Once again, the Senate’s Doctors, Dr. Tom Coburn, M.D. and Dr. John Barrasso, M.D., are answering questions about PlaceboCare. Assuming I’ve got the right embed code, here it is…
No Runny Eggs
The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
Archive for the 'Health Care Reform' Category
October 13, 2009
October 12, 2009
Unprecedented Consensus
“Unprecedented consensus” from Republicans is what President Obama is calling the support of several RINOs and other Republicans who are not, and haven’t been in leadership roles for a number of years.
I don’t have much time to totally fisk his comments as I’m traveling and have little/weak wifi. Suffice to say it this way:
Drugs attached to the Presidency began with Bill Clinton claiming “he didn’t inhale.” They were elevated in stature when Barack Obama admitted he had tried cocaine. It now appears that drug use is regular fare at the White House. It’s the only way one could hallucinate any kind of “consensus” in support of placebocare amongst Republicans.
October 8, 2009
The doctors who don’t need to play dress-up
Once again, the two doctors of the Senate, Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. and Sen. John Barrasso, M.D, will be taking to the Ustream airwaves at 4 pm Central (5 pm Eastern, 3 pm Mountain, check your watches on the Left Coast). They’ll likely be talking about the Baucus non-bill and the CBO’s scoring of said non-bill.
If you missed it; here’s the show courtesy YouTube…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNdmGFzF-ME[/youtube]
Revisions/extensions (6:13 pm 10/8/2009) – Replaced the Ustream video of the previous show with the YouTube video of the current show.
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October 6, 2009
More Talk About Placebocare
Don’t miss the latest addition of the Senate Doctors show. Unlike what’s contained in the various iterations of Placebocare, these guys actually know something about health care and how to provide reform that would actually be beneficial to Americans. You can watch the latest episode below.
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First AstroTurf, now Placebos?
Throughout the August recess, town halls across the country, were attended by grass root Americans who told their Representatives that they wanted no part of Obamacare. As the pressure on the Representatives increased, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrat leaders attempted to discredit the notion that this was real angst, from real Americans, that was being projected towards their Beltway Masters. Rather, Ms. Pelosi asserted that the angst was all ginned up and that it was not real grass roots but rather AstroTurf.
Yesterday, President Obama staged another photo op in an attempt to convince folks that the country supports his takeover of health care. President Obama had 150 doctors attend the photo op. He tried to use these doctors as representatives of the entire medical industry. Obama’s logic seems to be that if the doctors say the medicine to fix health care is good, than you should take it. Except, there’s a bit of a problem with the foundation of his argument.
Turns out, most of the doctors at yesterday’s event (those who brought their white coats and those who had to have one assigned to them) were members of Doctors for America. Turns out that Doctors for America is not a new group. Nope, DFA is the new reincarnation of the former Doctors for Obama.
If Doctors for America, formerly Doctors for Obama, had previously drunk the kool-aid for hope and change, is there any credibility in their support for more ingestion of the sugary drink?
If Nancy Pelosi thought the Grass Roots attending the town hall were nothing more than AstroTurf, can I now assume that support from a medical group that had already drunk the kool-aid is not real medicine but just a placebo?
October 1, 2009
While the Cat’s Away….
Apparently, it has finally sunk into President Obama’s head that doing his Max Headroom impression on behalf of health care reform has not been a winning strategy. To regain his Presidential gravitas he, Michelle and Oprah have taken on the self sacrificing task of going to Copenhagen to lobby for the lining of Valerie Jarrett’s pockets to bring the Olympics to Chicago.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch….
The manuevering continues in the attempt to have the Federal Government become the sole arbiter of health care in the U.S.
I’ve linked before to the Senate Doctors show. Senators Coburn and Barasso, the only two Senators who actually are doctors and not just playing one in the Senate, have had a regular video correspondence about the health care debate. The Senators address issues, answer questions and even slap down the occassional Huffpo correspondent.
In what could be described as “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” the Obama administration is ramping up their own health care video initiative. The problem is that while they can imitate the use of a tool, they have no practicing doctors who can provide credibility to what will be another reguritation of left talking points (You remember….illegals won’t get health care, abortion won’t be covered, no death panels).
Why get the cheap imitation when you have the original available?
The Senate Doctors will be on again at 5 PM Eastern. You can watch the show live, below.
The health care debate is far from over folks. Stay informed, stay up to date on the issues and stay on target, stay on target!
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September 26, 2009
Unintended Consequences
Yes, this could be on just about any government program; Cash for Clunkers that has dried up the car market or the stimulus package that has stimulated no hiring but that for the government (or maybe that wasn’t “unintended?”) No, this time it’s about the Swine Flu.
Item number 1:
Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk
Seems their finding a more than statistical anomaly, of people getting the swine flu after getting their regular flu shot. The working theory is that because these shots expose you to a tamed down version of the bacteria or virus that it actually stimulates the body to create an entry point for another disease.
While I’m sure that this kind of stuff happens all the time without serious ramifications, the WHO’s and Federal Government’s continual gong banging about the impending annihilation of species: homo sapien due to the swine flu, will make this a very complicated issue if it is proven out.
On a side note, the information and study is coming out of the Canadian health system. The supporters of Obamacare continually tell us how much better Canadian health care is so there’s no reason to question the veracity of this information.
Item #2:
Swine-flu false alarms crowd area ERs
Houston’s ERs are being over run by people who believe they have swine flu and need immediate treatment. It seems that the continual gong banging by the WHO and Federal Government has a fair number of people over reacting. Even mild flu symptoms have people piling into the ER demanding treatment.
What’s the solution to over crowding from the medical folks? Same as it has been from time in memoriam: Take two aspirin and call me in the morning:
Instead, consider “telephone triage,” said Dr. Herminia Palacio, Harris County’s public health authority.
She said patients and parents should ask: “Am I somebody who needs to come in to be seen or am I somebody who can really stay at home and manage myself?”
That seems like a good common sense answer.
Isn’t ER overuse and crowding one of the things that Obamacare is supposed to solve for us? I wonder why the triage approach wouldn’t work for the clogging of the emergency rooms by folks who have all kinds of other issues. If you come to the ER and you don’t warrant that kind of treatment, the ER sends you down the road to an urgent care or in some cases, even tells you to take two aspirin and call back in the morning!
I remember hearing President Obama tell us how unscrupulous doctors increased their fees by doing unnecessary procedures. He wants to punish them and drive them from medical practice. Under Obamacare, I wonder what the penalty would be for a government that hypes and over hypes issue after issue which results in a crisis where none really exists? That’s exactly what’s happening in the case of the swine flu.
September 21, 2009
Well, There You Go Again!
Why is it that the man who is supposed to have been the brightest, best spoken, deepest thinker and yes, clean, has so much trouble with something as simple as a dictionary?
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, President Obama refused to admit that his tax was a tax:
STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but it’s still a tax increase.
OBAMA: No. That — that’s not true, George. The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.
What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you any more than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that, if you hit my car, that I’m not covering all the costs.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policy…
OBAMA: No, but — but, George, you — you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase. Any — if I — if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 percent or 8 percent or 10 percent next year, and you say, “Well, that’s not a tax increase,” but, on the other hand, if I say that I don’t want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage, even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then…
STEPHANOPOULOS: I — I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam- Webster’s dictionary: Tax, “a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.”
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition. I mean, what…
What? “You can’t just make up that language?” How can the use of Webster’s definition of the very word being debated be “making up language?”
OK, well, if the actual definition doesn’t count, can we look at how the item functions to determine its definition?
In an AP article, Clint Stretch, head of the tax policy group for Deloitte, a major accounting firm said:
If you put something in the Internal Revenue Code, and you tell the IRS to collect it, I think that’s a tax. If you don’t pay, the person who’s going to come and get it is going to be from the IRS.
Well, that seems pretty obvious and conclusive.
Politicians have always played loose with definitions. I have no doubt that if we looked hard enough we would find a Southern Democrat of the time claim that the Civil War was fought over the issue of state’s rights rather than the final resolution of an issue that wasn’t resolved at the founding of the country and had finally ripened within the enlightened nation to a point where its implications could no longer be ignored!
Yes, politicians have always been challenged to stay within the bounds of Webster’s definitions. However, I don’t think it was until Bill Clinton told us that “sex” wasn’t “sex” that Democrats viewed dictionaries as yet another tool perpetuated by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. So now we know, that because of Webster’s work, “sex” isn’t “sex” and a “tax” isn’t a “tax.”
If It’s Free, I’ll Take Two
Here’s a Rasmussen poll that is sure to knock your socks off. When asked, a majority of the uninsured thought Obamacare sounded pretty good to them. I was a bit buoyed seeing that only 58% thought it sounded good. Apparently the other 32% have some level of personal responsibility.
The survey found that when viewed on the basis of their political ideology, the uninsured’s perspective doesn’t look much different than the insured:
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of uninsured Republicans oppose the plan while 88% of Democrats favor it. Those not affiliated with either party are evenly divided.
Perhaps the most interesting bit of information from the poll was this:
Thirty-four percent (34%) of the uninsured voters are under 30. In Election 2008, just 18% of voters were that young.
People under 30 are the group easiest to insure. In general, this age group is the healthiest and has the fewest by far, of any pre existing conditions. This means that rates for their insurance would be relatively cheap, especially if they were getting only catastrophic insurance and that they would have few issues that would prevent an insurer from making them an offer of coverage. Along with this, there are many state programs that provide financial assistance for low income, temporarily unemployed and other reasons that someone in this younger age group may not be able to afford insurance. Yet, with all these advantages, they make up over 1/3 of the uninsured and likely a significant portion of the folks who think that Obamacare is just the thing we need.
Under all Democrat plans there will be a penalty or tax if you don’t have Obamacare. The tax or penalty will likely be as much and possibly more than those same under 30s would pay today for catastrophic health care. I wonder if anyone has explained to the under 30 crowd that Obamacare does not mean free health care? I suspect not. I suspect the reason that the under 30 crowd is so enamored with Obamacare is the same reason they are enamored with other government run programs. For many of the under 30 crowd, if the government is paying for it, it’s free so they’ll take two.
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September 17, 2009
Confused? You’re Not The Only One
With the addition of the Baucus bill it’s getting hard to keep track of what proposals are included in which of the various health care proposals. Bottom line is that they all have a mandate for having health insurance and they all have a public option although it is hidden under different names (coop) depending upon the bill you are looking at.
If you are feeling confused by what is being discussed under the various scenarios, you can surely have empathy for the senility creeping into Harry Reid’s head. At the news conference yesterday, Harry was one of the few immediately greeting the Baucus bill:
“This is a good bill. This is a balanced bill,” he told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, “Everyone should understand it’s just the beginning, but it’s a good beginning.”
But…..somewhere in his walk down the office halls he seemed to forget his earlier support:
“While this draft bill is a good starting point, it needs improvement before it will work for Nevada,” Reid said in a statement. “During this time of economic crisis, our state cannot afford to shoulder the second highest increase in Medicaid funding.”
Harry appears to believe that he can have his cake and eat it too. He believes he can say one thing as leader of the Senate and something very different as the Senator from Nevada.
I wonder if Harry has ever heard Al Gore discuss the laters invention of the internet?
Where’s Hope Now?
A week ago President Obama grabbed his final quiver of arrows and started firing the final efforts to save health care reform. His first effort was a speech to a joint session of Congress.
After a month of highly attended and vocal town halls where it became apparent that many Americans knew more about Congress’ plans than the members of Congress did, it was anticipated that President Obama’s speech would reset the health care discussion. It was hoped that President Obama might have the wisdom to publicly discard parts that had drawn clear public enmity, such as the public option and offer policies that could be supported on both sides of the aisle like opening insurance sales across state lines. The President did neither. Rather, the President dug his heels in for support of a public option, called those who opposed the legislation liars and proceeded to refrain several assertions that had been proven not to be true.
Expectations were high that President Obama’s speech would stop the slide of public support and regain support for his health care reform initiative. At first, it appeared that he accomplished his goal.
Hovering around its lowest level of public support just prior to Obama’s speech, in the week following the speech, Rasmussen recorded steady rebounds of support for Obama’s health care reform. Along with it, Obama’s personal approval level which had been hovering around all time lows, also rebounded. Ah, once again there was hope for change for Obama worshippers. Unfortunately, the hope was short lived.
Yesterday showed the first crack in the Obama magic. Rasmussen reported that the rebound in public support for health care reform had stopped and had slid back a bit. Today, support for the health plan dropped below the levels that were seen immediately before Obama’s speech. Coincidentally, Obama’s approval level is also dropping.
Compounding Obama’s attempt to save health reform is a tangent but highly relevant story; the investigative reporting showing ACORN in need of a visit from the RICO agents.
As the townhalls were filling with anti big government folks in the first half of August, Obama called on ACORN to help balance the attendance. While their tactics were suspect, there is no doubt that they balanced at least the volume if not the substance, of the meetings. With the revelations of the past week, government contacts are showing ACORN more undersides of buses than a repairman in a Greyhound garage. After having bragged about his strong connections with ACORN, President Obama will need to keep a wide berth of this group until the heat dies down, which I don’t expect to happen anytime soon. Thus, for the time being, there will be far less public displays of affection for Obamacare.
With the House bill apparently unable to find a combination of Democrats that can get it passed, some Senate Democrats are trying to cobble a plan that could pass out of the Senate and give the House some cover. One of those attempts was unveiled today by Max Baucus. I’ll let others give you the detail of the plan. Suffice it to say that it is missing the mark on all counts. In fact, where it took several weeks for opposition to gather on the House bill, the Baucus bill hadn’t even had it’s first news conference before opposition formed:
AFSCME President McEntee: “Finance Committee Health Care Bill is Deeply Flawed” (Press Release, September 16, 2009)
Teamsters Oppose Baucus Plan to Tax Health Insurance Companies (Press Release, September 16, 2009)
AFL-CIO: Baucus bill ‘absolutely fails’ (The Hill, September 16, 2009)
HCAN calls bill a “failure” (Politico)
Unfortunately, for President Obama, the opposition this time was coming from within his own ranks. Add to this reports that there are enough people unhappy for a variety of reasons, that there may not be enough votes to even pass Baucus’ bill out of his own committee and it leaves just one question; whatever happened to hope and change?
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September 16, 2009
Video of the day – John Stossel destroys health insurance
(H/T – Charlie Sykes)
Enjoy as ABC News (soon to be Fox News) correspondent John Stossel explains why health insurance makes health care a lot more expensive…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WnS96NVlMI[/youtube]
Those of you who went to AFP-WI’s Health Care Townhalls already know the specifics, but it doesn’t hurt to hear them again.
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Uh-oh – 45% of physicians plan to depart early if ObamaCare passes
(H/T – Michelle Malkin)
Investor’s Business Daily reports that, in its latest IBD/TIPP poll, 45% of doctors surveyed said that they would consider leaving their practice or retiring early if a Democratic version of health care reform were passed. They also found that 65% oppose the plans the Democrats have out there, and 71% (or 72% whether one believes the graphic or the text) don’t believe that 47 million could be added to the insurance rolls under government control with higher-quality care for less money.
Let’s focus on those who would leave early. Early last year, The Monster took a look at what happens to the supply-demand curves when government interferes with prices. The same principle exists when supply is artificially-tampered with.
First, let’s restate what happens when the supply of a service and the demand of same are in harmony. The price and quantity are at an equilibrium, as shown by this graph from Monster:
Note where the supply curve (S) and demand curve (D) meet. That is the point of equilibrium, with a specific price (P) and quantity (Q).
Now, let’s take a look at what happens when the quantity is artificially-capped below the equilibrium point:
Because the supply does not meet the demand, there is a shortage. The red line connecting the supply curve and the demand curve represents said shortage, with a corresponding increase in price once the two meet.
Of course, that assumes that prices will be allowed to rise to meet the demand. What happens when both the quantity and the price are artficially-capped? Let’s take a look:
The blue line represents an unmet shortage. If you prefer to use a single word for that, “rationing” would be a good choice.
Revisions/extensions (9:58 am 9/16/2009) – Shoebox pointed out last month that even if no physicians departed early, we would be 13% short on the required number of physicians the day that ObamaCare goes into effect. Talk about your uh-oh moments.
September 15, 2009
Don’t Look Now…
In case you missed it, there was a rather large social gathering in Washington D.C. over the weekend. If you read about it in the New York Times, there were merely “thousands” of people at the event. If you read about it at an objective source there was something north of 1 million people on and around the mall.
Regardless of the actual number that appeared on the mall, David Axelrod, a senior advisor to President Obama had this to say about the mall denizens:
I don’t think it’s indicative of the nation’s mood,” Axelrod said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You know, I don’t think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they’re wrong.”
David, Robert Gibbs had some advice for you last week and you really should heed it!
Mr. Axelrod, you’re wrong! In a poll released today from Zogby, it turns out that the majority of America agrees with the Tea Party participants at least on the major issues:
Asked if they agree or disagree that the federal government should require all Americans to purchase health insurance or face a fine — a provision favored by Democrats — 70.2 percent said they disagree, and only 18.5 percent agree. The rest are not sure.
Mr. Axelrod, you’re wrong again:
A resounding 75 percent of respondents said that taxes should not be raised to fund a government-run health insurance program for Americans who do not have health insurance.
Oh, and Mr. Axelrod, you’re wrong again:
The pollsters stated: “President Obama is promoting a new government agency called the ‘Independent Medicare Advisory Council,’ and some people believe this agency should use its powers to deny payment for procedures it deems unnecessary or futile.”
Critics say such power would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, the pollsters noted, and many consider it a form of healthcare rationing. Nearly 59 percent said they oppose the creation of the council, and just 30.6 percent support it.
May I say, Mr. Axelrod, You’re wrong again:
Some Republicans have called for provisions allowing Americans to purchase health insurance from providers outside their state as an alternative to Obama’s proposed government-supported “public option” insurance plan. Respondents said they favor such provisions by an overwhelming margin, 82.8 percent to 6.9 percent.
And one last time, Mr. Axlerod, you are wrong!
Also, 78.5 percent of those polled believe tort reform is needed to lower the cost of medical malpractice insurance, an issue that Obama has not seriously addressed. And 77.3 percent oppose plans to tax employer-provided healthcare benefits.
Would people like to see some reform, I believe the answer is yes. however, do people want the reform that the Democrats are offering? The answer to that is a resounding no!
Stay on target, stay on target!
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Hey Dems, What’s Your Problem?
According to House Republicans the Democrats don’t have the votes to pass health care reform out of the House. You see, the problem is that they lose at least 44 votes if there is a public option included and 57 if it’s not included. Huh, last I looked there were 256 Democrats in the House. What happened to the other 155? Can they not make up their mind?
For you Minnesota readers, I noted that Betty McCollum and Tim Walz are not on either list.
For the rest of you, I noted that the Democrat leadership including Nancy Pelosi, James Clyburn and Steny Hoyer are not on either list.
Is this really so hard? Either you believe that the government is best capable of running health care or you don’t. There is no “kind of.” There is no fractional amount. You’re either in or not. It’s pretty simple.
Folks, if your representative is not on one of these lists, you ought to be asking why they are equivocating. If they are on the “we must have a public option” list, they can no longer hide as a “blue dog” and should be called out.
The lines are drawn. Obama risks losing all credibility if he doesn’t get this billed passed out of the House.
Stay on target, Stay on target!
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September 12, 2009
Well Decide, Which Way Do You Want It?
The Coast Guard ran a training exercise today. It was routine in every way except that President Obama was involved in a 9/11 memorial in the same general area as the exercise. Oh, and nobody told CNN that it was a training exercise.
Based on what they had heard on scanners that overheard the Coast Guard communications, CNN began reporting that the Coast Guard was pursuing a boat on the Potomac and that shots had been fired. Needless to say, the reporting caused a bit of a stir.
Commenting on the incident, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs chided CNN:
“My only caution would be that before we report things like this, checking would be good,” Gibbs said.
Sage advice from Mr. Gibbs, to be certain. I wonder when Mr. Gibbs would have liked CNN to have begun “checking” before “reporting?”
Should CNN have done some “checking” before they “reported” that John McCain’s endorsement by John Haggee was the equivalent of Barack Obama sitting in Jeremiah Wright’s church and listening to his sermons for 20 years?
Should CNN have done some “checking” before they “reported” this puff piece on the self proclaimed communist, Van Jones?
Or, perhaps, just maybe, CNN should have done some “checking” before they “reported” that following President Obama’s most recent infomercial for health reform, 67% liked Obamacare based on significantly oversampling democrats?
It’s not very often I agree with Robert Gibbs. In fact, I’m not sure I ever have before. On this issue, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Gibbs. I would like to see CNN doing some real checking and some real reporting. I suspect though, that if they did that, Mr. Gibbs would not be happy at having lost a compliant media lapdog. That leaves a quandary for Mr. Gibbs; which way do you want it?
September 10, 2009
Video of the day – Moolah for Medicine edition
My friends from the Sam Adams Alliance, who run the Health Administration Bureau (at least until Congress takes it over), have introduced a new program called Moolah for Medicine. I’ll let the video explain:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC3nZO71zhk[/youtube]
Get yours before the ObamiNation gets you!
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Thursday Hot Read Part 2 – Karl Rove’s “Obama’s Big Political Gamble”
It is good to have one of the best political operators in the business back up my impression that President Obama’s actions this week are nothing more than a series of pep talks to his far-left base. Karl Rove writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Millions of Americans watched President Barack Obama’s speech last night to a joint session of Congress. Much of it was familiar, having been delivered in at least 111 speeches, town halls, radio addresses and other appearances on health care. But his most revealing remarks on the topic came on Monday, at a Labor Day union picnic in Cincinnati.
There Mr. Obama accused critics of his health reforms of spreading “lies” and said opponents want “to do nothing.” These false charges do not reveal a spirit of bipartisanship nor do they create a foundation for dialogue. It is more like what you’d say if you are planning to jam through a bill without compromise. Which is exactly what Mr. Obama is about to attempt.
Rove goes on to point out that the last time we tried to go down this road to socialized medicine, the Democrats lost the majority in both Houses of Congress because they tried to go down this road.
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Thursday Hot Read – Ed Morrissey’s “Declaration of Dependence”
Ed Morrissey’s latest column for American Issues Project deals with the “moderate” health-care “reform” that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has. Let’s pick up at the second departure of the governed-government relationship:
The second departure is more subtle and insidious. Baucus has proposed that the federal government supply subsidies to needy individuals and families for the purchase of the now-mandated insurance. However, the definition of needy defies both math and common sense. The Baucus plan proposes those subsidies be available to households at up to 300% of the poverty level of income – or about $66,000 per year income.
If that sounds like a pretty good annual household income, you’d be right. In fact, the 2007 median household income in the US was $50,233. Roughly half of all households in America are above this income level, and half below it. It is a solidly middle-class income by definition.
How many people make $66,000 per year or less, and therefore would be eligible for federal health-insurance subsidies? According to the Census Bureau’s 2007 survey, 72.1 million of the nation’s 116.8 million households earned $65,000 or less. The Baucus plan would make 61.7% of American households dependent on government assistance, far more than half and well on the way to two-thirds.
Ed goes on to note that ObamaCare Heavy (aka H.R. 3200) would put close to 3/4ths of the population on the dole. What was that quote about the republic surviving only until half the people figure out they can rob the other half dry through the power of government?
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September 9, 2009
Patriot
Joe Wilson, Representative from South Carolina was the voice you heard shouting “liar” during the President’s speech tonight. The look on Pelosi and Plugs faces are priceless.
If President Obama thought this issue was just going to go away with a few lofty words, he was mistaken. I commented in the live blog tonight that if this had been a real “house of the people” meeting, the tepid response for Pelosi and others would likely have been replaced with the throwing of rotten tomatoes.
My hat’s off to Joe Wilson.
The original intent of the Obama school address?
(H/T – Soapbox Jill)
While Obama more-or-less restrained his hyper-partisan tendencies in the national address to The Young Skulls Full of Mush (© Rush Limbaugh) yesterday, he wasn’t quite as restrained before the cameras rolled with the students at Arlington, Virginia’s Wakefield High School. He was busy trying to recruit said skulls full of mush into the full-blown socialization of health care he has been pushing for the last several years.
I wonder if pressuring the parent(s) into supporting higher taxes for lower-quality care was one of the things the children were supposed to say they were going to help Obama with.
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Paul Ryan response to Obama
I need a sober analysis of the ObamaCare rah-rah speech. Fortunately, my Congressman, Paul Ryan (R-WI), provided one:
WASHINGTON – Wisconsin’s First District Congressman Paul Ryan tonight issued the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s health care address to a joint session of Congress:
“Tonight marked the President’s 28th major health care address this year. As thousands of Wisconsinites made clear to me at my health care town halls in August, we don’t need another speech; we want a fresh start on real reform – patient-centered, fiscally-responsible reform. The President delivered an articulate speech, but his plan fails to fix what’s broken, and instead breaks what’s working.
“The Washington-centric health care overhaul being pushed through Congress is not the only way to tackle this issue. Wisconsinites know better; Wisconsinites deserve better. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike continue to offer substantive alternatives – proving that we can have universal access to health coverage in America without the government taking it over, without trillions in new taxes, spending, and debt. If President Obama is sincere in asking for better ideas – ideas that can garner bipartisan support – he must be willing to consider them.”
—
For the latest on the health care debate from Congressman Ryan, including details on Ryan’s comprehensive health care reform alternative – H.R. 2520, The Patients’ Choice Act – please visit: http://www.house.gov/ryan/healthcare.
You’re All Liars
President Obama stood before the joint Congress this evening and said everyone who has read the actual words of HR 3200 were succumbing to “bogus claims”. From his speech:
Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.
There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.
My health care proposal has also been attacked by some who oppose reform as a “government takeover” of the entire health care system. As proof, critics point to a provision in our plan that allows the uninsured and small businesses to choose a publicly-sponsored insurance option, administered by the government just like Medicaid or Medicare.
I won’t dissect each of these issues as it’s been done numerous times across the net.
The only thing I learned during tonight’s speech is that it’s not a good idea to play a drinking game where you drink each time Nancy Pelosi blinks. It’s a good think I was already home! Obama could have saved us all a bunch of time and just told us to reread HR 3200.
For the past several weeks, each time President Obama attempted to refute provisions of the plan, favorability ratings for both himself and support of the plan dropped. I’m left with just one question after tonight’s speech: After calling more than half of America liars, is it possible to have a favorability rating less than zero?
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Drunkblog – sloshing through the pitch for the Chappaquiddick Memorial ObamaCare bill
Since I haven’t done a drunkblog for a while, I may be a bit out of practice. Oh well; I figure I may as well double-barrel things, with the vulgarities here and a presence over at the Hot Air liveblog. I’ll have that link and others up when they become available.
Revisions/extensions (6:55 pm 9/9/2009) – And here they are…
– Ace of Spades HQ
– Vodkapundit
– Hot Air (Part 1 run by Allahpundit/Part 2 run by Ed Morrissey
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As always, I must remind you that I paraphrase a lot. Since I’m not anticipating press questions, stuff from Obama will be in italics and my thoughts will be in plain text.
Just Say No!
Tonight, President Obama will once again fill the living rooms of America. Again he will be telling us that we have a crisis at hand and that “doing nothing is not an option.” It’s being reported that he will make a clear and compelling argument that a government option is the “best way to introduce competition into they system.” In essence, Obama’s argument this evening will ask us to trust the government to insert themself into a large, complex industry and that there will be no adverse affects to the overall system or end users.
This morning it is being reported that much, my guess nearly all, of the money lent to GM and Chrysler will be complete write offs for the American taxpayer. Big surprise that! Any high school accounting student could have told you that any money put into either of these companies had no expectation of being repaid. Automotive is a large, complex industry that government has inserted itself into with unsuccessful results. In fact, if you are one of the dealers who were closed even though you a major employer in a small community, had successful sales and high customer satisfaction, you’d say the results of government intervention were disastrous!
Yesterday, Senator Max Baucus released a framework for a health reform plan that has been worked on by a “Gang of Six” from the Senate. Within the grand plan of Senator Baucus are still mandates for health care purchases, penalties on those who don’t and a government option, now called a coop.
What is not in Senator Baucus’ plan is anything puts free market leverage on the health care system. In fact, in one of the few attempts to put free market window dressing in his plan, where Baucus addresses removing the interstate sales restrictions on health insurance, there is no mandate for the removal. Rather, Baucus’ plan allows states to from “compacts” amongst themselves that would allow insurance companies to sell across state lines of those within the compact.
The Baucus plan ends up being just the most recent attempt at “reform” who’s only real reform is using new words to describe an eventual government take over of the health care system.
Regardless of what is or isn’t included in the various attempts at health care to date, they all need to be scrapped. Making anything of quality, be it a manufactured item, art or even food, usually requires following a specific process. Even if you have the correct ingredients, it doesn’t work to just mix them or put them together in just any order you want. While the current attempts may have some pieces that are worth discussing, none of them have been put together in the correct way. Until we get a plan whose first ten precepts are based on increasing the leverage of the free market on health care, we should refuse to debate, opine or offer advice on them. We should take the advice of Nancy Reagan and “Just say no!”
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