Health Exchanges

**** The Republicans that have voted 38 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, have no alternative to the plan which will offer health insurance to many that have been excluded in the past. Republicans, especially the Tea Party Republicans, want those with pre-existing conditions, young people up to 26 years of age, and the working poor to just go without health coverage. Why?  The Republicans just don't care.

Even though there are Republicans and groups like Americans for (their own) Prosperity are bringing up falsehoods and previously debunked statements to fight against the health exchanges. The truth has come out about the costs of the health exchanges.

CentralOhio:

As state health exchanges continue to announce lower-than-expected rates for health insurance, experts say both state and regional issues play a part in how much a consumer will pay for insurance beginning in January.....

.....In the 11 states HHS analyzed, the report said "that greater competition and greater transparency are driving down prices in the marketplace." The agency studied rates in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. In six states, those costs are also 18% lower than small employers had paid in the past for similar plans. Some states may see individual rates go down as much as 50%.....

If you go to a town meeting sponsored by a Republican, ask why he/she keeps voting for repeal of the Affordable Care Act when it will save people money? You might want to ask him/her where are the jobs the Republicans were going to deliver? The GOP hasn't delivered anything to help Americans.

This is a start!

It has taken a lot of time for this to happen, but it is only a start.

HuffingtonPost:

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are set to be dropped from the second-biggest radio network in the country, Politico reported Sunday night.

Cumulus, which runs about 40 stations across the country, is prepared to part ways with the broadcasters over the high cost of distributing their shows, the report said. Limbaugh and Hannity--who are the top two most highly-rated talk show hosts in America--are syndicated by Premiere, which is owned by Cumulus rival Clear Channel. If the plan comes to fruition, it would mark the culmination of a series of escalating skirmishes between the company and the broadcasters--especially Limbaugh....

People who support peace, understanding, diversity, and are against racism will be rejoicing. It will be great when Limbaugh and Hannity are off of the air completely.

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>>> Bob Evans Farms Foods will close a plant in Ohio, according to a warn notice posted at the ODJFS page. Fifty-two people will lose their jobs. The fact that Bob Evans Farms is closing a plant in Ohio should get some scrutiny because of the money given to Bob Evans Farms by Gov. John Kasich in the early months of 2010 (see 10tv story about money incentives received by Bob Evans Farms). Kasich continues to give money to his corporate buddies, and the working people end up suffering, and losing their jobs.

***  If you missed it, check out the letter to the editor in the Cincinnati Herald.  Not everyone approves of Kasich's attacks on women and workers.

No Miracle?

> Last month Gov. John Kasich bragged about some small economic news in Ohio. This month, with word that Ohio lost over 12,000 jobs in June, Kasich and his Republicans aren't in a jovial mood.

PlainDealer:
Ohio lost the second highest number of jobs in the country in June, just a month after posting the largest job gains, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday....

....Hannah Halbert, a policy liaison for Policy Matters Ohio, which studies the state's labor market, said data released Thursday cause concerns.

"Ohio has added only 16,000 jobs over the last twelve months, a very slow 0.3 percent growth rate," she said in an email. "In the prior 12 months -- June 2011-June 2012 -- the state added more than 113,500, (or) 2.2 percent. The data has shown a volatile, up-and-down, pattern for most of this year but overall the recovery remains weak."

Kasich's job growth policies have produced nothing.




****  Some people believe that there are too many regulations for businesses. Republicans have been especially critical of regulations regarding labor, safety on the job, minimum wage, work hours, banking rules, environmental laws, etc. If it were up to some Republicans, businesses could do whatever they want without any interference from anyone. Regulations exist to protect everyone.

Recent events in Texas illustrate why regulations should exist. The April fertilizer plant disaster in Texas that killed 15 people occurred because of lax regulations (see CBS News). The fact that a dangerous factory operated and existed close to homes, and schools is absolutely disgusting. 

Recent news about the death of a woman in Texas at an amusement park is heartbreaking. Regulations and inspections could have prevented her death. Some people think that regulations put an unfair burden on businesses, but now the woman's death has put an unfair burden on her family.

Kasich?

Ohioans already knew that our state was in trouble when Kasich was elected. With the passing and signing of the recent budget, we just have more proof.  Now CREW has Kasich on a list a titled "Worst Governors in America."

Here is a snippet from CREW's report on Kasich:

• Elected in 2010; running for reelection in 2014
• Resisted efforts by the state auditor to procure financial records for a private non-profit he created; fast-tracked legislation to strip the auditor’s office of authority to examine the non-profit’s records
• Instituted a restrictive election law eliminating early voting, which was later reinstated by a federal appeals court

Add to Kasich's file his signature on a budget bill that cut access to women's health care.

Did you hear....

 *** It looks like many Republican governors just don't respect women. We know that Gov. John Kasich of Ohio signed a budget bill that included more restrictions on women's access to female health care, birth control, and abortions. Now Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett also is in the hot seat for some recent remarks about women's health care.

JaneDough:

Pennsylvania Republicans have officially decided against expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, arguing that covering more low-income residents would cost the state too much money. Last week, Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) took the debate a step further, saying that residents who are already enrolled in the program — including pregnant women and breast cancer patients — are receiving too much free care and should pay into the system.

“What I hear all the time coming out of the administration in Washington is that it’s the working poor [who benefit from Medicaid],” Corbett told WTAE, a Pennsylvania local ABC affiliate, on Saturday. “Yes it is working, but you should be investing five, ten dollars in co-pay to understand that you go to to the hospital or the doctors, you just can’t keep going and going and going and think everything is going to be covered. You have to know that you have some interest in what’s going on.”

The state’s Department of Public Welfare website addresses copayment information, saying that while children, pregnant women, and breast cancer patients don’t pay the fees, many beneficiaries do contribute for the services they receive. Corbett seems to be suggesting that the exempt enrollees are abusing the free services and that everyone should pay more for health care.....

How in the world did Corbett get elected? With his role in the Penn State scandal, there are many things Corbett swept under the rug, allegedly. 

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>>>  Do you have a hybrid car?  I read this article about the Ford hybrid with great interest.

CBS News:

Ford Motor Co. is offering free upgrades to U.S. and Canadian hybrid customers to improve their fuel economy.

The company plans to recalibrate the vehicle control systems on 77,000 Ford C-Max and Fusion hybrids and Lincoln MKZ hybrids from the 2013 model year.

Some customers have complained that the cars aren't getting the 47 mile-per-gallon fuel economy promised in Ford's advertising....

New hybrid owners might not realize that the high speeds lower the miles per gallon. Driving style, hitting the brake often, and cranking the air conditioner on high, also lowers fuel efficiency.

I've been driving a Honda Civic Hybrid since 2003. The highest mpg I've gotten was 53mpg on the interstate freeway.  Some people I know do not get the kind of gas mileage that I get. If people are not getting high mpg, it is probably because of the way they drive.

Trayvon Martin

People are shocked about the verdict from the George Zimmerman trial. The jury declared that Zimmerman was "not guilty" but did not declare him innocent.  As a mother and grandmother, I feel for the Trayvon Martin's family. They've lost their son, and the man that shot their son is free.

USA Today:

George Zimmerman's business with the criminal court in Florida may be done, but a federal civil rights investigation remains open, and legal experts say he could face a civil suit.
A federal investigation into the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is underway, and prosecutors from the Justice Department's civil rights division will review evidence from the FBI and the Florida criminal trial, the Justice Department said Sunday in a written statement....

 On top of all this, Zimmerman can now get his gun back. This is indeed a sad day.

...except if you have a uterus...

The Republicans in Ohio want freedom for everyone --- except if you have a uterus.

Here is an image found at LivingBlueinWestVirginia:

10TV has more on the Kasich budget and how it hurts women:

...Dale Butland from Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank, says Kasich is leading the narrative nationally that Republicans are at war with women.

"From Texas to Ohio, women are fed up," Butland said.  "Ohio Republicans just passed the most anti-women budget in the history of our state.  It contains six new restrictions on women's access to healthcare and Governor Kasich didn't veto a single one.  Women don't want men controlling their healthcare decisions.  Republicans need to learn no means no."

Ohio women should vote against Kasich and his party in the next election for not respecting or trusting women.

They don't care!

Planned Parenthood has released an ad detailing how women in Ohio are in danger: 

http://youtu.be/bTbsApCiLAc

The Ohio Gov. John Kasich and his Republicans in the General Assembly don't care ---

1. that the new Republican budget has cut funds to rape crisis centers in Ohio.

2. that women's health care is being dictated by Republicans who have no medical expertise in women's reproductive medicine.

3. that women in a doctor's exam room will be forced to hear unscientific mumbo jumbo about birth control that was written by people with no medical knowledge.

4. that women will die because of the ridiculously stupid obstacles that they will face if they are experiencing a miscarriage or want an abortion because of the ignorance and ideology of the Ohio GOP and Kasich.

Any woman that votes to re-elect Kasich is allowing ignorance to thrive.

Just say "NO!" to Kasich and the GOP.

Paging GynoGov Kasich

The women of Ohio are responding to the Ohio budget signed into law by Gov. John Kasich. Kasich and his Republican cohorts crafted restrictions to women's reproductive health:  http://tinyurl.com/ll3pwoz

Ohio GOP Feud?

The Columbus Dispatch noticed that Ohio Gov. John ("governor ultrasound") Kasich vetoed money wanted by far right, Tea Party Republican and failing candidate for the Senate, Josh Mandel.

Dispatch:

...Among Gov. John Kasich’s 22 vetoes on Sunday was one cutting the $10 million allocated to state Treasurer Josh Mandel’s office for computer upgrades to combat what Mandel says are constant cyberattacks on his office....

“Mandel has to be furious,” said one well-connected Capitol Square Republican who asked not to be named. “Clearly, John Kasich is playing for keeps.”

Mandel raised the dander of Kasich and his aides by publicly opposing two of the governor’s priorities: expanding Medicaid coverage to 275,000 more poor Ohioans, and imposing a so-called “ fracking” tax on shale-oil and -gas drillers....

The possibility of a feud between Kasich and Mandel is downright exciting! Both of them have large egos and national aspirations. Kasich and Mandel hold similar views on women's reproductive freedom--- they are against it. It is ironic that these anti-big government GOPers that support privacy support the invasion of a woman's privacy in the gynecologist's office.

Plunderbund has details on how Gov. Kasich's budget hurts prenatal care for women, emergency medical care, and rape victims. Kasich and the Ohio Republicans support this draconian budget and they've demonstrated their dismissive attitude for women and women's issues.

(Pic from #standwithohiowomen)

Losing Our Rights

Today, a woman on a talk show said that the Ohio Republicans instituted their own sharia law against the women of the state. Others agree.

1. MSNBC:

...Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich, flanked by six other men, signing the state’s new budget into law and, by doing so, catapulting the Buckeye State to the number one spot on the Nation’s Most Restrictive Abortion Laws list.
The budget strips funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading provider of reproductive healthcare, and gives that money to Crisis Pregnancy Centers, the pseudo-clinics that lure pregnant women with the promise of free ultrasounds and can then misinform them about abortions. That’s just the beginning.

It also strips funding from rape crisis centers that advise rape survivors about abortion, a Midwest version of the Bush administration’s global “gag rule.” 

2.  PolicyMic lists the "9 Things You Won't Believe Just Happened in Ohio."

3. ThinkProgress notes: " ...According to a recent poll from the Public Policy Polling group, HB 59 isn’t popular with Ohio voters as a whole, either. Fifty two percent of respondents said they didn’t support the budget specifically because it includes attacks on reproductive rights, like defunding Planned Parenthood and shutting down abortion clinics."

4. The Kasich budget also redefines pregnancy.
 Mother Jones:

...Another provision in Kasich's budget requires that doctors who provide abortions perform a fetal ultrasound and require the mother to listen to or see the heartbeat. Doctors who fail to do so could be prosecuted. The budget redefines a fetus as "developing from the moment of conception" rather than when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus. (Most fertilized eggs leave the body before implanting, meaning many women who were not actually pregnant would now be considered to be have been carrying a "fetus" in Ohio.) 
Kasich's budget also sends Planned Parenthood to the end of the line to receive state funding for family planning services, effectively removing $1.4 million in funding.....

Once again, Republicans know more than scientists, doctors, and women.