Women News Dec 22, 20009
Women News Dec 23, 2009
Jane: The following analysis of the Senate Health was written by Patricia Murphy, columnist. Changes you should know about:
The Public Option was officially dropped from the Senate bill and was replaced with a plan to create two national or multi-state health insurance exchanges, which will be run by the Office of Personnel Management. Although senators had talked about replacing the public option with an expansion of Medicare for uninsured Americans over 55, objections from Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson and other Democrats kept that from happening.
Joan: New abortion funding language now separates federal funding from private funding for abortion services on the exchanges, and lets states choose not to allow insurance companies to cover abortion on their health exchanges. This change left both pro-life and pro-choice groups unhappy, with the National Right to Life Committee and NARAL Pro-Choice America vowing to work to defeat the bill without changes.
Jane: To raise revenue, the Medicare payroll tax increase went up from 0.5 percent, as was proposed, to 0.9 percent for income over $250,000 for a family.
Joan: To save money, senators will cut reimbursement rates for doctors from the federal government by 21 percent, beginning in 2010.
Jane: What Stays the Same:
Joan: Insurance reforms stay the same as the first Senate bill. Insurers will be prohibited from denying or stopping coverage based on the cost of care or the health of the customer.
Jane: Children up to 26 years old will be able access coverage through their parents' insurance.
Joan: The mandate that all individuals purchase health insurance by 2014 remains the same, as do penalties for employers who do not offer insurance to their workers. Businesses with fewer than 50 workers are exempt.
Jane: The 40 percent "Cadillac" tax on high-dollar insurance plans does not change and will go into effect in 2013.
Joan: The federal government will subsidize the cost of insurance for families who make between 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level.
Jane: New federal insurance for Long Term Care will be offered.
Joan: What's Ahead:
* With Sen. Ben Nelson's announcement that he will support the bill, Democrats will have votes from 60 senators and can defeat Republicans' ongoing efforts to filibuster the health reform. That means the Senate will move quickly through a series of procedural votes on the bill, beginning at 1 a.m. Monday morning, and likely finishing at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Jane: After the Senate passes its bill, Democratic leaders from the House and Senate will negotiate a compromise between their versions of health reform. Major differences remain, with the most significant being the creation of a public option (the House does it, the Senate does not), and who will pay higher taxes to pay for the expanded coverage. The House raises taxes on the wealthy with a five-percent income tax increase on people making more than $500,000. The Senate increase the Medicare payroll tax and creates the "Cadillac tax," which could hit middle-class workers by taxing expensive health plans.
Joan: If the conference committee reaches a compromise, the House and Senate will both vote on the new and final version of the bill. Democrats have said they want President Obama to sign the measure before his State of the Union address at the end of January.
Jane: All told, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will cost $871 billion over 10 years, but the CBO also says the bill could actually reduce the deficit by $132 billion in the same time frame because of tax increases and lower payments to doctors, if the Senate sticks to its commitment to enforce those changes. Joan and I hope this analysis helps you better understand the implications of the Senate Health Reform Bill.
Joan: Nine years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that one in five college women would be raped, or experiences an attempted rape, before graduation. Federal laws require schools to act on these allegations and look out for the rights of victims. But a 9 month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit found that the federal records on campus sex offenses fail to capture the extent of the problem. Kristen Lombardi, the center's lead reporter, said that "The biggest sin is one of omission. They're just not dealing with this issue head-on in a public manner with their student bodies."
Similarly, under-reporting is a problem at the nation's three major military academies: West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs. Last Friday, the Defense Department stated that the number of reported sexual assaults has dropped, noting that under-reporting could be a reason for the decrease. Reasons for not reporting an incident include shame, fear of not being believed, fear of impact on their career, not wanting to relive the episode and concern over the reaction from other students.
Jane: This problem of rape does not exist only in colleges and military academies. Last week a 12-year-old girl claimed she was raped by a 14-year-old in the school hallway. Even though two witnesses rescued the 12-yr old from rape, a security guard, claimed she wanted it. Police and prosecutors maintain that what happened at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, CA was in fact, a serious sexual assault. Others, employees of the school in El Cerrito, claimed, "It was hormones going wild." Both the school principal and vice-principal have been put on paid administrative leave.
Joan: On a more positive note. This winter, 22 year-old Katie Spotz plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a row boat in attempt to raise money for Blue Planet Run, a foundation that finances clean drinking water projects around the world. She won't even have a tarp to protect her lest she be tempted to use it to catch the wind. The 2,500 mile trip is expected to take between 70 and 100 days. If Spotz succeeds, she will become the youngest person to cross an ocean in a rowboat, and the first American to row solo from mainland to mainland.
Jane: In 2010, there is a good chance that Florida will have its first women gubernatorial candidates. Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer will most likely be the Democratic nominee. State Sen. Paula Dockery is battling with state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination.
Dockery acknowledges the gender factory, saying she represents a better hope for the GOP against Sink than would another "middle-aged white male." She believes that if she wins the Republican nomination, it will neutralize the advantage Democrats would otherwise have by trumpeting the state's first female nominee.
If Dockery wins the primary, it will set up an all-female general election battle for governor, which has only happened twice before in American history: In Nebraska in 1986, and in Hawaii in 2002.
Joan: On a similar theme, MSNBC reported that female executives are emerging as serious contenders for statewide offices, not only in Florida but also in Connecticut and California. Finally, political parties, particularly the GOP are broadening their candidate pools to include women!
Chris LaCivita, a Republican political consultant said the timing is right for contenders with the type of business backgrounds of Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Linda McMahon and Alex Sink.
For women this is a first time leap from corporate to political leadership. Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Whitman, the former CEO of the eBay online auction site, are running in California for Senate and governor, respectively. McMahon, until recently the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is running for Senator in Connecticut. As we mentioned, Sink, former president of Florida Operations at Bank of America, is running for governor in Florida.
Jane: If you can't trust the CDC, whom can you trust? Friday, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to ensure that the experts adequately completed forms pertaining to their financial ties to companies that could profit from CDC decisions. As a result it was determined that sixty-four percent of the advisers hired by to serve on panels evaluating cervical cancer and flu vaccines had potential conflicts of interest. The NY Times reports that Thomas Frieden, the CDC Director said, "Since the period covered in this review, CDC has strengthened the financial disclosures and conflict-of-interest process by instituting improved business processes and realigning responsibilities and oversight."
Joan: The EEOC will get $23 million to reduce 70,000-case backlog. The resource-starved EEOC recently saw a 35% jump in its backlog, and a record number of discrimination complaints in 2008. Nearly two-thirds involved racial or gender discrimination.
Jane: New York City is holding a condom wrapper design competition for the "NYC Condom," which is given out at no cost to millions of people each year. NYC is looking for a design that will "capture the city's distinctive culture while promoting safer sex."
The winning wrapper design will appear on hundreds of thousands of the city's condoms and might be featured in safer-sex promotional materials. The contest is open to any city resident ages 17 or older and those younger than age 17 can enter with written consent from a parent or guardian. The finalists will be selected by the health department in February 2010, at which point the public will be allowed to vote online for the winning design (Kugler, AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune, 12/15).
Joan:Only in New York City! You gotta love it!
Jane: The following analysis of the Senate Health was written by Patricia Murphy, columnist. Changes you should know about:
The Public Option was officially dropped from the Senate bill and was replaced with a plan to create two national or multi-state health insurance exchanges, which will be run by the Office of Personnel Management. Although senators had talked about replacing the public option with an expansion of Medicare for uninsured Americans over 55, objections from Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson and other Democrats kept that from happening.
Joan: New abortion funding language now separates federal funding from private funding for abortion services on the exchanges, and lets states choose not to allow insurance companies to cover abortion on their health exchanges. This change left both pro-life and pro-choice groups unhappy, with the National Right to Life Committee and NARAL Pro-Choice America vowing to work to defeat the bill without changes.
Jane: To raise revenue, the Medicare payroll tax increase went up from 0.5 percent, as was proposed, to 0.9 percent for income over $250,000 for a family.
Joan: To save money, senators will cut reimbursement rates for doctors from the federal government by 21 percent, beginning in 2010.
Jane: What Stays the Same:
Joan: Insurance reforms stay the same as the first Senate bill. Insurers will be prohibited from denying or stopping coverage based on the cost of care or the health of the customer.
Jane: Children up to 26 years old will be able access coverage through their parents' insurance.
Joan: The mandate that all individuals purchase health insurance by 2014 remains the same, as do penalties for employers who do not offer insurance to their workers. Businesses with fewer than 50 workers are exempt.
Jane: The 40 percent "Cadillac" tax on high-dollar insurance plans does not change and will go into effect in 2013.
Joan: The federal government will subsidize the cost of insurance for families who make between 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level.
Jane: New federal insurance for Long Term Care will be offered.
Joan: What's Ahead:
* With Sen. Ben Nelson's announcement that he will support the bill, Democrats will have votes from 60 senators and can defeat Republicans' ongoing efforts to filibuster the health reform. That means the Senate will move quickly through a series of procedural votes on the bill, beginning at 1 a.m. Monday morning, and likely finishing at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Jane: After the Senate passes its bill, Democratic leaders from the House and Senate will negotiate a compromise between their versions of health reform. Major differences remain, with the most significant being the creation of a public option (the House does it, the Senate does not), and who will pay higher taxes to pay for the expanded coverage. The House raises taxes on the wealthy with a five-percent income tax increase on people making more than $500,000. The Senate increase the Medicare payroll tax and creates the "Cadillac tax," which could hit middle-class workers by taxing expensive health plans.
Joan: If the conference committee reaches a compromise, the House and Senate will both vote on the new and final version of the bill. Democrats have said they want President Obama to sign the measure before his State of the Union address at the end of January.
Jane: All told, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will cost $871 billion over 10 years, but the CBO also says the bill could actually reduce the deficit by $132 billion in the same time frame because of tax increases and lower payments to doctors, if the Senate sticks to its commitment to enforce those changes. Joan and I hope this analysis helps you better understand the implications of the Senate Health Reform Bill.
Joan: Nine years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that one in five college women would be raped, or experiences an attempted rape, before graduation. Federal laws require schools to act on these allegations and look out for the rights of victims. But a 9 month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit found that the federal records on campus sex offenses fail to capture the extent of the problem. Kristen Lombardi, the center's lead reporter, said that "The biggest sin is one of omission. They're just not dealing with this issue head-on in a public manner with their student bodies."
Similarly, under-reporting is a problem at the nation's three major military academies: West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs. Last Friday, the Defense Department stated that the number of reported sexual assaults has dropped, noting that under-reporting could be a reason for the decrease. Reasons for not reporting an incident include shame, fear of not being believed, fear of impact on their career, not wanting to relive the episode and concern over the reaction from other students.
Jane: This problem of rape does not exist only in colleges and military academies. Last week a 12-year-old girl claimed she was raped by a 14-year-old in the school hallway. Even though two witnesses rescued the 12-yr old from rape, a security guard, claimed she wanted it. Police and prosecutors maintain that what happened at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, CA was in fact, a serious sexual assault. Others, employees of the school in El Cerrito, claimed, "It was hormones going wild." Both the school principal and vice-principal have been put on paid administrative leave.
Joan: On a more positive note. This winter, 22 year-old Katie Spotz plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a row boat in attempt to raise money for Blue Planet Run, a foundation that finances clean drinking water projects around the world. She won't even have a tarp to protect her lest she be tempted to use it to catch the wind. The 2,500 mile trip is expected to take between 70 and 100 days. If Spotz succeeds, she will become the youngest person to cross an ocean in a rowboat, and the first American to row solo from mainland to mainland.
Jane: In 2010, there is a good chance that Florida will have its first women gubernatorial candidates. Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer will most likely be the Democratic nominee. State Sen. Paula Dockery is battling with state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination.
Dockery acknowledges the gender factory, saying she represents a better hope for the GOP against Sink than would another "middle-aged white male." She believes that if she wins the Republican nomination, it will neutralize the advantage Democrats would otherwise have by trumpeting the state's first female nominee.
If Dockery wins the primary, it will set up an all-female general election battle for governor, which has only happened twice before in American history: In Nebraska in 1986, and in Hawaii in 2002.
Joan: On a similar theme, MSNBC reported that female executives are emerging as serious contenders for statewide offices, not only in Florida but also in Connecticut and California. Finally, political parties, particularly the GOP are broadening their candidate pools to include women!
Chris LaCivita, a Republican political consultant said the timing is right for contenders with the type of business backgrounds of Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Linda McMahon and Alex Sink.
For women this is a first time leap from corporate to political leadership. Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Whitman, the former CEO of the eBay online auction site, are running in California for Senate and governor, respectively. McMahon, until recently the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is running for Senator in Connecticut. As we mentioned, Sink, former president of Florida Operations at Bank of America, is running for governor in Florida.
Jane: If you can't trust the CDC, whom can you trust? Friday, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to ensure that the experts adequately completed forms pertaining to their financial ties to companies that could profit from CDC decisions. As a result it was determined that sixty-four percent of the advisers hired by to serve on panels evaluating cervical cancer and flu vaccines had potential conflicts of interest. The NY Times reports that Thomas Frieden, the CDC Director said, "Since the period covered in this review, CDC has strengthened the financial disclosures and conflict-of-interest process by instituting improved business processes and realigning responsibilities and oversight."
Joan: The EEOC will get $23 million to reduce 70,000-case backlog. The resource-starved EEOC recently saw a 35% jump in its backlog, and a record number of discrimination complaints in 2008. Nearly two-thirds involved racial or gender discrimination.
Jane: New York City is holding a condom wrapper design competition for the "NYC Condom," which is given out at no cost to millions of people each year. NYC is looking for a design that will "capture the city's distinctive culture while promoting safer sex."
The winning wrapper design will appear on hundreds of thousands of the city's condoms and might be featured in safer-sex promotional materials. The contest is open to any city resident ages 17 or older and those younger than age 17 can enter with written consent from a parent or guardian. The finalists will be selected by the health department in February 2010, at which point the public will be allowed to vote online for the winning design (Kugler, AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune, 12/15).
Joan:Only in New York City! You gotta love it!
Posted by Women Matters at 12/22/2009 9:32 PM 
Categories: Women News
Tags: EEOC NYC Condom Health Care Reform Rape Katie Spotz Paula Dockery Alex Sink Portola Middle School
Categories: Women News
Tags: EEOC NYC Condom Health Care Reform Rape Katie Spotz Paula Dockery Alex Sink Portola Middle School
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