The new health care law forces insurance companies to play by the rules, prohibiting them from dropping your coverage if you get sick, billing you into bankruptcy because of an annual or lifetime limit, or, soon, discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition. The new law also includes a number of key provisions designed to…
Author: TRP
Presidential Memorandum — Expediting Review of Pipeline Projects
Because of rising oil production, more efficient cars and trucks, and a world-class refining sector that last year was a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in 60 years, we have cut net imports by a million barrels a day in the last year alone. By reducing our dependence on foreign oil,…
A Timeline Of The Health Reform Law’s Milestones And Regulations – Kaiser Health News
The health law was controversial even before it was signed by President Barack Obama two years ago. But the political ruckus has not deterred the administration from issuing hundreds of pages of regulations which already are affecting consumers, hospitals, doctors, insurance companies and state governments. Here’s a look at what was done when: READ MORE:…
This American Lie: Is It O.K. For Climate Science Deniers To Lie And For Journalists To Quote Those Lies?
Revkin’s headline was “When Narrative Comes Before Truth.” Obviously that isn’t Gleick. It is, however, the Heartland Institute. As several leading climate scientists have explained, it is Heartland who spends their time “spreading misinformation” and “personally attacking climate scientists to further its goals.” Who is guilty of wanting their narrative to trump scientific truth? That would be…
90 Degrees in Winter: This Is What Climate Change Looks Like
The National Weather Service is kind of the anti–Mike Daisey, a just-the-facts operation that grinds on hour after hour, day after day. It’s collected billions of records (I’ve seen the vast vaults where early handwritten weather reports from observers across the country are stored in endless rows of ledgers and files) on countless rainstorms, blizzards…
GOP Budget Plan To Reduce The Debt Actually Makes The Debt Worse
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released the GOP’s new budget this morning, and in doing so, he touted it as a plan to make America’s level of debt more sustainable. “We’ve shared with Americans a specific plan of action that cuts spending, pays off the debt and gets our economy back on the…
DOJ: Florida Voting Restrictions May Discriminate Intentionally
New Florida laws that place harsh restrictions on third-party voter registration groups and limit the early voting period may have been passed with a discriminatory intent, lawyers with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division suggested in a court filing on Tuesday. DOJ told the court that the federal government’s position was that Florida “has not…
Investors Are Making Big Money On Renewable Energy
Although Congress recently dealt a blow to the wind energy industry by failing to extend the production tax credit that helped incentivize wind power investment and production, and make it price-competitive with carbon energy sources, Immelt remains bullish on renewables and with good reason. Clean energy investments in the U.S. will continue to be driven…
On Health Care, Supreme Court Essentially Powerless To Kill Many Of Obama’s Big Changes
Health care reform can’t be stopped by the Supreme Court. Next week the high court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act passed two years ago. Ultimately, the justices could overturn all or parts of the law. The Republican presidential contenders have vowed to repeal the law if they win the…
Counting the cost: the hidden price of coal power
Each year, the US sets off the equivalent of 20-30 atomic bombs worth of explosives, effectively obliterating entire features of its own landscape. Why? To get at the coal that’s inconveniently located beneath the mountains of Appalachia. That jaw-dropping figure came towards the end of a session at last month’s meeting of the American Association…
Trayvon Martin Final Moments Captured During Phone Call With Teenage Girl
Just moments before Trayvon Martin was shot and killed, he was on his cellphone talking with a 16-year-old girl. For the first time, the girl is speaking out about the last, horrifying moments of Martin’s life. “He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,”…
Justice for Trayvon Martin
Here’s what we know: Trayvon Martin is dead. On February 26, during halftime of the NBA All-Star game, the 17-year-old high school junior went to a nearby store in the Orlando suburb where he was visiting his father and stepmother in order to buy some candy for his younger brother. He returned to his family…
Affordable Care Act provides 20.4 million women with preventive health services at no additional cost
President Obama’s health reform law requires that new health insurance plans cover preventive services with no co-pay or deductible. In the last 18 months, approximately 20.4 million women with private health insurance have received preventive health services such as mammograms and pap smears at no additional cost because of this provision in the Affordable Care Act….
One Nation, Two Health Care Extremes
The U.S. spent $2.6 trillion on health care in 2010 — more than the entire economy of France or Britain. But the amount spent and how it’s used varies from state to state. And no two states are more different than Texas and Massachusetts. At 25 percent, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people…
Republican Rep. Walsh Proposes Federal ‘Proof Of Citizenship To Vote’ Law That Could Disenfranchise 15 Million Americans
A Republican congressman from Illinois praised a controversial new voting measure at a town hall last month, calling for a national version of the law that could disenfranchise millions. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who grabbed headlines for owing his ex-wife over $100,000 in child support and defending big banks against irate constituents, lauded the recent…
Coal Is Expensive And Not Getting Any Cheaper
The study found that coal is the most expensive energy when “externalized costs” are factored in. These are the costs of coal use paid for by society, rather than by ratepayers. This includes the impact on public health and property from increased air pollution. Our reliance on coal has cost the economy between $345 and…
Killing Of Fla. Teen Trayvon Martin Becomes National Story About Race [with 911 audio]
Now that 911 recordings show how a white Florida man continued to follow a 17-year-old black boy even after police advised him not to — and captured the sound of the man killing the unarmed youth with a shot to the chest in what the gunman says was an act of self defense during a…
Mitch McConnell(Senate Republican) Votes Against Highway Bill He Backed
McConnell’s staff claimed, “Senator McConnell has been working to pass the highway bill in the U.S. Senate, which is currently slated for a vote on final passage next week.” A McConnell spokesman also told a Louisville, Kentucky radio station that the minority leader was working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to pass the…
Supreme Court Will Release Same-Day Audio Of Health Care Arguments
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will make available same-day audio of upcoming oral arguments later this month, arguments that could determine the fate of the Obama health care overhaul. In a three-paragraph announcement, the court said it is making the same-day audio available because of the “extraordinary public interest” in the health…
Clean energy economy is alive and well on the West Coast
With a regional GDP contribution of $47 billion and over half a million jobs created in 2010, the clean energy economy is alive and well on the West Coast. And the potential for continued growth in jobs and investment is enormous with more regional collaboration, according to a report released last week by members of…