Healthcare Reform is working as planned, with good reason, as it will reduce the (slave/forced) labor force by 2.5 million

 Health Care Law Projected to Cut the Labor Force

WASHINGTON — A Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday predicted that the Affordable Care Act would shrink the work force by the equivalent of more than two million full-time positions.   NY Times 

No, CBO did not say Obamacare will kill 2 million jobs

The Fact Checker had to repeatedly explain that the Congressional Budget Office never said that the Affordable Care Act “killed” 800,000 jobs by 2021. Now, the CBO has released an updated estimate, nearly the triple the size of the earlier one: 2.3 million in 2021.   The Washington Post. FACT CHECKER: The Truth Behind the Rhetoric

Healthcare Reform is working as planned and it's fantastic news for our country and our people.  The CBO (congressional budget office) projects that 2.5 million full-time positions in the next ten years.

Because workers will CHOOSE NOT TO WORK FULL-TIME.

In my educated opinion, this is a totally healthy choice from a mental health and self-care perspective.  So many people feel forced to get and keep jobs that they don't want, are bad for them, and don't even need to be full-time positions.  Probably a third of full-time job hours are spent by employees not working, simply because they have to be there, it's a stable job, and they can't afford to leave the job because they need health care and so do their children and/or spouses.

That's one of the purposes of this reform measure, to reform the system away from this quid-pro-quo situation that is simply taken for granted now.  FT work means benefits and a salary, and that also lots of times means working over-time for no extra pay.  We want people to HAVE more choice so that they AREN'T tied to their jobs because they need healthcare and insurance!

Corporations and the power-brokers in Washington want you to have less choice and to keep you as a slave to their needs.  Opponents of the ACA, who derisively call it Obamacare (namely GOP Republicans) will spin this as bad for "business" and the economy and for people in general.

But, it's fantastic for everyone - individuals, families, children, for the job market, especially job seekers, and anyone who values being able to have control over their own lives.  Congratulations, Americans, we are finally doing what's right and best for us.  Let's keep it up!

PBS news: Changes Coming in terms of Federal Aid's Link to a College's Affordability

Should Financial Aid Be Linked to a College's Affordability? - YouTube:

The PBS NewsHour reports that Obama is threatening to reduce Federal funding for Higher Ed institutions that cannot contain their tuition prices and hikes.

This situation really pisses me off. Especially in terms of how students are being exploited. And, even more especially because it is the poorest and least powerful student groups that are target. Why else would someone attend a state school, if they had unlimited funds to attend any school they would like.

From what I understand of the report is that schools have raised costs, mainly to increase overhead in the form of administrative staffing and other non-mission oriented costs.

The president of the University of California system admitted that he predicts that if the threat is realized, tuition prices will indeed drop.

In other words, that means there is wiggle room in tuition prices. If there wasn't room for changes, colleges would respond with, "Cut our funding Pres Obama but that means students will just be left to pay the part removed from our budgets. We cant cut our prices anymore. We are at rock-bottom." But, colleges know that this threat of punishment will work to achieve the aims the president is initiating for our good.

So in the age of record deficits and economic hard-times, schools have been embellishing their campuses, increasing salaries and staff, and reserviing more of the money coming in, rather than simply providing a good educational system, which is their mission. And, we have been paying for it -- students AND tax-payers.

Thank you, once again, Pres. Obama for taking the initiative to solve this problem plaguing our society. We are the 99%.

President to Ease Student-Loan Burden for Low-Income Graduates - NYTimes.com

President to Ease Student-Loan Burden for Low-Income Graduates - NYTimes.com:

President to Ease Student Loan Burden for Low-Income Graduates

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: October 25, 2011

President Obama will announce new programs Wednesday to lower monthly loan payments for some students graduating next year and thereafter and to let borrowers who have a mix of direct federal loans and loans under the old Federal Family Education Loan Program consolidate them at a slightly lower interest rate.

Multimedia

Graphic

New Increases in Tuition

Related

• Times Topics: Student Loans | Occupy Wall Street

years, and have the rest of their federalstudent loan debt forgiven. That plan would start next year.

At a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, said the president would use his executive authority to expand the existing income-based repayment program with a “Pay as You Earn” option that would allow graduates to pay 10 percent of their discretionary income for 20

Thank you, Pres. Obama. I mean that sincerely, as we need all the help we might possibly get. Our economic system is seriously out-of-sync with any notion of what's right, makes sense, or is fair.

Notwithstanding, I would like to point out the expectations that new working professionals are expected to pay -- what I claim is the quite unreasonable burden:

- 15% of income --> Federal income taxes (at least)

- 10% of income --> Federal student loan repayments

- 10% of income --> new Health Reform Act health insurance plans

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65% of income left

- 33% of income should go to housing/home ownership.

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This leaves....? What you have left to support your families' needs on:

= 32% of your income, after working 40-60 hours a week, for 20 years?

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Here's an example with numbers of how the average salary earner fares:

The national average wage index for 2010 is $41,673.83 (according to SSA.GOV) :

$41,673.83 x .32

$13,335 LEFT $1,111/month!

for ALL other expenses beyond barely-there bare basics, not including food or transportation!

FOR SOME PERSPECTIVE, $674 is the basic amount of SSI (given to people unable to work and/or support themselves)

This is what new working professionals have to look forward to for at least 20 years.

This is the consequence of your choice to become educated.

How is this possible in our country??

ABC News: Obama Orders Hospitals to Allow Gay Partners Visitation, Health Care Rights - ABC News

Obama Orders Hospitals to Allow Gay Partners Visitation, Health Care Rights - ABC News

In a nod to the rights of lesbian and gay couples, President Obama has ordered the nation's hospitals to allow patients to determine for themselves who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions.

Janice Langbehn, 41, with three of her children: David 14, Danielle, 16, and Katie, 13. Langbehn,...
(Photo by DJ Bradley)

In a memo, Obama instructed the health and human services secretary to draft new rules for hospitals that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid payments.

The order gives LGBT partners the same visitation and health proxy rights that are enjoyed by immediate family members.

Most hospitals will now be banned from denying those privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

News: President Obama - Our Equality HERO!

In the cultural competency sessions at NASW Symposium yesterday, we were just lamenting how same-sex partners have had to actually lie to gain access to their loved ones in the hospital, as well as how unfair and demeaning that can be!

This executive action is Amazing!!!  Thank you, President Obama!!


Washington Post reports:

President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans. 

The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation

Huffington Post reports:

The designated visitors should have the same rights that immediate family members now enjoy, Obama's instructions said. It said Medicare-Medicaid hospitals, which include most of the nation's facilities, may not deny visitation and consultation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. 

The move was called a major step toward fairness for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

NYT Op-Ed: Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution

Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution
By GEOFFREY R. STONE
Constitutional law is not a mechanical exercise of just “applying the law.”

AS the Senate awaits the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, a frank discussion is needed on the proper role of judges in our constitutional system.

So, how should judges interpret the Constitution? To answer that question, we need to consider why we give courts the power of judicial review — the power to hold laws unconstitutional — in the first place. Although the framers thought democracy to be the best system of government, they recognized that it was imperfect. One flaw that troubled them was the risk that prejudice or intolerance on the part of the majority might threaten the liberties of a minority. As James Madison observed, in a democratic society “the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended ... from acts in which the government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.” It was therefore essential, Madison concluded, for judges, whose life tenure insulates them from the demands of the majority, to serve as the guardians of our liberties and as “an impenetrable bulwark” against every encroachment upon our most cherished freedoms.

The power of judicial review to invalidate laws that disadvantage racial and religious minorities, political dissenters, people accused of crimes and others who are unlikely to have their interests fully and fairly considered by the majority. Liberal judges have ended racial segregation, recognized the principle of “one person, one vote,” prohibited censorship of the Pentagon Papers andupheld the right to due process, even at Guantánamo Bay. This approach to judicial review fits much more naturally with the concerns and intentions of people like Madison who forged the American constitutional system.

NASW News from the Hill: Social Work & the Health Care Reform Law

Professional Social Worker Services in Health Care Reform

Wondering what's in the new health care reform law to advance the social work profession? NASW recently released a very popular briefing on the various ways the new law will directly impact the social work profession. Interested social workers may view it here

.White House Provides Resources on Health Care Reform Law

The White House website offers a wide array of materials to explain the new federal health care reform law and its impact on consumers, providers, businesses and payers. You may find these resources helpful as you seek reliable information and explanations of the complex new law. Social workers that wish to learn more about the law in easily understood briefing sheets should see the White House website here.

Time is Running Out! Reinvest in the Profession.

With less than 60 days left in the Congressional calendar, we are running out of time in the 111^th Congress to pass the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795/S. 686). Contact your Representative and Senators TODAY in support of this bill. We really need your help if you are represented by any members of the House Committee on Education and Labor. We already have 83 cosponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate but if we are unsuccessful in passing this bill, we will have to start over in the 112^th Congress.

Congressman Towns Contacts President Obama and Secretary Sebelius in Support of Social Work

The lead sponsor of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act, Congressman and social worker Ed Towns (D-NY) sent a letter to the President and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging them to establish a Social Work Reinvestment Commission within the HHS. Rep. Towns says that, "social workers are a key resource for the nation's most vulnerable populations including older adults, children, the impoverished, veterans, and people at risk for disparate health and behavioral health services access." He goes on to state that workforce challenges are preventing our profession from recruiting and retaining enough social workers to keep pace with the increasing demand for our services. Rep. Towns states that, "The federal government has previously invested in comparable professions such as nursing and teaching when faced with workforce shortages. We now much focus on social work by establishing this Commission..." NASW thanks Rep. Towns for his unwavering support of the profession.

News Analysis - With or Without Health Reform, We Pay for Others’

News Analysis - With or Without Health Reform, We Pay for Others’ Bad Habits - NYTimes.com:

"Unhealthy habits are one factor in disease, but so are social status, income, family dynamics, education and genetics. Patient noncompliance with medical recommendations undoubtedly contributes to poor health, but it is as much a function of poor communication, medication costs and side effects, cultural barriers and inadequate resources as it is of willful disregard of a doctor’s advice."

Punitive measures to force healthy behavior do not usually work. In 2006, West Virginia started rewarding Medicaid patients who signed a pledge to enroll in a wellness plan and to follow their doctors’ orders with special benefits, including unlimited prescription-drug coverage, programs to help them quit smoking and nutrition counseling. Those who did not sign up were enrolled in a more restrictive plan that, among other things, limited drug coverage to only four prescriptions a month.

The program, by many accounts, is failing. As of August 2009, only 15 percent of 160,000 eligible patients had signed up. Patients with limited transportation options were having a hard time committing to regular office visits. And experts say there is no evidence that restricting benefits for noncompliant patients has promoted healthy behaviors.

Healthy living should be encouraged, but punishing patients who make poor health choices clearly oversimplifies a very complex issue. We should be focusing on public health campaigns: encouraging exercise, smoking cessation and so on. Of course, this will require a change in how we live, how we plan our communities.

“It’s the context of people’s lives that determines their health,” said a World Health Organization report on health disparities. “So blaming individuals for poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate.”

NYT News: Obama Signs Overhaul of Student Loan Program

Obama Signs Overhaul of Student Loan Program
By PETER BAKER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

The new law will expand Pell grants, make it easier for students to repay outstanding loans after graduating and invest $2 billion in community colleges over the next four years.

This new law was included in the recent health care bill.

Thank you, President Obama and all the Congress people who supported this legislation!!!!

News: Health-care reform bill cuts deficit by $1.3 trillion over 20 years, covers 95%

- CBO: Health-care reform bill cuts deficit by $1.3 trillion over 20 years, covers 95%

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/26066.html

Huge WIN for Students (and all of us) in Reconciliation Bill

Not only do we now have Health Reform (badly needed!) but we also have a LOT more going students' way (and our culture and society, too) through the passage of this reconciliation bill. Namely:

• $36 billion in new spending to Pell Grants
• Eliminating private banks in issuing student loans, now providing Direct Loans from the government (savings the government $61 billion, which can be used to support citizens rather than private lenders)
• $4 billion to historically black colleges and community colleges
• providing $1.5 billion to make it easier for student borrowers to repay their loans (income based repayment that Pres. Obama spoke of in the 2010 State of the Union address)

CREDO Mobile A huge win for students in last night's reconciliation bill. If it passes the Senate, billions of dollars will now go to education instead of big banks! Hurray!

Student Loan Overhaul Passes in Reconciliation Bill

www.huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON — Riding the coattails of a historic health care vote, the House on Sunday also passed a broad reorganization of college aid that affects millions of students and moves President Barack Obama closer to winning yet another of his top domestic policies. ...

The Nation: The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow

The War on Drugs has created a permanent caste system.

"Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its forty-fourth president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America."