Health & Environment
Briefly: Health Care Reform: Week of July 5
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 09:28 — Dave Culver6 Items
David Culver, ed. Evergreene Digest
Nick Anderson
Conrad's Co-op Proposal the big threat to health care reform, Patrick Schmitt, MoveOn.org
Tell your senators that anything other than a strong public health insurance option is unacceptable—including the weak co-op proposal.
The Democratic Party, blowing a once-unbeatable lead, P.M. Carpenter, BuzzFlash
All this, despite former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean's acute, astute warning, which I quoted in yesterday's (June 30) column: "I think it's going to be a catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if they can't get this [public option] bill out."
Health Care Showdown, Paul Krugman, New York Times
"For the record, neither regional health cooperatives nor state-level public plans, both of which have been proposed as alternatives [to the public option], would have the financial stability and bargaining power needed to bring down health care costs."
The Waxman-Markey Bill: A Good Start Or A Non-Starter?
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 07:43 — Dave Culver
As carbon cap-and-trade legislation works it way through Congress, the environmental community is intensely debating whether the Waxman-Markey bill is the best possible compromise or a fatally flawed initiative. Yale Environment 360 asked 11 prominent people in the environmental and energy fields for their views on this controversial legislation.
The bill is officially entitled “The American Clean Energy and Security Act,” but most people who follow this issue simply call it Waxman-Markey. Named for its sponsors — Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) — the legislation has been roundly criticized for doing too little or too much, but one thing is clear: No matter what form it finally takes, the bill is historic. For the first time, the U.S. government would cap and regulate emissions of carbon dioxide.
Given that CO2 is a byproduct of the process that drives the American economy — combusting fossil fuels — it is no wonder that the bill is controversial. Many opponents, particularly Republicans, say it is a grave error to place a ceiling and a price on carbon emissions, particularly at a time of economic crisis.
Related:
Energy Bill Scrapes by House -- Will it Survive the Senate? Faiz Shakir, The Progress Report
The focus is now on trying to make sure the bill clears the Senate and is not weakened by special interests.
The Democratic Party, blowing a once-unbeatable lead
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 15:17 — Dave CulverAll this, despite former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean's acute, astute warning, which I quoted in yesterday's (June 30) column: "I think it's going to be a catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if they can't get this [public option] bill out."
P.M. Carpenter, BuzzFlash
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski
As our little shop of health-care horrors continues spinning its complex web of uncovered gaps, omissions, pitfalls, holes and exceptions even for the insured -- this morning (July 1), for instance, the NY Times' lead story, "Many With Insurance Still Bankrupted," notes that "three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance," which a former Cigna executive labeled, before a Senate health committee last week, as "fake insurance," marketed to "confuse[d] customers" -- we now face, owing to a grotesquely unresponsive Democratic Congress, the profound paradox of a right-wing backlash.
A vast electorate, running through the left, center-left, center and even center-right slots of the political spectrum, has already had a bellyful of Democratic paralysis on real, comprehensive health-care reform -- Capitol Hill's factional bickering appears unrestrained by earthly time or boundaries -- yet voters' exasperation seems not to grab Democrats' attention. As they sit in committee or cloakroom, splicing unintelligible deals like subprime securities, embracing counterproductive bipartisanship, accepting bribes, and in general watering down wholesale reform to an unsavory gruel, they seem oblivious to 2008's democratic mandate: On health care, go socialist.
Related:
Minnesota's Road to Recovery: An Analysis of Transportation Recovery Projects
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 10:07 — Dave CulverGreater emphasis must be put on transit and fast intercity passenger trains, which are gaining popularity despite fare increases, service cuts and funding shortfalls.
Conrad deFiebre, Minnesota 2020
Creaky old timber bridges are being replaced. Rough roads are getting new pavement. Deteriorating regional airport runways are being rehabbed. Twin Cities transit riders will hop on new diesel-sipping hybrid buses. Suburban drivers will ply new interchanges and a freeway extension. And a rusting Minnesota icon, Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge, is receiving the final phase of a once-in-a-lifetime paint job.
It's all thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package enacted to counter a recession that has obliterated 5.4 million U.S. jobs in past year, 99,7000 of them in Minnesota.
While the plan will support worthwhile efforts from education, health care and unemployment benefits to clean water, housing and senior nutrition, the earliest and most visible impacts in Minnesota are on the roads, bridges, transit services and other transportation assets that put our economy on the move.
Related:
Click here to read the full report (PDF).
Briefly: Health Care Reform: Week of June 28
Sun, 06/28/2009 - 06:44 — Dave Culver5 Items
David Culver, Evergreene Digest, ed.
Adam Zyglis
Dems: Obama Open To Dropping Public Option, Rachel Weiner, The Huffington Post
Obama is "open to alternatives" to a new government insurance program in order to get legislation overhauling the health-care system to his desk, said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota.