health care

The American Medical Association supports only its own political agenda and not its member doctors, according to some physicians. Many will not even join this once prestigious organization, citing concerns that it no longer reflects their opinions or their concerns for their patients. The AMA came out in favor of the 1.8 TRILLION dollar health care debacle. Putting the LIE to that is the report that 45% of physicians would consider quitting the profession if the bill passes. 65% of practicing doctors are fully opposed to government controlled health care. Only about 18% of physicians are represented by the AMA. That other GREAT SELLOUT is the AARP, another politically motivated Kool-Aid outfit interested ONLY in its own profit margin, who stopped speaking for the vast numbers of seniors a long time ago. Many seniors, always conscious of dollar concerns, have signed up for the AARP to take advantage of supplemental insurance discounts and until recently were largely unaware of the AARP’s extreme liberal proclivities. This all changed with the Obama administration’s drive for for a single payer health care system, which even the thickest senior could tell was BAD news for senior health care and in fact they were about to be thrown under the proverbial Obama Bus…sort of like he did to his Granny? I witnessed an AARP meeting in Fremont, California, where the AARP, attempting to answer the tens of thousands of angry calls and letters directed at them by members who objected to the AARP’s stated intent to support the massive government takeover, asked some very pointed questions of the AARP spinette, whereupon she promptly snitted up and abruptly walked out of the meeting. The AARP subsequently came out with a statement saying they were ‘rethinking’ their support…Well girls and boys, we can see how they rethunk it. Meanwhile in Washington, a little group of  FIFTY THOUSAND of our friends and neighbors gathered on the capitol steps in response to Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s call to action on Friday last. They then proceeded to the Capitol office buildings to have a little tête à tête with their Representatives about just who the hell they work for and just exactly what was expected of them. All very respectfully you understand..though some of our most liberal Congress Critters didn’t reciprocate and either hid or actually abused some constituents. I guess they didn’t care to be confronted with the truth of the fact that they have been exposed for what and who they are. There will be a HUGE reckoning in 2010. The whole country is steaming and they are so insular and so blinded by their own ambition they can’t see it. Nancy with the Flash Frozen Smile lied again and then reneged on her pledge to allow members of Congress and the public 72 hours to examine the final version of the bill. What a surprise! I’m shocked. Speaker Pelosi intends to go ahead with a sneak vote on Saturday despite sharply deteriorating support in her own party. Many Conservative patriots are staying in Washington to keep up the pressure on members of Congress. Another call was put out by Rep. Bachmann on Mark Levin’s radio show on Thursday, for anyone who is in range and can possibly reach DC in time to come to the Capitol to support this totally grass roots Conservative Patriotic effort. Mark Levin was at the rally in person and his presence was HUGE. God bless America…

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

More words than the New Testament of the Bible…precisely 2.2 million dollars per word. One thing is for certain, there was not one word that came out of the Speaker’s mouth at the CLOSED INVITATION ONLY unveiling  that was the truth. Just as they did every thing else with this gargantuan power grab, behind closed doors and in the dark of night, this bill has been read by very few. Hillary Clinton’s failed attempt only had 1300 pages. What we do know of it stinks to high heaven. The 1.44 trillion projected by the CBO will become FOURTEEN times that, using the Medicare experience and everything else the government does as a gauge. The Senate Republicans have demanded that Harry Reid submit the bill to them for detailed scrutiny. This bill, like everything else this Congress and Administration has done, is a sham and a failure. Just as the much vaunted stimulus has resulted in barely over 1000 jobs and the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program ended costing US taxpayers 24,000.00 dollars per vehicle, pulling 125,000 mostly desirable used cars away from  the market place, the sale of which would normally benefit lower income purchasers. The claim is that it is budget neutral. That’s an out and out lie. It includes the public option, which Pelosi and Reid were forced by the extreme left of the party and allies to include, though it bodes ill for the passage of the bill. It also includes funding for abortions which the Republicans and 40 or more Democrats have said they will not vote for. This bill has coverage for ILLEGAL ALIENS. The Bluedog Democrats have stated they want more information. This also does not bode well for the passage of this bill. This is a HUGELY regressive power grab with thousands of SHALLS in it, each with its threat of punitive fines or imprisonment and back-breaking taxation, which is a huge gun pointed directly at the freedom of every United States citizen. It is for this precise reason that our forefathers chose to throw off the yoke of tyranny to become a free people. Americans  are rightfully incensed. The American people are about to speak in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. It’s a harbinger of things to come. Nancy…Keep your historic moment! We don’t want your European Socialist Healthcare!

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

(Cross-posted)

I wish that I could write a paragraph that start “the problem with the health care bill is…” but there are so many problems with the health care bill that to single out just one is ridiculous. The bill is a monstrosity in the truest sense of the word – it is an excessively bad object of frightening size and complexity.

The size alone is enough to give pause. 1,990 pages of law that no representative (or representative’s staff) will read or understand in its entirety before (or after) it is voted on. I’m not going to argue that every bill should be read by every legislator before it is voted on. That seems unrealistic. But I’d like to know that it can be done and that the provisions of the bill can be understood both separately and when placed in their context. I think that some lawmakers will attempt to read and understand the bill with their staff, but undoubtedly they will come up with completely contradictory ideas of what is actually meant by the bill. The actual debate will be rushed (as it has been all year long) and a vote far to premature for the subject matter will be held. The only question mark over it passing the House is just how many Blue Dogs will actually stick to their positions.

Note to Blue Dogs: If you are going to claim to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal, then at some point you have to actually vote in a fiscally conservative manner. We (those of us citizens who actually are fiscally conservative and socially liberal) are getting sick of the charade.

The bill doesn’t (and can’t possibly) accomplish so many of the goals that it supporters claim that it does. Key example: Many supporters of this form of health care reform claim that a lot of the waste in the system is because insurance companies spend a lot of money lobbying the government that could be spent on health care (or reducing cost or whatever). Do they really think that by making the profits of those insurance companies more tied to government decisions that there will be less lobbying? That seems ridiculous on its face. If I ran an insurance company, then the more that my profits depended on government decisions the more money and effort I am going to spend on lobbying to make sure that I get the right contract or that lawmakers/bureaucrats make the decision in my favor. This isn’t that difficult of a concept: Big government leads to big lobbying. No matter what some people might argue big government doesn’t fight against big business – big government begets big business. Just ask the financial industry.

Another thing that I worry is the tax implications. Whether you “pay” for this (I put it in quotes because we should all recognize that, like social security and welfare, debt is what will really “pay” for the bill) with taxes on good health insurance plans or taxes on income, you are having some pretty bad outcomes. Tax good health insurance plans and companies have a disincentive to offer them – not only will the company have to pay (part of) the cost of the good health insurance plan, but they will have to pay the employee more to cover the cost of the extra tax the employee will have to pay (or the employee just functionally makes less money). Set a maximum level of health insurance that won’t get taxed and that is just where everyone is going to end up. There would be a disincentive to have better health care for everyone except for those at the very top who can afford it. And that won’t be enough to cover the costs of everyone else. Or just raise taxes on the highest earners and we are moving farther down a path that has, to this point, led to 57% of Americans paying 100% of the taxes. Seriously. A little over 43% of Americans pay zero federal income tax. Now, I don’t think that everyone should pay taxes. Some people can’t afford it plain and simple. They are impoverished and should be helped. But it is not true that 43% of Americans cannot afford to pay in to the system. Of course, if you don’t pay taxes, you don’t worry when taxes get raised. Especially if the raising of the taxes give you something. I know that our Country was founded on No Taxation Without Representation, but how long can we ignore the counter of that statement – that with representation comes the responsibility to put in to the system?

Am I arguing that nothing needs to be done with our heath care system? No. There clearly are problems with it that need to be solved. The employer based system needs to be replaced. Not with a public system, but with an individual based system.

Is it frightening where this particular bill leads us? Yes. Very much so.

If you build your house on sand….President Obama is getting some of his karma back. His unmitigated arrogance and self-aggrandizement is going to come at a terrible price to the country…to him and those around him. But they can’t see that yet. Now we even see the First Lady politicizing breast cancer, to advance what is very probably going to be a health care bill which is going to arrive DOA. From my lips to God’s ears. The House bill, should it pass, would cost this country ONE TRILLION DOLLARS and counting. Nothing the government EVER does comes in at anywhere close to the wild imaginings of the authors of these nutzoid  creations. As we speak, there appears to be an insurrection in the House which will stop “Nancy with the Smiling Eyes” bill dead in its tracks. A group of 40 pro-life Democrats has joined with Republicans to pledge to VOTE NO on any bill which has provision for funding for abortions… which it does. This would ensure that the bill in its present form would never leave the House floor. Nothing this President, or the Marxists he’s imported to his government have done, has been with the interest of the American people, the economy, or our military services who are engaged around the world fighting an implacable enemy who would see this country destroyed. It has been done to further an only slightly less onerous ideology, whose goal is control over every aspect of American life and values. The assault by the administration on the first amendment, as exemplified by the attack on Fox News, has been (at long last) met by a unified group of major network editorial chiefs who must have finally woken up and smelled the skunk cabbage that is the Obama White House. They saw, belatedly, but they saw that they would invariably be next. They have drawn a line in the sand. Now we get to see if they have the strength of their convictions. This fight has only just been joined. The White House’s FCC lapdogs are after the freedom of the internet also…resistance is mounting to that assault as we speak. A FREE PRESS IS A FREE SOCIETY… the internet is part of that press, free and unrestrained it is a priceless resource for instantaneous delivery of information. True it is incumbent upon the user to filter through the mists of sometimes wildly inaccurate and fanciful stories that are available out there, but this is freedom of expression and the press also. Keep your hands off our Net. Keep your hands off our radios, keep your hands of of our televisions. The communist leftists cannot compete in the arena of ideas, so they have to co-opt it through stacked courts and regulatory agencies which are not subject to the crucible of public scrutiny, whose examination they cannot withstand. Darkness and secrecy were ever their way. The Free Press and the Free Internet cast a light upon them which shows them for what they are. Enemies of America…and Enemies of the American people.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

If the public option passes in some form, thank the liberal blogosphere who put pressure on Democratic members of Congress to publicly threaten to derail health care reform if it wasn't included in the final bill.

The specter of Democrats reverse-filibustering their own President's plan is what has kept the public option alive, even if one could argue that "alive" is akin to a persistent vegetative state.

Contrast this to yes-man approach of the Congressional GOP in the early Bush years, and I personally find a lot to like about the Democratic model of the Congressional party serving as a sort of whip against the political expediency that will be the norm in any White House.

In 2005, I thought it would have been a good idea for conservative Republican members to publicly threaten to oppose any Social Security bill that did not include private accounts. There were multiple problems with this, not the least of which that the Congressional leadership was too spineless to bring a bill out of committee. But another was that conservatives in the House and Senate, with no strategic prodding or muscle in the blogosphere and the activist groups, never made the threat that would have rendered a "compromise" bill dead on arrival.

How groups like Open Left and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee are taking on the role of legislative strategy is very smart, and something we can learn from. How the right has fueled the tea party movement to feed into a sense of backlash in the country about the left's total control of government is also very smart, and may have the last laugh in 2010, but will it be enough to deal with the immediate task at hand, derailing a government takeover of health care? I'm not so sure.

Of course, this could all blow up in their faces. Having destroyed any possiblity of compromise, or at least defined "compromise" as something very, very close to an absolutist-left position on health care, the left-blogosphere has ensured that the only alternative to doing nothing at all is a very leftist final bill. And if that's the choice, doing nothing becomes a much, much more palatable option for the Blue Dogs. I'm personally unsure as to how they thread the needle of getting a public option passed with 60 votes.  

Still, it's valuable to understand what the left is doing and how it differs from the Congressional GOP "roll over" strategy on White House initiatives in the Bush years, in which we either actively collaborated on bad bills (Medicare Part D) or didn't make a serious push to make the good bills (tax cuts, Social Security) even stronger.

Dem Rep. A Grayson says "die quickly" is the Repub health care plan. and the leftists plan is... don't even be born! (Abortion)

     The first amendment to the United States Constitution reads;

     Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Ratified 12/15/1791 

     In direct contradiction to that right, here is part of a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, issued Sep 21, 2009;

Medicare today called on Medicare-contracted health insurance and prescription drug plans to suspend potentially misleading mailings to beneficiaries about health care and insurance reform. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently asked Humana, Inc. to end similar mailings. Humana has agreed to do so.

     The problem started when the huge insurance company Humana, Inc. had the audacity to send an informational letter to its health insurance customers. Humana is the company that manages health plans for Medicare beneficiaries. In the letter, the customers were informed that "millions of seniors and disabled individuals" could lose "important benefits and services" under the reform proposals being considered by Congress. The customers were urged to contact their congressional representatives over their concerns.

      Well, that explains it. We can’t have all the common citizens running around all over the place with actual information. They must accept what they are told by Washington and be happy with it.  

     These are private companies, owned and operated by private American citizens. The federal government has told those companies, operated by those United States citizens, to shut up. Apparently the first amendment doesn’t protect their speech, unless that speech agrees with the government. 

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell asks – “Where is the outrage from the media on this abuse of power? Here we have an orchestrated and deliberate attempt to keep American citizens in the dark, particularly vulnerable seniors. Their very health is at risk, yet all but ABC have chosen to keep their audiences in the dark about this abuse. If they aren't willing to probe and at least question the administration on this blatant offense, what else are they shoving under the rug”?

I can’t believe this is happening here in the Land of the Free. America had better wake up in a hurry.

Read more at http://commonconservativesense.com 

When Senator and former presidential contender John McCain proposed taxing health benefits, then candidate Obama minced no words when voicing his opposition.  Last September, while speaking in Dover, Delaware candidate Obama said, “… I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. My opponent can’t make that pledge, and here’s why: for the first time in American history, he wants to tax your health benefits Apparently, Senator McCain doesn’t think it’s enough that your health premiums have doubled, he thinks you should have to pay taxes on them too. That’s a $3.6 trillion tax increase on middle class families. That will eventually leave tens of millions of you paying higher taxes. That’s his idea of change.” Then, in March, President Obama took a different tone altogether. Ceci Connolly, Washington Post writer, reported the following on June 3, 2009. “President Obama, in a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric, told Democratic senators yesterday that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage.” Today, Bloomberg.com reports, “Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled a plan to overhaul the health-care system that would mandate insurance for almost all Americans, impose a tax on health insurers and possibly cut the federal deficit. According to a “very preliminary” estimate by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, Baucus’s proposal would raise $259 billion in taxes, mostly from imposing a 35 percent excise tax on insurers that offer health plans valued at more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for couples.” That’s the ticket – tax the insurance companies. I’m sure they’ll just eat that loss, surely they won’t pass the cost along to the customers. Liberals, I have a news flash for you. Individuals pay ALL taxes, whether directly or indirectly. I’d say Obama has the change part of his slogan covered. He changed his tax policy on heath benefits 180 degrees. It’s the hope part he still needs to work on. At least he can continue to claim transparency. This scam is visible from a mile away. More at http://commonconservativesense.com

With a reported bump in public support for some variation on Obamacare after the President’s speech last week, there is no time to rest. Rather, it’s time to drive stakes into the heart of the “public option” vampire. And stakes we shall provide. The following are solid reasons why no version of the public option must be resurrected:

1. A government “competitor” can’t go out of business when it fails. Failing government entities only drains resources from more productive places—not to mention from taxpayers. (Witness the Postal Service.) The left has been particularly disingenuous with this constant doublespeak about the public options offering “competition and choice.” This is another example of the left trying cleverly to co-opt the language of the right. Call the b.s.  
2. Sooner or later any public option will be subsidized by the government. This will put private companies at a competitive disadvantage, which is not only unfair, but threatens the private market so many Americans currently enjoy (despite all the cost-drivers created by government).
3. A public option will create a new set of special interests and dependents. These supplicants will be beholden to the Democrats and Barack Obama. This is why government programs never go away. People who don’t think this is really about buying their power with our tax dollars are kidding themselves.
4. Co-ops are a ruse. We already have non-profit health insurance companies with their own special place in the tax code. They’re called Blue Cross Blue Shield. Talk of co-ops is but a ruse to reawaken the vampire. Co-ops too must be killed.
5. A public option will have different rules to play by.That’s not fair.  Believe it or not, the regulations and mandates that make premiums unaffordable in places like MA, NJ and NY are not as bad at the federal level. So the regulatory framework for the public option would be more favorable than for insurance companies in most states. Another reason private insurers would die off—preparing the way for a complete government takeover of healthcare.

There are fundamental asymmetries between government and private companies. Those asymmetries make government provision of most goods and services unfair and illiberal. Let’s take these stakes and kill the public option. (Lest cries of “you have no proposal” go up from the Left, this should keep you busy. And this.)

(Note: Baucuscare – i.e. Obamacare Plan B – has most of the elements of the failed Massachusetts plan. The MA plan jockeys for most expensive in the country with NJ and NY. All are more expensive due to regs Baucus is proposing for the whole country.) 

President Obama gave a speech tonight extolling the virtues of getting his way on health care reform, and paying for it by finally tracking down the Bigfoot of federal spending: Medicare Waste.  Politicians have stalked it for decades on campaign trails, yet this elusive savings has never been captured by actual politicians. (Note: Perhaps "the Flying Dutchman of federal spending" would be a better metaphor; table it for now)  Cato @ Liberty has a good live-blog.

But let's skip a discussion of Democratic health care proposas for the moment.  And let's skip the standard Republican proposals - inter-state health insurance markets, tort reform, ending the employer-based health insurance problem, etc.

What health care reform proposals should Republicans consider? I'll start with a couple:

• Safety Net: Eliminate Medicare/Medicaid and replace it with Megan McArdle's suggestion: "catastrophic federal insurance for those whose medical bills exceed 15-20% of gross income".  The safety net would still be in place for everybody - stronger, even - but it would be more targeted on actual need and unpredictable, catastrophic health care bills.  Plus, since insurance companies wouldn't have to worry about unpredictably escalating costs, health insurance should cost dramatically less.

• Break up the Medical Cartels: Absurdly restrictive licensing barriers to providing even rudimentary care make health care very, very expensive.  Any parent can tell you children's ear infections are about as common as weekends.  And they're about as hard to diagnose, too.  Yet, instead of just picking up the amoxicillin over the counter and giving it to the crying child (20 minutes, tops), parents have to spend a very substantial portion of a day trying to see the doctor (and kids never have ear infections during regular doctor's hours) and getting a prescription filled.  That's insane.  It doesn't take a decade's worth of medical training to diagnose an ear infection.  So let's have a more graduated licensing system, with vocational schools teaching the lower-level diagnostics and treatments.  Let's expand the Physician's Assistant and Nurse Practitioner classifications (a good start), so that more people can provide more health care options (supply) at lower prices. 

Your turn.