This tape takes about four minutes. Watch the amazing, brilliant Congresswoman Katie Porter question the director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Robert Redfield, to use his legal authority to assure that every American is entitled to receive free testing for coronavirus. Watch Dr. Redfield duck and weave and obfuscate, trying to avoid to making that commitment. Watch as he finally says, “Yes,” because she won’t let him off the hook.
I love Katie Porter! She is up for re-election in her California district. Send her $15 if you too loved what she did for the American people today.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Katie Porter.
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In saner countries, this isn’t an issue. Neither is the cost of treatment.
Medicare for All, now!
The abysmal nature of the outcomes from this virus will not be a failure on the part of our frontline responders; it will be a failure in the DESIGN of our healthcare system and of our economic system. The uninsured will not be able to afford treatment, and they will not have paid sick leave. They are totally screwed.
And, of course, those outcomes will be a failure on the part of IQ45 and his maladministration to take this epidemic seriously from the beginning.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mcconnell-reject-house-democrats-coronavirus-bill-package
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A Johns Hopkins study puts the number of ICU beds nationwide at 46,500. This is a problem.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/coronavirus-hospital-beds-icu
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“Do not let a lack of insurance worsen this crisis.” –Katie Porter
Amen
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Yes, Katie is brilliant and moral. She encapsulated the kind of cornering acumen and advocacy all politicians should have when it comes to healthcare and so much more.
Horrific, however, (and it’s NOT Ms. Porter’s fault) that now many of the ruling elite are thinking more favorably about “socialized” medicine when it comes to COVID-19 but not for all other maladies.
It takes a crisis, but maybe in this instance, perhaps even the ruling elite will pass over what Ms. Porter is advocating for. After all, you need taxes to pay for single payer healthcare, and this administration is too busy giving obscene and grotesque tax cuts to the wealthy. It take everyone to fairly contribute to the tax base.
Maybe getting tested and treatment for COVID-19 is mainly for the rich . . . .
I know this sounds crazy, but this virus and maybe a successful passing of the FICA payroll tax cut might be the best thing to complete the waking up of Americans and have them out in the streets where they belong, demanding their rights and getting politicians – current and future ones – to redistribute wealth and power in this country.
In the realm of metaphors, when the patient finally has that acute, dangerous heart attack, then he/she is most likely to change their thinking about their diet . . . . And they indeed do change their diet dramatically for the permanent better . . . .
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is waiting for a coronavirus test result and is currently in self imposed quarantine.
He can get this done quickly. What about the rest of the country? Imagine how AWFUL it would be to have government come in and have single-payer healthcare?
I’d hate to think of the type of healthcare Indiana would come up with if it had to put together a healthcare program. Indiana doesn’t have money to help fund public schools. It wouldn’t have money to fund healthcare.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the Affordable Care Act was designed with one goal in mind: making Americans dependent on the government for health insurance.
“Obamacare was designed to collapse,” Graham said on “The Mike Gallagher Show.”
“It was designed to make sure that employers would drop coverage because it’s too expensive, that exchanges would fail, and the government would come in and take over and you’d have single-payer healthcare.”
Graham said his idea to solve the problem is to give the power to the states and let them put together their own healthcare programs.
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What a terrible way to learn this lesson!!!
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@Carol. Here in MD there is a patient that has been tweeting from his hospital room…..7 days! He has been in quarantine since having symptoms. He was administered a test and it wasn’t back in 48 hrs so he started making phone calls and tweeting from his hospital room. No one knew where his test was after it was sent and no one could find the results. He was finally discharged today….feeling well….with the diagnosis of regular flu. The standard of care is different for different people….this man is just an author and a journalist.
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LisaM: I tried to visit my one last hospice patient this morning. I was told that only family members were allowed to visit and that they each had to be checked by a nurse to see if that person had a fever. I wasn’t allowed to see her and I’ve been visiting almost every week for over two years. I went to visit her on Friday last week and there was no problem visiting.
A friend of mine in Illinois had his mom in a nursing home. He rushed to get her out before the place went into total lockdown and he wouldn’t have been able to visit .
I hear that there is a panic in Florida because people there are used to the emergency stock up of stuff due to the hurricane season.
Rough times are ahead and we have an ignoramus at the head of our government.
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What is ten times worse than an “Ignormaous”? That is Donald Trump.
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Love it. Saw it on MSNBC, larry O Donnell interviewed her.
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It’s hard to get Trump lackeys to commit to helping people. [How about another tax break? That should do the job./s]
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But hopefully, Biden will get the nomination and (with a miracle from God) beat Trump.
And then surely, more of those currently insured under Obamacare will then be insured. Shirley.
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WordPress sucks — or more specifically their programmers do.
That was supposed to go after my comment below.
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She is a tenacious thinker. We need more people like her serving the people of this country.
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I thought Pence was supposed to be coordinating all of this. [HA!]
WaPo:
Officials also announced they were giving nearly $1.3 million in federal money to two companies trying to develop rapid covid-19 tests that could determine whether a person tests positive within an hour.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services assigned Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, to coordinate all covid-19 testing efforts among federal public health agencies, including the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local health departments, and public and private clinical laboratories. The FDA also is giving New York state the ability to authorize certain public and private labs to test for the virus under the aegis of the state health department, without first getting federal approval.
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But, surely Obamacare ” insured all the uninsured”. Shirley.
Katie Porter must be misunderinformed.
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Diane, sorry you had to cancel the NPE conference but you did the right thing. Just last night here on the San Francisco Peninsula both our local K-8 and high school districts announced that they were closing in-person classes on Monday. The K-8 district has a PD day today, probably to be used for prep for “online learning,” and the HS district already had a minimum day scheduled following a cancelled open house last night. So this brings it down to just one more day to infect people locally!! Let’s hope they did not wait too long to take this action!
My best wishes to all of you out there and I hope we make it through this storm in one piece.
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CORONAVIRUS: All Indianapolis public schools will close until April 6 amid coronavirus concerns. Chalkbeat, IndyStar, WFYI, RTV6
To curb coronavirus spread, Indiana schools can waive 20 days of missed classes. Chalkbeat, IndyStar, WFYI
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“Watch Dr. Redfield duck and weave and obfuscate, trying to avoid to making that commitment. Watch as he finally says, “Yes,” because she won’t let him off the hook.”
He finally said yes to get off the “hot seat” but the final decision will be made from the White House and/or the GOP controlled U.S. Senate.
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