The Foundation for Government Accountability logo (Photo: Facebook)

The Foundation for Government Accountability debuted a new website Monday — an online database of the salaries of Florida’s public employees: FloridaOpenGov.org.

The website is almost a replica of a project by Foundation President Tarren Bragdon at his last place of employment, the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

According to a press release from the organization, the website is a compilation of “about 35 million public records detailing nearly $1.4 trillion in spending and payroll by state, county, municipality and school.”

Here is some of the data included in the database, according to the release:

• County government payroll (FY 1997-2011)
• Local K-12 public education payroll (FY 1997-2011)
• State government payroll (1995-2010)
• Local government spending (FY 1993-2010)
• State vendor payments (FY 2005-2011)

Steve Mistler of the Sun-Journal wrote in September 2010 that Bragdon’s group in Maine “fed the public’s oft-held suspicion that government is too wasteful [when it] published the names and salaries of every state employee on maineopengov.org, and linked it to the center’s homepage.” Critics called the website a “cynical hijacking of transparency to foster public mistrust in government,” Mistler reported.

The Foundation’s new website is very similar to the Maine project in that it details almost every state salary.

According to the press release release, the group’s webpage is also picking up some endorsements from state legislators:

FGA unveiled FloridaOpenGov.org on Monday at a Statehouse press conference, with a bipartisan group of state and local elected officials. These officials helped raise awareness about FloridaOpenGov.org and the opportunities it creates for taxpayers to learn more about politicians’ spending decisions.

…

State Representatives Matt Hudson (R-Naples), Rachel Burgin (R-Tampa Bay) and Joseph Abruzzo (D-Wellington) and City of Longwood Mayor Joe Durso also endorsed FloridaOpenGov.org as an important addition to Florida’s government transparency movement. Other leaders noted the site’s value as well.

At the Capitol, Bragdon highlighted key findings from FloridaOpenGov.org, including the top ten highest paid state government workers (Department of Education employee Frank Brogan is number one), government workers who are members of the $100k salary club, state vendors with the most in government contract and payments, and local spending data.

The Foundation has so far declined to disclose the source of its own funding. Bragdon has previously said that ”initial donors who were interested in having [him] here” in Florida were responsible for his move to the state. In the few months that the Foundation has been in Naples, one of the group’s pamphlets was included in the state’s defense of a controversial law requiring temporary cash assistance applicants to undergo a drug test before receiving benefits. The law was recently stopped from being implemented; the Foundation’s pamphlet was deemed “not competent expert opinion” by Judge Mary Scriven.

The Foundation has also set its sights on influencing Florida’s 2012 legislative session and has been touting the state’s controversial Medicaid reform with right-wing “free market” groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council.

According to new information, a provision in the Affordable Care Act has helped 2.5 million young adults gain health insurance since the law took effect.

It was previously estimated that about 1 million young adults under the age of 26 were affected by President Obama’s health care reform law, but new reports suggest it was more than twice that number.

The Associated Press reports:

Under the health overhaul, children can remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until they turn 26, and families have flocked to sign up young adults making the transition to work in a challenging economic environment. But the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment remains uncertain, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear a constitutional challenge next year, and Republican presidential candidates vowing to repeal it.

“The increase in coverage among 19- to 25-year-olds can be directly attributed to the Affordable Care Act’s new dependent coverage provision,” said a draft report from the Health and Human Services Department. “Initial gains from this policy have continued to grow as … students graduate from high school and college.” A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press.

…

Using unpublished quarterly statistics from the government’s ongoing National Health Interview Survey, analysts in Sebelius’ policy office determined that nearly 36 percent of those age 19-25 were uninsured in the third calendar quarter of 2010, before the law’s provision took effect.

That translates to more than 10.5 million people.

By the second calendar quarter of 2011, the proportion of uninsured young adults had dropped to a little over 27 percent, or about 8 million people.

The difference — nearly 2.5 million getting coverage — can only be the result of the health care law, administration officials said, because the number covered by public programs like Medicaid went down slightly.

While most of the health care reform law does not go into effect until 2014, the provision in question went into effect last fall and most employer health insurance plans started following through with this change on Jan. 1, the AP reports.

The GOP-sponsored “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act,” which extends payroll tax cuts and extends but reduces unemployment benefits through 2012, passed in the U.S. House Tuesday night, but it will not pass in the Senate.

The bill — filed by Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., and cosponsored by five other Republicans, including Rep. Ilena Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami — also cuts “$8 billion from the Harkin Prevention Fund“ and reduces “Medicaid spending by more than $4 billion.”

CBS News reports today that the “measure would keep 160 million workers from seeing their payroll tax jump on Jan. 1 from this year’s 4.2 percent back to its normal level of 6.2 percent,” and would “also renew expiring extra benefits for long-term jobless people.”

The National Employment Law Project said Tuesday the House vote, which includes cuts to unemployment insurance, “will hurt millions of unemployed workers and their families and will further damage the economy.”

The Employment Law Project adds that the House GOP bill would:

• Cut federal unemployment benefits by more than half in 2012, eliminating 40 weeks of payments.
• “Allow the last leg of the federal unemployment insurance extension – the 13 to 20 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB) that are available in the hardest-hit states – to expire, mostly over the course of the first half of 2012.”
• Cut extended benefits in states with unemployment rates higher than the national average, which stands at 8.6 percent.

The Law Project report indicates that under the GOP bill approved Tuesday night, Florida’s unemployed workers would see their unemployment benefits cut by 40 weeks.

Politico reports that the bill, which also “calls for construction of the controversial Keystone KL oil pipeline,” “is dead on arrival in the Democratic Senate and faced a veto threat anyway.”

According to The New York Times, “members of both parties said the payroll tax cut would put money in the pockets of consumers, increasing the demand for goods and services and shoring up a weak economy,” adding that the House bill “would extend jobless benefits for some of the unemployed, while reducing the maximum number of weeks of benefits that a worker could receive.”

The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University said Tuesday that “if congress does not renew the Extended Benefits (EB) and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) programs by January 1, 2012, tens of thousands of Floridians currently receiving unemployment benefits funded by the federal government will be cut off.”

The Research Institute, known as RISEP, adds that in Florida, “unemployment has been consistently decreasing since the end of 2010, but labor force participation rates have been decreasing as well. At the end of 2010, the labor force participation rate was 62.7%, but by October 2011, the percentage of working-age population in Florida looking for jobs decreased to 61.8%.”

The RISEP report (.pdf) also argues that whatever Congress decides to do, a law signed by Gov. Rick Scott in June, “will further reduce the number of weeks of federally funded benefits that unemployed workers will be eligible for”:

Last spring the Florida legislature reduced the maximum number of weeks of unemployment from 26 weeks to 23 weeks, depending on how high the unemployment rate is. Starting January 1, the approximately 15,000 people per week who file initial claims for unemployment benefits will be eligible for only 23 weeks of benefits. The state estimates this change will save the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund $103 million annually, representing a savings to employers but a loss to families and businesses which depend on UC benefits.

Via The Hill:

The Department of Health and Human Services said Indiana and Louisiana do not need an adjustment from the health law’s medical loss ratio. That provision requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care or offer rebates to their customers starting next year.

HHS can grant a temporary waiver if regulators determine that the requirement looks likely to destabilize a state’s individual health insurance market.

The agency determined that the health plans of Indiana and Louisiana can meet the threshold and that consumers will get better value without an adjustment, said Gary Cohen, acting director of oversight at the HHS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

The federal government announced two weeks ago that Florida would not hear a decision from Health and Human Services about its own waiver of the medical loss ratio (MLR) waiver until around Dec. 16, 30 days later than originally planned.

MLRs are used to set a standard on the amount of money collected by premiums that health insurance companies must spend on actual services, as well as a limit on how much goes to administration. In this case, insurance companies in Florida will be required by federal law to spend 80 percent of the money they collect on health services and 20 percent on administration.

Florida asked the federal government for permission to phase in the MLR over three years, as opposed to meeting the requirements as soon as they kick in.

Advocacy groups such as Florida CHAIN (the Community Health Action Information Network) have asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “to reject a request by Florida’s Insurance Commissioner to grant insurance companies a reprieve from new Affordable Care Act requirements intended to ensure that consumers get value for the health insurance premiums they pay.”

GOP state legislators have longed disliked federal mandates requiring companies to spend a certain amount of their premiums on services. One legislator claimed the MLR was an example of the state “commandeering” Florida’s budget.

Continuing an ongoing theme in the GOP-led Legislature, a committee today spent a considerable amount of time debating a memorial that would require the federal government to pass a balanced budget.

State Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, presented House Memorial 499 during a Federal Affairs committee meeting today. The memorial is a non-statutory bill “urging Congress to propose to states amendment to U.S. Constitution that requires annual federal balanced budget.”

Democrats led the charge in questioning the need for the memorial and the possible effect such a requirement would have on Social Security and defense spending. Ingram said that he had not calculated the fiscal impact on social programs, but insisted that the bill did not necessarily mean cuts to them.

“There is a way to do this that would not hit the most vulnerable,” he said.

He also insisted that raising those concerns were an example of a “scare tactic” used to justify raising the federal deficit.

State Rep. Luis Garcia, D-Miami, one of the most vocal opponents of the memorial, asked Ingram if he understood the difference between the state’s responsibilities and the federal government’s responsibilities. He also pointed out that the lack of specifics in Ingram’s bill was “dangerous.”

“I think the danger is not balancing the budget on a federal level,” Ingram replied. “The thought here is that the national debt is a job killer.”

State Rep. Geri Thompson, D-Orlando, expressed concern over the recent trend of GOP lawmakers putting forward legislation to undermine the federal government.

“I don’t know when the federal government became the enemy,” she said. “I think it must have happened in 2008.”

“There is hypocrisy here,” Thompson said. “We take in billions from the federal government. These are the scare tactics.”

Gov. Rick Scott has been criticized for taking federal stimulus funds to balance the state’s budget — even after claiming that the federal stimulus package was a “failure.” Most of the state’s Medicaid program is also paid for by federal funds.

State Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood, echoed Thompson’s sentiment. “This isn’t an economic bill,” she said. “This is a political bill.”

Ingram’s bill is not the only memorial, or even legislation, that has been introduced to make a political statement about the role of the federal government. State Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Fort Meyers, and Sen. Greg Evers, R-Pensacola, have also introduced bills and memorials for the 2012 that aim to curb the power and scope of the federal government.

Igram’s bill was approved, and will move forward.

Photo credit: State Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola (Pic by Meredith Geddings, via myfloridahouse.gov)

TAI analyzed statistics from each state the super committee members represent to see how dependent, on average, the states’ residents, and their women, are on some of the entitlement programs they are proposing to cut. TAI predominantly relied on state-by-state information compiled by the National Women’s Law Center.

(Read more about how the current super committee plans would impact women.)

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), committee co-chair:

Sen. Patty Murray (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in six Washington residents (PDF) -– 1,089,900 people -– received disability, survivor and/or retirement benefits from Social Security in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 43 percent to 10 percent and lifted 14,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, 307,300 non-elderly women relied on Medicaid, some for pregnancy assistance or due to permanent disability. In addition, 60,600 non-elderly women were on Medicaid because not all of their health-care services were covered by Medicare.
• About 839,000 people in Washington receive benefits from Medicare; 54 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program –- which helps low-income working families afford child care -– served an average of 27,100 Washington families (PDF) with 46,400 children each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs -– which provide grants for child development and early-education programs for low-income children -– served 11,300 young children in Washington.
• In 2010, 474,700 Washington households used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps.
• Between 2007 (PDF) (before the recession began) and 2010 (PDF), unemployment for Washington women has increased from 4.4 percent to 8.9 percent.

Sen. Max Baucus (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in five Montana residents (PDF) -– 192,700 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 60 percent to 6 percent and lifted 1,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 25,700 non-elderly women and 7,200 elderly women in Montana relied on Medicaid.
• Approximately 177,000 individuals in Montana use Medicare; 53 percent of them women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 2,400 Montana families (PDF), with 4,000 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 2,900 Montana children.
• In 2010, 51,100 Montana households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Montana (PDF) increased from 3.4 percent to 5.9 percent.

Sen. John Kerry (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in six Massachusetts residents (PDF) -– 1,140,800 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 46 percent to 11 percent and lifted 21,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 494,500 non-elderly women and 111,800 elderly women in Massachusetts were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 1,094,000 individuals in Massachusetts use Medicare; 53 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 18,300 Massachusetts families (PDF), with 24,800 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 12,700 young children in Massachusetts.
• In 2010, 407,300 Massachusetts households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Massachusetts (PDF) increased from 4.1 percent to 7.5 percent.

Rep. James Clyburn (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in five South Carolina residents (PDF) -– 924,700  people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 55 percent to 14 percent and lifted 25,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 244,200 non-elderly women and 61,700 elderly women in South Carolina were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 785,000 individuals in South Carolina use Medicare; 55 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 11,800 South Carolina families (PDF), with 20,400 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 12,200 young children in South Carolina.
• In 2010, 359,500 South Carolina households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in South Carolina (PDF) increased from 6 percent to 9.6 percent.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in eight California residents (PDF) -– 4,979,100 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 42 percent to 11 percent and lifted 100,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 3,969,600 non-elderly women and 619,600 elderly women in California were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 4,421,000 individuals in California use Medicare; 56 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 68,200 California families (PDF), with 106,900 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 97,900 young children in California.
•  In 2010, 1,391,400 California households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in California (PDF) increased from 5.2 percent to 11.3 percent.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in seven Maryland residents (PDF) -– 850,400 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 39 percent to 10 percent and lifted 11,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 217,100 non-elderly women and 52,700 elderly women in Maryland were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 703,000 individuals in Maryland use Medicare; 59 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 14,400 Maryland families (PDF), with 24,400 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 10,300 young children in Maryland.
• In 2010, 265,800 Maryland households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women (PDF) in Maryland increased from 3.9 percent to 7.4 percent.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in seven Texas residents (PDF) -– 3,440,400 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 48 percent to 15 percent and lifted 102,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 791,800 non-elderly women and 295,600 elderly women in Texas were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 2,730,000 individuals in Texas use Medicare; 55 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 66,200 Texas families (PDF), with 121,600 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 67,600 young children in Texas.
•  In 2010, 1,407,100 Texas households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Texas (PDF) increased from 4.8 percent to 7.9 percent.

Rep. Dave Camp (Wikimedia Commons)

Reps. Dave Camp(R-Mich.) and

Rep. Fred Upton (Wikimedia Commons)

Fred Upton (R-Mich.)

• One in five Michigan residents (PDF) –- 1,964,900 people –- received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 54 percent to 9 percent and lifted 34,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 534,900 non-elderly women and 97,600 elderly women in Michigan were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 1,454,000 individuals in Michigan use Medicare; 56 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 37,000 Michigan families (PDF), with 71,800 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 34,200 young children in Michigan.
• In 2010, 865,500 Michigan households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Michigan (PDF) has increased from 7.1 percent to 9.9 percent.

Sen Jon Kyl (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in six Arizona residents (PDF) –- 1,067,700 people people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 46 percent to 13 percent and lifted 18,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 433,200 non-elderly women and 63,900 elderly women in Arizona were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 848,000 individuals in Arizona use Medicare; 58 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 19,900 Arizona families (PDF), with 32,700 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 12,900 young children in Arizona.
• In 2010, 439,400 Arizona households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Arizona (PDF) increased from 4.0 percent to 9.4 percent.

Sen. Pat Toomey (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in five Pennsylvania residents (PDF) –- 2,577,700 people people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 54 percent to 12 percent and lifted 49,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 610,600 non-elderly women and 168,400 elderly women in Pennsylvania were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 2,060,000 individuals in Pennsylvania use Medicare; 57 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 54,900 Pennsylvania families (PDF), with 93,900 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 35,300 young children in Pennsylvania.
• In 2010, 740,200 Pennsylvania households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Pennsylvania (PDF) increased from 3.7 percent to 7.6 percent.

Sen. Rob Portman (Wikimedia Commons)

• One in five Ohio residents (PDF) -– 2,124,700 people -– received Social Security benefits in 2010, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
• Social Security reduced the poverty rate for women 65 and older from 53 percent to 10 percent and lifted 47,000 children out of poverty.
• In 2008, about 570,500 non-elderly women and 131,200 elderly women in Ohio were on Medicaid.
• Approximately 1,802,000 individuals in Ohio use Medicare; 54 percent of them are women.
• In 2009, the CCDBG served approximately 29,800 Ohio families (PDF), with 51,700 children, each month.
• In 2009, Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs served 37,100 young children in Ohio.
• In 2010, 751,300 Ohio households were beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
• Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment for women in Ohio (PDF) increased from 5.1 percent to 8.5 percent.

Photo: Flickr/longislandwins

In the case of today’s long-term deficit-reduction negotiations in Congress –- currently being deliberated by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “super committee” –- Congress is Dwight, Nov. 23 is Dwight’s 5 p.m. (the sequester deadline, i.e., the trigger mechanism that would make $1.2 trillion across-the-board cuts), and both scenarios can be nipped in the bud by their respective creators.

Time is running out for the super committee, appointed to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade, and if — as many news outlets are predicting — they fail to come up with a solid plan within the next nine days, Congress will plan to slash $600 billion from defense spending and $600 billion from domestic programs excluding Social Security and Medicaid, including cuts to Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers, come the 2013 budget.

The American Independent recently reported on how certain GOP presidential candidates’ proposed tax-policy plans would disproportionately affect women, who tend to earn lower wages and depend more on entitlement programs than men. This week, TAI takes a look at how the super committee’s proposal could disproportionately impact women.

What’s on the table?

Reporting that has emerged from the closed-door super committee meetings reveals the six Democrats on the panel are generally insistent on raising revenues from tax increases; wish to end the Bush-era tax cuts; and preserve Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The six Republicans, meanwhile, have slowly begun to discuss revenues but are opposed to achieving them through tax cuts; want to make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts; and are pushing to restructure how Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are paid for in the future.

Roll Call details the latest in negotiations: Last week panel member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) proposed a $1.2 trillion plan comprising $700 billion in cuts and $500 billion in revenues (half of the revenues would come from $250 billion in “tax code reform’). The most recent Democratic offer is a $2.3 trillion reduction plan over 10 years involving $1 trillion in revenues (including tax hikes) and $400 billion in “entitlement reform.”

Still they remain at an impasse.

But as Politico recently reported, despite having the power to dismantle the doomsday device, the president won’t take it. According to a White House statement, on Friday Obama called super committee co-chairs Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jeb. Hensarling (R-Texas) to tell them he will refuse attempts to override the automatic cuts if the panel can’t complete the task. (In the “Office” episode, Dwight makes the same promise after the staff does fail, but he caves at the 11th hour.)

“The sequester was agreed to by both parties to ensure there was a meaningful enforcement mechanism to force a result from the Committee,” Obama said in the statement. “Congress must not shirk its responsibilities.”

Lobbying ladies

One prediction if the super committee fails is that industries and special-interest groups will spend a year before the trigger takes effect lobbying Congress to reconsider cuts to specific programs. The Hill forecasts heavy lobbying from the Pentagon, defense contractors, liberal activists and labor unions.

Women’s advocacy groups have already begun voicing suggestions as to how to trim spending without devastating the neediest Americans, many of whom happen to be single women with children.

Early this month, National Organization for Women (NOW) President Terry O’Neill blasted the super committee’s “irresponsible proposals,” referring to assumptions the Republican members on the committee are pushing for Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan-style changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while, at the same time, opposing tax increases on corporations and millionaires. O’Neill similarly censured proposals she had heard from the Democratic side:

[I]t’s beyond distressing to see some Democrats knuckling under and now embracing plans that would cause great hardship on retirees — mainly women, particularly women of color, as well as people with severe disabilities and our oldest seniors. The Democrats’ proposal would change the [Social Security Cost-of-Living adjustment] (COLA) so that monthly benefits are dramatically reduced, further impoverishing the millions of seniors who depend exclusively on their Social Security check. Medicare would be cut by $400 billion (on top of the $500 billion savings adopted in the Affordable Care Act), and Medicaid would be cut by $75 billion. … There’s not much worse than taking from the most vulnerable in society to pay for a deficit caused by a failure to tax millionaires and billionaires and waging two unfunded wars.

So what does NOW want the super committee to do?

• Preserve COLA and minimize cuts to programs that disproportionately serve and employ women, among them Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps; college-tuition-assistance programs, child care; and family planning programs.
• End Bush-era tax cuts.
• Eliminate the payroll tax cap, which would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a think thank that focuses on women’s domestic issues, has ideas of how to improve women’s economic standing in this country — ideas that likely contradict proposals the super committee members have been tossing around. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although men have regained nearly 30 percent of the jobs they lost during the recession, women have regained only 10 percent of the jobs they lost. In July, men earned 136,000 jobs; women lost 19,000.

Among IWPR proposals, as laid out in a September 2011 report titled “Recommendations for Improving Women’s Employment in the Recovery”:

• Make federal transfers available to state and local governments to replace lost revenues and allow them to hire back the teachers, case workers, nurses and others they have laid off.
• Expand the length of the school day and school year.
• Create an “Urban Conservation Corps” — programs partnering labor unions with inner-city youth with the goal of bring skills and employment opportunities to young women and men.
• Fund child care.
• Adopt tax incentives for businesses that offer their employees “work-life balance.”
• Expand unemployment insurance benefits for workers with reduced working hours.
• Expand employment for women in male-dominated fields, such as construction, transportation and green energy
• Increase funding for jobs that provide direct care to children, disabled adults and the elderly. (According to the Economic Policy Institute (PDF), investments in physical infrastructure and human capital, such as early childhood development, education, health care, job training, would create jobs for women and men and contribute to long-term economic growth.)

Over at the National Women’s Law Center, the general position on the super committee proceedings is that the panel should promote job growth and strengthen the economy while simultaneously protecting programs that women and their families depend on now and in old age — women in general depend on Medicare and Medicaid at higher rates than men, and two-thirds of SNAP recipients are female, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (PDF).

Specifically the NWLC wants:

• Reduced tax breaks for oil and gas industries and corporations that move jobs and profits overseas.
• New tax brackets for annual income starting above $1 million and taxing income from capital gains and dividends at the same rate as income from work for taxpayers with income above $1 million.
• A small tax on financial transactions such as stock trades — to raise revenue but also to discourage short-term speculation. According to the Economic Policy Institute and the Century Foundation, a 0.5 percent tax on stock transactions would raise about $77 billion per year; a 0.5 percent tax on all financial transactions (options, futures, swap transactions) would raise approximately $150 billion per year.
• An extension on federal emergency unemployment benefits.

But for now, what women want — what all Americans want, and they all want different things — is in the hands of 12 under-pressure representatives and senators. And the clock is ticking.

Photo: Flickr/AMagill

The Foundation for Government, a new Naples-based conservative policy group, has released its latest publication, claiming that Florida’s controversial five-county Medicaid Reform Pilot “has been a decided success.”

Foundation for Government Accountability CEO Tarren Bragdon (Pic via floridafga.org)

Foundation CEO Tarren Bragdon writes in his report (.pdf), published by the Heritage Foundation, that the state’s Medicaid privatization plan has “improved the health of enrolled patients, achieved high patient satisfaction, and kept cost increases below average, saving Florida up to $118 million annually.”

The report also claims that “if Florida’s Medicaid Reform Pilot experience were replicated nationwide, Medicaid patient satisfaction would soar, health outcomes would improve, and Medicaid programs could save up to $28.6 billion annually.”

The Foundation is a “free market” public policy group that was created by interested parties in Florida looking to bring Bragdon, the former CEO if a similar policy group in Maine, to Florida. So far, the group has not disclosed who those initial donors and interested parties were. However, the group has already made inroads with state government, and is gearing up to influence Florida’s 2012 legislative session.

In his 25-page report, Bragdon writes that during the past five years, the Medicaid Reform Pilot has been implemented in the state it has:

• Maintained health outcomes at or above the national average for the majority of indicators and improved outcomes for recipients through financial incentives;
• Achieved patient satisfaction levels above the national averages of other state Medicaid programs and even commercial health maintenance organizations (HMOs); and
• Restrained costs, flattening the cost curve for per person spending over the past five years.

Bragdon’s report is currently one of the only studies touting the success of the Pilot program.

In April, Georgetown University released a report indicating that the Pilot program has not shown any clear signs of saving money. As The Florida Independent reported, the study also “pointed out that Medicaid costs ‘significantly less on a per-person basis than private insurance – often because provider reimbursement is low.’”

“This is especially true in Florida,” the Georget0wn report explained, “which has a low per-person cost – ranking 43rd in the country.”  The report concluded that, ultimately, “much critical information is still lacking about the impact of Florida’s Medicaid pilots, including whether or not the pilots have saved money – and if they have whether the savings came at the expense of needed care.”

Patient advocates and doctors have criticized the Pilot program for offering poor access to prenatal care.

The state is currently awaiting federal approval of its plan to expand the five-county Pilot statewide.

Florida PIRG, a public interest research group, has said that the plan is “essentially taking a failed five county experiment that was rife with fraud and expanding it to all sixty-seven Florida counties.” The group has also called the state’s plans a “recipe for a massive taxpayer rip-off.”

According to a recent poll of opinion leaders in health policy and innovators in health care delivery and finance, almost 90 percent of respondents believe state lawmakers should be implementing the health care reform law.

Parts of the Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey results released today show that an overwhelming majority of experts would disagree with Florida’s efforts to stall and block the Affordable Care Act in the state.

According to Modern Healthcare:

A full 89 percent of respondents said it is very important or important that federal and state policymakers continue to move forward to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to the final Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey.

…

Survey respondents liked several cost-cutting proposals for Medicare and Medicaid put forth by President Barack Obama in his framework for reducing the federal budget deficit. Among them are adjusting payments to encourage efficient post-acute care, aligning Medicare and Medicaid drug payment policies, and introducing financial incentives to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to use high-value services.

Health care advocates across the state, as well as federal officials, have criticized state lawmakers for stalling the implementation of the health care reform law in the state. Advocates and residents have particularly taken issue with the state turning away millions of federal funds that would have gone to public health programs.

The state of Florida currently has one of the highest rate of uninsured residents in the country. Policymakers in the state are also leading the legal challenge against the health care reform law. It was announced today that the Supreme Court will hear the legal arguments in March 2012.

The news signals the state has cleared one of the two major hurdles it has faced in expanding its Medicaid privatization plans statewide.

According to the Current:

The lone obstacle between the state and federal government in Medicaid 1115 waiver negotiations appears to have been settled as state officials announced on Tuesday that Florida will continue to receive $1 billion to fund health care for the poor, uninsured and underinsured.

Medicaid Deputy Director of Finance Phil Williams told a hospital panel on Tuesday that the state will continue to receive $1 billion in Low Income Pool money for three years. But the news wasn’t all good as Williams discussed with the hospital-dominated board some of the new reporting requirements and benchmarks for primary-care funding.

…

The Medicaid 1115 waiver makes possible a mandatory managed-care program in five Florida counties. But Florida has been negotiating to extend the program for more than a year. The fate of the low income pool has been one of the bigger stumbling blocks.

The waiver is important because to launch its new statewide mandatory Medicaid managed-care program the state needs the waiver. Because the existing five-county pilot program and the new statewide program are not identical, the 1115 waiver will need to be amended. Florida already has sent the amendments to the federal government to consider even though the underlying waiver still is pending.

The federal government has also expressed concerns over an absent medical loss ratio in Florida’s Medicaid Reform Pilot. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have asked for a medical loss ratio in the state’s plans to expand the pilots statewide. This “85/15″ requirement mandates that providers spend 85 percent on services and 15 percent on administration. The standard is one of the provisions in the federal health care reform law setting new rules for state Medicaid plans. The federal government plans to fund the expansion of state Medicaid plans to include more people who are currently uninsured.

When this issue came up a couple years ago, Gregg Mellowe of the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy said medical loss ratio rules were a good way to provide accountability, WFSU reported:

There have been concerns over the lack of accountability in the pilot project throughout its five years. And the concerns that they’ve had have not been resolved. I think that’s universally recognized. [The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] has said look, you’re getting a waiver, all these federal rules relaxed, so in exchange for that we need some basic assurance that the power given to managed care plans is not going to be abused.

A.M. Best Company reports that “Florida wants to continue existing state MLR rules that enforce a 65 percent standard for health insurers and 70 percent for health maintenance organizations until 2014.”

Florida CHAIN (Community Health Action Information Network), a patient advocacy group, recently asked the feds to not grant insurance companies in Florida exemption from profit caps mandated by federal law. In a letter, the group asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “to reject a request by Florida’s Insurance Commissioner to grant insurance companies a reprieve from new Affordable Care Act requirements intended to ensure that consumers get value for the health insurance premiums they pay.”

“The comment period for Florida’s application expired Oct. 27. CMS is due to make a determination within 30 days, a period regulations allow U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to extend by up to another 30 days,” Best Company reports.