Blog 6 Response to Roaming with Ric's Blog 5

I read your blog and thought it nicely summarized the events of March 21st. I also watched the long events of the Health Care debates. I watched the day long bantering back and forth of representatives from all over the country. I did not know a minute could last so long. It felt like I was watching the last few minutes of a tie breaking game. I watched the vote count after each vote was being cast. I was encouraged about the outcome. I agree that the Health Care reform vote will be a turning point for our nation just like the first African American being sworn in as president of the United States. I agree there is a clamorous resistance among the GOP, not just against Health Care reform but against Obama. Some avid Bush supports are even going to the extreme of saying Obama may be the antichrist. They have been united in instilling fear in this country. I have also been exposed to negative comments about the Health Care Bill. The GOP is united but not in a positive way. The GOP is doing a good job of instilling the lack of patriotism for our government. I agree that many people are fearful of Health Care Reform and they don’t really know why. They feel like Health Care Reform will rob them of their civil liberties. I wonder why the same people were not fearful of the Patriot Act. I enjoy reading your summary of that day’s events.

Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform - what is it? How did it come about and who will it help? I thought, like many people, that it was just another handout and will not help me. Through research of my own I found out that Health Care Reform is not intended to be a handout. The intent of this blog is for the reader to gain more knowledge as I have. How did it come about? Was it a meeting behind closed doors, similar to how the Patriot Act came to be? No, it was very public. The president asked individual states to set up forums to come up with issues that were of concern for health care reform. Reports were then issued from each state forum that addressed the need for health care reform. With all the input from the forums and data assimilated from several sources the president met on March 5, 2009 to conduct a forum on Healthcare reform at the White House. As a result of these forum meetings, a Health Care Plan was developed over a course of a year. The Health Care bill was signed into law March 23, 2010. The new law contains a variety of provisions for various groups of people.

How did the Health Reform Bill come about? Forums from every state were set up; reports were issued on the status of health insurance for each state. There were 3,200 reports issued from over 30,603 participants from every state. A staff of 25 volunteers read each report. The concerns were narrowed down to cost, prevention, pre-existing conditions and quality of care. The President invited various members of congress, representatives from the state forums and stakeholders to attend the White House Forum on Health Reform on March 5, 2009. This forum included Travis Ulerick, a Firefighter and EMT from Indiana, who signed up to host discussions with various members from his community in December 2008. Finally, what came out it was a health reform package that will address many of the health concerns of various people from all over the country. Many people as well as myself were under the assumption that Health reform meant that every single person in this country will have health care made available to them and in some cases “free”. I have discovered this is not the case. The package is simply going to make health insurance more affordable for a variety of people utilizing various methods.

Here are a few examples of the broad spectrum of individuals that Health Care Reform will help. Minorities are twice as likely to be uninsured; therefore it will offer tax credits to minorities. For those who can’t afford insurance tax credits will be available. Adults with pre-existing conditions will no longer be refused coverage after 2014. Children with pre-existing conditions will be covered under the plan starting right away, and children can remain on their parents’ plan until age 26. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which has been very successful, will continue with even more funding. The Health Reform plan will reduce the cost of the insurance plans so parents can afford to add their children to the plan. It will extend oral and vision care to children which have been excluded in the past. More emphasis will be place on preventive care. Provisions will be made for more primary care practitioners and facilities. A National Institute of Minority Health will be established to monitor the health needs. Rural businesses will receive tax credits which will help make insurance affordable. There will be a cap on out of pocket insurance expenses for farmers. Seniors will get a $250.00 rebate to compensate for the donut hole gap on prescription drug costs and with eventual elimination of the donut hole by 2020. Insurance will be more affordable to small businesses through Small business Health Options Program Exchanges, and through tax credits of 25% to 35% of their contribution. Insurance rates will be more affordable to women. Woman have typically paid more than men, but the new plan will address this and focus on preventive health care for women as well as better maternity coverage. It will make insurance available to young adults whether changing jobs, moving or working part time. It will offer a “young invincible” option for those under 30.

As I have discovered the health care reform package has something for everyone but it won’t be free as I had initially thought. But at least it is fair to the majority of individuals in this country. That’s what important in a democracy. I hope the reader comes away with a better understanding and knowledge of Health Care reform whether for or against. For more information go to: http://www.healthreform.gov.

Was the War in Iraq Illegal?

Andy Worthington, the author of the blog “Seven Years of War in Iraq: Still Based on Cheney’s Torture and Lies,” believes the war in Iraq was illegal and that then Vice-President Dick Cheney should be held accountable for his actions. His blog discusses how Cheney condoned capturing and holding various prisoners without rights - and in an inhuman manner - and conducting various torture methods. He condoned torturing prisoners in order to establish connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Worthington is an author and journalist. He has written several books on Guantánamo and has a documentary film about Guantánamo. He states from interviews from various sources that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the head of the Khaldan military training camp in Afghanistan was captured and was tortured in order to confess a connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2003 presented this information to the UN, to justify the war in Iraq.

Vice-President Cheney continued with his torture program supposedly to protect America from terrorists in order to promote the war on terror. Worthington goes on to quote an interview obtained by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker with Dan Coleman, a once FBI interrogator. Coleman states “Administration officials were always pushing us to come up with links, but there weren’t any. The reason they got bad information is that they beat it out of him. You never get good information from someone that way.” After reading this I was really not sure what to think. I know we had to do something after 9/11. As a former soldier myself, I know the last thing we want is to be in an illegal war. This blog leaves me with a further lack of trust in our government. Our government is supposed to stand for truth and justice. Why hasn’t someone done something about this? To send our sons and daughters into harm’s way for an illegal war is an unjustifiable and unforgivable act.

The Credit CARD Act

I read an article in the New York Times called Loan-Sharking Inc. This article is directed to the average consumer. The article written in The New York Times may not fit into the Times’ motto “All the News That's Fit to Print" for the more conservative audience. The article refers to recent passage of The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. The Article leads the audience to believe that the law was a compromise to the Senate Republicans lobbying the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
Basically credit cards have been getting away with various scams. The public is tired of outrageous interest rates, late fees and changing dues dates that credit companies have been getting away with. They are demanding that the government take action to provide protection to the consumer against the credit card companies. The recent law is a start in the right direction however more needs to be done. The article leads the reader to believe that the republican congress is blocking passage of a recent bill for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, without which some advocacy groups believe the credit card companies will continue to find loop holes in the law.
I do lean on the side of the advocacy groups that there should be stronger laws to protect the consumer. Many young people have credits and not all of them misuse them. Some of them like my daughter use them for emergencies. I don’t think my daughter should be penalized as much as $49.00 for being late and an additional $25.00 to $50.00 for being as low as a few dollars over the credit limit. This has happened to me. I think credit card should offer the same latitude to consumers as others financial institutions.

Terrorist Trials

Blog Stage 2

I wanted to know more about what was going on with conducting the terrorist trials in NYC. I read an article by Terry Hurlbut of the Essex County Conservative Examiner titled the “Terrorist trials in New York”. I had catching brief blurbs from watching various news programs but this article seems to sum up the situation really well. I also reviewed other articles and viewed a YouTube video. For those who don’t already understand the significance of the Terrorist trials and how they relate to what we are studying in this class, I highly recommend this article.
In summary, it has been nearly nine years since the terrorist attacks. We have five terror suspects in custody. One of them was caught red handed, with evidence in his possession. This article puts into question whether these five suspects should be tried in civilian court in New York City for what was an apparent act of war against the U.S. There is a significant difference between a military court versus a civilian court. In a civilian court all the evidence must be submitted regardless of how it was obtained. However, the only evidence accepted would be the evidence legally obtained. Then there is the issue of the 5th Amendment. According to the article, the debate of a civilian trial versus a military trial could have been avoided if President George W. Bush had obtained a Declaration of War from Congress.