Facts Are Stubborn Things [flag@whitehouse.gov]

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.

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390605/posts

ABC’s Robin Roberts Grills Govt Official: Was Breast Cancer Decision Rationing?
Newsbusters ^ | 11/19/09 | Scott Whitlock
Posted on November 20, 2009 4:23:24 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta

ABC’s Robin Roberts on Thursday pressed a government official on rationing and a new recommendation that women under the age of 50 shouldn’t get regular mammograms.

Talking to one of report’s authors, she chided, “Dr. [Thomas] Wilt, you know many are feeling that this is trying to save money, that this is a political move.”

Roberts challenged Wilt, who is with the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.

Although she didn’t specifically use the word rationing, the implication was clear: “You are an independent panel, but federally funded independent panel.

How do you respond to those who feel that this is nothing more than a cost-saving measure?”

On Wednesday’s GMA, the program featured a clip of Dr. Peter Jokich, of Rush University Medical Center. Making a similar point, he derided the report: “I think it’s totally ridiculous.

I may not be politically correct, but I think this is really about money and politics. It’s about the beginning of rationing care and I don’t think it’s really about the health of individual women.”

In a follow-up question on Thursday, Roberts, who is a survivor of breast cancer, pointed out the organization’s own numbers don’t seem to support the change in screening recommendation.

She explained that mammographies for women between 40 and 49 prevented one death per 1904 person and one death per 1339 for females 50 to 59.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391342/posts

Doctors nationwide rally against ObamaCare Saturday
The Examiner ^ | 11/21/2009 | Kevin Hall
Posted on November 20, 2009 11:01:49 PM PST by bigred08

As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on ObamaCare Saturday, medical professionals across the country will speak out against the government’s takeover of health care. The Million Med March is taking place in state capitols and major cities across the U.S. this weekend. The events are being organized by a group called Doctors U.N.I.T.E.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2331015/posts

Free Speech Time - Opinion - Propaganda:

Video:

my.barackobama.com/page/content/hrvcratings?v=mkDhKHD52tk

“I Deserve Health Care
by Eric Hurt”

###
###

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkDhKHD52tk

“HEALTH CARE REFORM 1”

Video Description - quote:

October 14, 2009

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Tags: OBAMA HEATH CARE CHALLENGE 264

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391366/posts

Healthcare Radicals Bank on Public Ignorance and Gullibility
Humanevents.com ^ | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | by Jonathan Imbody
Posted on November 21, 2009 2:18:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hid a radical health care overhaul bill behind closed doors for weeks, then finally emerged in a news conference on November 18 to proclaim that the bill somehow would cover millions more Americans while simultaneously saving money.

To give you an idea of the kind of math that Reid and his allies employ, they conveniently left out of the projected cost of the bill some $247 billion — the cost of a 10-year freeze on cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. Reid had proposed that expensive “doctor-fix” plan to buy off the American Medical Association, which dutifully endorsed the overall health care bill in response to the cash inducement. That helps explain why the left-leaning AMA, which once represented nearly four of every five physicians, now claims closer to just one in five physicians on its dwindling rolls.

(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/21/senate-crucial-vote/

Updated November 21, 2009
“Democrats Gain 60 Votes to Begin Health Care Debate”
by FOXNews.com

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON - Democrats on Saturday clinched the votes needed to advance the Senate’s version of President Obama’s health care overhaul to the floor for a historic debate scheduled to begin shortly after 8 p.m..

Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas was the last of three Democratic holdouts to announce her support for the procedural vote. Earlier, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said she would support the debate, one day after Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska announced his intent to vote yes.”

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391775/posts

Did anyone else catch this? Harry Reid
CSPAN2 Senate | 11-21-2009 | Daniel Redfoot
Posted on November 21, 2009 5:26:33 PM PST by DanielRedfoot

Did anyone else catch this? Just now on C-SPAN, Harry Reid quotes communist Andrei Sakharov in closing statement of Senate debate on socialist health care.

Google: Andrei Sakharov

OK granted, Sakharov was not a ranting Leninist but why wouldn’t Harry quote a founder or an American patriot to make his simplistic, sophomoric point. O wait, Harry IS a ranting Leninist...

TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions; Click to Add Topic
KEYWORDS: 111th; bhohealthcare; communist; harryreid; healthcare; sakharov; socializedmedicine; Click to Add Keyword
[ Report Abuse | Bookmark ]

OK granted, Sakharov was not a ranting Leninist but why wouldn’t Harry quote a founder or an American patriot to make his simplistic, sophomoric point. O wait, Harry IS a ranting Leninist...
1 posted on November 21, 2009 5:26:38 PM PST by DanielRedfoot
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To: DanielRedfoot
Can someone get the exact quote?

Video?

2 posted on November 21, 2009 5:29:57 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
60/39 Drudge

3 posted on November 21, 2009 5:32:49 PM PST by A Strict Constructionist (How long before we are forced to refresh the Tree of Liberty? Sic semper tryannis)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour; DanielRedfoot
“Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, one of the great thinkers of the past century, knew that when opposing sides come together, the sum of their ideas can outweigh their parts.

“Sakharov said, ‘Profound thoughts arise only in debate, with a possibility of counterargument.’

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/reid-the-greatest-deliberative-body-must-at-least-deliberate-health-care-reform.php

4 posted on November 21, 2009 5:34:47 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: DanielRedfoot
I feel ill and it’s not the H1N1.

5 posted on November 21, 2009 5:35:30 PM PST by madison10 (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
Rush needs this if he did quote a communist. he would love it.

6 posted on November 21, 2009 5:35:42 PM PST by manonCANAL
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To: DanielRedfoot
Full text of Reid’s statement here:
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/reid-the-greatest-deliberative-body-must-at-least-deliberate-health-care-reform.php

7 posted on November 21, 2009 5:37:57 PM PST by politicket (1 1/2 million attended Obama’s coronation - only 14 missed work!)

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57454

“CBO: By 2019, Taxpayers Will Pay $196 Billion A Year for Obamacare, But 24 Million People Will Remain Uninsured”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) - Under the health care bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday, by 2019 taxpayers will be paying $196 billion per year to subsidize other people’s health insurance coverage, but there still will be 24 million uninsured people in America, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Reid’s proposal mandates that all individuals legally resident in the United States purchase health insurance and offers subsidies to people making up to 400 percent of the poverty level ($88,200 for a family of four) to purchase insurance as long as they buy a federally regulated and approved plan sold in a federally regulated insurance exchange.

According to an analysis published Wednesday by the CBO and JCT, this subsidy will cost taxpayers $196 billion per year by 2019 but will still leave 24 million people uninsured in America, about 8 million of whom will be illegal aliens. The estimate assumes that there would otherwise be about 55 million uninsured people in the United States.

“The gross cost of the coverage expansions, consisting of exchange subsidies, the net costs of expanded eligibility for Medicaid, and tax credits for employers: Those provisions have an estimated cost of $196 billion in 2019, and that cost is growing at about 8 percent per year toward the end of the 10-year budget window. As a rough approximation, CBO assumes continued growth at about that rate during the following decade,” says the joint CBO and JCT analysis.”

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393235/posts

Bowel cancer victims denied life-prolonging care that’s free in Europe (UK rationing)
dailymail.co.uk ^ | Nove. 24, 2009 | Jenny Hope
Posted on November 23, 2009 10:48:34 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY

Bowel cancer sufferers are to be denied a life-prolonging drug on the NHS which is available to patients across Europe and beyond.

Trials show Avastin can extend life by almost two years.

But the Government’s rationing body, Nice, says it is not cost-effective.

In what has been dubbed ‘passport prescribing’, Britain does not allow routine use of the drug while patients in virtually all other EU countries get the drug paid for.

France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavian nations, as well as Australia and Canada, all meet the cost of treatment.

Last week Nice rejected the use of a liver cancer drug on the NHS.

Around 35,000 Britons develop bowel cancer each year, of which 4,000-5,000 with advanced cancer could benefit from the drug.

Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, costs around £18,000 for a course of ten months’ treatment given as intravenous infusion with chemotherapy.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395759/posts

blog:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/11/28/whitehouse-gov-plays-media-critic-calls-krauthammer-s-washington-post-col

“WhiteHouse.gov Plays Media Critic: Calls Krauthammer’s Washington Post Column ‘Wholly Inaccurate’”
By Jeff Poor
November 28, 2009 - 02:17 ET

http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/11/27/kill_the_bills_do_health_reform_right

“KILL THE BILLS. DO HEALTH REFORM RIGHT”
by Charles Krauthammer

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON — The United States has the best health care in the world — but because of its inefficiencies, also the most expensive. The fundamental problem with the 2,074-page Senate health-care bill (as with its 2,014-page House counterpart) is that it wildly compounds the complexity by adding hundreds of new provisions, regulations, mandates, committees and other arbitrary bureaucratic inventions.

Worse, they are packed into a monstrous package without any regard to each other. The only thing linking these changes — such as the 118 new boards, commissions and programs — is political expediency. Each must be able to garner just enough votes to pass. There is not even a pretense of a unifying vision or conceptual harmony.

The result is an overregulated, overbureaucratized system of surpassing arbitrariness and inefficiency.”

SNIPPET: “In the 4,000-plus pages of the two bills, there is no tort reform. Indeed, the House bill actually penalizes states that dare “limit attorneys’ fees or impose caps on damages.” Why? Because, as Howard Dean has openly admitted, Democrats don’t want “to take on the trial lawyers.” What he didn’t say — he didn’t need to — is that they give millions to the Democrats for precisely this kind of protection.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57771

“Fifty-Three Percent of Americans Now Disapprove of Obama’s Handling of Health-Care Issue, Says Gallup Poll”
Monday, November 30, 2009
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer

SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) – A majority of Americans—53 percent—now disapprove of the way President Obama is handling the health care issue, and 49 percent want their members of Congress to vote ‘no’ on Obama’s government-led restructuring of the health-care system, according to a Gallup poll.

The report, released Monday, shows that only self-identified Democrats support the plan, with strong majorities of both Republicans and Independents opposing the president.”

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10781/11-30-Premiums.pdf

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57820

“Millions of Families Will Pay $2,100 More in Annual Health Insurance Premiums Under Senate Bill”
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor

SNIPPET: “(CSNews.com) – For millions of American families, the cost of health insurance premiums will increase $2,100 a year under the Democratic health care bill now being debated in the U.S. Senate.

That’s according to an analysis conducted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JTO).

The CBO-JCT analysis of Sen. Harry Reid’s bill found that people buying their own health insurance policies on government-run exchanges – as they will be required to do if they lack coverage through work — will see their premiums increase by up to 13 percent in 2016, the year in which the Senate bill takes full effect.

For people purchasing their own insurance on government-run exchanges, “Average premiums per policy …in 2016 would be roughly $5,800 for single policies and $15,200 for family policies under the proposal, compared with roughly $5,500 for single policies and $13,100 for family policies under current law.”

Put another way, under Reid’s bill, a family in 2016 would pay $15,200 for an insurance plan, up $2,100 from the $13,100 they currently pay.”

http://www.myfreedompost.com/2009/12/carly-fiorina-cancer-survivor-delivers.html

Video - Description - Quote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYW2nAH_jQQ

“Carly Fiorina Delivers Weekly GOP Address”

Subscribe
CarlyforCalifornia
December 04, 2009

In the weekly Republican address, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP, describes how she was diagnosed with and beat breast cancer.

She explains why the recent recommendation on mammograms from a government-run panel was so troubling, especially because costs were a significant factor in the decision.

She points out, “The health care bill now being debated in the Senate explicitly empowers this very task force to influence future coverage and preventive care.”

She wonders, under the Democrat health bill, “Will a bureaucrat determine that my life isn’t worth saving?”

“Do we really want government bureaucrats, rather than doctors, dictating how we prevent and treat something like breast cancer?” she asks.

Category: News & Politics
Tags: carly fiorina carlyforca carlyforcalifornia for ca gop republican weekly address health care reform breast cancer taxes medicare premiums insurance obama white house senate congress bill california democrats response

ADDING to post no. 357:

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401297/posts

Blue Cross Blue Patients (Another study predicts higher insurance prices.)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 12-05-09 | The Wall Street Journal Editorial Staff
Posted on December 5, 2009 6:18:00 PM PST by GOP_Lady

Another day, another study confirming that ObamaCare will increase the price of health insurance. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has found that premiums in the individual market will rise on average by 54% over the status quo, which translates into an extra $3,341 a year for families and $1,576 for singles. The White House denounced the report as a “sham” before it was even released, which shows how seriously it takes such concerns.

The Congressional Budget Office also found this week that ObamaCare will boost premiums in the individual market by as much as 13%. But the White House called that a triumph because the higher costs will be offset by taxpayer subsidies that will be transferred to the federal balance sheet.

The Blue Cross study is in fact more precise than CBO’s because it is based on real market data, rather than modeling assumptions. The association mined the actuarial data from its six million individual or small-business policies, nearly one-eighth of those sold in the U.S.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403535/posts

Harry Reid is Wrong on History and Wrong on Health Reform
US News & World Report ^ | Dec 8, 2009 | Michelle D. Bernard
Posted on December 9, 2009 12:06:42 AM PST by XHogPilot

I am black. I am a woman. And, with all due respect, I think Harry Reid has lost his mind.

Yesterday, on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Reid compared those who oppose his healthcare reform package to those who opposed ending slavery, fought against women’s suffrage, and thwarted civil rights. What’s next, Holocaust comparisons?

Many assume that given my race and gender, I would support the Senate health reform bill as a savior of the masses. I do not. And thousands, if not millions, of blacks, Hispanics, women, low-income, and at-risk communities feel the same.

There are many reasons why I don’t support the proposed healthcare legislation. I worry about how Congress’s regulations will drive up insurance premiums, a “public” option might strangle private health insurance, employer mandates might exacerbate the job crisis, and that ultimately this program will add to our already exploding debt.

(SNIP)

If comparisons to slavery are now fair game, Majority Leader Reid should consider this one. In 1839, slaves being transported on the ship La Amistad revolted and killed many of those holding them captive; when the matter was eventually taken up by the Supreme Court, the would-be slaves were found not guilty of wrongdoing and were freed. Today, Reid and members of Congress are steering America toward a land of government-run healthcare, in spite of the fact that polls consistently show that most Americans don’t want to go in that direction. Just 27 percent of Americans polled have a favorable view of Congress, and just about 40 percent of Reid’s constituents plan to vote for him again.

It’s not a perfect analogy, but I hope it gets a point across: If Reid and his fellow congressman continue on their present course, they may be facing a mutiny of their own.

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...

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