Democrats are mounting a last-ditch attempt to broker a bipartisan deal to reform America's health care system as Barack Obama prepares to address Congress.
By Toby Harnden in Washington Published: 8:32PM BST 08 Sep 2009
The speech to Congress is seen as so important that it could make or break his presidency.
With Mr Obama's poll numbers slipping and public support for his health care overhaul eroding almost by the day, Senator Max Baucus, a fellow Democrat, drew up a compromise plan designed to appeal to centrists across the political divide.
Republicans have vigirously opposed a mooted extra tax burden on highers earners to pay for medical insurance for the poor. Under the new plan, non-profit co-operatives would be set up to compete with private health insurance companies.
This would replace the idea of introducing a so-called "public option" of government-run insurance, which is favoured by liberals.
The Baucus plan would cost about $900 billion (£550 billion) over 10 years - $100 billion less that the $1 trillion price tag on a previous House of Representatives proposal.
This would partly be achieved by raising $180 billion from taxing insurance companies that offer the most expensive packages.
All insurance companies would be charged an additional fee according to their market share. This is intended to help pay for the reform and exact a price from insurers, who stand to gain 46 million new customers - those who are currently uninsured.
Mr Baucus said that the plan was not a final one and that he hoped a deal might be reached before Mr Obama speaks to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
Mr Obama is following in the footsteps of President Bill Clinton, who addressed Congress in 1993 with a plea for health care reform to be passed. Although public support for his plan increased, he was ultimately unsuccessful.
Acutely aware of the mistakes Mr Clinton made, Mr Obama decided to let Congress draft legislation rather than drawing up a White House bill, as Mr Clinton did. But that has led to a sense of drift with voters not sure exactly what Mr Obama supports.
Mr Obama's aides have indicated that the "public option" idea will be dropped after it became clear it was too politically contentious among the public, Republicans and conservative Democrats.
Mr Baucus's Senate Finance Committee has so far been unable to agree on legislation and he is attempting to woo three Republican senators who might be convinced.
If a deal is not reached, the Senate Finance Committee could be bypassed.
Senator Chuck Grassley, one of the Republicans being courted, told CNN that the Obama administration had been "all over the ballpark" on the health issue before Congress's summer recess and that he still wanted to find a bipartisan consensus.
Asked about the prospects of the Baucus plan being agreed, he replied: "We won't know until we meet. The good and the bad of the president speaking this week is we've had to speed up the work of our group to have something better ... and that's bad because we probably should have taken a little more time."
He added that he was concerned that any fee charged to insurance companies would end up getting passed on to other customers but was in favour of non-profit health care co-operatives.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Obama hosts dinner for Islamic holy month
By ANN SANNER (AP) – 9 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.
The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."
Attendees included Congress' two Muslim members — Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Andre Carson, D-Ind., as well as ambassadors from Islamic nations and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
Obama shared the story of Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, another invited guest, who broke a state record for most career points as a Massachusetts high school student.
"As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls — she's an inspiration to all of us," he said.
Obama also noted the contributions of Muhammad Ali, who was not in attendance, though the president borrowed a quote from famous boxer, explaining religion.
"A few years ago," Obama said, "he explained this view — and this is part of why he's The Greatest — saying, 'Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.'"
Ramadan, a monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, began Aug. 22 in most of the Islamic world. It is believed that God began revealing the Quran to Muhammad during Ramadan, and the faithful are supposed to spend the month in religious reflection, prayer and remembrance of the poor.
White House dinners marking the holy month are nothing new. Former President George W. Bush held iftars during his eight years in office.
Obama has made a special effort since taking office to repair U.S. relations with the world's Muslims, including visits to Turkey and Cairo. In a June speech at the Egyptian capital, as well as in one to another important Muslim audience, in Turkey, Obama said: "America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam."
Obama also released a video message to Muslims before the start to Ramadan. In the video, he said Ramadan's rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
-http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.
The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."
Attendees included Congress' two Muslim members — Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Andre Carson, D-Ind., as well as ambassadors from Islamic nations and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
Obama shared the story of Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, another invited guest, who broke a state record for most career points as a Massachusetts high school student.
"As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls — she's an inspiration to all of us," he said.
Obama also noted the contributions of Muhammad Ali, who was not in attendance, though the president borrowed a quote from famous boxer, explaining religion.
"A few years ago," Obama said, "he explained this view — and this is part of why he's The Greatest — saying, 'Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.'"
Ramadan, a monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, began Aug. 22 in most of the Islamic world. It is believed that God began revealing the Quran to Muhammad during Ramadan, and the faithful are supposed to spend the month in religious reflection, prayer and remembrance of the poor.
White House dinners marking the holy month are nothing new. Former President George W. Bush held iftars during his eight years in office.
Obama has made a special effort since taking office to repair U.S. relations with the world's Muslims, including visits to Turkey and Cairo. In a June speech at the Egyptian capital, as well as in one to another important Muslim audience, in Turkey, Obama said: "America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam."
Obama also released a video message to Muslims before the start to Ramadan. In the video, he said Ramadan's rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
-http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Muslims Begin Observing Holy Month of Ramadan
By VOA News 22 August 2009
Most Muslims around the world have begun observing Islam's holy month of Ramadan, a period of fasting and spiritual reflection.Ramadan began Saturday throughout most of the Middle East and Asia, although Libya, Turkey and some Lebanese Shi'ites began fasting a day earlier.During the month of Ramadan, Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sunset. In Jerusalem's Old City, Palestinians shopped for Ramadan and prayed at the Mosque of Al-Aksa, the third-holiest site in Islam. In Iraq, Sunnis and Shi'ites began Ramadan at the same time for the first time since the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama marked the start of Ramadan by extending best wishes to Muslims.Islam follows a lunar calendar, so the start of the holiday is determined by the appearance of the new moon. Religious leaders say no moon was sighted Thursday, so Friday was designated the last day of the month preceding Ramadan.During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from dawn until sunset.The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan marks the time more than 1,400 years ago when Muslims believe the words of Islam's holy book, the Koran, were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.Ramadan will continue through September, concluding with a celebration, Eid al-Fitr.---http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Most Muslims around the world have begun observing Islam's holy month of Ramadan, a period of fasting and spiritual reflection.Ramadan began Saturday throughout most of the Middle East and Asia, although Libya, Turkey and some Lebanese Shi'ites began fasting a day earlier.During the month of Ramadan, Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sunset. In Jerusalem's Old City, Palestinians shopped for Ramadan and prayed at the Mosque of Al-Aksa, the third-holiest site in Islam. In Iraq, Sunnis and Shi'ites began Ramadan at the same time for the first time since the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama marked the start of Ramadan by extending best wishes to Muslims.Islam follows a lunar calendar, so the start of the holiday is determined by the appearance of the new moon. Religious leaders say no moon was sighted Thursday, so Friday was designated the last day of the month preceding Ramadan.During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from dawn until sunset.The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan marks the time more than 1,400 years ago when Muslims believe the words of Islam's holy book, the Koran, were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.Ramadan will continue through September, concluding with a celebration, Eid al-Fitr.---http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Older Drivers and Medication
August 11, 2009, 3:47 pm
By Tanya Mohn
A new study has found that most older drivers were unaware of the potentially dangerous impact of medications on driving performance.
According to the report, released on Tuesday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research and educational organization, 78 percent of respondents used one or more medications, yet just more than one in four were aware of the possible dangers of driving while on medications.
“That’s really scary,” said Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation. “The risks are real.” Large numbers of older adults are on medication, and many of those medications have potential side effects, yet health care professionals “are not effectively communicating known risks,” he said.
The study, based on interviews with 630 drivers aged 56 to 93, was conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Only 18 percent of those surveyed said they had received warning about potentially driver impairing medications, such as ACE inhibitors, sedatives and beta blockers.
The study also found that as people aged, awareness decreased, despite the fact that the number of prescription medicines increased.
The problem is likely to worsen, Mr. Kissinger said, as the population of aging drivers is growing rapidly and the number of older adults using multiple medications has increased.
Previous research had established the link between the uses of certain classes of medications, alone and in combination, and increased crash risk. But the prevalence of crashes caused by older people taking these medicines — both prescription and over the counter — has not been accurately determined.
“The true incidence of driving under the influence of potentially impairing medications is not known,” said Loren Staplin, the managing partner of TransAnalytics, a consulting firm specializing in transportation safety research and development. “We just don’t have enough data or enough good data.” Part of the reason is that comprehensive testing for drugs in drivers’ systems after a crash is not routinely done, except for cases involving alcohol.
Early next year the AAA Foundation planned to release Roadwise Rx, a free Web-based resource intended to help raise awareness about driving risks related to the use of medications. The program will allow older drivers to enter individual medications or combinations of medications, and through a search function, gain access to information — based on age, gender and weight — from a database.
The goal is to inform older drivers about how medicines interact with food or other medications, as well as to provide warnings, to better understand ”when it may not be appropriate” to drive, said Dr. Staplin, whose company designed Roadwise Rx.
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
By Tanya Mohn
A new study has found that most older drivers were unaware of the potentially dangerous impact of medications on driving performance.
According to the report, released on Tuesday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research and educational organization, 78 percent of respondents used one or more medications, yet just more than one in four were aware of the possible dangers of driving while on medications.
“That’s really scary,” said Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation. “The risks are real.” Large numbers of older adults are on medication, and many of those medications have potential side effects, yet health care professionals “are not effectively communicating known risks,” he said.
The study, based on interviews with 630 drivers aged 56 to 93, was conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Only 18 percent of those surveyed said they had received warning about potentially driver impairing medications, such as ACE inhibitors, sedatives and beta blockers.
The study also found that as people aged, awareness decreased, despite the fact that the number of prescription medicines increased.
The problem is likely to worsen, Mr. Kissinger said, as the population of aging drivers is growing rapidly and the number of older adults using multiple medications has increased.
Previous research had established the link between the uses of certain classes of medications, alone and in combination, and increased crash risk. But the prevalence of crashes caused by older people taking these medicines — both prescription and over the counter — has not been accurately determined.
“The true incidence of driving under the influence of potentially impairing medications is not known,” said Loren Staplin, the managing partner of TransAnalytics, a consulting firm specializing in transportation safety research and development. “We just don’t have enough data or enough good data.” Part of the reason is that comprehensive testing for drugs in drivers’ systems after a crash is not routinely done, except for cases involving alcohol.
Early next year the AAA Foundation planned to release Roadwise Rx, a free Web-based resource intended to help raise awareness about driving risks related to the use of medications. The program will allow older drivers to enter individual medications or combinations of medications, and through a search function, gain access to information — based on age, gender and weight — from a database.
The goal is to inform older drivers about how medicines interact with food or other medications, as well as to provide warnings, to better understand ”when it may not be appropriate” to drive, said Dr. Staplin, whose company designed Roadwise Rx.
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Friday, August 7, 2009
Sotomayor's swearing in to court set for Saturday
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS (AP) – 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON — When Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in Saturday to the Supreme Court, she'll be able to claim two firsts: first Hispanic justice and first high court member to have her oath-taking made available to TV cameras.
Sotomayor, who won a groundbreaking Senate confirmation vote Thursday over intense conservative opposition, will be sworn in twice by Chief Justice John Roberts.
She will repeat one oath as prescribed by the Constitution in a private ceremony at the high court. It will be open only to members of Sotomayor's family. Then, Roberts will administer a second oath, taken by judges, with the new justice's family and friends, and reporters present.
Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said the ceremony apparently will be the first one open to television cameras in the court's history.
Sotomayor is the first Democratic nominee in 15 years. She becomes the nation's 111th justice — and just the third woman in the court's history. She'll appear next week at the White House with President Barack Obama, who chose her in May to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
"With this historic vote, the Senate has affirmed that Justice Sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court," Obama said following Thursday's 68-31 confirmation vote.
Senate Democrats backed her unanimously but most Republicans lined up in a show of opposition both for her and for the president's standards for a justice.
The 55-year-old daughter of Puerto Rican parents was raised in a South Bronx housing project and educated in the Ivy League before rising to the highest legal echelons, spending the past 17 years as a federal judge.
Republicans argued that she'd bring personal bias and a liberal agenda to the bench. But Democrats praised Sotomayor as an extraordinarily qualified mainstream moderate and touted her elevation to the court as a milestone in the nation's journey toward greater equality and a reaffirmation of the American dream.
Souter, while named by a Republican president, has sided with the court's liberal wing, so Sotomayor is not expected to alter the court's ideological split in succeeding him.
Still, her nomination sparked an intense fight between Republicans and Democrats, which highlighted profound philosophical disagreements that will shape future fights over the court's makeup as Obama looks to another likely vacancy — perhaps more than one — while he's in the White House.
In the final Senate tally, nine Republicans joined majority Democrats and the Senate's two independents to support Sotomayor's confirmation. They included the Senate's few GOP moderates and its lone Hispanic Republican, retiring Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, as well as conservative Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the party's third-ranking leader.
GOP critics decried Obama's call for "empathy" in a justice, painting Sotomayor as the embodiment of an inappropriate standard that would let a judge bring her personal whims and prejudices to the bench. They criticized rulings in which they said Sotomayor showed disregard for gun rights, property rights and job discrimination claims by white employees. And they repeatedly cited comments she had made about the role that a judge's background and perspective can play, especially a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped a "wise Latina" judge would usually make better decisions than a white man.
The National Rifle Association, which hadn't weighed in on Supreme Court nominations past, strongly opposed her and threatened to downgrade its ratings of any senator who voted to confirm Sotomayor. The warning may have influenced some Republicans who were initially considered possible supporters but later announced their opposition, citing gun rights as a key reason.
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
WASHINGTON — When Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in Saturday to the Supreme Court, she'll be able to claim two firsts: first Hispanic justice and first high court member to have her oath-taking made available to TV cameras.
Sotomayor, who won a groundbreaking Senate confirmation vote Thursday over intense conservative opposition, will be sworn in twice by Chief Justice John Roberts.
She will repeat one oath as prescribed by the Constitution in a private ceremony at the high court. It will be open only to members of Sotomayor's family. Then, Roberts will administer a second oath, taken by judges, with the new justice's family and friends, and reporters present.
Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said the ceremony apparently will be the first one open to television cameras in the court's history.
Sotomayor is the first Democratic nominee in 15 years. She becomes the nation's 111th justice — and just the third woman in the court's history. She'll appear next week at the White House with President Barack Obama, who chose her in May to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
"With this historic vote, the Senate has affirmed that Justice Sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court," Obama said following Thursday's 68-31 confirmation vote.
Senate Democrats backed her unanimously but most Republicans lined up in a show of opposition both for her and for the president's standards for a justice.
The 55-year-old daughter of Puerto Rican parents was raised in a South Bronx housing project and educated in the Ivy League before rising to the highest legal echelons, spending the past 17 years as a federal judge.
Republicans argued that she'd bring personal bias and a liberal agenda to the bench. But Democrats praised Sotomayor as an extraordinarily qualified mainstream moderate and touted her elevation to the court as a milestone in the nation's journey toward greater equality and a reaffirmation of the American dream.
Souter, while named by a Republican president, has sided with the court's liberal wing, so Sotomayor is not expected to alter the court's ideological split in succeeding him.
Still, her nomination sparked an intense fight between Republicans and Democrats, which highlighted profound philosophical disagreements that will shape future fights over the court's makeup as Obama looks to another likely vacancy — perhaps more than one — while he's in the White House.
In the final Senate tally, nine Republicans joined majority Democrats and the Senate's two independents to support Sotomayor's confirmation. They included the Senate's few GOP moderates and its lone Hispanic Republican, retiring Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, as well as conservative Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the party's third-ranking leader.
GOP critics decried Obama's call for "empathy" in a justice, painting Sotomayor as the embodiment of an inappropriate standard that would let a judge bring her personal whims and prejudices to the bench. They criticized rulings in which they said Sotomayor showed disregard for gun rights, property rights and job discrimination claims by white employees. And they repeatedly cited comments she had made about the role that a judge's background and perspective can play, especially a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped a "wise Latina" judge would usually make better decisions than a white man.
The National Rifle Association, which hadn't weighed in on Supreme Court nominations past, strongly opposed her and threatened to downgrade its ratings of any senator who voted to confirm Sotomayor. The warning may have influenced some Republicans who were initially considered possible supporters but later announced their opposition, citing gun rights as a key reason.
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
U.S. advisers say pregnant women first for H1N1 jab
Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:27pm EDT
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Expert U.S. advisers accepted recommendations on Wednesday to put pregnant women at the front of the line for vaccines against the new H1N1 pandemic influenza virus, with relatives and caregivers for infants second.
The Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices nearly unanimously accepted advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to first protect pregnant women, infants and healthcare workers against the virus.
Healthcare workers and children at risk of serious complications should follow -- and then healthy young adults aged 19 to 24, the panel said.
Members of the panel said young adults should be a priority because they are more likely to become infected, and because they may spread the virus through society.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
---http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Expert U.S. advisers accepted recommendations on Wednesday to put pregnant women at the front of the line for vaccines against the new H1N1 pandemic influenza virus, with relatives and caregivers for infants second.
The Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices nearly unanimously accepted advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to first protect pregnant women, infants and healthcare workers against the virus.
Healthcare workers and children at risk of serious complications should follow -- and then healthy young adults aged 19 to 24, the panel said.
Members of the panel said young adults should be a priority because they are more likely to become infected, and because they may spread the virus through society.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
---http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Waiters left out of latest minimum wage rise
Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:13pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. service sector employees who receive tips have been excluded from the latest hike in the federal minimum wage that kicked in on Friday, leaving the public to cover the cost of their healthcare, according to economists and advocates.
The federal minimum wage on Friday rose to $7.25 from $6.55. But only seven states guarantee tipped workers the minimum wage, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a New York-based advocacy group for low-income workers.
The minimum wage for so-called "tipped" workers has been frozen at $2.13 an hour since 1991, the report found.
Waitresses and waiters, who comprise the majority of tip-receiving workers, have nearly three times the poverty rate of the nation's workforce, it said.
Wait staff are twice as likely to go without health insurance, partly because few employers help them pay for a health plan.
James Parrott, the chief economist of the New York-based Fiscal Policy Institute, said the public often pays for some of these low-income employees' healthcare.
"Low-wage workers without health insurance can cost taxpayers $3,000-$6,000 a year if covered by Medicaid, or, if they receive uncompensated care, they cost employers or individuals who have private health insurance an average of $2,500 per uninsured person receiving compensated care," he said by e-mail.
The Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, in a report estimated that at the new federal rate, a full-time worker would earn $15,080 a year.
"Research has shown that workers benefiting from minimum wage increases in New York are disproportionately women, and minimum wage earners on average contribute most of their family's earnings," the institute's Michele Mattingly said in the report.
"Contrary to stereotype, large numbers of affected workers -- often the majority -- are adults aged 20 and older," she said
Covering healthcare could prove difficult for many recession-stricken U.S. states that are slicing spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health plan for the poor, disabled and elderly, which consumes about 22 percent of an average state's budget.
With U.S. Senate leaders delaying action on President Barack Obama' s health plan until autumn, 18 states have already cut spending on public health programs.
(Reporting by Joan Gralla, and Lambert in Washington; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. service sector employees who receive tips have been excluded from the latest hike in the federal minimum wage that kicked in on Friday, leaving the public to cover the cost of their healthcare, according to economists and advocates.
The federal minimum wage on Friday rose to $7.25 from $6.55. But only seven states guarantee tipped workers the minimum wage, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a New York-based advocacy group for low-income workers.
The minimum wage for so-called "tipped" workers has been frozen at $2.13 an hour since 1991, the report found.
Waitresses and waiters, who comprise the majority of tip-receiving workers, have nearly three times the poverty rate of the nation's workforce, it said.
Wait staff are twice as likely to go without health insurance, partly because few employers help them pay for a health plan.
James Parrott, the chief economist of the New York-based Fiscal Policy Institute, said the public often pays for some of these low-income employees' healthcare.
"Low-wage workers without health insurance can cost taxpayers $3,000-$6,000 a year if covered by Medicaid, or, if they receive uncompensated care, they cost employers or individuals who have private health insurance an average of $2,500 per uninsured person receiving compensated care," he said by e-mail.
The Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, in a report estimated that at the new federal rate, a full-time worker would earn $15,080 a year.
"Research has shown that workers benefiting from minimum wage increases in New York are disproportionately women, and minimum wage earners on average contribute most of their family's earnings," the institute's Michele Mattingly said in the report.
"Contrary to stereotype, large numbers of affected workers -- often the majority -- are adults aged 20 and older," she said
Covering healthcare could prove difficult for many recession-stricken U.S. states that are slicing spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health plan for the poor, disabled and elderly, which consumes about 22 percent of an average state's budget.
With U.S. Senate leaders delaying action on President Barack Obama' s health plan until autumn, 18 states have already cut spending on public health programs.
(Reporting by Joan Gralla, and Lambert in Washington; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
--http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com
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