Free Republic

The GOP Health Plan: Ways to make care cost less NY Post ^ | December 5, 2009 | MATT PATTERSON Posted on Saturday, December 05, 2009 6:35:12 AM by Scanian Democrats have done a good job portraying Repub licans as health-care-reform obstructionists. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) gave the party line, for example, when he told Talk Radio News service, "There is no Republican health-care plan out there." In fact, the GOP has offered several health-reform bills. And on Nov. 3, the party's leaders in the House unveiled a comprehensive reform plan, introduced as a substitute amendment by Minority Leader...

They believe the liberal base expects them to deliver and will punish them if they don't. Voters are increasingly worried about unemployment, but Democratic leaders in Congress remain obsessed with passing health- care reform. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin was asked recently if a health-care bill would pass the Senate by the end of this month. "It must," he said. "We have to finish it." Still, many in the trenches are uneasy about the sprawling, complex bill they privately acknowledge has no bipartisan support, doesn't seriously tackle soaring costs and will increase insurance premiums. That may explain Majority Leader Harry...

Make health reform a faith issue, Boston pastor tells Coloradans (BARF Alert) Denver Post ^ | 12/4/2009 | Jennifer Brown Posted on Friday, December 04, 2009 8:49:37 AM by markomalley A Boston pastor who helped pass health care reform in Massachusetts encouraged Colorado activists Thursday to win over the state's conservative-leaning clergy with the "moral argument" that everyone deserves health care. Another health care earmark for trial lawyers Washington Examiner ^ | 12/4/09 | David Freddoso Posted on Friday, December 04, 2009 10:11:35 AM by FromLori Weeks ago, we discussed a provision in the House health care bill that cuts...

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney defended Mike Huckabee's clemency decision that allegedly led to the shooting death of four police officers in Washington state.. During an interview Thursday night with CNN's Larry King Live, Romney, who in his four years as governor says he did not pardon or commute a single sentence, empathized with his former political rival in the last battle for the Republican presidential nomination, saying the focus is on the tragedy that struck the lives of Washington state residents. Huckabee has come under fire because, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he signed a clemency order for...

Here is a list of 2012 candidates. Generally, I am dwelling on the negatives as this is what is going to limit them in their ability to win but will mention any unique positives. Please share your thoughts on these or any other potential candidates. Romney - Romneycare is an albatross. He is a Mormon which impacts appeal. Is popular in Michigan due to his father. Sometimes comes across like a used car salesman. Is probably more conservative than his record and gets a bad rap due to his need to make compromises to get elected in The People's Republic....

Obamacare: How the Unions are "Getting Well" Townhall.com ^ | 12/3/2009 | Howard Rich Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009 1:52:56 AM by Nachum It’s already being called the “Second Louisiana Purchase,” but the sad truth is that a controversial payoff to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s home state of Louisiana is among the smallest of the thinly-disguised bribes and kickbacks that are being offered in Washington D.C. to secure passage of President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine proposal. The Legislative Trigger and the Public Health Care Option The Woodward Report ^ | Stuart M. Butler Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009...

Mitt Romney says that like other presidents, Barack Obama inherited a recession. But the former Massachusetts governor feels unlike his predecessors, Obama has made the recession he inherited worse, not better. In an op-ed in Wednesday's USA Today, Romney says what he calls the president's inability to "stem" the rise in unemployment should not be a surpise. "With no experience whatsoever in the world of employment and business formation, he had no compass to guide his path. Instead, he turned over much of his economic recovery agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, themselves nearly...

Perhaps the most publicized, least understood aspect of the over 2,000 page, $850 billion health care reform bill being debated now in the U.S. Senate is the "public option." Former Governor Howard Dean asserted last week at Yale University that without the public option, "this bill is worthless and should be defeated." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for a Senate vote by Christmas. In arguing the merits and failings of a nationalized, government-sponsored health coverage program, there is an example of such a system Americans may wish to examine.

What Does Obamacare Consider "Hazardous"? Townhall.com ^ | December 2, 2009 | Jillian Bandes Posted on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 5:18:41 AM by Kaslin Last week, gun lobbyists threw a fit about the possibility of Obamacare raising health care insurance premiums for gun owners. Other organizations that lobby for potentially “risky” activities are split as to whether or not they think Obamacare could affect them. "We probably need to look at the bill,” said Ed Scott, executive director of the U.S. Parachuting Association, referring to the current health care reform packages snaking their way through Congress. In 2001, USPA became...

RomneyCare is big government forcing its will on a formerly free people. It's anti-American, anti-free-markets, anti-Liberty and unconstitutional. Listen to the Reagan tape. RomneyCare is the socialism he's talking about. RomneyCare = ObamaCare. No difference. Government is not the solution, it IS the problem!! Free Republic will not support gun grabbing, abortion pushing, gay rights pushing, big government socialist RINOS!! In fact we will actively campaign AGAINST them!! Free Republic is a pro-Life & Liberty small government conservative site for pro-Life & Liberty small government conservatives!! Take a freaking hike if you don't like it. RINOS be damned!! Hope this...

Brit Hume Says Dem Sen. Blanche Lincoln is the Senator to Watch in Health Care Battle - Video Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | November 30, 2009 | Brian Posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 11:59:23 PM by Federalist Patriot Here is video of Fox News' Brit Hume today talking about "cracks" in the Democratic coalition necessary to pass ObamaCare in the U.S. Senate. Hume said Sen. Blanche Lincoln is the senator to watch because ObamaCare is "wildly unpopular" in her home state of Arkansas. Hume believes it is possible the Democrats could persuade Lincoln, Nelson, and Landrieu to vote for cloture...

Let me be clear: I don't like Romney. I wouldn't vote for Romney. I hope he never runs for President, and if he tries, I hope he never gets the nomination. In other words -- I don't like Romney! However, -- I am tired of having to scroll past an anti-Romney ad as the #1 entry on every article lately. Why does every post start with an anti-Romney ad? As far as I know, he isn't even running for anything right now. In fact, why should every article begin with an anti-Anyone ad? I've always considered most Freepers to be...

Until recently, this political epitaph might have been written for Dick Morris: An amoral, but brilliant consultant, strategist, and analyst -- the man who kept Bill Clinton in, and Hillary Clinton out, of the White House. By selling the strategy of triangulation to Bill Clinton, Morris successfully neutered the Gingrich revolution of 1994. But he also neutered the worst political impulses of Bill Clinton (Morris couldn't do anything about the sexual ones) and forced Clinton to work with the Republican congress to balance budgets and reform welfare. But Dick Morris is doing his best work now in his crusade against...

Health Reform Threatens Voluntary Charitable Action catholicexchange.com ^ | November 28th, 2009 | Rev. Robert A. Sirico Posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 12:22:07 AM by GonzoII As the health care debate moves to the U.S. Senate, much of the news coverage and commentary in recent days has focused on the advocacy of Catholic bishops and how their support of Rep. Bart StupakÂ’s amendment to prohibit the use of tax dollars to fund abortion was a major victory for the pro-life side. The bishops urged the House of Representatives, through local parishes and in a Nov. 6 letter, to ensure...

During the past few months, the United States has been embroiled in a debate about the government takeover of Health Care. Our friends "across the pond" in Great Britain have been discussing healthcare as well. The UK discussions are not about a government health care takeover, that has already happened, their discussions have been about how awful the medical care is in the British socialized medical system. We are constantly that a most important part of treating cancer is early detection. The newest revelation about the over-worked British medical system is up to 10,000 British lives a year are lost...

So government wants to be the all powerful arbiter of what is good and clean and healthy, and punish you for deviating. Government is pure, and it can administer your healthcare with no problem. Some on the left even go so far as to say that government is the only one who can decide what's healthy and do so in our best interest. But then government wants to also force a foreign morality down your throat in gay marriage. Which, nobody that I've ever seen has made the case that what one man does to another man's body is healthy....

Britain's shame over the cancer toll on women... nearly the worst in Europe dailymail.co.uk ^ | Nov. 29, 2009 | David Derbyshire Posted on Sunday, November 29, 2009 8:42:51 PM by Free ThinkerNY British women are more likely to die from cancer than those in almost every other European country, an alarming report has revealed. Death rates here are worse than those in Croatia, Russia, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Overall England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all in the bottom ten of a cancer mortality 'league table' covering 36 European nations. It comes despite Labour tripling funding for the Health...

British women are more likely to die from cancer than those in almost every other European country, an alarming report has revealed. Death rates here are worse than those in Croatia, Russia, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Overall England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all in the bottom ten of a cancer mortality 'league table' covering 36 European nations. It comes despite Labour tripling funding for the Health Service since 1997. Health experts say the obesity epidemic, Britain's booze culture and lack of cancer drugs and doctors on the NHS are all to blame. Although death rates for most types of...

One of Labour's great triumphs with the National Health Service is that people now go into hospital to die rather than to be cured. It seems to render the whole debate about assisted suicide utterly pointless. Who needs a Dignitas clinic when you can check into a hospital in Basildon and be relatively certain to be taken out in a box? It is a further achievement of our monitoring, regulating culture that even the monitors and the regulators don't seem to have a clue how bad things are – or they certainly didn't in Basildon. This exposes one of the...

Frist Says Healthcare Overhaul Will Pass By Christmas, With Flaws ( Calls it very good ) BARF WPLN ^ | November 23rd | Daniel Potter Posted on Saturday, November 28, 2009 6:40:01 PM by Halfmanhalfamazing Former Tennessee Senator Bill Frist says Congress will pass a healthcare overhaul bill by Christmas. But he says it will push costs onto the states that will crimp funds for education. ... Frist also says the bill fails to tackle tort or malpractice issues. But he calls the insurance reform in the bill “very good,” saying people who have lost jobs or don’t make much...

Romney's Legacy: Socialized Healthcare RomneyCare

Asked during last night’s Republican debate about whether his campaign was downplaying his health care plan, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney replied, “I love it.” While praising the plan as a model of bipartisanship — and citing support for it from both Ted Kennedy and the Heritage Foundation — Romney failed to tell viewers what was in the plan. It’s worth reminding people, therefore, that the plan Romney loves: Imposes an unprecedented individual mandate, requiring everyone in Massachusetts to purchase a government-designated insurance product or face thousands of dollars in tax penalties. Significantly increased Medicaid eligibility and provided taxpayer-funded subsidies...

Former Tennessee Senator Bill Frist says Congress will pass a healthcare overhaul bill by Christmas. But he says it will push costs onto the states that will crimp funds for education. ... Frist also says the bill fails to tackle tort or malpractice issues. But he calls the insurance reform in the bill “very good,” saying people who have lost jobs or don’t make much money will be able to get insurance, as will those with preexisting conditions.

Congress is debating legislation that would do essentially what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts: impose a health insurance mandate, create a network of subsidies, and micro-manage health insurance policies. Before legislators take us down the same road, they should consider the Massachusetts experience. Citizens there are not impressed with RomneyCare.

Healthcare Reform's Fate Lies in the Hands of Four Women US News and World Report ^ | 25 Nov 09 | Bonnie Erbe Posted on Friday, November 27, 2009 7:13:35 AM by SkyPilot The fate of healthcare reform in the U.S. Senate seems to be resting with these four women: Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. This new bipartisan gang of four could be key to removing the heavily partisan debate dogging the legislation. Even though I only agree with two of them, I'm thrilled...

The amount spent on employing managers has risen by a quarter, or £78 million, in the past two years, the study shows. NHS Trusts blamed Whitehall targets for the increase. It comes a day after NICE, the drugs rationing watchdog, refused funding for life-prolonging bowel cancer drug Avastin, saying it was not cost effective. Pulse, a magazine for GPs, found that projected spending on management salaries has increased by 25 per cent between 2007/08 and 2009/10 in primary care trusts, which look after community services. It was up from £312million to £390million. But the true figure is likely to be...

Reversing his previously stated belief that none of the Republican candidates for the GOP presidential nomination have all three legs of the conservative stool, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners Monday that Mitt Romney is indeed a three-leg conservative. Describing the three legs as "national security/foreign policy, the social conservatives, and the fiscal conservatives," Rush said, "The social conservatives are the cultural people. The fiscal conservatives are the economic crowd: low taxes, smaller government, get out of the way... The foreign policy crowd is obviously what it is. I don't think there's anybody on our side who doesn't care about national...

When Pundits Compare Apples To Oranges: One Look at Health Care Polling Rasmussen ^ | November 26, 2009 | Scott Rasmussen Posted on Thursday, November 26, 2009 10:38:33 AM by Oldeconomybuyer A blog entry posted at CQPolitics.com looked at a recent Rasmussen Reports poll and another by the Kaiser Family Foundation and concluded that the “new polls disagree on whether a government overhaul of the nation's health care system will leave people better off or worse off.” In fact, according to the posting, the results were dramatically different with the Rasmussen poll showing that people think the system would be...

Hundreds of patients may have died needlessly at an NHS hospital due to appalling standards of care, a damning report has found. Poor nursing care, filthy wards and lack of leadership ... Among the worst failings discovered by the Care Quality Commission were a lack of basic nursing skills, curtains spattered with blood on wards, mould in vital equipment and patients being left in A&E for up to ten hours. Concerns about death rates at the foundation hospital trust were first raised a year ago, but an internal investigation failed to find anything wrong and managers dismissed the concerns. But...

A new poll shows that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney now has a less than 50 percent favorability rating among Republican voters. Public Policy Polling has released its monthly 2012 survey, which finds that while 65 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and 75 percent have a favorable opinion of former GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, only 48 percent view Mitt Romney favorably. Romney's popularity has fallen 19 points in the poll since May. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling says the healthcare plan that Romney passed in Massachusetts when he was governor...

Winner Take All on Health Care Townhall.com ^ | November 25, 2009 | Jonah Goldberg Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 9:13:10 AM by Kaslin I hereby forfeit my claim to a right-wing conspiracy decoder ring by offering two cheers for the Democrats. I congratulate them on their victory Saturday night in the Senate, and while I can't quite wish them continued success on the course they are following, I'm beginning to make peace with the possibility that they'll win. For years, conservatives and liberals have flirted with the idea of disposing of the fool's errand of bipartisanship. Seeking compromise...

Some great numbers to head into the Thanksgiving holiday from Scott Rasmussen. Rasmussen has released some numbers for the 2012 Presidential Election with the usual Republican suspects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IDRSkBOuuc

Every last bit of the thousands of pages of this bogus program is insane. Somehow Obama is driven by someone or something hidden behind the curtian. Someone is willing to sacrifice trillions of dollars and many political careers to achieve this prize. It is clear the Wizard behind the curtain will not take no for an answer. Who is the puppet master and what is his hidden agenda? One world government? The collapse of America? Greed? Power? Marxism? A suicide wish? It all makes no sense. Most Americans are against this fiasco. Why is it being shoved down our throats?...

Seventy-five percent of U.S. women disagree with the recommendations of a government panel that urged fewer women to get mammograms, with 47 percent saying that they strongly disagree, according to a new Gallup Poll. New guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggest women begin getting routine mammograms starting at age 50, rather than age 40, and that such tests should be every other year.

Bowel cancer sufferers are to be denied a life-prolonging drug on the NHS which is available to patients across Europe and beyond. Trials show Avastin can extend life by almost two years. But the Government's rationing body, Nice, says it is not cost-effective. In what has been dubbed 'passport prescribing', Britain does not allow routine use of the drug while patients in virtually all other EU countries get the drug paid for. France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavian nations, as well as Australia and Canada, all meet the cost of treatment. Last week Nice rejected the use of a liver cancer...

The flap over breast cancer screening has provided a fascinating insight into the political future of ObamaCare. Specifically, the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening. No sooner had the Health and Human Services Department's U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against mammography for women under 50 than Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rushed to say don't worry. The decision had "caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women," she said, promising that no policies would change. New Jersey's Frank Pallone vowed to hold hearings, and Senator Dick Durbin leveled the...

<p>The Alliance Defense Fund just filed an emergency injunction and restraining order in response to the decision a couple hours ago by an "ethics panel" at East Tennessee Children's Hospital to discontinue care of 9-month-old Gabriel Palmer.</p> <p>Baby Gabriel was born prematurely with a genetic abnormality, club foot, and narrow airway, but he flourished when he went home from the hospital in June, where he grew, played, and received physical therapy while going to regular doctor visits. He was fed through a tube and received some oxygen and medications.</p>

An oft repeated declaration is that the United States is the richest country in the world, so don’t tell me we can’t afford healthcare for our people; but, is that statement really true? In fiscal year 2009, the U.S. Government spent over a trillion dollars more than it took in through tax revenue, and it plans to continue such trillion dollar deficits for at least 10 years. Well before those ten years of deficit spending end, interest on the accumulated debt will exceed revenue. The national debt is now about 12 trillion dollars with 55 to 100 trillion dollars in...

Last week had to be a bit awkward for Democrats. They labored to pass a health care bill that, among other things, establishes a government advisory panel to curb health care costs with industrywide medical recommendations. And at just the wrong moment, a similar government advisory panel provoked outrage by recommending that women stop getting so many breast cancer screenings. Unruffled, the Democrats pressed on with their 2,000-page health care bill, going so far as to hold a rare Saturday night vote on whether to proceed to debate. There's a good reason they are in such a rush to pass...

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. That’s the way it’s always worked in Washington, so the news that Mary Landrieu will hold a fundraiser in New Orleans for Senator Harry Reid comes as no surprise. Reid procured a substantial dose of cash to Landrieu’s Louisiana in exchange for her crucial “moderate” vote. Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana garnered a lot of attention before the healthcare vote last night as to whether she would or wouldn’t vote yes to send the monstrosity of a bill to the floor for debate. After rumors of a $100 million dollar bribe by Senator...

Dear Senator Mary Landrieu, In the words of Ricky Ricardo, you got some splainin’ to do. This state is clearly against this health care bill and you voted to move it forward despite the overwhelming wishes of your constituents. Avoiding your constituents can not continue to be your response. Reserving and filling the front four rows with people who are obviously for the health care bill at a town hall only serves as an indication that you are more interested in advancing this agenda than serving your constituents. Don’t hide from your constituents over this Thanksgiving break, don’t stay in...

Health trusts must do more to help doctors and nurses exercise and give up smoking and heavy drinking, says the Government. NHS organisations will be expected to improve access to intervention programmes such as counselling or gyms as part of a drive to reduce sickness absence, which costs £1.5 billion a year. The first national audit of staff habits has found that high rates of obesity, smoking, absenteeism and poor mental health were having a direct impact on the quality of patient care. The Health Secretary is expected to accept all the recommendations of the final review, drawn up by...

WASHINGTON — Anxious about how little maneuvering room the weekend victory by Senate Democrats on health care provided, Obama administration officials and their Congressional allies are stepping up overtures to select Senate Republicans in hopes of winning their ultimate support. The two moderate Republican senators from Maine, Susan M. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe, both say Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, reached out to them after he unveiled the Senate measure, encouraging them to bring forward their ideas and concerns. Ms. Collins also received a personal visit from a high-level Obama emissary, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former senator...

Fifty-one people -- nearly all illegal immigrants -- are facing a "life-or-death limbo" after a cash-strapped Atlanta charity hospital decided it must stop providing them free kidney dialysis treatments that were costing the hospital (or rather taxpayers) $50,000 per year. That's according to a heart-rending article in Saturday's New York Times about the “excruciating choices” faced by Atlanta's Grady hospital upon closing its outpatient dialysis unit. Over the years, the unit has been overrun by illegal immigrants, and it has thus become a major financial drain on the “taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital,” the Times explained in its lengthy article: "The Breaking...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eked out 60 votes on a procedural motion to start the health care debate Saturday night – so there’s no guarantee he can pass a bill on the merits. And if he struggles, the reasons will be clear: deep divides among Democrats on a public insurance plan, abortion, tax hikes and cost-cutting. Liberals want the plan to be generous enough. Moderates fear a budget-buster. And everyone is trying to avoid angering seniors. Even in the blush of Saturday’s victory, Reid (D-Nev.) is far from having the votes to move his $848 billion package to final...

Today healthcare vote in the Senate was so badly represented by many on our side and of course by the media and was blown way out of proportion. In reality it is a meaningless vote. The vote today was only to start the debate and it is absolutely does not guarantee at all that the current bill in the Senate with it current version of public option aka socialized medicine is going to pass. In fact as it stands now this current bill is assured to be defeated because the socialists are not going to get 60 votes for cloture...

Did anyone else catch this? Just now on C-SPAN, Harry Reid quotes communist Andrei Sakharov in closing statement of Senate debate on socialist health care. Google: Andrei Sakharov OK granted, Sakharov was not a ranting Leninist but why wouldn't Harry quote a founder or an American patriot to make his simplistic, sophomoric point. O wait, Harry IS a ranting Leninist...

ON Fox News now, Vote is underway!!!

C-SPAN 2 is carrying the Senate floor debate live this afternoon.The Democrats control the floor right now. Earlier, Republican Senators Judd Gregg, Kit Bond, Jeff Sessions and David Vitter gave good speeches and dialogues on the budget-busting effects of ObamaCare.Maria Cantwell is speaking now. Mary Landrieu is excpected to speak shortly.The cloture vote is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST tonight.