Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Friday, September 11, 2009

Handy Numbers -- National Health Crisis Facts

By John Ballard



I didn't post this link when I came across it and later regretted not making a note of it. Several times I tried to remember where I saw the numbers but couldn't recall where. So here it is.  Further supporting links at The Wonk Room.

?Americans who are losing their health insurance, due to lost jobs in the economic downturn: 14,000 (per day)

?Average amount families with insurance paid in premiums to cover the cost-shift from the uninsured: $1100 (2009)

?Americans who die this year because they are uninsured, and have untreated illness: 22,000

?Health care spending wasted on paperwork to manage individual market instead of the more efficient group market: $3 billion (2009)

?Americans who were turned away or charged more for health insurance, over the last 3 years largely due to due discrimination to pre-existing conditions: 12.6 million (total, last three years)

?Americans who were imposed with medical debt or who had difficulty paying medical bills: 3 million new (over past year)



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