Blunt in the basement

[scratchtasia]

A new SurveyUSA poll shows approval ratings for all 50 governors of the United States.

Blunt's approval rating is 33%. He has a 57% disapproval rating.

The only governors with worse approval ratings are Murkowski (Alaska) and Taft (Ohio).

Keep up the good work, governor.

[atreides1]

1. Now comes the hard part

Getting the voters to remove them from office and avoid replacing them with a clone, like Blackwell in Ohio.

[LibinMo]

2. There's no satisfying the wingnuts

And it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy:

Strange things happen in Jefferson City the last week of a legislative session. Rarely are they as odd as an anti-abortion governor standing up to the anti-abortion lobby — and strong-arming legislators to take his side.

This action came over two bills that easily flew through their originating chambers. There was no reason to think the bills would not gain similarly easy passage in the opposite house and then go to the governor. That is, until someone in the governor's office closely read Senate Bill 2 and realized the quandary it would put Gov. Matt Blunt in.

Blunt was endorsed by anti-abortion groups such as Missouri Right to Life. Unlike those groups, though, he favors therapeutic cloning and supports Missouri-based research to use the technique to seek cures for diseases and spinal injuries.

SB 2 contained language that could be read to ban therapeutic cloning. If the bill arrived at his desk intact, he would have to veto it. No governor who campaigned as a pro-life candidate wants to be backed into vetoing a pro-life bill.

So he twisted GOP arms. By the time SB 2 left a House committee, it was a ghost of its portly self. Gone were restrictions on abortion doctors and providers, tax credits for centers that counsel against abortion and a requirement that women tell the state why they got an abortion.

more:
http://springfield.news-leader.com/opinions/today/20050511-Unexpecteddance.html

Blunt has already decimated the Medicaid program-I'd like to believe that had more to do with his basement dwelling than the above but I doubt it.

[scratchtasia]

4. Hard to say

That's undoubtedly got something to do with it--maybe a lot more than I realize--but I think it's such a new development that it wouldn't have registered much in approval ratings yet. I'd be more inclined to think it's from the bad buzz generated by the budget cuts. But I may very well be wrong.

Welcome to DU.

[DiAhJennies]

3. On the Bright Side

As a result of his Medicaid cuts, my husband, a lifelong Republican, now insists he will not vote for Blunt next time and will actively campaign for whoever runs against him.

I kept telling him he couldn't afford to be a Republican

[scratchtasia]

5. He's not the only one

Yesterday a right-wing friend of mine had some choice words for Blunt in an e-mail he sent me. I almost fell out of my chair. He cited the Medicaid cuts, too.

[scratchtasia]

6. Welcome

. . . And welcome to DU!

[catmandu57]

7. the bad news is

We've got three more years of this to get through, well until the next election anyway. By the time 06 rolls around the survivors are sure to boot out these reptiles.

[Gogi]

8. Cutting Medicaid to the bone will continue to haunt Blunt.

Far more people in rural areas are on Medicaid (and welfare) than in the cities. Add to that all the elderly people in nursing homes on Medicaid and their families being draconian with social services cuts was'nt very smart.

[indcnclmn]

9. recall time

Time for a recall petition/ Ala California?

[Gogi]

11. I'm torn.

On the one hand baby Blunt is a conservative Repug, on the other he is supporting stem cell research and I have muscular dystrophy. :shrug:

[catmandu57]

13. We can't

Recall of the guv is not an option we're given under our state constitution. To do it we would have to change that first, and it's not going to happen until next election cycle when we extract revenge on these bastards.
Welcome home.

[hatrack]

10. Yeah, throw the better part of 100,000 people off Medicaid . . .

. . . and people are going to kind of look at you funny, y'know?

People with cerebral palsy who can't work.

Parents with children with severe mental retardation who can't move, can't retrain and couldn't find better jobs even if they did.

People suffering from asbestosis and Type II Diabetes and causlagia and terminal lung cancer and osteoperosis out in the boonies of Pemiscot or Oregon Counties and in the center of St. Louis City.

Thousands and thousands of people who will have no other place to go than the Missouri's emergency rooms - assuming, of course, that they'll remain open in the state's poorest areas, rural and urban alike.

33% is far too high as far as I'm concerned. I won't be happy until it bottoms out at around 15%.

[scratchtasia]

12. Too high

When that budget goes into effect, maybe he'll get down there with Ohio's Taft (19%).

[loyalsister]

14. Back Door taxes to come will do him in

When the "taxpayers" who are currently comfortable with their healthcare options see their costs increase dramatically or even their lose healthcare, have trouble getting private insurance, go broke, and can't declare bankruptcy, they will blame someone.

The good news: this could be the seeds of critical mass we have been looking for to drive us towards Universal healthcare.


Denying care is not a measure of efficiency

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/55A2A117E7B6E2E786256FFE004D71DD?OpenDocument

<snip>

Over the past two months, a number of articles have been published detailing the dispute between health care providers and UnitedHealthcare over the insurance company’s new Performance program. BJC HealthCare has notified the insurer that it intends to terminate its contract by Aug. 13 unless the company substantially modifies the program.

BJC believes that UnitedHealthcare’s program, which purports to measure quality and efficiency, is based on fundamentally flawed, profit-driven criteria. As such, it would interrupt the important relationship between patients and their doctors.

BJC HealthCare, its associated physicians and other health care organizations recognize the importance of ensuring access to quality, affordable health care. Indeed, quality and cost efficiency are not mutually exclusive goals. BJC participates in several national initiatives that focus on quality and efficiency, including those sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the National Quality Forum and the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

<snip>
Finding a solution to escalating health care costs requires that government, employers, providers, insurance companies and citizens work together. As the baby-boom population continues to age, this problem will become more pronounced. We cannot afford to hope it will just go away.

<snip>
BJC is not alone in calling for modifications to the Performance plan. As noted in a Post-Dispatch article last week, the American Medical Association, the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association, the St. Charles-Lincoln County Medical Society, the Washington University School of Medicine, SSM Health Care and St. John’s Mercy Health Care “have all called on United to withdraw this insurance product until it is substantially modified.”

BJC can and will support reasoned and well-designed initiatives that truly measure quality and that thoughtfully address the rising costs of health care. However, such initiatives must employ broad, nationally recognized quality guidelines, and they must respect the additional costs incurred by a health care organization that teaches the next generation of physicians, engages in medical research and serves as the primary health care safety net for the poor and uninsured.