Posted on 09/16/2009 7:41:59 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious
The Consumer Is Not the Customer
Townhall.com ^ | September 16, 2009 | Jacob Sullum
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:50:32 AM by Kaslin
The other day, I was trying to figure out why the paycheck deduction for my health insurance was higher than I had expected. When I called my insurer to ask what the total premium was, the customer service representative said it was none of my business.
Three-fifths of Americans, the share with employer-provided health insurance, are in the same situation: Since someone else buys insurance for them, using money they would otherwise receive as wages, they are in no position to shop around and typically do not even know the true cost of their coverage. This disconnect between payment and consumption is one of the central problems with the current health care system, contributing to rapidly escalating costs, insecurity, and the general lack of choice and competition. Yet both Democrats and Republicans insist upon preserving it.
Snowe Says "NO" to Dems on Health Plan
The Hill ^ | 09/15/09 08:10 PM ET | Alexander Bolton and Jeffrey Young
Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:55:57 PM by REPANDPROUDOFIT
Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill.
Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) failed to win any Republican backer despite weeks of intense negotiations behind closed doors to strike a deal.
Obamacare Runs Counter to GOP Principles
WashingtonExaminer.com ^ | September 15, 2009 | Editorial Staff
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 4:51:57 AM by GiovannaNicoletta
The six Senate Republicans seeking a "bipartisan compromise" on President Obama's proposal for a government-run health care system are flirting with a provision - an individual mandate to buy government-approved health insurance - that runs counter to everything the GOP stands for. This "gang of six" includes senators Olympia Snowe of Maine, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Robert Bennett of Utah, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Snowe has been covertly negotiating with Obama for weeks, while Grassley supports the concept of a health care insurance co-op. The other four are co-sponsors of S. 391, the Healthy Americans Act introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, which includes some attractive features but at its heart is an individual mandate. Individuals and fFamilies would be fined as much as $3,800 annually for not buying approved health insurance.
Lessons of Massachusetts health care vs. Obama health care
massresistance.org ^ | 9/16/2009 | n/a
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:15:28 AM by massmike
As Congress debates the Obama health care plan, what lessons does the Massachusetts state-mandated health plan have for the rest of the nation?
Several weeks ago a mini-documentary video was produced with Prof. Regina Herzlinger of Harvard Business School, author of the book "Who killed health care?" and Brian Camenker of MassResistance, along with Dr. James Floyd of Public Citizens Health Research Group to analyze it. The video was produced by Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida.
Sen. Max Baucus Unveils His Healthcare Overhaul Plan
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-na-health-baucus17-2009sep17,0,3042131.story ^ |
September 16, 2009 | Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:53:13 AM by nickcarraway
Baucus' proposal would require all Americans to get insurance, but it does not include a public option. Key Republicans reject the plan.
Amid fresh signs of tensions among Democrats over healthcare, a leading senator today released the last major proposal that Congress will consider as it attempts to refashion the American healthcare system, a $856-billion bill that includes a mix of sweeping new insurance regulations but no new government insurance plan.
Baucus Unveils $856 Billion Health-Care Legislation
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 09-16-09 | GREG HITT, PATRICK YOEST and MARTIN VAUGHAN
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 7:54:16 PM by GOP_Lady
Bill Has No Public Option, Finds Lukewarm Support Among Other Senators
WASHINGTON -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus formally unveiled a 10-year, $856 billion bill that would extend health insurance to tens of millions of Americans but that found lukewarm support among other key senators, indicating changes to the measure are in store.
Opposition to Health Care Reform Reaches New High at 55%
Rasmussen ^ | 9/16/09 | scott rasmussen
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:19:09 AM by Ravi
One week after President Obama’s speech to Congress, opposition to his health care reform plan has reached a new high of 55%. The latest Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll shows that just 42% now support the plan, matching the low first reached in August.
Here's the Senate Finance Healthcare Bill
Senate Finance ^
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:19:40 AM by fujimoh
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/091609%20Americas_Healthy_Future_Act.pdf
Please Read the Bill, Mr. President (5 Reasons why Americans are right to be apprehensive)
National Review ^ | 9/16/2009 | Congressman Eric Cantor
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:51:03 AM by SeekAndFind
During his speech before a joint session of Congress last week, President Obama addressed voter skepticism about his health-care overhaul. The fact remains that tens of millions of Americans are still concerned about his plan and its ultimate impact on the cost, quality and accessibility of health services nationwide.
President Obama’s biggest problem is that the widespread concern over his $1 trillion reform plan is real, organic, and legitimate. Now that we’ve had a week to digest the president’s remarks, let’s pull back the facade, open up House bill H.R. 3200, and take a look at five reasons why the American people are right to feel apprehensive:
US Church leaders urge Catholics to engage in health care debate
Independent Catholic News ^ | September 15, 2009 | Maria del Mar Muñoz-Visoso
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:48:21 AM by Alex Murphy
The US Bishops' Conference today issued the following article by Maria del Mar Muñoz-Visoso, Assistant Director of the Office of Media Relations, entitled: 'Make your voice heard in the health care debate'.
Does thinking about health care reform give you a headache? Are the rhetoric, the cross messages, and the overflow of information — and misinformation — tempting you give in to the pessimistic thought that the sick who are most in need of health care, the poor, the marginalized, the immigrant, don’t stand a chance, “as always,” in front of powerful financial and political interests? Do you question getting involved at all?
The task seems daunting, but this is not the moment to give up or disconnect. The debate has reached a critical moment when the Catholic voice needs to be heard clearly and strongly.
The US Catholic bishops have spoken with one voice on the principles that should guide the discussion. They have been advocating for decades for the reform of a fragmented health system, one that is currently expensive, filled with inefficiencies and leaves too many people out.
Washington Post Refuses to Post Its own Poll Findings: 54% Skeptical of Obama Care
CNS News ^ | September 15, 2009 | Fred Lucas
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:06:04 AM by opentalk
A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted in the three days following President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress about his health care plan found that 54% say the more they hear about the plan, the less they like it.
This particular poll result was not mentioned anywhere in the story about the poll that was posted by the Washington Post on its Web site on Monday.
On health care -- president should speak less, listen more
St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | 09/15/2009 | Laura Brod
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:17:14 AM by rhema
It is always great to have a sitting president visit our state — regardless of party affiliation.
While President Obama briefly mentioned Mayo Clinic in his speech in Minneapolis last week, it would have been far more instructive for him, and the nation, had he gone to Rochester to see the cutting-edge treatments developed there. Despite President Obama's rhetorical reference to Mayo as an example of what is right, his "new plan" includes proposals that are antithetical to what makes Mayo work for so many people. Better listening might lead to better policy — policy that relies more on what Mayo has learned about bringing teamwork to bear on the best interests of the individual, and less on the heavy hand of the federal bureaucracy.
Physician Views on the Public Health Insurance Option and Medicare Expansions
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ^ | September 14th | Keyhani S, Federman
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:31:19 AM by Halfmanhalfamazing
A RWJF survey summarized in the September 14, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine shows that 62.9 percent of physicians nationwide support proposals to expand health care coverage that include both public and private insurance options—where people under the age of 65 would have the choice of enrolling in a new public health insurance plan (like Medicare) or in private plans. The survey shows that just 27.3 percent of physicians support a new program that does not include a public option and instead provides subsidies for low-income people to purchase private insurance. Only 9.6 percent of doctors nationwide support a system where a Medicare-like public program is created in lieu of any private insurance. A majority of physicians (58%) also support expanding Medicare eligibility to those between the ages of 55 and 64.
BLAYLOCK ON OBAMA SOCIALIZED CARE
http://www.russellblaylockmd.com ^ | August 14, 2009 | Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:41:07 AM by Nodems2000
National Health Insurance: The Socialist Nightmare By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
One characteristic of the collectivist is that when a particular term becomes unpopular, such as the word socialism, they create a succession of more socially friendly terms. For example, in the 1800s they did not shy away from the term socialism, but as people began to understand that socialism was a form of social control and engineering, they dropped the term for more acceptable terms such as liberalism, progressivism and collectivism. The socialist promoting a government-run health care system did likewise. Knowing that the term socialized medicine was frightening to a great number of people, they began to use such terms as national health care, universal health insurance and now single payer system. I find it ironic that no one asks these socialists, who is that mysterious single payer? Should the public consider this for even a moment, they would quickly realize that the single payer is the taxpayer and the administrator of the system is the government via an army of bureaucrats.
Health Care Reform a Moral Imperative, But Must Cover Immigrants, Too (Archbishop Wuerl)
Politics Daily ^ | 09/16/09 | Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:50:14 AM by Coleus
As Congress returns to work, the debate on health care reform surely will focus on the political, technical and economic repercussions of various proposals. What cannot get lost in this debate, however, are the moral implications. Health care is about life and death, who can take their children to the doctor and who cannot, who can afford decent medical coverage and who is left to fend for themselves. Because health care reform has real consequences -- literally life and death -- decisions must be evaluated through a prism of fundamental ethical principles to see how they will impact the dignity and value of each human life.
Obama’s Pledges Complicate Health Legislation [Dead on Arrival?]
APReport ^ | September 16, 2009
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 12:34:07 PM by Steelfish
Obama’s Pledges Complicate Health Legislation
All eyes are on the upcoming Senate Finance Committee bill
Sept . 15, 2009 WASHINGTON - Taken off guard, Democrats at work on health care legislation are grappling with President Barack Obama's nationally televised insistence on immediate access to insurance for those with pre-existing medical conditions, as well as richer Medicare prescription drug benefits than originally envisioned.
Senate's 10-year health fix would cost $856B
Associated Press ^ | Sept. 16, 2009 | ERICA WERNER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:16:27 PM by Free ThinkerNY
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Max Baucus on Wednesday brought out the much-awaited Finance Committee version of an American health-system remake—a landmark $856 billion, 10-year measure that starts a rough ride through Congress without visible Republican backing.
Ann Coulter:LIBERAL LIES ABOUT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE: BONUS JOE WILSON EDITION!
AnnCoulter.Com ^ | September 16 2009 | Ann Coulter
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 5:49:18 PM by Syncro
I'm trying to get to the next installment of my Pulitzer Prize-deserving series on liberal lies about national health care, but apparently liberals have decided to torture us by neurotically fixating on one lie.
After President Barack Obama gave a speech to a joint session of Congress last week passionately defending his national health care plan, the Democrats were agog at the brilliance of the speech. Nancy Pelosi was so thrilled, her expression almost changed.
But as Obama ticked off one demonstrably false claim after another -- eliciting 37 standing ovations from the Democrats in the audience -- America's greatest living statesman, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., yelled out, "You lie!" in response to Obama's claim that the bill will not cover illegal aliens.
Kent Conrad (D-ND) and the "Annie Hall" Theory of Health Care Reform (Good News)
Washington Post ^
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 6:23:12 PM by TroutGuy
Kent Conrad is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and one of the chamber's loudest, and most powerful, deficit hawks. On Tuesday, for instance, he directed the Congressional Budget Office to score the impact of health-care reform over a 20-year time frame, rather than the traditional 10 years. This is a tougher fiscal test than any bill has had to pass in memory. You could see this as a good thing. Reformers sometimes argue that health-care reform's true impact on the cost curve will be seen over the long term. If CBO's scores reflected that, Conrad's demand could be a boon to reform. But Conrad doesn't appear to believe the scores will reflect that. He called the CBO's scoring of the bill's cost controls "stingy," and predicted that "the savings will be greater than CBO is showing." In other words, he thinks the CBO is underestimating the savings that reform will deliver, but he wants to see those savings underestimated over a longer period of time, which will make the total gap between the revenues the CBO predicts and the savings it misses appear larger. It's a bit like the restaurant review from "Annie Hall": The food was terrible, and such small portions! The end result is likely to be a new hurdle for health-care reform: a CBO report that makes the bill's total cost sound higher, as it's measured over 20 years, and its savings seem smaller, as they're underestimated over 20 years. The Huffington Post caught up with Conrad and asked him whether this would kill the reform effort. "No," he replied, "but it makes it more challenging." The question is why Conrad wants to make health-care reform more challenging.
Lott's Numbers: Obama's Health Care Numbers Exposed
Fox News ^ | September 16, 2009 | John R. Lott Jr.
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 6:41:16 PM by ThomasHart
"Consumers do better when there is choice and competition. Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75% of the insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama, almost 90% is controlled by just one company. Without competition, the price of insurance goes up and the quality goes down...an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange..."
-- President Barack Obama, September 9
Two claims are made all the time in the health care debate: 1) that there is little competition among those providing health insurance and 2) that it is important to take the profit motive out of providing health insurance. Both are myths. It turns out that claims about too little competition are based on a misinterpretation of the data and that non-profit insurers are so abundant that the largest insurer in virtually every state is a non-profit. . . .
UK: Patients can [will be able to] register with GP anywhere they want, says Health Secretary
The Telegraph ^ | 9/16/2009 | Rebecca Smith
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 7:38:53 PM by bruinbirdman
Patients will be able to register with a GP anywhere in the country in a radical move to abolish restrictive catchment areas, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, will announce.
GP practices often run very tight boundaries and refuse to take patients who live even 100 yards too far away or on the wrong side of the road and people who move house are forced to change their surgery.
Health-Care Reform Proposals
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 09-16-09 | The Wall Street Journal
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 7:47:38 PM by GOP_Lady
.Compare health-care legislation taking shape in the House and Senate as President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul the system. Details are still being negotiated and any final health care bill would have to meld proposals from the House and Senate.
Obama's Top 2 Most Outrageous Health Care Myths
Fox News ^ | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 | john R. Lott Jr.
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:45:19 PM by JohnRLott
Two claims are made all the time in the health care debate: 1) that there is little competition among those providing health insurance and 2) that it is important to take the profit motive out of providing health insurance. Both are myths. It turns out that claims about too little competition are based on a misinterpretation of the data and that non-profit insurers are so abundant that the largest insurer in virtually every state is a non-profit.
Harry Reid : Health care bill won’t work for Nevada
Las Vegas Sun ^ | SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 | Lisa Mascaro
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:23:06 PM by RobinMasters
WASHINGTON - No sooner than the Senate Finance Committee's chairman released his long-awaited health care bill today than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it's not good enough for Nevada.
Reid is concerned about the cash-poor state's inability to boost Medicaid spending as would be required under the bill.
Grim Prognosis From Doctors Opposed To Health Care Plan
IBD Editorials ^ | September 16, 2009 | TERRY JONES
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:54:11 PM by Kaslin
Doctor opposition to health care overhaul proposals is broad and deep, revealing concerns not just about soaring costs, declining care, possible rationing and a lack of limits on malpractice suits, but also about government competence and motives, detailed responses to a new IBD/TIPP Poll show.
ObamaCare and Red State Democrats
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 09-16-09 | Karl Rove
Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:06:11 PM by GOP_Lady
The president is changing the political landscape, but not in the way he intends.
On Friday, I was at DePauw University in Indiana debating former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. It was two days after Barack Obama's big speech before a joint session of Congress and Mr. Dean is a strong advocate for his party's agenda and a medical doctor, so I expected him to defend the president's idea of adding a "trigger" to health-care reform to ease its passage and thereby guarantee a government takeover of our health-care system.
But Mr. Dean turned out to be tougher on triggers than I was. He called them a "terrible" idea.
You'd find out if you went on COBRA
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