Will the Stupak Amendment Affect Insurance Coverage for Miscarriages? -
As much as I struggled with the sudden realization that the pregnancy was over, I also found myself trying to decide financially what I was willing to do. A chemical abortion would cost $40, but I would be alone, bleeding, and it could still be incomplete and I would require a D&C anyway, since my pregnancy was so advanced. Surgery would be quick, total, and under controlled circumstances, but would likely be our full maxed insurance amount of $1500. And of course, there was the free option of waiting for my body to finally realize I wasn’t pregnant, but after 4 weeks the risk of infection was steadily climbing, increasing my chances of future miscarriage, infertility, or even death. With a toddler at home, and still nursing hopes for extending our family some day, this was not an option.
I chose the quick and total route of the D&C, despite the costs, prioritizing my health and the health of possible future children. I was lucky, and could afford to make that choice, because currently, my insurance cannot chose to refuse to cover what the hospital as termed an abortion.
Thanks to the Stupak amendment, that can now change.
(emphasis mine)
The Jobless Rate for People Like You - Interactive Graphic -
I had no idea I was actually in the lowest jobless rate demographic.
“To clarify in modern terms, the Rings of Power are computer programs. The Nine Rings were loaded down with viruses and other malware that corrupted their users. The Seven Rings came packaged with adware of the Nigerian Bank variety, that the dwarves foolishly clicked on. As for the Three Rings, Sauron gave the elves the code for the program, leaving himself a back door to gain access whenever he wanted. Luckily, the elves’ virus protection was up to date.” —
The Lord Of The Rings - Television Tropes & Idioms
TV Tropes for the win!
and if not, what the fuck is wrong with me?(and i mean - i’ve been depressed before, and i don’t think this feels like that. but then, the second time i was depressed didn’t feel like the first one).
I’ve been wondering the exact same thing, lately, because I’ve been going through the exact same thing. Though I’ve been depressed so many times that it’s hard to even differentiate “times” anymore.
Hey, I have that.
“There are just over 100 people in the world serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for crimes they committed as juveniles in which no one was killed. All are in the United States.” — Supreme Court to Hear Appeals on Juveniles’ Life Sentences - NYTimes.com
[video]
Edward Cullen Twilight Robot Tote Bag choice of tote colors
I… what?
“The problem is that when you get people to think about this logically, they’re pro-choice. But when you appeal to them emotionally, they’re all too easily sucked into hating on sluts, believing female sexuality is dangerous, and wanting it to be controlled. When asked specifics about how it should be controlled, people balk—-they want it to be controlled, but they don’t want there to be actual force involved, in part because most Americans have female sexuality as part of their own sex lives, and they don’t want their own bedrooms invaded. The key to creating a sex panic is making the panickers believe this is about Other Women. And unfortunately, 65 Democrats are convinced that this amendment is about punishing Other Women, not their own voters.” — pandagon.net - we are the public option
Hee. Soaps.
“[M]any of the 39 Democrats that voted for the Stupak Amendment still voted against the final bill. Had all 39 Democrats who were voting against the bill anyway voted against Stupak, the amendment would have been soundly defeated. But this way they protected their own interests at the expense of millions of women in the United States.” — Many Dems Who Voted For Stupak Still Voted Against the Bill | RHRealityCheck.org
stuff white people do: whiten their names -
This is an interesting post, full of examples of people who have changed their names from something “ethnic” to something “white.” I don’t think every example he provides is an example of whitewashing. Names like Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop are obviously fake, so I don’t think they count. Same with Vanilla Ice. Who’s going to listen to a rapper called Robert Van Winkle?
And in the case of Ritchie Valens, that name was a deliberate whitewashing of his real name by his record label, who wanted him to seem less Mexican in order to sell more records to white people. Doubtless the same is true of other names on this list.
But a lot of these are just fascinating. I had no idea that Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Banji, or that Albert Brooks’ real name is Albert Einstein (another understandable name change). Or that Kirk Douglas is really Issur Danielovitch Demsky, or that Helen Mirren is really Ilynea Lydia Mironoff(!). I’m ready for a movie star trivia night now.
a total of 64 democrats voted yes on the stupak amendment, helping it pass 240 to 194.to see a full list of names, states, and contact info, please check here. if you live in their districts, please let them know how you feel about this.
62 of those were men. the women are Dahlkemper (PA) and Kaptur (OH).
7 were from various parts of pennsylvania. 4 were from texas which surprised me because i didn’t know there were four democratic reps from texas. relatively few were from the west. 23 were from southern states.
all of them placed unreasonable restrictions on a legal medical procedure - the only medical procedure to be restricted in any way by the health reform bill.
“Either we all have the right to choose or none of us has it.” — The Answer to the Stupak? Overturn Hyde Now | RHRealityCheck.org
The Stupak amendment would prevent any private health insurance plan from covering elective abortion, if even one of its customer used even one dollar of affordability tax credits. The problem is that the Stupak amendment will conflict directly with other parts of the bill. The bill would require “guaranteed issue.” This means that any insurer offering coverage to individuals on the health insurance exchange must accept all customers.If the insurance companies offering plans on the exchange are not allowed to turn down any customers, it means no basic insurance plan on the exchange could cover abortion. There would be no way to prevent that at least one of the plan’s customer would be using affordability tax credits to help purchase the plan. So the effect is no plan sold on the exchange could offer abortion coverage as part of its basic package.
The contradiction could be solved in a different manner. The decision could be that insurance companies who offer plans covering abortion on the exchange would be allowed to turn down customers using affordability tax credits. This would create a dangerous loophole for the new guaranteed issue rule. This could lead to the ghettoizing of the health insurance exchange. Insurers would know that offering plans that cover abortion would prevent low income Americans from being able to sign up. Low income Americans tend to have higher medical costs and are less profitable, less desirable customers. Offering abortion coverage would be a simple way for an insurance company to keep them out of their risk pool. Since the exchange has dangerously weak risk adjustment mechanisms, this Stupak Amendment could become a profitable tool used by insurers to discriminate against low income Americans.
It seems the Stupak Amendment would either effectively ban any basic health insurance plan sold on the exchange (the individual and small business market) from covering abortion or would create a way to discriminate against low income Americans. Either way the Amendment will have far reaching ramifications for our health care system.