Posted on 09/25/2009 4:14:01 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Obama administration has aroused a fierce First Amendment controversy after threatening companies selling private Medicare coverage not to tell their customers that current health care legislation would result in benefit cuts - or else face a lawsuit.
The administration and Senate Democrats justify the move by saying the claim, spread by at least one such company, is patently false. Yet some say the administration is the one twisting the facts to help the unpopular legislation: critics note that even the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office agrees that the legislation would mean a loss of senior benefits.
The general warning came after the Department of Health and Human Services launched a probe against the insurance giant Humana earlier this month after it sent out a mailing warning of the possible cuts.
"As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites," the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid told health insurance companies in a notice Monday.
The bill currently under construction in the Senate Finance Committee includes a proposal to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending by about $500 billion over the next decade, including about $125 billion cut from Medicare Advantage plans.
The Humana mailer had told its members that, "if the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable." The company encouraged seniors to contact their congressional representatives on the issue.
The AP reports that the government, in addition to launching an investigation, ordered Humana to cease distributing the mailer and indicated that further action could be taken against the company. According to a company spokesman, Humana is cooperating with the investigation and stopped the mailer earlier this month.
Democratic Sen. Max Baucus sparked the probe after he complained that the mailer was misleading. He insists that the cuts will not amount to a loss of benefits for seniors, but will in fact improve Medicare by making it more efficient.
"I'm not going to let insurance company profits stand in the way of improving Medicare for seniors," said Baucus in a statement.
The Obama administration similarly denies that the large proposed Medicare cuts will reduce seniors' benefits.
An email distributed to White House subscribers today referred to an "ongoing effort by many in Washington to scare America's seniors with myths about what reform would mean for their health care benefits," saying that this is "a bunch of malarkey." The email encouraged readers to contact elderly friends and family to ensure that they "get the facts."
However, the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget office says the claim Democrats call misleading is, in fact, accurate.
Douglas Elmendorf confirmed to members of the Senate on Tuesday that the proposed cuts for Medicare's managed care plans in the Finance Committee bill would mean fewer benefits for seniors in the plan.
Despite the White House's vigorous attempts to dispel anxiety over the health care overhaul, seniors in public polls continue to display broad skepticism of the legislation set to undergo crucial construction in the next several days. America's Health Insurance Plans spokesman Robert Zirkelbach pointed out in a FOX News report that the Obama administration's order was sent out to about 200 companies Monday night, just before the Senate Finance Committee commenced debate on the latest version of the health overhaul.
"This is an effort to stifle any dissent," said Zirkelbach.
Capitol Hill Republicans have pushed back against the Humana probe, calling it a politically-motivated "gag order" and an "astonishing overreach" of the administration's power. On Thursday, Senate Republicans threatened to block Obama's health care-related appointments until the decision is reversed, while House Republicans called for a hearing on the matter.
In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senate Republicans pointed out that a 1997 directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services explicitly allowed HMOs to tell members about legislation and urge them to express opinions.
"Now, the Obama administration has reversed this longstanding HHS decision -- in the midst of a critical debate about the future of health care services in our country -- to shut down communication between private companies and America's seniors on an issue that has a direct impact on their health care," said the Senators.
This is just pure censorship. And f....ing unconstitutional.
White House Threatens to Prosecute Private Medicare Companies for Warning Seniors of Cuts
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For telling the TRUTH??!?!?!?!
Thanks for the ping.
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No problem. "The Obama administration has threatened us with lawsuits if we tell you that you might lose benefits under their new health care proposals". That would galvanize people more than the thing they weren't supposed to tell them, plus they get told that anyway.
Right on Dragoo.
It is of course the work of Health Commissar, NANCY-ANN MIN DEPARLE, to enforce the party line.
Working behind the scenes to wreak havoc on administration underlings who would otherwise let Humana exercise its 1st amendment right, the Health Commissar issues unreported edicts to cabinet secretaries, legal advisors, and assorted subordinates.
The message is always the same, "This is the party line. It will be expedited without question."
The unconfirmed Commissar, of course, cannot be summoned to testify and is protected by executive privilege, a license to extort.
yitbos
It’s getting more and more like Nazi Germany every day.
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Prosecute ... FOR WHAT ??? Telling the TRUTH ???
In the immortal words of General Mcauliffe at the Battle of the Bulge ... “NUTS !!!” ...
This title is very disturbing to say the least.
This is probably getting more play than if the letters just went out and most got tossed in the trash without reading them..... doesn’t excuse the administration, but shows how incompetent they are and how they keep losing control over their own message.
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It's getting more and more like Nazi Germany every day. In 1930s Germany, when MOST saw the events unfolding before them — yet only a HANDFUL did anything to ACTIVELY try stop it — acted with what could be called missbilligende stille, or "disapproving silence". History is said not to repeat itself ... but let me offer some perspective with current events in the United States in 2009: First, we've heard rumors that bank officials that were being BULLIED — Chicago style — by the White House earlier this year. Around the same time, automotive company officials were BULLIED by the White House — some forced to resign — with the White House forcing the automotive industry to produce cars that matched a Green agenda only a small segment of the buying public truly wants to purchase. Over the summer, lawful dissension by the Right (and by some on the Left) at Town Halls and Tea Parties was criticized and BULLIED by ELECTED officials in Congress and their proxies (SEIU). Most recently, cries of Racism have been used to try to squelch opponents. Revealed on today's Glenn Beck radio show, businesses across the nation are currently being BULLIED with threats of “social justice” (e.g, protests of their business by the Left) if they don't drop out of their Chamber of Commerce because the Chamber is causing "problems" with Cap & Trade lobbying in Washington. By the way, Glenn will reveal more about that next week. ... and now the story of THIS thread: "White House Threatens to Prosecute Private Medicare Companies for Warning Seniors of Cuts"
There's a WAR going on in this country, being perpetrated by the White House and the Left in Congress — against commerce & capitalism, and Citizens who disagree with their agenda for Change. Again, there IS a WAR going on in our country being waged against American ideals — AND Americans — by our own government. It's WAY past time that we recognize and deal with it! They will feed on YOUR fear and disapproving silence. Do NOT enable them. Stop turning the other cheek to people who continue to slap you. Do NOT be COMPLICIT with disapproving silence. Disapproving silence did not work to stop a wave of Brown Shirts or Black Shirts, and it will NOT be enough to stop a modern-day Progressive agenda hellbent on transforming American. Just like a thief in the night, or the bully on the playground, they will continue and continue unless you meet them HEAD ON and stop them. If you haven't been involved, or gotten those around you involved up to this point — NOW is the time to do so. |
BP2, they misjudge us. They take our civility for weakness. They do not believe we will ever fight back. So they push, and they push, while the left is busy preparing to begin physically attacking us. They are telegraphing their punches. They are busy preparing to intimidate and silence us.
Do not mistake this quiet on our part for compacency. We are watching. We are aware. We are busy hardening our spines while they remain spineless. BULLIES are always cowards. So if, or when, it comes to the point that they actually do what they are PLANNING to do, they are in for the shock of their arrogant, insufferable lives.
I have asked myself repeatedly if I am ready for this because it is going to be ugly. It is going to be bloody. It will not be over as easily as they think, and it will not end the way they think it will. They will lose.
THAT, I am sure of.
You’re welcome, GOPJ.
Well stated. Many thanks for your continued acts of leadership.
I will repeat, and I think you will agree...
http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/2335200/posts
LISTEN UP CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS. IF YOU PASS THIS HEALTHCARE BILL AGAINST THE WISHES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR JOBS IN 2010.
TODAY WAS THE FIRST SALVO IN THE FIGHT AGAINST OBAMA IN THE COURT SYSTEM. IT WILL BE HEARD ON ITS MERITS TO DETERMINE IF OBAMA IS QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT.
MAKE NO MISTAKE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AMERICA DOES NOT WANT THIS HEALTH CARE PLAN SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS. IF YOU TRY, YOU DO SO AT THE COST OF YOUR JOBS.
IF OBAMA IS FOUND TO BE A FRAUD, HE WILL BE REMOVED, AND THIS LEGISLATION WILL NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. YOU WILL HAVE SEALED YOU FATE, SIDING AGAINST YOUR CONSTITUENTS.
Do not say that you have not been warned. We are pissed off, we have told you we are pissed off, and do not want this to happen. If you don’t listen, you have only yourselves to blame.
You, do not represent YOU, you represent US, if you have forgotten, let me remind you.
Listen to the people you represent, or be tossed out on your ass...
That clear enough?
Did you see the kids singing the Obama song?
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