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Wednesday, October 7, 2009 {The Blue Banner} Page 22 Is health care reform hiding something? By Stephen Bava Contributing'Writer I am writing today to update you on the latest health care news in the U.S. Senate. Despite President Obama’s stated desire to work with Re publicans on a bipartisan reform bill. Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee are voting down common-sense Republi can amendments. But why? Why would these amendments be vot ed down? Is there something to hide? And please keep in mind, not all Democrats are for this. This is not an issue of right or left, it is about what is best for the nation as a whole. As of Sept. 24, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee blocked several proposals by Re publicans, including; • A requirement stating that before the comrhittee can vote on final passage of the health care bill, the legislative language must be publicly available on the com mittee’s Web site for at least 72 hours. • An amendment preserving the Medicare Advantage benefits that millions of seniors currently enjoy and would lose under the Democrats’ plan. • An amendment prohibiting the establishment of a federal health care rationing board, which is, in essence, the “death panel.” • An amendment including medical malpractice liability re form measures to reduce costs of defensive medicine. And that’s not all. At a Sept. 23 hearing, we learned the cost of increased taxes on businesses in the bill will be passed on to con sumers. “We have analyzed this as largely falling on the consumer and it could happen in a couple of different ways,” said Thomas Barthold, Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. We also learned that this legis lation will raise insurance premi ums. “Our judgment is that this piece of the legislation would raise in surance premiums by roughly the amount of the money collected,” said Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf. We should not spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer money on a health care bill that is not going to lower costs for consumers. Here is an actual amendment, which was rejected by a 12 to 11 vote, and also some responses from several prominent politi cians: • Banning Amendment: This amendment requires that before the Finance Committee can vote on final passage of America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, the legislative language must be pub licly available on the Finance Committee’s Web site for at least 72 hours. • Sen. John Kyi (R-Ariz.): “This is an example of one of the noto courtesy oT Jonath President Obama spoke in Ashevilie last October on health care. most heavy-handed, unconstitu tional actions that I can think of our federal government has ever attempted to take against private citizens and private organiza tions in this country because they disagree with the administration with respect to its ideas on health care reform” (Finance Commit tee, U.S. Senate, Sept. 23). • Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.): “This is not right. It smells ex actly like tough, hardball Chi cago politics abridging the First Amendment. If we’re not able to pass this amendment, we have reached a very dark day here on this committee” (Finance Com mittee, U.S. Senate, Sept. 23). • Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.): “One of the things that we have learned over the years is that not all Medicare Advantage is created equal. Oregon and Washington have good, quality, efficient care, and in our part of the country it’s a lifeline. Without good, quality, affordable Medicare Advantage, we simply don’t have access to care for seniors” (Finance Com mittee, U.S. Senate, Sept. 23). What conclusions do you draw from this? Why would these amendments be voted down? What is really going on with this “reform?” Condoms CONTlNUF.n FROM PaGH 21 said. “They will then have small amounts of fluid on the outside of the condom at that point. While it may not cause pregnancy, it can definitely aid in transmitting STDs.” Another way to help prevent condom breakage is to use prop er lubrication, which reduces the friction that sometimes leads to condom failure. “I have a list of horror stories of things that people have used as lubricants. Basically, any thing that is oil-based is not an acceptable lube,” James said. “When people use baby oil as lube, they might as well just not use a condom. Silicone-based lube is the most high-end option and it almost never dries out. Water-based lubes, on the other hand, will dry out.” For some men and women, latex allergies remain an issue condom companies are current ly addressing. While Lifestyles, Durex and' Trojan manufacture latex-free condoms, they are more expen sive than latex condoms. Poly- isoprene, polyurethane and lamb skin are the three nonlatex sub stitutions. Polyurethane is the thinnest option, while polyiso- prene is more formfitting. Lamb skin is the only choice James cautions against due to the fact that the condom is a natural membrane, and therefore slight ly porous. “They do not provide protec tion from STDs and they don’t really provide protection from pregnancy. They are also righ teously expensive,” he said. Condoms are just one of many contraceptive choices and experts recommend using them with other means of contracep tives, if possible, for extra pro tection.
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