The big story to watch in 2013 will be the development of state-based health insurance exchanges. These marketplaces will allow uninsured people and small businesses to shop for, compare, and enroll in health plans. Only through the exchanges will people learn if they qualify for and can take advantage of federal tax subsidies to help cover the cost of insurance. Exchanges must be up and running by Oct. 1, 2013, and it’s going to be a mad rush to get the job done.
States were given the option to build their own exchanges and had until Dec. 14 to decide. Just 18 states and the District of Columbia agreed to build their own. Seven states have opted for a partnership exchange, a model where the states and federal government work together to operate the marketplace. That leaves the federal government to put in place health insurance exchanges in the remaining 25 states that declined to participate.
I have tried so hard to ignore this brutality, but from the first headline I’ve heard her screaming. This is the nadir in a year full of crimes against humanity. I’m sickened and furious, not just at these men or all men or India. How can any human being lose every iota of compassion and become such a monster. If we can’t prevent the endless abuse of more than half our world, we are despicable. Every single work of art and act of selflessness cannot balance the scale.
The woman, who has not been identified, has become of a symbol for the treatment of women in India, where rape is common and conviction rates for the crime are low. She boarded a bus with a male friend after watching a movie at a mall, and was raped and attacked with an iron rod by the men on the bus, who the police later said had been drinking and were on a “joy ride.”
She died Saturday morning in Singapore, where she had been flown for treatment after suffering severe internal injuries during the assault. She had an infection in her lungs and abdomen, liver damage and a brain injury, the Singapore hospital said, and died from organ failure. Her body was flown back to India on Saturday.
Once again, we hear from a Republican who couldn’t win a primary today. Of course, Eisenhower was speaking of federal troops being needed to protect black students from their countrymen. peace, mjh
It will be a sad day for this country–both at home and abroad–if school children can safely attend their classes only under the protection of armed guards.