ISIS: Sept. 10, 2014
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, President Obama spoke to the nation from the State Floor of the White House. This speech authorized a major expansion of the military campaign against rampaging Sunni militants in the Middle East, including American airstrikes in Syria and the deployment of 475 more military troops and advisers to Iraq. According to New York Times, Mr. Obama said the United States was recruiting a global coalition to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the militants, known as the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS) and Syria. He warned that “eradicating a cancer” like ISIS was a long-term challenge that needs to be addressed.
Ebola: Sept. 16, 2014
Mr. Obama is offering help to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in the construction of as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds.
The Department of Defense and in Monrovia, Liberia are contemplating opening a joint operation to coordinate the international effort to combat the disease. The military will also provide engineers to help construct the additional treatment facilities and will send enough people to train up to 500 health care workers a week to deal with the crisis.
Bruce Aylward, an assistant director general of the World Health Organization, said Tuesday, the number of reported cases had climbed to 4,985, including 2,461 deaths and an estimate the cost of this effort is at $1 billion. Half of the infections and deaths occurred in the past 21 days, Aylward said, underscoring the acceleration of the outbreak. “We don’t really know where the numbers are going with this.”
Health Care: Sept. 16, 2014
A survey found that 13.1 percent of Americans lacked health insurance at the time of their interview with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year. In 1997, when the CDC started surveying on this issue, 15.4 percent of those surveyed said they did not have coverage.
According to Vox.com, this is a direct reflection of Obamacare. “The CDC saw a 1.3 percentage point drop drop in the uninsured rate between 2013 and 2014. The uninsured rate for kids has fallen from 13.9 percent in 1997 to 6.6 percent today, a huge decline that pretty much all traces back to the CHIP program expanding coverage.”
