Free Republic

US no longer insures your money-market fund, but that’s good news Withdrawing federal insurance is part of a broader exit strategy from the government's emergency supports for the economy, expected to gather steam this year. ### Savers take note: Your money-market fund is no longer insured by the US Treasury. These mutual funds, which earn interest for millions of Americans in brokerage or 401(k) accounts, rarely run into financial trouble. Almost always, they are able to maintain a reliable value of $1 per share. “Almost” is the key word, though. Last year, one of the original money-market funds, the Reserve...

Ultimately the government's ability to force people to comply with its regulations involves the threat of imprisoning those who refuse to comply. If the Democrat controlled Congress decides to arbitrarily force some people to purchase health insurance will it adopt severe measures to insure compliance with its requirement. Will any government requirement to purchase health insurance include the threat to imprison those who refuse to purchase insurance or pay a fine? Will government confiscate money or property from those who refuse to purchase health insurance or pay a fine? President Barack Obama falsely compares the purchase of health insurance to...

Senator John Ensign from Nevada saying that he has received written confirmation that the penalty for not paying the fine for not getting health insurance is a misdameanor and you could face up to 1 year in jail or $25,000 fine.

In an outrageous and un-American attack on dissent aimed at Humana Inc., a major health insurer is being investigated for the crime of communicating its concerns about health care legislation to its enrollees. Recently, Humana sent a mailing to seniors subscribed to the Medicare Advantage Program warning that "millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many ... important benefits and services that make Medicare advantage health plans so valuable." The letter urges enrollees to protest the proposed legislation to their members of Congress. Insurance experts argue that the proposal to cut "$123 billion in payments to insurance companies that...

The insurance industry doesn't like my car. It may not like yours, either. You would do well to find out. It's not that auto insurers have it out for my car, the Subaru Impreza WRX. It's just their business to keep track of what insurance claims all the people who drive my car file, and try to discern trends that will help them predict future losses, and charge accordingly. On that score, the Subaru WRX apparently hasn't done so well. In a report on insurance losses for 2005-2007 models released by the Highway Loss Data Institute earlier this month, the...

Free Speech: The Senate votes against transparency as the administration silences a private insurer for exposing the president's health care proposal. Meanwhile, AARP is allowed to tout reform as it awaits payday. We weren't surprised when the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday voted 12 to 11 against allowing two weeks for the Congressional Budget Office to complete its cost analysis of the health care bill pushed by Montana Democrat Max Baucus and to put the bill online in its original wording. Instead, the Senate panel passed another amendment to require the committee to post the full bill online in "conceptual"...

In the race to do something quickly about health care, it would seem that Congress has overlooked one pesky little problem…the United States Constitution. Our founding fathers determined that the individual states were better equipped to deal with most issues. So, when establishing Congress in Article I of the Constitution, they limited the power of Congress to only those matters specified in Article I, Section 8.

In his desire to slander capitalism and impugn the integrity of all insurance companies in order to play up his “public option” idea, President Obama’s main claim has been that those evil insurance companies need “competition” from a government sponsored plan. This purported competition is supposed to “keep them honest.” Obama presents this idea as if there currently isn’t any non-profit health insurance group keeping those for-profits honest. He acts as if he has some sort of new idea, one that currently doesn’t exist. But the truth is many states already have non-profit health groups. On top of that one...

Obama Administration Tramples On First Amendment: Issues Gag Order To Insurance Companies 84rules September 23, 2009

Political intimidation has always been part of the current Congress's health-care strategy: "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu" is tattooed on every lobbyist and industry rep in Washington. But Max Baucus's latest bullying tactics are hard to believe by even these standards, as the Senate Finance Chairman has sicced federal regulators on the insurer Humana Inc. for daring to criticize one part of his health bill. Earlier this month, Humana sent a one-page letter to its customers enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans, which offer private options to Medicare beneficiaries. Humana noted that, because of spending...

There has been a lot of talk about mandates emanating from the federal government to force each of us to buy healthcare insurance but what do those mandates do to the insurance itself? And are they even Constitutionally justified? First of all we need to remind everyone that these mandates cannot possibly be Constitutional. After all, the Constitution does not give Congress the power to demand that the citizens buy a certain product. The Constitution only gives Congress the power to tax, not to serve as an arm of any industry. These mandates will essentially make the federal government an...

WASHINGTON – The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors about the health care overhaul in Congress. The Health and Human Services Department is objecting to a mailer that Humana recently sent Medicare recipients.

THE elderly were the first group to turn against President Obama's health-care pro posals, alienated by the plans to cut $500 billion cut from Medicare. The young and the uninsured may be the next to jump ship -- out of worry over about the huge premiums they'd have to pay. Requiring everyone to buy insurance will impose a massive tax on all who now are uninsured. The Congressional Budget Office projects that it would force the middle-income uninsured to pay on average more than 15 percent of their income. The poor will still have Medicaid. But for those earning more,...

The last time I reviewed the Declaration of Independence’s list of fundamental rights, it still only contained the following: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere in this document, nor in the United States Constitution itself, is there an inclusion of fundamental rights to medical insurance coverage. So when did medical insurance become a fundamental right? Was there a law enacted by Congress announcing such a right? Was there a presidential executive order dictating such a right? Alas, a review of congressional laws and presidential executive orders failed to disclose any new fundamental rights. Since the Supreme Court periodically...

Like a Knife Through Water By Paul Greenberg http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What a fine speaker our president is. That's the overriding impression he left once he managed to get through the endless applause and handshakes and Roman ovations -- late Roman -- that have become a feature of presidential addresses to Congress and was finally allowed to begin his speech about health care. It's not the content of the speech that evokes wonder and admiration but the speaker himself. Content scarcely matters with this president. What counts is how he delivers it. It's as if he were lecturing a law school...

Many of us had ‘hoped’ for some simplification of the Internal Revenue Code, which has grown from 14 pages to over 17,000 pages since its inception. But it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon. H.R. 3200 will increase the burden of the income tax code by making the IRS the primary enforcer of Mandatory Health Insurance. Did you hear that? You get your ‘mandatory’ health insurance, but you had better file your tax returns, and file them timely and correctly. Not only that, but you will have to determine what kind of health insurance you have and...

The new Baccus health care Bill which mimics the failed policy of Massachusetts health care has finally vindicated what opponents have said all along. Liberals have accused opponents of universal health care of racism of being against the poor and have painted them as psychotics and foaming at the mouth bigots being on the side of rich ceos in charge of insurance companies. The new baccus bill however proves that this is not the case and even the most liberal politicians admit that this bill would be a disaster for health care and America's middle class. The Baccus bill draws...

On September 16, 2009, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) offered some of the details of the healthcare reform proposal that will be presented for debate. The Senator's 223-page summary of the proposal, "America's Healthy Future Act," provided additional details for his committee members. During the press conference, Senator Baucus called the proposal "one of the largest pieces of social legislation since the Depression." He described the mandate that would be imposed on every American: buy health insurance or face an IRS-enforced penalty of up to $3,800 per family. Annual tax returns would be used to "ensure compliance" (Subtitle...

Federal Powers: Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state lines?A key part of the administration's plan to reform health care is what is called the "individual mandate" — a requirement that everyone must have health insurance either through his or her employer or purchased individually. A good chunk of the uninsured are that way of their own volition. They are young and healthy and feel they have better things to do with their money at this point...

Worth watching

BOSTON – When Dr. Robert Flaherty launched a private practice in 2001, he soon found himself cramming in as many patients as possible to make ends meet, leaving little time to discuss with them the steps they could take to prevent future health troubles. "I constantly felt that conflict of going faster than I should," said Flaherty, 40, of Mashpee, who gave up his practice after four years for a hospital post. "Everyone knows if you want to make a decent living, become a specialist; if you want to be banging your head, go into primary care." Among the many...

I read an article that states that Wall Street is considering bundling life insurance policies taken out on citizens and selling them as securities. Where investors pay the premium and hope that the person will die soon enough for them to cash out with a profit. This really got me thinking on why Obama is pushing this healthcare bill so hard. The Obamacare bill has provision that will obligate doctors to keep electronics records and convert any paper record to electronic form. All in the name of efficiency and well being of the patient. Now if Wall Street wants to...

Some breathed a sigh of relief that a new health care bill introduced by Sen. Max Baucus does not include government insurance. This solace is premature. The Montana Democrat's bill proposes new regulations that would doom the private insurance industry. . . .

So spake the President.Mr. President, a word if I may. Getting sick is a negative economic event, like your stock plunging or your bank going under or losing your job. When you get sick, you have two choices: expend money or suffer (and perhaps eventually die). People choose to spend money because people generally don't like to die. If someone's money is more important to them, they can go ahead and go blind from a progressive disease, or die knowing that they left more money to their children. Of course, this seems odd to most of us: what's money for...

Letter I sent my elected representatives: Dear #### Please vote NO on the health care bill package President Obama is trying to push on America. We can’t afford it and neither can the future generations. My husband and I would like to see: 1. tort reform. 2. the ability to purchase insurance in any state. 3. the deductible (high or low) of our choice. 4. medical savings account. Growing up in a low-income home, I do know that there are many options for people who cannot afford health care. There were then; there are now. Thank you for reading this.

More prescient words were never spoken by a politician than Barack Obama's to the American people Wednesday evening on the issue of health care reform: "I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last." For 60 years, Democrats have been trying to force a government health care system on a deeply skeptical American public, without success. And if President Obama fails this time, it's unlikely we'll see another attempt anytime soon. But despite the president's recriminations, he has only himself to blame. The president could have used his primetime public...

I have looked through the incomprehensible HR 3200 and can find no discernable reference to private long term care health insurance. However, my read suggests that ObamaCare will also end all private LTC insurance policies and replace them with ... nothing. Since LTC premiums are adjusted severy several years tro reflect a person's age, the bill suggests that once that occurs your LTC insurance is automatically canceled and you get ... nothing. You get to die at home. Quickly. Anyone out there who has deciphered ObamaCare enough to clarify this?

In his Wednesday speech, President Obama fired up the troops on the urgency of re ducing the number of uninsured in this country and achieving universal coverage via insurance regulations and forcing all Americans to buy insurance. Under his plan, insurers would be faced with "guaranteed issue" and "community rating." In other words, they wouldn't be allowed to deny insurance based on a pre-existing condition, take coverage away in the middle of a treatment, set a premium based on one's medical history or set lifetime caps on coverage. If there were a "guaranteed issue" law for fire insurance, no one...

OK, President Obama has had his say on health care. Now let's look at some inconvenient truths. Obama insisted Wednesday that his public-option plan would save tax dollars, while not adding "one dime" to the deficit. Moreover, he said, "nothing in our plan requires you to change what [health insurance] you have." The first claim is demonstrably false; the second, profoundly misleading. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has reported that the House Democratic bills would add $220 billion to the deficit over the next decade -- and even more after that.

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wants levies on insurers to pay for Obamacare and fines for families who don't sign up. To keep Obamacare alive, Baucus has proposed a Rube Goldberg scheme of fees and fines on insurers and the uninsured designed to forcibly bring everyone into the loving and protective arms of the nanny state...

'Razzle-dazzle 'em," sang Billy Flynn in Chi cago, "Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it / And the reaction will be passionate." And that is what we saw last night. In President Obama's first national address on health care in, oh, 49 days, he gave us lots of showmanship. The rhetoric was as usual carefully crafted and persuasive. He threw a couple of bones to Republicans, such as demonstration projects for tort reform, and mollified liberals by defending the public option. He effectively countered some of the more hyperbolic opposition claims about things like "death panels." He...

I’m worried. The leader of the free world apparently flunked economics 101. ... [T]he Pol from Palatine insisted that within the body he addressed there was “agreement on 80% of what needs to be done” (while half of the assembled legislators sat on their hands throughout). That 80% in agreement are all Democrats. The missing 20% are the Blue Dogs Democrats. ... Yes, Medicare is slatted to go fiscally belly-up in a few years, which speaks poorly about government’s ability to supervise health insurance. It surprises only Barack that the public is increasing doubting him when he proposes that the...

A few minutes ago Obama stated that he wants to mandate health insurance. This isn't what he was saying a few years back. The youtube clip I've linked to is part of and old ad that clearly shows him taking a different view than he does now. The clip states it is from a November 24, 2007 Town Hall meeting. Could this be used against him? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsu_DRzNOFY

Reform: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wants levies on insurers to pay for ObamaCare and fines for families who don't sign up. We can cut costs and expand coverage without sacrificing freedom.To keep ObamaCare alive, Montana Democrat Max Baucus has proposed a Rube Goldberg scheme of fees and fines on insurers and the uninsured designed to forcibly bring everyone into the loving and protective arms of the nanny state. To help finance his Plan B, Baucus would impose annual fees of $6 billion on health insurers, $4 billion on medical-device makers, $2.3 billion on drug manufacturers and $750...

Most Americans have heard enough about health care reform that anything the President says tonight will not change their minds, but more importantly will not change some hard facts. The President indicated that a public option will create competition amongst health insurance companies, which in turn will lower costs. At least the President understands that competition does lower costs. But the government does not interject competition by offering “free” consumer health services. Simple economics dictates that lower costs are created by companies competing for consumers by setting lower prices. In a public option scenario, the government will make the rules,...

President Obama is set to speak before Congress and the nation Wednesday evening about his plans for universal health care in this country. So far, three promises seem to stand out among the rest as the lynch pins upon which his plan is based. Should he mention any of them in his national speech, here is an analysis of each based upon what has already been tried. I will use the state of Maine for this discussion, although I could just as easily use Massachusetts or Tennessee. All three have tried Obamacare, and, all three attempts have failed abysmally.

WEST CHESTER TWP. — Thousands of people made their way to the Voice of America Park this afternoon, Sept. 5, for a Tea Party event. It was festival-like atmosphere of patriotism, with food vendors, face-painting for kids and live music for crowd that Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones estimated topped out at 18,000. People of all ages were wearing patriotic clothing in hues of red, white and blue, many carrying American flags and hand-made signs with myriad slogans. The event drew people from all over the region, including a family from Springfield. Laura and Andy Rosenberger of Springfield were...

Since the near collapse of Wall Street from the sub-prime mortgage crisis, traders have been jonesing for a return to the adrenaline rush they once enjoyed from the slew of exotic financial instruments cooked up in the dark recesses of special hedge fund units. And according to a piece in the New York Times, they have found it with a ghoulish scheme gambling on death, by repackaging life insurance policies sold for a fraction of their worth by sick and desperate elderly people. Once people die, the investors make money. And it’s much more profitable if you die sooner rather...

Government Insurance 'Trigger' Draws Bipartisan Criticism in Health Care DebateFOXNews.com Sunday, September 06, 2009 Conservatives and liberals alike are puncturing the latest trial balloon in the health care reform debate, finding flaws with a proposal that would keep a government-run health insurance plan on reserve in case private insurance companies don't meet certain benchmarks. The so-called "trigger" has been floated by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a member of the "gang of six" Senate negotiators who are trying to broker a bipartisan compromise. Under such an option, if agreed-upon goals are not met by the insurance industry, then that would pull...

Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance By JENNY ANDERSON After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one. The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to...

In its essay "Lets Have It Out On Single Payer", the Treatyist argues that Republicans should go on the offensive on health care by introducing a comprehensive package to allow market forces to work in the health market. Democrats claim that the present health system is a free market failure. The fact is, the health insurance system is riddled with market distortions. Our free market plan is roughly as follows: 1. Get rid of non-risk "coverage" mandates that pervade health insurance. Health insurance should be for catastrophic risk. Routine medical visits and other "wellness" features belong in discount plans, not...

Just had this e-mailed to me from Progressive after I along with my entire family got rid of every policy for Progressive Insurance when they pulled out of the Glenn Beck show on Fox. Dear __________,Recent media reports have created the incorrect impression that Progressive pulled advertising in response to specific comments made on The Glenn Beck Show, but that is not the case. The fact is that we did not intentionally place any of our advertising on the show, so when we learned that our ad had aired, we corrected the error. Our goal is to reach a broad...

Do you believe health insurance is a right or a privilege? 47%A right. 52.9%A privilege. Vote See results

There is no "Crisis" . . . Throughout medical history, the concept of medical insurance was unknown. Nor does the present availability of insurance, create an inalienable right to be provided with same... What is any form of insurance, but an expense incurred to narrow the parameters of future risk. Health insurance does not reduce the amount of money Americans spend on "health care"; in a macro sense, it actually increases such. The benefit to an individual is simply in narrowing parameters of what he or she might have to spend in some future contingency. . . To suggest taxing...

Chad Harris is an entrepeneur. As such, health insurance was always expensive for him because he never had group insurance through an employer. (after all he's his own employer) It could cost well over a $1000 monthly for his family. One day he was on a business trip when his wife was discussing the difficulties of getting health insurance with her doctor Dr. Sam Sannoufi, MD. Her doctor came up with an idea. The doctor would provide a menu of basic medical care for her and her family for $599 for the whole year and the whole family. It would...

Under the guise of compassion and concern for others and health care for everyone, the Democrats are proposing a reform of US health care. Obama’s agenda appears in a bill backed by the House and another issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Health committee. However, these two bills undermine our Constitutional liberties, freedoms and rights. The push for reform is not about health, it’s about control – it’s a power grab. ObamaCare is about removing our choice of doctor, insurance plan and privatized healthcare. “Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans – and that the...

Health Reform: Let's Lower—Not Raise—Young Adults' PremiumsBy Bernadine Healy, M.D. August 26, 2009 03:50 PM ET People under age 36 form the dominant component of America's 45 million uninsured. Among them, the ages most lacking in health insurance are those in their 20s. You and I know them: They are just out of school, in entry-level or part-time jobs, or between jobs. They are usually blessed with good health, however much they may take it for granted. And they are relatively inexpensive healthwise, compared with those over 60 (by a factor of five or more), because they are spared age-related...

Chad Harris is an entrepeneur. As such, health insurance was always expensive for him because he never had group insurance through an employer. (after all he's his own employer) It could cost well over a $1000 monthly for his family. One day he was on a business trip when his wife was discussing the difficulties of getting health insurance with her doctor Dr. Sam Sannoufi, MD. Her doctor came up with an idea. The doctor would provide a menu of basic medical care for her and her family for $599 for the whole year and the whole family. It would...

....The Democrats seem to have overlooked a more fundamental question. Can they make a public plan work? At a minimum, that means any American who does not have access to employer coverage should be able to enroll in the public plan, no matter where he lives in the United States. And, to make good on the president’s promises, those individuals should also be able to select a competing private plan if they like. Those two requirements appear simple but are surprisingly difficult to meet. Democrats are about to find out that Republicans have been correct on at least one aspect...

DID President Obama realize just how offensive it was to pitch his health reforms as "a core ethical and moral obligation"? I don't take guidance on how to practice medicine from presidential decree, but from the Oath of Maimonides. The great 12th century rabbi and physician wrote, "The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and health of thy creatures . . . May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain."