Posted on 07/30/2009 8:57:51 PM PDT by Cecilia Trent
My email simple said: Do Not Vote for this travesty.
Dear ColorMeRed, Thank you for contacting me about health care reform. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important issue.
There is little disagreement about the state of America's health care system. It's broken. Today, 47 million Americans (Not True, try 12 million!), including thousands of Montanans, find themselves without health insurance either because they're denied coverage by insurance companies or because they can't afford it. Millions more Americans are finding that health insurance doesn't cover sky-high medical costs. The link between health care and the financial security of working families is undeniable. Just last year, the average household spent more than a quarter of its income on health insurance premiums. This trend is unsustainable.
Reforming a health care system as complicated as ours requires us to work together. In my over 30 years of serving Montanans, I've faced no greater challenge. We can't afford to ignore the serious issues facing our health system any longer. I understand we won't agree on every detail of comprehensive health care reform. There are trade-offs with any proposal. Radically changing American health care by adopting a single-payer system, for example, is not a solution that could pass in either the House or Senate.(What if it could?) We are not Canada or Great Britain. America needs a uniquely American solution with both private and public funding.
Last November, I released my plan, "A Call to Action," that offers a starting point for reforming America's health system. My plan has three primary goals: (1) make health care more affordable, (2) increase the quality and value of the care that's provided and (3) ensure coverage for all Americans. To accomplish any one of these goals, we must succeed on all three. For starters, we need health coverage for all Americans. Covering every American will help make insurance more affordable by preventing costs from shifting to those who have insurance.(What the hell does this mean? The bill attempts to tax everyone to cover it and they want access to our checking accounts to hold us accountable.)
Expanding insurance coverage doesn't mean we are going to limit people's options. Under my plan, if you are happy with the insurance you have, you can keep it. But if you're uninsured or you lose your health insurance coverage, you will be able to purchase affordable coverage through a "health insurance exchange," a one-stop shopping place for affordable insurance. If your income is too low to afford coverage, you can get a subsidy to help pay premiums. Small businesses will be offered a new tax credit for offering health insurance to their employees.(They don't have a choice!)
We also need to improve the quality of health care delivered in our system. The United States spends twice as much per person on health care as any other nation in the world. (And we have the best system in the world!). Yet we rank 19th out of 19 industrialized countries in terms of preventable deaths. (This is a lifestyle problem, not a failure of the care system!) Clearly, more care doesn't always mean better care. Too often, patients are subjected to unnecessary tests and treatments simply because their doctors don't know their full medical history. (Because they have to avoid lawsuits!) My plan rewards care that works, rather than wasteful and ineffective treatments.(Like in Britain and Canada where you wait 3 months for an MRI or to get an abscessed tooth pulled!) In doing so, it takes steps to reestablish primary care as the backbone of the health care system by paying primary care doctors more and providing incentives for medical students to choose a career in primary care.(Another way to prevent us from getting to a Cancer specialist or bone surgeon for a hip replacement!!) We also need a delivery system that helps physicians coordinate and manage medical care, and one that focuses more on prevention and wellness rather than treating a condition or illness that could have been avoided.(Yeah, and guess who controls the private data the doctors use. The likes of Obama's ACORN buddies!!!!)
There are other things we can do to reduce costs as well. We need to invest in health information technology and comparative effectiveness research to better understand what treatments work best so that doctors and patients can make better decisions.
Funding health care reform and making the system more efficient and fair overall depends on our ability to make targeted reforms. For example, one way to invest in reform is to limit the exclusion of employee health benefits from tax.(Another tax hike of everyone who has insurance! ) Such a limit would not affect the employer's tax benefit and incentive for providing health care to employees, but rather would serve to constrain spending.(What ????) The limit would also be specially designed to protect low-income tax payers. Rest assured any changes to the tax code will be designed to make health care more -- not less -- affordable for all Americans.(And all illegal aliens on our dime!)
Many of my colleagues in the Senate share my ideas on health care reform.(We need to vote this idiots out of office.) My plan is also generally consistent with President Obama's vision for health care reform.(Do Tell !!!!!) In instances where our plans diverge, I'm committed to achieving consensus. I understand that there are many different opinions out there, but most can agree that reforming our broken health care system is necessary. Thanks again for getting in touch. Please don't hesitate to contact me in the future.
Senator Max Baucus
Well, I pray God you find over the recess that the people of America are still in control whenever they get riled up. And we are riled up.
Here is a link to the full House Democrat Health Care Plan in PDF. In Section 1233 E & F, pages 426-433, you find the part about mandatory end-of-life counseling for anyone over 65 years of age. Section 152 Page 50: All healthcare services will be provided without regard to "personal characteristcs" which is not defined within the document but is understood to include immigration status.
Section 224 b Page 125: The Secretary shall design and implement the payment mechanisms and policies under this section in a manner that (1) seeks to (B) reduce health disparities (including racial, ethnic and other disparities).
A lot more provisions now being documented at that site.
Donwload it, read it, study it, then hammer your reps over it and pass it on to all you know asking them to do the same.
HOUSE DEMOCRAT HEALTH CARE PLAN - http://www.jeffhead.com/DemHealthCare.htm
Also, here's a large image of the Democratic (Obama) Health Plan chart-another Obama empty promise. This is the one the House democrats are censuring. Email these links or the image to everyone you know.
Obama and all those pushing his radical agenda are abject marxist ideologues. Their "fundamental; change" is nothing more than a destruction of the American free market and fundamental republican principle.
A PETITION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RESTORATION
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
A 4TH OF JULY TEA PARTY SPEECH
UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA - A SONG
By Ron and Kay Rivoli
...and on the lighter side, take your mind off the Obamanation for a few minutes and enjoy some beautiful Western US scenery slideshows.
And we’re supposed to trust our healthcare to a bunch of idiots who can’t even put together a program to buy used cars?
I want to ask the senator which of the Enumerated Powers allows the Congress to control health care. I checked the Constitution, and I don’t see the authority. Now, if the Supreme Court would actually do its job...
Max Baucus a Blue Dog?
While they are at it, why not call John Kerry and Ted Kennedy Blue Dogs?
He mentions consensus. I think the consensus is we have a duty to die. It’s cheaper.
Baucus has never been a Blue Dog anything. He’s an opportunist liberal and is just going with the flow, for now.
He’ll be bought off later.
Max is having a fundraiser in Big Sky (north of Bozeman). It’s $2500 per head, but he won’t be there, only his staff.
Says he’s too busy with Caesars new mandate.
(maybe they can use the empty prison in Hardin for insurance scofflaws?)
Sounds like a form e-mail to me....especially when he recites the socialist democrat premise that health care in this country is broken (which of course is false).
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