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Insurers Collected Full Premiums But Paid Less for Care During the Pandemic
A recent opinion article published by MedPage Today points out that in 2020, private insurer profits––largely from Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care––jumped 20-30%. At the time, private insurers were collecting full premiums even as claims from health care providers fell due to decreases in elective care. Meanwhile, the government was bailing out providers by compensating them for revenue shortfalls. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler write that “taxpayers paid two-fold for the care dip” during that time.
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Protesters Block Major Weapons Bazaar
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Assessing Threat of Inflation and Slowing Wage Growth
With the monthly Employment Situation scheduled for release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, June 3, Dean Baker, senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, writes: “In its latest report on the budget and the economy, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) sided clearly with those arguing the case for inflation being temporary. The report projected that inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, would fall to 2.7 percent next year and 2.3 percent in 2024. That is somewhat higher than in the pre-pandemic period, but certainly not spiraling inflation.”
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Racist Origins of Policing and the Second Amendment
A chapter in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s book “Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment” titled “Slave Patrols” explains the racist foundations of policing and gun laws in the United States. An excerpt published by Truthout on the chapter says, “Dunbar-Ortiz provides the historical context for how militias that killed and oppressed slaves and Indigenous persons became the precedent for the militia cited in the Second Amendment.”
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Apologist for Tucker Carlson’s Racism: Glenn Greenwald
Journalist Eoin Higgins writes, “There’s no plausible way to dispute that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is spreading racist conspiracy theories, but Glenn Greenwald has been trying anyway.”
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Power of the NRA: Mass Organization, JROTC
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of “Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment,” said today that the NRA is a powerful, independent organization able to nullify any election candidate in the country who advocates for gun control
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Assessing Vaccine Authorization for Children Under 5
The Food and Drug Administration has set a June date to review emergency use authorization requests for Covid-19 vaccines for children under 5. Researchers caution that although many parents have eagerly awaited vaccines for this age group, vaccination rates may be quite low.
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The Davos Problem: “It is time to #TaxTheRich”
Jenny Ricks, the global convenor for Fight Inequality Alliance wrote, “Policy choices made by governments and international institutions throughout the pandemic have fallen woefully short of protecting people from the impact of multiple crises. Spiralling inflation, sky-rocketing energy bills and fuel prices, as well as high and still rising food prices, spelled disaster for so many. But the richest few, who continued to increase their wealth in the past two years, are still benefiting from the crisis.”
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Ukraine War: Why We Need a Real Debate
The publisher and editorial director of The Nation, Katrina Vanden Heuvel writes, “It’s time to challenge the orthodox view on the war in Ukraine. As Russia’s illegal and brutal assault enters its fourth month, the impact on Europe, the Global South and the world is already profound.”
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Biden on Taiwan: “A Casus Belli”
Chas Freeman, a former U.S. diplomat, businessman, and current chair of Projects International Inc. says, “This is the fourth time in a year that the White House has had to walk back a pledge by President Biden to go to war with China over Taiwan that is inconsistent with both the terms of U.S.-China normalization and the Taiwan Relations Act.”
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“With a tiny staff, it has managed to place on the air and in newspapers, points of view otherwise excluded from the national debate.”
Howard Zinn