Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah-ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Sorry: I shouldn't laugh so hard when Kristi Noem's chances of getting Jim DeMint's blessing and cash have just disappeared.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
The Nation reports that at least twenty GOP lawmakers who have called for repeal of the Affordable Care Act have begged for ObamaCare money for their home districts:
Among them are Kristi Noem, a Republican lawmaker from South Dakota likely to run for the Senate next year, as well as Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who has been touted as a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016.
In one of two letters sent by Portman to the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator requested ACA funds to help a federal health center in Cleveland, where the money could help “an additional 8,966 uninsured individuals” to receive ”essential services,” in his words. In Noem’s case, the congresswoman requested ACA funds to construct a community health center in Rapid City to provide primary services to the uninsured. Both Noem and Portman won office in 2010 campaigning vigorously against the law and have since worked to repeal it [Lee Fang, "Revealed: Letters From Republicans Seeking Obamacare Money," The Nation, 2013.06.05].
Looks like likely Senate candidate Noem will just have to run against M. Michael Rounds on appearance... since that's all her opposition to ObamaCare is.
Here's text from Rep. Noem's request for ACA funding for the Community Health Center of the Black Hills, dated October 28, 2011:
...CHCBH is an urban, non-profit facility and is the only fedrally qualified health center winthin a 130-mile radius of Rapid City. Of the 14,000 patients serviced every year, 45% are uninsured and 50% are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. CHCBH desires to reac the homeless population, migrant/seasonal workers, Medicaid and Medicare recipients, the uninsured, and any others who are below the poverty level, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. Due to space constriants and ever-increasing demand, CHCBH has been forced to operate multiple clinics throughout Rapid City.
It is my understanding that if selected, CHCBH will consolidate three of the four primary service sites under one roof. This new building will nearly double the existing clinic capacity and will include additional medical exam rooms, dental operatories, space for behavioral health, diabetic and depression collaboratives, a medical laboratory, administrative offices, and meeting space. I strongly urge you to give full and careful consideration to the Community Health Center of the Black Hills's application [Rep. Kristi Noem, letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011.10.28; published in Fang, 2013.06.05].
CHCBH does not appear on the HHS-Health Resources and Services Administration's Capital Development-Building Capacity grant recipient list (the only South Dakota beneficiary appears to be Horizon Health Care in Howard). CHCBH did receive some ACA money through HRSA in 2011.
It's awfully nice of Rep. Noem to admit that the Affordable Care Act is an effective tool for helping low-income folks get better health care. But why didn't Noem's office send Dakota War College a press release on this noble effort to expand health care for Rapid City's working poor?
Ah-ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Similarly Funny: Senator Al Franken pushed for the medical-loss ratio provision of the Affordable Care Act. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study finds that provision saved Americans buying insurance on the dreaded individual market $1.2 billion in 2011 and $2.1 billion in 2012.
It'll be interesting on how Noem will talk her way through this
In that Sioux Falls paper, she says she still wants to repeal it, but she wants South Dakotans to be "treated fairly" under it.
Monty got the story from me as I tweeted it to him two days ago:
http://my605.com/pierrereview/?p=8819#comment-46695
What a hypocrite. I dislike Obamacare and she is a total hypocrite.
This is why those Tea Party leaders need to distance themselves from Noem. If they stop supporting her Brendan Johnson will beat her and then they can actually start over with a person who understands the budget like Dusty Johnson. Noem is not someone who advocates for change she finds ways and excuses to take money and then talks about fairness.
If Tea Party leaders were mad at Daugaard for looking into Obamacare then why aren't they outraged with Noem for taking money and making all the more difficult to eventually make the program go away by taking money?
Ben Nesselhuf said it best that Nowm wants it both ways. She proudly says she voted 40 times to repeal Obamacare. How much time and money were wasted in voting 40 times.
I agree with Mike, she's a hypocrite
vote in this argus poll
"Is it hypocritical of Rep. Kristi Noem to ask for money for a South Dakota nonprofit under the health care law after she voted against it?"
http://www.argusleader.com/poll/2013-06-08/7161553
Looks like her opposition is softening now that she is asking for $5 million. What I dislike the most is that she was trying to hide this from the voters. She tweets everything but not this.
Once opposition like Noem start taking money from the ACA it tells me the law is here to stay.
Even Noem realizes that the ACA is good for America but she's caught trying to be a Tea Partier as well.
You can't have it both ways
"Once opposition like Noem start taking money from the ACA it tells me the law is here to stay"
Well, that is reassuring.
I thought the ACA was for health insurance, not buildings. Here in Sioux Falls one hospital sponsors a free clinic, the doctors are third year residents with a supervising physician, and they rotate every two or three months. Then there is a community health clinic(this isn't the exact, name), this one also has a dental clinic. I don't know where they get their funding, but neither one of these are new buildings. The later one is on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a downtown area building----nothing fancy. I think I have heard there is elevator access to this one. The one sponsored by McKennan Hospital is in their fourth location since 1997. I went to this one until I got on medicare in 2005. I am assuming they relocate to places with less rent. I do know the first location was the most inconvenient for people that didn't have cars. This clinic was real helpful for me, in the fact that they helped me get the diabetic meds that I need free from the pharmaceutical companies. The only drawback with this clinic is the required me to go in every month for a routine check-up, and my thought for that is that gave the residents a chance to follow my progress until they rotated. Since I have been able to go to a regular clinic I only have to go for routine checkups every three to six months, unless some problem comes up. I am assuming that the clinic located in a downtown building receives some federal funding. I could be wrong on that, but I'm not sure, one way or the other.
Anyone think about how Noem says our country is in debt and we are going over the cliff but once again she's asking for more money? At what point does she say enough?
mike - you got your one negative piece on Noem in the spotlight - too early.
Kristi Noem is the only Representative this state has, and she has to serve Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Also, South Dakota gets more money from the government than it pays, which makes it federally dependent. We aren't some little self-sufficient district in Texas. I hope in the near future our state government starts balancing its budget and the federal government starts balancing its budget as well, so we can stop being federally dependent - but that is our current situation.
Not that I'm going to jump up and down with glee about this, but it just doesn't upset me the way it does some Tea Partiers. Of course, I don't get as upset as other conservatives about the health exchanges being set up by the state legislature - although I find that more disturbing than an application under a grant program.
Libertarians could also get upset at the Koch Brothers for receiving tax breaks through deductions and loopholes for their businesses - but as the Kochs say why should they give themselves a competitive disadvantage, that would harm their survival chances against their competitors?
I have a lot of respect for Ron Paul - I was raised on him. People called him a crazy idealist for years for beating the drum on the Fed and "wasting" his votes. But that kind of idealism serves a purpose of changing the conversation. But pragmatists have their place too - they're the ones making square wheels roll and getting us closer inch by inch to idealistic goals.
If Kristi Noem went into office as the sole Representative of federally dependent South Dakota and decided she wasn't going to take any "handouts" from the government from grants, the Farm Bill, programs for the Indian Reservations etc. she would just get voted out of office and replaced with a Democrat. Conservative Idealists don't want to hear that - but its the truth.
But Kristi doesn't campaign as the pragmatist you describe, Bree. She trades on absolutist, "government is evil" rhetoric, undermining public trust in important institutions, then quietly taking money from exactly the programs she says are evil. If all we want from out Congresspeople is to get federal money, why don't we send Democrats who can at least be honest about it?
Wow. I just read DWC's take on this issue, and Powers is spinning at about an F4 rate trying his best to make sense of this. He asks, "Are people being critical of Noem & Thune for doing their jobs?" which begs the question, why didn't Noem tell us about this? She loves to post videos and tweet and do everything else imaginable to "prove" that she attends a committee meeting and holds a town hall meeting now and then (unlike before). Why did she remain so secretive about this? She's certainly never been shy when talking about her utterly nonsensical, purely grandstanding 40 votes against Obamacare.
Obviously no one here buys their own health insurance. Aint it great, fighting for something we already had. Health care for the poor and those on company or civil service plans.
You see, I don't see her campaigning on absolutist "government is evil" rhetoric as you say Cory. First off we have her support for the Farm Program (which you have discussed in length) and I know that she has worked to expand access to government programs on tribal lands. Information on her support for various government programs has been made public through press releases from her office. She has always appeared to be a pragmatic conservative Republican to me. And also she is not "taking money" from evil programs as you say. Her office wrote a letter with John Thune's at the request of a constituent in support of that constituent's access to a grant program that happened to become law in the 1600 pages of the ACA. I'm not happy or excited about it - but I was already aware of her support for various government programs and I comprehend her viewpoint of not refusing to support constituents in their requests for access to any legal grant programs.
I also don't find this to be secretive or dishonest. Clearly there was no attempt to hide the information because the Freedom of Information request was granted. I don't expect legislative offices to publicly post every single letter or memo they write where everyone can read them. That seems a step too far to me.
I don't consider this to be a reflection on her conservativeness either because I know John Cornyn is mentioned as also writing letters for constituents for access to grant programs under the ACA and I know he is a very strong conservative. It seems he agrees with her viewpoint that it would be unfair of him to refuse constituents requests for letters in support of access to legal grant programs based on a desire to repeal said programs.
I have a different take on this. Responsible leaders are going to do what's right for people, or they are going to be gone. It may be look like hypocrisy now, but it's the road back to sanity for Republican leaders.
The tea-party types can have their bi-weekly hissy fits (votes to repeal ObamaCare, and overheated rhetoric) and I'm sure the smarter Republicans will keep doing this to keep the idiots fooled, but they probably already understand that ObamaCare is working fairly well when implemented by people who want it to work (ie., smart liberal Governors and smart conservative Governors).
It's the dumb Governors (mostly Republican conservatives) who are trying as hard as they can to not make it work, and that fact is going to boomerang on them. Remember, some dump Republican governors tried to do this same thing with Medicaid, too, even though Medicaid was a Republican program.
ObamaCare ain't ever going to be repealed, and standing up for "principles" by being stupid and incompetent seems to be the sure way to lose another battle in the inevitable road to Republican Party ruin.
The ACA is mostly a pile of garbage that will be repealed when Republicans take control of the Senate. Thank you Obama, the Ghost of Columbia, for the conservative boost in the coming elections.
It's not like she hasn't done this same thing 20 times already. This particular funding request is just another symptom. The disease Rep. Noem's suffers from is typical politicianhood. Everybody else's pork is bad. Her pork is good.
Take disaster relief. She had no problem voting against hurricane relief for New Jersey, but by God the government better cover the farmers for every little rain or hailstorm. And for drought when they don't get enough of a rain or hailstorm. And the government ought to fund a military base in SD even though it has too many bases. And the government ought to keep funding the VA in Hot Springs even though government healthcare is BAD. The list goes on.
There's no hope for Rep. Noem. The disease of being a typical politician is incurable. Let a statesman (or woman) step forward to challenge her. Our country needs real leaders who aren't afraid to give their own constituents a little bit of tough love when it's warranted as opposed to hugs and kisses.
Just read the War College defense of Rep. Noem's hypocritical money grubbing. According to PP, when a constituent wants to feed at the federal trough, it's Rep. Noem's job to reserve them a spot at the trough.
So, when Planned Parenthood comes calling and wants some federal healthcare dollars in their SD facility for ... whatever purpose the law allows, they can count on Rep. Noem to send a letter of support. It matters not, whether she supports the program that authorizes the money as long as it's for a SD purpose.
"Obviously no one here buys their own health insurance. Aint it great, fighting for something we already had. Health care for the poor and those on company or civil service plans."
Les the only reason I have insurance is because I'm on Cobra. It'll run out about the time I graduate from Tech School.
I tried to buy insurance on my own after my job was sent to India and I was turned down twice due to pre-exsisting conditions. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have Cobra. So I'm more then qualified to talk on this.
With a lot of jobs being outsourced to other countries I bet there are a lot of people who are in even in worse shape then me. The one hope they have and down the road myself as well, is the ACA.
My question for you Bree, since you think the ACA is garbage, is how do you want to fix healthcare? How do you want to do to help people like me? Or am I just out of luck?
I'll be waiting to see your solution.
Well Owen, the answer is obviously that red states will hold a call-in lottery like Tennesee where only the first lucky 1,000 callers or so win an application that, when sent back fully completed, entitles them to wait 6 months or more to find out if they will have some sort of coverage. I'm surprised SD hasn't emulated that scheme already. When ALEC picks up on it expect it to be introduced in every state.
I'm a Housewife, Owen, not an expert on Healthcare policy. That doesn't mean the solution isn't out there - it just means I didn't write it. Here's 745 pages on Health Care Reform from the Cato Institute that you can browse for ideas that actually work in the real world vs. failed methods of economic planning espoused by socialists.
http://www.amazon.com/Replacing-Obamacare-Institute-Health-ebook/dp/B008OX36LK
"The truth is that in single-payer Britain long waits for non-emergency visits are common, and even scheduled surgeries, arranged months in advance, can be postponed without warning for lack of a piece of medical equipment.
It has become increasingly difficult scheduling a regular visit with a GP in Britain. Many GPs are booked up weeks in advance. Patients can see their doctor promptly if they call early in the day and say their problem is an emergency, entitling them to be seen in one of a limited number of emergency appointments on the same day.
GPs are also gatekeepers to specialist services: no GP referral, no specialist appointment. Last week London's Daily Telegraph published an article about Becky Ryder who was refused a cervical cancer screening test at age 24 despite showing symptoms of the disease. The NHS only allows tests for those 25 and older. Ryder died of cervical cancer when she was 26."
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2013/04/30/for_an_obamacare_preview_look_to_england_100290.html
Or if you don't want to read 745 pages, just read wikipedia on Canadian healthcare to see how the real world does it right, Owen.
"Earlier this month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a major survey on international health care waiting lists and policies. Canada is at the bottom of the pack in almost every category. One example among many: 25 per cent of Canadian patients waited more than four months for non-emergency, elective surgery, the highest proportion of any country reported. The figure is 18 per cent in Australia and seven per cent in France, Switzerland and the United States.
The OECD also reveals Canada to be one of five countries (out of a survey of 22) that report major wait-time problems in all six possible health care categories—from emergency rooms to long-term care.
Finally, and perhaps most depressing, we’re included in an unhappy group of counties that spend above the OECD per capita average on health care but nonetheless report significant wait times. We pay more but still underperform."
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/19/when-it-comes-to-waiting-canada-is-last-in-line-2/
You'll notice the article on Great Britain's health care system is from 30 April 2013, and the article on Canada's health care system is from 19 February 2013. So both articles are currently relevant.
You still haven't answered my question Bree. What is your solution?
Plus if we go with a single-payer system we can take the best of thsoe countries to make our own. At least we'd be doing something.
The alternative is doing nothing.
Sorry Bree I didn't see your earlier post. I don't claim to be a expert on healthcare and the ACA is far from perfect. But at least Obama is trying to do something.
What upsets me the most is the right blasting Obamacare and not having a solution themselves.
Noem is a hypocrite. She's trying to play both sides of the issue. If she is true to her convictions she should not be asking for something, that guess what, actually helps people.
This is another blunder by Noem's press team and leaders. If she'd have put this out publicly herself it wouldn't have riled people up and she could have control the message. Now people are being caught off guard and upset about this. It's like the attendance issue. Her team is always three steps behind.
I liked the read from Bree S as she is just another a long line of not getting her facts correct on Obama Care. You are kidding yourself Bree when you say that republicans would repeal this, they will not, ever. This is the bill they wanted, this is the act that has been supported as a republican idea. It is, check it out historically. Not so long ago, Newt promoted this. Mittens loves it and put it into Massachusetts. Nope, you can hold your breathe and stomp your feet, but it is here to stay, garbage and all. Really? Cato?? Why not just read the whole law, it is not too difficult. Stay away from the condensed part of anything, unless it is milk for a pumpkin pie.
Regarding non-emergency visits to the hospital. A very good friend of mine developed prostate cancer a few years back. His doctor told him that it was good that he caught it early so they could treat it. Then he found out how long it actually takes to be seen and treated in the hospital. It took several months for this to happen and he went from 95% cure rate down to about 65% while he waited for a slot for his treatments to begin. Noem is correct, she just got caught being a democrat. The fact is, we do need more hospitals to treat these diseases and the only way to get them is through Obama Care, what a concept. Don't forget that Rounds helped write this stuff you complain about too. He took a little trip to Washington during the flood to do that little thing.
You are right Jerry, there isn't 10cents difference in the two parties other than rhetoric.
.
Ror, I have a friend in Canada who waited 2years to get his hip replaced, was in a wheel chair the last 6mo of the wait. They did send an ambulance when his wife had the heart attack tho.
.
Owen, who knows what I will be on, Wellmark, Cobra or nothing as they have pushed us to 1K/month premiums for a 5K deduct. When I used my ins for the first time ever they pick and choose what they pay. Always thought there was nothing better than Blue Cross.
.
We all know litigation costs the taxpayers Billions as we see in aviation and medical. Some great insurers are not insuring in SD which is a legislative issue controlled by agencies in state through their pac $. Insurance companies are as much to blame as anyone, with profits through the roof, a legal ability to avoid liability for the insured at will and the government in their pocket.
.
I see none of this addressed in the ACA.
.
Obviously the Kaiser study isn't worth butt wipe.
Why are we really surprised? This is the same "Tea Party Congresswoman" whose personal farm and ranch has raked-in over $ 3 million in farm aid over the past 17 years... Isn't it?
I posted a link to The Nation article in the Living Blue in South Dakota Facebook page Friday night. Today, I went to Kristi's Facebook page to post the story as well. I visit her page once in awhile and have politely called her out when I see she is deliberately misleading South Dakotans. It appears I have been banned from posting on her page. From the comments on my Facebook post regarding this, she has banned other progressive South Dakotans from her page as well.
Re: scary stories from countries with socialized medicine and single payer systems (they are different)
First, the UK story about Ms.R dying of cervical cancer because she was denied a screening Pap smear based on her age, *despite symptoms* confuses the issue by missing the point that screening tests are for asymptomatic patients. She presented with bleeding and required investigations beyond a Pap smear. As I expected, "Ms Ryder would have qualified for NHS investigation for cervical cancer when she presented to her GP aged 24 with vaginal bleeding on the basis of her symptoms alone, irrelevant of her age." http://www.senseaboutscience.org/blog.php/46/dr-juliet-stevens-responds-to-misleading-article-on-national-cervical-screening-programme If her GP failed to provide appropriate care, it reflects on that physician, not the Public Health Care system.
Then we get an article from a Canadian magazine referring to an OECD study which appears to compare Canada with other countries including the US and finds "(Canada) pay(s) more but still underperform(s)." The study however was of wait times for elective procedures in OECD (non-US) countries. The data, although published this year, was gathered in 2001-2004 and most of the results showed that there was minimal to no adverse effect, other than patient anxiety, due to the wait times. Most of the countries, including canada, have spent considerable effort in addressing wait times over the last decade, and in the Macleans article, it even says that considerable progress has been made in all areas. As a physician practicing in Canada over that interval
- continued - that would be my experience. Patients who cannot wait due to progressive symptoms, are moved ahead depending on the urgency. Patients who can wait, do. But even that 4-6 month wait for elective orthopedic surgeries pales in comparison to the waits I saw for many of my uninsured and underinsured patients in the US who sometimes waited years "until turning 65" and qualifying for Medicare for any costly care, even if not exactly elective.
Canada, with it's single payer Medicare for all consistently outperforms the US for far less cost on several important health outcome measures. It is not a perfect system. But the fact that their waiting times a decade ago have been improved and by evaluating the OECD data from similar health systems could be further tweaked has no bearing on the merits of the ACA and is certainly no excuse for Kristi Noem's hypocrisy on this issue.
Kristi Noem is a disgusting poser. She was despicable enough to use her grandmother in her campaign ads in 2012 having her grandmother advocate AGAINST her own self-interests! What kind of human being hurts their loved ones -- oh, yes, power hungry, greedy Republicans! I'd hate to have this witch's Karma.