to do!!!!!

Jane Jameson If everyone is willing to pay their share!

Gleaning Facebook: Are You Paying Attention? (The ACA)

This post about the ACA got lots of comments:

If we can share the costs of roads, we can share the costs of health care.

Are you paying attention?

This is all true:

If you're thinking that repeal of the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamcare) doesn't affect you or maybe that it will be better to just start over from scratch, you might want to think about what you--yes, you!--have to lose.

Just a reminder that even if you are "safely" ensconced behind employer-provided insurance, the protections set forth in the ACA apply to you, too--and if those protections are repealed along with the rest (or any part) of the program, you will also be affected.

That means you may be trapped in a job, because your pre-existing condition may mean you will not qualify for new insurance offered by another employer, and the cost of private insurance would be prohibitive. If your employer shuts down, lays you off, or even changes insurers, well, you are out of luck. (The Senate GOP voted this week that they would not require an eventual ACA replacement to protect against discrimination for pre-existing conditions, which was the standard before the ACA.)

It means that you (a young adult under the age of 26) or your adult children (over 18) may find yourselves without the protection of insurance, as the Senate GOP voted the other night that an eventual ACA replacement will not be required to allow young people to remain on their parents' insurance up to the age of 26.

It means that if you have a high-risk pregnancy, or life-threatening illness such as cancer, you may not be able to afford all the care you need, because you may hit lifetime or annual caps. If you have an infant born with any kind of severe medical condition, or premature, they may hit their lifetime insurance cap before they are old enough to walk. The Senate GOP voted last night that an eventual ACA replacement program would not be required to prohibit lifetime insurance caps.

It means that if you are a struggling parent who is un- or underinsured, you will no longer be able to count on at least your kids getting the routine medical and dental care they need under the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). The Senate GOP voted that CHIP is not required to be protected by an eventual ACA replacement.

These provisions of the ACA affect everyone in this country, not just those without insurance through their employers.

If you are not okay with these changes, call your representatives and let them know what's important to you. Nothing has been set in stone yet, but our legislators have shown us a map of what they plan to do if constituents don't make their voices heard loud and clear.

If you want to share this, rather than clicking "share" (which will only make it visible to people we are both Facebook friends with), you are better off copying and pasting the text.

Andi Rouse Beyer
Sorry, we agree on a lot of things but Obamacare/ACA is not one of them.

Terrell Shaw
Sorry to hear that Andi. The ACA is far short of perfection, but it has saved many lives, provided people that I know with healthcare coverage for the first time, and slowed the increasing costs of insurance. Without the extension of Medicaid and a strong enough mandate left some folks with terrible increases, those things need to be fixed.
When it comes to healthcare I am a full-on "socialist", I s'pose, despite my entrepreneurial enthusiasm! I want full national health insurance with health-protection costs shared by We the People just like our military protection costs, police-protection costs, meat-inspection costs, environmental-protection costs, etc.

Dan Ledford
andi why are you against aca give me one good reason that you can prove yourself not just what the right has said? if it said bushcare romenycare regancare would it then be ok ? one last thing alot of folks forget thtis was originally thought up by a famous Republican a Governor of of the state of ma mitt romey and by the way its still in effect in ma to this very day so again what don't you like about the ACA aka obamacare give me a real good reason Remember the real name is affordable care act?

Sam Burnham
I wish it would mean that I could go back to the days when my deductibles weren't so high that I didn't have to pay my premiums AND ALL of my medical bills.

Paula Graves
That isn't Obama's fault. That is the insurance company.

Sam Burnham
Paula Ledbetter Graves nope. Didn't have that problem before Obamacare

Paula Graves
It doesn't matter. Obama doesn't set the prices. That is the insurance company. I've had insurance since the early 1990's and every single year my premiums have increased. Some companies offer plans with higher premiums with lower copays/deductibles or lower premiums with higher copays/deductibles. When the protections that we have from the ACA are repealed, we will all see our premiums go up. Insurance companies in the past were allowed to sell crappy plans with little coverage for an arm and a leg. The ACA did away with that because it established minimum coverages.

Sam Burnham
Oh, yes, I forgot. Nothing has ever been his fault. Even the market reactions to his failed policies. My mistake.

Paula Graves
The ACA is not perfect by any means. I do know people personally who've never had insurance or can afford to take their meds now. I believe that placing blame where it belongs and the pricing stuff isn't Obama's fault. I've never blamed a president for my health insurance rates increasing. It's the for-profit companies that are doing it.
If Trump DOES repeal the ACA and the protections it provides in relation to pre-existing conditions, I will blame him and Congress for that. The cash price for my monthly meds is about $800 and there is no way I can afford that on my own if I was to lose my insurance.
Congress and Trump are so hyped up on "repeal and replace" that they aren't using common sense. Keep the parts that are working and work on improving those that aren't.

Sam Burnham
I'd say that while we are waiting on the details of the replacement it would be reasonable to be patient. Perhaps people will actually read this bill rather than just shoving it through in the dark of night.

Paula Graves
Well that didn't exactly happen either (the dark of night bill passing). Here is the track it took to become a law. I think there were 36 roll call votes taken as well as numerous changes made due to comments from both sides of the aisle, etc. If people didn't read it from 9/17/2009 to when it was signed on 3/23/2010, then they are just making excuses. Everyone was given ample time to read and make comments.
https://www.congress.gov/.../house-bill/3590/all-actions...

Paula Graves
I'm not going to be patient and wait to see what happens. NOW is the time to scream and jump and down to make sure that we are heard. This affects all of us, like Terrell said, so complacency is not an option.

Sam Burnham
Well, I'll hold my jumping up and down for the unlikely event that they don't repeal it.

Paula Graves
It's going to be interesting few months that's for sure. LOL

Terrell Shaw
I could do with a little boredom instead.... 

Joan Ledbetter
I am currently on OC or the ACA; I have a prexisting condition and have used a lot of health insurance in the past (cancer at age 32). We need universal health care. I cannot get insurance otherwise (am an adjunct professor - do not have full-time status) and have likely reached a lifetime cap. Another fact that few people realize: Students can now attend college full-time instead of having to work full-time to get health insurance (until age 26). This helps more young people to get a degree. The ACA needs improvements but we need to keep it (and make it better).

Anne Edwards Langley
Many people think Obamacare and ACA are two different things which is really sad.

Dan Ledford
Annie you are so right by law it does not say obamacare the Republicans starty that so folks would think hey black guy create this it must be bad and alot of folks fell right in line just like the koo aid drinks they are no minds of there own just being lead around like sheep the true name is the affordable care act it never says Obamacare anywhere and you could show the folks in writing wht it say but because the right does not like it cause it does not fit with the folks who line there pockets they are against even if its good they sell there country out for money that's treason they should arrested and tried and lock up

CeCe Baker
The Talking Red Yam and his constituents, and moron voters/supporters, are going to ruin the country for EVERYONE - including themselves.

Juretha Mc Millian
Thank you for speaking for those that can not speak!

Gary Greene
I need the Donut Hole GONE from my medicare $5000 a Year for Insulin. Hopefully I can come up with $1100 (which I still don't have) I can reapply with Eli-Lilly maybe I can get help..

Jim Geist
Take what you like, leave the rest....keep the good stuff, make amendments to make it better.....the GOP is so committed to party over what is best for the people, they have become the enemy of the working people....too bad so many vote against their own self interest.

Paula Graves
I tried to have a conversation with my dad and mother in law about this. Both are on Medicare and Tricare. I asked them what are they going to do when Medicare is done away with and they have to get a policy on the market? Then because of pre-existing conditions, they can't get a policy. What if Tricare decides that they don't want to insure old people any longer? My dad is currently on chemo, on dialysis, is diabetic, and this year struggled with heart issues, so I worry about him. His response to me was "Well at least the lying b**** isn't in office!" At what point do I say, "you'll reap what you've sown?" Is it when he no longer has insurance? When he dies because he can't afford 3x week dialysis and chemo? When he's financially ruined? I'm going to keep fighting for me and my family and him as well even if he doesn't appreciate it now. How can anyone look at what's happening right now and not be scared?

Gary Greene
Trump is going to give us all health care? But no idea how but he is going to do it trust.him?

David Matheny
"Death Panels" were screamed about, starting with Sarah Palin. Yep. The Death Panels are meeting in the U.S. House and Senate right NOW.

Paula Graves
Republicans have had 6 years to come up with a replacement. Every session they complain about it and talk about replacing it. Now Trump has said he wants to repeal and replace simultaneously right after he's sworn in. It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out

Gleaning Facebook: Healthcare For Everyone

 This a basic principle I share with folks like Teddy Roosevelt. We are all mortals and subject to injury and disease. I think we all should help each other keep good health. We are in this together. Just as surely as we all should jointly share the costs of police protection, a national defense, and food safety, we should share the costs of healthcare.

David Jones
If only we had a good plan

Terrell Shaw
You may be surprised to discover that I agree that this plan could be much better. Where we drastically disagree is how to improve it. I want single payer full national insurance. But even as it is, it is a huge reform of the big insurance death panels we had before.

Donald Murdock
Ditto, Terry the Terrible (sorry, couldn't help myself...ya gotta have a Viking warrior moniker). The intent was to put a plan in place that could be tweaked and improved upon based on experience. We aren't very good at taking lessons already learned by nations where, generally speaking, the single payer plan has proven to be the most successful model. Till then, what we have is a big step forward. Cheers.
Murdock the Maniacal

Christie Hufstedler Boyd
I was thrilled to be able to get my daughter insurance for $40.04 a month. Also thrills me that I pay taxes to help other people and for once, it's my own.

Raymond Atkins
This plan should have been single-payer to start with, but the Big 3 (big medicine, big pharmacy, and big insurance) weren't going to have that. So we settled, and then the Congress gutted the compromise plan so that it was only a shadow of what it could have been. Still, 11.5 million people (and me) think what we have is better than the nothing it replaced. Let's look at it as a good start and move forward.

Raymond Atkins
signed Ray the Realist (???)

Raymond Atkins
Terrell Shaw, I'm not happy with my nickname...

Terrell Shaw
Ray the Ribald? Wray the Wreckless? Ray the Righter?

Jenny Sills
I am an Independent. But I agree

Michael J. Burton
Amen

Claudia Kennedy
Ray The Right-minded works for me...Just saying...

Gleaning Facebook: Big Government and Big Business

Lots of "conservative" folk talk about horrible intrusion of government into their lives. I have not experienced a lot of that. Our government, elected by me and my fellow citizens, has, in many instances, enriched my life and my liberties. Of course sometimes I am in the minority and have to accept, temporarily at l;east, government action/inaction with which I strongly disagree.

Our dear friend Laurie Craw posted this comment on a recent thread here. It deserves a reading:

"Instead of talking in abstractions, let's talk about HOW government controls our lives and HOW big business controls our lives, with concrete examples. And I'm talking about how we LIVE our lives, day in, day out. Government, that is, the laws created by our elected representatives in government and enforced by the agencies those representatives also created, tells me I can't do a lot of things but I honestly can't remember wanting to do something the government told me I couldn't do, except get into a national park campground after dark one time. If I were a male and got drafted to fight a war I didn't believe was moral or necessary for national defense, I'd definitely have a problem with "big government" as many young men did in the Vietnam era.

But here's how big corporations (and small businesses) have kept me from doing things I DID want to do. Back in the "old days" before "big government" passed a law or two, I wanted to get a credit card in my own name to establish my credit but the banks said I couldn't because I was a married woman. I also wanted to take a one-month leave from my job when our first child was born, but my employer said I had to return to work as soon as my doctor said I was recovered from childbirth (that is, no longer "sick" under their sick leave policy) or lose my job. My husband and I were evicted from our rental apartment when our baby was born and it was perfectly legal for landlords to refuse to rent to adults with small children. More recently, I wanted to buy our diabetic son some health insurance to help pay for his life-saving insulin and other medicines but NO insurance company would sell him any.

In all these examples from my real life, "big government" stepped in and made laws to enable me to do things I wanted to do, things that were very important to me. So these are my examples. Let's hear examples of how government has prevented you from doing something important to you."

- Laurie Craw

Like many other posts of this sort this one elicited lots of comments. I usually enjoy it when friends like Howard, Sam, Laurie start commenting.

Comments:

Sam Burnham
Edward Snowden's revelations.
TARP
No Child/Common Core
2nd Amendment violations
Income taxes that over half don't pay.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare
Federal courts overturning state laws
War, war, war, war
NAFTA
Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny.
$3.42/gallon
No third or fourth party allowed in debates
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts)
That's a start. I guess I'm an equal opportunity complainer. Washington, not just a single party, is the problem.

Terrell Shaw
Whoops… wuzn't through wit this, how'd it it get posted? Oh well…
All of these that are the result of laws were passed by our representatives, though I would like to see us make the Senate more representative and do away with the Electoral College and the return the filibuster to a real one.
TARP - (a Bush program) 97% repaid and may have saved us from a depression.
NCLB - a bad bipartisan program
Common Core - Mostly Common Sense
2nd Amendment violations - huh? Not a single gun taken from any law-abiding citizen yet
Income taxes that over half don't pay - but those half still pay lots of other taxes, and the folks who are paying are paying a smaller percentage than before 1980 and their percentage of the wealth is greater.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare - has been moderated some, but I agree
Federal courts overturning state laws - Article VI
War, war, war, war - We have made several mistakes here, but we have elected the guys who did it.
NAFTA - a mixed bag but my guys' should not have gone along with this. They did, and at the time so did I. Note this, it doesn't happen often: I wuz wrong. 

Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny. I hope we'll take another stab at closing it soon.
$3.42/gallon - OK I guess some govt taxes are part of this, but we need roads and bridges and such.
No third or fourth party allowed in debates - Is there any govt involvement in organizing debates? Usually news orbs and LWV and other private groups set the rules I think.
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts) - When we had that horribly weak fed under the Articles it was a horrible failure. Madison and Co definitely wanted to replace that with a strong federal govt with plenty of checks and balances within it, and a balance between it and the states.

Sam Burnham
The electoral college is the last stronghold of the old republic. I'm not surprised that it comes under attack from liberals. Granting 5 or 6 states the numerical ability to elect the president of a 50 state republic is probably the least fair thing that could possibly be done with legislation.

Sam Burnham
And the Senate should still be elected by the state legislatures. The founding fathers designed it that way for a reason.

Terrell Shaw
I can see some value in giving small states some special power, but the huge discrepancy b/w Wyoming and California is just too much. It is anti-republican in my book. Not that any change is coming there anytime soon. 

Terrell Shaw
The Great Compromise was a wonderful thing. It allowed our republic to come into existence. But it WAS a compromise and made our republic something less than a true republic, and may have been a very long-term time bomb. When one senator from Wyoming (less people than Cobb County GA) can stifle our entire legislative branch we end up with the disfunction of 2014.

Terrell Shaw
You are in good company with some of the founding fathers (not all) who were very distrustful of the "people" at large. I am a small-r republican to my toes. I always want the broadest franchise and the greatest equality among citizens. I see no advantage in placing a state legislature filter between the people and their senators.

Terrell Shaw
Now, trying to repeal the 17th is bad enough, but if you go after the 19th Amendment, I'm telling Leigha.

Laurie Craw
Sam, judging from your list, I guess I didn't understand your anti-government perspective from the git-go. I thought you felt that government is controlling YOUR life and restricting your freedom in some ways, but apparently you just feel that the federal government (not state?) is involved in too many things in general. That's another debate.

Sam Burnham
Laurie, yes, the Federal government is too big and is involved on things it was never intended to be involved in. Most of it should be abolished.
On the contrary, the House is designed for the people, the Senate for the states. It would be unfair to bring Wyoming (first to pass suffrage) into the Union without giving it equal protection in the Senate.
Now, if you want to take power from ranchers and farmers and redistribute it to incredibly rich people and corporations in places like New York and California, that's the right course to take.

Sam Burnham
And actually, I'm in line with Founding Fathers like Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Sam Adams that were so trustful of the people that they were willing to leave governing power close to them, to maximize their influence over it as opposed to the Hamilton model of placing it in an ivory tower of strong centralized government.

Howard Smith
Fortunately, for all of you our founders wrote a living document, that both endures and adapts, and created a government, based on law, if not always in practice, and that is, if imperfect, still elected by us....for better and worse....and it only demands of us to make it work better in its pursuit of the common good our earnest participation.

Sam Burnham
So long as the creature doesn't evolve into another entirely different organism,

Howard Smith
That is called evolution and we have to adapt to change so, yes, the "organism" will change, too. and WE THE PEOPLE can and do and will create the future if we survive.

Terrell Shaw
Time out: Though I disagree mightily with you, Sam, I appreciate your willingness to use argument rather than vitriol to express yourself. Too many of us on all sides use that famous argument "[Fill in bad guy, bad idea, failed effort, straw man here] _________________ stinks therefore all you say in nonsense." So thanks for the polite debate.
Time in: Although I certainly believe in simple truths that don't change, I realize we live in complicated times, a diverse society, and a crowded planet. IMO Fifty "sovereign" states are not governable in a way that protects liberty, the environment, physical safety (from domestic & foreign dangers), reasonable economic security, etc.
I am glad that the founders realized that the wholly states-controlled govt of the Articles was a failure. We needed a federal govt and it needed power. I'm also glad they wrote in many checks and balances and divided the powers.
And I am glad that as history has progressed the system they wisely instituted for growth and change has allowed us to expand the franchise and make our Republic more responsive to ordinary Americans.
But as we've grown, inequalities that result from the Great Compromise and the Electoral College have become more pronounced. I see no reason for the ranchers and farmers in WY to have fifty times the influence in the Senate of the ranchers and farmers in CA. That's TOO much. In 1789 Rhode Islanders had about a 10 to 1 advantage over Virginians. Still bad. Useless argument, of course, but there it is.

Sam Burnham
And so many before us in other nations across the world have me believing that last "if" is very big. That is why I stay concerned

Sam Burnham
I'm not much for vitriol for vitriol's sake. I even try to find positives in people I disagree with and respect them in that way. This came in handy during this past summer's visit through Plains and Warm Springs.

Reason, argument and truth. As much as I disagree with the President, "Not Obama" is not a political philosophy. You have to know why you are for and against someone. That's why I'll never vote for either of our senators for any seat under any party, ever. I don't agree in practical application of stated belief. I want less talk and more action.
GWB spoke of smaller government and added an entire department to the federal government. Really? Words should equal actions. Too many folks telling me it's raining when I know better.