American Morning
The War at Home: Sisterhood for military teens
In the third installment of our "War at Home" series we introduce you to two California teenagers who struggled to deal with their fathers' deployments to Afghanistan. They found a way to cope with the loneliness and isolation and now they're helping other girls – their military "sisters" – do the same.
Follow-up: Homeless veterans
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/19/starr.anderson.art.jpg caption="Michael Anderson, a Vietnam veteran, began writing poetry in prison – mainly about military service."]
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As part of American Morning series on veterans returning home I recently visited New Directions, a homeless shelter program in Los Angeles that has been helping addicted and troubled veterans since 1982.
Across the country there are now about 130,000 homeless veterans, many from the Vietnam era, but tragically some back from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown up on the streets. What we found is those who served in the Vietnam era are now reaching out a hand to the younger generation, doing what they can to make sure the youngest homeless vets get help.
If you saw our piece you might have noticed 60-year old Michael Anderson, a homeless vet who served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. He was sent to prison from 2006 to 2008 on domestic violence charges and while in prison began writing poetry—mainly about military service. At the end of this blog please take a moment to read “Where Broken Soldiers Go.” I think you will be amazed.
Rep. Frank fires back at rowdy town hall
We've heard all kinds of snarky, snide, and sarcastic remarks during health care town halls. They're just not usually coming from the member of Congress at the front of the room.
But last night Congressman Barney Frank got rather frank with some of his constituents in Massachusetts. CNN's Jim Acosta was in the room during the rowdy debate.
What’s on Tap – Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- Democrats say they're ready to take drastic measures, considering a "go it alone" strategy on health care reform. Do they have the votes to make it happen? And fed up with all the town hall hostility, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) gave it back to the crowd yesterday. Let’s just say he lived up to his last name.
- Hurricane Bill is now a major storm – a category four with winds about 135 miles an hour.
Rob Marciano is here to tell us whether it will be a hit, or a miss. - Don't call it a comeback. General Motors is upping production, calling some employees back to work, and delaying plant shutdowns. So has the cash for clunkers program been a shot in the arm?
- Michael jackson's doctor – the man who was there when he died – the man at the center of the manslaughter investigation is speaking out for the first time and making his case in a YouTube video. Hear why Dr. Conrad Murray fears for his own life.
- The Good Wife. Carol Costello explores why women with cheating husbands have become "stars." And Jenny Sanford is the latest. Would you Google your husband’s mistress and
About this Show
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Prof: Health care 'rationing' not as scary as it sounds
In the debate over health care reform, we keep hearing the word "rationing." For Republicans, it's been one of the top talking points. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) said, “…rationing is underlying all of this. …If you don't get health care when you need it, you know, ultimately it's going to affect your life.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/19/singer.peter.cnn.art.jpg caption="Prof. Peter Singer says rationing is already happening in private health insurance companies."]
Peter Singer, a bioethics professor at Princeton University, says rationing isn't as scary as it sounds. He joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday.
John Roberts: When you talk about rationing health care, what specifically is it that you mean?
Peter Singer: Firstly, it’s the public part of health care that I'm talking about. I’m not talking about stopping people paying for whatever they can afford to pay for or paying for whatever extra insurance they can pay for. But if you have public funds going for something, you want and the taxpayer wants to get good value for that public funds.
So that means you’re going to have to say, look, at the margins, if there's a very expensive new treatment or new drug that perhaps doesn't do any good anyway – perhaps there's no good scientific studies that show it's going to help you significantly – we're not going to provide that. We're going to say, we want to get a certain standard of value for money, just like you would if you're shopping at the supermarket. That's rationing.
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Filed under: Commentary • Health • Politics