Virginia Gets Temporary Reprieve From Stupidity

By Adele

If Richmond makes national headlines, it’s always for thinking backward. Last night Brian Williams’ Nightly News featured a woman at the state capitol, screaming in protest at having her rights trampled, being dragged off by police.

But caving in to national outrage and ridicule, the state legislature did modify its pre-abortion ultrasound bill to eliminate transvaginal probing.

They also backed down on declaring embryos fully-functioning, legally-protected “persons” — by kicking that bill into 2013.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reinforced its Republican-rag cred by disingenuously declaring on page 1 today that the “personhood” bill was “scrapped” in a “stunning turnaround.”

In fact, the bill was just postponed.

The obvious intent is to fool women into thinking, “Oh, good. They dropped it. Never mind,” so the misogynistic General Assembly can slip the outrageous legislation past everyone next year.

But this month there was a THIRD assault on women, led again by none other than Del. Kathy Bryon. She sponsored a bill to repeal the state law mandating vaccinations for young girls against the human papillomavirus.

That’s because Republicans want to protect a woman’s right to cervical cancer.

The Richmond TD reported that, in making her case to colleagues earlier this month, “Byron noted that Virginia, which enacted the provision in 2006, was still the only state to require vaccination. She claimed that the ‘longterm safety and effectiveness’ of the vaccination is still unknown and said lawmakers should not ‘intrude’ in the decision to vaccinate, which she said should be left up to parents.”

Byron thinks a shot in the arm’s an “intrusion,” but ramming a probe into a pregnant woman’s vagina isn’t. Priceless.

If anybody in this century deserves to be figuratively tarred and feathered in the next election for criminal insensitivity and hypocrisy toward her own sex, it’s Kathy Byron.

Fortunately, several medical experts were allowed to testify and blew Byron’s ignorant assertions out of the water — just like they did when Michele Bachmann claimed the vaccine causes mental retardation — and Byron’s repeal bill was defeated.

Unless voters stop these maniacs by kicking every last one OUT, it’s soon going to be too dangerous to be female in Virginia.

Got Anthem’s Annual Screw Job

By Karen

While Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act waits for a Supreme Court ruling, Virginia’s largest health insurer, Anthem, continues to merrily bilk its customers to maximize profits.

Virginia’s Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, is fine with that. He wants the General Assembly to do NOTHING to plan the state health insurance exchange that must be operational by January 1, 2014, so small business and individuals (like me) will have a prayer of finding the “protection and affordability” the new law requires.

Instead the Assembly is busy repealing the law that limits personal gun sales to one a month, because insane college kids and criminals everywhere are feeling the pinch of not enough weapons. More murders, more medical spending.

The Assembly also intends to FORCE women seeking abortions to first have an ultrasound, hoping to guilt them into giving birth. Not to mention adding to the cost of the procedure.

So yesterday I got Anthem’s annual notice of my new individual health insurance renewal rate. It’s going up $58 a month — 20%.

In 2011, it went up $25, or 9.6%.

Nearly 30% in TWO YEARS. Can you think of anything else, besides CEO salaries, that has risen that much? Me, either.

Anthem included a cryptic, sinister warning against making any attempt to cut the cost — like decreasing benefits or raising the deductible (again) — which would void “grandfathered” status if health reform ever really happens.

Naturally, Anthem didn’t state if my policy would be grandfathered, nor what benefits might be affected, but just implied that reform might cause me to lose something wonderful about my current stinking, inadequate coverage.

Being self-employed, I have an individual policy. I feel sure Anthem is striking back because I exceeded my $2,250 deductible last year with my breast cancer false alarm and they actually had to pay some claims.

It’s perfectly legal in the individual market for insurers to nail customers to the wall one at a time for daring to get needed healthcare.

And since I now have non-cancer in my medical record, I’m trapped with Anthem until SOMETHING changes with heathcare.

And the way it’s looking, it’s only going to get worse.