The Detroit News Editorial:
The narrow margin that carried the Nancy Pelosi/Barack Obama health care bill to victory in the House late Saturday should inform the Senate as it finalizes its own plan.
The bill passed 220-215 with one Republican siding with the majority and 39 mostly moderate and conservative Democrats joining opponents. This is an economy busting bill devised and passed by liberal Democrats who largely ignored appeals for moderation.
A measure that will impact every American and greatly rework the nation's health care system should not be rammed through in such a divisive way. The Senate's task is to scale back the expense and scope of the bill to something more palatable to the broadest number while favoring less disruptive, incremental change at a time when the economy can ill afford higher taxes and deeper deficits.
Concerns and questions about the bill were waved away by the House majority. But they must be forthrightly dealt with by the Senate.
Above all else is the cost. Democrats estimate the cost at $1.2 trillion over the next decade, but have worked feverishly to repress credible, contrary estimates that the true expense will be $2 trillion or more. The plan will levy taxes for 10 years to pay for six years of benefits, suggesting that in the second decade the annual costs will explode.
Democrats say the health care package will not increase the deficit because it contains offsetting cost cuts. To believe that, Americans would have to forget everything they know about how the federal government operates and its inability to manage its current health care programs -- Medicare and Medicaid -- with anything resembling fiscal responsibility.
Part of the supposed savings will come by trimming $500 billion from Medicare, a reckless move considering that the program is already hurtling toward insolvency.
The House bill makes a mockery of President Barack Obama's promise that those who currently have health insurance they're satisfied with will not be forced to change. By setting up a government panel to mandate coverage levels, it will strip employees and employers of the right to negotiate their plans that suit their own needs. It also mandates that employers cover 72.5 percent of employee insurance or pay an 8 percent fine. Many employers will find the fine less expensive than the mandated policies and dump their employees into government sponsored plans.
It returns an HMO-style management system for determining what procedures and treatments are covered, what fees are paid and who can provide care. Americans have unpleasant memories of how such a system worked in the 1980s, and have no reason to think government can execute it any better.
The bill reaches well beyond the stated goals of providing everyone access to affordable health care and controlling the soaring costs of insurance. It diverts billions of dollars into ill-defined community health programs that are bound to become a major pay-off to Democratic interests. It also contains a series of gratuitous racial preference requirements.
The House bill has the real potential of raising taxes on businesses and consumers alike, killing jobs in a fragile economy and establishing a massive new bureaucracy with an insatiable appetite for tax dollars.
It's a mess. Surely the Senate can do better. It ought to start by acknowledging the House bill is too expensive, too radically changes health care and promises to bring a deep and bitter divide to the nation.
Showing posts with label national debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national debt. Show all posts
Friday, November 13, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Health Care Reform -- A Disaster
Here's a few of the "goodies" Pelosi threw into H.R. 3962:
Page 111 - Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase.
Page 211 - Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage.
Page 297 - Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance - the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign.
Do you believe Pelosi and Obama when they say “if you like your plan you can keep your plan” … that you ultimately won’t be forced to live with government-run insurance? They have been lying about this all along.
Check out this provision…
Page 94 - Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government.
Of course, Members of Congress and their family members need not worry about how this radical overhaul of our nation's health care will affect them because...
Page 225 - Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care.
Page 110 - Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions.
Page 313 - Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—with minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts.
Page 336 - Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs.
Page 520 - Section 1161 cuts more than 150 billion [dollars] from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage.
Page 733 - Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than 35,000 [pounds].
And last, but certainly not least:
Page 1174 - Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled 'Taxes On Certain Insurance Policies' to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that 'We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House,' and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under 250,000 [dollars].
And what about the eligibility of illegals for Obamacare. Yep, those loopholes that Obama lied about are still in there>.
"The Worst Bill Ever: Epic New Spending And Taxes, Pricier Insurance, Rationed Care, Dishonest Accounting: The Pelosi Health Bill Has It All."
That's what the Wall Street Journal had to say about H.R. 3962. But that's not all the Journal said:
"The health bill she [Pelosi] unwrapped last Thursday, which President Obama hailed as a 'critical milestone,' may well be the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced."
Here's a scary prognosis:
"Taxes will need to rise precipitously, even as ObamaCare so dramatically expands government control of health care that eventually all medicine will be rationed via politics."
The Journal also writes:
"Yet at this point, Democrats have dumped any pretense of genuine bipartisan 'reform' and moved into the realm of pure power politics as they race against the unpopularity of their own agenda. The goal is to ram through whatever income-redistribution scheme they can claim to be 'universal coverage.' The result will be destructive on every level — for the health-care system, for the country's fiscal condition, and ultimately for American freedom and prosperity."
Extreme liberals in the House and the Senate, as well as Barack Obama, are indeed racing against their rising unpopularity.
And health care will only be passed if these extreme liberals can make false and empty promises and ram legislation through Congress before the American people realize they are being duped.
That's been their plan of action with each and every previous incarnation of ObamaCare and that is still their plan today.
Page 111 - Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase.
Page 211 - Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage.
Page 297 - Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance - the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign.
Do you believe Pelosi and Obama when they say “if you like your plan you can keep your plan” … that you ultimately won’t be forced to live with government-run insurance? They have been lying about this all along.
Check out this provision…
Page 94 - Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government.
Of course, Members of Congress and their family members need not worry about how this radical overhaul of our nation's health care will affect them because...
Page 225 - Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care.
Page 110 - Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions.
Page 313 - Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—with minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts.
Page 336 - Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs.
Page 520 - Section 1161 cuts more than 150 billion [dollars] from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage.
Page 733 - Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than 35,000 [pounds].
And last, but certainly not least:
Page 1174 - Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled 'Taxes On Certain Insurance Policies' to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that 'We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House,' and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under 250,000 [dollars].
And what about the eligibility of illegals for Obamacare. Yep, those loopholes that Obama lied about are still in there>.
"The Worst Bill Ever: Epic New Spending And Taxes, Pricier Insurance, Rationed Care, Dishonest Accounting: The Pelosi Health Bill Has It All."
That's what the Wall Street Journal had to say about H.R. 3962. But that's not all the Journal said:
"The health bill she [Pelosi] unwrapped last Thursday, which President Obama hailed as a 'critical milestone,' may well be the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced."
Here's a scary prognosis:
"Taxes will need to rise precipitously, even as ObamaCare so dramatically expands government control of health care that eventually all medicine will be rationed via politics."
The Journal also writes:
"Yet at this point, Democrats have dumped any pretense of genuine bipartisan 'reform' and moved into the realm of pure power politics as they race against the unpopularity of their own agenda. The goal is to ram through whatever income-redistribution scheme they can claim to be 'universal coverage.' The result will be destructive on every level — for the health-care system, for the country's fiscal condition, and ultimately for American freedom and prosperity."
Extreme liberals in the House and the Senate, as well as Barack Obama, are indeed racing against their rising unpopularity.
And health care will only be passed if these extreme liberals can make false and empty promises and ram legislation through Congress before the American people realize they are being duped.
That's been their plan of action with each and every previous incarnation of ObamaCare and that is still their plan today.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Health Reform for Illegal Aliens
President Obama has been busy denying that illegal aliens would receive taxpayer-funded health care under pending legislation but the legislation on the table does, honest to goodness, effectively extend coverage to illegal aliens. That is a fact not a lie, as some would have you believe.
Take the premium subsidy in the House bill, H.R. 3200. This lies in the part of the legislation (Division A, Title II) that creates a Health Choices Administration, adds the infamous “public option,” sets up and runs the “exchange” clearinghouse for getting insurance, and controls a graduated premium subsidy program through allocation of “individual affordability credits.”
The subsidy, found in Section 242, will give a voucher to people earning between 133 percent of the official poverty level and 400 percent of that income level (or, up to about $88,000 a year for a family of four).
Legal immigrants certainly qualify under H.R. 3200 for this subsidy. Section 242(a)(1) makes eligible "an individual who is lawfully present in a State in the United States (other than as a nonimmigrant described in a subparagraph (excluding subparagraphs (K), (T), (U), and (V)) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act)."
A political fig leaf purports to keep illegal aliens from receiving the subsidy. Section 246 says, "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
However, reading the legislation as a whole, its glaring omission is any requirement to verify someone’s immigration or citizenship status. For instance, H.R. 3200 makes no reference to the verification system in current law that’s used for nearly all government welfare and other public programs. If lawmakers wanted enrolling agents, including bureaucrats at the new Health Choices Administration, to use the Systematic Alienage Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, the bill should include a reference and authorize SAVE’s application to this government program.
In other words, the silence of H.R. 3200 regarding SAVE and mandatory verification makes Section 246 just empty words. In fact, the Ways and Means Committee outright voted down an amendment by Rep. Dean Heller to require eligibility verification before qualifying someone to receive a taxpayer subsidy. Also, "lawfully present" covers a lot of ground. Does it include someone here under Temporary Protected Status, for instance? Again, the absence of eligibility verification requirements leaves open a lot of room for waste, fraud, and abuse.
A similar situation of setting up blinders occurs in H.R. 3200’s Medicaid provisions. Division B’s Title VII, Section 1701 expands Medicaid eligibility to those with incomes a third above the federal poverty level. This provision dictates that "the State shall accept without further determination the enrollment under this title of an individual determined by the Commissioner to be a non-traditional Medicaid eligible individual." In other words, the bill prohibits asking any further questions about new Medicaid enrollees.
Rather, the bill section promotes "presumptive eligibility" concerning Medicaid expansion. Read it for yourself, right from Section 1702(a):
(ii) PRESUMPTIVE ELIGIBILITY OPTION- Pursuant to such memorandum, insofar as the memorandum has selected the option described in section 205(e)(3)(B) of the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the State shall provide for making medical assistance available during the presumptive eligibility period and shall, upon application of the individual for medical assistance under this title, promptly make a determination (and subsequent redeterminations) of eligibility in the same manner as if the individual had applied directly to the State for such assistance except that the State shall use the income-related information used by the Commissioner and provided to the State under the memorandum in making the presumptive eligibility determination to the maximum extent feasible. (emphasis added)
And, once again, the lack of any provision mentioning or requiring verification, mandatory use of the SAVE system under this part of the bill, or any other accountability requirement opens the process up to signing up illegal aliens for Medicaid.
In the Energy and Commerce Committee, a mandatory verification amendment was voted down when Rep. Nathan Deal offered it. A political figleaf amendment was added by voice vote, but the loopholes and potential for waste, fraud, and abuse remain wide open in the Medicaid provisions.
Whatever you think of health reform, a combination of things makes it certain that illegal aliens will receive government health coverage. The most obvious is the omission — heck, the outright rejection of corrective amendments — of eligibility verification requirements. The other factor is the designed ease of enrolling people in Medicaid, for "affordability credits," and the like.
Bottom line, the health legislation Congress is considering establishes an "enroll now, don’t ask questions later" regime. That’s a recipe for covering more people, but many of whom may not actually qualify. A huge number are almost guaranteed to be illegal aliens or legal immigrants still in their first five years in the country who are supposed to turn to their visa sponsor for financial support. And having more people in a public program translates pretty quickly into higher costs. In this case, we’re talking on the order of tens and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Take the premium subsidy in the House bill, H.R. 3200. This lies in the part of the legislation (Division A, Title II) that creates a Health Choices Administration, adds the infamous “public option,” sets up and runs the “exchange” clearinghouse for getting insurance, and controls a graduated premium subsidy program through allocation of “individual affordability credits.”
The subsidy, found in Section 242, will give a voucher to people earning between 133 percent of the official poverty level and 400 percent of that income level (or, up to about $88,000 a year for a family of four).
Legal immigrants certainly qualify under H.R. 3200 for this subsidy. Section 242(a)(1) makes eligible "an individual who is lawfully present in a State in the United States (other than as a nonimmigrant described in a subparagraph (excluding subparagraphs (K), (T), (U), and (V)) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act)."
A political fig leaf purports to keep illegal aliens from receiving the subsidy. Section 246 says, "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
However, reading the legislation as a whole, its glaring omission is any requirement to verify someone’s immigration or citizenship status. For instance, H.R. 3200 makes no reference to the verification system in current law that’s used for nearly all government welfare and other public programs. If lawmakers wanted enrolling agents, including bureaucrats at the new Health Choices Administration, to use the Systematic Alienage Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, the bill should include a reference and authorize SAVE’s application to this government program.
In other words, the silence of H.R. 3200 regarding SAVE and mandatory verification makes Section 246 just empty words. In fact, the Ways and Means Committee outright voted down an amendment by Rep. Dean Heller to require eligibility verification before qualifying someone to receive a taxpayer subsidy. Also, "lawfully present" covers a lot of ground. Does it include someone here under Temporary Protected Status, for instance? Again, the absence of eligibility verification requirements leaves open a lot of room for waste, fraud, and abuse.
A similar situation of setting up blinders occurs in H.R. 3200’s Medicaid provisions. Division B’s Title VII, Section 1701 expands Medicaid eligibility to those with incomes a third above the federal poverty level. This provision dictates that "the State shall accept without further determination the enrollment under this title of an individual determined by the Commissioner to be a non-traditional Medicaid eligible individual." In other words, the bill prohibits asking any further questions about new Medicaid enrollees.
Rather, the bill section promotes "presumptive eligibility" concerning Medicaid expansion. Read it for yourself, right from Section 1702(a):
(ii) PRESUMPTIVE ELIGIBILITY OPTION- Pursuant to such memorandum, insofar as the memorandum has selected the option described in section 205(e)(3)(B) of the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the State shall provide for making medical assistance available during the presumptive eligibility period and shall, upon application of the individual for medical assistance under this title, promptly make a determination (and subsequent redeterminations) of eligibility in the same manner as if the individual had applied directly to the State for such assistance except that the State shall use the income-related information used by the Commissioner and provided to the State under the memorandum in making the presumptive eligibility determination to the maximum extent feasible. (emphasis added)
And, once again, the lack of any provision mentioning or requiring verification, mandatory use of the SAVE system under this part of the bill, or any other accountability requirement opens the process up to signing up illegal aliens for Medicaid.
In the Energy and Commerce Committee, a mandatory verification amendment was voted down when Rep. Nathan Deal offered it. A political figleaf amendment was added by voice vote, but the loopholes and potential for waste, fraud, and abuse remain wide open in the Medicaid provisions.
Whatever you think of health reform, a combination of things makes it certain that illegal aliens will receive government health coverage. The most obvious is the omission — heck, the outright rejection of corrective amendments — of eligibility verification requirements. The other factor is the designed ease of enrolling people in Medicaid, for "affordability credits," and the like.
Bottom line, the health legislation Congress is considering establishes an "enroll now, don’t ask questions later" regime. That’s a recipe for covering more people, but many of whom may not actually qualify. A huge number are almost guaranteed to be illegal aliens or legal immigrants still in their first five years in the country who are supposed to turn to their visa sponsor for financial support. And having more people in a public program translates pretty quickly into higher costs. In this case, we’re talking on the order of tens and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Obama's Glib Denial that Illegal Aliens will receive Benefits
It is the last thing the leftist president and the Democrat congressional leaders wanted to happen: An actual debate, an over-informed citizenry and the August congressional break before a rushed vote on government regulated health care.
At least a month of actual public exposure to Obama's health care legislation.
The magnitude of the detrimental effect of the planned takeover of American health care is quickly becoming apparent to even the least curious American voter.
As details of the scheme become known, the overexposure of the contents of "the health care reform bill" is creating a legislative pre-existing condition that the president strived to avoid at all costs ... reality.
It has become crystal clear that the decision has been made to cover a huge potential voter base for the Democrats ... illegal aliens. Contrary to constant denial from the Democrats, every version of the Obama's health care legislation would permit coverage for the victims of geography in the government regulated health insurance. And they are willing to fight for it.
The most recent effort to require use of existing tools to determine eligibility for taxpayer-funded health care benefits came from Georgia Representative Nathan Deal (R-Gainesville). He proposed a badly needed amendment that would have explicitly prohibited illegal aliens from receiving health care benefits under the health care reform bill (H.R. 3200). The horror.
Deal's amendment was defeated in committee last week along party lines. Pandering to hoped for future voters and rationality don't mix.
Still, the media and too many in GOP leadership are not making the legislation's immigration element a big issue. One Republican Congressional staffer told me this week that the bill was so bad that the bill's illegal immigration component didn't really need to be brought up.
Most longtime Americans would adamantly disagree.
Any discussion of the health care swindle that does not include the fact that Americans would be forced to further permanently subsidize illegal immigration into their nation is dangerous and incomplete.
It's neither an oversight nor a surprise that congressional Democrats have a loophole in their bill to provide government-run health care for illegal aliens.
Americans don't want the government running their health care, and they certainly don't want their tax dollars paying for health care for those who have shown no respect for our borders or the rule of law. While Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Waxman were busy navigating their own intra-party squabbles in an attempt to reach agreement on how best to nationalize America's health care system, they created several avenues by which illegal immigrants can receive health benefits at the expense of taxpaying citizens. Simply put, this is disgraceful. In the meantime, President Obama is busy making glib assurances to the contrary. Others have used the tactic of calling "liars" all those who point out the ease with which illegal aliens will be able to sign up for health care benefits.
Disgraceful or not, desperate economic times and immigration law or not, the Democrats seem to be determined to further reward illegals - even if it means a tax increase on middle-class America to finance the contemptible program.
The Associated Press - without mentioning government coverage for illegals - reports that "Obama's treasury secretary said he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul."
And it is not just far-left extremists in government who support the plan. Joining such fringe groups as ACORN, La Raza, and MoveOn.org, even corporate giants like Wal-Mart have taken up the cause of redistributing the wealth.
According to Chicago Public Radio, during a health-care reform panel discussion at the recent annual National Council of La Raza convention in Chicago, Dr. John Agwunobi, a senior Wal-Mart vice-president said the company supports rewarding illegals with government health care. Of course he does. He wants to shift the burder from WalMart to the taxpayers.
To a direct question from the panel moderator, "What about health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants?" Agwunobi described Wal-Mart's position: "We believe strongly that everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. Everyone."
If Americans aren't already concerned enough about the astronomical costs of the healthcare proposal, this taxpayer-funded benefit for illegal alien lawbreakers should sound the alarms.
August is the last best hope for killing ObamaCare. Outraged Americans would be well advised to make it clear that they will not be lulled into ignoring its connection to our unsecured borders and illegal immigration.
At least a month of actual public exposure to Obama's health care legislation.
The magnitude of the detrimental effect of the planned takeover of American health care is quickly becoming apparent to even the least curious American voter.
As details of the scheme become known, the overexposure of the contents of "the health care reform bill" is creating a legislative pre-existing condition that the president strived to avoid at all costs ... reality.
It has become crystal clear that the decision has been made to cover a huge potential voter base for the Democrats ... illegal aliens. Contrary to constant denial from the Democrats, every version of the Obama's health care legislation would permit coverage for the victims of geography in the government regulated health insurance. And they are willing to fight for it.
The most recent effort to require use of existing tools to determine eligibility for taxpayer-funded health care benefits came from Georgia Representative Nathan Deal (R-Gainesville). He proposed a badly needed amendment that would have explicitly prohibited illegal aliens from receiving health care benefits under the health care reform bill (H.R. 3200). The horror.
Deal's amendment was defeated in committee last week along party lines. Pandering to hoped for future voters and rationality don't mix.
Still, the media and too many in GOP leadership are not making the legislation's immigration element a big issue. One Republican Congressional staffer told me this week that the bill was so bad that the bill's illegal immigration component didn't really need to be brought up.
Most longtime Americans would adamantly disagree.
Any discussion of the health care swindle that does not include the fact that Americans would be forced to further permanently subsidize illegal immigration into their nation is dangerous and incomplete.
It's neither an oversight nor a surprise that congressional Democrats have a loophole in their bill to provide government-run health care for illegal aliens.
Americans don't want the government running their health care, and they certainly don't want their tax dollars paying for health care for those who have shown no respect for our borders or the rule of law. While Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Waxman were busy navigating their own intra-party squabbles in an attempt to reach agreement on how best to nationalize America's health care system, they created several avenues by which illegal immigrants can receive health benefits at the expense of taxpaying citizens. Simply put, this is disgraceful. In the meantime, President Obama is busy making glib assurances to the contrary. Others have used the tactic of calling "liars" all those who point out the ease with which illegal aliens will be able to sign up for health care benefits.
Disgraceful or not, desperate economic times and immigration law or not, the Democrats seem to be determined to further reward illegals - even if it means a tax increase on middle-class America to finance the contemptible program.
The Associated Press - without mentioning government coverage for illegals - reports that "Obama's treasury secretary said he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul."
And it is not just far-left extremists in government who support the plan. Joining such fringe groups as ACORN, La Raza, and MoveOn.org, even corporate giants like Wal-Mart have taken up the cause of redistributing the wealth.
According to Chicago Public Radio, during a health-care reform panel discussion at the recent annual National Council of La Raza convention in Chicago, Dr. John Agwunobi, a senior Wal-Mart vice-president said the company supports rewarding illegals with government health care. Of course he does. He wants to shift the burder from WalMart to the taxpayers.
To a direct question from the panel moderator, "What about health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants?" Agwunobi described Wal-Mart's position: "We believe strongly that everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. Everyone."
If Americans aren't already concerned enough about the astronomical costs of the healthcare proposal, this taxpayer-funded benefit for illegal alien lawbreakers should sound the alarms.
August is the last best hope for killing ObamaCare. Outraged Americans would be well advised to make it clear that they will not be lulled into ignoring its connection to our unsecured borders and illegal immigration.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Facts on Immigration and Health Insurance
The effect of immigration on the nation’s health care system has largely been overlooked or omitted from the discussion. This analysis is primarily based on data collected by the U.S. government in March 2008 about insurance coverage in the prior calendar year (2007).
Among the findings:
• In 2007, 33.2 percent of all immigrants (legal and illegal) did not have health insurance compared to 12.7 percent of native-born Americans.
• Immigrants account for 27.1 percent of all those without health insurance. Immigrants are 12.5 percent of the nation’s total population.
• There are 14.5 million immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) who lack health insurance. They account for 31.9 percent of the entire uninsured population. Immigrants and their children are 16.8 percent of the nation’s total population.
• In 2007, 47.6 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children were either uninsured or on Medicaid compared to 25 percent of natives and their children.
• Lack of health insurance is a significant problem even for long-time residents. Among immigrants who arrived in the 1980s, 28.7 percent lacked health insurance in 2007.
• The high level of uninsurance among immigrants is partly explained by the large share who have low levels of education. This means they often have jobs that do not provide insurance. Moreover, their lower incomes often make insurance unaffordable.
• Cultural factors may also contribute to the high rate of immigrant uninsurance. College-educated immigrants are twice as likely as college-educated natives to lack health insurance.
• In an earlier study, the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that 64 percent of illegal immigrants were uninsured in 2006, accounting for one out of seven people without insurance. If the U.S.-born children (under 18) of illegal immigrants are included, they account for one out of six people without insurance.
• Among legal immigrants (non-citizens), 27 percent were uninsured in 2006.
1522
Among the findings:
• In 2007, 33.2 percent of all immigrants (legal and illegal) did not have health insurance compared to 12.7 percent of native-born Americans.
• Immigrants account for 27.1 percent of all those without health insurance. Immigrants are 12.5 percent of the nation’s total population.
• There are 14.5 million immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) who lack health insurance. They account for 31.9 percent of the entire uninsured population. Immigrants and their children are 16.8 percent of the nation’s total population.
• In 2007, 47.6 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children were either uninsured or on Medicaid compared to 25 percent of natives and their children.
• Lack of health insurance is a significant problem even for long-time residents. Among immigrants who arrived in the 1980s, 28.7 percent lacked health insurance in 2007.
• The high level of uninsurance among immigrants is partly explained by the large share who have low levels of education. This means they often have jobs that do not provide insurance. Moreover, their lower incomes often make insurance unaffordable.
• Cultural factors may also contribute to the high rate of immigrant uninsurance. College-educated immigrants are twice as likely as college-educated natives to lack health insurance.
• In an earlier study, the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that 64 percent of illegal immigrants were uninsured in 2006, accounting for one out of seven people without insurance. If the U.S.-born children (under 18) of illegal immigrants are included, they account for one out of six people without insurance.
• Among legal immigrants (non-citizens), 27 percent were uninsured in 2006.
1522
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Health Care Co-ops
A cooperative (also co-operative or coöperative; often referred to as a co-op or coop) is defined by the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise[1]. It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.[2] A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it. Cooperative enterprises are the focus of study in the field of cooperative economics.
How will the government be involved? Is a co-op just another name for a public option? Is this just an attempt by Congress to sell us another bill of goods?
How will the government be involved? Is a co-op just another name for a public option? Is this just an attempt by Congress to sell us another bill of goods?
ObamaCare
The Democrats' most recent answer to the question of how they will pay for their trillion-dollar healt-care reform was just announced by Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. He wants to impose a surtax on incomes over $280,000, which would be a staggering blow to small businesses that create most jobs.
Another option floated by the Democrats is to tax employer-sponsored health coverage. Obama-supporter and union boss James P. Hoffa (name sound familiar?)calls this "a bitter pill for middle-class wage earners," and has vowed to fight it.
The real purposeof Obama's health care "reform" is to seize control of another major industry (health care) and move rapidly into Socialism. This is a big move because health care accounts for one dollar in every six spent in this country. The Democrats' plan involves mandates to force individuals to buy insurance, employers to provide insurance, and private insurance to offer an expensive list of benefits. If Obama is serious about allowing private plans to continue, he needs to back off. When the government dictates, there is little left that can be called private.
Instead of allowing insurance to compete by offering different benefit packages, the Democrats are considering insurance mandates to cover exotic benefits that individuals may want to buy such as in-vitro fertilization, hair transplants, rehab services, hearing aids, sex-change operations, prescription drugs, abortions, mental health, and substance abuse programs. If wanted to design the most expensive health care system in the world all over again at twice the cost, this is it.
The Democrats intend to prohibit low-cost policies for catastrophic are. This is the one option that keeps current health care affordable for some families. But that's okay; throw the baby out with the bath water. They want to bar you from buying cheap insurance in other states.
The Democrats intend to impose community rating on a federal level, which means all customers regardless of age, obesity, smoking, or other lifestyle differences. How many want to pay for your neighbors smoking-induced emphysema or lung cancer? How many want to pay for those 40% of Americans who run up billions in medical are cost because of their gluttony? This forces young people and those who choose a healthier lifestyle to subsidize older patients and those who are are the cause of America's epidemic of obesity. Is this the right kind of incentive for a healthy lifestyle?
The Democrats intend to launch a government-subsidized "public option" to compete with private insurance. Public competition with private business used to be anathema in this country. No private company can compete successfully under those circumstances so Obama's plan is clear: drive them out of business. That gives all of his promises about people being able to retain their private plans a hollow ring. This is just a milepost on the way to the single-payer government run plan the neolibs want.
Obama promised that if you like your current insurance plan you can keep it. Hard to do if the company is forced out of business! Your employer could cancel his company's paid insurance because only the government plan would enable him to take advantage of taxpayer subsidies. Scrub another private insurer.
The CBO estimates that the bill worked on by the Senate Finance Committee will cost $1.6 trillion. A private consulting group, Health Systems Innovation Network, estimates the cost of this bill at $4 trillion. Personally, against the backdrop of a ton of failed government cost and revenue estimates, I would opt for the higher estimate just to be on the safe side. Remember you read it here.
More people will buy insurance after the government subsidy rises to those with incomes five times the poverty rate, or $110,000 for a family of four. How many out there are earning that much? In LBJ's day, the focus was on the poverty level itself, now we have begun to multipliers of 2, 3, 4 and 5 times the poverty level making poverty level utterly meaningless.
Another option floated by the Democrats is to tax employer-sponsored health coverage. Obama-supporter and union boss James P. Hoffa (name sound familiar?)calls this "a bitter pill for middle-class wage earners," and has vowed to fight it.
The real purposeof Obama's health care "reform" is to seize control of another major industry (health care) and move rapidly into Socialism. This is a big move because health care accounts for one dollar in every six spent in this country. The Democrats' plan involves mandates to force individuals to buy insurance, employers to provide insurance, and private insurance to offer an expensive list of benefits. If Obama is serious about allowing private plans to continue, he needs to back off. When the government dictates, there is little left that can be called private.
Instead of allowing insurance to compete by offering different benefit packages, the Democrats are considering insurance mandates to cover exotic benefits that individuals may want to buy such as in-vitro fertilization, hair transplants, rehab services, hearing aids, sex-change operations, prescription drugs, abortions, mental health, and substance abuse programs. If wanted to design the most expensive health care system in the world all over again at twice the cost, this is it.
The Democrats intend to prohibit low-cost policies for catastrophic are. This is the one option that keeps current health care affordable for some families. But that's okay; throw the baby out with the bath water. They want to bar you from buying cheap insurance in other states.
The Democrats intend to impose community rating on a federal level, which means all customers regardless of age, obesity, smoking, or other lifestyle differences. How many want to pay for your neighbors smoking-induced emphysema or lung cancer? How many want to pay for those 40% of Americans who run up billions in medical are cost because of their gluttony? This forces young people and those who choose a healthier lifestyle to subsidize older patients and those who are are the cause of America's epidemic of obesity. Is this the right kind of incentive for a healthy lifestyle?
The Democrats intend to launch a government-subsidized "public option" to compete with private insurance. Public competition with private business used to be anathema in this country. No private company can compete successfully under those circumstances so Obama's plan is clear: drive them out of business. That gives all of his promises about people being able to retain their private plans a hollow ring. This is just a milepost on the way to the single-payer government run plan the neolibs want.
Obama promised that if you like your current insurance plan you can keep it. Hard to do if the company is forced out of business! Your employer could cancel his company's paid insurance because only the government plan would enable him to take advantage of taxpayer subsidies. Scrub another private insurer.
The CBO estimates that the bill worked on by the Senate Finance Committee will cost $1.6 trillion. A private consulting group, Health Systems Innovation Network, estimates the cost of this bill at $4 trillion. Personally, against the backdrop of a ton of failed government cost and revenue estimates, I would opt for the higher estimate just to be on the safe side. Remember you read it here.
More people will buy insurance after the government subsidy rises to those with incomes five times the poverty rate, or $110,000 for a family of four. How many out there are earning that much? In LBJ's day, the focus was on the poverty level itself, now we have begun to multipliers of 2, 3, 4 and 5 times the poverty level making poverty level utterly meaningless.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Obamacare
As a measure of the government’s ability to finance and manage the programs it enacts, the following facts about Social Security and Medicare are revealing and prophetic. The nation’s capital stock would have to be $106.4 trillion larger today to generate enough income to pay all of the Social Security and Medicare
benefits that have been promised, over and above future payroll taxes. But according to the Federal Reserve, the nation’s total private net worth is only $51.5 trillion. An 81% increase in income taxes would be needed to cover this problem.
Now a new trillion dollar health care program is being rushed through Congress without adequate study. The 1000 page House version, on p. 16, would prohibit any new purchases of private insurance and any changes from one carrier to another. This provision sounds the deathknell for private plans. Such plans cannot survive without new members as the old ones fade away.
Sections 242, 1702 and 1714 would allow illegal aliens to participate at taxpayer expense. Isn't that wonderful! We can't even afford to pay for our own health care costs but that does not deter the Neolibs from adding more beneficiaries, like they did in social security. Ask Congress to eliminate these provisions, reduce the scope of the program, and s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. Everyone who applies for any new program should be required provide foolproof evidence that they are in this country legally. We could use E-verify for this purpose if Congress and the Administration would get off the time and require its use across the board in both public and private applications.
As in the earlier Social Security and Medicare estimates, neither the revenue nor the cost estimates are credible. Likewise, the ephemeral cost savings are certain instead to turn into yet another increase in the national debt. The CBO has said that the program proposed will actually increase the cost of health care. Now that statement is credible. How can you add 30 million uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions and expect the cost to go down. Never happen, GI!
Isn't it time we figured out how to pay for the programs already on the books before we indulge in a rush to enact another underfunded entitlement program? If Obama wants to tax the rich, why not begin by removing the cap on taxable earning for social security purposes while freeze the maximum benefit at the present level as adjusted for inflation? Why not take a more modest approach to health care reform and as doctors, insurance companies and drug companies to voluntarily reduce costs by some prescribed amount or percentage and give assurances that costs will not be allowed to increase at a rate greater than the overall inflation rate for the next ten years. Many already have pro bono programs for those who cannot afford their medications and Wal-Mart has introduced prescriptions for as little as $4. Maybe we need more pro bono volunteers to help the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions but with the requirement that they have to demonstrate what they are doing to improve their own diets, exercise routine, and general health.
Already mortgaged to the hilt, America’s future is headed toward another underfunded program we cannot afford. Good cost estimates get overruled by political appointees if they don’t support their favorite programs. I know. I was a government cost analyst.
benefits that have been promised, over and above future payroll taxes. But according to the Federal Reserve, the nation’s total private net worth is only $51.5 trillion. An 81% increase in income taxes would be needed to cover this problem.
Now a new trillion dollar health care program is being rushed through Congress without adequate study. The 1000 page House version, on p. 16, would prohibit any new purchases of private insurance and any changes from one carrier to another. This provision sounds the deathknell for private plans. Such plans cannot survive without new members as the old ones fade away.
Sections 242, 1702 and 1714 would allow illegal aliens to participate at taxpayer expense. Isn't that wonderful! We can't even afford to pay for our own health care costs but that does not deter the Neolibs from adding more beneficiaries, like they did in social security. Ask Congress to eliminate these provisions, reduce the scope of the program, and s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. Everyone who applies for any new program should be required provide foolproof evidence that they are in this country legally. We could use E-verify for this purpose if Congress and the Administration would get off the time and require its use across the board in both public and private applications.
As in the earlier Social Security and Medicare estimates, neither the revenue nor the cost estimates are credible. Likewise, the ephemeral cost savings are certain instead to turn into yet another increase in the national debt. The CBO has said that the program proposed will actually increase the cost of health care. Now that statement is credible. How can you add 30 million uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions and expect the cost to go down. Never happen, GI!
Isn't it time we figured out how to pay for the programs already on the books before we indulge in a rush to enact another underfunded entitlement program? If Obama wants to tax the rich, why not begin by removing the cap on taxable earning for social security purposes while freeze the maximum benefit at the present level as adjusted for inflation? Why not take a more modest approach to health care reform and as doctors, insurance companies and drug companies to voluntarily reduce costs by some prescribed amount or percentage and give assurances that costs will not be allowed to increase at a rate greater than the overall inflation rate for the next ten years. Many already have pro bono programs for those who cannot afford their medications and Wal-Mart has introduced prescriptions for as little as $4. Maybe we need more pro bono volunteers to help the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions but with the requirement that they have to demonstrate what they are doing to improve their own diets, exercise routine, and general health.
Already mortgaged to the hilt, America’s future is headed toward another underfunded program we cannot afford. Good cost estimates get overruled by political appointees if they don’t support their favorite programs. I know. I was a government cost analyst.
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