Healthcare reform for the elderly

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 23, 2009 · 6:05 PM PDT

2009/06/23 · 18:05

With all the talk about healthcare reform, I just wanted to write a diary about how healthcare reform would affect seniors. This is NOT a diary that discusses the public option.

First, there are many angles that I could go with this diary. I'm just going to touch on a few topics:

1.) Access to Medicare for 55 year olds and above
2.) Living Wills and Advanced Directives
3.) Long-term care
4.) Changes to Medicare

Second, let me explain my methodology in this diary. I did not rely on media reports for the information contained below. I simply went to the websites of certain Senators on the HELP and Finance committees and looked through their press releases to find out what legislation they've introduced. It's amazing what treasure troves one can find when one does this. I wish members of the media would do the same thing once in a while. The mainstream media simply isn't that informative on this issue.

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 20, 2009 · 3:08 PM PDT

2009/05/20 · 15:08

Senators Coburn (R-OK) and Burr (R-NC) along with Congressmen Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA)introduced the Republican's version of a healthcare reform plan called The Patient's Choice Act of 2009. I actually looked at the plan to see what type of ideas they were considering and found some amazing similarities to the Wyden-Bennett plan first introduced in the last Congressional term. Sam Stein provided a 14 page summary of the plan at the Huffington Post and in this diary I will refer to the pages of that summary from his post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 18, 2009 · 2:06 PM PDT

2009/05/18 · 14:06

Just wanted to give people a heads up that the Senate Finance Committee released its report on how to pay for healthcare reform today. Here's the link:

http://finance.senate.gov/...

Among the options proposed, the Senate Finance Committee suggests reducing Medicare benefits, taxing employee health care benefits, eliminating flexible spending accounts and taxing soda etc.

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 14, 2009 · 7:32 PM PDT

2009/05/14 · 19:32

Good evening. This is going to be a short diary on the outcome of the secret Senate Finance Committee on healthcare reform today.

The Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown reports that the committee members agreed to the following:

There will be an individual mandate which the Senate Finance committee now calls a "shared responsibility."

There will be an exchange where consumers can shop for different private health insurance plans. This concept is similiar to Massachusetts' connector plan.

http://www.politico.com/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday May 02, 2009 · 10:07 AM PDT

2009/05/02 · 10:07

With the latest news of Ben Nelson's stated opposition to the public option and willingness to form a centrist group that would oppose the inclusion of the public option to the healthcare reform bill, my eyes have finally opened as to how this so called healthcare reform debate is going to be nothing but kabuki theater.

I have been following the healthcare reform debate very closely. I have consistently read Ezra Klein and Jon Cohn blogs, along with Politico, the Hill and mainstream media to find out the latest happenings in the formation of this healthcare bill. I have watched the healthcare reform townhalls and committee hearings. After the announcement of Ben Nelson's decision not to support the public option, I feel like such a fool for wasting my time following the latest healthcare reform developments.

In my humble opinion, these centrist Democrats starting to come out now against the public option reveal a more sinister strategy from the Democratic leadership at large. The Democratic leadership never planned to support a public option. The only reason why the leadership put the public option on the table was to stifle the progressive voices that wanted single payer.

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 30, 2009 · 7:00 PM PDT

2009/04/30 · 19:00

In an online article entitled "Can Congress Make Health-Care Reform Pay for Itself?" Karen Tumulty brought up the most difficult issue that will face health care reform advocates. Yes, I know the public option will be a tough battle, but Congress figuring out a way to pay for it will be THE biggest issue IMHO in the healthcare debate.

Here's a little background on the problem. Ezra Klein has been reporting for a while that healthcare reform will cost 1.7 trillion dollars over 10 years, a lot more than President Obama's proposed budget figure over 600 billion.
http://www.prospect.org/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 29, 2009 · 1:24 PM PDT

2009/04/29 · 13:24

Today, the New York Times released a transcript of an interview with President Obama where he spoke about health reform as well as end of life issues. President Obama admitted that one of the toughest discussions surrounding healthcare reform is how to deal with end of life issues:

And I just recently went through this. I mean, I’ve told this story, maybe not publicly, but when my grandmother got very ill during the campaign, she got cancer; it was determined to be terminal. And about two or three weeks after her diagnosis she fell, broke her hip. It was determined that she might have had a mild stroke, which is what had precipitated the fall.

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 25, 2009 · 10:24 PM PDT

2009/04/25 · 22:24

Well, it looks like the White House and the Senate Intelligence Committee are going down the dark road of trying to determine the efficacy of the Bush administration's tortuous interrogation policy according to Sunday's LA Times. Within the article entitled, "CIA reportedly declined to closely evaluate harsh interrogations: Current and former U.S. officials say the failure to carefully examine the value of 'enhanced' methods like waterboarding -- despite calls to do so as early as 2003 -- was part of a broader trend." there is the news of a new investigation trying to determine whether these torture methods worked and how much actionable intelligence was gained by these methods:

http://www.latimes.com/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 23, 2009 · 7:48 PM PDT

2009/04/23 · 19:48

I'm sorry for the brevity of this post but I was watching AC:360 and Anderson Cooper said that the ACLU announced that the Department of Defense will release photos sometime between now and May 28th, depicting POW abuse by American personnel. It will include photos from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The LA Times reports that the Obama administration will release 44 photos in response to the ACLU's FOIA request.

Defense officials would not say exactly what is contained in the photos, but said they are concerned that the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East.

The photos are apparently not as shocking as the photographs from the Abu Ghraib investigation that became a lasting symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq. But some show military service members intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court-martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint.

http://www.latimes.com/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 09, 2009 · 6:43 PM PDT

2009/04/09 · 18:43

This diary is about the new Ed Schultz show on MSNBC called "The Ed Show" which airs at 6 pm EST in place of the 1600 Penn Ave hosted by David Schuster. I have watched the Ed Show since its inception and for the most part I've enjoyed it. The Ed Show's main focus is topics related to the middle class. For instance, one day he discussed the rising costs of healthcare and had Senator Wyden of Oregon to discuss his healthcare plan. Another day, he discussed the EFCA and had a union guy as a guest. On Wednesday, he talked with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on how to fix the education system. Until today, I liked Ed's topics and guests.

Unfortunately, today's show I think Big Ed may have jumped the shark with his invite of Tom Tancredo to appear on his show.

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 31, 2009 · 12:21 PM PDT

2009/03/31 · 12:21

Over the past couple of days, a few newspapers have discussed retirement security in different ways. For instance, the Washington Post's business section noted that the recession with unemployment rising has decreased the amount of payment to the social security fund:

Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund
As Payroll Tax Revenue Falls, So Does Surplus

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

ademption

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 24, 2009 · 6:32 AM PDT

2009/03/24 · 06:32

I would argue yes.

For those who don't know, Dr. Dean started as a CNBC contributor yesterday.

Under his CNBC deal, Dean can appear on NBC networks or the broadcast networks, but needs permission to go on the cable news channels.

http://www.politico.com/...

I don't doubt that Howard Dean will do a good job in his appearances on CNBC, I think his talent would best be served as a host for the 10 pm slot on MSNBC.

Newer
Older

RSS

Healthcare reform for the elderly

Republican healthcare plan = Wyden Bennett 2.0?

Senate Finance Report on How to Pay for Healthcare Reform

Update on Senate Finance Bipartisan Healthcare Reform Agreement

The Kabuki theater of the upcoming healthcare reform debate

Healthcare Reform: How are we going to pay for it?

Healthcare Reform: Obama speaks out on end of life issues

Breaking: White House and Congress evaluating efficacy of torture programs

Breaking: ACLU says DOD to release POW abuse photos

Ed Schultz: Why Tancredo?

Social Security, Pensions and Retirement Security

Should Dr Dean fill the 10 pm MSNBC slot