Posts Tagged ‘health’
Justice can’t be achieved if we don’t all do our part
From the Everett Herald:
Does the arc of the moral universe bend toward justice? Martin Luther King Jr. believed that it did, and so have millions of other people who want to see justice achieved.
But justice and injustice are episodic. We have made great progress in the 20th and 21st centuries, progress for well-being, democracy and peace. We have vanquished racial segregation. We have witnessed the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Women have gained power, respect and esteem.
But horrible things have happened as well: the Holocaust, the increasing and exponential overcrowding of this planet, the impoverishment of billions of people, coup after coup to prevent democratization of economies and governance throughout the world, and the polarization of wealth and income in our own country. We make progress in some areas and fall back in others. There is certainly no continuous progress toward justice.
This is why the second part of Dr. King’s discussion of the arc bending toward justice is of far greater importance. “It does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice.”
Time to stop the wobbling and truly reform health care
From the Seattle Post-Globe:
The health care debate is heating up, for good reason. In our state, tens of thousands of people lost their health coverage when they lost their jobs. They will soon be joined by tens of thousands more who are losing their Basic Health coverage. The number of uninsured has spiked to almost 900,000 people. One out of five adults between 19 and 64 has no health coverage. Meanwhile, businesses which offer health coverage are facing another round of escalating health care costs. And just this month Premera Blue Cross is increased its individual rates by over six percent.
Where’s the hope? Wasn’t that what millions of Americans voted for last November? Hope lies in the push by President Obama for universal coverage. It won’t be easy. The national discussion about health care is undergoing the lobbyists’ metamorphism. All during the Presidential campaign, the run-up to the inauguration, and the first months of President Obama’s administration, the focus was on universal health coverage. But in the past two months, it has switched to making sure that private insurance is not undercut by a public program.
Why do deficit hawks suddenly appear, every time Obama is near?
It’s been about eight years since we’ve heard the “deficit hawks” sing their song – but it’s an easy one to remember because the tune is always the same. Funny how it’s always sung loudest when the conversation turns to investments in improved health, education or infrastructure.
So says Robert Reich in The Great Debt Scare is back, in response to New York Times article predicting a sea of red ink in federal finances. The bottom line, as David Fiderer writes, the Obama administration has inherited a situation in which future deficits will dwarf all those prior to 2009.
Most states don’t have the option of deficit spending — and with the worst recession in generations now gripping the country, they’re grappling with steep declines in tax receipts. Faced with massive cuts to K-12 education, public universities, health programs, and other vital public structures, elected leaders are looking for new revenue to balance the books.
Congress hears expert testimony on two national family leave insurance bills
Congressional hearings have begun on both the FIRST Act (Family Income to Respond to Significant Transitions) and the Healthy Families Act. You can see testimony on both bills from:
- Rajiv Bhatia, Director at the Occupational and Environmental Health Department of Public Health
- Sandra Poole, Deputy Director of the California Employment Development Department Disability Insurance Branch
The FIRST Act (full text) authorizes $1.5 billion in grant funding to states to seed new programs or to bolster existing paid leave programs. Washington State would be one of the first states to benefit should the bill pass.
The Family Leave Insurance Act of 2009 (full text) would provide 12 weeks of paid benefits to workers who need time off to care for a new child, ill family member, service member returning from combat, or their own illness. The program covers all employees who have paid into the fund and worked for their current employer for 6 months.
Dead rich people who want lower taxes. Plus: School equity, undercounting unemployment, health reform answers, economy boosters, and caring for mom and dad
In the battle over the federal estate tax, the latest issue of Rolling Stone drops some names: Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen, Senators Murray and Cantwell, and Representative Jim McDermott all get ink. (Hat tip Publicola, which did beat Rolling Stone to this on a couple of counts already.)
Schooooool’s out…for summah! Goldy tackles equity, access and money in Seattle’s neighborhood schools - and spells out why the sorry state of Washington’s tax structure means parents and students are paying more for college.
Undercounting unemployment: Both Schmudget and Joe Turner at the News Tribune take a closer look at the traditional unemployment stats, which count those looking for work who can’t find it, and find that if you include those who have given up looking for work, the rate is much higher: 15.8% in Washington State, and 16.4% nationally, to be exact.
Big questions, clear answers on health care reform: Is “socialized” the same as “single-payer”? What is the “public option”? And who’s going to pay? If you’re looking for clear answers to complicated questions, Ezra Klein has you covered.
Economic stimulus in unexpected places: Yesterday EOI staffer Gary Burris pointed out how increasing Social Security benefits would boost economic growth. Today DMI Blog highlights new research the Economic Policy Institute showing the stimulative impact of raising the minimum wage.
Who’ll Care for Aging Adults? The Work and Family Network says their kids will – for as long as they can, anyway. But in the long run, we’ll have to: “1) either overhaul the way the country provides and pays for the care of aging adults or 2) level with current and future caregivers, as well as the organizations that employ them, so they understand the hard facts and begin to plan accordingly.”
Paid Leave or Bust! (Literally.) DMI highlights a new study from Harvard University researchers finds that 62.1 percent of bankruptcies in 2007 had a medical cause, up from 46.2 percent in 2001. A health care system overhaul is imperative – but so is paid family and medical leave.
Path to health is best taken on two wheels
Reprinted from the Everett Herald:
Last Sunday my wife and three friends and I decided to bicycle up to Snohomish from Seattle. We had a great ride north, finishing with a swooping downhill on the Springhetti Road, past Harvey Airfield, and stopping at the Snohomish Pie Company for a few delicious slices of pie.
That in itself was worth the trip. I had marionberry, and tried to poach some bites of the peach, apple crumb, and rhubarb as well. We came back along the Snohomish River, appreciating the farms and forests along the way (and, incidentally, the growth management act that prevents unmitigated sprawl) until we had to make the long slog up the Woodinville-Duvall Road back toward Seattle. We went longer than we had planned, and ended up good and tired for the evening. But what could be a better thing to do on a beautiful June Sunday?
We all lose by leaving health insurance to the market’s whims
The national discussion about health care is undergoing the lobbyists’ metamorphism. All during the Presidential campaign, the run-up to the inauguration, and the first months of President Obama’s administration, the focus was on universal health coverage. But in the past two months, it has switched to making sure that private insurance is not undercut by a public program.
It is ironic that we are told to think of health care as a market good, but we are urged to not allow a competitor – the government – which most likely has a more efficient and better product. We are not protecting the market in health care, we are protecting the cartels of the health care industry, from the for-profit insurance companies to the big corporate pharmaceutical companies, to health care providers themselves.
Healthy Families Act means more workers can care for family and self
Maybe swine flu tipped the balance when people’s kids had to come to work due to closed schools. Or the cratering economy made more people fear job loss for taking a sick day. Or employers noticed the very real costs of presenteeism. Regardless, it’s never been more apparent that every worker needs access to paid sick days, in order to care for themselves and their family.
The timing couldn’t be better for national legislation to address this matter – and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have stepped up to the plate by introducing the Healthy Families Act (Senate Bill 1152, House Resolution 2460).
HFA would guarantee every worker the right to earn up to seven paid sick days per year, ensuring people would no longer have to choose between getting a paycheck and their recovery when they get sick or need to care for a sick family member.
The bill requires employers with 15 or more employees to let workers earn up to seven paid sick days per year, to be used to address an employee’s short-term medical needs, such as the flu, or those of his or her family. It includes pro-rated leave for part-time employees, and sick days can be used for an employee’s medical appointments, preventative or diagnostic treatment; and to care for a family member with comparable needs.
Revolutionaries in ties applaud state income tax ideas
Observations in political leadership from guest blogger Matt Loschen:
There I sat, listening to a speech that some would argue only gets delivered by radicals or rubes.
He said that in some ways we followed Rahm Emanuel’s advice and “didn’t let the crisis go to waste” this session (when it came to transportation). But he said the legislature blew it when it came to tax reform. He said we needed to ditch the current system and quit screwing the little guy. He said we should start taxing the wealthy to pay for healthcare and education, third rail be damned. He said that we had to stop hiding behind lame excuses, and get the job done. Most of his cohorts in the room nodded and applauded enthusiastically.
All except the woman seated next to him, who remained oddly silent.
Nope, not another Drinking Liberally meeting or a clutch of campus radicals. This was Sen. Ed Murray speaking at the Washington State Democrats Business Luncheon, held May 13th in that pinko enclave, the Washington Athletic Club. Eating our excellent lunches were revolutionaries in ties, from Boeing, Microsoft, etc. — none of whom appeared to be making a dash for the border to protect their wealth. On the contrary, they seemed to get the necessity of tax reform, and appreciated someone with the decisiveness to pull it off.
Then Sen Murray introduced Governor Gregoire.
Does an income tax mean more millionaires will move in?
Whenever the idea of a state income tax is brought up in Washington, you’ll often hear some variation on this theme: “Watch out, the rich will leave if you raise taxes!” The latest iteration is Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore’s column in today’s Wall Street Journal. The authors cite New Jersey, among other states, as emblematic of this problem — but they’ve overlooked a small detail shown in this little study from Princeton:
New Jersey’s net domestic out‐migration is primarily occurring at the bottom end of the income distribution level. Below the state’s median family income, there is a net loss of 26 people for every 100 out‐migrants. However, above New Jersey’s median income, there is a net gain of 5 people per 100 out‐migrants.
We note that in spite of net out‐migration, the number of half‐millionaires in New Jersey has increased sharply in recent years, from 26,000 in 2002 to 44,000 in 2006 (a 70% increase). Income growth among high earners has led to a tremendous increase in the number of people who fall into the half‐millionaire tax bracket. Using New Jersey tax records, we estimate that the new half‐millionaire tax rate has generated an average of $895 million per year in tax revenues, rising from $739 million in 2004 to over $1 billion in 2006.
