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King will continue to fight health-care bill
Author: admin
Wednesday, August 04th, 2010
Category: Health Care |  Tags: , , , , | Leave a Comment

King will continue to fight health-care bill

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Democrats are working to create a “dependency class” in America in an effort to expand their political base and stay in power.

“That’s part of the motive,” King said when discussing federal health-care reform efforts with reporters after a Tuesday taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.”

King, who represents Iowa’s 5th District, said he will do what he can to try stop a health-care bill from heading to President Barack Obama’s desk, and he urged others who opposed the bill to join him.

He said Democrats are moving toward nation health care, whether a public insurance option is included in the final bill or not.

“That’s the goal; that’s the endeavor,” King said. “They’ll regulate everything, and when they do that, we will lose the liberty we have today to buy health insurance policies.”

He predicted that if Congress passes health-care reform, Democrats will pay a price at the ballot box in 2010.

“I’ve never seen this kind of energy in America, this kind of uprising, especially from the heart of the heartland of America,” King said.

King said he is worried about the “mindset” drifting into America that doesn’t seem to understand the free-enterprise system.

“We’re descendants in this part of the country from people who came across America in covered wagons,” King said. “I mean,

Health-Care Reform to Dump Poor Kids?
Author: admin
Sunday, August 01st, 2010
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Health-Care Reform to Dump Poor Kids?

Oleta Fitzgerald, director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Southern Regional Office, says she is concerned over the welfare of Mississippi children if either of the two health-care reform packages considered by the U.S. House and Senate ever make it into law.

The House passed H.R. 3962 earlier this month, and Senate Democrats managed to beat back the threat of a Republican filibuster a few weeks ago, allowing the Senate to move forward with debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, H.R. 3590. Both bills promise big reforms in the health-care and health-insurance industries. The Association for American Medical Colleges states that nearly 15 million people will be newly eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program under H.R. 3590, at an estimated cost of 4 billion over 10 years.

Fitzgerald says both bills contain huge holes regarding CHIP coverage for Mississippi children: “Right now, the fight over health-care reform in the House and Senate is all about abortion and the public option, but the children are getting lost in this discussion,” Fitzgerald said.

The issue, she said, centers on Mississippi’s unconventional requirement for CHIP eligibility.

Many states recently expanded their Medicaid program requirements to accept people who are a little further from the federal standard for poverty. Eleven states recently extended CHIP-eligible families’ income levels up to 200

Az Reps Remain On Health-Care Fence
Author: admin
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Category: Health Care |  Tags: , , , | Leave a Comment

Az Reps Remain On Health-Care Fence

When it comes to the president’s health-care reform, both of Southern Arizona’s congressional representatives are seen as “in play,” uncommitted votes that could go either way.

Which is putting both under intense pressure to get off the pointy end of the fencepost they’re perched on, one way or the other.

Congressman Raúl Grijalva, who doesn’t like the fact the Senate bill doesn’t have a public option, was summoned to the White House Thursday afternoon with seven other progressives for a sit-down with the president, who has said he wants the effort sewn up by the time Congress leaves for Easter break on March 26.

Grijalva left the Roosevelt Room roundup sounding like he’s close to voting for with the president, despite the lack of a public option he considers critical. After the meeting, he said a partial victory on health care would be better than losing everything, at this point.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, meanwhile, is the target of tea party rallies and a week long “Code Red” robocall campaign by the National Republican Congressional Caucus, which is targeting voters in swing districts. The script warns listeners to call Giffords “before it is too late and tell her to vote ‘no’ on Nancy Pelosi’s dangerous health-care scheme.”

On the other side, Organizing for America took out an ad in USA Today that says, “You Fight, We’ll Fight.” It pledged 8 million volunteer hours to assist congressional