Stark Contrast with McCrory

GREENSBORO, NC- State Senator and U.S. Senate Candidate Kay Hagan (D-Guilford) today urged Congress to come up with a solution to ensure that a 10 percent cut in reimbursements for doctors who care for Medicare patients is not realized when Medicare begins processing these claims in two weeks.

Elizabeth Edwards
originally published on Think Progress

I freely admit that I am confused about the role of overnight funding in repurchase markets in the collapse of Bear Stearns. What I am not confused about is John McCain’s health care proposal. Apparently Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy advisor to McCain, thinks I do “not understand the comprehensive nature of the senator’s proposal.” The problem, Douglas, is that, despite fuzzy language and feel-good lines in the Senator’s proposal, I do understand exactly how devastating it will be to people who have the health conditions with which the Senator and I are confronted (melanoma for him, breast cancer for me) but do not have the financial resources we have. In very unconfusing language: they are left outside the clinic doors.

Senator McCain likes to start speeches with a litany of questions that, presumedly, less plain-spoken politicians would refuse to answer. Well, here are some questions he does not ask but, as that plain-spoken politician, he might want to answer:

Washington, DC - John McCain says he will stand up for America's small businesses and that "[e]ntrepreneurs are at the heart of American innovation, growth and prosperity."

Recommendations Would Give Health Care To More Children, Increase Access To Child Care

Gov. Mike Easley said today his 2008-09 budget proposal will recommend spending an additional $31 million to help those who often are overlooked by society but are the most in need. The budget the governor will present to the General Assembly next week will provide additional funds for: health insurance for children in need through the Health Choice program; assistance to those at the greatest threat of foreclosure on their homes; increased aid to those in need of child care; and job-site inspections and assistance to workers in the state’s poultry industry.

Gov. Mike Easley today announced a three-part plan to return accountability to the state’s mental health system and make it more responsive to the needs of patients and their families. He will ask the legislature to give the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services clear authority over the local management entities (LMEs) created by the 2001 reform legislation, change the law to require all deaths in hospitals be reported to the state, and expand the state’s mobile crisis teams that provide hospital services across the state.

“Secretary Dempsey Benton needs to be the one to evaluate the LMEs, to appoint the LME directors, and be able to fire the LME directors, and to do that in a timely fashion. He does not have that authority today,” said Easley. “We need to allow the secretary to reduce the number of LMEs to avoid variations in quality of care and to make it possible to hold these programs accountable. It also would reduce significantly the administrative cost.”

President Bush, please take Dick Cheney with you when you leave the White House.

Cloaked in secrecy, Vice President Dick Cheney met today in a closed meeting with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

“While we might not know what they talked about, the evidence is clear that the Bush-Cheney economic policies have failed North Carolina,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek.

“A recession is looming and it costs more to put fill our gas tanks, heat our homes, and pay for health care when illness strikes,” Meek said.

In 2001, gas was $1.37 per gallon. Now it costs $3.09 per gallon. Americans could heat their homes for as low as $1.40 per gallon. Now it costs $3.39.

Health care insurance premium costs for families have doubled from $6,230 in 2001 to $12,106 per household today.

“North Carolinians work hard to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren,” Meek said. “But the Bush-Cheney Administration has diminished that with irresponsible policies and an unquenchable thirst for debt.”