Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Millions More Lacking Insurance | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Cecille Isidro — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:27:00 -0400

About half of those are the long-term uninsured, including those with jobs that simply don't offer insurance, said Len Nichols, a health economist who directs the health policy program for the New America Foundation. "They're literally an underclass."

We Must Invest in Health Care Solution Now | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:29:00 -0400

If nothing is done now to control the costs of health care, the average family premium for employer-sponsored insurance in Wisconsin will jump by a staggering 83%, according to a report released by the New America Foundation. ...

Maya MacGuineas in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | 'Economy a Top Reason Americans Getting Tuned in to Presidential Elections'

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:14:00 -0400

McCain favors targeting problem areas, such as helping cash-poor subprime borrowers, strengthening student loans and having a gas tax holiday, while Obama prefers more traditional shot-in-the-arm stimulants including rebates and state budget relief funds, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "They are different approaches, and I don't have an opinion on which would work better. They actually are both crafted from a number of sensible plans," MacGuineas said. "And it's a very confusing economy, so nobody knows how to navigate what we're going through." LINK

Steve Clemons in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | 'Democrats Shore Up National Security Stance'

Communications — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:50:00 -0400

On a night when the convention’s stated theme was “securing America’s future,” speakers portrayed McCain as an unreconstructed hawk and Bush enabler, an outdated thinker who supported a war that distracted America from fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan, empowered a hostile Iran and left the United States weaker instead of safer...

...The night also was a nod to what one foreign policy analyst, Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation, called “Pentagon-hugging” -- an effort to display a pro-military, pro-veteran Democratic Party. Veterans who spoke Wednesday accused the Bush administration of abandoning veterans after the fighting and touted Obama’s record on veterans aid. LINK

Len Nichols in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | 'Health Care Gains Status as Election Issue'

Communications — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:16:00 -0400

...[T]he economic slowdown means that more people who now are middle class could find themselves uninsured. It also means that more people are worried that they could lose jobs and their health insurance.

“It is a deep and growing -- and you could say even gnawing -- fear among the middle class,” said Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, a public policy institute. LINK

Steve Clemons in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Obama Trip Abroad Shows How Election’s Being 'Internationalized'

Communications — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:24:00 -0400

"One of the reasons why the international stage is so important (in this campaign) is there's a sense of real doubt in the rest of the world about America," said Steve Clemons, a foreign policy blogger who writes "The Washington Note" and a policy analyst with the New America Foundation, a D.C. think tank.

Despite their differences over Iraq, Clemons said, both Obama and McCain want to prove to U.S. voters that they would represent a break with Bush style and doctrine and "restore America's prestige and credibility in the world."

One way to do that is to show voters at home that they have credibility abroad.

"I see this dynamic . . . where they're almost trying to reach those foreign audiences. I think that's something new," Clemons said. "You've got to sell the international audience to make yourself look credible."

That political need, along with the globalizing effects of the Web, has created a more visible role for foreign opinion, foreign leaders and foreign media in the U.S. election.

Public opinion has clearly favored Obama abroad, polls show, bolstering his argument that he could help change America's image overseas.

Elite opinion abroad is harder to measure and appears more mixed in many countries.

"When I was in China the last two weeks,… more

American Strategy Program event with Sen. Feingold in JS Online | 'Feingold: the U.S. Has No Coherent Plan to Fight Terrorism'

Communications — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:10:00 -0400

Nearly seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States has not yet come up with a "coherent plan of action" to fight terrorism, Sen. Russ Feingold said Monday during a speech at the New America Foundation. "Instead, we remain mired in and distracted politically and financially by Iraq," Feingold told the audience. "As a consequence, many of the same serious problems that made us vulnerable to al Qaeda’s attack -- in strategic planning, institutional readiness and allocation of resources -- still remain."... Feingold addressed the Washington think tank as the Senate is set to vote on a measure this week that would allow the federal government to tap telephone calls and e-mails between the United States and foreign countries. The bill also would allow federal courts to waive existing lawsuits against third parties that assisted President Bush’s warrantless surveillance program....LINK Further information and the New America Foundation event video: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/confronting_foreign_intelligence_and_information_gaps

Len Nichols in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Deaths Blamed on Insurance Gap

Jerry Irvine — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:41:00 -0400

250 State Deaths Yearly Blamed on Insurance Gap

Nearly five people die each week in Wisconsin because they don't have health insurance, according to an estimate released Tuesday by a national group that supports universal coverage.

That figure - roughly 250 people a year - is based on an update of an estimate released in 2002 by the Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences.

...

Len Nichols, a health care economist at the New America Foundation, described the Institute of Medicine estimate as a "statistical guess" at a conference on insurance coverage in December.

But Nichols also said, "I don't think there's anybody who actually treats the uninsured in real life who would argue with the fact that people in our country are dying because they don't have access to health care."

Len Nichols in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | 'Candidates Get Specific on Health Care'

Communications — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:30:00 -0500

The leading presidential candidates' proposals on health care reform are more detailed - and perhaps more realistic - than those of past elections.

That could bode well for the chances of significant reform in the next four years.

"Both sides of the aisle give me hope that we are going to have an adult conversation," said Len Nichols, a health care economist at the New America Foundation, a research group that focuses on bipartisan approaches to public policy issues.

In the Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois have vowed to make reform a priority, with the stated goal of providing coverage for everyone.

For his part, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican front-runner, has put forth a detailed proposal that could make health insurance more affordable for a large number of the uninsured.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also has outlined how he would reform the health care system - though in far less detail than the other candidates.

All but the most partisan economists would acknowledge that there are good ideas on both sides. "Every single candidate for president, both sides of the aisle, has talked about how to make health insurance more… more

Terry Tamminen in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Green Initatives

Communications — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:02:00 -0400

Energy experts with Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. are busy crafting their first proposal aimed at winning a piece of an ambitious $5 billion plan to reduce global warming by retrofitting energy-wasting buildings in 16 of the world's largest cities.

Step one: Houston, one of the country's most polluted cities, where more than 270 buildings could see upgrades.

Meeting in Milwaukee last week, managers and experts from Johnson Controls offices around the country scoured slides of aging boilers and control systems in buildings they had toured in Houston, including fire stations, libraries and the downtown convention center, where the city once housed 5,000 people who fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Johnson Controls plans to show how energy use in the buildings can be cut 30% to 50%....

"The message to businesses about global warming is 'Jump in, the water's fine.' This is not something anyone has to be afraid of," said Terry Tamminen, former climate adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "When it comes to global warming, what we're asking people to do is to put money in their pockets - to pick $100 bills up off the ground."

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are creating jobs for entrepreneurs who have left… more