Friday, July 13, 2012

Texas Medicaid expansion numbers mind-boggling

Emphasis is mine.

On the heels of Gov. Rick Perry's declaration that Texas will not expand Medicaid because it is too costly, his health and human services commissioner said Thursday that fully implementing health care reform would cost the state about $11 billion less over 10 years than previously estimated.

Executive Commissioner Thomas Suehs told a Texas House subcommittee that the new estimate is between $15 billion and $16 billion in state costs over a decade, compared to the previous estimate of $26 billion to $27 billion.

The state would get an additional $100.1 billion in federal money over that time, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission -- money that Suehs acknowledged would be attractive to local entities grappling with the cost of caring for the quarter of the state's population that currently is uninsured.

 "If I was a county hospital district, I would be knocking on your door saying we need to re-debate" Medicaid expansion, perhaps with a push for a local option, Suehs said. That idea, in which a local agency would deal directly with the federal government to expand Medicaid in its area, has been cited by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. 

This is of course why Rick Perry WILL accept expansion of Medicaid, no matter what he says today. He and the Lege need that money to balance the next biennium's budget... and other future budgets.

They can whine all they want about "getting it crammed down their throats", but this is a good deal for the state and a better one for Texans, and even this worthless batch of Republicans isn't stupid enough to turn it down.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Biden at NAACP: "the character of his convictions"

He wasn't talking about Mitt Romney's, either.

Biden was relaxed and confident, completely at ease before the audience, a stark contrast to the Republican. He made a few of the by-now-expected Biden-esque malaprops; "it's good to be home", "You go home from the dance with the ones that brought you to the dance", and the like. Once he got on script he was fine, touching on alternative fuels, equal rights for women -- from pay to reproductive choice -- and advances in HIV treatment as compared to a disregard for science and education on the part of conservatives.

"A social policy that is a throwback to the '50's".

The topic of senior health care gave the vice-president the opportunity to rail against the attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and employee pensions from the GOP. And of course the Affordable Care Act.

"We see a future..." ...where everyone has affordable health care, where everyone pays their fair share of taxes, where the wars come to an end and the troops come home. "Mitt Romney sees a very different future."

Biden pivoted nicely to the purpose of the venerable civil-rights organization: civil rights, particularly voting rights. He reminded the listeners that the House of Representatives had voted to block the Justice Department from even investigating allegations of voter suppression. He even rolled out a little Scripture at the end: "we are our brother's keeper".

It was convention-standard boilerplate for a home field crowd.

Biden's half-hour-long remarks were prefaced by a short video from the president, in which he declared that he stood "on the shoulders" of the NAACP and their long history of winning civil rights struggles.

No harsh words for the opposition, the requisite applause lines, some funny mash-ups but no actual miscues. SOP Joe Biden.

Update:

The Vice President’s speech was a veritable truckload of raw ribeye steaks for liberals, grilled to perfection by Biden’s easy, confident connection with the crowd, who responded with vigorous applause and frequent cries of agreement. Biden, himself, noted near the end, “This is preaching to the choir.”

And preach, he did, drawing disappointed boos when he foreshadowed the end of his speech, saying “Let me close, my friends,” then raising the specter of a Romney-appointed Supreme Court. “Folks, this election, in my view, is a fight for the heart and soul of America,” he said.

“These guys aren’t bad guys,” he continued, “they just have a fundamentally different view. The best way to sum up the President’s view, my view, and I think your view, is we see America where, in the words of the scripture, what you do unto the least of my brethren you do unto me.”

The crowd goes wild.

Stein picks Green running mate


On the day before the Green Party's presidential nominating convention, presidential candidate Jill Stein revealed her running mate to CBS News exclusively: homeless activist Cheri Honkala.

"She leads one of the country's largest multiracial, intergenerational movements led by people in poverty, fighting poverty, homelessness and foreclosures," Stein told CBS news. Honkala, a mother of two, and the national coordinator for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, spent some of her days homeless. She ran for sheriff of Philadelphia on the Green Party line in 2011 and based her campaign on a platform of halting evictions.

Stein, who defeated comedian Roseanne Barr for the Green Party's nod, will be officially nominated at the party's national convention in Baltimore, which begins Thursday. Stein, a physician, is from Massachusetts and has launched two unsuccessful bids for governor there, including against Mitt Romney in 2002.

Stein spoke to CBS News this week in advance of her nomination...

Read the interview here.

Update: The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have more. Here also is video of the announcement.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Romney at NAACP: milquetoast

"I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring best interest of African-American families, you would vote for me for president," he said. "I want you to know that if I did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color -- and families of any color -- more than the policies and leadership of President Obama, I would not be running for president."

His audience greeted him with respectful, if not enthusiastic applause, and applauded occasionally at points throughout the speech –- until he said he would eliminate ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago. The audience responded with thundering boos. His listeners also booed a few minutes later when he said he would be a more responsive president to the African-American community than the current occupant of the White House.

Additional excerpts here.



This was a fair yet slightly pleading appeal. Romney displayed a little more than his usual angst before an audience that demonstrated both polite respect and strong opposition when they disagreed.

I don't think he scored any points with anyone who hasn't already bought what he's selling. And scant few of those people were in the GRB this morning.

Mission not quite accomplished, but he gets an E for effort.

Update: From Mediaite...

“I have no hidden agenda. I submit to you that if you want a president who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him,” which was met with a mixture of polite applause and jeering. Romney soaked it in awkwardly for a few seconds, then said, with a game nod, “You take a look!”

All things considered, the speech could have gone a lot worse. Aside from this moment and his promise to end Obamacare, the speech was at least politely received, and the crowd didn’t even seem to mind when Romney took a backhanded shot at President Obama for sending Vice President Joe Biden (who speaks to the convention Thursday) instead of attending himself, saying that “if I am elected president, and you invite me to next year’s convention, I would count it as a privilege, and my answer will be yes.”

The speech was never likely to earn him many, if any, black votes, but the sections where he was booed were somewhat to be expected, and reinforce Romney’s position with voters who agree with him on health care reform, and who are leaning away from the President. The rest of the speech was vague enough to avoid drawing any more negative reactions.