Here’s one from CNN today that was particularly good.

Question: Is there anything in the bill about rationing health care?
Answer: No one is using the term “rationing” as part of the bill. But there is a term called comparative effectiveness. And that’s this idea that we figure out what works in medicine and make sure to pay for those things. This also means that there are a lot of things being done right now where there’s not scientific proof that it works and maybe those things won’t get paid any more. Some people call that rationing. Other people say, look, rationing exists under the current system. It’s just that the insurance companies are essentially rationing by denying payment or dropping people off their coverage.

Our friend Jim has a great synopsis over at Bargaineering explaining what will change and when now that the bill has passed. The full article is worth a read but here are a few of my favorite parts, all of which go into effect in 2010 or 2011.

• Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
• Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26.
• A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.
• Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.

Insurers would no longer be able to reject new customers with pre-existing medical conditions; new restrictions would be placed on their ability to set premiums. Patients would have greater access to preventive care and young adults would be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26.

See the full article for details on how the bill addresses individual mandates, expanding coverage, coverage for seniors, taxes, industry fees, employer mandates, abortion, and even a revamp to student loans.

Also, here’s Ezra Klein commenting on the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s review which found the bill will actually save money:

You also get the single most ambitious effort the government has ever made to control costs in the health-care sector. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill cuts deficits by $130 billion in the first 10 years.

This was a hard bill to write. Pairing the largest coverage increase since the Great Society with the most aggressive cost-control effort isn’t easy. And since the cost controls are complicated, while the coverage increase is straightforward, many people don’t believe that the Democrats have done it. But to a degree unmatched in recent legislative history, they have.

Coverage for 32 million that don’t currently have it plus better protections for those of us that already do while saving $130 billion in the process sounds like a win-win-win to me.

Let’s get this done people.

The three-month review that led to the escalate-then-exit strategy is a case study in decision making in the Obama White House — intense, methodical, rigorous, earnest and at times deeply frustrating for nearly all involved. It was a virtual seminar in Afghanistan and Pakistan, led by a president described by one participant as something “between a college professor and a gentle cross-examiner.”

Mr. Obama peppered advisers with questions and showed an insatiable demand for information, taxing analysts who prepared three dozen intelligence reports for him and Pentagon staff members who churned out thousands of pages of documents.

The story features a carefully constructed recount of the deliberations that went into the final decision and strategy to surge in Afghanistan. Regardless of where you stand on the final decision, it’s a fascinating look into the intense debate that went on behind the scenes to make the most of a shitty situation.

I’m not too jazzed about the government continuing to increase the deficit but if that’s not the solution, I want to hear some other options and RIGHT FREAKING NOW! Just giving people a few hundred bucks or even a couple thousand isn’t going to solve this for the millions that are losing their jobs, or for the crumbling infrastructure, or for becoming less dependent on oil from the middle east. We need to invest in America, and we need to do it soon.

Sort it out and stop the kindergarten name calling. Let’s get this done!

The White House website has been updated and includes a lot of great resources about the Obama agenda, his Administration, and general fun facts about the White House itself.

In the Briefing Room you’ll find a blog, as well as a place for press releases, executive orders, and proclamations.

[Seen on Daring Fireball]

It’s been nearly a week now and I’m still not sure I can believe it. I’m mostly at a loss for words but what an amazing time to be an American! There is much work to be done, but in an instance, many have taken pause to wonder what the US, and what we as a people, are capable of. Remarkable.

We’ve learned a lot since my first post 8 weeks ago and the economic mess has reminded people that this election is about more than name calling and finger pointing. As the election nears an end we’ve learned more about our prospective leaders’ plans for the Country, we’ve heard them debate the pros and cons of each others plans, and plenty of 3rd parties and pundits have had the opportunity to chime in. So what do we know?

On Healthcare
The New England Journal of Medicine (quite a respected publication in the Medical field by the way) issued a scathing assessment of McCain’s health care plan entitled Primum Non Nocere — The McCain Plan for Health Insecurity.

Here’s an excerpt:

John McCain emerges not as a maverick or centrist but as a radical social conservative firmly in the grip of the ideology that animates the domestic policies of President George W. Bush. The central purpose of President Bush’s health policy, and John McCain’s, is to reduce the role of insurance and make Americans pay a larger part of their health care bills out of pocket. To attain their vision, Bush and McCain seem willing to take huge risks with the efficiency, equity, and stability of our health care system. Specifically, the McCain plan would profoundly threaten the current system of employer-sponsored insurance on which more than three fifths of Americans depend, increase reliance on unregulated individual insurance markets (which are notoriously inefficient), and leave the number of uninsured Americans virtually unchanged. Senator McCain’s plan does not demonstrate the kind of judgment needed in a potential commander in chief of our health care system.

On the Economy
From a variety of recent polls, most people seem to believe Obama would be better at handling the economic downturn than McCain (gallup poll) and it turns out, economists agree!

A study by The Economist magazine finds:

A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority—at times by overwhelming margins—believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and will appoint better economic advisers. The detailed responses are bad news for Mr McCain. Eighty per cent of respondents and no fewer than 71% of those who do not cleave to either main party say Mr Obama has a better grasp of economics. Even among Republicans Mr Obama has the edge: 46% versus 23% say Mr Obama has the better grasp of the subject. “I take McCain’s word on this one,” comments James Harrigan at the University of Virginia, a reference to Mr McCain’s infamous confession that he does not know as much about economics as he should.

Here’s Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, endorsing Obama and discussing the economy on Bloomberg:

On Taxes
It pains me to see this continually get distorted in the ads so here it is plain and simple.
Under Barack Obama’s tax plan, everyone making less than $200,000/year will get a tax cut. You won’t get a tax increase unless you make more than $250,000 (including small businesses). This is paid for by letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest American’s expire. John McCain on the other hand plans to give those making more than $250,000/year MORE tax CUTS… while the rest of us are left to struggle.

It just doesn’t make any sense and the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center agrees.

So McCain’s swipe at Obama’s tax plan was something other than straight talk. As a share of the economy, Obama’s plan would create an overall tax burden similar to the one that existed in Ronald Reagan’s time. It would not choke off job creation; rather, it would slow the growth of the deficit and soften inequality. But the really depressing thing is that McCain himself once knew that. He opposed the Bush tax cuts before he supported them, saying that they would deepen inequality. But now he touts a tax reduction that is larger and more radical than even President Bush proposed, and he slams his opponent for holding the view that he himself held until recently.

You can enter your particulars and calculate the different tax cuts you would receive under Obama or McCain’s plans here:
http://taxcut.barackobama.com/

Colin Powel
In other news, American statesman, Republican, and retired General, Colin Powell, endorsed Barack Obama on Meet the Press. Here’s a video synopsis.

During the interview Powell cites Obama’s leadership, intellect, and steadfastness in the face of difficulty. He debunks the Ayers and religious smears, and seriously questions McCain’s judgement.

Regarding Obama:

I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance, he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.

However, regarding Sarah Palin:

She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired,” he said. “But at the same, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Sen. McCain made.

Palin Factor
We know what Colin Powell thinks but does anyone seriously believe Palin is ready to be President? If you do it probably doesn’t bother you that she doesn’t seem to understand the role of the VP, or what the first amendment is, or what newspapers she reads, or… damn… it makes my head spin! This is funny on Saturday Night Live but that’s about it people.

In the words of Matt Damon:

Women’s Rights
Speaking of Palin… just a reminder of the differences between the two campaigns on Women’s rights. This is perhaps the clearest set of differences between the two candidates.

Obama & Biden: Favor a woman’s right to choose and supports Roe v. Wade.
McCain & Palin: Against a woman’s right to chose. Palin has further said she’d oppose abortion in all cases, even if her daughter was raped. [Link]. Also, wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and would likely have the opportunity to do so if elected.
Reference: New York Times

Also, McCain has been rated a ‘D’ on Woman’s issues while Obama received a ‘B’ in a recent review of their positions and voting records.

Bringing People Together
Last but not least, Obama has brought more people together for a common purpose than ever before. Young, old, black, white, hispanic, asian, rich, poor, christian, jewish, republican, democrat, and everyone in between are coming together with the belief that we can get past the petty issues that have divided us and get on with making our Country the best it can possibly be. That’s the ‘Hope’ in this campaign. The reason over 3 million people have donated and millions more are volunteering or reaching out to their friends and family.

Thanks
If you have questions or take issue with any of these points, please let me know and I’m happy to discuss. While I couldn’t urge you more strongly to vote for Obama I’d rather you be informed and make up your own mind than blindly pull a lever on election day regardless of who it’s for.

And while we shouldn’t even have to discuss the following points, here are some additional items worth mentioning as well because they keep coming up in various circles:

• Obama is NOT Muslim (although as Colin Powel indicated, over 5 million America’s are in fact Muslims anyway so this shouldn’t be an issue either way).
• Obama IS patriotic, he DOES pledge allegiance, and he WAS NOT sworn into the Senate on the Qur’an.

If you’ve heard otherwise they are rumors and have been debunked by the nonpartisan FactCheck.org. Seriously. Read it.

Take Action Now: Step 1 – VOTE
Election Day is Tuesday November 4th and while the polls look ok, it’s not over until the votes are in and counted. We only get to do this every 4 years so there’s no time like the present.

You can find your polling place, driving directions, and hours of operation on the amazingly clever VoteForChange website. Bring a friend or neighbor to the polls. Call your family to get out the vote. Give someone a ride. Whatever you can do to help.

Take Action Now: Step 2 – VOLUNTEER
It’s not too late to make some calls, or stop by a field office to lend a hand. Visit the Action Center to get started right now.

That’s it folks! See you Tuesday!

Here’s Shaun:

All -

Forgive me for intruding on what are busy times. But I wanted to
interupt your busy lives, just once, to tell you why I am voting
for the candidate I am voting for.

This is america gosh darn it and if there is anything other than a
gun I am entitled to it is an opinion. Until someone tells me to
shut up, I plan to keep offering it. Conversely you are definately
welcomed to offer your opinion back. Or even to write back and
say, you know Shaun, I’d rather you didn’t email me things like
this. Or if you spent half the time you spent cooking up these
whitty emails that you spend on your job there’d be a solar system
on every house in New York State by now.

This email comes in two parts. My personal view on why I think
Barack Obama is a better Presidential pick than John McCain. And
evidence of the sort of things that make me want to move away from
McCain camp.

First:

There was some talk long ago of Barack Obama being an elitest who
likes arugula. I love arugula. It is delicious. Maybe spicy
greens aren’t your thing. But I eat it once a week (when it is in
season). So I guess I am an elitest, too.

But so what? For years and years we have been giving the awesomest
jobs to the most elitest people in the world. When someone is
going to open up your brain and take out a tumor wouldn’t you want
nothing but the most elite surgeon in the world? If your kitten
was stuck in a tree, would you not the most elite strike team of
firemen to get whiskers (if I had a cat I’d call him wiskers) out
the tree? If your family was being held hostage in Texas would you
not call upon Chuck Norris, widely belived to be the most elite of
the Texas Rangers, to rescue them?

My point is being President of the United States is pretty much the
most awesome of jobs in all the land. If you are looking to
disqualify someone as President of the Untied States, elitest is
about the last thing you should call them.

Second:

How many years had George Washington served in the senate before
becoming president? All he did was rally up, organized if you
will, a bunch rag tag tax evaders from his “community” to fight a
bunch of tea drinking biscut biters.

Okay. A stretch. But seriously. What were Reagan’s credentials?
Two terms as governor of the most arugally state in the union.
Lincoln spent one full term in office as a Congressman and just two
years as a Senator. Oh, also from Illinois. If that matters to you.

Third:

And this is where it gets real, and stuff.

I know that neither of these candidates have all the answers. When
Barack Obama becomes President, it will not magically make slavery
like, never ever happened, nor will the economic crisis end, nor
the iraq war, and certainly not the afghan war he has pledged to
escalate. If John McCain wins we will not be safe guarded,
necessarily, by a man “who knows what to do” and “doesn’t need to
be tested”.

However, what I like to do in my mind is to think about how each
deals with each problem. From what I have seen and have heard from
other people I admire (Powell, Buffet, Clinton) is that Barack
Obama will be the sort of President who will gather all the
smartest of the smart people in the whole wide world to give him
advice. He will gather them all in one room at the time of crisis
and listen intently to what each of them have to say. And at the
end of the day he will say, “Thank you for your time and council
ladies and gentleman. You will have my decision in the morning”.

And I believe he will deliberate accordingly, based on ALL the BEST
availble information. And that is what I want out of my President.

Not someone who is awesome to share a beer with, nor someone who is
such a “man in charge” figure that they do not come across as
someone willing to take council.

This final point is what got me thinking in the first place about
the email I received below. That Barack Obama is a person willing
to read crazy books of all points of view. Heck, I know I am
living in crazy liberal land, but I still check drudgereport each
and every single day. Why? Because the dude sets news cycles.
He’s read by millions every day. There has to be something to it.
And if nothing else (as long as it isn’t a site of interesting new
ways to kill people or some other wacco cult site) it is worth my
five minutes a day to see what others are thinking and how that
might influence what I am thinking.

What separates us from so many other places in the world is not
that we aren’t required to read, say, the Qur’an (Koran). But that
we are not forbidden from doing so. And not forbidden to read the
bible, or the torah or Hop On Pop, even.

So the fact that the possible next President of the United States
wants to know why a respected thinker, (a thinker who was called
upon by Paul Wolfolwitz as recently as 2006) believes that we are
coming upon “A Post-American World” really bothers me much, much,
much, much less than the fact that people are (A) bothered by a
Presidential Candidate reading such a book (B) is Judging what the
book is about (muslim indoctrination) by the authors name, Fareed
Zakaria

Mr. Zakaria was a supporter, at first, of the Iraq war, but of
course he wanted far higher troop levels. He does come from the
terrorist training school of Harvard, though. About religion, Mr .
Zakaria says: “I occasionally find myself reluctant to be pulled
into a world that’s not mine, in the sense that I’m not a religious
guy.”

What zealotry!

Well if you have made it this far, you can make it a few steps
further. Below is the email that was sent around and one friend’s
response to try and dampen the “facts” in the email.

Again. Go with what you believe in this election. I have decided
that McCain is not right for me or my country this time around.
But I would never suggest that his time spent in another country
made him a comminist. I’d ask the McCain supporters to do the same.

And that’s the end (except for the stuff I want you to read
below). I guess I should have come up with a catchy way to say
this. Something like “Drill, Baby, Drill”.

I guess “Think, Baby, Think” isn’t winning people over anytime soon.

djd note: For more on what prompted Shaun to write this up, see this rumor debunked on Snopes.

“All I can say is, wow.”
- Barack Obama greeting the 100,000 person crowd in St. Louis this past weekend. [via Chicago Tribune].