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Thursday, November 5, 2009
FDA
Today i was looking around on the internet. I came across something interesting so i wouldlike to share with all of you for a moment.
Ecigs, have you ever heard of them? They are ciarettes that you can inhale to get the fixation you need. They only have about 20 ingredients, instead of about 4000 chemicals cigarettes do.
None of the ingredients in the cigarettes are harmful, except the niccotine..
So i suggest doing your own research on the topic and seeing if you can even still
get the products.
The FDA wants to do away with the cigarettes saying that they could pose a health problem.
When has the FDA ever had the publics interest at heart.
The FDA constanly releases drugs out on the market that have a list as long as the Grand cayon stretches out, maybe longer.
Such as: "May cause"
Heart broblems, breathing problems, sleepping, irrability, stomach cramps, ulcers, nose bleeds, dizziness, lack of sex drive, hyperness, liver problems, and so on..
So i say to all the smokers out there, do your own research on the subject. Do not listen to the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION.!
Challenge for the smokers:
GOOGLE ecigs and you be the judge on all the info you can find. good luck, and feed back from you all is always nice..
Ecigs, have you ever heard of them? They are ciarettes that you can inhale to get the fixation you need. They only have about 20 ingredients, instead of about 4000 chemicals cigarettes do.
None of the ingredients in the cigarettes are harmful, except the niccotine..
So i suggest doing your own research on the topic and seeing if you can even still
get the products.
The FDA wants to do away with the cigarettes saying that they could pose a health problem.
When has the FDA ever had the publics interest at heart.
The FDA constanly releases drugs out on the market that have a list as long as the Grand cayon stretches out, maybe longer.
Such as: "May cause"
Heart broblems, breathing problems, sleepping, irrability, stomach cramps, ulcers, nose bleeds, dizziness, lack of sex drive, hyperness, liver problems, and so on..
So i say to all the smokers out there, do your own research on the subject. Do not listen to the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION.!
Challenge for the smokers:
GOOGLE ecigs and you be the judge on all the info you can find. good luck, and feed back from you all is always nice..
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Figures on child hunger are appalling, but some people don’t care
One in 5 Tarrant County children might not get to eat at home without help from food stamps.
And it’s not solely an urban problem. In suburban Parker County, 4,400 children now count on federal hunger relief.
That’s 1 in 7 children.
In Johnson County: 1 in 5.
Even Hood and Wise counties have more than 2,000 children each on food stamps. Some had to wait up to three months before Texas’ swamped workers could even take their applications.
National figures announced Monday are even more jarring: Half of America’s children will rely on food stamps at some time during their childhoods.
One-fourth will need them for more than five years.
So what’s the conservative solution to help these children?
Ignore them, a Ron Paul supporter writes from Texas.
"The liberal newspapers are wringing their hands because there’s a backlog of [food stamp] cases," activist Peter Morrison of Lumberton wrote Oct. 8 in his widely circulated poison-pen e-mail newsletter, The Peter Morrison Report.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I think people should have to wait."
Morrison, 30, a salesman and Lumberton school board trustee, worries about money.
"Our money, which we could be spending on our own families, is taken from us by the threat of force to pay for food stamps and other forms of welfare," Morrison wrote.
He described food stamp recipients as "people [who] want to live off of our labor and sweat."
At Washington University in St. Louis, the source of the new report on how badly children need food stamps, social welfare professor Mark R. Rank groaned when I read Morrison’s comments.
"Whatever the numbers show for America, it’ll be worse in Texas," he said.
Texas children live in a state that ranked eighth in the U.S. in terms of families living at the poverty level. And that was before the economic downturn.
When it comes to children needing food stamps, he said, "It’s pretty much you and Alabama leading the pack."
At the Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth, the regional hunger charity, Summer Stringer, community outreach coordinator, tries to help those families.
"They say, 'We’ve never needed food stamps before,’ " she said.
"A lot of people used to say they needed a 'hand up and not a handout.’ Now a lot of families are coming back surprised, saying, 'I’m going to need help a little longer.’ "
Food bank Director Bo Soderbergh saw the national study.
He had one word for it: "appalling."
"When half the children in the richest nation in the world have to rely on a hunger relief program," he said, "there has to be something wrong."
I don’t think we can ignore them.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538 Twitter@budkennedy
Looking for comments?
It is sad when there is such hate in professionals words. When in truth, true journalism is supposed to show both sides of the fences.
-Yes we do have people in America that abuse our system, and they should be ashamed!
-Instead of trying to point the finger, we should adopt what they do in Hawaii.
-If you receive benefits there, you have to:
-work full time, or
-be in college full time, or
-donate, with proof, your time to charitable causes.
THERE are very many people who have lost jobs, due to layoffs in this country. There are families that have the "BREAD WINNER" become handicap, or dead.
There are single mothers working two jobs at minimum wage, or single fathers who can't work enough either, to maintain a roof and food and a car and so on.
So if you want to address the real problem, here it goes:
- congress can give their selves raises any time they want.
- congress does not pay taxes
- congress gets free medical, are they more special than the poor?
- we bail out other countries with our tax paying dollars
- We give our money to banks and car companies who make millions upon millions of
dollars each year. What they can't stay outta debt, so we have to bail them out?
- yet here are some people getting in an up roar because they cant figure(don't want to) a better system to weed out the people who are really trying to make a better life verses the scum who will never want to work, cause they know they can get away with it, with free housing and food stamps and medical.
You have to be willing to look at the rich and the poor. You have to be able to look at a problem from all angles of the whole spectrum to even begin to solve a problem.
Bias opinions only fogs up judgment even more and makes the problem at hand more difficult to resolve.
Until next time people, have a great day!
stop by and see if i can save you money... ktpower.joinambit.com .. have your current bill in hand to see what i can save you on your electric bill
And it’s not solely an urban problem. In suburban Parker County, 4,400 children now count on federal hunger relief.
That’s 1 in 7 children.
In Johnson County: 1 in 5.
Even Hood and Wise counties have more than 2,000 children each on food stamps. Some had to wait up to three months before Texas’ swamped workers could even take their applications.
National figures announced Monday are even more jarring: Half of America’s children will rely on food stamps at some time during their childhoods.
One-fourth will need them for more than five years.
So what’s the conservative solution to help these children?
Ignore them, a Ron Paul supporter writes from Texas.
"The liberal newspapers are wringing their hands because there’s a backlog of [food stamp] cases," activist Peter Morrison of Lumberton wrote Oct. 8 in his widely circulated poison-pen e-mail newsletter, The Peter Morrison Report.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I think people should have to wait."
Morrison, 30, a salesman and Lumberton school board trustee, worries about money.
"Our money, which we could be spending on our own families, is taken from us by the threat of force to pay for food stamps and other forms of welfare," Morrison wrote.
He described food stamp recipients as "people [who] want to live off of our labor and sweat."
At Washington University in St. Louis, the source of the new report on how badly children need food stamps, social welfare professor Mark R. Rank groaned when I read Morrison’s comments.
"Whatever the numbers show for America, it’ll be worse in Texas," he said.
Texas children live in a state that ranked eighth in the U.S. in terms of families living at the poverty level. And that was before the economic downturn.
When it comes to children needing food stamps, he said, "It’s pretty much you and Alabama leading the pack."
At the Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth, the regional hunger charity, Summer Stringer, community outreach coordinator, tries to help those families.
"They say, 'We’ve never needed food stamps before,’ " she said.
"A lot of people used to say they needed a 'hand up and not a handout.’ Now a lot of families are coming back surprised, saying, 'I’m going to need help a little longer.’ "
Food bank Director Bo Soderbergh saw the national study.
He had one word for it: "appalling."
"When half the children in the richest nation in the world have to rely on a hunger relief program," he said, "there has to be something wrong."
I don’t think we can ignore them.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538 Twitter@budkennedy
Looking for comments?
It is sad when there is such hate in professionals words. When in truth, true journalism is supposed to show both sides of the fences.
-Yes we do have people in America that abuse our system, and they should be ashamed!
-Instead of trying to point the finger, we should adopt what they do in Hawaii.
-If you receive benefits there, you have to:
-work full time, or
-be in college full time, or
-donate, with proof, your time to charitable causes.
THERE are very many people who have lost jobs, due to layoffs in this country. There are families that have the "BREAD WINNER" become handicap, or dead.
There are single mothers working two jobs at minimum wage, or single fathers who can't work enough either, to maintain a roof and food and a car and so on.
So if you want to address the real problem, here it goes:
- congress can give their selves raises any time they want.
- congress does not pay taxes
- congress gets free medical, are they more special than the poor?
- we bail out other countries with our tax paying dollars
- We give our money to banks and car companies who make millions upon millions of
dollars each year. What they can't stay outta debt, so we have to bail them out?
- yet here are some people getting in an up roar because they cant figure(don't want to) a better system to weed out the people who are really trying to make a better life verses the scum who will never want to work, cause they know they can get away with it, with free housing and food stamps and medical.
You have to be willing to look at the rich and the poor. You have to be able to look at a problem from all angles of the whole spectrum to even begin to solve a problem.
Bias opinions only fogs up judgment even more and makes the problem at hand more difficult to resolve.
Until next time people, have a great day!
stop by and see if i can save you money... ktpower.joinambit.com .. have your current bill in hand to see what i can save you on your electric bill
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Buffett cuts BNSF deal at Fort Worth's Ashton Hotel
When Berkshire Hathaway announced Tuesday that it wanted to buy the shares it didn't own in Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad company, things started falling into place for Matt Mildren.
Mildren owns The Ashton Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, where Warren Buffett, Berkshire's chief executive, and the rest of the Berkshire Hathaway board met two weeks ago for one of its annual off-site meetings.
"Now I understand why Mr. Buffett wanted all the staff out of the Ashton wine cellar Thursday night," Mildren said Tuesday.
On the first night of their stay, Buffett had a private board dinner in the Ashton's wine cellar and the hotel staff was under strict orders not to come into the room unless otherwise summoned, Mildren said.
"I'm honored and hugely humbled, to say the least, that the biggest Berkshire Hathaway investment in history was cut at the little Ashton Hotel in downtown Fort Worth," Mildren said.
Berkshire Hathaway booked the hotel six months ago, but based on Buffett's comments on national television early Tuesday morning, the deal with BNSF wasn't cut until Buffett arrived in Fort Worth on Oct. 22. The board meeting ended two days later.
Buffett even mentioned The Ashton — a 39-room boutique hotel at 610 Main St. — in his network interview.
Mildren is appreciative for the plug, but said he fielded calls from friends wanting to know if he knew about the pending deal.
Buffett was appreciative, too. On Friday, The Ashton staff received a 5-pound box of See's chocolates. Berkshire owns the California-based candy maker.
Mildren owns The Ashton Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, where Warren Buffett, Berkshire's chief executive, and the rest of the Berkshire Hathaway board met two weeks ago for one of its annual off-site meetings.
"Now I understand why Mr. Buffett wanted all the staff out of the Ashton wine cellar Thursday night," Mildren said Tuesday.
On the first night of their stay, Buffett had a private board dinner in the Ashton's wine cellar and the hotel staff was under strict orders not to come into the room unless otherwise summoned, Mildren said.
"I'm honored and hugely humbled, to say the least, that the biggest Berkshire Hathaway investment in history was cut at the little Ashton Hotel in downtown Fort Worth," Mildren said.
Berkshire Hathaway booked the hotel six months ago, but based on Buffett's comments on national television early Tuesday morning, the deal with BNSF wasn't cut until Buffett arrived in Fort Worth on Oct. 22. The board meeting ended two days later.
Buffett even mentioned The Ashton — a 39-room boutique hotel at 610 Main St. — in his network interview.
Mildren is appreciative for the plug, but said he fielded calls from friends wanting to know if he knew about the pending deal.
Buffett was appreciative, too. On Friday, The Ashton staff received a 5-pound box of See's chocolates. Berkshire owns the California-based candy maker.
Swine flu not just a threat to young: study
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Swine flu can cause severe disease in people of all ages and appears to pose a special threat to those who are obese, according to an analysis of H1N1 cases in California released on Tuesday.
Public health researchers analyzed the state's first 1,088 hospitalized and fatal cases of H1N1 infection between April 23 and August 1.
Like other studies, they found the average patient who was hospitalized with H1N1 flu was younger than what is commonly seen with seasonal flu, but they also found severe disease at both ends of the age spectrum.
"What our study shows was that once you were hospitalized, if you were elderly you have a higher risk of dying," Dr. Janice Louie of the California Department of Public Health in Richmond, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the study matches the CDC's own observations -- that H1N1 affects all age groups, including people over 65.
"If they get it, it can be every bit as severe as seasonal flu, consistent with other data," Frieden told a news briefing.
"It does emphasize that providers should think of H1N1 influenza in all age groups," he said.
Frieden said the new findings do not change the CDC's recommendations for vaccination, which focus on younger people, those with underlying conditions such as asthma and pregnant women.
What it does suggest is that doctors need to be aware of the risks to their older patients if they do become infected, Louie said.
NOT A MILD DISEASE
"One of the perceptions we've been trying to dispel is that this is a mild disease," she said in a telephone interview.
"This can be very severe. In this paper, 30 percent of patients required intensive care."
Overall, 11 percent of people who were hospitalized died, but among people 50 and older, 18 to 20 percent died.
The most common causes of death were viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
As with other studies, obesity appeared to play a significant role in the severity of disease.
In the 268 cases of adults over 20 whose weight was known, 58 percent were obese, with a body mass index of over 30, and of these, 67 percent were morbidly obese, with a BMI of over 40.
BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall becomes obese at 180 pounds (82 kg).
"There definitely is something that is standing out as far as the obesity issue," Louie said.
"We certainly don't see the same thing with seasonal flu."
Louie said in California, the flu has caused shortages of antiviral drugs and of N95 respirator masks, but so far, based on her contact with doctors in the state, swine flu has not overwhelmed hospitals.
A report by Trust for America's Health suggested a mild pandemic could send as many as 168,025 people in California to the hospital.
Public health researchers analyzed the state's first 1,088 hospitalized and fatal cases of H1N1 infection between April 23 and August 1.
Like other studies, they found the average patient who was hospitalized with H1N1 flu was younger than what is commonly seen with seasonal flu, but they also found severe disease at both ends of the age spectrum.
"What our study shows was that once you were hospitalized, if you were elderly you have a higher risk of dying," Dr. Janice Louie of the California Department of Public Health in Richmond, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the study matches the CDC's own observations -- that H1N1 affects all age groups, including people over 65.
"If they get it, it can be every bit as severe as seasonal flu, consistent with other data," Frieden told a news briefing.
"It does emphasize that providers should think of H1N1 influenza in all age groups," he said.
Frieden said the new findings do not change the CDC's recommendations for vaccination, which focus on younger people, those with underlying conditions such as asthma and pregnant women.
What it does suggest is that doctors need to be aware of the risks to their older patients if they do become infected, Louie said.
NOT A MILD DISEASE
"One of the perceptions we've been trying to dispel is that this is a mild disease," she said in a telephone interview.
"This can be very severe. In this paper, 30 percent of patients required intensive care."
Overall, 11 percent of people who were hospitalized died, but among people 50 and older, 18 to 20 percent died.
The most common causes of death were viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
As with other studies, obesity appeared to play a significant role in the severity of disease.
In the 268 cases of adults over 20 whose weight was known, 58 percent were obese, with a body mass index of over 30, and of these, 67 percent were morbidly obese, with a BMI of over 40.
BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall becomes obese at 180 pounds (82 kg).
"There definitely is something that is standing out as far as the obesity issue," Louie said.
"We certainly don't see the same thing with seasonal flu."
Louie said in California, the flu has caused shortages of antiviral drugs and of N95 respirator masks, but so far, based on her contact with doctors in the state, swine flu has not overwhelmed hospitals.
A report by Trust for America's Health suggested a mild pandemic could send as many as 168,025 people in California to the hospital.
House GOP pens 230-page health bill draft
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Erica Werner, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 47 mins ago
WASHINGTON – After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.
A 230-page draft was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said changes were still being made before the bill would be finalized in time to offer as an alternative when Democrats begin floor debate on their bill, possibly at the end of this week.
The bill leaves out a number of the key features of the Democrats' 1,990-page legislation, such as new requirements for employers to insure their employees and for nearly all Americans to purchase insurance. It also doesn't block insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions, as Democrats would do.
Instead, the Republican plan increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts, caps non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, provides various incentives to states with the aim of driving down premium costs and allows health insurance to be sold across state lines.
"As Leader Boehner has made clear, our proposal will focus on the No. 1 concern of the American people — reducing health care costs, and we do it at a price tag our nation can afford," said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier, though Republicans have not said how much their bill would cost.
"Our proposal will help struggling middle-class families and small businesses by increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care," Ferrier said.
Democrats immediately dismissed the Republican plan as insubstantial.
The GOP alternative "does little to provide security and stability to all Americans, doesn't provide insurance availability for all Americans, does little to expand access to coverage," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters.
"Ours is vastly superior and we think the American public will think that," Hoyer said.
The GOP draft bill obtained by The AP was dated Monday.
House Democrats, meanwhile, were working overtime to put the finishing touches on their 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill, which they released last week. Leaders were trying to resolve lingering concerns over language to bar federal funding of abortions and ensure that illegal immigrants don't receive government health benefits.
The Republican bill includes a permanent ban on any federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, stronger language than the Democratic bill,
Hoyer predicted Tuesday that Democrats would vote within the week to pass President Barack Obama's historic health care remake.
"I'm confident of prevailing and I'm confident of prevailing before Veterans Day" — next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Hoyer told reporters. "I am confident that we are going to pass this bill."
Across the Capitol, senators are waiting to see the final language and price tag on a health bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other top officials wrote in secret. It's not clear when those details will be available and Reid, D-Nev., may not be able to begin debate on the issue until the week before Thanksgiving.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON – After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.
A 230-page draft was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said changes were still being made before the bill would be finalized in time to offer as an alternative when Democrats begin floor debate on their bill, possibly at the end of this week.
The bill leaves out a number of the key features of the Democrats' 1,990-page legislation, such as new requirements for employers to insure their employees and for nearly all Americans to purchase insurance. It also doesn't block insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions, as Democrats would do.
Instead, the Republican plan increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts, caps non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, provides various incentives to states with the aim of driving down premium costs and allows health insurance to be sold across state lines.
"As Leader Boehner has made clear, our proposal will focus on the No. 1 concern of the American people — reducing health care costs, and we do it at a price tag our nation can afford," said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier, though Republicans have not said how much their bill would cost.
"Our proposal will help struggling middle-class families and small businesses by increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care," Ferrier said.
Democrats immediately dismissed the Republican plan as insubstantial.
The GOP alternative "does little to provide security and stability to all Americans, doesn't provide insurance availability for all Americans, does little to expand access to coverage," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters.
"Ours is vastly superior and we think the American public will think that," Hoyer said.
The GOP draft bill obtained by The AP was dated Monday.
House Democrats, meanwhile, were working overtime to put the finishing touches on their 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill, which they released last week. Leaders were trying to resolve lingering concerns over language to bar federal funding of abortions and ensure that illegal immigrants don't receive government health benefits.
The Republican bill includes a permanent ban on any federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, stronger language than the Democratic bill,
Hoyer predicted Tuesday that Democrats would vote within the week to pass President Barack Obama's historic health care remake.
"I'm confident of prevailing and I'm confident of prevailing before Veterans Day" — next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Hoyer told reporters. "I am confident that we are going to pass this bill."
Across the Capitol, senators are waiting to see the final language and price tag on a health bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other top officials wrote in secret. It's not clear when those details will be available and Reid, D-Nev., may not be able to begin debate on the issue until the week before Thanksgiving.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
House GOP pens 230-page health bill draft
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Erica Werner, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 47 mins ago
WASHINGTON – After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.
A 230-page draft was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said changes were still being made before the bill would be finalized in time to offer as an alternative when Democrats begin floor debate on their bill, possibly at the end of this week.
The bill leaves out a number of the key features of the Democrats' 1,990-page legislation, such as new requirements for employers to insure their employees and for nearly all Americans to purchase insurance. It also doesn't block insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions, as Democrats would do.
Instead, the Republican plan increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts, caps non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, provides various incentives to states with the aim of driving down premium costs and allows health insurance to be sold across state lines.
"As Leader Boehner has made clear, our proposal will focus on the No. 1 concern of the American people — reducing health care costs, and we do it at a price tag our nation can afford," said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier, though Republicans have not said how much their bill would cost.
"Our proposal will help struggling middle-class families and small businesses by increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care," Ferrier said.
Democrats immediately dismissed the Republican plan as insubstantial.
The GOP alternative "does little to provide security and stability to all Americans, doesn't provide insurance availability for all Americans, does little to expand access to coverage," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters.
"Ours is vastly superior and we think the American public will think that," Hoyer said.
The GOP draft bill obtained by The AP was dated Monday.
House Democrats, meanwhile, were working overtime to put the finishing touches on their 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill, which they released last week. Leaders were trying to resolve lingering concerns over language to bar federal funding of abortions and ensure that illegal immigrants don't receive government health benefits.
The Republican bill includes a permanent ban on any federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, stronger language than the Democratic bill,
Hoyer predicted Tuesday that Democrats would vote within the week to pass President Barack Obama's historic health care remake.
"I'm confident of prevailing and I'm confident of prevailing before Veterans Day" — next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Hoyer told reporters. "I am confident that we are going to pass this bill."
Across the Capitol, senators are waiting to see the final language and price tag on a health bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other top officials wrote in secret. It's not clear when those details will be available and Reid, D-Nev., may not be able to begin debate on the issue until the week before Thanksgiving.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON – After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.
A 230-page draft was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said changes were still being made before the bill would be finalized in time to offer as an alternative when Democrats begin floor debate on their bill, possibly at the end of this week.
The bill leaves out a number of the key features of the Democrats' 1,990-page legislation, such as new requirements for employers to insure their employees and for nearly all Americans to purchase insurance. It also doesn't block insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions, as Democrats would do.
Instead, the Republican plan increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts, caps non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, provides various incentives to states with the aim of driving down premium costs and allows health insurance to be sold across state lines.
"As Leader Boehner has made clear, our proposal will focus on the No. 1 concern of the American people — reducing health care costs, and we do it at a price tag our nation can afford," said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier, though Republicans have not said how much their bill would cost.
"Our proposal will help struggling middle-class families and small businesses by increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care," Ferrier said.
Democrats immediately dismissed the Republican plan as insubstantial.
The GOP alternative "does little to provide security and stability to all Americans, doesn't provide insurance availability for all Americans, does little to expand access to coverage," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters.
"Ours is vastly superior and we think the American public will think that," Hoyer said.
The GOP draft bill obtained by The AP was dated Monday.
House Democrats, meanwhile, were working overtime to put the finishing touches on their 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill, which they released last week. Leaders were trying to resolve lingering concerns over language to bar federal funding of abortions and ensure that illegal immigrants don't receive government health benefits.
The Republican bill includes a permanent ban on any federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, stronger language than the Democratic bill,
Hoyer predicted Tuesday that Democrats would vote within the week to pass President Barack Obama's historic health care remake.
"I'm confident of prevailing and I'm confident of prevailing before Veterans Day" — next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Hoyer told reporters. "I am confident that we are going to pass this bill."
Across the Capitol, senators are waiting to see the final language and price tag on a health bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other top officials wrote in secret. It's not clear when those details will be available and Reid, D-Nev., may not be able to begin debate on the issue until the week before Thanksgiving.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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