NOTE The following text is a quote:
stockman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/stockman-asks-for-probe-of-alleged-audits-of-citizens-reported-to-white
Stockman asks for probe of alleged audits of citizens reported to White House email address
May 14, 2013 Press Release
ObamaCare critics report IRS harassment after being reported to Flag@WhiteHouse.gov
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman Tuesday asked two House chairmen to investigate allegations individuals reported to a White House email address for criticizing Obama’s health care reforms were targeted with Internal Revenue Service audits.
During the debate over adopting ObamaCare the White House encouraged liberal activists to report Obama’s critics to a “Flag@WhiteHouse.gov” email address. At least one of those reported tells RedState.com editor Erick Erickson he was then targeted with audits. “Remember that website Obama set up to report neighbors who opposed Obamacare? A friend reported himself and got audited shortly thereafter,” Erickson tweeted May 13.
“We need to know if there were any others. This certainly fits the rapidly-expanding pattern of people who criticize Obama suddenly finding themselves targeted by the IRS,” said Stockman. “Obama’s IRS scandal is spreading like a cancer.”
“Government reforms adopted after Watergate prohibit the White House from coordinating with the IRS to target citizens. We know White House critics were targeted by the IRS. We know the White House maintained an active enemies list through Flag@WhiteHouse.gov. Investigators must find out how targets were picked and what, if any, White House personnel knew about it,” said Stockman.
Stockman has asked the House Ways and Means, and Government Reform and Oversight, Committees to seek answers to three questions:
1) Were any individuals or groups reported to Flag@WhiteHouse.gov later subjected to IRS audits?
2) If so, were the audits politically motivated?
3) If the audits were politically motivated, did the White House violate federal laws prohibiting such coordination?
“Obama’s Nixonian demand that his followers provide him with an enemies list is even more disturbing in light of the IRS’ admitted wrongdoing,” said Stockman
The IRS admits targeting conservative groups with harassment, a practice which has since been revealed to be far more widespread than previously admitted. Officials in the Washington, D.C. and California offices also admit targeting conservative groups.
Jewish organizations also report IRS harassment after criticizing the President, and a St. Louis reporter has also come forward to allege he was also targeted by the IRS after asking Obama tough questions.
The text of the letter follows:
May 14, 2013
The Honorable Darrell Issa
Chairman, House Government Oversight and Reform Committee
2157 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Dave Camp
Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee
1102 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Esteemed Chairmen:
As you recall, during the congressional deliberations over ObamaCare the White House urged liberal activists to report the President’s critics to Flag@WhitHouse.gov.
The recent admission, and new revelations, the Internal Revenue Service engaged in politically-motivated harassment of conservative groups shines a disturbing new light on this and other White House efforts to target private citizens who question Barack Obama’s policies.
Since the these revelations of IRS wrongdoing several individuals and groups have claimed they were audited by the IRS after being reported to the White House’s “Flag” email address.
As the scope of the IRS scandal expands on what seems to be an hourly basis, both the Ways & Means and Government Oversight & Reform Committees should seek answers to three important questions.
1) Were any individuals or groups reported to Flag@WhiteHouse.gov later subjected to IRS audits?
2) If so, were the audits politically motivated?
3) If the audits were politically motivated, did the White House violate federal laws prohibiting such coordination?
Citizens deserve to know just how far the IRS went in trying to silence critics of the President, and just who directed the abuses.
I trust your Committee will seek thorough answers to these questions and expose any and all wrongdoing and abuses of power, no matter how high they reach.
Warmest wishes,
STEVE STOCKMAN
Member of Congress
# # #
Issues: Congressional Issues, Health Issues
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/15438-house-votes-to-repeal-obamacare-again
Friday, 17 May 2013 15:29
“House Votes to Repeal ObamaCare, Again”
Written by Bob Adelmann
SNIPPET: “Thursday’s House vote to repeal all of ObamaCare, 229-195, was the third such vote since 2011, and the 37th time a vote to turn back at least part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was taken. Every Republican voted to repeal along with two conservative Democrats.”
SNIPPET: “England’s single payer system, the National Health Service, provides a good example to see just how the ACA is likely to work here.”
SNIPPET: “The truth is that in single-payer Britain long waits for non-emergency visits are common, and even scheduled surgeries, arranged months in advance, can be postponed without warning….
It has become increasingly difficult scheduling a regular visit with a GP [general practitioner] in Britain. Many GPs are booked up weeks in advance.
As costs skyrocketed in England, efforts to limit services were inevitable, resulting in the deaths of individuals who otherwise should have been treated. For example, Becky Ryder, aged 24, went to her GP about some abnormal bleeding but was denied a simple Pap test because of her age. Such a test was allowed only for females age 25 and over. She died of cervical cancer at age 26.
As the monstrosity of ObamaCare is implemented, Americans will finally be allowed to “see what’s in the bill,” and Republicans want to be sure that they are on the right side of the issue come the elections in 2014 and 2016. Thursday’s vote was just another reminder.”
(Note: Addresses Health Care Concerns, The IRS & The Obama Administration)
~
Video - Description - quote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pCTC4lnQ58o
Bachmann: IRS Targets Groups, Then Health Care?
AssociatedPress
Published on May 16, 2013
Rep. Michele Bachmann, a leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the U.S. House, takes to the steps of the U.S. Capitol with other elected officials and Tea Party leaders to denounce IRS scrutiny of some conservative and religious groups. (May 16)
Category
News & Politics
License
Standard YouTube License
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3022066/posts
“Another Obamacare Lie”
Townhall.com ^ | May 21, 2013 | Mike Shedlock
Posted on May 21, 2013 8:21:59 AM PDT by Kaslin
SNIPPET: “Simply put, Obama lied when he said “you can keep your existing plan”, knowing full well the law was purposely written to make sure that would not happen over time.
Eventually you will be stuck with a new Obamacare plan and higher premiums whether you like your existing plan or not.”
H/T: Freeper Piasa
#
NOTE The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3023892/posts
GOP Sees Obamacare Solicitations as New Scandal Facing White House
NewsMax ^ | May 24, 2013 | By Todd Beamon
Posted on May 25, 2013 5:17:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Just as the Obama administration continues to reel from three major scandals, Republicans are zeroing in on yet one more — this one involving Obamacare as it nears implementation.
GOP legislators are targeting Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the solicitations she made to some of the nation’s top insurance companies and other groups for donations to Enroll America, the nonprofit group charged with selling Obamacare to the public.
“Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal,” Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told Reuters this week. “It fits into that narrative Republicans are building not only about incompetence in the executive branch but also dishonesty.
“This is a good issue for Republicans,” he added. “We want to maximize it.”
Now under question are forays by Sebelius to two private entities, H&R Block Inc., the tax preparation company, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic entity devoted to public health issues.
Republicans say the practice, which if not unprecedented, is at the very least unusual.
Federal law bars officials from soliciting any organization or individual with whom they do business or regulate — though neither entity is regulated by HHS.
“People are watching it very closely,” GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, told Reuters. “We’re hearing about it from constituents, people who are incredibly concerned.”
An HHS statement last week disclosed the two solicitations, Reuters reports. The agency this week declined to provide the news organization with a list of all solicitations before or after March, when Sebelius began approaching groups by telephone.
“We received a phone call from the secretary during which the secretary discussed supporting Enroll America,” H&R Block told Reuters in a statement. “While we took her suggestion under consideration, we have made no commitment.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/16/obamacare-benefits-mandate-could-further-phase-out
‘Obamacare’ benefits mandate could further phase out full-time work”
By Patrice Hill
The Washington Times
Sunday, June 16, 2013
SNIPPET: “President Obama’s health care reform is prompting employers to hire more part-time and temporary workers to escape paying benefits under a mandate that goes into effect next year, amplifying a trend toward transient employment that took hold during the recession, according to a growing number of economic indicators.”
http://blog.heritage.org/category/health-care/
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/07/01/obamacare-shocker-premiums-could-double/
“Obamacare Shocker: Premiums Could Double”
Chris Jacobs
July 1, 2013 at 11:01 am
SNIPPET: “This morning’s Wall Street Journal published its own analysis of premiums under Obamacare, and its conclusions will prompt shock—rate shock—among those who need to buy health insurance under the law’s new exchanges next year:
Healthy consumers could see insurance rates double or even triple when they look for individual coverage under the federal health law later this year, while the premiums paid by sicker people are set to become more affordable, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of coverage to be sold on the law’s new exchanges. The exchanges, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s health-care law, look likely to offer few if any of the cut-rate policies that healthy people can now buy, according to the Journal’s analysis.
The article goes on to provide specific examples of the kind of premium hikes many Americans may face under Obamacare:”
###
###
Previously...
“Obamacare and Insurance Rating Rules: Increasing Costs and Destabilizing Markets”
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
January 20, 2011
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3041026/posts
“Should Doctors Ask Older People If They Have Guns At Home?”
vpr.net ^ | July 9, 201
Posted on July 9, 2013 9:40:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
#
NOTE: Click on the link and read the whole thing.
Stepping back in time to January 2013:
Quote:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-asks-doctors-help-deal-guns_696121.html
“Obama Asks Doctors to Help Deal With Guns”
11:56 AM, JAN 16, 2013 • BY DANIEL HALPER
SNIPPET: “According to a background briefer provided by the White House, President Barack Obama is asking doctors to help deal with guns. Here’s the relevant passage:
PRESERVE THE RIGHTS OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS TO PROTECT THEIR PATIENTS AND COMMUNITIES FROM GUN VIOLENCE: We should never ask doctors and other health care providers to turn a blind eye to the risks posed by guns in the wrong hands.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3041054/posts
“Taxing Employers and Employees [New York Times says Obamacare is harmful to workers]”
New York Times ^ | July 10, 2013 | CASEY B. MULLIGAN
Posted on July 10, 2013 12:11:12 AM PDT by grundle
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3044813/posts
Executive Order — HIV Care Continuum Initiative
WHITEHOUSE.gov - Office of the Press Secretary ^ | July 15, 2013 | Executive Order signed by Barack Obama
Posted on July 18, 2013 11:13:49 PM PDT by Cindy
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3044792/posts
Vanderbilt University Medical Center to cut 1,000 jobs - good freaking grief!
bizjournals ^ | Jul 16, 2013 | Eric Snyder
Posted on July 18, 2013 9:20:38 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta
Vanderbilt University Medical Center plans to cut its workforce by more than 1,000 employees within the next two years, The Tennessean reports, citing people familiar with the center’s plans.
Some of the cuts are expected to come by offering early retirement options.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is targeting $250 million in budget savings over the same time period, or about 8 percent of current expenses, according to The Tennessean.
“It is clear that we must embark on a comprehensive effort that is immediate, achievable, proactive and ensures success over a multiyear period, while the health care and biomedical science economies we live in reshuffle into a ‘new normal,’ “ Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs Dr. Jeff Balser said in a memo to staff, according to The Tennessean.
Video:
Description - quote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Wz9et9adu4
KSAT-TX: San Antonio Business Owner Hit With Up To $1 Million In Costs From ObamaCare
goptvclips
Published on Jul 18, 2013
KSAT-TX: San Antonio Business Owner Hit With Up To $1 Million In Costs From ObamaCare (July 17, 2013)
Category
News & Politics
License
Standard YouTube License
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3044380/posts
Two-thirds of small businesses aren’t ready for ObamaCare, survey finds
U.S. Chamber of Commerce ^ | 7/17/13 | Ben Goad
Posted on July 17, 2013 8:46:31 PM PDT by Nachum
Less than a third of small businesses say they’re prepared for the regulatory mandates under ObamaCare, a new survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found.
The business lobby’s quarterly survey of small firms found a concerns over the law have increased by a double-digit margin over the last year, and by 4 percentage points since the first three months on 2013.
“Excessive regulation is having a crippling effect on job growth among small businesses, as our latest small-business survey makes clear,” said Rob Engstrom, the Chamber’s senior vice president. “In fact, the only thing that scares small businesses more than the current business climate is what Washington bureaucrats will do next.”
The survey found that 30 percent of businesses were not ready to comply with the new rules. Roughly 25 percent reported not knowing what they had to do to follow the law.
Seventy-one percent of the more than 1,300 small-business executives polled said they would be less likely to hire employees because of the healthcare law, according to the survey.
Twenty-four percent said they plan to reduce hiring to stay beneath the 50-employee threshold that would trigger a requirement to provide insurance for their workers or pay a penalty.
The survey follows this month’s decision by the Obama administration to postpone that provision, known as the employer mandate, for a year.
House Republicans are now pressing legislation requiring the delay of both the employer mandate and the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.
“It’s unfair to protect big businesses without giving the same relief to American families and small businesses,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday during a speech on the House floor. “I hope Democrats and Republicans alike will vote to do what’s fair and to protect all Americans from this disastrous law.”
In total, 1,304 small-business executives from around the country participated in the survey, which was commissioned by the Chamber and conducted by the firm Harris International. A small business was defined as having fewer than 500 employees and less than $25 million in annual revenue.
The Chamber did not release a margin of error for the survey.
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3043620/posts
Study: Obamacare could cause 1 million low-income Americans to move from work to welfare
AEI ^ | July 15,2013 | James Pethokoukis
Posted on July 16, 2013 8:07:56 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Applying our labor supply estimates directly to this population, we predict a decline in employment of between 530,000 and 940,000 in response to this group of individuals being made newly eligible for free or heavily subsidized health insurance. This would represent a decline in the aggregate employment rate of between 0.3 and 0.6 percentage points from this single component of the ACA.
The researchers arrive at these numbers by examining the labor market impact of Tennessee’s 2005 decision to discontinue its expansion of TennCare, the state’s Medicaid system. They found that the TennCare disenrollment caused “a large and immediate labor supply increase” as folks who lost coverage starting looking for work. More:
Indeed, we find a similarly large increase in private health insurance following the disenrollment, suggesting that public health insurance had been “crowding out” private health insurance When we explore the dynamic effects of the disenrollment, we find an immediate increase in job search behavior and a steady rise in both employment and health insurance coverage. The pattern of changes in labor supply and the crowdout behavior suggest that disenrollees entered the labor market and gained employment in order to procure health insurance. This finding is consistent with both.
And Obamacare would cause the reverse effect, pushing those getting subsidized coverage to leave the labor force. The result is especially worrisome for the health of working America if you combine it with Obamacare’s possible nudge toward more part-time workers in place of full-time workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at aei-ideas.org ...
http://www.lifesitenews.com/tag/obamacare
http://www.lifesitenews.com/tag/independent+payment+advisory+board+ipab
#
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/howard-dean-obamacare-has-a-rationing-panel-after-all
“Howard Dean: ObamaCare has a ‘rationing’ panel, after all”
BY BEN JOHNSON
Mon Jul 29, 2013 20:19 EST
SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON, D.C., July 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate, chairman of the Democratic Party, and proponent of universal health care, has said a key provision of the president’s health care law will not work – and amounts to “rationing.”
“One major problem is the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board,” Dean wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today.
“The IPAB is essentially a health-care rationing body,” he wrote. “By setting doctor reimbursement rates for Medicare and determining which procedures and drugs will be covered and at what price, the IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them.”
The IPAB would consist of a panel of 15 unelected “experts” who would determine appropriate treatments for maximum “cost-effectiveness.” Former Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said the group would have “an enormous amount of potential power” to set medical policy nationwide.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2331015/posts
#
www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2013/Evaluating-Obesity-Prevention-Efforts/EPOP_rb.pdf
~
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/govt-advisory-group-recommends-community-level-obesity-watch
“Gov’t Advisory Group Recommends Community-Level Obesity Watch”
August 6, 2013 - 12:26 PM
By Susan Jones
(CNSNews.com) -
SNIPPET: “The federally funded Institute of Medicine (IOM) has just released a report listing 83 ways to “assess the progress made in every community”—and at the national level—in the fight against obesity.”
SNIPPET: “It was the IOM that controversially recommended what preventive health services — including birth control, sterilization and abortifacients — should be covered without charge under Obamacare.
“Let’s Move!” on steroids
The IOM’s 83 “indicators for measuring progress” in obesity-prevention include the following, in no particular order. This is only a partial list.”
SNIPPET: “According to IOM, “assessment” means looking at the number and distribution of obese people within a community and at efforts to eliminate the problem.
“Surveillance” is the continuous assessment of progress over time.
“Monitoring” means tracking the implementation of various anti-obesity interventions;
And “summative evaluation” seeks to detect changes associated with particular interventions.”
http://freebeacon.com/obama-administration-announces-youth-obamacare-video-contest/
“Obama Administration Announces Youth Obamacare Video Contest
Law actually discourages young people to sign up, experts say”
BY: Andrew Evans
August 19, 2013 5:45 pm
SNIPPET: “Two aspects of the law actually increase the cost of health insurance for young people, said Ed Haislmaier, a health policy expert at the Heritage Foundation.
First, insurance companies can only charge older people three times what they would charge younger people for the same plan. This rule compresses the typical spread of prices, causing the price of insurance for younger and healthier individuals to rise in order to subsidize the artificially low price for older people, Haislmaier said.
Second, all insurance plans have certain requirements for what they must cover and how they are structured, further driving up costs for younger people, he noted.
Failing to attract enough young people could hurt the viability of the insurance plans offered in the exchanges, said Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute.
“It’s going to kill insurance companies,” she said.”
“UPS announces plan to drop 15,000 spouses from insurance coverage”
(August 21, 2013)
SNIPPET: “The United Parcel Service Inc. has plans to remove as many as 15,000 working spouses from the UPS health care plan in 2014. The company says the UPS spouses are eligible for coverage under their own employers, but the company is pointing to Obamacare as the main reason for the decision. Under the current law, large employers are only required to cover employees and dependent children.
In a memo to employees, UPS states rising health care costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost.””
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3077533/posts
Teacher Makes Students Decide Who Lives, Who Dies
Fox News ^ | October 10, 2013 | Todd Starnes
Posted on October 10, 2013 9:15:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A classroom of 14 and 15-year-old Illinois high school students was assigned the task of deciding the fate of ten fictional characters in an exercise that critics called a lesson in death panels.
The assignment was part of a sociology unit for freshmen and sophomore students at St. Joseph-Ogden High School in St. Joseph, just east of Champaign. The story was first reported by Champion News.
The lesson involves 10 people who are in desperate need of kidney dialysis.
“Unless they receive this procedure, they will die,” the lesson states.
But there’s a problem. The local hospital only has enough machines to support six patients.
“That means four people are not going to live,” the assignment states. “You must decide from the information below which six will survive.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at radio.foxnews.com ...