Call Welfare “Transitional Living Fund,” Says Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

CBS DC

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) says it’s time to stop blaming economically struggling Americans for their plight.

“Maybe the word welfare should be changed to something of a transitional living fund,” she said in a speech on the House floor. “For that is what it is, for people to be able to live.”

Lee noted that 50 years since the start of Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” there have been great strides towards raising the standard of living for all Americans.

She noted that infant mortality rates, child hunger and the number of Americans living in poverty have all declined.

Though those problems still exist, she said.

Speaking as Democrats work to push through legislation to help Americans who have been unemployed for over a year, the congresswoman said perhaps it was time to refer to those benefits as “a transitional outreach to individuals who are chronically unemployed.”

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Race and class in the US foster care system

Race and class in the US foster care system

“At any given time, the foster care system in the United States is home to over 400,000 children. Children and youth flow into and out of the system, with a substantial percentage returning home, being adopted, or ‘aging out’ each year, and a comparable percentage entering care. About half the children in foster care are housed with non-relative foster parents, another quarter with relatives (‘kinship”’foster parents), and the remainder in group homes, residential treatment, or on ‘trial discharge’ to their birth parents while still legally in care. “

Noam Chomsky: America hates its poor

Noam Chomsky: America hates its poor

“The enormous benefits given to the very wealthy, the privileges for the very wealthy here, are way beyond those of other comparable societies and are part of the ongoing class war. Take a look at CEO salaries. CEOs are no more productive or brilliant here than they are in Europe, but the pay, bonuses, and enormous power they get here are out of sight. They’re probably a drain on the economy, and they become even more powerful when they are able to gain control of policy decisions.”

Obamacare: The biggest insurance scam in history

Obamacare: The biggest insurance scam in history

“Tricks to mistreat those with pre-existing illness: One of the great selling points of the ACA con is that those with pre-existing illnesses will not be denied coverage. This is true, but insurers have many ways to avoid the ill. The ACA waswritten by an insurance company executive from Wellpoint, Liz Fowler, who went on to be hired by Obama’s HHS to implement the law and now works for a pharmaceutical giant. So, all along the way, the insurance companies had someone protecting their interests.

One way to avoid the sick was mentioned above: excluding hospitals where people with serious health problems go, like major medical centers. Another way is by providing poor service to people who have a lot of claims so they change insurers. And a third has to do with the fact that insurance companies are allowed to charge more in geographical areas where health costs are higher. If a plan in a particular area is not making enough profit, the insurance company can simply stop selling in that area.

Insurance companies also can charge three times as much based on age. Because most pre-existing illness comes with age, this greatly undermines the protection of those with pre-existing illness. Insurance companies are excellent at gaming laws and regulations, so we can expect more creative avoidance of people who actually need health care.”

Beyond the spin, some facts about the Affordable Care Act

Beyond the spin, some facts about the Affordable Care Act

“Here are the top three facts that need to be addressed:

• The rise of health care costs are slowing, but not because of the ACA.
• More people will have health insurance but that doesn’t mean they will have access to health care.
• The ACA further privatises our health care system, which is the opposite of single payer.

…And while companies can’t charge more to people with health problems as individuals, they can charge up to three times more based on age and cancharge more in geographic areas where the population has more health problems or the costs of care are higher. It is expected that if a company finds they can’t make enough profit in a particular area, they can just pull their plans from that area. These are some of the most obvious ways that insurers will game the system. The largest insurance companies assisted with writing the law and then with the regulations that accompanied it, so we will see what other tactics they employ as time goes on.”

Affordable Care Act: Cómo la Ley de Salud beneficia a los Latinos

[Video] Los YouToons se preparan para Obamacare

[Video] Obamacare Explicado

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2kJHkseus&w=420&h=315%5D

[Video] How does the Affordable Care Act work?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vju70I6qSKk&w=420&h=315%5D

The American public’s shocking lack of policy knowledge is a threat to progress and democracy

The American public’s shocking lack of policy knowledge is a threat to progress and democracy

“The genuinely shocking degree of public ignorance regarding the ACA that has been revealed by this slew of recent polls, more than three years after the law was signed by President Obama, should not be something to which we respond by simply shaking our heads and lamenting that the American people are so ‘disengaged.’ No, this ought to be viewed as a very serious political crisis and a grave threat to whatever semblance of health our badly disfigured democratic culture still maintains.”