What We're Reading - September 13
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Good morning, everyone! This morning is full of good news nationally, and some disappointing news in the states. Here’s what we’re reading this morning…
The Affordable Care Act has a measurable impact. “Fewer Uninsured People” — “The number of Americans who lack health insurance declined last year, the first drop since 2007. This is, in large part, the result of the health care reform law and better coverage under public programs like Medicaid. This also shows why repealing the health care law or revamping and shrinking Medicaid, as many Republicans want to do, would be disastrous moves. The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that the number of people without health coverage fell to 48.6 million in 2011, or 15.7 percent of the population, down from 49.9 million, or 16.3 percent of the population, in 2010. Health experts attributed a big chunk of the drop to a provision in the health care reform law that allows children to remain on their parents’ policies until age 26. Some three million young adults took advantage of that provision, other surveys show. The bureau also reported that the percentage of people covered by private insurance stayed flat at 63.9 percent, the first time in a decade it has not fallen. The percentage of Americans covered by government programs, like Medicare, Medicaid, a related children’s health program, and military plans, increased for the fifth consecutive year to reach 32.2 percent in 2011. That is a testament to the importance of government programs in troubled economic times.”
Bad news in Missouri—state legislature overturns veto and allows employers to decide whether women can get birth control. “Planned Parenthood blasts Missouri legislature for overturning contraception veto” — “Planned Parenthood says Missouri legislators are treating women as second class citizens, and are putting employers in charge of women’s reproductive health decisions. ‘Today, the Missouri legislature callously ignored the 700,000 Missouri women that use some form of birth control, and — by allowing SB749, the Birth Control Refusal bill to become law — put employers and insurers in charge of their birth control decision-making,’ Planned Parenthood says in a press release. ‘The Missouri legislature, beholden to lobbyists that see an abortion in every birth control pill, has done a huge disservice to all Missouri women,’ says Peter Brownlie, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. ‘Birth control is not just basic, preventive health care for women, it is a pocketbook issue. Without this new birth control coverage benefit, many women will now have to continue paying $15 to $50 a month on top of their premium. When you live paycheck to paycheck, that’s a lot of money!’ The republican-controlled legislature passed SB749 last session in response to a proposal that would require most health insurance plans to cover birth control as preventive care with no additional co-pays. Gov. Jay Nixon, a democrat, vetoed the bill on July 12.”
Supporters of dangerous ‘personhood’ measure, aren’t willing to give up the fight…“Personhood Colorado not taking no for an answer” — “Jennifer Mason, spokeswoman for Personhood Colorado, told the Colorado Independent she believes it’s not too late for her group to land its anti-abortion initiative on the ballot in Colorado this year. The state certified voter ballots for the November election Monday. Yet, Mason said ‘case law’ suggests that if the secretary of state got it wrong when he declared her group failed to submit enough signatures to secure a spot on the ballot, then the state would have to rework and reprint the ballots. ‘It’s taking time, but we’re building a very strong case that we have more than enough valid signatures,’ she said. ‘And there is case law where, in a protest like this, the state will have to pay to reprint the ballots.’ The secretary of state’s office conducted a review of the more than 100,000 signatures submitted by Personhood Colorado this summer and announced on August 29 that the group fell roughly 4,000 valid signatures short of the 86,105 required to make the 2012 ballot.”
