I Do Not Trust Scott Walker To Keep Me Alive

By Jeff Simpson

U don’t need Obamacare 2 protect ppl w/ preexisting conditions. It’s just the only thing about O-care everyone likes. Scott will make sure preexsistings r covered, but u can do that w/out horrors of socialized medicine: long waits, cancelled surgeries, gov’t picking who gets care https://t.co/UUJ91aoGCR

— Rebecca Kleefisch (@RebeccaforReal) September 14, 2018

As someone who has been battling cancer for the last 8+ years, the fact that Becky has used (and continues to use) socialized health care to fight her cancer and keep her alive, while trying to take my protections away brings me incredible frustration. 

I continue trying to decide if she is evil, ignorant, selfish or just incredibly ambitious.

I have already documented how My Senator Ron Johnson is trying to kill me, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is trying to kill me, and now Scott Walker is sticking a knife in my back while asking if I am OK.

As Dave Weigel puts it:

Absolute strangest story in politics right now is GOP govs suing to kill the popular parts of Obamacare while insisting they will pass state legislation to restore the popular parts of Obamacare. https://t.co/o3yTx2BjfB

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 15, 2018

Scott Walker wants to kill all of Obamacare, because the guy who passed it was the wrong color,  then wants to pass the same bill under his name and take all of the credit. 

Which I get is politics but it is also deadly. 

Kleefisch is featured in a new television ad in which she says as long as she and Walker are in office, people with pre-existing conditions will be guaranteed health insurance.

 “Today in Wisconsin, people with pre-existing conditions are already covered,” Kleefisch said, without noting that they are covered only because of the national law Walker opposes. “And as long as Scott and I are in office, they always will be.”

That protection is extended under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which Walker has been working for years to repeal. He signed off on Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel joining a multistate lawsuit this year that seeks to undo the law and the pre-existing conditions protection.

Scott Walker says we need to repeal Obamacare and do not worry, I will take care of you. 

 “If something were to change, Scott Walker would call a special session in a heartbeat and get it passed,” Walker’s campaign spokesman, Brian Reisinger, said Friday

The problem with that is Scott Walker does not have that much power.  The Legislature has no interest in helping Scott Walker's career at the expense of their own. 

But Walker this year also called for the Legislature to pass a state law guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The bill did not pass.

This is not just about me either. there are close to one million people in Wisconsin with Pre-existing conditions that could prevent us from having health insurance if we repeal Obamacare and go back to the "free market" solutions of the Bush administration health care.

Scott Walker promising that if he gets his way and ends Pre-existing condition coverage, is not a promise I am willing to bet my life on. 

Please, when you go to the polls in November, I ask that you also do not bet my life on that promise. 

Thanks! 

Vukmir Wants To Replace Obamacare - All Of It

Mike Pence came to Milwaukee to stump and attend a fundraiser for Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, the Republican challenger to U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin. Per Pence, one of the big reasons that the Orange Reich is supporting her is because they want to go back to their multiple attempts and failures to repeal Obamacare.

Wisconsin Democrats jumped on this, pointing out that Vukmir wants to do away with not just Obamacare but all of it, including protections for preexisting conditions.

Vukmir, who claims to be a nurse, denied this and issued a press release pointing to a a news story from CBS News and specifically citing this paragraph:

:no mistake about it: patients with pre-existing conditions should be covered," Vukmir, who supports a full repeal of the ACA, said. "People shouldn't buy in to Tammy Baldwin's lie that taking care of those who need pre-existing coverage and providing all Wisconsinites with more affordable options are mutually exclusive."

Well, alrighty then! We'll just ignore the paragraphs before and after pointing out that the Republicans are only starting to pretend to like healthcare coverage for everyone because they keep getting burned on it.

Instead, let's focus on what Vukmir's proposal is, which is going back to what her good buddy, Scott Walker, has in place before Obamacare, or as we behind the Cheddar Curtain call it, Walkercare. Walkercare is basically a high-risk pool coverage model for people with preexisting conditions.

So how well did that work out? I'm glad you asked!

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

... Critics note Wisconsin’s high-risk pool system was too expensive for many to afford, left more than half a million state residents uninsured, included a six-month waiting period for coverage of pre-existing conditions and imposed a lifetime coverage cap of $2 million.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went into greater detail what Walkercare was:

HIRSP [Walkercare] covered about 20,000 people at rates that were generally 20% to 30% higher than the overall market.

It was subsidized by a fee on health insurance sold in the state. The fee accounted for roughly 30% of its $160.1 million in revenue in 2012. The balance came from premiums.

Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers also accepted rates that were below those paid by health insurers but a bit above what Medicare pays.

“It had buy-in from everyone,” Catlin said. “And everyone was OK with it.”

HIRSP had a six-month waiting period for people who did not have insurance but no waiting period for people who had exhausted their COBRA benefits from an employer.

It's really no surprise that Vukmir would go along full-heartedly with a plan that would not quite eliminate coverage for preexisting conditions but in reality did make it too expensive for people to afford. It's based on the design concocted by that the ultimate dark money think tank, ALEC.

And whatever ALEC wants, Vukmir will work on getting, since she is on their Board of Directors.

Apparently, the oath of fealty she gave to ALEC is more important to her than the Florence Nightingale Pledge she took as a nurse. I guess to deal with that cognitive dissonance, she chose to be like Nurse Ratched.

Cross posted from Crooks and Liars.

Do You Remember These???

By Jeff Simpson 

 The boogie man, lemonade stand and taking your tonsils outIndian burn and wait your turn and four foul ballsYou're out! Cigarette loads and secret codes and saving lucky starsCan you remember back that far?

Scott Walker came out today with a "new" proposal.  Well new to his mouth but one that has been hanging around for a while because the Democrats wrote it!

After years of fighting Obamacare, Gov. Scott Walker is now seeking to stabilize the state marketplace under the law.

The state will also ask to permanently continue SeniorCare, a prescription drug program Walker has previously sought to pare down, he said.

Walker also said he’ll ask the state Senate to pass a bill authored by Democratic lawmakers and passed by the Assembly that would enshrine into state law access to private insurance for people with pre-existing conditions.

One thing our friends on the right seem to forget is that in the year 2018, we have things they have said in the past documented! 

Let us take a quick look:

Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he would scrap President Barack Obama’s signature health care law on his first day in office and replace it with a health insurance system that relies on refundable tax credits based on age instead of household income to help individuals pay for health coverage.  8/19/2015

WALKER: I think long-term a much better option for us here in Wisconsin and across the country is to replace it with something market-driven. But for us, we didn't take the Medicaid expansion. We didn't do a state exchange. But long-term we can't go back to the status quo. What we need to do is go to a market-driven position. 12/1/2013

Scott Walker says, "It starts out with the premise that on my very first day as President of the United States, I will send legislation to the Congress to once and for all repeal Obamacare entirely." 8/18/2015

 Gov. Scott Walker said Friday that he would consider seeking a waiver to let insurers raise premiums for people with pre-existing medical conditions if the House Republicans’ health care plan becomes law. 5/6/17

Yes those were all said by the same guy.  The same guy who is running for re-election for Governor of Wisconsin.   Scott Walker will obviously say or do anything to be re-elected. 

However, those of us with pre-existing conditions, must not be fooled by the snake oil salesman.  We know, from his history, that anything he says now, will be immediately forgotten the minute he is declared the winner. 

We have to make sure that does not happen! 

Remember this in November! 

Knock, knock jokes 

Who's there?
Dewey
Dewey who?
Dewey
Remember these
Yes we do!

Oh do we?
Do we remember these!

Now Ron Johnson Wants To Kill Me!

By Jeff Simpson

As I posted a while back, Paul Ryan's goal this session seems to be to want to kill me!

U.S.  House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on Wednesday for an end to Obamacare’s financial protections for people with serious medical conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk pools.In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected Republican health care alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy that prevents insurers from charging sick people higher rates for health coverage has raised costs for healthy consumers while undermining choice and competition.The rule, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, has been praised by patient advocates for providing access to medical care for people who previously could not afford private health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also bars insurers from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions

Now his good friend  Ron Johnson (S-Married into money), is simpatico with Paul Ryan:

The fact that I have had health care, and been healthy most of my life, but then in 2010, was one of the unlucky ones to develop cancer does not matter.  Ron Johnson looks upon me, and others like me, as irresponsible drivers and my cancer(my pre-existing condition) as equal to a car crash.  Why should he have to pay more, he is not sick.  

As if that was not enough, Vice President Mike Pence (R- Shock Gays Straight), goes  a step further(emphasis mine):

Before summer’s out, we'll repeal/replace Obamacare w/ system based on personal responsibility, free-market competition & state-based reform pic.twitter.com/JzCyxX9kJb

— Mike Pence (@mike_pence) June 24, 2017

Had the 12.7 million people who get newly diagnosed each year, or the 7.6 million people who lose their fight to cancer, only been a bit more personally responsible, then this all would be avoided.

Apparently, Ron Johnson's daughter was not personally responsible(maybe by not exercising enough, or eating right), that she needed major heart surgery at age 2!

It is a very stressful time in America, when we are under one party rule, and the one party that is ruling, looks upon millions of Americans as drags on the system for contracting an illness.  It is even more magnified, when it is your child that has the illness.

I am certain we are better than this and we need to actually "drain the swamp" in 2018!

Our lives depend on it!

The Body Slam Heard Round The Country

By Jeff Simpson

Yesterday there was a special election for Congress in MT and it drew the attention of the country.

In a solidly red state, the GOP was panicking that they would lose this seat. They even spent almost $6 Million dollars to keep this seat red, despite the fact that the term of this seat is only a little over a year now and they have a solid advantage in Congress anyway.

With every special election there's DCCC talk, but no talk of PAC money. Dems getting decimated by outside money - just not able to compete.

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 26, 2017

Take a look at the INSANE outside spending by Republicans in Montana, via @rollcall.

Democrats getting drowned by PAC money. pic.twitter.com/ULz1FxtpZy

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 26, 2017

I wonder of the $6+ million could have been better spent in MT, instead of on 1/435 Congressional seats?  Pretty sure they do!

This seat took an extra turn the day before the polls opened because a reporter for the Guardian, Ben Jacobs, had the nerve to ask Republican multimillionaire candidate Greg Gianforte, his feelings on the ACHA.

With a bill as indefensible as the ACHA is, especially after finally being scored by the CBO, Gianforte answered about the only way he could.   He body slammed Mr. Jacobs.

Mr. Gianforte, was then finally charged with misdemeanor assault by the local sheriff who was one of Mr. Gianforte's supporters and financial backers.  

Then on election day, this incident not withstanding, Mr. Gianforte won the election.   In the Trump era, we can now expect headlines like the one in the New York Times today:

GOP candidate wins Montana House election after being charged with assault

Montana should be proud.

However, in the overall picture, it is not that big of a deal because as stated earlier it is only for a year and there are some very serious lessons to be learned here.

Now let's make sure that we learn them.

1.  This had a strong early voting contingent for this race/  Which means if you voted early for the guy who body slams reporters, you had no recourse to change your mind.   I personally have always felt that early voting if for the blind partisans....i know who I am voting for and nothing in the world could change my vote.  The blind partisans are what is wrong with this country.   I would have been flat out disgusted had I early voted for the assaulter!

I think early voting is great if you for some reason are not available to vote on election day, but if you are use election day for what it is meant for.  I have taken my children to vote with me on election day every single election since they were born in a car carrier!  

2.  The GOP know what a mess and potential electoral disaster the AHCA vote and plan is.  That is what upset Gianforte.   He did not want to answer if he supported ending health insurance for 23 million Americans(he was never actually forced too before the election).    He knew that even in maroon red Montana, people like having health insurance.

3.  Make sure ANY candidate goes on record supporting or not the AHCA.   Republicans, thanks to Paul Ryan, are now in a quandry.   Do they stand behind their party and the Speaker and the President and take tens of thousands of their constituents off health care or do they do what is right?   Ask them, ask them and ask them again until they take a stand one way or the other.  If they support it, then an instant and forever Scarlet Letter should be branded on their career.  Period.  

4.  While the people of Montana voted in a guy who beat up a reporter for doing his job, the rest of the country, especially the 70% who do not support The Donald were horrified by it.   Even the "great" Frank Luntz had this to say about it:

If you check the party affiliation of someone who commits assaults before deciding how you feel about it, you're what's wrong with America.

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) May 26, 2017

Make sure and ask your Congressional rep how they feel about what Greg The Body Slam" Gianforte did and if that should be punished or if they feel its ok as long as you disagree with the person.   Again make them answer!  (FYI: Some version of I think he should/he has apologized, is not an answer.)   Would it be ok if someone assaulted them or one of their staffers as long as they apologized after?

5.  Not one Democrat, not a pundit, not a consultant and most definitely not an elected should ever ever refer to Greg Gianforte without bringing this incident up/.    Ever.   If he comes in and singlehandedly balances the budget, the first thing anyone should say about him is that he physically assaulted a reporter.  

6.  Now we see the consequences of running from Obamacare all of these years.  We allowed the GOP to demonize it and instead of defending it, and running on its strength(which we see from the GOP townhalls) we let the GOP dictate our response.   Stop doing that.

The GOP biggest and most successful campaign strategy, is to run against the Democrats strengths and turn them into weaknesses.  This is made easier by the Democrats allowing this to happen over and over and over.   If the GOP are campaigning against you on an issue. that means they know its a strength in your district so double down and call their bluff!

7.  The Donald factor!   Gianforte's opponent Rob Quist, hardly ever mentioned The Donald.  That is a mistake.  I don't care where in this country The Donald performed, overperformed or under performed make sure that the GOP person in that district is seen as being a brother/sister/twin/bestfriend/ to the Donald.

The Donald won because he ran anti establishment and pretty much everything he has said he would do, he has done the exact opposite.  People notice that, especially if we keep pointing it out.   I know that there was some racism, sexisim, bigotry involved and I agree with that/.  However some people who voted for that, are starting to realize that maybe in practice it is not as cool as it first sounded!  

He can not and will not win another election like 2016.  We need to take advantage of that.

Extra Credit:  For the Press, media, reporters, journalists out there who were outraged and banded together to roundly condemned Gianforte for body slamming Mr. Jacobs.

I will not pretend to know how national press has handled various incidences, but I know local press tweeted such things as

But the violent rhetoric, threats, demonizing and bullying of journalists as a political strategy needs to stop.

— Jason Joyce (@jjoyce) May 25, 2017

This mentality in the United States is sick. It's not funny, it's not cute, it's completely and totally pathetic and sick. https://t.co/l0Owe6AIKW

— Greg Neumann (@gneumann_wkow) May 25, 2017

Good time to remind everyone that reporters ask questions on behalf of taxpayers and voters who pay elected officials' salaries.

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) May 25, 2017

While I obviously agree that body slamming a reporter is indefensible(see above), when you sit through things like this and treat them like another day in the office,  where do you think we are headed?

When you make it ok for the Governor and Capitol police to treat protesters like that, what do you think is coming next?    

Niemoller was actually on to something you know.    

Now they have come for the reporters....the question is what will you do about it?

What will we as a society do about it?

Stay tuned!

Paul Ryan Builds A Wall - And We All Pay

By Jeff Simpson

H/T Teen Vogue(seriously):

Paul Ryan, who ducked all debates with his Democratic Opponent Ryan Solen, decided spending millions in his district to get re-elected to his heavily gerrymandered seat, has decided to tell us what he stands for AFTER the election.

Ryan has come out now and said he plans to defund Planned Parenthood.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Republicans would slash federal dollars for Planned Parenthood as part of the GOP effort to repeal the health care law.

Of course the incredible benefits and importance of what Planned Parenthood actually does is another blog altogether.  I want to focus on Paul Ryan's cowardice here.   The guy who would not debate his opponents, or even campaign in his district (because people knew who he was), first order of business (well second, his first order of business was to try and gut the nonpartisan ethics watchdog agency) was to do something he never once campaigned on.  

In our Constitutionally limited representative democracy, how it is supposed to work, is people who want to serve the public good, lay out their positions when they run for office.  Then voters know who each person is and vote according to the people who best represent their views.

In our current version of something we call a democracy, we get inundated with millions of dolalrs of smear ads, poor press and celebrity worshiping and end up with politicians who campaign one way and govern completely opposite.

In our Constitutionally limited representative democracy, when your representatives are not representing you, you organize via getting together with friends or like minded people, and/or starting a petition to get the voice of many people in a short time and/or go speak with your representative and try and reason with them.

Planned Parenthood decided to do the petition and deliver it personally to attempt to reason with Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.)  A few dozen women, armed in pink Planned Parenthood logoed T-shirts, were sure they could visit the Speaker of the House, the third most powerful position in Government, and explain to him that the Government does not actually fund Planned Parenthood(along with delivering their petitions with close to 100,000 signatures).

The thing is, the federal government doesn’t actually “fund” Planned Parenthood. There’s no big check or bag of money that goes to the reproductive and sexual healthcare provider and their affiliate clinics throughout the country each year. Rather, the federal funds that do go to Planned Parenthood all happen in the form of reimbursements for services rendered through Medicaid, the federal and state program that provides health insurance to the working poor, and Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income Americans. Furthermore, because of the Hyde Amendment passed in 1976, no federal funding can in any way go toward abortion services; abortion is the only medical procedure explicitly banned from Medicaid coverage.

Of course  the guy who "opposed" Trump, and is good friends with this guy:

Decided that he was so secure in his argument that the best way to address a few dozen ladies in pink shirts, was to hide.   Not only did he hide, he spent a ton of  taxpayer money to do just that.

These are the women he is scared of:

Paul Ryan built his own wall, but this one was to keep fellow Americans and constituents out.   Paul Ryan called in 6 security officers to guard the doors to his office and shield Congressman Ryan from hearing any information that would not square up with pleasing his corporate masters.  

This is the scene of his office that needed taxpayer funded security called for:

Hmmm, Kind of reminds me of someone else who is afraid of a group of women speaking up:

Be prepared on January 29th, we will be part of the proverbial snowball, with you know who steering:

Paul Ryan as Number Two

By Jeff Simpson

This is the kind of stuff that justifies Twitter:

"We told them we'd replace it later!" pic.twitter.com/8zJ3USGWtc

— Justin Searls (@searls) January 5, 2017

To keep the laughs going and lightened up for a bit, here is a video of "Number Two"(father of three and self proclaimed huge football fan) not knowing what Dabbing is,

ACHOO?

I know that taking healthcare away from 20 million Americans is time consuming, but as a service here at CogDis, to Pink Slip Paulie, here is what Dabbing is:

Paul Ryan Wants To Kill Me

  

By Jeff Simpson

Janesvilles own Paul Ryan (R - Wall St.), recently took over the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives, promised a new tone of civility within his party.

Imagine my surprise, when I read this story today:

U.S.  House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on Wednesday for an end to Obamacare’s financial protections for people with serious medical conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk pools.
In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected Republican health care alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy that prevents insurers from charging sick people higher rates for health coverage has raised costs for healthy consumers while undermining choice and competition.
The rule, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, has been praised by patient advocates for providing access to medical care for people who previously could not afford private health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also bars insurers from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“Less than 10 percent of people under 65 are what we call people with pre-existing conditions, who are really kind of uninsurable,” Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, told a student audience at Georgetown University.

I have never been shy about sharing my journey fighting Cancer publicly.   It is a club I would rather not be in but, as Mr. Ryan speaks so much about choice, it is a choice I(and millions of others) did not have.

While Mr. Ryan speaks of "ONLY 10 percent", which is approximately 27,481,309 million Americans that he is referring to.    A mass shooting is defined by four or more people being shot or killed, I hate to think what the needless death of 27.5 million Americans would be called.

Before I get accused of histrionics and hyperbole, I understand that allowing insurance companies to drop us "who are really kind of uninsurable," will not immediately kill all of us.   It will immediately kill some of us, and eventually kill a vast majority of us.   

I know personally, without the quality health insurance I have, I would have died a horrible painful death by now.   There isn't a health savings account south of Janna Ryan's family Oklahoma oil money,that could even come close to putting a dent in the bills my medical issues have racked up.  

Now Mr. Ryan, who is third in line from the Presidency of the United States, has decided it would be best if insurance companies would not have to cover me for a reasonable rate.   
Let's take cancer for instance :  

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and its incidence continues to rise. Each year 12.7 million people discover they have cancer and 7.6 million people die from the disease. However, evidence shows that 30 - 40 percent of these deaths can be prevented, and one-third can be cured through early diagnosis and treatment.     That translates to 340,000 cases of cancer a year in the US alone that can be stopped or cured with early diagnosis and treatment.   

The only possible way to get early diagnosis and treatment is to have affordable health care and see your doctor regularly.    Without health insurance or with a ridiculously high deductible, people will not go to the doctor and get treated.  Nikolas Kristof of the New York Times gave us an incredible inside look of just this very instance that happened to a good friend of his.  It is a tough but very important read.

But wait there is more!    If an insurance company is allowed to drop you after a diagnosis, then you are stuck during the hardest time in your life(trust me it takes quite some time for the (you have cancer) news to truly sink in) calling around and pricing private insurance plans for the uninsurable.  
One thing for me, and I am sure most others, is consistency in care.   When you change or price insurance companies, you have to keep your doctors in mind.   My case is so incredibly complicated, I have at one time or another, spent time with 8 different groups of surgical specialists.  Can you imagine half way through treatment/diagnosis having to switch to another hospital and finding a whole new group of 8 different teams and get them up to speed while hoping that the insurance company I picked was not also planning on dropping me.

The stress on not just me, but my family, and wife and children was unbearable to begin with.   When a family member gets an illness the whole family and friends get it also.   Does Mr. Ryan also plan on allowing the insurance companies to drop my wife and kids also because I am expensive?   If that is the case, the 27.5 million Americans starts to increase exponentially.    

We know from experience and hindsight that many patients can not wait for treatment because of no insurance, shopping insurance companies or denial of services by the insurance company you have.

People have literally died because of this 

Many people on both sides of the aisle, realize that Obamacare is not perfect.   They realize that there are many different tweaks that need to be done to help insure all Americans.   Almost all people realize that the one good thing we can agree on is that insurance companies can no longer drop people who get sick and actually have to use their insurance.

That is all but the most extreme of us.  Paul Ryan is one of those people who are too extreme.  

Are we a nation that wants people who are unfortunate enough to get a debilitating disease to die off quickly to cull the herd?  Or are we a people that understands that "All (wo)Men Are Created Equal" and no diagnosis should be a death penalty?

I have been told many times that we have the government we deserve.   Let us come to common ground and understand that I do not deserve to die because I happened to have cancer.   I do not deserve to die a painful death early because I can no longer afford high risk insurance.

No one in Wisconsin deserves to have Paul Ryan represent them

It is time we retire Paul Ryan from Congress, for the sake of 27.5 million of your friends and neighbors and family members!

WalkerCare Or WalkerDon'tCare?

On Tuesday, Scott Walker introduced his "plan" to reform Obamacare. By Sunday, during his appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, he was furiously trying to defend it:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about health care. You put out a plan this week calling for the replacement of Obamacare with a series of tax credits for everyone that would be escalating over age. This is what one of your rivals, Governor Bobby Jindal, had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R-LA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Scott Walker’s plan actually does create a new entitlement program. It actually does guarantee universal coverage through government subsidies for every American. One estimate this week says it would cost over $1 trillion, and he doesn’t tell us how he would pay for this plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: So how much will your plan cost? How are you going to pay for it?

WALKER: Well, he’s just wrong on that, and in fact conservative commentator after commentator from “The Wall Street Journal” to “The National Review” and plenty of others out there have said this is the best plan out there. In fact, it’s one of the only plans out there. They said it’s the best plan, it’s about freedom, it’s about giving patients and their families the freedom to control their own health care decision and to control their own money.

We repeal Obamacare immediately. On Day 1 we send a bill up to Congress, and on Day 1 we get rid of the special provisions for Congress, their families, their staff, and everyone else, to make sure they repeal it entirely, immediately. And then we give people a tax credit for those who don’t have health insurance from their employer. If you get it from your employer, it’s not going to be touched. If anything, your premiums are likely to go down because repealing Obamacare and putting in place our reforms will actually help lower health care costs, not raise them, as we saw under Obamacare.

But we give people a tax credit, it goes up by age. Because before Obamacare that’s what happened. Your health care costs go up over age, the credit goes up over age. We allow people to apply that to the health care plan they want, or not buy health care insurance if they don’t want. But we put the freedom back in the hands of the American people. And for us it’s a simple way to do it that’s cost neutral. It repeals all of the trillion dollars’ worth of tax increases that you see under Obamacare, gives us one of the biggest tax cuts we’ve had in the past 40-some years, one of the best pro-growth plans out there, and we do it by making sure we have a tax system that appropriately acknowledges some of the top tier health insurance plans and by giving Medicaid back to the states where there’s real reform. That makes it cost neutral.

Let's talk about WalkerCare, shall we?

First of all, Walker's "plan" consists is pretty damn flimsy and sketchy, as Jessie Opoien of Cap Times reports (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday unveiled his health care blueprint, the first policy paper of his presidential campaign.

"The Day One Patient Freedom Plan," announced by Walker at a machine parts manufacturer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, would provide tax credits based on age rather than income, allow people to shop for plans across state lines and restructure Medicaid and long-term care services.

"It’s all about freedom," Walker said Tuesday, speaking at Cass Screw Machine Products. "It’s putting freedom back in the hands of patients and families to make decisions about your health care and about your money."

Walker's 15-page plan — five of which are dedicated to campaign logos and three of which make the argument for repealing Obamacare — includes no cost estimates or projections of how many people would be covered, but Walker said Tuesday it would be "cost-neutral" and would amount to "a tax cut of about a trillion dollars."

Hmm, that's more than a little reminiscent of the "job plan" that Walker came out with in 2010. It was a 68 page document written in size 58 font. Maybe when it comes to these sorts of things, he has flashbacks to his grade school days when he tried to cut corners even then.

One of the biggest changes in WalkerCare would be to give tax breaks based on age instead of income and family size - y'know, the things that put the affordable in Affordable Health Care. He also wants to give young people the right to opt out of it - which also makes no sense:

One of the biggest ways it would differ from the current law is by providing tax credits to uninsured people based on their age instead of income, an idea that "doesn’t make any sense," according to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point political science professor Ed Miller, because it gives tax credits to the wealthy.

Those credits could be used to buy insurance on the free market. Under Walker's plan, people 17 and younger would receive a credit worth $900, while those 50-64 would get a substantially larger credit worth $3,000. Further, anyone who signs up for a health savings account would receive up to a $1,000 refundable tax credit and annual limits on tax-free HSAs would also increase. Everyone in a given age group would be eligible for the same amount of credits regardless of how much money they make.

If the goal is to get lower-income people insured, Miller said that's the wrong way to go.

"The individuals who are low-income simply can’t afford it," he said.

Another big thing is that Walker is saying he would allow states to "innovate" ways to administer his plan. This is the same thing he said when he dropped the bomb known as Act 10 on Wisconsin. What he means is that he would drastically cut the funding the states receive from the federal government and leave it to them to figure out how to make up for the shortfall.

Perhaps it was the fact that Walker's WalkerCare is so sketchy that he was screening reporters' questions about it. He knows the plan is a failure from Day One and didn't want to take the chance of getting caught flat-footed yet again.

The only thing that is even remotely appropriate about WalkerCare is the location that Walker chose to introduce it - a company in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota called Cass Screw Machine Products.

ALL ABOOOOOOAAAARRRRD!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Delegate: if we pass this, we'll become the laughingstock of America." Tide is turning.
— Daniel Bice (@DanielBice) May 3, 2014

UMMMMM....do you want to tell him, or should I? 

By the way it is too bad, and not surprising, that the republican officials stopped the debate for secession.  Its not like the party cares what their members think or that the members do think for themselves.  Apparently the #teaparty was not as "grass roots" as they have been led to believe! 

Anyway, the real tragedy was I not only Copyrighted

"United State of Wisconsin" 

I also had the new state logo ready to go:

Now the republicans can go back to being the sane, average, middle of the road party, we all knew they were! 

We know that Bill Kramer is MIA, but has anyone seen these two?

Scott Walker is Whistling Dixie...

By Jeff Simpson

This afternoon, at the Wisconsin republican convention, the confederates will be voting on whether Wisconsin should secede from the rest of the United States and be our own sovereign nation. 

Seriously, they are!

The problem with the vote to secede, is not that the republican confederate party is against it - they are not. The problem with the vote to secede, was the press finally shone a spotlight on the craziness and extremism of the republican party in WI.   

Of course anyone who has read CogDis knows how extreme these people are. Unfortunately for the people of WI, the media plays into their propaganda BS.  However a little short term memory or a minute on google and you realize that the vote to secede fits right in to what they have been doing and saying for the last four years! 

Nine Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature say they would back a bill to arrest any federal officials who attempt to implement President Obama's signature health care law in the state.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the nine state lawmakers told the Tea Party-aligned Campaign For Liberty that they support authorizing "state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement the unconstitutional health scheme known as Obamacare."

One of the nine lawmakers backing Campaign for Liberty's proposal is state representative Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), who told the Journal Sentinel that he believes the health care law is unconstitutional.

DOH!!!  




Luckily/unluckily for 140,000 and counting Wisconsinites, the Wisconsin republicans have been as unsuccessful in arresting federal officials as they have been in creating jobs or keeping down debt. 

Quick, what is Bret Hulsey doing now? 

PS:  Speaking of crazy Wisconsin rednecks, has anyone seen republican Assembly leader Bill Kramer?  While he shirks his duties as an elected official, he has no qualms in accepting our paychecks!

Tanya! Tanya! Tanya!

By Jeff Simpson

Has done it again.

Mary Burke's "Top Political Advisor" Tanya Bjork, recently gave an interview to one of my favorite people Heather Rayne and her new blog "Purple Rayne".

In this interview, Tanya Bjork runs down her resume, which at first glance seems impressive.

Let me shed some light on Tanya’s impressive and extensive work history:

·         Senior Advisor to Protect Your Care – a national organization working to promote t Affordable Care Act

·         Senior Advisor to President Obama’s Re-election campaign

·         Director of Federal Affairs for Wisconsin under Governor Jim Doyle

·         General Election State Director for the Barrack Obama campaign in Wisconsin (winning WI               with 56% and flipping more counties from red to blue than another other state in the country)

·         Regional Director of EMILY’s List

·         AFL-CIO Regional Political Director for Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois

·         Field Director for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone’s re-election campaign

·         Political Director for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s re-election campaign

·         Worked in the Wisconsin and Minnesota state legislatures facilitating and developing the passage of legislation on criminal justice, labor relations, consumer affairs, campaign finance reform and education

·         Developed training curriculum and trained throughout the country and world for groups such            as AFL-CIO, EMILY’s List, Wellstone Action, EMERGE, Progressive Majority, Illinois Women’s             Institute for Leadership and Planned Parenthood

·         Training for National Democratic Institute in Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain

·         Winner of the 2013 Eleanor Roosevelt Statewide Impact Award

However, in typical Bjork fashion, she seems to have left some things out of her resume.   Let me help fill in the blanks.   FYI.   While I did not "ask" her persay, I did do what you need to do to get THE TRUTH in politics - Follow the Money!

Let's look at some discrepancies from her past:

2010:

2010

At some unknown point in 2010, "Know Your Care" and "Protect Your Care" are filed with the IRS.

2010 - January 2010 - According to her own Linked-In page, Bjork starts working as a "Senior Advisor" for Protect Your Care" 

2010 - December 2010 - Bjork stops working for the state of Wisconsin as Director of Federal Affairs
2010 - March 2010, The State worker and non lobbyist, is REFERRED to as a "lobbyist' in this Madison Magazine article.    

2011:

Jan 27 -- Bjork attends a Families USA conference where she says she is listed as being from the "New Partners" firm.

April 14 -- Bjork is announced as the "campaign manager" of  "Protect your Care" 

2012 

Capitol Navigators (run by Bjork's husband, Scott Tyre) is paid $150,600 for "program consulting" by the c-3 group "Know your care."  "New Partners" is paid 350K

 Bjork starts listing herself as a partner at Capitol Navigators on her linked-in page

2013 

Aug 1 -- "Know Your Care" is awarded a government grant of over one million dollars to help navigate the health care exchanges.  Bjork is listed as the contact -- at the same phone number 202-261-2380 as New Partners / "Protect Your Care" / "Know Your Care"

October -- Bjork is named as senior adviser to Mary Burke's campaign.

I know this is all very complicated, and "how sausage is made" in inside politics but consider the following points:

• According to her own Linked-In page, which she filled out, while she was the State of Wisconsin's Director of Federal Affairs, she also served as a "Senior Advisor" to Obama's soft money campaign front group, "Protect Your Care."  The overlap of serving a campaign entity and an official government entity is more than a year.

• In early 2011, Bjork officially becomes a member of the Democratic consulting firm "New Partners." In April of 2011, it is announced that Bjork will be the "campaign manager" of Protect Your Care. Curiously, "New Partners" has the same physical address, phone number and same staff as Protect Your Care and Know Your Care.  Everybody pushes the limits, but I've never seen anything this bold.

• In 2012 -- Bjork starts listing herself as a partner in her husband's Madison-based lobbying firm "Capitol Navigators." She also lists Cap Nav as her employer in financial contributions.  This same year, the C-3 charity "Know your care" pays CapNav 150K for "program consulting."  This whole set-up is a bit odd considering that CapNav's client list looks more like an ALEC membership list-- many literally paying millions to oppose Obamacare. 

• In 2013, "Know Your Care" is awarded a government grant of over one million dollars to educate people on how to navigate the exchanges.  Bjork is listed as the "fiscal"contact on the grant.

It is amazing to me, especially considering her past,  that she would set up a tax-deductible charity (gov subsidized) that is literally getting one million dollar government grants, when there is literally no separation between the charity and the political group-- same people in the same place doing the same thing.  

One of the main points of Obamacare, is that it mandates what has to be spent by companies on actual health care and limits what they can spend on money gouging by the executives.  It is unfortunate and against everything we stand for if we engage in those same practices we fought so hard to end.    

I would also like to point out that there is no lobbying reform, in the Mary Burke platform.  It seems that we needed to hammer public employees to balance the budget in 2010, but lobbying reform has no effect on it?   

This also helps debunk the stupid myth that teachers have been running roughshod over the taxpayers.   If the teachers had to much power why would their average salary be $51,000?  We see here, what happens when your allowed to pay yourself and run roughshod over the American taxpayer.  







Obamacare was designed so Americans could afford healthcare, and as we know it was very rough rollout.   Tanya Bjork was enlisted to help the navigate the exchanges, and the rollout was seriously bumbled.  Through it all though, the one person who was very successful during the Obamacare launch was Tanya Bjork!    Who in their right mind would take a job that was so important, not only to the Democratic Party and our President, but also the American people. 

 

I  however, do not have an explanation, as to why Tanya Bjork, the top political adviser for the Democratic candidate, who has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off the back of taxpayers, would counsel her candidate to say this:

Are there any parts of ACT 10 that you agree with?
Yes, I do believe [state employees] paying a fair share of health care and pension costs is something we needed in order to be able to balance the budget.

Nor do I have an explanation as to why Ms. Bjork is still part of this incredibly important campaign. 
Is this really the person we want guiding the ship, in defeating a well funded extreme right wing incumbent?




My answer is a resounding NO!!!