See, this is what I am talking about when I say that Libertarians support socialdarwinism, the same ideology that motivated Nazis to kill the disabled, poor and elderly.

"Poison control centers are the target of federal budget cuts. House Republicans voted to cut more than 90% of funding and have just one national poison hotline. That would shut down 56 state and regional centers including the one in Illinois.

Every year the Illinois Poison Center in Chicago answers more than 90 thousand calls from families and healthcare professionals.
Kris Sherrill, with Southern Illinois Healthcare and the poison center, says those phone calls save lives and money.

"In 75% of the cases the Illinois Poison Center can take care of the situation right there and the person doesn't have to seek care at the emergency department," said Sherrill, "that's a huge savings."

A study cited by the Department of Health and Human Services says every dollar spent on poison control centers, saves seven dollars in health care spending.
House Republicans proposed cutting all but two million of the $29 million budget, closing the Illinois Poison Center and others across the country leaving only the one D.C.

"If they cut $27 Million then the next year they're gonna spend one billion because that's how much money poison centers save overall across the country," said Carol DesLauriers, Operations Director for the Illinois Poison Center.

Supporters of the proposal say there's no need for 57 similar call centers throughout the US, especially with today's technology.
But poison control centers say local relationships and knowledge of local toxins are invaluable resources."

Source: http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=12747&type=top

By now we all know that the Republican Party couldn't care less about public health. Its aim is to privatize as many services as possible because it sees in private enterprise the ultimate cure for all of our problems. The right will never admit that there are things that the government can do better due to its size, philosophy and nature.

According to AARP,
"By early September, more than 150 Republican candidates had pledged support for cutting funding, according to the conservative website DeFundit.org.

If the legal challenges from the states succeed and the individual mandate is eliminated, all the most popular new benefits and consumer protections of the law could evaporate — from guaranteed coverage for people with preexisting conditions to the ban on lifetime coverage limits. These benefits and protections depend on having healthy people, as well as the sick, buying insurance to spread the risk and reduce costs.

For the same reason, new federally required benefits like free preventive care and limits on out-of-pocket expenses would not be possible. Coverage through the exchanges would be more expensive, and subsidies, if available at all, less generous. If funding were significantly cut, it would be difficult to even establish exchanges."
Read more: http://www.aarp.org/health/health-care-reform/info-09-2010/if_health_care_reform_unravels_.html

It is true that it takes all provisions in the federal bill to reduce the cost of health care. However Oklahoma and Arizona already repealed the individual mandate through a referendum.

First of all, this referendum won't count since federal law always trumps state law. I expect the federal government to declare the referendum unconstitutional within the next month. It is also unlikely that the courts will find the law unconstitutional.

Second, unlike the original House bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will establish state health exchanges. If one state decides to repeal laws, it will mostly affect this particular state and not its neighbors. Getting rid off the individual mandate will result in people gaming the system which will increase premiums for the ones who permanently pay into the system. Arizona's and Oklahoma's health care systems would be in ashes within two years while states that go further and expand their systems to a cost-reducing comprehensive single payer health care will thrive.

We will end up with the system that Republican proposed in the beginning. States will be allowed to do their own thing, may the better system win.That is what you would think. However, we are talking about millions of lives at risk because the Republican Party, the health insurance industry and PhRMA are more interested in keeping the previous system that exploits millions and costs us between 47,000 and 100,000 lives. Therefore the federal reform bill in its current form must remain the base in all states. I hope people will vote progressive and for President Obama in 2012. If Obama loses, we will ultimately lose all the progress that has been made the last two years and this is something we cannot afford.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Arizona Governor Brewer decided to make cuts in health care, cutting the state's children health insurance program (CHIP), Medicaid and funding for organ transplants. Instead they set up a board that will decide who will have a transplant and who won't. In other words, a death panel. Yes, it is the death panel Republicans have been warning about that would hide in the federal health reform bill. Of course there was no such thing. In fact, the health insurance reform will extend the life of Medicare fund from 2029 to 2037. The only people who try to "pull the plug on grandma" and our fellow citizens who always paid for insurance, are the Republicans.

"In Arizona, 98 low-income patients approved for organ transplants have been told they are no longer getting them because of state budget cuts.

The patients receive medical coverage through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), the state's version of Medicaid. While it may be common for private insurance companies or government agencies to change eligibility requirements for medical procedures ahead of time, medical ethicists say authorizing a procedure and then reversing that decision is unheard of."
Source: http://www.npr.org/2010/11/11/131215308/arizona-budget-cuts-put-organ-transplants-at-risk

Now here comes the most ridiculous, frustrating, enraging part about this story: Arizona says the cuts would save about $4.5 million this year. This is nothing compared to the tax cuts and many other services that the right-wing government provides. Increasing taxes doesn't seem to be an option despite the fact that most Americans are ready to pay more taxes to keep and to expand social services.

UPDATE:
The cuts are now on hold because the Arizona clown government realized that it would also lose matching funds. That shows how long the GOP was thinking about this before they implemente­d the cuts: Not a minute. But they continue to deny coverage for new Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) and Medicaid applicants. Here's the thing about CHIP.

"CEO of Phoenix Children's Hospital, said it is unfair to change the rules in the middle of the game. He said that Phoenix Children's has already absorbed $45 million in state cuts over the past three years. Further cuts jeopardize specialized services such as pediatric neurology and rheumatology."
Source: http://www.examiner.com/health-care-in-national/arizona-governor-s-budget-requests-medicaid-cuts-and-elimination-of-children-s-health-insurance

47,000 Arizona children from low-income families will lose health insurance because the state wants to save $23 million. That's $489/year per child. A ridiculous sum.
If you spread that money on the 4 million working Arizonans (out of 6 million Arizonans)­­, each taxpayer pays $5.45 per year to keep a child healthy and alive.
That divided by 365 days, each Arizona taxpayer spends 1.5 cents per day on KidsCare. Too much says the Republican Party.

"A study carried out by Harvard Medical School Professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler concluded that almost 100,000 people died in the United States each year because of lack of needed care—three times the number of people who died of AIDS."
Source: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0903navarro.htm
“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility” to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. “This system is bankrupting our state,” he said. “We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we’re anticipating, we may have to act this year.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/politics/07ttmedicaid.html?_r=1

He is talking about cutting Medicaid, the health care service created for the weak, the poor and the disabled and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a program that covers uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.. They try to blame it on the individual mandate in the current federal health insurance reform bill. They do not seem to understand that it is the uninsured who do not pay into the system that cause a cost shifting. The cost shifting raises the premiums of the ones who are paying into the system. Texas Republicans would also turn away tens of billions of dollars in federal money that the federal government provides to assist in the finance of Medicaid. All this, despite the fact that Texas already has the highest rate of uninsured and poor people in the nation.

Right now, those plans are "nothing but talks," but if they really plan to pass language that gets rid off Medicaid and CHIP, the Texan health care system will fall apart within a year after the law goes into effect. Not only that. The fact hat millions will not have access to basic health care will increase the number of diseases with the possible risk of being a breeding ground for pandemics since the state, close to the Mexican border also has the highest number of illegal immigrants.

It reflects again the real face of the far-right Republican Party with its Socialdarwinist, short-term thinking that will destroy this country and the people who live in this country if we do not stop them.

Links:
Code Red: The Critical Condition of Health in Texas
Texas is Near Bottom of Healthcare Rankings

A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.

The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers sickened by toxins resulting from the 9/11 attacks, after working in the trade center ruins. Democratic House Representative Anthony Weiner from New York, whose district includes many of the affected (video) obviously is very upset that the Republican Party blocks legislation.

It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159. The vote was largely along party lines, with only 12 Republicans joining Democrats supporting the measure.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

I feel disgusted! Republicans make me sick! Whoever votes for these guys cannot be American. Also take a look at our national news! I checked through CNN, not a phrase about this! I checked through FOX News, not a phrase about this! Instead, they wait for another story to bash Progressive Democrats in order to appease the hunger of uneducated Conservatives living far from reality! They are also part of the problem why we are not seeing any progress in this country. It is nothing but humane to help those people to cover the high costs for their health conditions that are mostly chronic yet Republicans are turning their backs on America's greatest heroes. They should all feel ashamed.


Links:
Long-term Lung damage persists in 9/11 rescuers