Ka`u News Briefs Friday, March 24, 2017

CELEBRATING THE SURVIVAL OF OBAMACARE on Friday after Republicans pulled President Donald Trump's American Health Care Act from the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sen. Mazie Hirono tweeted, "Today was a victory for the #resistance, but it's only the first of many battles to come. Stay vigilant, keep calling us. #Trumpcare." 

     She released the following statement: "For the past few weeks, Republicans have been fighting with each other to see how many people they can kick off insurance rolls, and how they can raise health care costs for our kupuna, working families, and women in order to provide more tax cuts for the wealthy. Today, after seven years of vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the crowning achievement in a crusade to serve Republicans' radical anti-government agenda – passing Trumpcare – failed.      

     "This is a good day for the people in Hawai`i and across the country who have benefitted from the Affordable Care Act, but we must remain vigilant. I'll continue to stand strong and speak out against the President and his Congressional cronies' efforts to roll back the progress we've made."
     Before the bill was pulled, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard tweeted, "With changes in the #AHCA one thing remains clear - corporations get tax cuts while people who need care the most suffer. We must do better."
     AARP, which opposed the bill and decried it as an “age tax”on older Americans, applauded the decision to pull it. “The leadership’s decision to withdraw the bill from consideration proves that the voices of Americans are very powerful. This harmful legislation would have added an age tax on older Americans and put vulnerable populations at risk,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond.
    Since debate on the AHCA began, AARP had been urging all House members to vote against the legislation because it would have raised insurance costs on older Americans.
     AARP also said the AHCA would have done nothing to lower prescription drug prices and instead would have given tax breaks to pharmaceutical and insurance companies.
      A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that under the AHCA, 14 million Americans would have lost health coverage next year, and a total of 24 million would have lost coverage over the next decade. For older Americans in particular, this legislation "would have dealt a serious financial blow," said AARP in a statement. Its Public Policy Institute found that the AHCA could have raised premiums on Americans between 50 and 64 years old by as much as $8,400 a year. The CBO found that for a 64-year-old earning $26,500 a year, health care premiums would have risen by almost $13,000 a year.
     "While the bill would have harmed older Americans, it would have provided generous benefits to special interests. The bill included tax breaks worth $200 billion for insurance companies, drugmakers and other industries," said the AARP statement.

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BARACK OBAMA RELEASED A STATEMENT ON OBAMACARE on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of its enactment as the Affordable Care Act:

     "When I took office, millions of Americans were locked out of our health care system. So, just as leaders in both parties had tried to do since the days of Teddy Roosevelt, we took up the cause of health reform. It was a long battle, carried out in Congressional hearings and in the public square for more than a year. But ultimately, after a century of talk, decades of trying, and a year of bipartisan debate, our generation was the one that succeeded. We finally declared that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few, but a right for everybody.

Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act seven years ago March 23. The former President released a statement on its progress on Thursday. Photo from Wikipidea

      "The result was the Affordable Care Act, which I signed into law seven years ago today. Thanks to this law, more than twenty million Americans have gained the security and peace of mind of health insurance. Thanks to this law, more than ninety percent of Americans are insured – the highest rate in our history.
     "Thanks to this law, the days when women could be charged more than men and Americans with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage altogether are relics of the past. Seniors have bigger discounts on their prescription drugs. Young people can stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26 years old. And Americans who already had insurance received an upgrade as well – from free preventive care, like mammograms and vaccines, to improvements in the quality of care in hospitals that has averted nearly 100,000 deaths so far.

Mazie Hirono and Barack Obama worked on the evolution and preservation of the Affordable Care Act. Photo from Mazie Hirono

     "All of that is thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And all the while, since the law passed, the pace of health care inflation has slowed dramatically. Prices are still rising, just as they have every year for decades – but under this law, they’ve been rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. Families who get coverage through their employer are paying, on average, thousands of dollars less per year than if costs kept rising as fast as they were before the law. And reality continues to discredit the false claim that this law is in a “death spiral,” because while it's true that some premiums have risen, the vast majority of Marketplace enrollees have experienced no average premium hike at all. And so long as the law is properly administered, this market will remain stable. Likewise, this law is no “job-killer,” because America’s businesses went on a record-breaking streak of job growth in the seven years since I signed it.
     "So the reality is clear: America is stronger because of the Affordable Care Act. There will always be work to do to reduce costs, stabilize markets, improve quality, and help the millions of Americans who remain uninsured in states that have so far refused to expand Medicaid. I’ve always said we should build on this law, just as Americans of both parties worked to improve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid over the years. So if Republicans are serious about lowering costs while expanding coverage to those who need it, and if they’re prepared to work with Democrats and objective evaluators in finding solutions that accomplish those goals – that’s something we all should welcome. But we should start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans. That should always be our priority.
     "The Affordable Care Act is law only because millions of Americans mobilized, and organized, and decided that this fight was about more than health care – it was about the character of our country. It was about whether the wealthiest nation on Earth would make sure that neither illness nor twist of fate would rob us of everything we’ve worked so hard to build. It was about whether we look out for one another, as neighbors, and fellow citizens, who care about each other’s success. This fight is still about all that today. And Americans who love their country still have the power to change it."

Interior of a water tunnel though ash layers in Ka'ū.  Water collects near the tunnel entrance and is transported by PVC  pipe for agricultural use. USGS Photo

PAHALA ASH FROM THE VOLCANOES AND ITS ROLL IN OLD PLANTATION WATER TUNNELS are subjects of this week's Volcano Watch by scientists at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The article is entitled Volcanic Explosions Provide the Foundation for Agriculture:
     "Around Pāhala are several ash layers composed of fine-grained volcanic deposits, generally called "soil." The ashes are a mixture of altered glass, rare vitric (glassy) shards, Pele's hair, pumice, and olivine crystals. They are derived from pristine ash-fall deposits, weathered and reworked ash, and sediments. Ancient soil horizons are present in some localities.
     "In dry areas, these ashy soils are friable, in some places dense and compact, but in most cases, they are sandy, loose, and dusty. In higher-rainfall areas, the ash appears clay-like. The clay was important to the sugar industry, not only as a growing medium, but also as a control on groundwater circulation in the region.