unusualmusic
ontd_political

None of the bills emerging from the House and Senate require insurers to cover all the elements of a standard gynecological "well visit," leaving essential care such as pelvic exams, domestic violence screening, counseling about sexually transmitted diseases, and, perhaps most startlingly, the provision of birth control off the list of basic benefits all insurers must cover. Nor are these services protected from "cost sharing," which means that, depending on what's in the bill that emerges from the Senate, and, later, the contents of a final bill, women could wind up having to pay for some of these services out of their own pockets. So far, mammograms and Pap tests are covered in every version of the legislation.

Got that? The Pap test itself will be covered - but not the visit to the gynecologist to get it.

Granted, Congress can't--and shouldn't--get into the business of spelling out every possible cause for a trip to the doctor. No one wants the process to collapse under a mountain of requests from special interest groups à la the Clinton mess in 1993. But women, half of all adult patients, are not a special interest group. And since both the House and Senate bills include lists of specific services that must be covered by health insurance companies and be provided without asking patients for additional money, it's hard to understand why all the services provided in a basic well-woman visit to the gynecologist isn't on them along with maternity care, newborn care, pediatric dental and vision services, and substance use disorder services.

Uh, hello? Remember? Icky parts!

The fault for the initial omission can be laid at the feet of Democrats, who shied away from the issue, not wanting to invite controversy, according to women's health advocates who tried unsuccessfully to get women's preventive health care included in the basic benefits package. Some of the concern had to do with cost. Adding any required service to the basic benefits package would mean the Congressional Budget Office would give the bill a higher score, or price tag, leaving it more vulnerable to attack by budget hawks. But another part of the problem clearly stems from the fact that women's bodies have become political lightning rods, even when abortion is not the issue.
Consider what happened when the subject of women's preventive healthcare services came up in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) in July, after the minimum benefits package had already been determined. Because some essential care for women wasn't included in the list, HELP committee member Senator Barbara Mikulski proposed an amendment that would require the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to stipulate that basic women's health services would be covered. The language said nothing about abortion, referring only to "preventive care and screenings."
Yet the voting on the amendment went exactly along pro- and anti-choice lines. The amendment passed by just one vote, with all the committee's Republicans as well as Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat, voting against it. The committee's discussion of the amendment was dominated by Republicans' worry about the possibility of government money winding up in the hands of Planned Parenthood. Since there is no similar language included in the just-released House bill, the only hope for requiring full coverage for these essential services now lies with the Senate.MORE

The federal government would be banned from funding sex change operations and other services for transgender individuals if social conservative activists get their way.
There’s no sponsor yet for an amendment to the health care overhaul – and it may remain in the dustbin of unrealized wedge issues – but culture warriors are shopping the proposal to Republican senators.
The language is written: “None of the funds authorized or appropriated under this act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be used to cover any part or portion of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of” any sex or gender reassignment procedure, surgery related to such a sex change, hormone therapy for a sex change or pre- and post-operation treatments for a sex change.
A senior aide to a Republican senator said that a public insurance plan could easily end up covering sex-change procedures if that’s not specifically banned in the bill.

scc_worcs
ontd_political

Peers voted by 179 to 135 to keep the defence - despite justice minister Lord Bach pointing out MPs had voted to overturn it on four occasions.

It is one of several government defeats in the Lords on its wide-ranging Coroner's and Justice Bill.

It will go back to MPs on Thursday, the last day of this Parliamentary session.

maleria_withav
ontd_political

DADT Likely to Be Part of Defense Bill

Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” will likely be included as part of next year’s Department of Defense authorization bill in both chambers of Congress, Congressman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Wednesday.

“Military issues are always done as part of the overall authorization bill,” Frank said, insisting that this has been the strategy for overturning the policy all along. “'Don’t ask, don’t tell' was always going to be part of the military authorization.”

Frank said he has been in direct communication with the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and other congressional leaders about the strategy for ending the 1993 ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Though some moderate Democrats have recently expressed concern about repealing the policy during a midterm election year, Frank said resolve at the White House has never wavered. “The Administration is totally committed to this and has been from the beginning,” he said.

Anecdotally, Frank recalled an incident earlier this year when Defense secretary Robert Gates made a statement to reporters suggesting that repeal was still an open question.

mylaptopisevil
ontd_political

Two Secret Service vehicles used by Vice President Joe Biden allegedly struck and killed a pedestrian at an intersection on Washington, DC's Suitland Parkway in the early morning hours of Wednesday, news reports say.

The vice president was not in either of the vehicles when the motorcade, on its way from Andrews Air Force Base to a garage on Washington, struck a pedestrian. A Washington Post traffic report states the accident took place at around 3 a.m. ET near the corner of Naylor Road, on the DC-Maryland border, but other sources place the accident closer to 2:30 a.m. ET.

...

...

Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said the employees involved in the accident remained at the scene and administered first aid to the man until an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.

...

The two vehicles had been flown back to Washington, DC, from Tacoma, Washington, where they were used to transport the vice president to and from a speaking engagement. They were headed to a Secret Service garage at the time of the accident.

The vehicles will remain in Park Police custody during the investigation, which is expected to take about a week.

(source)

acmeeoy
ontd_political

Taking the Fall for Health Care Reform?

By Peggy Simpson

The price for health care reform in the House is women’s right to choose—and, adding insult to injury, the deal was negotiated by the first woman to serve as House speaker.

November 9, 2009

Well, now it’s known: it was reproductive rights that were thrown under the train.

paralyzant
ontd_political

Kenya's street teens struggle to survive

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- On a wet dawn in Nairobi, Kenya, Joan stands on a grubby patch of concrete she calls home.

As shopkeepers tear open their iron shutters to start their day, she gingerly touches her bruised face with her fingertips. Even for a hardened street teenager like Joan it's been a rough night.

"Living in the streets, especially if you are a girl, is very risky," says Joan, age 19. "You can be raped any day, any time, by anyone who wants to do it."

Joan became the target of one of those predators just one night earlier when she says an older street kid tried to rape her. In a monotone voice she describes how he mercilessly beat her with his fists and heavy boots when she resisted. Joan spent the rainy night in pain lying on her flattened cardboard box.

This is Joan's reality. It is a reality she shares with thousands of others. More than 60,000 children and youth live on Nairobi's streets, according to various charity groups. Tens of thousands are at risk of ending up there. Unlike some other cities in Africa, Nairobi's street people aren't always visible. They are banished to the gray industrial parts of the city, often harassed by police, business owners and ordinary citizens.

The way Joan's homelife became the street life is, in many ways, the story of how a generation of African youth end up without homes. At 15, Joan worked as a maid in a town a few hours from Nairobi. But she says the owner abused her and got her pregnant. In a fit of jealousy, Joan says the owner's wife threw her out of the house and she ran away to the capital out of shame and desperation.

Video at Source summarizes article for the tl;dr crowd.

I hope the cut doesn't mess up. Anyway, I thought this article was interesting enough to share. I went back until the 6th and I didn't see it posted.