Posted on 11/04/2009 3:36:26 PM PST by PhiKapMom
For Immediate Release
November 4, 2009
Health Care Reform Bills will Hurt Oklahoma’s Seniors and Families
by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D.
Over the past few months I've visited with thousands of Oklahomans who are concerned about how the health care reform bills moving through Congress will affect their lives and their families' lives. Politicians in Washington have talked a good game about pursuing common reform goals, such as reducing costs and improving access and quality. Unfortunately, the plan backed by congressional leaders not only falls far short of the goals of reform, but will place new burdens on families, seniors and state agencies.
First, the plan's sponsors have claimed that if you like what you have you can keep it. That isn't true. You may be forced to drop your current plan, especially if Congress includes an aggressive "public option" - a government run health plan. According to one estimate by the Lewin Group, if the public option language in the bill passed by the House of Representatives becomes law as many as 40 percent of Americans could lose their private insurance and be forced into a government-run plan. The public option has been scaled back in subsequent versions of the legislation but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has very clearly stated she wants the final bill to include the strongest possible public option. "There is no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option," she said.
If you do manage to keep to what you have, you can expect to pay significantly higher premiums, according to ten separate government and independent studies. A self-employed Oklahoman or one working for a small business could see a premium increase of $1,600 annually, or $4,400 for a family policy. Small business owners could pay an extra $814 per employee to cover each of their employees, or they could face penalties imposed on them by the IRS.
Seniors will be hit hardest by the so-called reform bills. One out of every eight seniors in Oklahoma is enrolled in a program called Medicare Advantage, which provides Medicare patients with greater choices. Seniors enrolled in that program in our state - more than 81,000 seniors - could be forced to drop their plan and pick up the tab for any benefits they will lose. Bill sponsors are justifying cutting Medicare because it will supposedly help "pay for" reform. If congressional leaders were serious about paying for their plan they would eliminate their pet projects and some of the $350 billion government wastes every year. Instead, they are hoping to pay for their plan on the backs of seniors who are enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program they oppose on ideological grounds.
The bills will also place enormous new burdens on state agencies in Oklahoma, which are already facing five percent monthly reductions for the rest of the fiscal year because of declining state revenues. Provisions in the plan expanding Medicaid will force the state of Oklahoma to come up with at least $100 million in additional funds. It's wrong for politicians in Washington who refuse to prioritize spending to outsource hard choices and fiscal responsibility to individuals, states and local communities.
Adding insult to injury, congressional leaders are expecting taxpayers in Oklahoma to subsidize the re-election campaigns of Senators representing the states of Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Rhode Island, all of which are exempted from additional Medicaid expenses for five years.
Every Oklahoman can expect to pay higher taxes if this plan passes. When the plan is implemented in 2013 thousands of state employees will be forced to pay an additional $1,100 in taxes every year because their plans will be considered too generous and will be hit with an excise tax.
Yet, what is even more troubling than what we know about the reform bills is what we don't know. Congress has a terrible track record of estimating the long term costs of government health programs. For instance, when Medicare was created in 1965 Congress predicted it would cost $12 billion in 1990. Instead, it cost $110 billion in 1990. Medicaid now costs 37 times what it did when it was launched in 1965; Medicare 16 times, both adjusted for inflation. If Congress' projections are off again income tax rates will skyrocket.
I believe health care needs to be reformed which is why I introduced a bill several months ago called the Patients' Choice Act that empowers individuals rather than government bureaucrats. My plan gives every American access to high-quality plans, reduces health care costs, promotes prevention and lets doctors and patients decide what is best. Real reform is possible but the current plan is not real reform. America has the best health care in the world but it is far too costly. Unfortunately, the leading plan will destroy what is working in American health care and make existing problems, such as cost, worse for most Americans.
With the health care bills moving toward a vote in Congress I encourage you to keep up the pressure on Washington. Because you have made your voices heard, the bills have been moderated somewhat from the versions that were released this summer. Yet, Oklahomans should have no illusions about the goals of the politicians leading this process. This effort is about moving the country as close as possible to a single-payer, health care system run by the government and paid for by higher taxes and premium costs for every American. Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama will take as big an incremental step toward their ultimate goal they believe they can get away with.
I can promise you that I'll be on the Senate floor every possible moment conveying both my experience as a practicing physicians and the common sense I've heard from people across our state. It's time for Washington to keep the promises it has already made rather than making new promises we can't afford.
Yet I just heard on the radio a couple of hours ago that AARP is poised, once again, to endorse the abomination the Pelosi house of ill repute is preparing to pass Friday of this week!!! (day after tomorrow!!!)
I heard the same thing about AARP — wonder how much their governing group was paid to endorse?
Every senior citizen should quit AARP!
Really! Truly!! The staff, instead of the membership, are totally LIEBERAL and out of control!!! They don't even ask the members about anything anymore... they just RULE!!!
“Every senior citizen should quit AARP!”
Any senior that ever joined AARP is either a dedicated socialist or an idiot!
Wouldn’t you like to see and hear the closed door deals between AARP and Pelosi/Reid/0b0z0 for AARP support?
They are betraying the trust of a vast number of Seniors in violation of RICO and hundreds of laws passed under LBJ's Great Society legislative onslaught!!!
This is the biggest deception of Seniors in the history of advocacy/lobbying organizations hiding behind Non-Profit 501(c)3 tax exemption laws.
The commissions, then the salaries and expense accounts being raked in by this criminal self-serving staff are far more obscene than salaries and bonuses paid to Wall Street bankers!!!
Remember when Reagan was president and they passed a comprehensive Medicare Reform act and AARP lied to seniors so strongly and swiftly that CONgress immediately reversed their huge act that would have made the whole program sustainable far into the future???
AARP is guilty of Elder Abuse by endorsing a law that eliminates Medicare Advantage plans!!!
AARP needs to have a class action suit filed against them for false advertising.
Just after obama got through spewing his filth and praising AARPs endorsement of the House health Care bill AARP ran an ad for Secure Horizions Medicare Advantage Plan that will be wiped out with the health bill as will all other plans under medicare Advantage!
...but, but...the AARP insists it doesn’t endorse legislation!....even though they did just that for Obamacare today.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2379374/posts
This outfit is dangerous!
*
Immigration...healthcare...ALL the same enforcers....
SEIU & AARP....FYI
“AARP does not operate a PAC, but its employees gave candidates, committees and parties $53,200, with Democrats receiving 90 percent of that.”
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/02/special-interests-to-listen-ca.html
SEIU & AARP...joined at the hip and helping write amnesty/healthcare legislation. AARP uses your dollars to fund the likes of:
MALDEF - Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund
AARP says: “”Anybody who looks at immigration has to look at aging,” says Harry R. Moody, director of academic affairs at AARP. “First, immigration affects the age structure of society” by adding younger members to the population, he says. “Second, the people who do hands-on care work are immigrants. Look at our nursing homes! We have an image of people picking tomatoes — that’s not the whole story. Immigrants are the front-line caregivers.”
http://www.maldef.org/truthinimmigration/camarota_asks_how_many_americans09072008/index.html
& http://www.americanpatrol.com/MALDEF/Contributors-2002-2003.html (Fannie Mae gives to them, too!)
AARP also contributes to LULAC
La Raza
http://www.nclr.org/section/awards
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/04/03/the-left-wing-mortgage-counseling-racket/
And from AARP’s ‘Latino’ magazine....
http://www.aarpsegundajuventud.org/english/presence/index.html
Meet AARP’s New CEO: A. Barry Rand
A. Barry Rand, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Howard University and a nationally recognized agent for social change, has been tapped as AARP’s new chief executive officer. He will become the organization’s first African American CEO when he assumes the position in April.
AARP Welcomes Jacob Lozada
AARP Board member Jacob Lozada gives AARP Segunda Juventud readers his perspective on issues facing U.S. Hispanics and how he hopes to boost AARP’s profile in his native Puerto Rico.
AND AARP works hand in hand with the SEIU. They are the ones formulating the legislation that the dems are pushing.
“– AARP, Business Roundtable and SEIU, which together represent more than 50 million Americans, today took another groundbreaking step for their “Divided We Fail” group by jointly delivering endorsed principles for health information technology (IT) legislation to Congress.
http://www.businessroundtable.org/press_release/aarp_business_roundtable_and_seiu_deliver_end
Great post!!! Wow!!! What a sack full of corrupt bastards (meaning illegitimate of course)!!!
I agree with your take on this. There are organizations across this nation that operate in this same manor. They profess to have a certain mindset, but when you look at what they are up to, they’re basically doing precisely the opposite of what their mission statement says.
These deceptions amount to fraud. I don’t honestly know why they aren’t called on it. They have to file with the government to get their C3 status. Too bad they aren’t audited from time to time.
AARP says: “”Anybody who looks at immigration has to look at aging,” says Harry R. Moody, director of academic affairs at AARP. “First, immigration affects the age structure of society” by adding younger members to the population, he says. “Second, the people who do hands-on care work are immigrants. Look at our nursing homes! We have an image of people picking tomatoes — that’s not the whole story. Immigrants are the front-line caregivers.”
This pinhead doesn't know what he's talking about. When younger people come here from another country, guess who comes along for the ride? In many instances it's mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. Those people having never worked a day in their lives inside the U.S., are withing months given access to Social Security and other goodies. And of course, AARP gets their membership fees.
Years ago, back when immigration wasn't the exploding issue it has become today (we're talking mid 1980s), our town had a large influx of foreign born. As a subset of that influx, there were many elderly people. Those people basically become wards of the state, by being given stipends you and I have to work many quarters and pay out a considerable sum of money to qualify for.
We had one park in town that was taken over by these people. If any local native residents tried to use the park, they were told to go away. You never saw native residents in that park after that. All you would see is old men in suits sitting at the benches all day talking or playing some table games.
There was a period when many of these people came over in a short period of time. This park situation cropped up almost overnight.
AARP is lying through it's teeth here. Again...
You know, so many of our seniors feel isolated, and think AARP is their BFF. Little do they know what Obama and the AARP plan for them. There are going to be some very sad people when they realize how they have been betrayed.
Like many self respecting seniors, I’m a member of the NRA, not the AARP.
You must be Amerigo Vespucci, right? (grin)
Close. It was a relative's first name. You might also recognize two of his cronies. Baldassare Forestiere and Amadeus Giannini. When AP would come to the central valley to recruit local, Italian investors for his new enterprise, he'd gather them at the gardens (there was no air conditioners or swamp coolers at the time) and Amerigo would provide the refreshments. AP was determined to break the monopoly the Irish had on banking in northern California. Newsom's granddad never spoke to AP again.
I was quite greatful for a long time till the "don't bungle the jungle" exhibits and all the other ridiculous GANG-GREEN garbage started showing up in the lobby of my local branch and I learned it was coming down from "corporate!"
So I broke off my loyalty and progressed from B of A to US Bank where I remain today. I still remember the stories of the boards stacked on bricks immediately following the great quake to renew what was to become the sin filled Sodomite mecca that spawned the UN and Nancy Pelosi!!!
I recognized AP, but not BF... I also recognized a once great enterprise that incorporated in it's history of progressing from boards on blocks, to a gargantuan giant that grew so big it could only be covered by a TARP!!! Ho Ho Ho... Green Giant with a TARP for a loin cloth!!! (Visualize whirled peas)
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