MORNING MESSAGE
Laura Kaplan-Weisman
My name is Dr. Laura Kaplan-Weisman, and I am a family physician from Maryland. I provide primary care to people of all ages and all walks of life, and I feel strongly that what our country needs now is universal health care. That’s why I traveled to Washington to stand with Senator Bernie Sanders as he introduced the 2019 Medicare For All Act. Necessary treatments remain unaffordable for average Americans. I could tell stories for hours about patients I know whose health has worsened because they can’t afford to see physicians like me, fill their prescriptions, or get essential tests. Mike is a 38-year-old teacher and father whose diabetes and high blood pressure are uncontrolled because he can’t afford his $50 copayments. Alan is a 50-year-old woodworker who can’t afford to take off work to have knee replacement surgery. And Louise and Dolores, who both became homeless after their savings were exhausted by medical costs. I could go on. Their stories are just a few examples of how I see my patients grow sicker every day due to the rising, unaffordable costs of healthcare in the the United States.
Suspect In LA Black Church Arson Arrested
A man arrested in connection with the Louisiana black church fires is a law enforcement official’s son. CNN: “A man arrested in connection with fires at three historically black Louisiana churches is a law enforcement official’s son, according to local reports. Officials with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Wednesday night that a 21-year old man from St. Landry Parish was arrested in connection with the fires. CNN has been provided the name of the subject but is not reporting it until it is announced by authorities. St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre burned on March 26, followed by Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas on April 2 and two days later, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in the same town. The fires are believed to have been intentionally set, a local elected official said Tuesday. The FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting in the investigations. The NAACP has labeled the fires ‘domestic terrorism,’ adding the ‘spike in church burnings in Southern states is a reflection of the emboldened racial rhetoric and tension spreading across the country.’”
Treasury Skips Deadline To Release Trump Tax Returns
Donald Trump’s tax returns: what we might learn. NYT: “the fight over whether members of Congress have the right to see the president’s tax returns is intensifying. The House tax-writing committee has demanded them, and late Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his department would not comply with the request by the date set by the committee. Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump repeated that he would not disclose his returns, falsely claiming that there is no law that gives Congress the authority to obtain them. Mr. Trump is the first president in four decades to not publicly release his tax returns. The refusal — coupled with his continued ownership of a far-flung network of closely held businesses — has fanned suspicions that he has something to hide.”
PA’s Porter Grills JPMorgan CEO On Pay Gap
Freshman Dem Stumps Jamie Dimon Over Employee Pay Shortfall. Crooks and Liars: “During Wednesday’s hearing with bank CEOs, Rep. Katie Porter drove home how wide the gap is between Jamie Dimon’s lavish lifestyle at $31 million per year and a theoretica entry-level employee at JP Morgan Chase. In Porter’s scenario, she imagined a single mom of a 6-year old living in Irvine, CA. She found a job at JP Morgan Chase on Monster.com advertised at $16.50 hourly wage. She then proceeded to outline how this single mom would face at least a $567 shortfall each month after taxes and expenses. Her question for Dimon was simple: ‘How should she manage this budget shortfall while she’s working full-time at your bank?’ Hedging, Dimon answered, ‘I don’t know that all your numbers are accurate. That number is generally a starter job. You can get those jobs out of high school, and she may have my job one day.’ Oh! That pie-in-the-sky attitude, where if you just hope hard enough as a single parent of a six-year old making $16.50/hour, you too can make $31 million a year. It’s like a drug. An insidious, addictive, lie-drug. Porter would have none of it, reminding Dimon that maybe she would, but TODAY she’s $500 short of meeting her bills. ‘She may,’ Porter shot back. ‘But, Mr. Dimon, she doesn’t have the ability right now to spend your $31 million.’”
Trump Vacilates On Immigration
It’s Trump vs. Trump as immigration divides White House. Politico: “President Donald Trump is in a fight over immigration — with himself. Trump denied on Tuesday that he is ‘cleaning house’ at the Department of Homeland Security. But on Wednesday, the White House was eyeing a replacement for a senior DHS official whose job congressional Republicans are trying to save. The president has also said he has no plans to renew the administration’s highly controversial migrant child separation policy — even as officials throughout the administration weigh a plan to make arrested border-crossers choose whether to ‘voluntarily’ separate from their kids. And while Trump recently told senior aides that White House adviser Stephen Miller is his unofficial immigration czar, he told reporters on Wednesday that his son-in-law Jared Kushner would be out with an ‘exciting’ immigration plan ‘soon.’ As the president faces blowback from his slow-motion decapitation of the Department of Homeland Security, Trump is presenting two public faces on immigration. He is offering rhetoric that undersells the dramatic moves underway in his administration to curb illegal immigration and deter asylum seekers from entering the country. And he is toggling between Kushner, who has spent months fashioning an immigration package that can attract bipartisan support and appease the business community, and Miller, who as a Senate aide was notorious for killing legislation like that.”
Why Europeans Don’t Get Huge Medical Bills
Why Europeans don’t get huge medical bills. Salon: “Should America just get rid of health insurers? Americans don’t seem to like insurance companies much, even if they’re happy with their health coverage itself. Several Democratic health-care proposals would end private health insurance entirely, an idea that some Americans seem to applaud, until you tell them that it would entail higher taxes and a government-run system. And then they sometimes, but not always, become less sanguine. One reason insurance companies get a bad rap is that they’re associated with “surprise medical bills.” These billing nightmares occur when insured patients go to a hospital they thought was in-network, but then—sometimes inadvertently—see a doctor who is out-of-network while they’re there. (This is on top of the exorbitantly high medical bills that many uninsured people receive, no matter what doctor or hospital they go to.)There is, however, a way to eliminate those bank-busting surprise medical bills without eliminating health insurance. Just ask Europe. Several European countries have health insurance just like America does. The difference is that their governments regulate what insurance must cover and what hospitals and doctors are allowed to charge much more aggressively than the United States does.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People’s Action.
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