On This Day: President Obama waves to people along the motorcade route while traveling from the University of Indonesia to the airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 10, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Week Ahead:
Today: The President has no public events scheduled
Monday: The President and First Lady host a breakfast for veterans from across the country. Later in the morning, the President will travel to Arlington National Cemetery where he will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and deliver remarks there
Tuesday: The President will attend meetings at the White House
Wednesday: The President will address the 2013 Tribal Nations Conference
Thursday: The President will travel to Philadelphia where he will participate in a campaign event for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House
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National Journal: American Health Care’s Good Old Days
If you’ve been following the news cycle, you probably read the stories about Obamacare’s victims: the healthy, employed couples making $70,000 or $80,000 a year, just above the subsidy threshold for Obamacare, who now need to pay a bit more each year for insurance. But the reason that couples’ insurance is more expensive now is because insurers are no longer able to discriminate against the less fortunate, driving up the costs for the relatively healthy and wealthy. To put Obamacare victims’ strife in perspective, let’s take a trip down memory lane. You know, the golden years of American health care in … oh, let’s say 2007, back when you could be denied coverage for something as benign as acne or as mundane as pregnancy.
Back then, anecdotes about people who were denied coverage abounded. They included this 12-year-old boy who died in 2007 from an abscessed tooth after his family’s Medicaid lapsed. And this 17-year-old boy whose insurance was revoked after he tested positive for HIV. This woman who was denied coverage for breast cancer because she wasn’t diagnosed at the correct clinic. And this woman whose double mastectomy was denied after her insurance company learned she had visited a dermatologist for acne treatment the year before. Ah, yes, those were the days!
More here
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Bryce Covert: Forty Percent Of Workers Made Less Than $20,000 Last Year
Nearly 40 percent of all workers in the country made less than $20,000 last year, according to data from the Social Security Administration, which doesn’t include figures on benefits such as health insurance or pensions. That’s below the federal poverty threshold for a family of four and close to the line for a family of three. On average, these workers earned just $17,459.55.
This income inequality has been growing since the 1970s, as the richest 20 percent of Americans saw their income grow much faster than the bottom 20 percent. But things have accelerated in the economic downturn. For the past three years, those at the top of the income ladder saw their incomes grow by 5 percent while everyone else’s income dropped. The top 10 percent of the country’s earners took home half of the income in 2012, the largest amount on record.
More here
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CBS: No Deal Reached In Iran Nuke Talks
Talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear program ended with no deal early Sunday after France objected that proposed measures didn’t go far enough. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said “significant progress” had been made on the remaining differences. Six world powers and Iran agreed to resume talks Nov. 20.
Both sides badly wanted agreement. The U.S. and its five partners were looking for initial caps on Iran’s ability to make an atomic bomb, while Tehran sought some easing of sanctions stifling its economy. But France would not soften its concerns over Iran’s plutonium project and the level of its uranium enrichment program.
The talks showed the enormous complexity facing negotiators after a generation of mistrust between Iran and the West since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Any agreement would be a breakthrough after nearly a decade of mostly inconclusive discussions. Still, Kerry’s talks in Geneva were the longest high-level negotiations between Iran and the United States in decades – a sign of the improved atmosphere between the two countries since moderate President Hassan Rouhani took office in August.
More here
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Sabrina Tavernise: Cuts In Hospital Subsidies Threaten Safety-Net Care
The uninsured pour into Memorial Health hospital here: the waitress with cancer in her voice box who for two years assumed she just had a sore throat. The unemployed diabetic with a wound stretching the length of her shin. The construction worker who could no longer breathe on his own after weeks of untreated asthma attacks and had to be put on a respirator.
Many of these patients were expected to gain health coverage under the Affordable Care Act through a major expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor. But after the Supreme Court in 2012 gave states the right to opt out, Georgia, like about half the states, almost all of them Republican-led, refused to broaden the program.
“I understand that the state needs to balance its budget, and control the runaway costs of Medicaid, but to turn a blind eye and say, ‘Let the chips fall where they may,’ you’ll end up with a gutted health care system,” said Maggie M. Gill, chief executive at Memorial Health.
More here
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USA Today: Feds Seek $864M From BofA Over Countrywide Loans
Federal prosecutors want Bank of America to pay about $864 million over losses incurred by the government after it bought thousands of home loans made by Countrywide Financial during the housing boom. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara made the request in documents filed late Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
A jury in October found Bank of America, which acquired Countrywide in 2008, liable for knowingly selling thousands of bad home loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between August 2007 and May 2008. The panel also returned the verdict against Countrywide and a former executive, Rebecca Mairone.
More here
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Bob Cesca: Millionaire Dylan Ratigan Whines About His New Obamacare Premium
“I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President!” Awww. Let’s all shed one tear for poor, poor rich guy Dylan Ratigan who made millions on cable news and, according to Wonkette, recently sold his Manhattan apartment for $1.38 million. Evidently Ratigan can’t afford an additional $4000 per year for this alleged $600 per month health insurance plan, which is more expensive this his previous “catastrophic” plan that only covered major injuries and nothing else.
Meanwhile, this $600 plan, Christopher noted, is likely a Platinum top-of-the-line policy offered in the exchange. Interesting that Ratigan would compare his former bare-bones premium with, obviously, a high-end plan. Honest of him. And what about “Obamacare cancelled the policy?” That’s a lie. Obamacare isn’t canceling any policies — insurance companies are. Full stop.
More here
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MSNBC: Abortion Right Advocate Wendy Davis Declares, ‘I Am Pro-Life’
Wendy Davis hinted at how she’ll handle the issue of abortion on the campaign trail in the conservative Lone Star State. The Democratic candidate for Texas governor declared, “I am pro-life,” suggesting her stance on women’s reproductive rights doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about people or life itself.
“I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children’s future and their ability to provide for that future,” Davis said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “I care about life and I have a record of fighting for people above all else.”
“This isn’t about protecting abortion. It’s about protecting women,” Davis added, The Huffington Post reported. “It’s about trusting women to make good decisions for themselves and empowering them with the tools to do that.”
More here
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Tufts University: The Battle Lines Of Today’s Debates Over Gun Control, Stand-Your-Ground Laws, And Other Violence-Related Issues Were Drawn Centuries Ago By America’s Early Settlers
Last December, when Adam Lanza stormed into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, with a rifle and killed twenty children and six adult staff members, the United States found itself immersed in debates about gun control. Another flash point occurred this July, when George Zimmerman, who saw himself as a guardian of his community, was exonerated in the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Florida. That time, talk turned to stand-your-ground laws and the proper use of deadly force. The gun debate was refreshed in September by the shooting deaths of twelve people at the Washington Navy Yard, apparently at the hands of an IT contractor who was mentally ill.
Such episodes remind Americans that our country as a whole is marked by staggering levels of deadly violence. Our death rate from assault is many times higher than that of highly urbanized countries like the Netherlands or Germany, sparsely populated nations with plenty of forests and game hunters like Canada, Sweden, Finland, or New Zealand, and large, populous ones like the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. State-sponsored violence, too—in the form of capital punishment—sets our country apart. Last year we executed more than ten times as many prisoners as other advanced industrialized nations combined—not surprising given that Japan is the only other such country that allows the practice. Our violent streak has become almost a part of our national identity. What’s less well appreciated is how much the incidence of violence, like so many salient issues in American life, varies by region.
More here
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@dougmillsnyt: President Obama joins former NBA Miami Heat, Alonzo Mourning, right, at the Grande Oaks Golf Course in Ft. Lauderdale, Nov 9, 2013
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President Obama arriving in Miami, Nov 8
President Obama at the Port of New Orleans, Nov 8 – all photos by @dougmillsnyt
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Nine ….. nine! …. years ago this week:
Candidate for the U.S. Senate Barack Obama (D-IL) sits with his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia in a Chicago hotel room as they wait for election returns to come in
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On This Day:
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit the main prayer hall during a tour of the Istiqlal Mosque with Grand Imam Ali Mustafa Yaqub in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 10, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
On This Day: First Lady Michelle Obama greets children of U.S. Embassy staff at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 10, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Obama Diary 
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