Instead of letting Lindsey Graham prattle on and on about the “sleazy” deals that were made to provide affordable health care for tens of millions of people or very seriously complain about how the legislative process is a “joke,” I would much rather someone ask the good Senator from South Carolina what he meant by Read More
Adam Serwer on liberal discontent over the state of healthcare reform: I think this is basically right. For all the havoc Joe Lieberman has caused, it’s worth remembering that an ideal bill for liberals, with a robust public option, was always a longshot even with his participation. A couple months ago, Latoya Peterson and I Read More
It’s official — the public option has finally been put to rest, and in it’s place are a set of measures which arguably are a much — much — better deal. Here’s Talking Points Memo with the details: As has been widely reported, one of the trade-offs will be to extend a version of the Read More
by Kiana, x-posted from ProperTalks. It’s been three years since my father’s mother, my Nana, died after a lengthy battle with AIDS. It’s been a year since I decided to write openly about it here for Worlds AIDS Day. And it’s been about three hours since I first attempted this post and allowed myself to go to that Read More
Happy Monday, everyone! I’m here to take care of you all this week, since Blackink is on his way down to Louisiana. And speaking of Louisiana, here’s James Perry, NOLA mayoral candidate, in a recent campaign ad. It seems things are a little different down south. And by the way, if you’re looking for links Read More
The problem with the new guidelines from the United States Preventative Services Task Force recommending only biannual mammograms for most women once they reach age 50, rather than annual ones for all women over 40, is that we all believe doctors should perform test after endless test and that, if they do, they can always Read More
From Leigh: 1% of Americans are millionaires, compared to 44% of Congress (237 elected officials, to be exact). The median income in the Senate is just under $2M, in the House it’s just over $600k. Median household income in the US is $50,303. Just because an individual is rich does not preclude them from pursuing Read More
Was the amendment restricting insurers that get federal dollars from paying for abortions a necessary evil to get health reform passed? Probably. It’s a heartbreaking setback, and, as Emily Bazelon points out in Double X, this only hurts poor women. Just to keep things in perspective, though, women without health insurance don’t have abortions paid Read More
I predicted this story a few months ago; a grudging acknowledgment that President Barack Obama’s hands-off approach on health care might have been the right one after all. It’s not that I necessarily think it’s better that Obama let Congress hash out the health care plan and then let the town hall hysteria boil and Read More
A new poll shows that a majority of the public supports a public option, and it’s time for lawmakers to listen. When Senators like Charles Grassley and Orrin Hatch inveigh against a government-provided insurance option, we all know on whose behalf they’re speaking. But the problem is some of their constituents believe the nonsense about Read More
