ObamaCare: Debunking the Debunking

O-heads will be spending the month of August reeducating you on the merits of Dear Leader's hostile takeover of the health care industry. They need you to believe that government-run health care is a sweet deal. We'll go through some of their asinine points.

Americans say: "I'm happy with what I have."

O-heads respond: Most Americans with health insurance are happy with the level of service and care they receive, and we don't want to change that.

Reality: Obama might not WANT to increase dissatisfaction with health care in America, but ObamaCare will have plenty of "unintended" consequences. For example: 56% of Americans with employer-based coverage would lose their current insurance, shifting 88.1 million people out of their current employer-based plan.

Common Sense: "Tax payers shouldn't be forced to provide health insurance for illegal immigrants."

O-heads respond: There are restrictions on benefits for those "who are not lawfully present in the United States."

Reality: Any commitment to restrict taxpayer funds to law abiding citizens is shaky at best. Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee defeated an amendment that would have prevented illegal aliens from using the so-called “public health insurance option.” This week, the Energy and Commerce Committee recently voted 29-28 to defeat a Republican amendment to strengthen ID requirements designed to prevent illegal immigrants from getting Medicaid benefits.

Legitimate question: "Would ObamaCare make taxpayer dollars available to fund abortions?"

O-heads respond: Abortion is not mandated in any reform legislation. Current reform efforts will allow consumers to choose a plan that is provided by a company that is in line with their own moral decision about abortion. Abortion is not mandated in the reform legislation.

Reality: First, let's take a moment for a straw man alert. WE know Obama isn't forcing private insurance companies to cover abortions...yet. The question is, "How much taxpayer money will be siphoned from taxpayers to provide abortion services?" The answer is not clear, but "under the Democrats’ scheme, insurance plans would have to provide people an 'essential benefits package.' This package would be...based on recommendations from a new federal advisory committee. As the bill is written, there is nothing that could keep federal bureaucrats from mandating that coverage of abortions be included in the 'essential benefits package.'"

Concern: "The stimulus package failed, so what reason is there to believe health care reform won't fail too?"

O-heads respond: The stimulus package was meant to take effect over two years.

Reality: Obama told us the stimulus package would not allow unemployment to rise above 8%. Unemployment is at 9.5% and is on track to surpass 10%. Team Obama has admitted that they misread the economy. Is Obama more knowledgeable about health care? Does he have more experience in the health care industry?

Good point: "Democrats in congress keep trumpeting the benefits of a public option, but refuse to accept the plan for themselves and their families."

O-heads respond: Republican Senator Tom Coburn introduced a sarcastic amendment requiring members of Congress to enroll in the public option - and the Democrats passed it! We're all in this together.

Reality: House Democrats have refused to support a similar resolution. The Senate Amendment is unlikely to show up in the final health care bill. We shall see!

Concern: "It is frightening to think that the government could force you from your current health coverage plan, especially if you are satisfied with the service."

O-heads respond: The House bill allows for existing policies to be grandfathered in, so that people who currently have individual health insurance policies will not lose coverage

Reality: Under ObamaCare, your individual insurance policy is probably doomed, even if it is grandfathered. As individual policy-holders drift away into government-run insurance exchanges, insurers will likely find that they don't have a viable risk-pool in the dwindling individual market anymore.

Great idea: "Instead of offering a government-run public option, Congress should allow the purchase of insurance across state lines."

O-heads respond: Health insurance companies would relocate to those states with the laws best suited to the company's profit margin and Americans would suffer.

Reality: At first glance, allowing consumers to purchase insurance across state lines is not the sexiest idea, but it would revolutionize the health insurance market. Admittedly, a National Market for Health Insurance wouldn't give politicians more power, and it wouldn't do much for any special interest groups, but health care options would multiply explosively and prices would drop like a rock. A typical health-insurance policy in heavily regulated New York costs almost four times as much as in less regulated Iowa ($388 a month versus $98 a month for the same coverage). Why not give New Yorkers the opportunity to buy insurance from Iowa?

Important concern: "Government control of health care will only lead to delayed and denied care as some government bureaucrat makes arbitrary decisions about personal care."

O-heads respond flippantly: Americans' health care is already rationed, by the private health insurance industry.

Reality: Nice try O-bots! Health care resources are not unlimited, so rationing will occur on some level no matter what system we have in place. But rationing by government is far more draconian than any other form of rationing. Government rations resources on the basis of irrational political considerations rather than on rational economic considerations. Also note that if your private insurance abuses you, you can choose from 1,300 other providers in this country. If the Federal Government abuses you what are you gonna do? Go to Mexico?

Concern: "The government option is the first step towards a single-payer (government-run) system like Canada and Great Britain."

O-heads respond; Neither of those systems is being used as a model to reform American health care. Our solution will be uniquely American and will ensure the continuation of the private health insurance industry, preserving American choice and entrepreneurship.

Reality: 1. Platitudes make me vomit. 2. Barney Frank (D) says the public "option" is best way to reach single payer (government-run) health care.

Americans say: "I don't want some faceless Washington bureaucrat making health care decisions for me and my family."

O-heads respond: Insurance companies have bureaucrats.

Reality: There are 1,300 competing providers of health insurance. There is one Federal Government. Whose bureaucrats should we fear most?

Americans say: "We don't need more government bureaucracy that will turn a visit to the doctor's office into a visit to the DMV."

O-heads respond: If you get sick, insurance companies will find any simple mistake on your application in order to rescind your coverage. With increased government involvement in the health insurance delivery system, these things just won't happen.

Reality: You MUST be kidding.

Intemperate Thoughts

Intemperate thoughts on issues of the day:

Liberal blogger calls for a strike!

“On September 3rd and 4th, two days before our Labor Day Weekend, Americans across this country should refuse to work, unless a universal health care bill is in place.”

My question: Should health care workers participate in this strike? I think they should. It will help lefties see what the waiting times will be like if ObamaCare is implemented.

John Conyers (D-Mich), Sees No Point In Reading The Health Care Bill.

“What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”

HA! This would be funny if it were a joke. Unfortunately, Conyers provides no evidence to suggest that he was joking.

1. I don't see the point in having a Congress if they're not going to read their own legislation.

2. If you need two lawyers, hire two lawyers. House members get a government expense allowance of $1.3 million to $1.9 million a year. Senators get $2.9 million to $4.5 million. You can afford to hire some help.

The Gay Marriage Slippery Slope Is Back

I think the slippery slope arguments are quite persuasive. Either society defines marriage narrowly (in the interest of strengthening and stabilizing the family), or marriage becomes some kind of god-awful chimera pieced together by various special interest groups.

Warning

The overwhelming majority of Americans who voted for Obama thought they were voting for a moderate Democrat. They did not think they were voting for the government to take over the auto industry, to commandeer the financial sector and to destroy private insurance. Wake up lefties, if you continue to overreach, you’re going to regret it.

August Recess

I've said this elsewhere, but it bears repeating. Please tell members of Congress, "If you plan to support ObamaCare, use your August recess to begin planning for a permanent return to your home district."

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More on the wackjob science czar the MSM ignores

Join the nationwide Recess Rally (August 22) to make it known that we will not stand for socialized, gov controlled healthcare.

10% of the cost of healthcare is attributable to ambulance chasers. What can be done? Nothing, as long as BO is in charge.

To protect ObamaCare, Dems continue their assault on the First Amendment.

AG Holder caves in to ‘Shoe Bomber’ demands

K.I.S.S. is the cure for healthcare reform

From Gateway Pundit: Compared with other nations, health care costs are rising modestly in USA. Where's the crisis!

Love this convenient tool! Take out Obama's message, put in your own. Tweet Senators to defeat ObamaCare ➔ http://tr.im/uH0t

Your Post-Racial President

If you haven't seen it already, you must watch this:

How did BO get us so far off track? Shouldn't we be talking about the Cap and Trade bill or health care reform? Maybe Obama grew tired of talking about health care — maybe he just wanted to change the subject when he made his racially charged remarks at his press conference on Jul 22. I doubt he was prepared for the subsequent plunge in his approval ratings.

Now that O has had an unsuccessful press conference, hopefully he'll stop having press conferences every other night.

[We take you back to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.]

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A Post-Racial President?

An 18th century philosopher said, "When I speak I put on a mask. When I act I am forced to take it off." Barack Obama's mask slipped for a moment last week but he quickly recovered, with the help of the media. But we should never forget what we saw.

Obama's Mandate: Down The Drain

• The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that 40% of the nation's voters now strongly disapprove of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.


• Twenty-nine percent (29%) strongly approve giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. This is the first time his ratings have reached double digits in negative territory.


• The Presidental Approval Index is based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis.


• Sunday's update is the first update based entirely upon interviews conducted after the President’s prime time televised press conference (Gates-Crowley/healthcare).


• The number who Strongly Approve of the President has remained unchanged since the press conference but the number who Strongly Disapprove has gone up by five percentage points (from 35% on Wednesday morning to 40% today).


• The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve.
  

Why ObamaCare Will Fail

Obama has good things to say about the Mayo Clinic: "One of the things I’m going to be discussing with the health and the finance committees is how can we change incentive structures so that, for example, places like Mayo Clinic in Minnesota are able to provide some of the best health care services in the country at half or sometimes even less of the costs than some other areas where the quality is not as good.”

But the Mayo Clinic is not as enthusiastic about ObamaCare:

"[T]he proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite. In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented."

Denis Cortese, President and CEO of Mayo Clinic (also a physician), has a very interesting perspective. He shared his thoughts on the Charlie Rose show on Wednesday. Please take a few minutes to watch. It's well worth your time.

Unfortunately, Cortese is not opposed to more centralized government intrusion into the health care industry, but he understands the limitations of government imposed health care reform and he knows the rush to implement ObamaCare is doomed to fail.

Here are his most interesting points:

• We already have several public plans including Medicare, Medicaid, TriCare, the VA system, and the Federal employees health care plan. Why are we wasting time trying to build another?

• The question is not how to get everybody ensured...Massachusetts has shown that there's at least one way to accomplish that goal. The fundamental problem is designing a delivery system that can provide health care value.

• Health care value takes quality and cost into account.

• Congress is focused on cost, there is almost no discussion about quality.

• An efficient and effective health care system will define value, measure it, and reward it.

• We must acknowledge that Congress cannot design a health care delivery system, let alone one that provides good health care value. Congress is busy with the job of representing the people, they not selected to be a board of directors for an insurance agency.

• We have to "get health care stuff out of congress."

Very good points all. There are there many intelligent people in the world of health care who understand the need to get government out of health care. Unfortunately, they don't always see that the way to do that is to turn health care over to the hardworking people and the brilliant minds of the free market.

It is our responsibility to help them see more clearly.

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Free speech is killing Obama's agenda so Dems are killing free speech

Attack on the First Amendment

Obama's disapproval rating 51% for the first time

A health care reform plan that makes sense.

"Patient Dumping" Scheme Involving First Lady Michelle Obama: Video

We Are Winning

Jim DeMint is leading the fight against ObamaCare, and he is doing quite a good job. As he noted on Twitter, "Reid and Pelosi have delayed a vote on a government takeover of health care until September; your voices are being heard." He goes on: "[The] American people are winning the healthcare debate, let's use August to fight for true reform, not a takeover."

On his website, DeMint continues. "Americans can win this debate but they are going to have to continue speaking out. They know the promises the President has made do not match up with the policies he is pushing. Over the August break, [voters] need to connect with their Congressmen and Senators and let know that Washington shouldn’t make their families’ health care decisions."

Along those lines, Alex Castellanos provides some excellent talking points for August:

Us vs. Them

• They want a Washington-centered plan.
• We support patient-centered reforms.

• They want a big Washington Experiment with our health.
• We want common-sense fixes that will yield real results.

• They want to start building a closed health care system in which government tells you which doctors you can see and limits the treatments and cures your doctor can order.
• The patient-centered health care movement supports an open health-care system in which patients and doctors make those decisions.

• They want a top-down system where distant and uncaring bureaucrats end up deciding who gets what.
• We want a bottom-up, patient-centered system where control remains with you and your doc.

• They want politically driven cost control from Washington.
• We want to get politics out of health care, not to put more politics in. We want common sense fixes, not politically driven experiments.

• They want to empower a big Washington-run monopoly to control your health care.
• We say big monopolies are bad no matter who runs them, whether it is big government or big businesses.

What ObamaCare will bring:

• ObamaCare plan will put government in charge.
• Obama's plan will cut hundreds of millions of dollars from seniors on Medicare.
• Obama will further bankrupt the country with trillions more in deficit spending.
• Obama's plan will raise a lot of taxes on middle class families and businesses. Taxing insurance, taxing sodas, even taxing health care benefits.
• Obama's plan will tempt your employer to dump you into a cheaper, government-run health care program.

In a nutshell, getting government more involved is not going to reduce costs. It will extend wait times, limit what you can get, cost you coverage; raise your taxes and the deficit.

This risky experiment is not something leaders on either side should rush through Congress in a few days or weeks. Even voters who support a "public plan" think Obama and Congress are moving too fast, with reckless speed, risking a huge part of our economy and our health care, when they don't know what the "reform" would really bring.

Slow Down, Obama, and read the bill!

Real Reform

• We want to change the law so you can take your health insurance with you if you have to change jobs.

• We want to cut out the "Washington health care middle-man," reducing expensive bureaucracy to produce big health care savings.

• Every American should have equal opportunity to get the best value and buy the cheapest insurance no matter where he lives or who he works for. We want to change the law so any American can buy the lowest cost insurance available nationwide, not just in their home states — whether from insurance companies, businesses, church groups, college alumni associations, or groups like the AARP, who often provide it less expensively.

• We believe doctors should be protected from frivolous, expensive lawsuits so they can work together with other doctors and patients in their communities to reduce unnecessary and expensive tests and procedures.

• We believe in bottom-up health care savings: every American should get a tax deduction for their health insurance premiums.

• Where possible we should duplicate Safeway's plan, which gives employees a stake in holding down health care costs. Instead of cutting care or shifting costs to employees, Safeway has held health care costs flat, while it's up 40% for the rest of corporate America.

• Congress should be required to play by the same rules as everyone else, and we should eliminate lifetime health care benefits and insurance for Congressmen who leave their jobs.

More

Think the GOP is the party of "NO" on healthcare reform? Think again.

Obama Attacks Docs and Cops.

Hillary declares: The U.S. 'is back'! (Back from what??)

DeMint points out that Dems — not him — are biggest obstacle to health reform.

Cambridge Police Officer To Obama: Butt Out of My Arrest

Whose side is he on? Idiot Obama says 'victory' not necessarily the goal in Afghanistan

Does an illegal alien deserve “free” medical coverage your mother can’t get?

Take Two Aspirin And Call Me When Your Cancer is Stage 4.

Virgo: You will suffer from a sinus infection, but your doc will insist on removing your tonsils.

Finally...

Congratulations to just a conservative girl on the success of her e-mail tsunami as noted by Politico!

Universal Coverage Does Not Mean Universal Care

Universal coverage does not mean universal care.

What good is health insurance if you can't get medical attention? This is the question that arises when politicians ration health care. Residents of Massachusetts are learning about all this the hard way. Will we learn from their mistakes? Let's break down Massachusetts' sad story:

• Chapter 58, Massachusetts' universal health care plan, was signed into law by Mitt Romney in April 2006. It is seen as a model for nationwide healthcare reform.

• Under Massachusetts law, any individual earning at least $32,508 a year must purchase health insurance. Those who earn less are eligible for subsidized coverage.

• Residents who obtain no coverage incur a state-imposed fine of approximately $1000/year.

• Physicians who care for patients on state-subsidized plans lose money. "In effect," one physician says, "I hand them $20 when they walk out the door."

• Chapter 58 created an estimated 400,000 newly insured residents in less than two years and Massachusetts' glut of doctors quickly became a critical shortage.

• More than 41% of primary care practices in the state did not accept new patients in 2008, up from 28% in 2006

• Wait times for new-patient appointments rose from four weeks in 2006 to nearly eight weeks in 2008 for general internal medicine doctors. (Nationally, average wait time is slightly under three weeks.)

• Universal coverage has resulted in universal price hikes. By some estimates, costs of covering the state's newly insured are rising by almost 10% each year

• Overall healthcare spending on state-sponsored insurance has risen 23% since 2006.

• "If the problem is cost, reform has failed. Costs have gone up, not down. Since Massachusetts reformed their system, health costs have followed the same path as the U.S. as a whole: a steady upward climb, faster than inflation or wages."

• Doctors are miserable. "Anyone who can is leaving the state"

(From Medical Economics)

"If universal care in Massachusetts cannot stem the tide of rising costs [or deliver the care people need] is there hope for similar plans on the national stage?" We will soon know the painful answer to that question if the Democrats manage to pass a health care bill.

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O's latest healthcare press conference: same old lies, same tired talking points

It is hard to think of a more obvious sign of weakness than attacking members of your own party.

Jim DeMint is under attack from Obama. Lend DeMint your support!

Set the record straight: Obama & Democrats voted AGAINST healthcare reform

37% strongly oppose Obamacare; 24% strongly favor Obamacare.

Waterloo!