Posted on 08/04/2009 3:45:39 PM PDT by Cindy
THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG
THE BLOG
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM Facts Are Stubborn Things Posted by Macon Phillips
Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things."
Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.
In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to "eliminate" private coverage, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them. He has even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry.
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
Here are the complete videos that Linda refers to. First from the AARP:
And then from the President's news conference:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56508
“House Health Care Bill Neither ‘Durable’ Nor ‘Desirable’ Says Former CBO Director”
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) – Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said the House Democrats’ health care overhaul is neither durable nor desirable because it would raise insurance premiums, ration care, and fail to bring down the cost of health care in America.
Speaking Monday on a conference call with reporters, Holtz-Eakin said that House Democrats had failed to draft a bill that would deliver meaningful health care reform without breaking the budget.”
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=750334
“States, beware of Medicaid expansion by feds”
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 11/3/2009 6:00:00 AM
SNIPPET: “A health economist warns that the House healthcare bill constitutes such a large expansion of welfare spending that a majority of healthcare in this country will eventually be purchased through government programs.
A report from the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows that spending on the Medicaid welfare program under the House healthcare bill would surpass Medicare spending, and grow nearly twice as fast as spending in employer-sponsored insurance.
By 2019, one in five healthcare dollars will be spent through Medicaid, says that report. More than half of all health spending would flow through Medicare, Medicaid, or other public spending in 2019.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56629
“Part of Constitution That Tells Congress ‘To Provide for the Health’ of Country Justifies Requiring Americans to Buy Health Insurance, Says Sen. Burris”
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter
SNIPPET: “James O’Connor, Burris’s communications director, later told CNSNews.com that although the word “health” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution...”
YES WE CAN read the bill H.R. 3962
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3962
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http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=753468
“H.R. 3962 grants the power to ration healthcare”
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 11/5/2009 5:00:00 AM
SNIPPET: “The CEO of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations says if the House healthcare bill passes, people will be driven into the government option by their employers.
Dr. David Stevens tells OneNewsNow that he currently spends up to 50 percent of his employees’ salaries on health benefits. But under the present healthcare reform proposal on Capitol Hill, he would only be charged eight percent of an employee’s salary in penalties should that employee be put on the government option.
“So what’s going to happen the way they’ve set this up is, they’re going to drive employers to drop their healthcare plans,” he predicts, “[then] put people on the public plan. [This] is going to inflate the cost tremendously, but also give the power to the government to ration healthcare.” Stevens explains this will be done “because then, [the government will] have them on the public program where they decide what [employees] get and what they don’t get.””
Credit for the link in post no. 325 goes to Mama Lucci.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0pR1OxQkIs
“Louise Slaughter on Loan Forgiveness in Health Care Bill: Swine Flu!”
Video Description - Quote:
November 07, 2009
During the Health Care Bill General Debate in the US House of Representatives, Louise Slaughter (D, NY) addresses concerns over a clause that would grant loan forgiveness to veterinary students.
November 7, 2009
Category: News & Politics
Tags: Swine Flu House of Representatives Congress Debate Health Care Vet Veterinary Student Loan Forgiveness Louise Slaughter Rules Democrat Republican Conservative Liberal Obama Senate Speaker
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=759448
“Conservatives condemn passage of House health bill”
Fred Jackson - OneNewsNow - 11/8/2009 6:45:00 AM
SNIPPET: “Monstrous and a defiance of the will of the American people - that’s how one pro-family group is describing the health bill that House Democrats pushed through Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215.
The President of Concerned Women for America, Wendy Wright, says the bill will ration care and punish citizens who don’t have government-mandated insurance.
Wright declares “this montrous bill” will erode the best health care system in the world.
According to Wright, “In exchange for insurance, we’ll lose access to proper health care. We’ll lose health care providers who will leave the profession.”
She says the bill would “create multiple bureaucracies that will control Americans’ health care, penalize Americans for not buying a product, fine Americans if a government agent decides their health care plan is not ‘government approved’ and may force Americans to buy government mandated insurance that funds objectionable procedures.”
Wright notes that although an amendment passed to bar federal funding of abortion, Democrat leaders refused to guarantee that it will be in the final bill. According to Wright, “the vote on the amendment may have been a ruse to gain pro-life Democrats vote on the bill.””
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “HIS BRAIN IS UNDAMAGED...”
“Goodbye, my beloved son: Father gives up court battle to keep his disabled boy alive”
By BETH HALE
Last updated at 11:25 PM on 10th November 2009
SNIPPET: “The father’s heart-breaking move came after an independent expert said his son’s quality of life was not good enough to justify prolonging it.”
SNIPPET: “The 13-month-old boy, identified only as RB, has an extremely rare disorder that has robbed him of almost all muscle control.
His brain is undamaged, but trapped in an almost immovable body, unable to speak or even smile.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57007
“Sen. Ben Nelson: ‘I’m Not Going to Be Able to Answer That Question’ of Where Constitution Authorizes Congress to Force Americans to Buy Health Insurance”
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
By Edwin Mora
SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNSNews.com that because he is not a constitutional scholar he was “not going to be able to answer that question” of where specifically the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance.”
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385273/posts
Plumber with shattered arm ... has operation ‘cancelled four times’
Daily Mail ^ | October 8, 2009 | Grant Junkie
Posted on November 12, 2009 7:48:40 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
A plumber whose arm was left twisted grotesquely out of shape in an accident ten months ago has had an operation to correct it ‘cancelled four times’.
Torron Eeles, 50, has been left unable to work since falling down the stairs and now fears he may lose his home after being denied incapacity benefit.
The father-of-three today hit out at the NHS for the ‘unacceptable delays’, but East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said Mr Eeles had his operation cancelled on ‘only’ two occasions on clinical safety grounds. His left arm has hung limply by his side since he fractured the humerus bone in December 2008.
Mr Eeles, from Welham Green, Hertfordshire, applied for employment and support allowance but a doctor ruled he is ineligible for both because he can turn on a tap.
snip
His third operation in February was postponed after he was found to have high blood pressure, while the fourth, scheduled for May, was abandoned because of concerns about his smoking.
The plaster was removed from Mr Eeles’ arm after three months and he was given a wrist sling, which he branded ‘totally useless’.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56971
“Sen. Reed: Forcing People to Buy Health Insurance is Constitutionally Justified Because It’s Like Making People ‘Sign Up for the Draft’”
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
By Edwin Mora
SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) – When asked where specifically the Constitution authorized Congress to mandate that individuals buy health insurance, Sen. Jack Reed (D.-R.I.) said that he “would have to check the specific sections” but said that it was like making people “sign up for the draft.””
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385430/posts
Government seeks secrecy on cleft palate abortions
The Daily Telegraph UK ^ | 13 Nov 2009
Posted on November 13, 2009 4:19:31 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Government seeks secrecy on cleft palate abortions
The Government has launched a High Court bid to maintain secrecy over the abortion of babies with cleft palate and club feet.
Published: 7:00AM GMT 13 Nov 2009
In an extraordinary move, the Department of Health is taking the Government’s own Information Tribunal to court to overturn a landmark Freedom of Information Act ruling.
The case, which is set to cost the taxpayer thousands, aims to prevent the publication of controversial statistics including late terminations for disabled babies, which are legal under Ground E of the Abortion Act, right up to birth.
Last month, the Information Tribunal upheld and earlier ruling by the Information Commissioner, in favour of the Pro-Life Alliance, that the data must be published.
But ministers are resisting, arguing that disclosing it could lead to the identification of women who have late abortions.
Julia Millington of the Pro-Life Alliance said: “It is a reprehensible waste of public money and court time to continue a fruitless battle to hide this information.
“A country, committed to transparency and openness, accepts and expects that the same principles apply to abortion as to other areas of healthcare practice. These statistics should be made public.”
The Government stopped publishing full figures in 2005, instead “suppressing” any data where there were less than ten cases.
The last year for which data were fully available, 2002, showed that five foetuses were aborted because they had deformed feet, and a sixth because of a cleft lip and palate.
In 2000 and 2001, nine foetuses were aborted because of cleft lip and palate, while a further two were aborted for cleft lip alone.
Every year some 1,900 babies are aborted under Ground E, but it is now impossible to extrapolate late terminations for cleft palate or club
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Well now, we don’t have OBAMACARE/PELOSICARE yet, but here’s a little taste of it for you all to peruse. -Cindy
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388549/posts
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111602822.html
“Breast exam guidelines now call for less testing
Change debated
Potential harm of frequent mammograms outweighs benefit, task force says”
VIDEO
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
SNIPPET: “Women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year, an influential federal task force has concluded, challenging the use of one of the most common medical tests.”
SNIPPET: “Coming amid a highly charged national debate over health-care reform and simmering suspicions about the possibility of rationing medical services, the recommendations immediately became enveloped in controversy.”
SNIPPET: “While the task force recommended against doctors teaching women how to perform regular breast self-exams and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether doctor exams were beneficial, several experts stressed that women should seek medical attention if they come across any unusual lumps.”
#
Previously...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051102792.html
“Mammogram Rates Seem To Be Slipping”
By Francesca Lunzer Kritz
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
SNIPPET: “The downward trend, however slight, has breast cancer experts worried. Mammograms can enable physicians to diagnose the disease at early stages, often before a lump can be felt. “When breast cancer is detected early, it often can be treated before it has a chance to spread in the body and increase the risk of dying from the disease,” says Katherine Alley, medical director of the breast health program at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57392
“Reid Introduces Senate Health Bill That Mandates Federally Subsidized Abortion”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief
SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) - Senate Majority Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) late Wednesday published the final text of a Senate health care bill that would mandate federally subsidized abortion.
The mandate appears on page 120 of the 2,074-page bill under the seemingly innocuous heading: ‘Assured Availability of Varied Coverage Through Exchanges.”
Specifically, the provision requires that the secretary of Health and Human Services make certain that at least one health insurance plan offered in government-regulated insurance exchanges where people will be able to purchase health insurance using government subsidies must provide coverage of abortion. The secretary also must make certain that at least one plan available in the exchanges not cover abortions.
The relevant language says: “The Secretary shall assure that with respect to qualified health plans offered in any Exchange established pursuant to this title—(I) there is at least one such plan that provides coverage of services described in clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (B); and (II) there is at least one such plan that does not provide coverage of services described in subparagraph (B)(i).”
The clause “(i)” of “subparagraph (B)” referred to in this passage defines those types of abortions currently banned from receiving federal funding under the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment bans federal funding for all abortions except those done in cases of rape, incest and a threat to the life of the mother. So, the language of Sen. Reid’s health care bill mandates that at least one health insurance plan available to people buying health insurance with federal subsidies cover those abortions that are currently prohibited from receiving federal funding under the Hyde Amendment.”
Well now, we don’t even have OBAMACARE/PELOSI CARE yet, but young women are being told this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390562/posts
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091120/ap_on_he_me/us_med_fewer_pap_smears
“Report: 20-somethings can go 2 years between Paps”
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer – 2 hrs 41 mins ago
SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON – Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that’s enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.
The change by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes amid a completely separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The guidelines also say:
_Routine Paps should start at age 21. Previously, ACOG had urged a first Pap either within three years of first sexual intercourse or at age 21.
_Women 30 and older should wait three years between Paps once they’ve had three consecutive clear tests. Other national guidelines have long recommended the three-year interval; ACOG had previously backed a two- to three-year wait.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
Sarah Palin: Cancer Screenings - Rational Advice or Rationed Care?
Sarah Palin’s Notes
Cancer Screenings - Rational Advice or Rationed Care?
Yesterday at 11:10pm
It was a breath of fresh air to finally hear the Democrats admit to their health care bill as “a lot of show and tell and razzmatazz,” (see Democrat talking points, in reference to my book). At least now we’re all on the same page when discussing the problems with their monstrous government health care “reform” plan.
Now, tonight, more disconcerting news – the New York Times reports of new guidelines to scale back cervical cancer screenings. The recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes on the heels of another recommendation to limit breast cancer screenings with mammograms. There are many questions unanswered for me, but one which immediately comes to mind is whether costs have anything to do with these recommendations. The current health care debate elicits great concern because of its introduction of socialized medicine in America and the inevitable rationed care. We need to carefully watch this debate as it coincides with Capitol Hill’s debate and determine whether we are witnessing the early stages of that rationed care before the Senate bill is rushed through as well.
Another question is why these women-focused cancers are seemingly receiving substandard attention at a time when proactive health and fitness should be the message. Every woman should encourage rigorous debate to ensure that our collective voices are heard. We are paying attention to Washington’s health care proposals, and we want to hear what helps patients the most.
We need answers: Is early screening not saving lives? Why do doctors’ groups disagree? Did costs play any role in these decisions to change the recommendations on breast and cervical cancer screenings? We need assurances that everything we’ve heard this week about fewer tests for women’s cancers is a result of patient-focused research and providing the best care for the right reasons, and not because of bureaucratic pressure to control costs.
Obviously the first thought that comes to mind when hearing of these new recommendations from bureaucratic panels is “rationed care.” It’s fair – and healthy – to ask if that’s what Washington has in mind with a government-controlled takeover of a health care system.
- Sarah Palin
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390602/posts
Olivia Newton John Slams New Mammogram Guidelines as ‘Troublesome’
Fox News ^ | November 19, 2009 | Hollie McKay
Posted on November 20, 2009 4:12:58 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
In the wake of the new federal recommendations that only women aged 50-74 need routine mammograms and that self examination shouldn’t be taught, breast cancer survivor Olivia Newton-John has spoken out that such advice is an absolute “mistake.”
“Having found my lump myself and being persistent in having it looked at I am very for regular self examination and to follow through with regular mammograms and check-ups as part of the triage of taking care of yourself.
The fact that they aren’t even advocating even self-exam is really upsetting to me and really troublesome,” Newton John told Tarts on Wednesday.
“I think it’s a mistake, so many cancers are not genetic. Mine wasn’t and I’m sad to say a lot of my friends have had breast cancer and their’s weren’t either.
Many have found it themselves or through a mammogram and many were not yet in their 40’s or 50’s.
So for me it doesn’t seem common sense to be going backwards which is what it seems to be doing.”
The “Grease” beauty said she also can’t help but feel the government is sacrificing a woman’s health for financial reasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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