His daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in January. He has insurance. Good insurance. The kind you feel safe having.
7 months later: Savings: wiped out. 401k: cashed early. Penalties and all. House: refinanced to cover the gaps insurance decided weren’t their problem.
He told me he’s not the same person anymore. Said watching your child fight for her life while simultaneously fighting an insurance company over coverage codes does something to you that doesn’t go away.
They did everything right. Two incomes. No debt.
Responsible their whole lives.
One diagnosis undid all of it in 7 months. And somewhere a health insurance CEO is getting a $30 million bonus this quarter. I don’t know how people defend this system with a straight face.
I really don’t.
Then I ran into this short video that meshes nicely with the story above – 1.5 minutes
We know Democrats will be under a lot of pressure this session. But damn near every American is under a lot of pressure from horrendous Republican policies. We voted Democrats in to make changes. We’d like them done by the day after they are sworn in.
The country is in critical shape. We need help, Stat!
My dreams for a Blue Christmas came true! They did! They did!
16:33
As we were watching the TV the other night and a Breaking News! alert came on. We weren’t too excited at first. When we heard that a black man won a senate seat in the Deep South we were shocked. Finally, finally it seemed as we near the ends of our lives that the America we grew up in and still much remains has turned a huge corner in shaking off the vestiges of Jim Crow America. And it happensd during the reign of one of the worst racists ever.
Way to go America. This will feel good as we crawl out ftom the centuries of racism. And thank you and congratulations to Senator Colom! Is the Civil War finally over?
A) Jensen Huang scratched out lots of coverage in the news last week. Who is Jensen Huang?
B) The mid-term election was not a complete wipeout for Republicans. They did flip one House seat in what state?
C) Mississippi has an element of revenge in that current Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked winner Scott Colom from being appointed to a what by President Biden?
D) A group including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was reprimanded by the Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for what offense on Veteran’s Day?
E) Republicans selected who as their minority leader in the US House?
F) Once again Elon Musk has been accused of making a lone decision to cut access to his company’s Starlink system by what country?
G) The name of what first black senator from Mississippi was invoked frequently during news stories around Scott Colom’s historic victory?
H) There will soon be one less gawd-awful ugly electric truck for sale as what company announced it would no longer manufacture its Cybertruck?
I) Secretary of State Marco Rubio is being criticized for using government transportation to do what on the weekend?
J) Who announced a challenge to Chuck Schumer to be the Senate Majority Leader last week?
K) Governor-elect Rob Sand announced at his first press conference that he would get to work changing what Republican policy?
L) The average price of a new car in the US hit what high mark last week?
M) Secretary of Defense Hegseth called what congress member a “defeated, disgruntled congressman”?
N) We started the week with the installment of who as Trump’s new Chief of Staff?
O) What email service went down Thursday causing some disruption across the country?
P) California voters rejected Proposition 40 which would have levied a one time 5% wealth tax on what group of people?
Q) The UN climate conference known as COP31 is under way in Turkey. Is the US participating?
R) Can you name the African-American senators who will be in office in 2027?
S) In Ames, Iowa policy has been changed to allow passengers to carry guns on what public transportation system?
T) Members of what family brought a lawsuit to block Trump’s arch on grounds it would obscure sight of their relatives graves in Arlington?
Russians taking full advantage of Musk having turned off Starlink. Massive drone attack setting up in Kyiv right now.
Hand in hand with the Kremlin to mass murder Ukrainians, the monsters of Silicon Valley. – Jay in Kyiv
tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com
Answers:
A) He was the CEO of Nvidia until he was ousted due to an affair with a Chinese spy
B) Maine
C) as a federal judge
D) disrespect to the monument in the form of loud laughter
E) Jim Jordan of Ohio
F) Ukraine
G) Hiram Revels
H) Tesla
I) travel to watch his son play football for Florida U
J) Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland
K) privatized medicaid
L) $51,109
M) Thomas Massie the member who filed impeachment procedures against Hegseth
N) Stephen Miller
O) Mmicrosoft’s outlook aka hotmail
P) billionaires
Q) no
R) Senators: Warnock of Georgia; Colom of Mississippi; Stratton of Illinois; Alsobrooks of Maryland; Scott of South Carolina; Booker of NJ; Blunt-Rochester of Delaware
S) the CyRide bus system
T) the Kennedy family but not including RFK, jr.
JD Vance thinks you should have to speak English to receive care at a hospital. Wait until he hears about neonatal intensive care units. The audacity of those babies expecting care when they don’t even speak the language. – Dr. Annie Andrews, Senator-elect
According to Heather Cox Richardson, Democrats are hiring the attorneys purged from the DOJ. You can shred the files, but not institutional memory. They know where all the bodies are buried. – jezz
Here is at least one response to the threatening letter that Trump’s henchman sent out. It is about 3 minutes long. I will give Congress member Robert Garcia credit for not bursting into laughter as the very serious members of the right wing press tried to ask Garcia about this threat.
Donny Two-Scoops and his band of mafia thugs will signal that they will be refusing to cooperate with congress as congress asserts its right to investigate for the purpose of crafting legislation to fix problems.No doubt Trump is setting up a series of fall guys to take the blame that should lie directly with Trump.
Congress must investigate. If the administration refuses to cooperate I certainly hope that congress is ready to dish out whatever punishment it can.
Trump has spent most of his 80 years as a scofflaw, making a mockery of our system of laws. It is long past time that he be held ACCOUNTABLE!
22 minutes: (the portion on Medicaid privatization goes from the start to 4 minutes)
Fewer things can made me as happy as to hear Iowa’s new governor say he will erase one of the dumbest mistakes this state has ever made. As Sand says we can’t back out as fast as Branstadt drove us into this ditch, but says we are on our way.
For those who have been reading blogforiowa may remember that when Branstadt made this horrendous mistake we were at the head of the line pointing out how badly this was hurting Medicaid patients. Bottom line was that hundreds of millions of dollars that should have been going toward health care for Iowa’s Medicaid patients was instead going into the pockets of the CEOs of the Managed Care Operators who were “managing” the system that had worked extremely well under in house management until then.
So right off the bat a vote for the Democrat – Rob Sand – pays a huge dividend. I am sure those patients who should have been getting the health care that has been denied while the “managers” stuffed their pockets will be happy.
In researching this article I went back over some of blogforiowa’s postings on ‘medicaid privatization’ during the implementation years of 2016 to 2018. Doing so brought back some bitter memories of just how badly Republicans were screwing over the customer in this case – the Medicaid patient – in order to deliver big bundles of cash to the MCOs (Managed Care Operators).
Yet despite this and other major, major failures in this area, the insane cash vouchers for privatized schools, the soaring cancer rate in Iowa and the agricultural related problems that are not being dealt with such as CAFOs and of course the horrible water quality thhat is finally at least getting some notice – Iowans continued to elect Republicans to office with little question.
Well, thank goodness Rob Sand is coming out of the gate fixing problems. While a typical Iowa Republican legislature will do all it can to hamstring Sand as Governor much as they legislatively hamstrung him as auditor, I think Iowans will see a huge degree of higher quality in the governor’s office. Kim Reynolds was not the lowest rated governor in the country for no reason.
I believe we will see a major upgrade in quality in all offices that switched from an {R} to a {D}. We already see Christina Bohannan polling constituents on issues. I believe iowans could get used to having elected officials seeking their input on issues.
“Just in case you missed this story, it is definitely worth taking some tome to read through. Looks like Governor Reynolds is so invested in the privatized Medicaid system that critics are not welcome on the Iowa Medical Assistance Advisory Council. If there are only those who approve of what the MCOs (Managed Care Organization) are doing then any board becomes little more than a rubber stamp.In this case, David Hudson spent two years as the co-chair of the Advisory Council. He believes he was not re-appointed to the Council because he asked too many tough questions:
“I felt that I was asking the questions the governor should have been asking,” he said in an interview at his Windsor Heights home. “… I guess I pushed back too hard or something.”
Hudson, 61, served as a lobbyist for then-Gov. Terry Branstad in the 1990s. He said Branstad, a fellow Republican, appointed him as co-chairman of the Medicaid council two years ago because of his experience caring for his profoundly disabled son, Matthew. Matthew, 30, is covered by Medicaid, the joint state and federal health-care program.
Hudson said he initially supported Branstad’s 2015 decision to hire private companies to manage care for the 600,000 Iowans on Medicaid. But he said he felt a duty to speak up when he saw those companies cut crucial services to his son and other Iowans with disabilities.
Hudson believes his detailed inquiries led Branstad’s successor, Reynolds, to deny his request for reappointment when his council term expired June 30.
Reynolds and other supporters of private Medicaid management say it is leading to more efficient, effective care. Critics say privatization has led to drastic cuts in services for disabled people and piles of unpaid bills to the agencies that provide their care.”
Be sure to read the whole story to see where it is at right now.
You really must check out Laura Belin’s interview with Iowa Senator-elect Nikhil Wagle on flipping Iowa Senate District 47, in Scott county, including Bettendorf, Eldridge, Le Claire and parts of Davenport. Iowa needs a committed advocate for health care, public service and public schools in the Iowa Senate.
A physician and school board member, Wagle shares that Iowa’s public education drew him to Iowa. He discusses the effects the school voucher system and privatization of Medicaid have had on patients. He shares how he was able to defeat the Republican incumbent, and when and why he left the Republican party.
“I want to be the best state senator that Bettendorf has ever had because I want to be available and I want to be engaged…If I’m going to run and I’ve been elected by the people to do the job, my only responsibility is to make sure that I am engaged with them and helping them out. If I’m not going to be available then I shouldn’t even be running for the job.” – Nikhil Wagle
“I hope everyone takes a good hard look at this picture. Trump’s under-construction ballroom is now bigger than the rest of the White House. Much bigger. The contrast says everything you need to know about this President and his priorities.” – James E. Clyburn
Despite a massive, historic, I would even say miraculous win over MAGA last Tuesday all across America, the beltway and corporate media, (some say the “legacy” media), seem intent upon reviving their tried and true “Democrats in disarray!” narrative. They haven’t quite got there yet and we shouldn’t help them.
We should be cognizant that public intra-party infighting helps the media turn away from the shellacking that happened to MAGA on Tuesday. It’s off the topic of how the American people rejected MAGA anti-democratic policies when we take their bait and argue amongst ourselves on social media (where they troll for stories). We need to stop letting the media rob us of this time of celebration just because they want to stir up non-troversies.
I’m talking about the beltway press can be seen shoving microphones in the faces of every Democrat in congress new and old, and asking if they support Jakeem Jeffries for speaker (who is running unopposed!). Why no reporters holding up microphones to MAGA members of congress who lost and asking them what they are going to do for a job next year?
Or how do they feel about losing so badly?
Are they lawyering up?
Are they worried about serving jail time?
Do they have any regrets?
What did they learn from the voters?
Will they be issuing an apology to America for everything they’ve done including the insurrection on the capitol?
If they are not sorry, why should we forgive them?
If they are sorry and apologize, how do they plan to make amends?
Because Liz Cheney told us they all knew about it, all the house members knew and even invited constituents to come to DC to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Republicans picked Jim (Gym) Jordan to be their new leader. That’s how serious Republicans are about owning up to their wrong doing. Jim Jordan, everyone. I’m not seeing reporters following Republicans around inquiring about their support for Jim Jordan.
I did see one reporter put a microphone in Mike Johnson’s face and ask a question about the Republican loss to which Johnson replied, “I’m disappointed the voters got it wrong.” That’s MAGA for you.
We can have internal discussions about the direction of the Democratic party, leadership, etc., but we shouldn’t automatically fall for the media bait and just hand them negative story lines. It has only been since Trump that all of a sudden the grassroots think it is our job to weigh in on who the House and Senate members elect to be their leader. Micro-managing congress about who they support for leader didn’t used to be much of a thing until lately. It would have been called in modern vernacular, “not staying in our lane,” before Trump and MAGA drove us all mad. Now we’re all traumatized and over-reacting to everything.
That said, it seems like our side needs to have more information on the topic of the electing of leaders process in congress. AOC, using a white board, does a great job of explaining how things work in the House of Representatives, even if she has to write backwards because she hasn’t done a livestream for awhile.
If you watch, you will hear her say a few times to viewers, “Don’t get mad, I’m just telling you how things work.” AOC starts off by saying the leader’s job is three-fold – legislative, political, organizing a whip operation, and fund raising. The leader’s job is to know how every member in the Democratic caucus is going to vote on any given bill, so they know if they have the votes before bringing it to the floor (something Nancy Pelosi excelled at). Getting votes when the caucus doesn’t yet have them for a bill that Democrats want to pass is another part of the whip operation.
The leader’s job is also to protect the majority for re-election, with input from the members on strategy, because Ds are a broad coalition of progressives Democrats, conservative Democrats, center Democrats. She points out progressives have fewer members, so there’s that.
A big part of protecting the majority is fundraising. AOC impressed upon viewers that even though she herself is a successful fundraiser, there is no comparison as far as how much money the leaders of the party have to raise and how much money Schumer and Jeffries were able to raise. Until we change the system, big piles of cash are required to win elections.
Who would even want to do this job? As it turns out, no one. About this time she points out that in fact nobody wants the speaker job. Saying it without saying it, I understood her to mean: It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.
We worked hard to defeat MAGA. As of this writing Scott Colom is about to give his victory speech. He will be the first Black senator from Mississippi in 140 years. That is something to celebrate.
Join us from 6:30-7:45pm Thursday, November 12 on Zoom for our next Data Center Organizing call!
We’ll be joined by Harry Cope, a member of Missouri Rural Crisis Center, who decided to run for office when his home county wasn’t listening to residents about data centers. We’ll talk with him about why having the right folks in elected offices is critical to our data center fight.
RSVP to join us here! (Or watch it on the big TV at the CCI Office and help us assemble a mailing! Email us if you want to join us.)
November 16: Adair County Data Center community meeting
Adair County’s current data center moratorium has no end date so long as they are working towards an ordinance. But, we’ve heard that landowners are being approached by developers offering millions of dollars – if they sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) regarding potential “projects” we know nothing about.
Join us in Greenfield on Monday November 16 at 6:30pm to learn more about why we need to keep the moratorium in place until we have a strong ordinance in place. More info and RSVP here.
November 17: Public School Strong Legislative Strategy meeting
We will have a new legislature and Governor and that’s why we need to be “public school strong” going into 2027. At this meeting we’ll analyze the election results and what they mean for our public schools and accountability for private school vouchers. RSVP to join us here!
Iowa’s water crisis crashed the midterms [Sentient Media]
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
You really must check out Laura Belin’s interview with Iowa Senator-elect Nikhil Wagle on flipping Iowa Senate District 47, in Scott county, including Bettendorf, Eldridge, Le Claire and parts of Davenport. Iowa needs a committed advocate for health care, public service and public schools in the Iowa Senate.
The election may be over, but we didn’t come this far to only come this far. Check out some actions going on this week.
November 17: Public School Strong Legislative Strategy meeting
