Medicare

An increasing number of doctors are fed up with their careers and looking to take their medical expertise elsewhere. The misery is becoming so widespread that physicians have created a place to come together to talk shop and look for other work: the Drop Out Club.

Boehner's revenge on the GOP's far right fringe?Yesterday afternoon brought word that Obama and Boehner had come close to reaching a deal to raise the debt limit until March 2017 and bust sequestration spending limits by $112 billion, split evenly between defense and domestic spending.

The DWT art department never tells the editorial department what to write about; they just send subtle hints that we'll not covering an important story well enough by sending photos that they think need to be seen, like the picture above one of them snapped while he was out selling books.

"The game is rigged." Doesn't sound much like a "market" to me. And "capitalism" isn't the word you're looking for either.by Gaius Publius(This is part one of several pieces on what Bernie Sanders can accomplish if elected president. At the end I offer an example of a Sanders-like "What I will never do" speech.

Wednesday my doctor told me that I'm recovering from 9 months of cancer treatment much more rapidly and strongly than she expected. She was so overjoyed that she told me that instead of coming to the hospital for checkups twice a week, I can come twice a month. One thing that was really lucky for me is that I was diagnosed when I was 66, a year into my relationship with Medicare. As president of a division of TimeWarner, I had incredible health insurance (part of my employment contract). My coverage lacked for nothing.

A few weeks ago Blue America endorsed Eric Kingson, co-founder of Social Security Works, for the Syracuse-based congressional seat (NY-24), just a few weeks after GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush started espousing raising the retirement age and a few weeks before he started calling for a phasing out of Medicare and an end to the American social safety net-- i.e., the Paul Ryan plan.

Yesterday I was released from the hospital after a successful stem cell transplant meant to keep me in remission after 9 months of cancer treatment. Science saved me. City of Hope saved me. Dr. Budde saved me. Jesus saved me. The love and support from my friends and family and neighbors saved me. And Medicare paid for it. I can't imagine what would have happened to me without Medicare. The bills were beyond comprehension. But maybe imagining what we would do without Medicare is something worth contemplating. After all, Trump isn't going to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Ever been to Turlock, Jeff Denham's hometownTuesday the Blue America accountability truck rolled into Modesto, the big city in Jeff Denham's Central Valley district (CA-10). Denham is one of the most vulnerable congressional Republicans, not just in California, but anywhere in the country-- and Modesto is the biggest city in the district. Obama won Modesto both times he ran. In fact, Obama won CA-10 both times, holding McCain to 48% in 2008 and Romney to 47% four years later.

Welcome to ModestoThe first Blue America truck of 2015 is on the road. Our driver is using the Golden State Highway (Route 99) as the backbone of a trip up and down two Central Valley districts-- CA-10, represented by Republican Jeff Denham, and CA-16, represented by Blue Dog Jim Costa.

Blue Dog Jim Costa voted with the GOP to pay for TPP with cuts to MedicareBig Business/Wall Street-oriented conservatives in California from both parties voted to fast-track the job-killing TPP last week. All of California's Republicans and most of the state's Blue Dogs and New Dems voted badly on the package of bills. So did a couple of normal Democrats-- Sam Farr, Anna Eshoo and Karen Bass. Most California congressmembers voted against the trade deal.