According to a Harvard Law School study, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Matrix Journal, 61.5 percent of personal bankruptcies and 48 percent of home mortgage foreclosures were directly or indirectly due to medical bills. Public company records indicate insurance company profit increases averaged 58 percent during the pre-ACA years when they dropped coverage of […]
health insurance
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump’s gamble on health care failed
WASHINGTON — In a week that felt like a month, Americans got a clear view of Donald Trump’s governing style and also of his fabled dealmaking approach. Or rather, I should say, Trump got a good sense of what governing is like — hard, hard, hard. And it’s bound to get more difficult given the […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Freecom caucus loses chance to govern
By Marc A. Thiessen Special to The Washington Post A few days before the House Freedom Caucus brought down the American Health Care Act, Rep. Mark Meadows laid out the stakes for his group: “This is a defining moment for our nation, but it’s also a defining moment for the Freedom Caucus.” The North Carolina […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Improve health insurance
I applaud Elizabeth Rothe for her column about the proposed Republican health care plan (March 19). As a clinical social worker, I have helped many Mainers get insurance through the health care marketplace and wish that I could have helped more. I have seen patients quit gainful employment because of massive medical bills and inadequate […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Better spin won't solve it
Let me get this straight. Rich Lowry (“GOP needs better arguments for health plan”, March 18) is taking Republicans to task for letting on that they would “be fine with fewer people having insurance”? Twenty-four million people are slated to lose coverage and he sees the problem as bad PR? Only after admonishing Republicans to […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Maintain the safety net
A number of years ago, I was diagnosed with multifocal motor neuropathy — a disorder that has slowly taken the use of my hands and arms. As my disability worsened, I decided that, at 65 years of age, retirement would be my best option. In doing calculations, my financial survival depended upon the continuation of […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
A fix for health insurance
Unbelievable, all the hoopla in the news over health care. It seems the politicians cannot come up with a plan to fit everyone’s needs at a low cost for the people they work for (that would be the American taxpayers). How about this for a concept — everyone have the same insurance the federal elected […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Dump the myth that Obamacare froze out Republicans
It’s true. The Affordable Care Act was passed without a single Republican vote. Republicans repeatedly cite this fact as Obamacare’s original sin, a fatal flaw that justifies their efforts to dismantle the ACA. But let’s set that record straight. Obamacare was a bipartisan plan. It just didn’t get a bipartisan vote. Despite rumors to the […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Let us not be fooled
The Republican’s health care proposal, “Trumpcare,” cuts deep into the heart of energizing values and principles that I hold dear, principles formed in my youth through church and grandparents, Boy Scouts of America, and Problems of Democracy class. Church gave me Jesus’ directive to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” Trumpcare, by that definition, is a […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Cull the elderly, sick and poor
“American values” no longer extend to the least among us. The proposed health care replacement plan is the equivalent of elected officials shutting their eyes and putting their hands over their ears, singing “La, La, La” in their heads, while our elderly parents, sick brothers, sisters and children die in our arms. The plan would […]