by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, and Benjamin Armbruster

HEALTH CARE

Wellness Gap

According to a recent economic outlook by the Center for American Progress (CAP), "[r]eal hourly and weekly wages in January 2008 were lower than at any point in the previous 15 months," and for the last seven years, real weekly wages have remained flat -- "only 0.8% higher in January 2008 than in March 2001." Additionally, the share of Americans with employer-provided health insurance dropped from 64.2 percent to 59.7 percent from 2000 to 2006, and people are paying more for transportation, utilities, food, and medical care. Indeed, working-class Americans -- "who were down on the economy long before the word recession was uttered" -- are seeing skyrocketing health care costs "whacking away at their wages." Employers are also feeling the pinch, paying more for health care, which leaves less for their employees' wages. But the economic situation in the U.S. is having another adverse affect on Americans' health. New research from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows "large and growing" disparities in life expectancy for richer and poorer Americans which has paralleled the growing gap of income inequality over the last 20 years.

RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS, LOW WAGES:  A September 2007 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that family health care premiums increased 78 percent since 2001, while wages increased only 20 percent. The Washington Post recently reported that "[e]ven though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6 percent -- or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000" as a result of rising health care costs. Service Employees International Union vice president Katherine Taylor said that because of souring health care costs, "[t]here are people out here making decisions about whether to keep their lights on or buy a prescription." Additionally, employers are paying more for health care. The Labor Department reported this month that a higher percentage of employee compensation costs is going to benefits rather than wages. A recent study on employer-based health care found that "job-based insurance premiums have risen by 98 percent between 2000 and 2007." While one CAP study found that "ever-escalating health care costs are placing a huge strain on employment-based health insurance," a National Association of Manufacturers survey last year similarly said that 90 percent of respondents "named the cost of health insurance as one of their top-three worries -- ranking it higher than government regulation, competition from imports or finding qualified employees."

THE LIFE EXPECTANCY GAP: With health care costs eating away at working Americans' wages, the the life expectancy gap is widening between rich and poor. HHS research shows that 20 years ago, "people in the most affluent group could expect to live 2.8 years longer than people in the most deprived group." But by 2000, "the difference in life expectancy had increased to 4.5 years...and it continues to grow." HHS researcher Dr. Gopal K. Singh added that the "life expectancy was higher for the most affluent in 1980 than for the most deprived group in 2000." What explains the widening gap? Researchers noted that "lower-income people are less likely to have health insurance, so they are less likely to receive checkups, screenings, diagnostic tests, prescription drugs and other types of care." Moreover, affluent and higher educated Americans are more likely to utilize advances in medical science and technology.

CONSERVATIVE FUEL TO THE FIRE: Both Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are addressing the root cause of the disparity in life expectancy by making expanding health care coverage and reducing costs central to their presidential campaigns. However, in following a flawed conservative approach to health care, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) plans to free insurance companies from state regulations, a move that would ultimately "reduce costs for insurers at the expense of people." His plan relies on high-deductible insurance policies tied to tax-preferred savings accounts or Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Families or individuals will draw from the HSAs to pay the high deductibles. McCain's theory? Let Americans use their own money to choose "quality" health care. But in reality, there is little information available on health care cost and quality, while about two-thirds of firms do not make a contribution to HSAs for single coverage and about half do not contribute to HSAs for family coverage. The result is that McCain's plan would raise families' costs for less care. At the same time, McCain would raise taxes on all Americans with employer-sponsored plans. Indeed, HSAs make insurance companies a lot of money. McCain's health care plan "isn't about improving quality. It's about supporting the insurance industry." CAP has put together a progressive prescription for guaranteeing every American's right to affordable, quality health coverage.

RADICAL RIGHT -- O'HANLON: IRAQ SURGE ARCHITECTS 'WOULD HAVE MADE VINCE LOMBARDI PROUD.' Earlier this month, the National Security Network reported on Brookings analyst Michael O’Hanlon's disproportionate representation in major papers' op-ed pages. His pro-Iraq war pieces have appeared in "13 pieces in four of the most influential op-ed pages in the country over the past 7 months." O'Hanlon, however, isn't satisfied with his op-ed presence. "I was getting on average three to five calls a day for interviews about the war" in the first years, he told the New York Times. "Now it's less than one a day." While O'Hanlon blames the press for his decreased interviews, there is another possibility: his authority on Iraq has declined, as he has repeatedly and inextricably linked himself to Bush's Iraq policies. For example, yesterday at an AEI event with Iraq surge architect Fred Kagan and fellow Brookings analyst Ken Pollack, praised the surge, saying proponents Meghan O'Sullivan, Jack Keane, and Kagan would make former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi "proud" because "they stuck with it." IRAQ -- CHENEY ON 4,000 TROOP DEATHS IN IRAQ: 'THE PRESIDENT CARRIES THE BIGGEST BURDEN, OBVIOUSLY': Across the country yesterday, memorial services were held to honor the 4,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, a tragic milestone in President Bush's "surge" effort. But the White House tried to gloss over the troop death marker. President Bush held no public events on the issue, although he briefly thanked the "courageous people willing to serve" while at the State Department yesterday. Moreover, in an interview with ABC News, Vice President Cheney expressed gross callousness about the 4,000 dead troops, implying to Martha Raddatz that the troops volunteered for duty. Cheney then claimed that Bush is hurt even more than the troops and their families by the deaths in Iraq. "The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," claimed Cheney. The White House has frequently expressed a “misguided sense of bravado,” as Dan Froomkin put it, in comparing its efforts to that of American soldiers. "Believe me, no one suffers more than their President and I do," said First Lady Laura Bush in April 2007. "The President is in the war every day...on the frontlines," claimed former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow in June 2007. INTELLIGENCE -- WALL STREET JOURNAL CLAIMS HUSSEIN HAD TIES TO AL QAEDA: Earlier this month, the Pentagon released a "review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents" confirming that there were no operational links" between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda prior to the Iraq invasion. The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, reported yesterday that the "new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq's links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood," and accused other news sources of distorting the report. While the Pentagon report clearly states there is "no 'smoking gun' (i.e. direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda, last  Thursday, Iraq war architect Richard Perle attempted a similar sleight-of-hand on the Charlie Rose program. He argued that Saddam’s intelligence officers had “relationships with organization affiliated with al Qaeda.”

What was supposed to have marked the countdown to China's Olympics "began Monday with a statement against China’s human-rights policies and crackdown in Tibet." Protests are "bound to follow" the Olympic torch "throughout its 85,000-mile journey." The contractors who breached two passport files of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) "were part of a private workforce that has increasingly assumed responsibility for processing the sensitive documents." "From 2001 to 2007, 40 to 45 percent of the workers handling passports were contractors, but now 60 percent of the 4,400 passport employees work for private firms, State Department officials said yesterday." "A majority of Americans are opposed to the federal government helping out banks that made bad loans or homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford," a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen poll finds. Sixty-one percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed "moves by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal agencies" to provide "assistance to investment banks and a troubled mortgage industry." "As the mortgage crisis continues to unfold," the FBI says incidents of suspicious financial activity reported by banks has skyrocketed, "jumping from 28,000 cases in 2005 to 48,000 last year. Among the factors fueling this two-year, 71 percent increase is a spike in scams targeting citizens facing foreclosure, one of which is known as the 'home foreclosure rescue scam.'" Yesterday, just two U.S. newspapers -- The Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Daily News in New York -- devoted their entire front pages to honoring the 4,000 men and women killed in Iraq, according to an analysis by Huffington Post. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post left the milestone off their front pages. Consumers worldwide "face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions," due to "changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India." Consumers still face at least 10 years of more expensive food, according to predictions. The Bush administration is now stating that it plans to model its long-term agreement with Iraq on one that the United States already has with Afghanistan. The Afghanistan agreement, reached in 2005, states that the United States will "[c]onsult with respect to taking appropriate measures in the event that Afghanistan perceives that its territorial integrity, independence, or security is threatened or at risk." "A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government." At the same time, the Iraqi government "launched a crackdown" on the city of Basra while facing "warnings by Sadr's followers that they'll fight government forces if any Sadrists are detained.” And finally: Politico looks at Capitol Hill's "top jocks." Included in this list is Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), who has been practicing tae-kwon-do since the age of 12 and is currently a second-degree black belt. There's also Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), who "bikes anywhere from 25 to 100 miles" once a week. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) is the "the great-grandson and namesake of the renowned Philadelphia Athletics manager and owner," and naturally, still loves baseball.

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Pakistan's new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, on Monday "released the judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule last year."

CALIFORNIA: Global warming may turn the blue waters of Lake Tahoe a "murky hue."

COLORADO: "Colorado lawmakers proposed a $17.6 billion budget -- a 6.7 percent increase over last year -- that would add 1,334 employees to the state payroll."

MISSOURI: "Gov. Matt Blunt's office (R) has provided attorney general's investigators with almost 3,000 pages of documents detailing open-records requests."

OKLAHOMA: "Oklahoma may have as many as 100,000 people with Alzheimer's disease 22 years from now, according to new data."

THINK PROGRESS: Seventy-six percent of Americans want a candidates with policies different from President Bush.

WONK ROOM: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) tries to pin blame for economic mess on "minorities," "the poor," and "the young."

PAM'S HOUSE BLEND: Conservative pundit Pat Buchanan claims "America has been the best country on Earth for black folks."

VET VOICE: The weeks between March 10 and March 23 saw 25 Americans killed in Iraq, the most in a two week period since mid-September 2007.

"Following weeks of oil prices hitting over $100 a barrel, Vice President Dick Cheney met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Friday 'for talks that will include discussions on cooperation to stabilize the oil market.'"
-- Reuters, 3/21/08

VERSUS

"A senior US official suggested on Monday that Vice President Dick Cheney did not pressure Saudi Arabia to increase oil production during his visit to the kingdom last week."
-- AFP, 3/24/08