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BIg Changes To Medicare

House Chairman Paul Ryan will reveal a highly anticipated 2012 Republican budget next week.This proposes dramatic changes. This plan calls for controversial overhaul of Medicare,the healthcare program for seniors,and imposes deep cuts on Medicaid,which provides health benefits to low-income Americans according to House Republican. In 2021Americans would no longer enroll in Medicare programs;instead they'll receive vouchers for private insurance, who stressed anyone 55 years or older now would not be effected by the change. The details of how Ryan's Medicare voucher would work.The GOP aims to save billions of dollars in revamping Medicare,a large contributor to the massive federal deficit and debt. on Medicaid Ryan's plan calls for cuts as deep as $1trillion



http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/02/house.gop.budget/index.html

Democracy in America !

I get very irritated by arguments of the form "If the government had the power to do apparently reasonable thing x, it could do crazy thing y." In many cases, the government really does have the constitutional power to do crazy things. Congress has the power to levy taxes and spend them on pretty much whatever it wants. Congress could tax all income at 98% and spend the money to build a golden palace for its pet toucan Horace. That would be pretty awful. But even though the courts cannot rule that taxing income at 98% or building golden palaces for pet toucans is unconstitutional, fret ye not! Congress is never going to do anything like that, because if it did, it wouldn't be re-elected, and because (our sometimes overheated commentary notwithstanding) members of Congress are not as a rule entirely crazy, nor are the majority of the people who elect them.
As a sub-point, the formulation in Judge Roger Vinson's ruling "Congress could require that people buy and consume broccoli at regular intervals" is a huge sneaky elision. Congress probably could require that people buy broccoli at regular intervals, if it were crazy and didn't want to get re-elected. Whether it could require that people consume broccoli raises some obvious Bill-of-Rights concerns. Though nothing in the Bill of Rights actually specifies that people have a right to decide what food they put in their own bodies, and anyone who felt that such a right must exist would probably have to find it in the document's "penumbra", which might be an uncomfortable stance for constitutional originalists like Judge Vinson.

P.S: my sister helped lol

Lets Talk About Health Baby !

The Senate has renewed the Health Care Debate but the wholesale repeal of law unlikely.Several states have indicated they will not implement the new healthcare law now that one of the federal judge has ruled it void.Republicans are making an effort to add an amendment to add an airports construction bill to repeal the law. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to use the House-passed repeal as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration legislation is not likely to win over one Democratic Senate vote.Senators will vote on two other amendments alonside the House repeal bill.The Democrats are calling for a full repeal of the 1099 reporting requirement for medical businesses purchasing equipment worth $600 or more. It is expected to pass.  A separate amendment by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan to pay for the 1099 repeal is not expected to pass. Critics say this is a major flaw in legislation.

Quotes On Healthcare Bill:               

"They know it's a rotten bill," said Sen.Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, speaking of his Democratic counterparts. "They've already agreed and taken the amendment of Sen.Mike Johannas of Nebraska to do away with the 1099 expensive over regulatory problem ... but that's a very modest small thing compared to the extraordinary cost" of the program.

"This is going to be a big, big issue in 2012," Hatch told Fox News.

 There are so many different opinions on health care. Some people feel that it is a waste of time and others feel that it will help raise money and hopefully get America out of debt.The hearing comes just two days after District Judge Roger Vinson ruled in a lawsuit filed by 26 states that the law had to be thrown out because the individual mandate violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution because it orders Americans to participate in commerce even if they don't want to do so. Sen. Dick Durban stated When the Affordable Act -- Affordable Care Act comes before the Supreme Court, I'm confident that they will recognize that Congress can regulate the market for health care that we all participate in, and that it can regulate insurance, which is the primary means of payment for health care services," he said, adding that Vinson's ruling is akin to the "activist" judicial decisions that conservatives claim to hate.

This relates to the State of Union. Health Care was a topic discussed by Pres.Obama.I Think Congress  should try out the health care reform because I understand its about budgeting for America's economy but it also benefits the citizens of America. If more people stay alive then that's more help of bringing America out of its many term oils. Also students will be able to stay on their parents insurance until their 26 yrs. old :)

 

Don't Ask Don't Tell !

President Obama has successfully gotten rid of a ban on gays in the military and Secretary of Defense Bill Gates assured Congress and Obama that implementing the new policy shouldn't be a hassle with the public. He also said that it should be a low impacting “troop effectiveness”, even in war time. Ever since Don't Ask Don't Tell was enacted by Congress and signed into law, more gay and lesbian activists have compared their struggles for entrance in the military to blacks during the Jim Crow era. Blacks weren't allowed to eat at certain restraunts and go to certain school etc. Retired Howard University Aeronautics Professor Ivan Ware the comparison with blacks and gays are NOT the same because blacks endured much more than gays did trying to get into the military. He also said during WWII no one knew who was gay and no one was bothered, they were just there to fight and win the war. The fact that the Don't Ask Don't  Tell Policy has been repealed is only good for America and the military.Some soldiers have expressed their concerns about being in the military with gay peers and they feel it may lead to potential violence therefore it could disrupt unit cohesian. A now veteran named Maurice Franklin  has experienced being gay and black in the Navy when there was no Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy wasn't law. He feels validated and feels that this is a grat shift for the future members of the Navy and Military. President Obama signs the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 at the Interior Department in Washington.

iPad being a Speech Aid for Children

Believe it or not the iPad has come to great use for children with speech and communication problems. A young girl name Caleigh Gray has a problem with answering a simple yes or no question. This is because she has cerebral palsy. There's now an application on the iPad that cost $190, that speaks words with the picture she touches. The software is called Proloquo2Go and they make a number of different apps for people with speech dificulties. This software is developed for only Apple Gadgets. Some gadgets have a picture you can tap and it will say the sound of the word or other students lead them through stories to teaach them basic patterns. Proloquo2Go are also planning on making apps for the Google's Android software.This software on the iPad is also helps remove some social stigma. A school psychologists from California has made several apps to aid children with their speech problems.Speech devices from companies like DynaVox and Prentke Romich range from $2,500-$15,000 for a device that uses eye movement of people who are paralyzed to allow them to select words on a screen. The Cheif Executive of DynaVox said that the iPad is just a alternative as a small segment of people who buy his devices. He has a new devicce coming out next month costing $7,820. Russel Cross a director of clinical apps for Prentke Romich says that his business as a mainstream hasn't suffered because of the new app on iPad, but the need for a speech devices are far more needed than the supply he said the problem is economy sales.
This ties into government because it shows how far children with disabilities have come to grow into the modern world of technology.