Iowa’s Harkin Is Positive About Health Care Reform Passage

Senator Tom Harkin  is sure that Congress will have a health care reform bill on the President’s desk which will include a public option “before we go home for Christmas,” according to the Associated Press.

The Iowa Democrat told reporters on Sunday that a “silent majority” are in favor of real health care reform which includes a public option.

Harkin is picking up the baton for the late Senator Ted Kennedy in the Senate, according to the Boston Herald, replacing Kennedy as the Chair for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Commitee.

Links:  1.  The Associated Press: Harkin: `Silent majority’ back health care reform.

2.  BostonHerald.com:  Tom Harkin to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate health-care role.

 

Single Payer Health-Care: Obama May Be Sliding It Past Opponents

For those who have followed President Obama’s rise in politics, it’s not a secret that Obama has always been for a single-payer health-care, or universal payer, system…that is, until recently.

Concerned about his party’s 2010 re-election and opposition from big-money health insurance interests, President Obama has appeared to change his position to one that would allow choice of private insurance along with a public option.

But, the change away from universal single-payer may be for appearance sake only if HR 3200 passes and is signed into law.

Section 102 A of HR 3200 (on Page 16) prohibits private insurance companies from accepting new members after the law goes into effect.

(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT.—

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

12 this paragraph, the individual health insurance

13 issuer offering such coverage does not enroll

14 any individual in such coverage if the first ef-

15fective date of coverage is on or after the first

16 day of Y1.

Essentially, anyone who is not covered by private insurance on the day that this law goes into effect – if it passes both houses of Congress and is signed by the President – will have to become part of the public option.

This link has more info:  Obama’s slippery transition to a single-payer health care system | Culpeper Star-Exponent.

 

Questions Answered About Healthcare Are Still Lacking

Misconceptions over key issues in health care debate.

The SF Chronicle today ran an article which tried to answer what many are concerned about over healthcare reform.  Even though this article is well-written and comprehensive, it still doesn’t address what HR 3200 will do to all if passed – it will impose a tax of 2.5% on anyone who the government deems to be “without acceptable health care coverage.”

So while lawmakers attempt to appease voters by telling them that they will be able to keep their current coverage if they’re happy with it, that may not actually be the case if this law is passed.  If the government decides that your current health insurance is not “acceptable” – by whatever standards they choose – the governement will impose a tax on you of up to 2.5% of your income.  Take a look at page 167 of HR 3200.

 

Health-Care: Reform or Money Grab?

There may have been more method than madness to Sarah Palin’s and Senator Chuck Grassley’s scaring the hell out of a lot of people about mythological “death panels.”  The current debate over health-care legislation before Congress may be getting deliberately side-tracked to steer us away from finding out that what we’ll be getting is not real reform but a huge government-sponsored money grab for health industry giants!

While town-hall meetings have been filled with angry and frightened citizens, afraid that this health-care legislation will deny themselves or family members care or let them die, these people may have been badly misused by big-money interests, which Palin and Grassley may be answering to, to steer them, and the rest of us, away from the real problem with the health-care reform legislation before Congress.

HR 3200, the health-care reform bill currently under consideration, is a whopping 1,000-plus-pages monster piece of legislation.  It is a compromise measure designed to bring together all the main power houses of the health-care industry including the big insurance companies, corporate providers, and pharmaceutical companies.  These industry giants have not been without representation and / or lobbying efforts in developing this bill. (See link to NY Times article showing the major players in health-care legislation.)

One of the major features of HR 3200 – that is NOT BEING TALKED ABOUT – begins on page 167 and essentially enforces “acceptable” coverage or be taxed by the government up to 2.5% of their income.

“SEC. 401. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE
11 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 1 of the
13 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at
14 the end the following new part:
15 ‘‘PART VIII—HEALTH CARE RELATED TAXES
‘‘SUBPART A. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE
COVERAGE.
16 ‘‘Subpart A—Tax on Individuals Without Acceptable
17 Health Care Coverage
‘‘Sec. 59B. Tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage.
18 ‘‘SEC. 59B. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE
19 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
20 ‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual
21 who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at
22 any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed
23 a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of

(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross in2
come for the taxable year, over
3 ‘‘(2) the amount of gross income specified in
4 section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.”

With talk of dropping the public option, or government-run health plan option, this bill will force us, by law, to belly up to the insurance industry trough and pay them whatever they’re demanding, whether we can afford it or not.

This links to NY Times article showing major health-care reform players:  Key Players in the Health Care Debate – Prescriptions Blog – NYTimes.com.

Technorati Tags: politics,health care reform,HR 3200

 

What’s Wrong With a Single-Payer System? – The Conversation Blog – NYTimes.com

What’s Wrong With a Single-Payer System? – The Conversation Blog – NYTimes.com

This article from the NY Times written by David Brooks and Gail Collins gives us something to think about regarding health-care reform.  Before we let the politicians convince us to accept an expensive program that will ultimately cater to the insurance companies and other big-business lobbyists, we should look at creating a health-care system that would be answerable to the American people.

Technorati Tags: single-payer system,health-care,NY Times

 

Possible “Deal” on Health Care Even Though Obama’s Doc Predicts Failure

CNN is reporting that the House leadership has reached a compromise “deal” with fiscally conservative blue dog Democrats on health care reform, even though they agree that there will be no final vote on the measure “until Fall,” according to CNN.

The House is trying to achieve some modicum of success on the controversial health care measure before they leave for recess next week and face their voters at home.  Meanwhile President Obama continues his town-hall meeting tour in his attempt to put people at ease about the legislation which, if passed, could cost taxpayers $2 trillion or more inside a decade.

At the same time, the president’s personal physician is saying that the current legislation will fail.  Dr. David Scheiner, who was Obama’s personal physician for more than two decades, predicts that the legislation “is bound for failure,” according to Sam Stein of The Huffington Post.  Obama’s doctor is a fan of a single-payer health care system which would end private health insurance and make the government the sole payer for all health care.  His criticism, according to the Huff Post article, cites Obama’s “pragmatism” to the political reality that Americans with private health care would be unwilling to give up their policies in favor of government-run health-care.

Links to Huff Post article:

Obama’s Doctor: President’s Vision For Health Care Bound To Fail

Read the current legislation for yourself:

1. House Energy & Commerce Committee Legislation:  http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1687&catid=156&Itemid=55

2. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions:  http://help.senate.gov/

More Info on health-care reform legislation:

1. Kaiser Family Foundation Info:  http://www.kff.org/

2. White House, President’s remarks to AARP:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-in-AARP-Tele-Town-Hall-on-Health-Care-Reform/

3. Wall Street Journal Q & A:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574318132550338334.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Technorati Tags: Obama,CNN,Obama’s doctor,health-care,health-care reform,politics,government,Huffington Post,

 

CBO Director “Invited” To White House Meeting By Obama

White House South Facade

Everyone knows that an invitation to the White House by the President is more than an invitation.

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf says that President Obama “invited” him to the White House on Monday to discuss the agency’s “views about…health reform,” according to the Director’s official blog.

Last week’s report by the CBO in a letter to the co-chairs of the Senate Committee on the Budget said that “rising costs for health care will cause federal spending to grow much faster than the economy” and it warned that Obama’s health reform, in its current form, would become “an unsustainable path.”

The CBO is an independent agency which is charged with providing Congress with the nitty-gritty, the economic impact, of government spending.  As a result of the CBO’s assessment of the current health-care legislation, many in Washington, including some Democrats, are now questioning the reform bill which could run into the trillions within a decade.

Director Elmendorf didn’t give much detail in his blog about what was covered in his meeting with Obama, Administration advisors, and others at the White House but he did say that the event didn’t go to his head.  ”Of course, the setting of the conversation and the nature of the participants do not affect CBO’s analysis of health reform legislation,” Elmendorf said in his blog.  Saying that he essentially reiterated to the president the same information which he provided to Congress, Elmendorf said that he “will continue to work with Members of Congress and their staffs, on both sides of the aisle, to provide cost estimates and other information as health reform legislation is considered.”

 

As Poll Numbers Drop Obama Pushes to End Healthcare Debate

New poll numbers show that the majority of Americans now oppose Obama’s plan for healthcare reform because of concerns about negative changes to their own healthcare programs if the government option is put in place plus the likelihood of tax hikes on the middle class to pay for it.

A new Rasmussen poll from Friday, July 17, 2009 shows that only 35% percent of voters favor the government-run option which is down from 41% from a national poll taken just a few weeks earlier in mid-June.  Voters expressed concern about the cost which would ulltimately raise taxes on the middle class.  They also fear that their own healthcare program would be changed because of government intrusion.

Nevertheless, President Obama is insisting that debate over his health reform end and that the Congress move quickly forward to pass the legislation, wanting it on his desk to sign into law by the August recess about two weeks from now.

At Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D. C., today, Obama called for ending the debate saying, “We’ve talked this problem to death,” referring to the complicated issues, like costs into the trillions,  surrounding healthcare reform.

Obama is proving to be more of a typical politician rather than a statesman.  Rather than the inspiring leadership Obama showed as a candidate during the elections, he is now resorting to the old standard of fear mongering to try to get his political way in Washington.

Obama fearfully stated as fact that “more children will be denied coverage” unless we pass his program now.  Obama evidently conveniently forgot another fact:  the  SCHIP program, which our tax dollars pay for,  makes sure that all children can get medical care whether or not their parents can provide or afford private insurance.

If trying to scare about the “children” wasn’t enough, Obama continued the fear, saying that “jobs will be lost, take-home pay will be lowered, businesses will shutter.”

For all the fear Obama is dishing out, however, it doesn’t appear to be working.  Over the weekend, more moderate Dems joined the growing chorus of naysayers against ObamaCare.

We can only hope that these lawmakers continue to be skeptical about this massively expensive program and that they don’t buckle to Obama’s scare tactics!

 

Pelosi: “Wholesome Dynamism” on Health Care

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - California)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to rally legislators to move forward on Obama’s health care by declaring that everything’s okay and on schedule and the Congress is acting with “wholesome dynamism,” according to Fox News.

Huh?

Pelosi appears to be in denial of the truth.  The Democrats’ expensive health care reform legislation, which could cost $2 trillion or more inside a decade, is losing ground fast.  The bill  barely passed 2 committees – one by only 5 votes and the other by 4 votes.  A bipartisan group of six senators, including Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, is warning that they will not  be bullied into rushing the legislation through.

But yet Nancy Pelosi acts as if nothing is wrong!

Democrats, including the president, know that they have to act fast if they have any chance of getting this bill through.  The president’s popularity numbers continue to decline as people are waking up to the fact that Obama is all about spending and no real change.

Obama, with Pelosi’s support and Harry Reid in the Senate, is demanding that both houses of Congress ram his health care bill through before the August recess but it appears that more Dems are now bucking the president’s orders.  Democrats in both houses are now realizing that if they go along with the president, they will lose support at home with voters.  And, after all, each member of Congress is more concerned about keeping their own power rather than complying with the President, their party, Reid, or Pelosi.

Link: House Democrats Use Key Votes to Rally Support to Health Care Plan, Despite Hurdles | Fox News

 

Wal-Mart Backs ObamaCare Mandate for Employers

In a surprising move that has “‘flabbergasted” other leaders of the retail industry, Wal-Mart has sent a letter to the White House supporting President Obama’s health care policy to force all but the smallest employers to cover their employees with health insurance, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In what may be a clever move by Wal-Mart, the mega retailer teamed with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in the letter delivered to Obama’s desk yesterday to  ”help shape the debate” on health care, according the WSJ.

Although Wal-Mart says it is in favor of “a broad based employer mandate” requiring all large and medium companies to provide health insurance for their employees, The National Retail Federation, which is the retail industry’s primary lobby, is opposed to Wal-Mart’s move.

Warning that forcing companies to insure all employees “would quite possibly cut off the economic recovery we all desperately need,” the retail lobby’s V-P said that a mandate like this would be “the single most destructive thing you could do to the health care system shy of single-payer system,” which is entirely government-run, quoted in the WSJ.

More opposition is coming from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce which fears that low wages would become even lower under such a plan.

Wal-Mart Backs Drive to Make Companies Pay for Health Coverage – WSJ.com.