Obamacare Produces Pain and Chaos by Design

EIB/Rush – Cross-posted at True Health Is True Wealth:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here's Denise in Trenton, Michigan, as we head back to the phones.  Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.  Hi.

CALLER:  Hey, Rush.  My question is pretty simple, but I also want to ask, you talked to somebody on Tuesday, it was a guy, I know you'll remember him, he worked two part-time jobs and he had a one-year-old and he talked about how he can't get benefits. And you had told him that you had hope to give him, and you talked about a time where there were people in like their fifties and stuff, and they had to go back and they basically lost their jobs, and they did what they really wanted to do.

RUSH:  Right.

CALLER:  And I just hope he's listening today, 'cause I was on the phone with you on hold saying, "Please take my call so I can tell him."  It was true then, and it's true now.  That's what we're doing.  That's what our family is doing, 'cause of course thanks to Obama and his infinite wisdom, I went through the same thing and lost two of my jobs, and I'm back in school and I'm gonna do what I want to do.  And I just want your guy -- I hope he hears this because anybody can do it, and you are who you are not because of who they let you be, but because of you.  He has to do what you said and follow his passion, because --

RUSH:  That's a good point.  It really is.  Just to recap, I remember the guy.  He was working two jobs because he had been downsized because of Obamacare.  He'd been reduced in both jobs to part-time status, so he'd lost his benefits. Even though with two jobs he had the equivalent of a full-time job, he didn't have any benefits, and health care, particularly, was gone.  He didn't know what he was gonna do.  He was from Asheville, North Carolina, and I told him, "You know, even true today, most of the limitations that people face are self-imposed."  And I asked him, "Are you willing to move to pursue your dream?"  He said, "Yeah." 

Okay, well, that's the big one.  Once you're willing to move you're really over a hump, but if you're not gonna leave Asheville, then you have to realize your potential is dictated by what Asheville has, what there is to do there job-wise, career-wise, or what have you.  But the point that I made that you recounted here that's really worth it, all these guys in the nineties laid off in their middle ages, fifties, white-collar guys, could not get rehired at the salaries that they were earning.  So what they did late in life was start businesses with the things they really loved and always wanted to do but had never done.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, one thing from our last caller.  The caller she was talking about was Andy from Asheville, North Carolina.  This is worth repeating.  He was downsized in two jobs, so he had a full-time workweek with two jobs. So he was part time in two jobs, did not have any benefits as a result. He was been downsized in both jobs because of health care. The companies where he worked converted him to part-time status so that they would not have to provide him health care coverage, and that's common and it's happening with greater frequency and will increase its occurrences as more companies realize what they have to do to be complicit with Obamacare. 

If they want to stay in business they're gonna have to let people go.  If they want to stay in business they're gonna have to convert people to part time.  They're gonna have to reduce their hours and they're gonna have to reduce their benefits.  No, that's not the spirit of Obamacare at all.  In fact, Obamacare officials are shocked and stunned that this is happening.  Actual people in the government can't believe this.  They thought that the health care experience in America would be, as they said, enriched because of Obamacare.  They're just a bunch of political lug heads who accept the flawed premise and promises of liberalism.  And because they're good people and because they've put the program together, it's magically gonna work.  Never does.

(interruption)

I was just asked if they just discount all the articles that point out how it's not being implemented as it was designed.  'Cause it isn't a surprise.  It isn't a surprise that business is doing this.  Everybody that paid any attention, had any smarts at all, knew exactly what businesses were gonna have to do in order to stay in business once this thing started to be implemented.  And so the question is, don't these guys in government -- how do they not know this?  Don't they read these stories?  I don't know.  Maybe they don't read them.  But more likely they do and just discount what they're reading.  They do.  They think it's all right-wing propaganda, no matter where it runs.

All of these forecasts, Obamacare not working, all of these stories of companies downsizing, they just think that's evil business profit-taking.  These people in the government who really thought that Obamacare and even do still think Obamacare is gonna lower costs and expand coverage, and when it doesn't happen, what do they think?  They think that evil CEOs are being greedy and they're just laying people off using the excuse of Obamacare, but all they're doing is hoarding money and building bigger houses for themselves and buying nicer cars while they're firing or laying people off.  That's what they think.  They think that all of this is right wing conspiratorial activity designed to harm Obama.  When they read these stories -- look, try this one.  This is from the Washington Examiner but this is just a repeat of an LA Times story. 

"UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest private insurer, will not participate in California’s Obamacare health exchange, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. Health insurance giants Aetna and Cigna will also opt out of Covered California, the state agency charged with implementing Obamacare. All three insurers will still provide health insurance through large employers in the state," but they're not going to participate in the Obamacare exchanges. 

"Kaiser Permanente, the largest health insurer in California, will work with Covered California, as will Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California. Together, these two companies already control 87 percent of the state’s individual health insurance market. That number will only go up as UnitedHealth, Aetna and Cigna drop out of the individual market entirely. Market consolidation and decreased consumer choice is exactly what some supporters of Obamcare hoped would happen all along."

This is my point.  As UnitedHealth pulls out, as Cigna pulls out, as Aetna pull out, what does that mean?  It means consumers have fewer choices.  That's the design.  The people that really thought about this at the government, the Obamacare people, the people that really put this together with their ultimate aim in mind, intended all of this.  They intended for it to be too big, too unworkable, and too expensive.  They intended for all of these companies, be they businesses or insurance companies, to pull out, to not insure people, they intended this.  That's why the fines for not having insurance in the first couple years are very cheap. 

The fines for not having a policy cost much less than having a policy. They want people to not have the policy. They want people to pay the fine. They want to upset the market and create a mess -- and, then to clean up the mess, they want everybody just to finally say, "You know what? You know what would fix this? Single payer! Just have the government do it. To hell with Aetna, to hell with Cigna, to hell with United Health, to hell with private insurance. Just have the government do it."

That will be the solution.

Video – Obama on Single-Payer Health Insurance

It's not me saying so. Obama said this in 2007 in a speech to the Service Employees International Union. We've played the audio of that speech on this program I don't know how many times where he said to 'em, "I know you want single payer. I want single payer, too. But we can't get there overnight. It's gonna take 10, maybe 15 years. People are going to have  to be slowly conditioned to it and ultimately it's going to have to be the only option available. That's how we'll get it done."

Because people don't want that. Obama knows it. He knew it in 2007; he knows it today. He's governing against the will of the people. People do not want single-payer, government-run health care. They don't want Obamacare. Still, the numbers are 60%. But the people in the regime who believe in this, who think that all of this is the perfect solution to our health care problems, they'll read a story here. They'll read this LA Times story: United Health, Aetna, Cigna pulling out.

They will tell themselves that the people running these companies are just a bunch of greedy Republicans trying to screw Obama. Everything is political to them, and there is no legitimacy in capitalism, and therefore no capitalistic entity is legitimate. They're all cheats, liars. They're all frauds. "Capitalism is unfair. Capitalism is what the 1% use to stay the 1%, and they got to be the 1% by taking everything from everybody else!"

So if you start out from the standpoint that there's nothing legitimate about free markets, if there's nothing legitimate in capitalism, and you read a story like this (and you know how mean and nasty Republicans are), well, you're just gonna assume that the people running these companies are Republicans and hate Obama and they're trying to screw up his grand plan. Then, at some point, they realize what's going on. That's when you get the stories, "Yeah, we really thought it was gonna lower costs!

"We really thought it was going to enrich health care experience for people." The cookie-cutter liberal, the standard operating procedure liberal is really a giant ignoramus. I mean that seriously. They're really ignorant. They are so politically oriented, and they are so arrogant and condescending -- and they have such solid boundaries built around themselves -- that the truth of anything doesn't permeate. The only truth is what they believe and what they think, including all of their biases and all of their prejudices.

Those things are truth. Anything outside their believability system, outside the cocoon, is a conspiracy designed to undercut them or destroy Obama -- or it's just a bunch of right-wing kooks. That's the challenge. That's why there's no working with these people. There isn't any point in bipartisanship. There is no area of commonality. We don't have anything in common with these people. That's why, in my mind, politically they're to be defeated. The problem is we usually do. They are a minority.

We're just being governed by a minority. It's made to look like the majority because of their never-ending media support. I mentioned yesterday that even the union for the people who are going to enforce Obamacare, the IRS, is begging out of it. It's the National Treasury Employees Union, which runs the IRS. That's the union that all IRS workers are members of. They want to be exempted from it. Their job is to make sure you sign up. Their job is to make sure you are assessed a fine if you don't get insurance under the terms of Obamacare.

They want an exemption. That is liberalism for you. They set up two sets of rules: One set for everybody else, and another set for them. They never have to live by the rules that they set up for everybody else. 'Cause they're special! They're better. They're more important. The rules set up for everybody else are to handle "the masses," the bourgeois -- you know, the slow-witted, dim-witted, mindless people that are incapable of taking care of themselves.

So they set up rules for them, and then another set for themselves, and that's how it works. United Health, Aetna, and Cigna opt out of the California Obamacare exchange -- and they're going to continue to offer insurance policies to employers. Eventually what is designed to happen, and therefore will, is that the policies are going to be so much more expensive than what will be found at the exchanges, private insurance will end.

END TRANSCRIPT

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Obama Admits Healthcare Waivers Are to Hold Back Flood of Companies Dropping Insurance

John on August 16, 2011 at 2:36 pm

This is from the President’s appearance in Decorah, Iowa. A man in the audience asks “You talk about universal healthcare…if it’s so good why are you allowing so many large companies to opt out?”

Listen carefully to the President’s answer:

Video:  President’s Speech from Decorah, Iowa

Anytime you’re changing big systems like this there’s going to be a transition period. So, the overall healthcare reform does not fully take effect until 2013. That’s when we have the exchanges set up, which means that if you don’t have health insurance or if you’re a small business that only has a few employees and you can’t get a good rate, you’re going to be able to go into the exchange and essentially be part of a big pool just like a big company or federal workers are and get a better deal from your insurance companies. But those exchanges are just now being set up. Took about couple years to get it set up.

So in the mean time the question is how do you manage that transition in a way in which a bunch of companies don’t say to themselves well we’re just going to eliminate healthcare that’s not great but it’s better than nothing. And our basic attitude has been we’re willing to give some waivers to some companies that are doing something when it comes to healthcare because those employees don’t have a better option right now but as we build up this better option then they’ll be able to take advantage of that better option. So the whole issue here has to do with how do we transition to the point where all these exchanges across the country are up and running.

All during the debate over Obamacare, Republicans argued that companies facing steeper costs would simply eliminate health care and dump people into the exchanges. Here’s how the Heritage Foundation described it earlier this year:

As it turns out, many businesses will likely dump employees into the subsidized exchanges, passing the cost of providing coverage from the business to the federal taxpayer. A company that does not offer health coverage will be able to increase its work force’s wages, with the employees receiving generous subsidies to buy insurance in the exchanges. It is a true win-win scenario (workers get higher wages and subsidized coverage while employers get drastically reduced costs for employee health insurance) if we forget about the taxpayer.

Meanwhile, progressives like those at Think Progress were busy arguing that this would not happen to any significant degree.

But President Obama just admitted that the waivers his administration has issued are an attempt to staunch the flood of companies dropping employer healthcare just until the exchanges are set up. Maybe there’s another way to parse it, but that’s how it sounds to me. Once the exchanges are set up the waivers end (already built into the law) and employees will have a “better option,” i.e. taxpayer subsidized plans.  (The ultimate goal of the Progressive left and ObamaCare is a single-payer system where they will control the money mismanage it and borrow from it as they have from Social Security and then we the sheeple will get treatment, or not, based on what is left in the kitty!)

The entire effort to promote Obamacare has been a case of deceit and misdirection by the President and his allies. As the reality of the plan draws nearer, he continues to reveal more of the reality as opposed to the carefully crafted sales pitch.

Like everything else Obama is doing… they are trying to hold the line until he is re-elected… when all Hell will break lose!

CA – Need Your Help!! - Liberal California Senators Pass Universal Health Care Legislation

By George Runner - California State Senator representing the 17th Senate District

Fri, January 29th, 2010

Senate Bill 810 has unfortunately passed the Senate yesterday on a 22-14 party-line vote.

The measure would create a single-payer, government-controlled health care plan for Californians. The same government that has mismanaged your money now wants to control your health care.

Does anybody believe a state that bleeds red year-after-year could possibly control the costs of health care?

As I said on the Senate floor: This plan is to the Left and radical of ObamaCare. It’s this type of big-government idea that caused an earthquake of an election in Massachusetts in recent weeks. Yet, my liberal colleagues in Sacramento don’t seem to care about the needs or concerns of the people or the state of our economy.

Senator Runner on passage of CA Government Run Health Care Plan from CA Senate GOP on Vimeo.

The Orange County Register says the Senate Democrats are “tone deaf” to have revived “a $200-billion, government-run, universal health care scheme to outlaw private insurance and subsidize coverage for millions of Californians.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune calls the plan “appalling on one level and bizarre on another.”

The editorial goes on to say: “It is appalling because it amounts to an in-your-face display of contempt for public sentiment.”

And the Oakland Tribune wrote: “The bill would add a huge public cost and create considerable uncertainty at a time when both the state government and the private sector are struggling for survival.”

SB 810 will now be heard in the Assembly, where I hope the Democrats are in tune with the wishes of the people and in touch with the realities of our economy.

------

I called and faxed those listed below:

Liberal California Senators Pass Universal Health Care

CALL THEM AND SAY “NO” TO THIS BILL SB 810
CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY MEMBERS- DEMOCRATS- UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Jared Huffman-Phone: 916-319-2006, Fax: 916-319-2106
Noreen Evans-Phone: 916-319-2007, Fax: 916-319-2107
Mariko Yamada-Phone: 916-319-2008, Fax: 916-319-2108
Dave Jones-Phone: 916-319-2009, Fax: 916-319-2109
Alyson Huber-Phone: 916-319-2010, Fax: 906-319-2110
Tom Torlakson-Phone: 916-319-2011, Fax: 916-319-2111
Fiona Ma-Phone: 916-319-2012, Fax: 916-319-2112
Tom Ammiano-Phone: 916-319-2013, Fax: 916-319-2113
Nancy Skinner-Phone: 916-319-2014, Fax: 916-319-2114
Joan Buchanan-Phone: 916-319-2015, Fax: 916-319-2115
Sandre' Swanson-Phone: 916-319-2016, Fax: 916-319-2116
Cathleen Galgiani-Phone: 916-319-2017, Fax: 916-319-2117
Mary Hayashi-Phone: 916-319-2018, Fax: 916-319-2118
Gerald Hill-Phone: 916-319-2019, Fax: 916-319-2119
Alberto Torrico-Phone: 916-319-2020, Fax: 916-319-2120
Ira Ruskin-Phone: 916-319-2021, Fax: 916-319-2121
Paul Fong-Phone: 916-319-2022, Fax: 916-319-2122
Joe Coto-Phone: 916-319-2023, Fax: 916-319-2123
James Beall Jr-Phone: 916-319-2024, Fax: 916-319-2124
Bill Monning-Phone: 916-319-2027, Fax: 916-319-2127
Anna Caballero-Phone: 916-319-2028, Fax: 916-319-2128
Juan Arambula-Phone: 916-319-2031, Fax: 916-319-2131
Felipe Fuentes-Phone: 916-319-2039, Fax: 916-319-2139
Bob Blumenfield-Phone: 916-319-2040, Fax: 916-319-2140
Julia Brownley-Phone: 916-319-2041, Fax: 916-319-2141
Mike Feuer-Phone: 916-319-2042, Fax: 916-319-2142
Paul Krekorian-Phone: 916-319-2043, Fax: 916-319-2143
Anthony Portantino, Jr.-Phone: 916-319-2044, Fax: 916-319-2144
Kevin de Leon-Phone: 916-319-2045, Fax: 916-319-2145
John Perez-Phone: 916-319-2046, Fax: 916-319-2146
Karen Bass-Phone: 916-319-2047, Fax: 916-319-2147
Mike Davis-Phone: 916-319-2048, Fax: 916-319-2148
Mike Eng-Phone: 916-319-2049, Fax: 916-319-2149
Hector de la Torre-Phone: 916-319-2050, Fax: 916-319-2150
Isadore Hall, III-Phone: 916-319-2052, Fax: 916-319-2152
Ted Lieu-Phone: 916-319-2053, Fax: 916-319-2153
Bonnie Lowenthal-Phone: 916-319-2054, Fax: 916-319-2154
Warren Furutani-Phone: 916-319-2055, Fax: 916-319-2155
Tony Mendoza-Phone: 916-319-2057, Fax: 916-319-2157
Edward Hernandez-Phone: 916-319-2057, Fax: 916-319-2157
Charles Calderon-Phone: 916-319-2058, Fax: 916-319-2158
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Norma Torres-Phone: 916-319-2061, Fax: 916-319-2161
Lori Saldana-Phone: 916-319-2076, Fax: 916-319-2176
Martin Block-Phone: 916-319-2078, Fax: 916-319-2178
Mary Salas-Phone: 916-319-2079, Fax: 916-319-2179
Manuel Perez-Phone: 916-319-2080, Fax: 916-319-2180
Wesley Chesbro- Phone: 916-319-2001, Fax: 916-319-2101

You really have to shake your head, don’t you?? The majority of Americans do not want socialized single-payer healthcare, from the federal government or the state. California is bankrupt already, and if we pass this disaster we will be paying twice, like Massachusetts… who just elected Scott Brown to say no to government controlled HC of any kind and no to a public option, no to single payer and no to paying twice.

Please call, fax and visit your rep’s local and Sacramento offices and tell them NO, NO, NO. And when you are done please call your Federal Congressman and Boxer and Feinstein and tell them the same thing about ObamaCare.

Think about it, California can’t pay its bills and is threatening layoffs and reduction of services everywhere and now they are voting in socialized medicine??? This is the perfect example of what is wrong with liberal politics, the Progressive movement and what happens when you lose all Common Sense!!

About 17% of Californians are either unemployed or underemployed… just think about it?!?

John Thune & The Senate Health Care Bill – New Compromise is Public Option on Steroids

There is a crisis, and it appears to be located in the U.S. Senate. My esteemed Keloland colleague and colleague Emeritus, David Newquist, has this:

John Thune has become the voice of the GOP–Groundless Obstinence and Petulance–according to the Huffington Post. He says his party will unanimously oppose any health care reform, no matter what is proposed.

For someone who complains a lot when he thinks that others have distorted his words, he seems very careless in describing what Senator Thune said or what the Huffington Post said he said. The Huffington Post article he links to makes it clear in the title that Thune was only speaking about "the Newest Heath Care Compromise," and hardly ruling out GOP support for any bill.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told the Huffington Post that he did not think the dropping of a public option for insurance coverage from the bill would be enough for Democrats to win even the support of moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, both of Maine.

"I just think that our side believes that it is a really bad idea to take a program that is already sinking and put more people into it."

Here is how the Washington Post describes the "newest" idea that Reid is floating:

The 11th-hour "compromise" on health-care reform and the public option supposedly includes an expansion of Medicare to let people ages 55 to 64 buy into the program.

This deal, which the WaPo dates back to the Clinton Administration, seems designed to get something like a "public option" into the bill without calling it a public option. Republican opposition may be obstinate and petulant, or maybe not; however, it is hardly groundless. The WaPo points out that it is difficult to tell what effect this "buy in" would have on the reform scheme.

Presumably, the expanded Medicare program would pay Medicare rates to providers, raising the question of the spillover effects on a health-care system already stressed by a dramatic expansion of Medicaid. Will providers cut costs -- or will they shift them to private insurers, driving up premiums? Will they stop taking Medicare patients or go to Congress demanding higher rates? Once 55-year-olds are in, they are not likely to be kicked out, and the pressure will be on to expand the program to make more people eligible. The irony of this late-breaking Medicare proposal is that it could be a bigger step toward a single-payer system than the milquetoast public option plans rejected by Senate moderates as too disruptive of the private market.

As the perhaps obstinate and petulant, but hardly Republican WaPo presents it, there is no way to predict what unintended consequences may follow.

But Republican opposition is based on broader considerations. Expanding Medicare would be a step towards a single payer plan. But it was also mean expanding a program that is on schedule to go broke in only a few years. It also looks like more sleight of hand on the Democrat's part. They are already counting on dramatic cuts in Medicare to make other parts of the bill look more affordable. As the WaPo points out, Medicare reimbursement rates are already too low to sustain hospital and doctor care, which results in a shift of costs to private insurance. The medical establishment is vehemently criticizing the idea.

This looks like a big mess. Rumors that a deal has been reached appear to be greatly exaggerated. I am not even certain that there is a coherent idea here. Meanwhile the petulant and obstinate public continues to oppose the bill by wide margins. Quinnipiac and Rasmussen put the 52% opposed/38% in favor, and 51/41 respectively. Worse news for reform is the CNN poll, which has 61% opposed and only 36% in favor. That's the first time to my knowledge that opposition has risen above 60%. If it's on track, the CNN poll is disastrous news for Harry Reid.

In opposing the Senate reform bill, Senator Thune is not only exercising common sense. He is standing on behalf of the majority of the American people.

Posted by Ken Blanchard

New Compromise… Bet That Makes You Feel Better?!?

Democrats: Medicare Expansion the Ultimate Public Option

WASHINGTON - -- The unexpected new proposal for breaking the impasse over the so-called public option won President Barack Obama's endorsement Wednesday and sent hopes surging among a wide array of Democrats that the way may be clearing to pass their massive Senate health care bill by Christmas.
The deal, which emerged late Tuesday night after days of secret negotiations, would eliminate the new government-run insurance plan that many liberals had seen as the linchpin of meaningful reform.

But paradoxically, what lies at the heart of the compromise may be a more durable, if initially smaller, form of the public option: an expansion of Medicare, the huge federal health insurance program for seniors, to include millions of Americans ages 55 through 64.

And by enlarging Medicare eligibility, the compromise could sharply expand the base of political support, giving ordinary Americans a concrete stake in what many may have seen as a distant battle among drug companies, doctors and other interests.
Under the deal hammered out by 10 Democratic negotiators, potentially millions of Americans 55 to 64 could sign up for a program that has become a vital safety net for the country's retirees since it was created more than four decades ago.
That prospect has excited some proponents of creating a single-payer system, who saw even the weak government program in the original bill as a "camel's nose under the tent" in their drive to ensure that all Americans get a government-provided insurance plan.

"Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. "It's the mother of all public options. We've taken something people know and expanded it. ... Never mind the camel's nose, we've got his head and neck under the tent."

Todd Swim, a partner with the health benefits consulting firm Mercer, said a Medicare expansion could also have profound effects on employers and their workers.

"Access to medical care is one of the biggest inhibitors to retiring early, and a lot of people are going to be looking at that as an option," he said.

Although Americans in this age group are more likely to have insurance than those in their 20s or 30s, they often have a very difficult time getting coverage because many have pre-existing medical conditions.

Next year, most Medicare beneficiaries will pay a monthly premium of $110.50.

"The price point will be much more affordable than any option they have," Swim said.

Chicago Tribune

**Everyone I have heard talk about this today has said that this new Medicare enlargement will absolutely bring us to a single payer system much much sooner than any of the other options in any of the other bills. They took out the "Public Option" wording and intend to roll over us and pass this regardless of what we want. The GOP has been standing up but the Dems are not listening to anything they say. We absolutely need to keep up the pressure and hammer the possible fence sitters letting them know that if they vote for this this are out, even if they are not up for election in 2010.

I heard Lieberman earlier today blabbering on about he didn't know what was in this new version/compromise. Who cares what is in it.... We don't want the whole thing and we know whatever is in it, it is full of lies and bad things. Lieberman needs to vote no and we really need to pressure him!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mayo Clinic came out absolutely against this today!

A True Tale of Canadian (Socialized) Healthcare

ALSO:

Gleeful Begala: Expanding Medicare is the 'Ultimate Public Option'

Medicare Sausage?

House Democrat: Senate Public Option 'Compromise' Is a Total Victory for Fans of ... Single-Payer

Pelosi Lacks Votes For Sweeping Public Option and Moderate Senators Waffling Now that PO Has Been Added to Their Bill: Time for Pressure

Mike Allen – Fri Oct 23, 7:53 am ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi counted votes Thursday night and determined she could not pass a “robust public option” — the most aggressive of the three forms of a public option House Democrats have been considering as part of a national overhaul of health care.

The California Democrat's count — coupled with a significant turn of events Thursday during a private White House meeting — points to an increasingly likely compromise for a “trigger” option for a government plan.

Administration officials have been telling POLITICO for weeks now that this is the most likely compromise because it can probably satisfy liberals — albeit only reluctantly and after many vent frustration and some even threaten to walk away from the bill.

This would clear the way for backers to sneak a limited public option through the Senate by attracting moderate Democrats and then to win President Barack Obama's signature.

Speaking to reporters Friday after a meeting of House Democrats, Pelosi said “no decision of that kind has been made" on which public option to pursue. "By no means is the count complete or has the decision been made," she said.

"We had a very congenial - is that the word for a caucus? - a very lively, friendly caucus this morning where we are continuing to count the votes on this,” Pelosi said. “A robust public option is the preferred way to go because it saves the most money - $110 billion. It's not the only way to go, and at the end of the day we will have a public option in this legislation to keep the insurance companies honest and to provide real competition. Again, it's good, better, best. We're having that debate."

Obama told Senate Democratic leadership at the White House Thursday evening that his preference is for the trigger championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) — a plan that would allow a public plan to kick in if private insurers don’t expand coverage fast enough, a top administration official told POLITICO. It’s also sign Obama is interested in maintaining a sense of bipartisanship around the health reform plan.

At that meeting, Obama did not sign on to a plan being floated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to include a different variation of the public option in the Senate bill — a plan that would create a national public plan but allow states to “opt out.” Reid now believes he can get 60 votes to bring a bill with that plan to the floor by breaking an expected GOP filibuster — and then secure the 51 votes needed to pass it.

But Pelosi’s vote-counting didn’t go as well in the House. There has been a flurry of rumors that a robust government option remains viable. But top House Democrats privately concede that is wishful thinking that ignores the power of moderate Democrats in this debate.

The House is now likely to include one of the two weaker versions in the bill that will be considered on the floor as Obama’s historic health reform plan chugs toward passage — possibly a version that would set rates for the public plan by allowing doctors and hospitals to negotiate them with Medicare.

Nadeam Elshami, deputy communications director and senior adviser to the speaker, said: "Speculation that a final decision has been made about the public option are not accurate. We continue to work with all the members of the caucus to build consensus."

A House Democratic official said: "The leadership did not tell progressives last night that the robust public option is off the table. The votes are still being counted."

The vote count is a disappointment to liberal members in the House, after two days in which Pelosi seemed increasingly confident she could secure the votes needed for the most liberal option. She had her top lieutenants polling members and even enlisted progressive leaders in trying to corral more support.

“Votes aren’t there,” a top official said. “The progressives are always more optimistic than reality.”

But the final outcome could be helpful to the crucial members of her caucus from conservative-leaning districts, who opposed the most liberal version of the public option, one tied to Medicare rates.

The speaker has proved herself a reliable vote counter, and she wants to release a bill that she knows can get at least 218 votes. Aides say the count was somewhat of a surprise but not completely.

The speaker plans to roll out the House bill with a big ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol.

That was planned for Tuesday or Wednesday and may still happen then. But aides say that disappointing first tally could delay the timeline a bit as they scramble to finalize the bill that will be considered on the House floor.

Source: Politico.com

Dear Concerned American:

Congressional Democrats and Barack Obama are on the verge of passing the most radical takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy ever undertaken.

The Obamacare "reform" plan not only imperils our economy, it will wreak havoc on your health and well-being. Imagine a government bureaucrat deciding whether you or a loved one getting a life-saving medical procedure!

Dick Morris, the chief strategist of the League of American Voters, has discovered that a key reason polls show some support for the Obama program is that young voters are ignorant of its dangers and costs.

Dick has a plan for us to reach young voters. We need to implement this plan soon and we need your financial support and membership.

Remember, Dick and the League was outfront on the importance of exposing Obamacare to elderly voters. We have won that battle — as most Seniors strongly oppose Obamacare.

Now we must fight to educate our young people.

Please help us do this and donate — Go Here Now.

And please read Dick's important column about this effort below.

Bob Adams
Executive Director

NEW FRONT ON OBAMACARE: THE YOUNG

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

As the healthcare fight reaches the Senate floor, we took a new national survey to figure out how best to battle against this proposal that would so deform our nation's vital healthcare system. We found out how to do it: Reach young people.

Our work, and that of the League of American Voters - with whom we are affiliated but have no financial relationship - have been aimed at the elderly in the past few months. As a result of these and other efforts, the elderly now oppose Obamacare by more than twenty points (31-54 in our poll). The survey shows that we have about gotten all the support from them we are going to get. Some of those over 65 are just masochists who will sit by and watch their Medicare and Medicare Advantage get shredding to bits.

But voters under 30 are a different story. The polling showed that they start off supporting Obamacare more than any other age group:

SUPPORT/OPPOSE OBAMA'S HEALTH PLAN

<30 30-49 50-64 65+

Support 58 43 42 31

Oppose 30 47 46 54

But, it turns out their strong 2:1 support for the program is based on an almost total ignorance of what it calls for.

After we read them (in the poll) a fair and unbiased description of the program, their support faded.

Here's what we read to them:

The healthcare bill, pushed by President Obama and the Democrats, would require everyone to buy health insurance or pay a fine for failing to do so.

People could keep their current insurance if their employer provided it and agreed to continue it. Insurance companies would be required to insure all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions. People would be offered subsidies to buy insurance if their household incomes were below $70,000 a year and if their insurance cost more than 8% of their incomes ($5600 for a $70,000 a year family). The program will cost one trillion over ten years.

This plain vanilla rendition of what Obama proposes had a startling impact! Voters under 30, who had approved of the plan by 58-30 before they heard the description, now backed it by only 55-40, a loss of 13 points!

Then we read voters a list of all the arguments pro and con on the bill. We alternated the arguments to be sure that nobody could see any bias in the poll. After the arguments, the views of all other age groups were largely unchanged. But people under 30 now said they opposed the bill by 43-45 - a mega-shift of 30 points!

So...our strategy will be to replicate this process, only in reality.

We will run television and radio ads and Internet messages aimed at young voters to educate them about this bill.

Will the Congressional Democrats listen? Without the support of the young, polls will reflect the massive unpopularity of this bill. With each drop in its approval, you can hear the liberals groan. If the polling shows approval dropping into the 30s - and as young people switch it will - we can defeat this bill on the floor!

Based on the same polling techniques I use to win elections, we have discovered Obama's vulnerable underbelly - his base of uninformed young voters. And we will hammer away — with your help.

This process won't be inexpensive. It costs a lot to reach young people, but with your financial help, we can do it.

Please GO HERE NOW and give as generously as you can. The healthcare you save might very well be your own!

Note from the League: We need to prepare a new TV ad and internet campaign exposing the dangers of Obamacare to young Americans. Help Dick Morris complete this plan. Donate today — Go Here Now.

Paid for by the League of American Voters. Contributions to the League of American Voters are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Contributions from individuals and corporations are permitted by law and welcome.

It's Time to Melt Their Phones

Last week, we identified eight swing-vote Democrats in the Senate who need to be pressured to vote against ObamaCare. Many of you made phone calls to their offices urging them to vote against "cloture" on the heath care bill. Now we need to turn up the heat and melt their phones.

Starting next week, SCF will begin targeting these Democrats with web ads like the one shown here. We're going to drive hundreds of calls into their offices each day from people who live and vote! in their states. Nationwide contacts are good but nothing is more powerful than local phone calls from constituents.

Please make a contribution to the SCF today to help us keep these ads running strong. A $25 contribution will result in up to 40 personal calls into their offices. A $100 contribution will initiate up to 160 calls. The health care bill won't likely be on the Senate floor for a couple weeks but the backroom deals are being cut now.

Or Please Call and Fax Them Yourself… Continuously!!

Congress.org - Elected Officials

Senators from your State.

United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or (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

and visit: www.house.gov/writerep
If the web contact form doesn't work, use this email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov

Also, check in regularly with PetitionPelosi.com - Petitions Always Changing, fighting Pelosi’s liberal and unconstitutional bills and actions.

And while you are at it, call the White House at 202-456-1414 or 1111 and tell President Obama you have had enough!

1.) Junk this entire “ObamaCare” game and start over on real HC reform, so just leave HC alone.

2.) Abandon Cap and Trade and the whole global warming hoax and make us energy self-sufficient while slowly moving us to some sensible practices that help the environment

3. Stop the Spending in Washington… Just STOP including what is left of the Stimulus Money. You admitted yourself yesterday that the 35,000 jobs created were about all that was going to happen. No more stimulus and no more bailouts!

4. Skip the whole Copenhagen trip in December. Stop selling your country out. DO NOT SIGN the Copenhagen Treaty!!!!!!!

Related Resources:

HandsOffMyHealth

Some Senators Wary of Obama’s Health Care Appeals

REP. TOM PRICE ADMONISHES GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTHCARE

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia admonishes the Democrat government-takeover of health care. Support a real reform for health care. Congressman Price was a 25-year practicing doctor before running for offce.

tom.house.gov rsc.price.house.gov (July 16, 2009)

There are former doctors in both the House and the Senate. There are present and former Congressman, Senators and Governors that have experience with healthcare reform and there are companies like SafeWay, whose CEO’s testified before Congress. There are also Senators, Congressmen and others with common sense. None of their ideas are being listened to were used as part of any of the Healthcare Reform Bills that I have seen.

Stand-up America and don’t let the present bills pass. As Daniel Hannan of Britain and representative to the EU parliament says, “Once we put socialized medicine into affect there is almost no going back.

Related Resources:

• Rep. Tom Price tells Obama to stop playing the health care blame – video
• Congressman Price Debates Health Care with Ed Schultz – video
• Prescription for Truth – Daniel Hannan From England: HealthCare Worse for Elderly - video
• DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE 1000 PAGE HEALTH CARE PLAN BY AND ATTORNEY & DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW
• *Letter to Your Congress Person on Health Care (Obamacare) HR3200
• *A Look at What is Really in the Health Care Bill (HR 3200): Chilling!
• Woman in Oregon Told Healthcare Would Not pay for Cancer Treatment But Would Pay for Assisted Suicide… Welcome to Government Controlled Healthcare
• Obamacare for Illegal Aliens – While Granny Gets Duty to Die Lecture
• What Would Ronnie Do? – Krauthammer on Healthcare
• Kristol: Kill It, And Start Over
• Socialized Medicine Update – From Congressman John Campbell’s Laptop to Yours
• Senator Grassley (and others): Democrats Want to Nationalize Healthcare
• Safeway’s Health Care Program Gets Attention
• Kennedy: Let’s Ration Healthcare
• Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer Say Citizens Exercising Their First Amendment Rights Are “Un-American”… The Desperation is Showing!
• Catholics Fear ‘Stealth’ Abortion Push in Healthcare… Could Add to Doctor and Hospital Shortages
• HR 3200 Kills the Private Insurance Industry
• Little Girl A Plant at Obama HealthCare Town Hall… Wow, Did You Not Learn Your Lesson With the Last Plant, Mr. President?
• The Community Organizer Doesn’t Like People Organizing???
• White House Initiates “Snitch” Program On What They Call Misinformation Being Disbursed on Healthcare Reform
• Catastrophe by Dick Morris - Covers the Healthcare debacle

HR-3200 - full report

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Seniors Left Behind?

by Ken Connor

One of the most controversial issues of the current health care reform debate is the concept of health care rationing—allocating medical care according to predetermined criteria that dictate how much and what kind of care a given patient will receive under a government-run system. Setting aside the comparative merits of various reform proposals on the table in Congress, Americans—particularly the elderly—should be wary of any plan that would limit access to health care based on the arbitrary and discriminatory criteria of age.

As many have pointed out in the course of the ongoing national discussion on health care, America's population is aging rapidly, placing a growing strain on entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. Health care costs continue to rise, and America's younger population cannot long foot the bill for elderly retirees and their significant health care requirements. This conundrum (caused not by taxpayers but by decades of gross government mismanagement of taxpayer dollars) seems to have bred an underlying antipathy towards seniors, the undisputed "resource hogs" of public health care. This feeling of resentment is exacerbated by an increasingly utilitarian view of human life that sees no value in prolonging one's twilight years, especially on the public dime.

This situation makes proposals for "comparative effectiveness" research seem like a pretty good idea. Who, after all, wants to waste their taxpayer dollars on treatment for old folks who are going to die soon anyway? Wouldn’t it be better to allocate the bulk of our health care resources towards more productive members of society while reducing the spectrum of costly options available to seniors and the terminally ill among us?

But do Americans really want government bureaucrats dictating access to care based on their perception of one’s worth to society? This question goes to the heart of the problem with rationing: a stranger far from the scene decides who gets care and who doesn't. The person making these decisions knows neither the patient nor the healthcare provider, yet he or she is charged with the responsibility of allocating scarce resources among a demanding population rather than providing the best possible care.

Instead of allowing the market to dictate cost and availability, the buck will stop with the government. Instead of allowing doctors to work dynamically with their patients to tailor a health care approach best suited to the individual in question, the government will use its regulatory power to force physicians into applying narrow "quality of life" criteria when evaluating treatment options for society's elderly citizens. This utilitarian approach to life and death is already affecting seniors in North America, in places like Canada (no surprise there), Texas, and Wisconsin.

A health care system that bases its fiscal solvency on rationing undermines the fundamental American values of self-determination and choice. This nation has always been known as a land of opportunity and innovation. For hundreds of years, people have traveled from all over the globe at risk to life and limb just for a chance to build their own dreams here in America. This includes the opportunity to live a full and free life, even into one's golden years of retirement and senior citizenship. But what criteria will America's elderly citizens have to meet in order to retain access to the best health care if our leaders institute a Brave New World of "comparative effectiveness" in health care? Age? Productivity? Societal "usefulness?" Level of sentience?

The elderly often don't score well along these lines, and once American society becomes comfortable with the idea that certain members may be deemed less worthy than others in the eyes of the government, we have rendered the heart and soul of our Constitution meaningless. Once we decide that the elderly are expendable, not worth their share of society's resources and attention, we are setting a dangerous precedent that opens the door for government bureaucrats to assign other vulnerable members of the human community to the same second-class status.

The idea that senior citizens are less deserving of the best medical care our system has to offer smacks of gross ignorance and ingratitude. Among the ranks of America's elderly are countless American heroes—veterans of numerous wars, entrepreneurs, farmers, businessmen, teachers, scientists... men and women who have worked hard and paid taxes their whole lives. Our society wouldn't be what it is today without their contributions, and they deserve just and equitable treatment as they live out their final years.

As the August recess commences and our leaders head home for some straight talk with their constituents at Rotary Clubs, community centers, and town halls, hopefully they will recognize that America's seniors are vital members of our nation's communities and integral to our democratic way of life. If Uncle Sam is determined to assume the mantle of responsibility for health care in America, the elderly should not automatically be relegated to the back of the bus.

Medicare Fraud Arrests… Finally - APHouston TX USA

Federal agents escort suspects out of the FBI offices Wednesday, July 29, 2009 in Houston. Federal authorities arrested more than 30 suspects, including doctors, and were seeking others in a major Medicare fraud bust Wednesday in New York, Louisiana, Boston and Houston. (No doubt ACORN related) (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Related Resources:

• Prescription for Truth – Daniel Hannan From England: HealthCare Worse for Elderly
• GovernmentCare’s Assault on Seniors
• Obamacare for Illegal Aliens – While Granny Gets Duty to Die Lecture
• Meet Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel: Deny Coverage to Elderly and Disabled for the Greater Good
• Obama’s Rogues Gallery: Ezekial Emanuel – Goodnight Grandma
• Complete Lives System by Ezekial Emanuel
• Ezekiel Emanuel, architect of ObamaCare..please read
• Meet Your Science Czar
• Ghoulish Science Plus Obamacare Equals Health Hazard
• Absolutism Redux – Review of the Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More Than Ever
• Useless Eaters
• Kennedy: Let’s Ration Healthcare
• ObamaCare For Seniors: Sorry, You’re Just Not Worth It
• Who Will Tell Michael J. Fox He Needs to Die?
• America Senses Something Isn't Right
• Senator Grassley (and Others): Democrats Want to Nationalize Healthcare
• The Ultimate Resting Place of Socialized Medicine
• *Letter to Your Congress Person on Health Care (Obamacare) HR3200
• *A Look at What is Really in the Health Care Bill (HR 3200): Chilling!
• Dick Morris Says Obamacare Will Replace Medicare – What to do to Save Health Care
• The Community Organizer Doesn’t Like People Organizing
• Reparations By Way of Health Care Reform
• Obama in 2007 Said He Wanted to Eliminate Private Health Insurance
• Kristol: Kill It, And Start Over
• ACORN CRACKED: Exposes ACORN"S Push for Socialized Medicine
• Catastrophe
• American Progressivism
• Liberal Fascism
• The Second Bill of Rights
• Culture of Corruption
• Liberty and Tyranny

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power