In my ePluribus Media Journal article, I write about my meeting with Jeff Merkley, Speaker of Oregon House of Representatives. Merkley has a history of backing progressive legislation to improve access to health care. He ushered The Healthy Kids Act (HB 2201), a universal access bill for children, through the Oregon House despite resistance from the tobacco industry. The payment source for the program would have been an increase in cigarette taxes, a policy proven by research to discourage youth from smoking. In the industry's euphemism, cigarette taxes hinder efforts to generate "replacement smokers," the new young addicts needed to take the place of older ranks killed by lung and heart disease.

Read the full interview on the Journal.

You can learn more about Jeff Merkley by visiting his website and donate to his campaign. Don't forget to add a penny to your donation to identify yourself as a member of our growing netroots nation.

I've just finished reading Head Cases. Mason, the author is a "brain injury case manager," for a rehab facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The hospital has limited facilities and it is Mason's job to travel the country meeting and evaluating people who have suffered serious brain injuries who are likely to benefit from an intensive rehab program.

Elizabeth Edwards continues to smack down McCain’s plan for the “healthy and wealthy” emphasizing the fundamental flaw of the individual market, the centerpiece of McCain’s plan.

“McCain’s never been in the individual market, he doesn’t know how difficult it is, in fact, how impossible it is, if you happen to be one of the unlucky Americans who have a pre-existing condition,” Elizabeth stated on MSNBC today.

Watch it here:

originally posted 2008-06-11 18:24:22, bumped -- cho

Is Compassionate Conservatism Right for America?

In an ongoing effort to make their colleagues unelectable, and to provide Democrats with an unassailable platform in November, House Republicans are dismantling and blocking some of the most popular provisions of the Iraq spending bill. Today they blocked passage of extended unemployment benefits despite rising unemployment. And, as we speak, they are working to remove a moratorium on seven Medicaid Rules changes proposed by Bush.

originally posted 2008-05-21 13:27:55 -- bumped, cho

George W. Bush appears to desire the complete destruction of the Republican Party for the next forty years even more ardently than he wants to fund his war in Iraq. Or so I am lead to believe by a recent spate of incomprehensible policy decisions. He has given the Democratic Party an arsenal of tools to use against both John McCain, and nearly every Republican incumbent up for re-election in the Senate. It is July 4 in May!

Democrats in the Senate have been unable to pass a series of extremely popular and necessary programs due to stiff opposition from the Bush Administration and Senate Republican leadership. Instead of giving up, Democratic Leadership has attached the programs to the Supplemental Appropriations Bill which funds the War in Iraq. The President, who has suddenly discovered "fiscal responsibility," is threatening to veto the bill unless the offensive amendments are removed. His water carriers, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are working hard behind the scenes to insure that Republicans uphold the President's veto.

Senate Republicans who are up for re-election in November (or ever) face an unsettling dilemma.

promoted -cho

How to Get Universal Health Care

Joel S. Hirschhorn

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say they believe in giving Americans universal health care. I don’t believe them. Anyone who takes the time to understand universal health care should conclude that only a simple single payer system will reform the current outrageous system that benefits the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Are we witnessing a hostile corporate takeover of the United States of America?

The Bush Administration has been quietly and incrementally liquidating our public health safety net in a manner reminiscent of the hostile takeovers so prevalent among corporations in the 1980s and 1990s. A proposed set of arcane regulation changes unilaterally imposed by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) will go into effect between now and May 25, if not stopped by Congress. CMS estimates that the new rules will result in a "cost savings" of $15 billion dollars over five years.

But who will benefit from these "savings"? The rules changes will cause widespread cutbacks and closures of the emergency rooms, hospitals, and outpatient and school-based clinics currently serving most Americans. The cash raised by liquidating America's public health safety net is, according to the Washington Post, equivqalent to five weeks of war in Iraq. It represents just 3% of the $500 billion dollar bail-out the president has promised to financiers.

It is money and effort taken from the American people and redistributed to wealthy corporate interests.

The Bush Administration has published a list of twelve proposed Medicaid Rules changes which will cut at least $15 billion over five years from our public health budget. If the rules changes go into effect in March and May as scheduled, they will result in closures or scaling back of Emergency Rooms, outpatient clinics, teaching hospitals, school based clinics, public hospitals, services to the disabled and case management. I have previously diaried the rules changes in detail.

While most of us are focused on universal care, the Bush Administration has been incrementally shredding our existing public health safety net in ways that have yet to become apparent. The most recent assault on our public health care infrastructure is escaping the notice of mainstream media and citizen journalists alike, probably because it is not easily explained. I am referring to a proposed set of arcane regulation changes by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) which, if enacted, will result in $15 billion dollars in cuts over five years to service providers.

I am travelling to DC next week to draw attantion to a series of Medicaid Rules Changes proposed by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). I have previously diaried one of the Rules Changes on e Pluribus Media here and my proposed action here. I will be diarying the issue again one more time prior to leaving for DC. It should appear on an epm station in your hometown (as well as your state's progressive blog site) within the next 48 hours.

Now, I need to ask for some help from you. I plan to drop in, cameraman in tow, to several less than friendly MSM offices while I am in DC to ask them why they are not covering this story. Is there a lawyer in the house who can help me if I either get arrested, or if my camcorder is confiscated? I am not wealthy and so I must ask for your pro bono assistance if at all possible.