Senator Grassley (and Others): Democrats' Want to Nationalize Healthcare

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley told Newsmax that the healthcare reform plans Democrats are proposing would be a "backdoor" to a Canadian-style, single-payer plan and the nationalization of healthcare.

(Senator Rick Santorum (PA) was on Greta Wire yesterday and said exactly the same thing as Senator Grassley in this article; Obama and Democrats wants Nationalized Healthcare.)

In an interview with Newsmax, TV's Kathleen Walter, Grassley indicated he would strenuously oppose Democratic plans advanced in the House and the Senate. The ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, he is one of three Republicans from the Committee involved in talks with Democrats on plans to overhaul the healthcare system.

Though a Republican, Grassley is considered a moderate on the healthcare issue and his view may hold sway over Democratic conservatives or “Blue Dogs” who have been on the fence over whether they’ll embrace health plans that President Obama has backed.

Grassley slammed a key element of Democratic plans – the so-called “public option.” Under these plans, individuals and businesses would be allowed to join the public healthcare insurance system.

But critics contend such a system, offering cheaper health care, would eventually bankrupt private insurers.

About the public option, Grassley said his biggest worry is "the extent to which the federal government runs everything — and that would be the case with the public option."

"And I want to say how that happens. It doesn't happen just because you pass a public option. It's a backdoor to a Canadian-style, single-payer plan. And don't forget, seven out of the 13 Democrats on Senator Kennedy's [Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions] did vote for a Canadian single-payer plan."

Grassley warned that such a system would increase costs and lead to massive new taxes.

President Obama has pledged not to raise taxes on middle-class Americans.

"First of all, a very very important consideration for any tax issue that's coming up right now is, when we're in the middle of a recession, why would you want to raise any taxes?" Grassley asked. He is also a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

"[Democrats have] got the feeling you can raise taxes on the top one percent and solve all the problems of government. That's not real. You could confiscate, let alone tax, all the income over $250,000 that people make each year, and you couldn't run the federal government for more than three or four months. So it's idiotic to think that's a solution...

"You get the feeling that [Democrats] not only want to tax at 39.6 percent, but also add 5 percent to it for healthcare, and add on the average of 5 1/2 percent for state income tax. Pretty soon you're above 50 percent, and pretty soon you have a higher level of taxation than Sweden has."

He also rejected demands by the president and some Democrats that Congress should pass healthcare legislation quickly.

"We're not focused on getting done by a certain time. There might be other people that have that in mind. But our goal is, quite frankly, to do it right.

"And when I say do it right, it involves two things that are very essential that we always have to keep in the back of our mind.

"Number one, we're talking about some restructuring of one-sixth of the economy. That's a big thing in and of itself that Congress has never done before.

"And the other one is that when you deal with something called healthcare, you're talking about the life and death of every American. And so for those two reasons, the prime consideration has to be to get it right, as opposed to get it done by a certain time."

Grassley noted that Democrats originally stated that they wanted to pass healthcare reform before the upcoming summer recess. But he said the 4-week recess will provide an opportunity for people to discuss the healthcare proposals and tell their representatives what they think of them.

"Much of this legislation doesn't go into effect until the year 2013 because it takes a long phase-in period, so what's one more week or one more month when our goal is to get it right?" Grassley said.

"Instead, we will work to develop a nonpartisan bill that will not lead to the nationalization of health insurance, which you do through a public option."

Grassley also said he opposes Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court because she is a "judicial activist" who "believes you ought to be able to legislate from the bench," and warned that the cap-and-trade plan being pushed by Democrats would lead to the export of all manufacturing in the U.S. to China.

See Video: Sen. Charles Grassley reveals how much damage the Democrat’s ‘public option’ could do to American medical care - Click Here Now

By: Jim Meyers

Source: NewsMax

Related Resources:

• Socialized Medicine Update – From Congressman John Campbell’s Laptop to Yours
• Government Insurance Would Allow Coverage For Abortions
• Skyrocketing Health Costs Inevitable With ‘Reform’ – John Stossel
• Reinventing Health Care System Pure Arrogance
• Free Competition Best Healthcare Solution
• Healthcare Reformers Defeat the Purpose
• WSJ: Health Reform and the tax Pledge
• Dick Morris Says Obamacare Will Replace Medicare – And What to do to Save Health Care
• The Ultimate Resting Place of Socialized Medicine
• Useless Eaters
• GovernmentCare’s Assault on Seniors
• ObamaCare For Seniors: Sorry, You’re Just Not Worth It
• Obamacare for Illegal Aliens – While Granny Gets Duty to Die Lecture
• Who Will Tell Michael J. Fox He Needs to Die?
• Kristol: Kill It, And Start Over
• Kennedy: Let’s Ration Healthcare

When you start losing political swing state ACORN proponents like Claire McCaskill, you know things are bad! This is not a good sign for TEAM OBAMA and this why you are starting to see acts of desperation from both the White House and Pelosiphiles in Reid Loyalists in both houses of Congress and it will get worse.

The White House is in essence asking Americans to ‘snitch’ on other Americans by emailing them any information about the Obamacare that is misleading… Hello?? Sounds like…?!?

Mind you, the White House (on their site) is asking Americans to report to them any emails, websites and the content of ‘casual conversations’ about ObamaCare that contains mis (or dis) information… Judge Andrew Napolitano says this is absolutely unconstitutional!!! It is 100% against the 1st Amendment and has been tested at the Supreme Court level. Also, the White House has a staff of people capable of picking up pretty much anything on the Internet… so?!? When Robert Gibbs was question about this, he tapped danced, as usual. When asked about the White House collecting the names and emails of people reporting the information (which is also required by law) he first said they weren’t going to keep them and then when pushed on the point, said they wouldn’t share them?!?

Civil Rights Attorney, Tamara Holden, said today… The White House asking for this type of information is illegal and questionable. And the biggest question is: “What is the Obama White House going to do with this information??? Watch and track the people who have been reported? Track them indirectly through the back door online? Compile and enemies list? Keep files on citizens? And then are they going to put the names and emails of the people who reported them, who they think agree with them, on other lists and give them to friendly groups to recruit or minimally use for the Obama re-election campaign?

• Obama Goes Into Chicago-style Community Organizer Mode
• White House Initiates “Snitch” Program On What They Call Misinformation Being Disbursed on Healthcare Reform

Nancy Pelosi (and her followers) is accusing concerned Americans who are afraid of losing their healthcare, being asked to listen to duty to die lectures and then told they aren’t worthy or are too old to receive needed treatments and are exercising their 1st Amendment rights of being organized by the RNC or rich people against her/their plan and accusing them of being mobs and carrying swastikas. None of that is true. (And if perhaps one or two have gotten over-zealous and painted a swastika on their homemade picket sign… do you think the White House’s Hitler Youth inspired snitching program might have given them the wrong idea?) Besides, if that were true, Pelosi would have photos!?! Grassroots movements and worried individuals (some of whom have never stood up for themselves or protested and picketed for anything before) are just fed up and scared and finally exercising their rights as Americans!

Grass-roots Opposers to ObamaCare In Texas and Penn – Do These People Really Sound Like Uninformed Organized Mobs?

The experts, the people who have actually read HR 3200, responsible elected officials (Governors, Congress People, Senators and ex-Politicians), and average Americans are realizing that Obamacare (and of the 5 bills now being considered) is a power grab not healthcare reform; will ultimately end up in full-blown socialized medicine; will ration care especially for the elderly… which in Britain begins at 59 for some procedures and the lack of certain life-saving medications for everyone, high costs for worse healthcare, long waits for treatment, and more government in your life.

• HR-3200 - full report
• *Letter to Your Congress Person on Health Care (Obamacare) HR3200
• *A Look at What is Really in the Health Care Bill (HR 3200): Chilling!

There are many out there: Pawlenty, DeMint, Kyl, Romney, McCain, to name just a few ,who have ideas for real healthcare reform and have experience in what works and doesn’t work… but nobody is listening. And many financial experts feel that we could save enough to cover the bulk of the uninsured and actually improve services by just overhauling the system we have by enacting tort reform (limiting or doing away with frivolous lawsuits and the size of awards in warranted suits) and serious fraud control in Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits and Reservation Healthcare for Native Americans (all of which are inadequate and riddled with fraud now) plus changes in insurance laws and better regulation of the insurance companies, the AMA, and Big Pharma.

Another option is excluding or limiting care for Illigals. There is something wrong with a system that is talking about rationing to seniors but covering people who are here illegally!

There are also several systems (the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic) and improvements that are working or have usable components that were presented at the Senate hearings:

• Safeway’s Health Care Program Gets Attention

This fight over American Healthcare (like the fight over Cap and Tax… ah Trade) is one of those that could change the very fiber of our Country and concerns every American… even if you are so wealthy that you do not need coverage, because the system that is being promoted will not necessarily allow you to pay for procedures that aren’t approved by the government representative or doesn’t fall into the guidelines. Mind you the well connected in other countries with socialized medicine often receive “exceptions” and the others with money come here to the U.S. Wonder what they plan to do?

~~ If you believe that Grandpa’s life is worth no less that little Sally’s… you need to stand-up! ~~

What We (You) Can and Need To Do…

1. Inform yourself!!

2. Donate to groups and organizations launching and effective campaign

3. Talk to and email your friends, family and associates

4. Call, Write and Email your Senators and Congressman

5. Become Proactive

6. Don’t be intimidated!!

7. Demand answers

8. Follow your gut!!!!!!!!!!!

Information Resources:

• Catastrophe
• American Progressivism
• Liberal Fascism
• Saving Freedom
• Liberty and Tyranny
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense
• Culture of Corruption

Posted: Ask Marion - Knowledge Creates Power

O’s Broken Healthcare Promises

PRESIDENT Obama promises that "if you like your health plan, you can keep it," even after he reforms our health-care system. That's untrue. The bills now before Congress would force you to switch to a managed-care plan with limits on your access to specialists and tests.

Two main bills are being rushed through Congress with the goal of combining them into a finished product by August. Under either, a new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these "qualified plans." If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year "grace period" to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you'll have less time.

And as soon as anything changes in your contract -- such as a change in co-pays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year -- you'll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).

When you file your taxes, if you can't prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you'll be fined thousands of dollars -- as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size -- and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).

It's one thing to require that people getting government assistance tolerate managed care, but the legislation limits you to a managed-care plan even if you and your employer are footing the bill (Senate bill, p. 57-58). The goal is to reduce everyone's consumption of health care and to ensure that people have the same health-care experience, regardless of ability to pay.

Nowhere does the legislation say how much health plans will cost, but a family of four is eligible for some government assistance until their household income reaches $88,000 (House bill, p. 137). If you earn more than that, you'll have to pay the cost no matter how high it goes.

The price tag for this legislation is a whopping $1.04 trillion to $1.6 trillion (Congressional Budget Office estimates). Half of the tab comes from tax increases on individuals earning $280,000 or more, and these new taxes will double in 2012 unless savings exceed predicted costs (House bill, p. 199). The rest of the cost is paid for by cutting seniors' health benefits under Medicare.

There's plenty of waste in Medicare, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates only 1 percent of the savings under the legislation will be from curbing waste, fraud and abuse. That means the rest will likely come from reducing what patients get.

One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."

This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?

Shockingly, only a portion of the money accumulated from slashing senior benefits and raising taxes goes to pay for covering the uninsured. The Senate bill allocates huge sums to "community transformation grants," home visits for expectant families, services for migrant workers -- and the creation of dozens of new government councils, programs and advisory boards slipped into the last 500 pages.

All doctors will be forced to do abortions, no matter what their convictions.

The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll (June 21) finds that 83 percent of Americans are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their health care, and 81 percent are similarly satisfied with their health insurance. But this plan will ultimately evolve into a single-payer government-run healthcare system, with healthcare personal shortages, revenue shortages, long waits for care and rationing, unnecessary suffering and even death from lack of care, refusal of services for the elderly, while many still won’t be covered and the cost for this inefficient service will be astronomical.

They have good reason to be. If you're diagnosed with cancer, you have a better chance of surviving it in the United States than anywhere else, according to the Concord Five Continent Study. And the World Health Organization ranked the United States No. 1 out of 191 countries for being responsive to patients' needs, including providing timely treatments and a choice of doctors.

Congress should pursue less radical ways to cover the uninsured. We have too much to lose with this legislation.

By: Betsy McCaughey is founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a former lieutenant governor of New York. betsy@hospitalinfection.org

Even the Mayo Clinic says this is a bad plan… will add costs and will reduce care.

Source: New York Post

Call, email and write your congressperson, your Senator and Nancy Pelosi daily and say “no” to this program

1-202-224-3121- Congress Switchboard

1-202-225-3121- Congress Switchboard

(202) 225-0100 - Speaker of the House Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact or http://www.speaker.gov/contact

Senators from your State.

Related Resources:

British Healthcare: Don't Treat the Old!

ACORN Cracked: Exposes ACORN’s Push for Socialized Medicine

Best-selling author and Fox News analyst Dick Morris, author of Catastrophe and Fleeced, calls ACORNcracked.com a “one-stop clearinghouse to gain important intelligence on ACORN. It is a useful resource in exposing ACORN and its agenda unlike anything I've seen."

If you like what ACORN did to create the housing credit crisis, you’ll love how its leaders want to create health care “equality.”

Visit ACORNcracked.com to learn more about ACORN’s radical agenda for America, its bankrollers and allies, and its lurid plans for the American health care system.

Help Stop ACORN-style Socialized Medicine!

The sad truth is that a radical, left-wing organization like ACORN is actually affecting public policy, pushing America further down the slippery slope toward European-style socialism. ACORN alumni like President Obama and White House Director of Public Affairs Patrick Gaspard are busy enacting the organization’s agenda, beginning with health care.

ACORNcracked.com is designed to keep a finger on the pulse of this type of activity and alert the American people and media.

Help Us Get The Word Out – Donate Now!

The new website exposes ACORN’s history, which has resulted in lawsuits in 14 states involving alleged election law violations. It also examines the group’s continued campaigns against American companies, its financial supporters within the federal government, and its breathtaking strategy of seizing and occupying private property.

ACORN engages in campaigns against American companies by demanding money in exchange for “protection” against its own protests, ambushes, and PR campaigns. ACORN is so good at that type of racket, it would make Al Capone blush. This type of activity has to stop.

Help Us Expose ACORN-style Shakedowns of American Companies!

ACORN gets away with it because our elected leaders look the other way.

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) recently promised Americans he would investigate ACORN, but flip-flopped two months later, saying the “powers that be” blocked it.

We demand to know the identity of the “powers that be” that would block such a sensible inquiry. They obviously exist within the federal establishment, as the money trail tells us. According to Fox News, ACORN has secured “upwards of $53 million in federal grants since the early 90s.”

And what ACORN activities are funded with that money? As you’ll find on ACORNcracked.com, they repossess foreclosed homes by breaking in, trespassing and encouraging people to illegally squat there.

In Baltimore, an ACORN member proudly cut the padlock off a foreclosed home in front of local TV cameras and proclaimed, “This is our house now!”

Activities of this kind, supported by the “powers that be,” can only continue if the American people turn the other cheek. We need your help to continue exposing ACORN, its agenda and its allies.

Donate Now!

There is a growing body of research regarding ACORN, shining light on the questionable activities of the organization, but no single clearinghouse for all of the accumulated information. That’s what ACORNcracked.com is designed to be.

And the more financial resources that the site can gather, the more ammunition we at the Education Action Fund will have to further investigate and expose ACORN’s alarming misuse of the public funds it receives.

An Allegheny County judge recently ordered 7 former ACORN workers to stand trial in connection with “elections law violations. “Somebody has to go after ACORN,” Senior District Judge Richard H. Zoller said, according to the Tribune-Review. “We will,” was the reply from a county detective.

We will, too, your honor.

Please Click Here to assist us in our efforts, then keep a close eye on ACORNcracked.com.

Thank you.

Source: NewsMax/Education Action Fund

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Related Resources:

• Op-Ed: Obama's Census Castrates Caucasians
• Rep. Bachman Refuses To Fill Out 2010 Census
• Common Sense Congressman
• Rep Conyer's Probe of Acorn Blocked by Powers That Be
• Michelle Obama Wants More Input on the Presidents Agenda
• The (Contreras) Letter – Sent to Glenn Beck
• An Open Letter to President Obama From Lou Pritchett, a former Vice President of Proctor & Gamble...
• Liberty and Tyranny
• American Progressivism
• Liberal Fascism
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense – Available Now

Glenn Beck: Healthcare or Freedom grab?

Call Congress Today and Tell Them “No” Healthcare Reform With A Public Option

Switchboard of the House of Representatives

• 1-202-224-3121
• 1-202-225-3121
• (202) 225-0100 - Speaker of the House Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact or http://www.speaker.gov/contact
If the web contact form doesn't work, use this email address:
AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov

And Start Now to Lobby your Senators

United States Capitol switch board at (202) 224-3121

Senators from your State.

The media's saying the plan's going to cost $1 trillion over the next 10 years. By the way, you didn't know this was happening? Maybe this is the first time you heard it because they did this while you were asleep! Using the Congressional Budget Office's numbers, which seem like a lot for something that's supposed to be free ‑‑ but maybe that's just me ‑‑ $1 trillion for this free healthcare. But the problem is it's not even close to true. When you hear $1 trillion over 10 years, what do you think? What do you think? Do you think $100 billion a year, right? No. No, you've got to think like a congressman or a senator or a slime ball. That's what the left is hoping that you're thinking. It's actually far higher than that, and the reason is just like when you have liver failure on universal healthcare, most of the programs in the bill are on a long waiting list. But we are the world! We are the children! And Michael Jackson's dead. Should we talk about that some more?
The long waiting list of the programs in this bill, typical government delay. They don't actually kick in for a few years. Only 17% of the spending comes in in the first five years. 83% comes in in the second five years. So only 17% of us can have the frickin' sniffles! But once everything has kicked in, we're going to make the world a better place, just you and me. Once everything kicks in, the plan actually costs $230 billion a year, yet another lie from Washington. The cost rises every year.

Also, this cost of $230 billion a year does not include administrative costs. It doesn't account for the cost of implementing the program. It doesn't count the effects on other spending, not to mention the aspirin or the Advil that the millionaire won't give you now! So how do you pay for something that is so unbelievably free and yet so expensive? By using the only two answers these clowns ‑‑ I could call them so much more than that ‑‑ the only two answers that they ever have: One, you make the rich pay for it; and two, you let the government fix everything. Number one is, and I kid you not, an additional 5.4% surtax on everyone who makes over $1 million a year. Well, that's fine, the rich millionaire. You know, the guy who started out poor, worked his frickin' ass off. Yeah, let's penalize him so we can pay for the guy who refuses to work. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, the job that Americans just won't do.

There are other taxes as well, you know, for those who make between $350,000 and up. The 5.4% tax is almost double the original number leaked to the press last week and, of course, this hits the small businesses the hardest. If you are not feeling bad for the evil rich people, which I understand because they're all so evil, I had the president of my company. I am a small business owner. I employ 23 people, something like that, 20 people, 23 people. I have a total staff of part‑time and full‑time of about 45 people that we are involved with, but 23 full‑time employees. They all have 100% medical care, 100%. The best money can buy. I have matching. You make a charitable donation, I match it dollar for dollar. Everybody pretty much has a nice, nice existence. I asked the president of my company, do some back‑of‑the‑envelope math. This tax, just this tax by itself, completely independent of all other tax hikes that are coming our way, will stop me from hiring five and ten people. One tax on one small business cost between five and ten jobs. Think about that against the entire scale of the economy. You'll begin to see what this p lan is going to cost in free healthcare. The higher the tax, the less people get hired. The more people need government to give them healthcare or housing! This is a freedom grab!

By the way, the tax hikes only cover about half the plan. Half the plan. Wait a minute. Really? So what covers the rest of it? I kid you not, the expected ‑‑ I'm quoting ‑‑ the expected windfall savings that the government will achieve with government healthcare. Because we all know the government has a history of achieving unbelievable savings. I mean, there's no way the free market system could send an envelope across the country cheaper! There's no way they could do that! Jeez. If that plan, if you happen to be a hate monger and that plan sounds a little unlikely, you'll be interested to hear what the plan is if those savings don't materialize. But we, of course, know the government will save all kinds of money. This is going to be ‑‑ you are never going to have to have a heart transplant because as soon as this happens, our heart will grow three sizes that day. We'll all be super healthy. We'll just be living in sunshine, lollipops, candy contains and Tamiflu will flow in every river.

This is from the Politico report. If those savings don't materialize, quote, those making more than $1 million would see a 5.4% surtax added to the tax bill. Some of the rates could climb if anticipated savings from elsewhere in the bill did not materialize. So as long as the government does a far better job on anything else they've ever done, it should only be about 5.4% tax. If they can't, at this point they are claiming that it could go as high as double, so those five to ten jobs have now become ten to twenty jobs.

I just want to point out that there's no history of our government ever doing this. When they passed the income tax in 1913, the progressive income tax, Woodrow Wilson, they promised us it would never go as high as 10%. It was only 7% for the evil millionaires. 7%. It will never go past 10. Yeah, yeah. They passed it. Never go past 10. Four years later it was 67%. Oh, and by the way, it will never ‑‑ that was an emergency! And there's no more emergencies left. Just like ‑‑ 67%, but it was an emergency. It will never go higher than 60. It's just during the emergency, until the last emergency came or the next one where, I kid you not, the income tax was 92%.
FDR wanted to make it 100% of anybody who made over $25,000, but congress would only go to 94. Now, their other option that they talked about in the past is to pay for some of it with money that they take from you, if they can just get cap and trade. Mark my words. They are going to go for cap and trade. While we are all debating healthcare, they're going to go for cap and trade. Isn't that what happened last time? They introduce healthcare and then they pass cap and trade. Now here comes the healthcare bill. You see, they have to have cap and trade to be able to pass this. Remember, all of this is based on the idea that the evil insurance companies are just so profit‑hungry. The government can beat them in efficiency because they don't have to care about profits or paying CEOs millions of dollars. They won't have all of that greed.

If you take nothing else from this monologue, remember this one thing: Health insurance profits account for .6% of healthcare costs. .6%. That's not me saying that. That's factcheck.org. CEO pay accounts for .005% of costs. This is not about healthcare. It never has been about healthcare. This is about, what does he call it, remaking America. This is government taking control of 1/6th of the economy. In one signature they will take 1/6th of the economy. They will take your arteries, your valves and your pancreas. Yes, you heard me. Your pancreas is at stake. But don't worry because the government can save it, because there's a choice we're making. We are the world. Can I get an amen!

July 15, 2009 - 13:06 ET

Glenn Beck's Common Sense - Now available in book stores nationwide...

Source: GlennBeck.com

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Related Resources and Posts:

• House Health-Care Proposal Adds $600 Billion in Taxes (Update-2)
• How To Stop Socialized Health Care
• Democrats Set to Rush Through Government-Run Healthcare
• Big Pharma and the FDC: Suppress the Science, Ban the Natural Substances, Sell Drugs
• Understanding the House Democrat’s Health care bill
• What a Week With Healthcare
• Kennedy Healthcare Plan Meets Resistance – Full of Pork
• Healthcare: You Think Michael Moore Will Contribute? Don’t Hold Your Breath
• Here Comes Rationing Healthcare
• Rights, Responsibilities and Healthcare
• British HealthCare - Don't Treat The Old!! - And Senator Coburn Warns Same For USA
• Universal Health and Old People
• Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look
• Conservatives for Patient's Rights
• Obama's Attack on Medical Civil Liberties
• Socialized Medicine in cartoon form.
• Voters Steer Europe to the Right – Why… Because Socialism Isn’t Working
• Progressivism – The Progressive Movement Is A Cancer – How We Got Here
• Progressives Dream To Re-Make America
• American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper – Pravda

As one giant white elephant is born - government health care, another is being dismantled by the private sector

Could your post office be closing?

As one giant white elephant is born - government health care, another is being dismantled by the private sector

As mail volume declines, the US Postal Service could shutter up to 3,200 post offices and retail outlets. Most people say they understand -- unless it's their post office

A rallying cry can be heard across the country, from the swanky streets of New York's SoHo to the tiny town of Randolph, Kan.: "Save our post office!

As the United States Postal Service, weighed down by a crippling multibillion-dollar deficit, shrinks its operations, post offices across the country are on the chopping block. Each year, hundreds of postal operations shutter, but this coming fall could be the single biggest consolidation in Postal Service history.

Over the next three months, more than 3,200 post offices and retail outlets -- out of 34,000 -- will be reviewed for possible closure or consolidation

Downsizing is a business imperative, says Linda Welch, acting vice president of delivery and post office operations at the Postal Service. "Revenues have declined, and mail volume continues to decline," she says.

Not only have e-mail and electronic bill paying made for a skinnier mail stream, but the recession has caused a sharp pullback in advertising mail that has hurt the Postal Service even more. In March, Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress for the right to reduce the mail week from six days to five, for a savings of $3.5 billion.

Shutting down post offices will have similar cost-saving effects. And most Americans say they're OK with the cutbacks, as long as they don't have to pay more to send mail. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that more Americans would rather the Postal Service curtail services than seek a bailout or raise stamp prices.

At least, that's what everyone says -- until it's their beloved post office at stake. For various reasons, people tend to react with great fervor when their local offices are endangered.

Consider the case of the Hawleyville Post Office. After years of negotiations, the Postal Service in January notified the Connecticut community that its 166-year-old post office would close Feb. 14. An article in the local newspaper poignantly noted, "The long love affair between the Hawleyville post office and its loyal customers will come to an end on, of all days, Valentine's Day."

Its post office was rickety, but the community embraced it as a gathering place. One resident told the Newtown Bee, "The Hawleyville Post Office is like Cheers in Hawleyville

In fear of losing its precious haunt, the community mobilized. A Web site and online petition drive were created. Members got Congress involved. And low and behold, the community won approval for a new post office, to be opened this summer.

Every time a post office is slated for closure or consolidation, the Postal Service is legally obligated to inform its customers well in advance. "There's a very long process that they have to go through," says Mario Principe, the post office continuance consultant at the National League of Postmasters. That gives the communities plenty of time, usually at least two months, to stage a rescue.

Anatomy Of A Closure

The Postal Service will typically send out a survey or host a town hall meeting before an endangered office closes. Perhaps the closing of a post office means too many lost jobs for an already-hurting community. The office might house the bulletin board that posts important community announcements. Or the next-closest post office may be really far away. If customers alert officials to such concerns, there's a better chance that their office will be spared. Appealing the closure decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission often works, too, though it's a step many communities don't know to take.

It's also important to check out why a post office is on the chopping block in the first place. Those under review this summer are mostly metropolitan branches or stations. But in the case of small post offices, federal law states that the reason can't be just that the office isn't bringing in enough revenue. If that's the only explanation given, then the Postal Service can't legally shut it down.

Oftentimes, post offices face closure because their leases expire. That's the case in Deer Harbor, Wash. After attempts to find a new location for the post office failed, the community decided "in desperation" to buy the property just to keep it in business. If the community can raise the $250,000 purchase price by the June 30, the Postal Service says it will continue operations there. The Postal Service seems willing to negotiate, and it's not really bothered by the protests. "It actually it makes us very proud to know that we are a valuable member of the community," says Welch. She says that the Postal Service appreciates the great lengths that some communities will go to just to ensure that their services continue.What the Postal Service would appreciate even more: If those people would show their appreciation by taking the simple step of sending more mail. Oddly enough, that seems to be the unthinkable last resort.

This article was reported by Caitlin McDevitt for The Big Money.

Some comments and suggestions:

• SATURDAYS delivery could be cut out ----- We can wait another couple days for BILLS to arrive.
• One USA post office in my neighborhood is located in a very tiny shop that sells lottery tickets and greeting cards and has Safety Deposit Boxes. Maybe that's what they'll all be coming to instead of these state-of-the-art huge buildings with several PO's in just one town. They'll only need one large building to sort mail and distribute it per county.
• This country has just too many of everything----Malls---car dealers---grocery stores and none can make a decent profit unless they charge the customers more.
• If they expect greater volume for holidays, they could do what the private sector does and hire seasonal workers.
• Rural delivery probably needs to be subsidized, at least until a new generation comes along that will be satisfied with electronic delivery... many years out. For God sake, we are subsidizing tons of things that are a lot less important.

One Letter to the Editor:

If mail delivery were to be taken over by private enterprise, get ready for some major changes. First mail delivery to many rural locations would stop and those people living in more rural and isolated locations would have to go to a central post office to pick up their mail. If you are disabled or there is nasty weather (like a foot of snow in the winter), tough. If you want your mail, you will have to go pick it up. Mail delivery to urban and suburban locations would still continue, but I suspect that in many inner city neighborhoods, they will also be restricted.

Forget about Saturday mail delivery. That would cease if a private company took over the mail delivery. Of course there may be competition between private companies and there may be one that will offer Saturday delivery or will deliver to rural addresses, but you will have to pay extra for that privilege.

Expect changes in postal rates if private enterprise takes over mail delivery. You might see some postage rates lowered for mail being sent locally or short distances, but if you want to send something across the country, it will cost more. I also suspect that if you are mailing something to a rural location, that may cost more also.

Would service be better at local post offices if the postal workers were paid Wally World wages? I don't think so. There would be higher turnover and in general the quality of employee (and service) would plummet. I can just see a letter carrier saying that going out in 95 degree heat in the middle of the day delivering mail isn't worth what he is being paid if they are paid Wally World wages. The same goes for having to go out in below zero wind chills in winter.

Should the postal system be taken over by private enterprise, expect to see many smaller post offices closed. This would also include many post offices located in cities since they could consolidate services in one big post office. So what if it is inconvenient to get to and there are long lines, that is business efficiency. Also many small rural post offices will also close and those people might have to drive a little longer distances to get their mail since it would no longer be delivered to their house (unless they want to pay extra for it).

Oh yes, don't forget the US Postal Inspection Service. That has been regarded as the best law enforcement agency in the country and among the best in the world. We don't hear a lot about them, but they are the oldest federal law enforcement agency and they don't make headlines like the FBI does. But they are the primary law enforcement agency fighting child pornography and fraud. They are very effective in what they do and their agents are trained along side FBI agents. The USPIS investigates more white collar crime than any other law enforcement agency and when they make an arrest, they obtain a conviction in more than 90% of their cases.

No, the government does a great job of handling the mail and i do not want to see that "privatized". You could also substitute "corrupted" in place of "privatized" since I am sure that the executives of any private enterprise that would handle the mail would pay themselves obscene salaries and bonuses while paying out millions in lobbying congress to keep their gravy train running. If "government health care" were run as well as the post office, we would have a system that is highly efficient and costs far less.

As with everything else that is going on in these crazy times… It is something to think about and then to either stand up over, offer and campaign for your suggestions or let go. But, this is definitely a time to be and get involved. Had we done so all along, the United States would not be in this position. Ask Marion/Knowledge Creates Power~

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Get Both Sides of the National Healthcare Story…

Thanks to the generous support of grassroots Republicans and Independents nationwide, the RNC exceeded Their goal of raising over $100,000 to help counter ABC's one-sided infomercial for government-run health care.

Fellow Americans

Though the television network (ABC and some NBC affiliates) have denied requests to air ads counter to President Obama's government-run health care "reform" plans, they can't keep us off the air. (Ask yourself… what kind of media refuses to run both sides??)

We are using the grassroots donations we received to spread our message against the one-sided, big government mantra being pushed by the Obama Democrats here in Washington --

watch it now!

We've made a good start, but we're still up against the biased mainstream media machine's effort to help President Obama and the Pelosi-Reid Democrats in Congress end individual health care choice and use your tax dollars to treat only the patients they deem deserving.

The Democrats have shown they will stop at nothing to blur the lines between government and private sector, so we must keep the pressure on them. And at the same time, we must get our message of common sense GOP health care reform alternative out to more Americans.

That's why I'm again asking you to support our continuing efforts to get our message past the mainstream media filter. If we don't stop the Obama Democrats' disastrous health care takeover now, we'll all be facing the end of health care choice and endlessly rising taxation very soon.

Don't let that happen -- help Americans keep their health care freedom. If you agree please make your contribution to the RNC today!

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee

P.S. You and the RNC are all that stand between sensible Republican health care reform and Democrat government-run medicine. Please help us win this fight by making an online contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 to the RNC today. Thank you.

---

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

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Doctors Boo Obama In Chicago… Analysis: Tough Road Ahead

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama isn't used to hearing boos.

For all the young president's popularity, the response he got Monday from doctors at an American Medical Association meeting was a sign his road is only going to get rockier as he tries to sell his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

The boos erupted when Obama told the doctors in Chicago he wouldn't try to help them win their top legislative priority — limits on jury damages in medical malpractice cases.

But what could they expect? If Obama announced support for malpractice limits, that would set trial lawyers and unions — major supporters of Democratic candidates — on the attack. Not to mention consumer groups.

Every other group in the health care debate has a wish list and a top priority. Insurers don't want competition from the government. Employers don't want to be told they have to offer medical coverage to their workers. Hospitals want to stave off Medicare cuts. Drug companies want to charge what the market will bear.

Obama can't give all of them what they want. Instead, he's got to figure what's just enough to keep as many groups as possible on board — without alienating others. It's a fine line for him — and sometimes for them.

"It's a coalition issue," said Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health, an expert on public opinion and the politics of health care. "No major group is able by itself to sink health reform. But if numbers of them come together for different reasons, it could really hurt the direction the president wants to go in."

The doctors were only Obama's first house call. He'll be making his case to the other groups — and to the nation at large — in an increasingly energetic campaign to get a bill passed by the end of his first year in office.

AMA insiders shouldn't have been surprised by Obama's upfront refusal to consider malpractice caps.

The group couldn't get that idea passed by a Republican Congress and president a few years ago. Some states have such curbs, but anyone who can count votes knows the chances for national limits are slim to none with Democrats in charge of Congress.

Instead, Obama left the door open to some kind of compromise on malpractice.

The president said he's willing to explore alternatives to taking doctors to court. In the past, he supported special programs in which hospitals and doctors are encouraged to admit mistakes, correct them and offer compensation. Studies have shown the approach can work, because doctors' refusal to acknowledge mistakes is one reason many families file suit.

Doctors have special reasons to be wary of the president's plans to overhaul the health care system.

Not long ago, doctors' decisions were rarely questioned. Now they are being blamed for a big part of the wasteful spending in the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system. Studies have shown that as much as 30 cents of the U.S. health care dollar may be going for tests and procedures that are of little or no value to patients.

The Obama administration has cited such findings as evidence that the system is broken. Since doctors are the ones responsible for ordering tests and procedures, health care costs cannot be brought under control unless they change their decision-making habits.

"Change is scary," said Dartmouth University's Dr. Elliott Fisher, a doctor turned costs researcher. "I think there is a fear of loss of autonomy, that someone is going to tell you what to do." Fisher collaborated on research that showed wild differences in health care spending around the country — and no signs of better health in the high-cost areas.

But Obama did not blame the doctors. Instead, he tried to woo them, much as he has done with recalcitrant foreign leaders.

"It's the equivalent of international diplomacy. He's got to make them feel like it's possible to have dialogue about what the future looks like," said Blendon. "I think he's starting out with the AMA, but before the summer's over he's going to reach out to a lot of the other groups."

Obama assured the doctors that his plan would provide them with objective information on what treatments work best, with new computerized tools to better manage their patient case loads, and with support for harried solo practitioners to form networks.

He promised that Washington would not dictate clinical decisions. And he asked the doctors to imagine a world in which nearly every patient has insurance coverage and they can devote their full attention to the practice of medicine.

"You did not enter this profession to be bean-counters and paper-pushers," Obama said. "You entered this profession to be healers — and that's what our health care system should let you be."

That line got him an ovation.

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR – 2 hours ago - reports on health care policy for The Associated Press.

Obama needs to take time and give Congress and the American People time to examine all the options and do the needed research about American Healthcare Reform, not push through another nightmare (costing 1 Trillion Dollars over 10-years), like the TARP and Omnibus Bills without reading or researching with the gun of immediacy to all our heads. Obama also needs to stop rewarding the organized labor, who spent $80 Million dollars getting Obama and the Democrats elected. Doing something just to fulfill your uninformed campaign promises is not a good enough reason to spend another Trillion Dollars and to do this wrong!! This time around is everyone's job to get this right and to stand up to the Obama Administration and Congress to get it right, or let it go until we have our ducks in a row and can afford the needed decisions. - Ask/Marion – Daily Thought Pad

--------------------

OBAMA BOOED BY DOCTORS IN ILLINOIS TODAY

Seems pretty funny to me that doctors booed the Obama and it was told by CNN today and it's not on the internet yet. Doctors in Illinois didn't like what he had to say and it was big on CNN. Thought I'd look into the Liberal side and see what was happening.

Oh, and what he meant about having it costing less as it goes along - is the Government going to make sure the elderly get their coverage or operations or whether they will tell them to go home and die is that what they mean about costing less as it goes along. Makes one wonder, doesn't it?

Seems a lot of doctors feel this will be offensive to them - and NO CAPS on the way people sue doctors looks to me that less men or women will want to be doctors in the future.

By: Teatime1 on AARP.org/blog

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

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Notes From Dr. Charles Krauthammer’s Speech to the Center for the American Experiment

Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fearmonger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’, feel free...

...A summary of his comments:

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a ‘cool customer’ who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's ‘behind the mask’. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to ‘level the playing field’ with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada. God forbid.

5. He’s surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they’re going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama’s not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

7. He’s now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not ‘come due’ until after he’s reelected in 2012. He’d like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We’re ‘pining’ for another Reagan, but there’ll never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states’ rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We’re spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyper inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed. fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of ‘change’ caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it’ll be a dogfight. It’ll all be about the economy.

I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There’s a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

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Safeway's Health Care Program Gets Attention

My "Citizens, heal thyselves" item Wednesday on the responsibility of individuals to reform their own health care prompted inquiries from readers wanting to know more about what I referred to as Safeway Inc.'s stick-and-carrot approach.

Based on the belief that rising health care costs are mostly driven by behavior (smoking, eating poorly, not checking your cholesterol, etc.), the Pleasanton company's Healthy Measures program uses screenings and questionnaires and offers access to prevention-related facilities like fitness clubs, along with advice and referrals to help improve behavior.

The carrot: discounted premiums or refunds for passing the screenings or showing improvement. The stick: higher premiums for failing tests and no measurable improvement in behavior. "Holding people accountable gives them incentives," said Ken Shachmut, the Safeway senior vice president who oversees the health program.

It has also kept Safeway's health care costs, amounting to $1 billion or so a year, mostly flat over the past five years, an achievement few other companies can claim, said Shachmut, who admits battling his own weight problems.

The voluntary program now covers 25,000 employees, or about three-quarters of Safeway's nonunion workforce. Elements of the program are included in contracts covering Safeway's union workers, who fall outside the company's self-insurance plan. Shachmut said most of its 200,000 union workers should be participating in the program within the next six years. The main thing that employees covered by the program seem to want, said Shachmut, is "more discounts."

In the meantime, Safeway is spreading its consumer-driven approach via the recently formed Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform (coalition4healthcare.org), founded by company CEO Steve Burd. The 63 corporate members include Bay Area companies McKesson Corp., PG&E, Clorox Co., and Kaiser Permanente.

"This is the silver lining in the cloud of rising health costs. If we can design incentives in these core areas, we have a fighting chance of getting our arms around it," Shachmut said.

More details: You can find more on Safeway's program at links.sfgate.com/ZHIV. A Chronicle feature that ran earlier this year, is online at sfgate.com/ZHJB. Safeway CEO Burd penned on op-ed on the subject in Friday's Wall Street Journal, available at links.sfgate.com/ZHIX.

The Journal also has a news story in Friday's edition questioning the efficacy of prevention programs (links.sfgate.com/ZHIY). On the other hand, a 2007 nationwide survey of 355 human resources and health benefits managers suggested a strong correlation between wellness programs and increased productivity and market and shareholder value. (links.sfgate.com/ZHIZ).

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How Safeway Is Cutting Healthcare Costs

Effective health-care reform must meet two objectives: 1) It must secure coverage for all Americans, and 2) it must dramatically lower the cost of health care. Health-care spending has outpaced the rise in all other consumer spending by nearly a factor of three since 1980, increasing to 18% of GDP in 2009 from 9% of GDP. This disturbing trend will not change regardless of who pays these costs -- government or the private sector -- unless we can find a way to improve the health of our citizens. Failure to do so will make American companies less competitive in the global marketplace, increase taxes, and undermine our economy.

At Safeway we believe that well-designed health-care reform, utilizing market-based solutions, can ultimately reduce our nation's health-care bill by 40%. The key to achieving these savings is health-care plans that reward healthy behavior. As a self-insured employer, Safeway designed just such a plan in 2005 and has made continuous improvements each year. The results have been remarkable. During this four-year period, we have kept our per capita health-care costs flat (that includes both the employee and the employer portion), while most American companies' costs have increased 38% over the same four years.

Martin Kozlowski

Safeway's plan capitalizes on two key insights gained in 2005. The first is that 70% of all health-care costs are the direct result of behavior. The second insight, which is well understood by the providers of health care, is that 74% of all costs are confined to four chronic conditions (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity). Furthermore, 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is preventable, 60% of cancers are preventable, and more than 90% of obesity is preventable.

As much as we would like to take credit for being a health-care innovator, Safeway has done nothing more than borrow from the well-tested automobile insurance model. For decades, driving behavior has been correlated with accident risk and has therefore translated into premium differences among drivers. Stated somewhat differently, the auto-insurance industry has long recognized the role of personal responsibility. As a result, bad behaviors (like speeding, tickets for failure to follow the rules of the road, and frequency of accidents) are considered when establishing insurance premiums. Bad driver premiums are not subsidized by the good driver premiums.

As with most employers, Safeway's employees pay a portion of their own health care through premiums, co-pays and deductibles. The big difference between Safeway and most employers is that we have pronounced differences in premiums that reflect each covered member's behaviors. Our plan utilizes a provision in the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that permits employers to differentiate premiums based on behaviors. Currently we are focused on tobacco usage, healthy weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Safeway's Healthy Measures program is completely voluntary and currently covers 74% of the insured nonunion work force. Employees are tested for the four measures cited above and receive premium discounts off a "base level" premium for each test they pass. Data is collected by outside parties and not shared with company management. If they pass all four tests, annual premiums are reduced $780 for individuals and $1,560 for families. Should they fail any or all tests, they can be tested again in 12 months. If they pass or have made appropriate progress on something like obesity, the company provides a refund equal to the premium differences established at the beginning of the plan year.

At Safeway, we are building a culture of health and fitness. The numbers speak for themselves. Our obesity and smoking rates are roughly 70% of the national average and our health-care costs for four years have been held constant. When surveyed, 78% of our employees rated our plan good, very good or excellent. In addition, 76% asked for more financial incentives to reward healthy behaviors. We have heard from dozens of employees who lost weight, lowered their blood-pressure and cholesterol levels, and are enjoying better health because of this program. Many discovered for the first time that they have high blood pressure, and others have been told by their doctor that they have added years to their life.

Today, we are constrained by current laws from increasing these incentives. We reward plan members $312 per year for not using tobacco, yet the annual cost of insuring a tobacco user is $1,400. Reform legislation needs to raise the federal legal limits so that incentives can better match the true incremental benefit of not engaging in these unhealthy behaviors. If these limits are appropriately increased, I am confident Safeway's per capita health-care costs will decline for at least another five years as our work force becomes healthier.

The Healthy Measures program currently applies only to our nonunion work force. While we have numerous health and wellness provisions in our union contracts, we are working with union leaders like Joe Hansen of the United Food and Commercial Workers to incorporate healthy measures provisions in our union work force as well.

While comprehensive health-care reform needs to address a number of other key issues, we believe that personal responsibility and financial incentives are the path to a healthier America. By our calculation, if the nation had adopted our approach in 2005, the nation's direct health-care bill would be $550 billion less than it is today. This is almost four times the $150 billion that most experts estimate to be the cost of covering today's 47 million uninsured. The implication is that we can achieve health-care reform with universal coverage and declining per capita health-care costs.

There is a very real possibility that we will see positive transformational health-care reform in the near future. I am encouraged by the effort I see on Capitol Hill, particularly the bipartisan effort in the Senate. While some tough issues remain, if we continue to work in a bipartisan manner I believe we will resolve these issues successfully and find agreement on meaningful reform.

By STEVEN A. BURD - Mr. Burd is CEO of Safeway Inc., and the founder of the Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform.

Steven Burd has testified in Washington D.C. and appeared on Fox News’ Huckabee. He has caught the attention of people from Senator Barbara Boxer to Rush Limbaugh; definitely opposite ends of the spectrum!! This is a great alternative to $600 Million in additional taxes and $400 Million in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid!!

Source: True Health Is True Wealth

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

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