The White House and allies are trying to build support for health reform by emphasizing exactly how horrific insurance company discrimination against “pre-existing conditions” can be. One example: In Washington, D.C. and eight states, domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition. And as Ryan Grim reports at the Huffington Post, one of the Republicans in […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
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On Health Reform, Pro-Choicers Still Playing Defense.
Abortion access after health reform: I’ve been on this beat for several months now, and it’s interesting to see how the debate has evolved. It’s clear now the GOP is determined to use health reform to restrict private insurance coverage of abortion, even though 87 percent of employer-provided plans currently offer some abortion access. This […]
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J Street, the Obama Moment, and the Jewish (Far) Left.
There was a brouhaha last week in Toronto. The city’s International Film Festival was subject to a protest from dozens of high-profile filmmakers, actors, artists, and writers — including Danny Glover, Naomi Klein, Viggo Mortensen, Jane Fonda , Eve Ensler, and Howard Zinn— who objected to the event’s selection of Tel Aviv as a sister […]
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Why is the Sky Blue?
If you believe Jewish Americans are single-issue voters, and that issue is support for the Israeli occupation, then it makes sense to ask, as Norman Podhoretz does in a new book and Commentary symposium, “Why are Jews Liberal?” But this is a fundamental misreading of the political commitments of American Jews, 92 percent of whom […]
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The 9/11 Curriculum.
When I read in the Washington Post this morning that a new 9/11 history curriculum — created by victims’ families — is being debuted in a handful of high schools around the country, I was skeptical. The curriculum relies heavily on emotional video interviews with 9/11 survivors. Will that really give teenagers too young to […]
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In Defense of Shouting at the President.
Interrupting the head of state during a prepared speech to call him a liar — when he isn’t even lying — would be against the rules of decorum in most democratic nations. But in general, I’m all for more frequent, rowdier confrontations between the president and Congress, in part because it gives each party a […]
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Reproductive Health in the Baucus Plan.
After health reform, who will decide what medical services insurance companies must cover? The House and Senate HELP committee bills empower an independent council of medical experts to make coverage recommendations to the Health and Human Services secretary. This is the group that would make controversial decisions about whether abortion, infertility treatments, or certain experimental […]
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About Immigrants and Health Reform.
The GOP got feisty tonight when President Obama said his health reform plan does not cover undocumented immigrants. South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson even called out “You lie!” from the gallery. So this is a good time to revisit some reporting I did on this issue last month: …because President Obama has said comprehensive immigration […]
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First Look at the Obama Plan.
President Obama is giving his speech on health reform right now. And the White House has just posted — for the first time — a detailed health reform plan. The highlights: Includes a public option that must be funded by its own premiums Includes an employer mandate for larger businesses Individual mandate with hardship waivers […]
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Tweeting the Speech.
Follow me! Our own Tim Fernholz is at Congress tonight and will have reactions and commentary later. —Dana Goldstein
