GOP Governors Deny Healthcare to their Poor Citizens

GOP Governors Deny The Poor Health Care In Opposing Obamacare‘s Medicaid Expansion

December 28, 2012

Posted: 12/28/2012 8:44 am EST | Updated: 12/28/2012 12:18 pm EST

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, right, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in De Witt, Iowa, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. Both Republican governors — along with those in Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota and Maine — have rejected an expansion of Medicaid in their states. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

RUSTON, La. — With no health insurance and not enough money for a doctor, Laura Johnson is long accustomed to treating her ailments with a self-written prescription: home remedies, prayer and denial.

Over decades, she made her living assisting elderly people in nursing homes in jobs that paid just above minimum wage and included no health benefits. So even as her feet swelled to such an extent that she could no longer stuff them into her shoes, and even as nausea, headaches and dizziness plagued her, she reached for the aspirin bottle or made do with a teaspoon of vinegar. She propped her feet up on pillows and hoped for relief.

“Before I got sick,” she said, “I hadn’t been to the doctor in 20 years.”

After she collapsed last year and landed in in a local emergency room, doctors diagnosed her with congestive heart failure, high blood pressure and hypothyroid. They ordered her not to work. She arranged a Social Security disability benefit, and she enrolled in Medicaid, the government-furnished insurance program for the poor. She used her Medicaid card to secure needed prescription medications. Her ailments stabilized.

But this year, the state determined that the $819 a month she draws in disability payments exceed the allowable limit. By the federal government’s reckoning, her $9,800 annual income made her officially poor. But under the standards set by Louisiana, she was too well off to receive Medicaid.

This is how Johnson, 57, finds herself back amid the roughly 49 million Americans who lack health insurance. This is why she must again reach into her pocket to secure her prescription drugs, a supply that runs about $200 a month. That sum is beyond her, so she has gone more than four months without taking her pills on a regular basis. Once again, her feet are swelling and her chest is filling with fluid. Once again, she is confronted with the realization that a lifetime of labor does not entitle her to see a doctor any more than it enables her to gain crucial medications.

“It just doesn’t seem right to me,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem fair.”

Johnson is precisely the sort of person who is supposed to

Corporate Citizens Discover Bad-Mouthing Policy is Bad for Business

Papa John’s, Applebee’s And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking

Op/Ed

12/04/2012 @ 5:18PM

by Rick Ungar, Contributor

Writing from the left on politics and policy.

LAS VEGAS, NV – APRIL 01: Papa Johns Pizza Founder John Schnatter arrives at the 47th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 1, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

It turns out that being a good corporate citizen is as important to selling pizzas as the thinness of the crust or the quality of the cheese.

If you don’t believe it, just ask Papa John CEO, John Schnatter.

As covered—and criticized—in this column in great detail, Mr. Schnatter decided to mix his politics with his pepperoni when suggesting that he would be cutting the work hours for Papa John employees in order to bring them below the 30 hour per week threshold that would require Schnatter to provide his employees with healthcare benefits.

It turns out, the pizza eating public did not approve.

Indeed, so serious was the reaction that Schnatter was forced to publish an op-ed piece where he sought to convince us that he never really intended to cut back worker hours but had simply been speculating on what he might do in response to the legislation.

According to YouGov BrandIndex,  a leading marketing survey that measures brand perception in the marketplace (called “Buzz”), Papa John’s had good reason for concern as the pizza chain’s brand identity has plummeted from a high of 32 on election day, to a remarkably low score of 4 among adults who have eaten at causal dining restaurants during the past month.

Ouch.

Papa John is not alone in his anti-Obamacare misery.

Fast food server, Applebee’s, possessed a healthy Buzz score of 35 before Zane Terkel, CEO of one of the company’s largest franchisees, appeared on television to

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Defies Federal Law, Refuses to Establish Healthcare Insurance Exchange for Citizens

Governor Bentley is pulling a George Wallace stand-in-the-schoolhouse-door redux.

What an ignorant ass he is!

It’s exceedingly sad that he – as a physician – ordered Alabama’s 67 Counties Departments of Public Health to STOP giving Tuberculosis tests, thereby jeopardizing the public health of everyone who eats at a public restaurant, works in healthcare, and more – and was done as super-virulent, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are emerging. Gee, thanks, Governor Dr. Bentley. NOT!

Thanks for nothing, you jack-legged nincompoop!

By your defiant actions, Governor Bentley, you will FORCE the Federal Government to do something TOTALLY against your opinion – and that is, to establish a Health Insurance Exchange in Alabama.

You, Governor Bentley, are a lazy, sorry, idiotic jerk, in addition to being a liar, thief, incompetent boob, and contemptuous good-for-nothing.

Pejoratives aside, more than anything, this places the solitary onus of responsibility upon the governor and legislature to 1.) Increase education,; 2.) Increase employment; 3.) Increase Corporate Income Tax rates; and 4.) Increase Personal Income Tax rates on the wealthiest Alabamians who already pay a well-documented rate that is significantly lower than the impoverished.

By increasing educational attainment in Alabama, the governor will be demonstrating a high-quality, high-yield investment in the state’s most precious resource – people.

But the governor – bless him – is ignorant, and it is quite painfully obvious that he just doesn’t understand such simple concepts. He should understand them, however, because he has said previously, that he used the G.I. Bill to complete his medical training after his enlistment ended.

In stark contrast, Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam said, “I’ve always said from the very beginning that anything we [Tennessee] can run instead of the federal government, we are going to run it better and cheaper,” The simpler thing to do is to say, ‘Here, it’s your idea, you run it,’ but I’m not convinced yet that that’s what’s best for our citizens. There’s going to be an exchange and ultimately, our citizens — through their insurance companies — are going to pay for the costs of running that exchange. So who do we think can run it cheaper: us or the federal government? I’ll bet on us every time. But we have to be convinced that the flexibility they will give us is worth taking the risk of running it ourselves.”

For the benefit of the reader who may be unaware of what an Insurance Exchange is, the exchange is designed to allow uninsured people to compare and buy health insurance plans through a single Internet portal. Those who earn up to four times the federally designated poverty level will receive subsidies to pay for the coverage.

Essentially, it’s an Internet-based non-business (nobody is making any money), that creates a database of health insurance carriers that all adhere to certain guidelines for efficiency and coverage. The law allows states to join together to run multi-state exchanges – essentially, insurance across state lines – or to exclude themselves.

In essence, make a list of companies that sell health insurance in the state, make a comparison of their plans and prices, and provide a link to the company for folks to buy insurance from whatever company they want.

Not too difficult to figure out, eh?

Here’s a link to an informative flyer from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation about what Health Insurance Exchanges are, and what they do.

You may also be interested in reading the informative site http://healthreform.kff.org.

 

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Gov. Bentley says Alabama won’t set up exchange, expand Medicaid

By Kim Chandler | kchandler@al.com
on November 13, 2012 at 1:38 PM, updated November 13, 2012 at 5:19 PM

Bentley, in a show of continued resistance to the Affordable Care Act,  said this afternoon that he will not set up a state health care exchange and he will not expand Medicaid under the federal healthcare overhaul.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley speaks at the Birmingham Business Alliance 2012 Governor’s Luncheon in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com) / Tuesday, November 13, 2012 1:17 PM

“I will not set up a state exchange in Alabama,” Bentley said during a speech to the Birmingham Business Alliance.

States have a Friday deadline to inform the  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  if they plan to set up a state-run exchange, essentially a marketplace for people and businesses to shop for insurance. If states don’t set up their own exchange, either alone or in federal partnership, then the federal government will step in and design it.

Bentley said he has been in communication with other governors  — including peers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana — about the exchange decision.  He expected multiple governors to show a united front of resistance to the Affordable Care Act.

“If we stand together, I do believe Congress is going to have to look at this again,”Bentley said.

Bentley said he expected other governors to announce similar decisions.

“That will

Insurance companies increase profits after ObamaCare passed

Brer Fox leapt out of the bushes and strolled over to Brer Rabbit. “Well, well, what have we here?” he asked, grinning an evil grin.

Brer Rabbit gulped. He was stuck fast. He did some fast thinking while Brer Fox rolled about on the road, laughing himself sick over Brer Rabbit’s dilemma.

“I’ve got you this time, Brer Rabbit,” said Brer Fox, jumping up and shaking off the dust. “You’ve sassed me for the very last time. Now I wonder what I should do with you?”

Brer Rabbit’s eyes got very large. “Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”

“Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you,” mused Brer Fox. “No, that’s too much trouble. Maybe I’ll hang you instead.”

“Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Rabbit. “Only please, Brer Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”

“If I’m going to hang you, I’ll need some string,” said Brer Fox. “And I don’t have any string handy. But the stream’s not far away, so maybe I’ll drown you instead.”

“Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Rabbit. “Only please, Brer Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”

“The briar patch, eh?” said Brer Fox. “What a wonderful idea! You’ll be torn into little pieces!”

Grabbing up the tar-covered rabbit, Brer Fox swung him around and around and then flung him head over heels into the briar patch. Brer Rabbit let out such a scream as he fell that all of Brer Fox’s fur stood straight up. Brer Rabbit fell into the briar bushes with a crash and a mighty thump. Then there was silence.

Brer Fox cocked one ear toward the briar patch, listening for whimpers of pain. But he heard nothing. Brer Fox cocked the other ear toward the briar patch, listening for Brer Rabbit’s death rattle. He heard nothing.

Then Brer Fox heard someone calling his name. He turned around and looked up the hill. Brer Rabbit was sitting on a log combing the tar out of his fur with a wood chip and looking smug.

“I was bred and born in the briar patch, Brer Fox,” he called. “Born and bred in the briar patch.”

And Brer Rabbit skipped away as merry as a cricket while Brer Fox ground his teeth in rage and went home.

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Insurers Profit From Health Law They Fought Against

By Sarah Frier – Jan 5, 2012

Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul, saying it would raise costs and disrupt coverage. Instead, profit margins at the companies widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.

Insurers led by WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the biggest by membership, recorded their highest combined quarterly net income of the past decade after the law was signed in 2010, said Peter Gosselin, the study author and senior health-care analyst for Bloomberg Government. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Managed Health-Care Index rose 36 percent in the period, four times more than the S&P 500.

“The industry that was the loudest, most persistent critic of this law, the industry whose analysts and executives predicted it would suffer immensely because of the law, has thrived,” Gosselin said. “There is a shift to government work under way that is going to represent a fundamental change in their business model.”

Health insurers contributed $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the law after Obama administration officials criticized the plans for enriching themselves by raising customer premiums.

“We remain very concerned that

The Theory of Everything

I’m elated to learn that there is a “Theory of Everything.”

As I delved further into it, I found that

Research: Health Insurance Costs Grew Less in 2012 since 1997

At the time of publication of this report – September 2011 – the complete data was not in. However, initial results indicated that cost containment was well under way.

The news is good!

ObamaCare is WORKING!

However, much additional work remains to be done.

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Latest survey finds health benefit cost growth for 2012 likely to be the lowest in 15 years

United States , New York
Publication date: 21 September 2011

Early responses from a Mercer survey still in the field suggest that the average growth in health benefit cost will slow to 5.4% in 2012, the smallest increase since 1997. Still, cost growth remains well above both general inflation and growth in workers’ earnings (see Fig. 1).

 While this increase reflects cost-cutting changes employers will make to their current health benefit programs, such as raising deductibles or moving employees into lower-cost health plans, the preliminary survey findings released today by Mercer suggest that the underlying trend has slowed as well. Asked how much cost would rise if they made no changes to their current plans, employers reported an average increase of 7.1%. Over the past five years, this underlying health benefit cost trend has been running at about 9%.

The slower trend is good news for workers, because an employer’s first line of defense against a high initial renewal rate typically is to change plan provisions so that employees pay more out of pocket for health care. If the underlying trend is lower to begin with, employers will be likely to shift less cost. For the past several years, employers have reduced their initial renewal rate by about 3 percentage points on average; in 2012, they are planning to reduce it by about 2 points (Fig. 2).

These results are based on

Former Tennessee Senator & Cardiothoracic Surgeon Bill Frist, MD enters healthcare dialogue

Face it. Sooner or later, you’re going to die. Death is a part of life. Making a decision about whether or not you want to be connected to belts, tubes, hoses & pumps to circulate your blood, food & oxygen when your body would have naturally expired is essentially what the discussion is about.

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The Bill Frist ℞

By: Brett Norman
September 16, 2012 11:06 PM EDT

Meet former Sen. Bill Frist, a renegade “Obamacare”-loving Republican who is in the mood for some real bipartisanship.

Yes, the same Frist who as Senate majority leader led an army into the culture wars over Terri Schiavo and whose efforts in 2004 to unseat his then-rival, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, led to a nasty — and personal — Washington battle royal.

Now, Frist is pushing for a national conversation on end-of-life care and dismissing “caricatured”talk of death panels. He’s committing Republican heresy in endorsing elements of the loathed Affordable Care Act. He’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Daschle in search of a bipartisan way to tackle one of the thorniest problems around: how to get control of health care costs before they sink the economy.

Frist is pushing for a national conversation on end-of-life care. | AP Photo

The Frist-Daschle reconciliation, in particular, is a source of amazement to some longtime Washington observers.

“I didn’t think they would ever talk again,” said Bill Hoagland, a budget expert and former aide to Frist who has joined the duo on a health cost control initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “I was surprised, pleasantly, that they would work together.”

Daschle told POLITICO, “He’s been a very important partner and I would say has become a friend in spite of the fact that we’ve had a difficult history.”

“That is past and we now find much more in common than not,” he added. “We both know that we need to find a consensus way forward.”

Frist, a heart and lung transplant surgeon who is now focused on research and policy, is working on

Wall Street Journal on @MittRomney policy plan & R’ObamaCare Mitt-Flop

Do tell.

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WSJ chides Romney for too few policy details

By MAGGIE HABERMAN|

9/10/12 10:11 PM EDT

The WSJ editorial page weighs in on Mitt Romney‘s Obamacare response on Meet the Press, and the subsequent clean-up:

When Mitt Romney ventures into health care, political trouble usually follows. So it went this weekend, as the GOP standard-bearer made his own policy sound worse than it is.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Republican was asked what he would do about people with pre-existing medical conditions who would supposedly “no longer be guaranteed health care” if he repeals the Affordable Care Act. “I say we’re going to replace ObamaCare,” Mr. Romney replied. “And I’m replacing it with my own plan,” without defining the substance of his own agenda.

When pressed, Mr. Romney said that “I’m not getting rid of all of health-care reform. (That would be the liberal euphemism for ObamaCare.) Of course, there are a number of things that I like in health-care reform

Paul Ryan is a lying hypocrite who requested ObamaCare money for his district.

Well, well, well…

Can you smell the hypocrisy cooking?

This is the kind of garbage commonly found in the GOP these days.

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Exclusive: Paul Ryan Quietly Requested Obamacare Cash

Lee Fang, September 5, 2012 – 1:35 PM ET

Investigating the intersection of politics, lobbying and public policy.

Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.

On December 10, 2010, Ryan penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services to recommend a grant application for the Kenosha Community Health Center, Inc to develop a new facility in Racine, Wisconsin, an area within Ryan’s district. Ryan wrote, “The proposed new facility, the Belle City Neighborhood Health Center, will serve both the preventative and comprehensive primary healthcare needs of thousands of new patients of all ages who are currently without healthcare.”

Paul Ryan’s request for Obamacare funds

The grant Ryan requested was funded directly by the Affordable Care Act, better known simply as healthcare reform or Obamacare.

The letter, among several obtained by The Nation and The Investigative Fund through a Freedom of Information Act request, is a stark reminder that even the most ardent opponents of Obamacare privately acknowledge many of the law’s benefits.

Federally funded health clinics have long provided a broad range of vital medical, dental and mental health services to underprivileged communities across the country, regardless of a persons’ ability to pay. To meet the goal of expanding coverage, the Affordable Care Act provides for a sweeping expansion of such clinics, including $9.5 billion for operating costs to existing community health centers and $1.5 billion for new construction.

In public, Ryan has cultivated a profile as

Is Obamacare a Government Takeover of Medicine?

The truth speaks for itself.—

Carolyn McClanahan, Contributor

Physician/Financial Planner. I discuss all things money and medicine.

8/28/2012 @ 10:32PM

The purpose of this blog is to educate non-policy wonks on the content of the Affordable Care Act, discuss the practical logistics of how the law will be implemented, and share my perspective on potential “good” and “bad” of the law. The law is far from perfect, but it is the most significant attempt our country has ever made at reforming our costly and inefficient health care system. In case you are a reader who thinks the entire law is “bad,” I implore you to learn about the ten sections of the law in this previous post.

In addition to speaking gigs, I also do “talk radio” about once a month. The questions I’m asked give some indication of where education on the ACA is lacking. One refrain I’ve heard over and over is that Obamacare is a “government takeover” of medicine. This post explores that concept.

“Government takeover” fears seem to take on several different variations.

• Medicine will be a government run entity – doctors will be employed by the government and care will be paid for by the government.

• All of the doctors will be employed by the government, but insurance companies will still exist.

• The government will dictate what doctors can and cannot do.

• The government will make it so onerous to practice medicine that everyone will quit.

• If the government has one iota of involvement in any form, it is a government takeover.

So what really happens with the Affordable Care Act?

Paul Ryan Will Save Social Security & Medicare

NOT!

The original title of this entry was “Paul Ryan Contradicts Himself & Pimps his Mother.“

For behold, it’s a case of “The pot calls the kettle ‘black.’”

First, he is a career politician damning “this board of bureaucrats,” of which he is a founding, card-carrying member.

Paul Ryan has never held an honest, private sector job a day in his life (if you count driving the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile during summer in college), and has ONLY had political jobs since he first started working.

He has completely IGNORED the findings of the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget and the Governmental Accountability Office, all who have independently found that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act decrease the budget and has NOT taken ANY money from Medicare, Medicaid or the Social Security Trust Fund (SSTF).

You know the saying:

Today Mitt Romney spoke out of the _?_ side of his mouth, and said:

“And you know what he did with it? He’s used it to pay for Obamacare, a risky, unproven, federal takeover of health care.” -Mitt Romney

Government estimates say that more than 6,000 jobs statewide and 20 percent of Iowa‘s electricity needs come from wind power, and the state’s senior GOP leaders all support renewing an extension of a wind tax credit that Romney opposes.

Romney’s campaign did not respond to repeated quests for his position on the other portions of the bill, which includes items such as a tax break for developers of NASCAR facilities and purchasers of electric motorcycles.

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http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-14/gop-ticket-faces-growing-pains-as-dems-attack
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FACT: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has determined that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is fully paid for,

Republican Father of ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate Denies He Ever Created It

Liar.

Weasel.

Republican.

Can you smell the hypocrisy cooking?

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Column: Don’t blame Heritage for ObamaCare mandate

By Stuart Butler

Updated 2/6/2012 10:40 AM

Is the individual mandate at the heart of “ObamaCare” a conservative idea? Is it constitutional? And was it invented at The Heritage Foundation? In a word, no. {ed. note: That’s utter bullshit, which you’ll understand why as you read on.}

Stuart Butler, By Kate Patterson, USA TODAY (The liar looks happy as a lark, doesn’t he? Apparently, there’s no joy in Mudville.)

The U.S. Supreme Court will put the middle issue to rest. The answers to the first and last can come from me. After all, I headed Heritage’s health work for 30 years. And make no mistake: Heritage and I actively oppose the individual mandate, including in an amicus brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, the myth persists. ObamaCare “adopts the ‘individual mandate’ concept from the conservative Heritage Foundation,” Jonathan Alter wrote recently in The Washington Post. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews makes the same claim, asserting that Republican support of a mandate “has its roots in a proposal by the conservative Heritage Foundation.” Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and others have made similar claims.

The confusion arises from the fact that 20 years ago, I held the view that

Healthcare Insurance policy holders to get rebate in FL

Thanks to “ObamaCare,” which requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of health insurance premiums on actual healthcare, instead of CEO compensation, stockholder payout, advertising, overhead, and other non-healthcare delivery, Floridians will be receiving a rebate from the money they were overcharged.

Thanks, President Obama!

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Florida health insurers to rebate estimated $113 M

Consumers with individual policies may get $143 to $949 each

April 13, 2012|By Bob LaMendola, Sun Sentinel

Floridians who buy health insurance without the help of an employer can expect estimated rebates of $143 to $949 in August because of the federal health care overhaul.

About 157,000 individuals and families qualify. In addition, an estimated $65 million in health insurance rebates are in line to be split among workers covered at 352,000 small businesses, the Sun Sentinel found by analyzing reports filed this month by 15 of the largest insurers in Florida.

Don’t expect cash back if you get health coverage from an employer of more than 50 workers. Few of their insurers will owe rebates, and many companies are self-insured and not affected by the health law, insurance experts said.

“This is important for consumers,” said Richard Polangin, health care policy coordinator with the advocacy organization Florida Public Interest Research Group. “They already pay extremely high prices for health insurance.”

Individuals don’t need to do a thing to obtain their money. Insurers must notify them by Aug. 1 if they are due a refund and pay that month.

The rebates

SCOTUS, PPACA & American Healthcare: Links from Days 1 & 2

Naysayers, conservative political pundits and Obama “haters” of all stripe – Radical Republicans, TEA Partiers, White Supremacists, Neo Nazis, et al – have vilified and unified against already-enacted federal legislation that foremost, regulates practices by the Health Insurance industry, such as denial of coverage for children born with certain health conditions, denial of coverage for women with breast cancer, cancelling coverage in the midst of medical treatment, exorbitantly raising premium rates without actuarial justification, denying payment for covered services deemed medically necessary and rendered by qualified physicians or others, and more.

Such practices have been rightly demonized and justly described as onerous by almost everyone, even by the most staunch conservatives. So it remains a great mystery why so many are seemingly straining against what they denigrate as “ObamaCare.”

At least two elements of the law – the so-called

Day 2: SCOTUS hears PPACA argument

As I’m writing, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has concluded Day 2 of oral argument in the unprecedented three days of arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Hear the oral argument

Newt Gingrich supported Obamacare before he didn’t support Obamacare

Colloquially, of course, such behavior could be described as either ‘schizophrenic,’ ‘conflicted,’ ‘incompatible,’ or ‘contradictory’.

None of those terms are positive or encouraging. And certainly, none are like the sound of

Ending Obamacare

Among conservatives, there’s little argument that Obamacare should be abolished. ‘It’s time to get government out of our lives,’ they say.

They make many very valid points. Those same folks have expressed concerns that instead,

AL Gov. Robert Bentley supports “ObamaCare”

I can smell the hypocrisy cooking.

On one hand, the good governor and his legislature decries anything remotely resembling Democratic policies, but they sure don’t waste any time jumping on the bandwagon for those federal tax dollars to be doled out.

Goddamn hypocrites.

Read their crowing press release below.

December 30, 2011State of Alabama Press Release: Medicaid Alabama Medicaid receives $19 million performance bonus for efforts to enroll uninsured children in Medicaid

Governor Robert Bentley announced the Alabama Medicaid Agency will receive a $19 million federal performance bonus for the effectiveness of its innovative and user-friendly methods to enroll more low-income children in Medicaid during the 2011 Fiscal Year. Alabama is

Friendship, Love, Passion, Politics, Sarcasm and Shoes

Friendship, Love, Passion, Politics, Sarcasm and Shoes

Recently, I enjoyed a virtual chat with a dear, long-time friend of mine. We began our friendship, interestingly enough, over a pair of shoes. I needed one, and he had one – pair of shoes, that is – so I bought them from him. He is a skilled tradesman and business owner/entrepreneur, and educated me on what makes a good pair of shoes and boots.

His demeanor impressed me, and we found that we had several common interests – perhaps chief among them music – and a love of