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

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

University of Notre Dame Students Petition Administration to Drop Birth Control Mandate Lawsuit

“She should have died hereafter;
“There would have been a time for such a word.
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
“Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
“To the last syllable of recorded time,
“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
“The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
“That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
“And then is heard no more: it is a tale
“Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
“Signifying nothing.
(Enter a Messenger)
“Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.”

-Spoken by Macbeth; Act 5, Scene 5

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University Of Notre Dame Students Petition Administration To Drop Birth Control Mandate Lawsuit Against Feds

Tyler Kingkade
tyler.kingkade@huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 08/01/2012 6:45 pm Updated: 08/01/2012 6:48 pm

At first, Kathryn Pogin was simply writing a personal letter to the Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C., the president of the University of Notre Dame.

It was a response to his announcement the school would sue the federal government over the requirement that health insurance plans, including those provided by Notre Dame to faculty, staff and students, cover birth control and contraception without co-pays. The university claimed that the mandate would require it to violate Catholic teachings.

But when Pogin, a Notre Dame Ph.D. student in philosophy, showed the letter to Benjamin Rossi and a couple of other friends, they decided to

Health Insurance Rebates – i.e. overcharges you paid for Health Insurance Premiums – on their way back into your wallet, thanks to “ObamaCare”!

A HUGE aspect of “ObamaCare” deals with regulating Health Insurance companies, and one aspect of that business regulation REQUIRES them to use 80% of the premiums for Health Insurance on… HEALTH! Not overhead expenses, not executive compensation, not stockholder payout, not office expenses, not advertising… but HEALTH!

What a novel idea, eh?

As a result, folks are now discovering just how much they’ve been screwed over by Insurance companies.

Remember… those folks DO NOT LOVE YOU.

They LOVE MONEY, and they want yours.

So, they play to your emotions by showing kitty cats, puppy dogs, babies, children, grandma and happy folks as seen through rose-colored glasses & soft-focus filters.

And then, you fall for their seductive pictures.

Once they have their meat-hooks in your wallet, you’re a goner.

Pure & simple.

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U.S. health insurers to pay $1.1 billion in rebates: HHS

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON | Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:26pm EDT

(Reuters) – U.S. health insurance companies are due to pay out $1.1 billion in rebates to employers and individuals this summer, under a new industry regulation imposed by President Barack Obama’s health care law, the administration said on Thursday.

But whether the rebates actually reach those recipients depends on if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a ruling expected by the end of next week, experts said.

Twenty-six U.S. states have asked the high court to

Soon, the USA will be only 30 years behind in healthcare

Unless one travels in medical or healthcare circles, it’s highly doubtful that ICD-9 codes mean anything.

Why?

ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases, or more accurately, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. But it’s known as ICD.

So what’s the “9” for?

It means it’s the 9th revision.

And what good is ICD-9?

It’s a means of tracking disease.

And, to put things in perspective, while the article below would tend to infer that a one year delay might be a bad thing, consider that the work upon ICD-10 has been ongoing since 1983, and was

Day 3: SCOTUS hears final PPACA case arguments

It’s not looking good for the petitioners.

And to give Mr. Paul D. Clement his props, he has a phenomenal presentation, and has a wonderful presence, has a very rapidly keen response to the Justices questions. He is definitely on top of his game. However, as good as his performance may be, it is my opinion that his arguments will not sway the court.

Mr. Clement was formerly Solicitor General of the United States 2004-2008.

The Court heard arguments today, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, on the Severability issue and Medicaid issue of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cases.

QUESTION PRESENTED:

1. Does Congress

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

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley supports “ObamaCare”

UPDATED August 7, 2015 to include screenshot & URL.
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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: MedicaidAlabama 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