Rising premium and deductibles contributions have outstripped wage growth over the past decade. More and more middle-class Americans are paying a greater percentage of earnings for health care, The Commonwealth Fund reported.
The report analyzed survey data from 40,000 private-sector employers, as well as income data from the Census Bureau. Median household income in the UA between 2008 and 2018 grew 1.9% per year on average, rising from $53,000 to $64,202, Erin Schumaker noted at ABC News (11/21). But middle-class employees’ premium and deductible contributions rose much faster — nearly 6% per year over that same decade.
In 2008, middle-class workers spent about 7.8% of household income on premiums and deductibles. By 2018, that figure had climbed to 11.5%.
For workers like Lee Ellen Macon, those numbers look even worse. Macon, 57, had beaten breast cancer once, but when she went to the doctor this spring with what she thought was a slight thyroid issue, and instead received a stage IV cancer recurrence diagnosis, she was terrified.
Making things worse was Macon’s discovery that her out-of-network deductible was $4,000, which she’d have to pay out of pocket before her coverage kicked in.
“That’s a lot to have to pay, when you’re a teacher,” said Macon, who makes about $50,000 a year teaching eighth grade English and special education at a public school in Baton Rouge, La.
Combined with the more than $1,000 Macon already paid in premiums last year, she joined the ranks of Americans paying more than 10% of her income for health insurance.
When cancer treatment bills overwhelmed Macon this year, her sister started a GoFundMe for her. Then in September, she had to go on short-term disability, at 60% of her former pay.
In Louisiana, middle-class workers spend an average of 15.9% of their income on premiums and deductibles. In Mississippi, the most burdened state in the nation, middle-class workers faced the potential of spending 16.9%.
“The most cost-burdened families live in southern states,” said Sara Collins, lead author of the new report and vice president for health care coverage, access and tracking at The Commonwealth Fund.
In general, those states tend to have lower median incomes, so even if the sticker price for premiums and deductibles is lower than in higher-income regions, health insurance costs take up a greater share of Southerners’ income.
For people without expendable income, contributing such a large proportion of wages to health insurance can force them to make hard trade-offs. Previous research by the Commonwealth Fund has found that when faced with high deductibles, some people skip or delay recommended medical tests or forego prescription medication.
“High deductibles can act as a financial barrier to care, discouraging people with modest incomes from getting services,” Collins said.
Dispatches notes that Medicare for All would take care of the problem of medical affordability for working-class Americans, but the billionaires say we can’t afford such a plan.
SOUTHERN GOVERNORS SAY DEMS CAN WIN IF THEY STICK TO KITCHEN-TABLE ISSUES. Andy Beshear, governor-elect of Kentucky, and John Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, say their recent election and re-election show Democrats can win, even in the reddest of the red states, if they draw a clear line between their platform and the voter’s kitchen table.
In a column for the Washington Post (11/25), Beshear and Edwards wrote, “To win, we had to reach out to people across the political spectrum, including people who voted for President Trump. So we campaigned everywhere, treating every voter with respect, as winnable, because showing up still matters to the people we wanted to lead …
“We met the voters where they are, running on greater access to health care, education and good-paying jobs. Only by talking about the issues voters care about can you earn back their trust.
“Here’s why: Voters are worried about whether getting sick means they will go bankrupt. Or whether a daughter in 2nd grade will get the education she needs and deserves. They care more about having a champion who fights for good-paying, stable jobs in the local economy than who fights about whatever is generating the latest debate on Twitter.
“Our opponents attempted to nationalize our races, making them about the politics of Washington. The president came to each of our states to campaign for our opponents. This was not likely to change the outcome because the people we met on the campaign trail do not believe the politics of Washington are working for them. And they certainly don’t want their governor to follow in the footsteps of what they see coming out of the nation’s capital.
“Instead, people are looking for leaders who will bring us together to make progress for their families. Neither of us could afford to speak only to loyal Democrats or people who agree with us on every issue. Engaging with people who are frustrated with the system is critical not only to winning an election but also to advancing an agenda.
“Governing requires that we work with everyone, regardless of party, who comes to the table in good faith. We must all go forward together.
Families in both Kentucky and Louisiana worried that their health-care coverage and our states’ Medicaid expansions were going to be ripped away by a Republican governor. They were similarly worried about their local schools keeping the doors open and retaining quality teachers. They want policies to provide solutions to the challenges they face in their daily lives. Voters went to the polls because they felt heard and believed we would work with members of both parties to fight for them …
“Talk about health care, education and jobs. Over and over. It is easy in an age of 24-hour media, when there seems to be a new political crisis every few hours, to chase the latest news cycle. That will not win you many votes. Instead, it will leave voters feeling left unheard.
“But if we can remember politics is still local and deliver policies to solve problems for the families we represent, Democrats can win anywhere. Even in places that voted for the president.”
KENTUCKY GOP MOVES TO STRIP NEW DEM GOVERNOR’S AUTHORITY. Republican leaders in the Kentucky legislature are pushing a bill that would effectively remove Democratic Gov.-elect Andy Beshear’s control over the state’s Department of Transportation, the latest move in an accelerating trend of Republicans stripping power from Democratic governors before they can take office, Stephen Wolf noted at Daily Kos (11/26).
The legislation would limit the governor to nominating a transportation secretary from a list chosen by a new board whose nine members would be selected by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and local government associations, with those members subject to a veto by the Republican-run legislature. Lawmakers would also have veto power over Beshear’s transportation secretary nominee, making this the only cabinet position in the state requiring Senate confirmation.
This bill would therefore hand over control of a key government post to corporate interests, and with Republicans firmly in charge of the legislature, it can become law even if Beshear were to veto it. Only intervention by the courts could stop it.
This power grab comes after top Republicans floated the idea of using an obscure constitutional provision to steal the Nov. 5 election for Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who made unsupported claims of “irregularities” in the vote. Republicans backed off that ploy amid a public backlash, but they’ve now set their sights on weakening the governor’s office instead.
It also follows similar lame-duck maneuvers by Republican legislators in Michigan and Wisconsin in 2018 and North Carolina in 2016—all of which came only after the GOP lost elections for governor in each state. These schemes amount to a refusal on the part of Republicans to acknowledge that Democrats are a legitimate opposition party entitled to govern when they win elections.
This is an ominous trend, Wolf wrote, and one that could rear its head at a level far above state politics. Prior to the 2016 elections, Donald Trump refused to say he would honor the results if he lost, and ever since, he’s repeatedly claimed without any evidence that widespread voter fraud cost him the popular vote. The GOP establishment has given its full support to these power grabs in the states. They could culminate in Trump rejecting a legitimate election loss and refusing to leave office next year—a prospect that Americans must be prepared for.
POLLS SHOW CLOSE RACES IN KEY STATES. Statewide polls of head-to-head matchups of Democratic candidates continue to show top Democrats are running close to Donald Trump, and in many cases leading, in battleground states. A Wisconsin poll of registered voters by Marquette University Law School poll, taken 11/13-17 and released 11/20, showed Trump leading all Democratic candidates, except Cory Booker, who led by 1 point. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders both trailed by 3 points, Elizabeth Warren trailed by 5 points and Pete Buttigieg by 7 points.
A New Hampshire poll of registered voters by the St. Anselm College Survey Center released Nov. 20 showed five Democrats leading Trump: Biden by 8, Buttigieg by 7, Sanders by 3, Warren and Booker by 1.
A Nevada poll of registered voters by Fox News released 11/15 showed Biden and Sanders leading Trump by 7 points, Warren leading by 3 points and Buttigieg tied with Trump.
A North Carolina poll by Fox News released 11/15 showed Biden leading by 2, Sanders leading by 1, Warren trailing by 1 and Buttigieg trailing by 4.
A Pennsylvania poll by Morning Call released 11/14 showed Biden leading Trump by 9 points and Warren and Sanders both leading by 5 points.
A Georgia poll by Atlanta Journal-Constitution released 11/13 showed Biden leading Trump by 8 points, Sanders leading by 4 points, Warren and Buttigieg leading by 3 points and Kamala Harris leading by 1 point.
A poll of registered voters in six battleground states by the Siena College Research Institute with the New York Times in October, released Nov. 4, showed the races within the 4.4% margin of error in five states: Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Biden led Trump by 3, Warren trailed Trump by 1 and Sanders trailed by 4. In Florida, Biden led by 2 points, while Sanders trailed by 1 and Warren trailed by 4 points. In North Carolina, Trump led Biden by 2 points and Sanders and Warren by 3 points. In Pennsylvania, Biden led by 1 point, Sanders trailed by 2 points and Warren trailed by 1 point. In Wisconsin, Biden led by 2 points, while Sanders led by 1 point and Warren trailed by 2 points.
Of course, polls can vary. In Michigan, the NYT/Siena poll, taken Oct. 13-25, showed Sanders led Trump by 2, Biden was tied with Trump while Warren trailed by 6. But an Emerson College poll, taken Oct. 31-Nov. 3, showed all three Democrats beating Trump, with Sanders up by 14, Biden up by 12 and Warren up by 8 points. And in Iowa, the NYT/Siena poll Trump led all three Dems, including Biden by 1, Sanders by 4 and Warren by 7 points. Emerson College poll, taken Oct. 13-16, showed Sanders leading Trump by 2 points, and Trump leading Biden and Warren both by 2 points. (See the polls at RealClearPolitics.com.)
TRUMP STARTS SENDING REFUGEES TO GUATEMALA. A Honduran man became the first person to be sent to Guatemala under a new plan that the Trump administration has admitted will mean death for some asylum-seekers. Erwin José Ardón Montoya, a 23-year-old farm worker, left Honduras in late September due to drought and had hoped to reunite with family in the US. But he was detained by the Border Patrol in El Paso and spent only a few days there before he was deported to Guatemala under a so-called “safe third country” agreement. “So-called” because US Immigration and Citizenship Services officials have admitted that violence is pervasive there, Gabe Ortiz noted at DailyKos (11/25).
But that’s where Erwin was sent anyway, with CNN reporting that “he appeared to be the only migrant on the flight.” After landing in Guatemala (11/21), a “tearful” Erwin instead decided to return home to Honduras, arriving “Saturday (11/23) at his parents’ small adobe house in the village of Colón in the poverty- and drought-stricken municipality of Trujillo.” While families have left Central America due to violence, climate change has also played a growing role in driving migration, immigration journalist Adolfo Flores reported earlier this year.
“Neither the outgoing or incoming Guatemalan governments actually want ... to accept these asylum seekers,” tweeted reporter Jack Herrera, saying Trump “has strong-armed” Guatemala “by withholding aid and threatening tariffs.” Mauro Verzeletti, a priest and advocate there, corroborated that, telling NPR that the agreement “was imposed on us, placed before us like a sword and a cross for Guatemala to sign, under the threat of economic sanctions.”
The Trump administration has been decimating US asylum law with a clear goal in mind. “When you combine these restrictive policies, it appears that virtually no one crossing our border will qualify for asylum, except in exceptional circumstances,” longtime asylum officer Michael Knowles told BuzzFeed News. “It’s like a virtual wall.”
COMPANY BEHIND KEYSTONE PIPELINE SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN A GAS STATION. Of all the many reasons to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline—the continent-spanning death funnel and conservative fetish object—the utter bad faith of TC, the Canadian energy giant formerly known as TransCanada, is right at the top of the list, Charles P. Pierce noted at Esquire.com (11/25). “It is a truism ... a) that pipelines leak, and b) that, when an inevitable leak happens, the companies that build and own pipelines will lie about it.”
What many people don’t realize is that TC already owns and operates the Keystone 1 pipeline. In October, because it is a pipeline and pipelines leak, the Keystone 1 loosed almost 400,000 gallons of oil onto the landscape of North Dakota. And, because it is a pipeline company, TC is now accused of low-balling the extent of the damage. From CNN:
“Initial reports of the leak released by TC Energy and North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality estimated about 2,500 square yards of land were affected by the spill. Now, they have both revised the size of the impacted area to 4.8 acres, or 23,232 square yards — that’s almost ten times the original estimate.
“The new estimate includes both the surface and subsurface impact of the leak. The initial 2,500-square-yard estimate was based on visual observations alone, the company told CNN. ‘During our initial response to the incident, we immediately sectioned off a larger area (approx. 25,000 square yards) around the visibly impacted section to secure the area, provide for wildlife deterrent and air monitoring purposes,’ a TC Energy representative told CNN.
“Despite this initial identification of 25,000 square yards to be blocked off, TC Energy did not update their website to reflect this number until (11/19) — after media reports of the large increase in impact estimates were released.”
“It’s not a singular leak. Look at the history,” Kandi White, a Native Energy and Climate Campaign Coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network, told CNN. TC’s most notable leak occurred in 2017 after about 210,000 gallons of oil leaked from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, prompting monthslong protests which drew up to 10,000 people at their peak. The company’s Keystone XL Pipeline would extend the pipe system, beginning in Alberta and ending in Nebraska, cutting through Montana and South Dakota.
‘PRO-LIFE’ GROUPS PROPOSE DEATH PENALTY. Anyone performing an abortion in Ohio would be subject to the death penalty under a new ban on the procedure proposed by anti-abortion groups and more than 20 Republican legislators, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Except for a very narrow exception when the life of the woman is in danger, abortions would constitute aggravated murder under House Bill 413. Offenders “shall suffer death or be imprisoned for life,” the proposed law states. Margie Christie, president of the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio and executive director of Dayton Right to Life, was asked whether abortionists should face the death penalty.
“Based on circumstance — would leave that up to a courts and/or jury,” she replied via email. Christie leads a coalition of anti-abortion activists across the state who contend that Ohio Right to Life has not pushed hard enough for sweeping “pro-life” legislation. One of the bill’s main sponsors, Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, said in a statement, “The time for regulating evil and compromise is over. The time has come to abolish abortion in its entirety and recognize that each individual has the inviolable and inalienable right to life.”
Abortion-rights advocates say the criteria for determining whether the pregnancy threatens the woman's life are too restrictive. “Instead of making Ohio a safe place for women, children and families, Ohio politicians are focused on outlawing safe medical procedures and punishing people for seeking abortion care,” Chrisse France, the executive director of Preterm, Ohio's largest abortion provider, told the Dayton Daily News.
Many states have passed “trigger laws” designed to criminalize abortion. Those laws, like HB 413, would go into effect if the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed the right to abortion.
HB 413 would require doctors to take "all possible steps" to save an embryo or fetus, including "attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman's uterus.” There has never been a documented medical procedure in which an ectopic fetus has been removed and re-transplanted, Newsweek noted.
Although the right to abortion was affirmed by the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of *Roe v. Wade*, many states have passed "trigger laws" designed to criminalize the procedure. Those laws, like HB 413, would go into effect if the Supreme Court decision was overturned.
AOC CALLS ON SOLAR COMPANY TO REHIRE WORKERS FIRED AFTER UNIONIZING. After learning that the solar energy company Bright Power fired a dozen construction workers who were inspired to unionize by the transformative vision of a Green New Deal, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY (11/22) demanded that the corporation immediately rehire the terminated employees and formally recognize their union contract, Jake Johnson reported at CommonDreams (11/23).
“Many have told me they think the pro-justice and worker provisions in the Green New Deal are ‘unnecessary,’” Ocasio-Cortez, the lead sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution in the House, tweeted. “Yet this example is why a just transition is vital. Without it, oil barons turn into energy barons, and workers are hurt all the same. Bright Power must be held accountable.”
As Motherboard reported (11/21), the New York City construction workers voted in April to form one of the first unions in the burgeoning solar energy industry.
“Workers decided to unionize following a couple work accidents and pressure from management to work outside in extreme weather conditions in the winter,” according to Motherboard. “When workers announced their intention to unionize, Bright Power hired Littler Mendelson—the world’s largest labor law firm representing management with ties to the Trump administration—to handle its union negotiations.”
On 11/18, in the middle of negotiations for the first union contract, Bright Power announced its decision to fire the 12 workers—who made up the company’s entire in-house construction crew—and replace them with subcontractors.
Bright Power denied that the firing had anything to do with the unionization effort, but one of the fired workers dismissed the company’s claim.
“This is obviously retaliation for union organizing,” Chris Schroth, a solar installer from Bright Power, told Motherboard. “The total hypocrisy of their progressive mission as a green energy company is disgusting. They did everything that a big bad union busting company does. This is exactly what a coal company or any other evil company does.”
“This was some visionary stuff. This was the Green New Deal,” Schroth said of the unionization push. “The people who talk about green jobs aren’t actually in the field. They’re not going to fall off a building and lose their life. But we are. The union wasn’t about Bright Power giving us anything. It was about them respecting the voice of their workers.”
‘PRO-LIFE’ GROUPS PROPOSE DEATH PENALTY. Anyone performing an abortion in Ohio would be subject to the death penalty under a new ban on the procedure proposed by anti-abortion groups and more than 20 Republican legislators, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Except for a very narrow exception when the life of the woman is in danger, abortions would constitute aggravated murder under House Bill 413. Offenders “shall suffer death or be imprisoned for life,” the proposed law states. Margie Christie, president of the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio and executive director of Dayton Right to Life, was asked whether abortionists should face the death penalty.
“Based on circumstance — would leave that up to a courts and/or jury,” she replied via email. Christie leads a coalition of anti-abortion activists across the state who contend that Ohio Right to Life has not pushed hard enough for sweeping “pro-life” legislation. One of the bill’s main sponsors, Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, said in a statement, “The time for regulating evil and compromise is over. The time has come to abolish abortion in its entirety and recognize that each individual has the inviolable and inalienable right to life.”
The bill has abortion-rights advocates concerned. They say the criteria for determining whether the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life are too restrictive. “Instead of making Ohio a safe place for women, children and families, Ohio politicians are focused on outlawing safe medical procedures and punishing people for seeking abortion care,” Chrisse France, the executive director of Preterm, Ohio’s largest abortion provider, told the Dayton Daily News.
HB 413 would require doctors to take “all possible steps” to save an embryo or fetus, including “attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus.” There has never been a documented medical procedure in which an ectopic fetus has been removed and re-transplanted, Newsweek noted.
Although the right to abortion was affirmed by the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of *Roe v. Wade*, many states have passed “trigger laws” designed to criminalize the procedure. Those laws, like HB 413, would go into effect if the Supreme Court decision was overturned.
ARIZONA JURY ACQUITS MIGRAN RESCUER. A jury in federal court in Tucson, Ariz., returned not guilty verdicts (11/20) on both felony charges sought by the Trump administration against Scott Warren for offering food, water, clothing and beds to two men in Ajo, Ariz.
It was a retrial/ Warren first trial in May 2019 was declared a mistrial after jurors split 8-4 for acquittal.
Geena Jackson, a longtime volunteer with No More Deaths, responded to the verdict: “We have been saying for years that humanitarian aid is never a crime, and today 12 jurors agreed. But today I also want to remember that just being human is never a crime. They can try to regulate our communities, our movement, our communication, and our humanity, but we will resist.”
After jurors delivered the verdict, Dr. Warren shared a statement in front of the federal courthouse to his family, supporters, and press. “As we stand here, people’s brothers, sisters, fathers, spouses and children are in the midst of the perilous desert crossing. The need for humanitarian aid continues.”
Judge Raner Collins issued verdicts for separate misdemeanor charges, acquitting Warren on a charge of including abandonment of property for leaving water on migrant trails in the desert after his lawyers argued that Scott’s religious beliefs compelled him to act and cannot be infringed upon per the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). However, he was convicted of a misdemeanor for operating a vehicle in a wilderness area, related to his driving on restricted administrative roads in order to provide humanitarian aid deeper into the wildlife refuge where public roads do not reach. He will be sentenced for the misdemeanor conviction on 2/18/20.
Warren, who has a Ph.D. in geography and was a volunteer with No More Deaths, faced 10 years in prison. He received support from communities and faith leaders across the globe, including Amnesty International, which urged authorities to drop charges against Dr. Warren, asserting that the provision of humanitarian aid is not a crime.
Since 2017, eight other No More Deaths volunteers have faced misdemeanor charges in connection with their volunteer work. Lawyers and journalists who cover the southern border have also been surveilled, searched and detained by government officials, according to a study by Amnesty International.
LATINO VOTERS HOPE TO FLEX NUMBERS IN CALIFORNIA PRIMARY. The Latino Community Foundation (LCF) and Latino Decisions said their California statewide Latino poll found 74% of registered Latino voters are certain they will vote in the presidential primary on 3/3/20. California is the largest prize of the Democratic primary contests with more than 400 pledged delegates up for grabs. California also has the largest number of Latino eligible voters — 7.7 million — of any state.
The poll also found that a strong majority (76%) of Latinos are concerned about racism against them. Eight in 10 believe white supremacist groups pose a threat to the country. This same sentiment is what propelled a wave of voters and Latinos to run for office on the heels of Prop. 187 in 1994. It is now fueling a record number of voter registrations in the state. Latinos in California are reacting to racism with increased political engagement.
“With over 7 million eligible voters, Latinos are poised to decide who will be the candidate to run against Trump in November. The candidates who fail to engage Latinos in California — the largest Latino voting bloc in the country — do so at their own risk,” said Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO of LCF. “We are paying attention to who shows up to listen and connect with our communities. We are also registering to vote in record numbers. In California, 81% of eligible residents are registered to vote, the highest percentage since 1952. The number of registered Latino voters is at all time high—with nearly five million now registered to vote.”
JUSTICE DEP’T EMPOWERS MONOPOLISTS IN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT. The Justice Department’s decision to lift the 1948 rules governing America’s movie and theater markets gives giant corporations, like Amazon and Netflix, license to buy up theater chains and use them to choke rival studios off from the market, Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, said in a press release (11/19).
“The original “Paramount” consent decree for decades ensured an open and competitive market for films and documentaries, in ways that promoted the vibrancy of American arts and American democracy. The DOJ’s decision, coming atop its approval of Disney’s purchase of Fox, has created a market structure that serves only the biggest of the big and will stifle creativity, entrepreneurship, and free expression. Even Americans who never step foot in a movie theater will be harmed by this decision, as the result will be even greater control over all entertainment - including video games and television - by a few super-giant corporations. This decision also proves that Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Makan Delrahim grossly misled the American people when he said he would engage in principle-based enforcement of America’s antimonopoly laws, including a tougher opposition to vertical integration by dominant platforms and network monopolies.”
From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2019
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